Geeking Out-Session 1

I am obsessed with the work that has been coming out of the Metro Design Studio. Particularly the re-branding they've done for the Los Angeles metro system. Holy cow. It is just so cool. There's a good blog post about it here that shows before/after shots of how the project has given them a total face lift.

So far, my favorite product has been their naughty/nice shirts. They also have similar messaging that they do on balloons, but I can't for the life of me find a photo of it online. I'm also loving their website. Really clean, fun design and SUPER user-friendly (unlike a certain other metro website...King County, I'm talking about you).

Is this a heart or panic attack?

Why, yes, my stress level is through the roof.

Butch Queendom Shoot

4 beers later and I'm on the roof taking photos in freezing weather. It should be noted, that the new manager of our building put locks on the doors that lead to the roof. Thanks to liquid courage, I rammed the side of my body several times into said door and broke the lock. Here's what followed:

Anthony has a website, Butch Queendom. This is the latest shirt design. More photos...

Building

This past week(ish) I was in Tijuana, Mexico building a church. Yes, a church.

Though at first I was hesitant about the actual goal of the trip, and whether or not the call of poverty is best answered with a church, I saw it as an opportunity to bond with my family (all of whom went) and to hang out with some old friends. Besides, who am I to say what someone needs. They want a church, give 'em a church.

Just after finishing. I'm second from the left.

The trip was extremely successful and we got the building up in 3 days. That's roughly 24 hours of labor (one day was cut short due to weather). I was also surprised to find myself get close to people I had never met before from the community I grew up in.

Tatuaje

Woohoo! Tattoo!

Design and Tattoo by Lisa Orth

Hoity Toity

Just finished editing a batch of photos that I took at this fancy event last Friday.

I thought I'd post some of my favorites from that Friday. This first one is just damn right cute:

And this next one I like because of a detail, which is posted below the photograph:I don't know why it is I like the detail of the other three men in the mirror. It'd be great if they were in focus, but I think it's the way a secondary source of light is hitting their faces. I don't know...

Don't Worry Friend, It'll All be Ok.

Given to me by Sam a while ago when I was feeling down on my luck.

It never fails to make me smile.
Meow.

Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me

Wednesday night I'll be getting a new tattoo, which I've been meaning to get for over 2 months. It's a Morrissey tattoo. Sam is leaving soon. In a week. This really sucks.That's us up there. Anyway, he's moving to Boston. It seems that it's become a trend for those close to me to either leave abruptly or in a more gradual manner. Whatever.

Tomorrow morning I will be meeting up with a potential pet at Magnuson Park. I'm looking to adopt a dog, and there's one that seems to be a good fit. If it works out I will post it to this blog. I don't want to jinx myself.

No hope, No harm...

Famous!

(sorta)

Post-Election Night

Just got back from the Dirty Projectors show. Amazing.

But I still don't know who our next mayor is. Election night was a party-hopping event. Had drinks at Moe Bar, ate cheese and crackers at the Approve Ref. 71 party at Pravda, inhaled a slice of tiramisu at the Housing Levy party at Sole Repair, started up drinking [again] at the McGinn party at the War Room, and finally stumbled home to catch up on blog-election reports.

This is what the morning after looked like:

May You Grow Up to be Uglier

I've got to stop being a sucker for cute little kids. They're misleading. 

A woman and her 1 year old were just in the shop and the kid proceeded to put 3 different items that we have on sale IN HIS MOUTH. Maybe my issue should not be so much with the kid, as with the mother, who kept handing him different objects, which he would immediately stuff into his teething little mouth.

How do those kids produce so much saliva anyway?

They're gone now and the place wreaks of masticated cheerios. If I had balls (or even guts) I would've said something. But since I didn't, I'll just keep looking the other way--especially once someone decides to purchase a saliva-drenched beer coozie.

Change I Can Get Behind

Fall definitely brings change. I have my last two days at Seattle Counseling Service this week. I'm sad about leaving that place--and the people I get to work with. I've never clicked so well with coworkers before. BUT I've been offered the opportunity to do design and production FULL TIME at B-Bam! I actually just came back from a training in Costa Mesa on this new direct to garment printer called the Anajet Sprint.The printer is pretty amazing in the sense of what it can do and how it will cut down on our design time. However, the machine is a bitch when it comes to maintenance. It's super sensitive and needs to be in a climate-controlled space. This is mostly because of how far behind manufacturers are in producing a light-weight white ink. Though the class was 8 hours long, there's still a lot of information I wish I could've picked up. The trainers told us of future plans to offer an advanced training course. I would definitely be interested in that.

I've started designing a website for my graphic design work. My plan is to throw up a splash page on the main url and have it redirect the visitor either to my photography or design work. What I now need to do is photograph the printed materials I have produced up to this date to include in the portfolio.

But that'll have to wait for a bit since I will be leaving for NEW YORK in two days!!! I'm going for 6 days to visit Nick and take in a bit more of the Manhattan culture.

Woohoo!

Finally got the Rose's website up.
Still working out some of the kinks..But, all in all it's there. What more could I ask for?

61st Emmy's

Neil Patrick Harris sure is hunky. Perhaps my favorite part was the Dr. Horrible cameo.

Here's my Emmy's watching experience in photos. Oh ya, I had company...

Morning Stroll

I've come to realize how amazing my neighborhood is--and the ones surrounding it. This morning I was walking through Madrona and came by this coffee shop called the Seattle Central Grind. I went in for a drip and got to talking to the owner.

The place is filled with the coolest paintings, and the owner is one of the painters. He asked if I was also an artist, but I told him I only did graphic design. He than showed me an old photograph he had and how he was looking for someone to restore it. I told him if he paid to have it scanned, I'd do the restoration for free.

It was one of those really neat moments when you connect with a stranger and feel a strong sense of community. I gave him my business card, which he taped to the fridge