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Friday, April 30th, 2004 link - comments(0)
Thursday, April 29th, 2004 link - comments(0)
We had my eyes dialted yesterday at the Optometrist. Tom picked me up and we decided to go see a movie upon my doctor's advice. We saw the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was really, really good. I cried like a baby though. Tom said he turned around and the girl behind us was crying like crazy too. But you shoauldn't just see it because it might make you cry, you should see it because it's an incredible movie. And you don't have to cry if you don't want to. The movie rekindled my desire to keep a sketchbook. How do I do that? How do I make myself sketch every day? Must work on this one. Maybe I should set a rule that I can't go to bed without having sketched for 5 minutes each day. Geez my days are filling up. Yoga, doodle, work, paint... Pretty soon I'll have to cut out peeing, or showering, or brushing my hair. Maybe it's time to shave my head again. That'll save some time! OK just kidding, no head shaving for me. I think that only works for cute 15 year old girls. I'm definitely not 15 anymore. Curves is evil Stacie and I started thinking that I don't know anything about Weight Watchers so I looked it up. It was started by a nice woman in Queens, Jean Nidetch, who then sold 15 years later to Heinz. The Heinz family seems very involved in children's education, affordable health care, women's education in both finances and health, and environmental issues. So yay! and phew!
Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 link - comments(0)
Tonight I glanced at myself in the full length mirror in the bathroom. I thought to myself "Damn, I like this mirror, it makes me look skinny." Then I realized that a few weeks ago, I hated the mirror because I looked fat. So must be the weight watchers and yoga. I must be making progress. Lately, I have some sort of insane obsession with workout videos. My yoga video broken last week so I ordered not 1, but 2 yoga dvds to replace it. Good thing too because they are both too short and not as challenging as I had hoped for. So tonight I went through 2 of the three routines on the dvds. Tomorrow morning I'll go through the third. Veronica also loaned me her pilates dvds so I can go crazy with pilates too. Maybe I will switch between the yoga am 30 minute workout and the pilates 20 minute workout each morning.
Tuesday, April 27th, 2004 link - comments(0)
Later at the studio, I had one of those moments where all is good and right with the world and I was so happy to just be putting paint on canvas, and I realized, no, I've still got my priorities in order.
Monday, April 26th, 2004 link - comments(0) I accidentally had the best lunch today. I went to the Moma to get a replacement membership card (Why can't I just get an implant of all my cards so I don't have to keep track of them all?). I also wanted to get a ticket to next Sunday's jazz brunch, but sadly it was sold out. As I was walking back to my scooter, I saw a sign that said "After visiting the Moma, eat at Natoma Cafe" I felt compelled to follow the sign which led me to a very cute little Burmese deli/cafe. I ordered an ice coffee and a vegetarian cold noodle salad with curry sauce, potato, green papaya, nuts and cabbage. So good! I want to go there every day. The plate was huge, I took half home and it only cost $4.95. Very nice woman behind the counter too. I just found a collection of stick figure warning signs. Ouch!
Sunday, April 25th, 2004 link - comments(0)
Last night after some procrastinating, I started painting some more small canvases. I'm hoping if I can get in the habit of knocking out a couple of these a week, I can build up and arsenal to sell at events like open studios and also be super-prepared for the next Post Postcard show at the Lab in October or November. I worked on some more old cars from Tom's coffee table book "Fabulous cars of the 50s."
Saturday, April 24th, 2004 link - comments(0) I went to SF City College today to take my math and english placement tests. I don't think I've taken a math test in about 15 years. It was weird. We were herded around and told things like "This isn't junior high or high school, this is college and we expect you to behave like adults." All through the test, on the other side of the wall next to me, there was construction going on. So the math test I took, which I was assured would go on my "permanent record" was taken under ridiculous circumstances. So ridiculous. It was comical that such insane pounded was going on while 100+ prospective college students are taking an exam that will determine important aspects of their college careers. What a joke. Made me remember why I wanted to get out of High School early.
Friday, April 23th, 2004 link - comments(0)
Last night I didn't go to yoga class, and was unsuccessful at finding a new yoga video. I then got home and plopped in my old yoga tape to find our VCR is broken and can do nothing but eat tapes. We lost American Beauty the other night. So I did yoga on my own for an hour. I tried to push myself best I could. I think I did ok mostly. I also found a couple DVDs on line that seem good. I ordered those as part of my recent, extended Amazon shopping spree (three orders in a week). So I will be all prepared next week to do yoga at home. This morning I did some quick morning yoga for 20 minutes just to get my muscles working and blood pumping. I may try to get up 20 minutes early to do this every day. I realise I don't use many of my muscles, most of the time. That's why kids are so limber and strong, they use their muscles all the time. As adults, we just sit around on our fat asses all day long and complain about back pain. If I can't run, I want a strong, flexible body from yoga. Songs To Wear Pants To Thursday, April 22th, 2004 link - comments(0)
Hmmm, maybe I won't go to yoga tonight. Maybe I just need to veg. But sometimes yoga helps. I really can't tell if I just need to work through the pain, or if I just need to take it easy. I wish I could just call my doctor on the phone and have a conversation. It's such an ordeal just to talk to my doctor for 5 minutes. New word of the day from Kaolin: morontard
Wednesday, April 21th, 2004 link - comments(0) Tonight I'm going to Southern Exposure to attend a galleries and Curators panel to find out what they are looking for in art and artists. I feel very lucky that the neighborhood I work in is so full of galleries and studios. I bought a book called "The Practical Handbook for the Emerging Artist". It talks about everything from school, to building bodies of work, to promoting yourself. It's an ok book in general, the writing is kind of dry. What I really like about it are the artist interviews. I could read a whole book of artist interviews. Quotes from my coworkers today: I started on the large painting of Kobe yesterday. I got pretty far with the composition and started working on building up the canvas tonight. I think it's going to turn out great. It's sort of nerve wracking painting for someone else. In some ways it's nice because you know from the start that you are going to let it go, so you focus on it differently. It's somehow less personal and you focus more on technique and composition. But it also adds other pressures I don't normally feel as much, like worrying it's going to suck or be boring. With my own paintings, I just keep painting, and if I think they suck or are boring, I always feel like I can paint over them. When it's someone else's and the content is specific, I feel like I've only got one shot to make something good. Woo, woo! I want a james bond style spy camera!. It's only $99 and it takes up to 150 640x480 pictures.
Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 link - comments(0) If I won the lottery, I'd do these things: quit my job, go back to school full-time, do yoga at least twice a week, work on promoting my art, take long vacations. Seeing as how that's not going to happen, I'm just going to work full-time, go to school part-time, promote my artwork the best I can, go to yoga once a week, take short vacations. See, that doesn't seem that bad. Just takes longer.
Monday, April 19th, 2004 link - comments(0) Strange day, strange day. Must be the weather. My brain is sort of unattractive and selfish today. I'm cloudy inside, need some good painting to clear out the storm, but because of the real storm outside, I'm stuck here, waiting, and doing a really bad job of it too. Yesterday I got to see some photos of Tom at age 15. Most of the photos involved skateboards and friends acting like monkeys. Seeing them made me think about my own life at 15 and brain spin really fast. Tom and I are the same age, which sort of created some sort of time warp link in my mind. And I saw all the paths in life leading us together. And then I wondered if I was fun enough, or if I still appreciate him enough. And then I wondered what our future will look like and whether or not we'd still be any good at having fun and enjoying each other later in life. Memories are strange things and life passes too quickly. Life sometimes feels like a race to me. Like you've got to spend all your time creating as many good memories as possible, while avoiding bad ones whenever possible. And that just seems so tiring! I want to take a nap now. Some random things to note:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunday, April 18th, 2004 link - comments(0) I got my snacks underwear in the mail! The cupcake box is too cute and the American Apparel undies look very comfy. So go buy yourself a pair too. It's true, the sizes to run small so don't be afraid to give yourself some room. I kinda wished I'd even gone one size bigger but that's ok because I'm gonna be skinnier in like a week anyway, right? Speaking of, tomorrow is weigh-in day. I so badly wanted to sneak a peak today but I will be patient. I can wait one day.
Saturday, April 17th, 2004 link - comments(0) We had "spend money on domestic things" day today. It started out with a nice long sleep-in kind of morning, some tea, some soyriso scramble, then we drove to Walnut Creek to see a great little show on Abstract painters of the 50s and 60s at the Bedford Gallery. Afterwards, we stopped into a cute little fancy housewares store called the Kitchen table where we procured a nice tea pot, cheese board, measuring spoons, potato masher, and a cute little stuffed lamb I couldn't leave without. Next stop was Fry's Electronics in Concord. We should have just stuck to the small stuff. Fry's is so big and annoying. We got a 250 gig external hard drive for Tom's music and video projects and picked up some cheap speakers to complete our living room speaker setup. Now, when we put a DVD in the player, and it automatically switches to surround sound, we won't have to get up out of our seats to hit the little button to turn it off again. Now we can choose any kind of surround or non-surround sound we feel like. But anyway, the waiting and confusion we went through, just to buy these speakers sucked and the only cure for our misery was a quick stop at the Isobune in Oakland for some sushi boat fun. With full bellies, we calmly braved the traffic on the Bay bridge, made a quick stop of the Whole Foods on Harrison, and were soon safely home with all of our new toys, enjoying chai from a nice tea pot and listening to the Mummy in full surround while snacking on Tomatillo salsa.
Friday, April 16th, 2004 link - comments(0) Sometimes I say funny things. This is in regards to a friend complaining about another coworker who just plain didn't feel like doing something... "Well son, I don't want to go to jail for killing a man, but some things can't be avoided." Tonight we went to the Lola Gallery to see the opening of "Hibernia of the New Millennium". A show comprised of artists from Ireland and California. It's a great little gallery and the opening seemed like a big success. Tom and I both liked Ian Sheldon's work a lot. The whole night was a lot of fun, we stopped at Bruno's for a couple of quiet drinks before the show, then had a late dinner at Baobob on 19th and Mission. So good!
Thursday, April 15th, 2004 link - comments(0) I finally got to apologize to my coworker about the old zit popping episode a couple days ago. This place really makes me nuts sometimes. I guess most jobs have their downsides. I just wish I didn't have to feel so hopeless about it. At least I have lots to do so I can try to ignore the bad side and just do my work. I have normal hours again so I can paint and go to yoga and have beers with Tom. That part of my life is so nice. I hate feeling aggravated all day long. Headphones are my savior.
Wednesday, April 14th, 2004 link - comments(0) Despite my foot pain this week, I did really good at yoga tonight. I then followed up yoga with a salad and um, three pints of beer at Magnolia. Yoga and beer don't mix. I was so sleepy.
Tuesday, April 13th, 2004 link - comments(0)
Look ma, wild boars!. A wild boar cam in Germany called "Pig Brother." Have you ever had a big zit that grows and grows. Maybe you try to pop it but it won't pop, and then one day, when it reaches it's optimal zittiness, you just brush it lightly and it explodes? Well that was me today, the popping zip.
Monday, April 12th, 2004 link - comments(0) I'm boycotting Instant Messenger. It's like an evil virtual water cooler. I can't take it anymore. Got my new keyboard today after spilling coffee all over my personal computer at work last Thursday. Why do I bring my personal computer to work? Because I'm an idiot. Today was weigh-in for week 8 of weight watchers. I was really bad this weekend with all the beer and bbq food, so my eyes popped out of my head when I stepped on the scale and saw that I had lost another 2 pounds! That's 14 pounds total.
Sunday, April 11th, 2004 link - comments(0) Happy Easter! I'm tired and cranky today. I took slides of my artwork and had a cranky attack. Then we got groceries and made a giant Easter dinner for Tom's brother and family. I think this is one of the first years I didn't dye eggs. So I just wasn't feeling very Easter-y.
Saturday, April 10th, 2004 link - comments(0) We were a little hung over today. Went to Lisa and Peter's for his birthday and stayed a while. Today I am meeting Laura to talk about potentially hanging some work at her office. Then I walked from Mendell's back home with a giant canvas. It was like a big sail and the wind was a' blowin'. Then drove over to Mod and Jesse's for a very fun BBQ. At night we watched Lawrence of Arabia.
Friday, April 9th, 2004 link - comments(0) I'm cranky. no good posts this week, sorry.
Thursday, April 8th, 2004 link - comments(0) I have a reading in bed date with Tom tonight. We are both tired, tired, tired. Wednesday, April 7th, 2004 link - comments(0) I'm sorta sick. Not super sick. I just feel so tired. I slept so long yesterday.
Tuesday, April 6th, 2004 link - comments(0) I slept til 2 today! I only got up because I had to go to the doctor. She told me my foot is doing great and she doesn't want to see me anymore. Hurray!
Monday, April 5th, 2004 link - comments(0) I had a sorta funny email exchange today:
Please give me a call so we can talk further. Regards, Rich Weeks Me: Good luck in your search! -Alanna Richard: Cheers, Sunday, April 4th, 2004 link - comments(0) Going out to lunch with some friends today and doing some house cleaning. It's a nice, normal Sunday.
Saturday, April 3rd, 2004 link - comments(0) We were out last night with Darren and Phyllis until 2am. So today we slept in. We finally got up around 12 or 12:30, made some breakfast and hit the road. We drove out to Point Reyes, Stopped by the GRO gallery where we saw some very cool shrinky dink art. Then we drove out into Inverness, to a park called Heart's Desire. It wasn't so much our desire though because it was really cold, so after a nice cheese, bread, snap peas and pasta salad picnic, we drove to Petaluma, had some coffee and some sushi, then back home for some Spider Man. My foot is really sore today and swollen, probably from the drinking. So I'm icing tonight lots and lots.
Friday, April 2nd, 2004 link - comments(0) Stinky Friday http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/ezbake.shtml">Geeks need cake too.
Thursday, April 1st, 2004 link - comments(0) Happy April! It's so nice outside, I want to go play. Yesterday I notices my pants were feeling a little loose. So this morning I grabbed a pair of pants that had no longer fit me. I put them on and they felt very comfortable. It took 7 weeks to get back into my old clothes. Many more weeks to go... Uh yeah, here's a great recipe... for pyromaniacs maybe.
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Previous Entries
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Tonight we went to 
This weekend, Lynn and I are going to the 
Last night as I was scootering to the studio to work on the Kobe paintings, I was reflecting on how I feel about painting. I was worried that I had gotten so caught up in the final product that I had ceased to have fun painting. That I had let myself stress too much about the outcome, when the only thing that really matters is that I am enjoying what I'm doing.
Today was the kind of day that Sundays are supposed to be. It was so hot, everyone was out and about, and the whole world was happy. After a nice lazy morning of working on my artist statement, 
I'm Going to Yoga tonight despite all the pain I'm having in my foot. It was really bad this morning. I can barely stand with all the weight on my bad foot and I'm hobbling pretty bad. I don't know what's causing it, the pain is all over. I think it's nerve and or soft tissue problems. I'm just trying to wait and see what happens. I feel like it I go back to the doctor, they will just x-ray it again and say "I don't know what could be wrong". So I'm waiting to see if it'll clear up on it's own. I can't wear the Dansko's because of swelling so I tried putting my orthotics in my campers for extra support. 
I think I finally finished the cat painting. Or at least, the cat painting has finished me. I still have to find a way to get the big canvas in my garage to the studio.
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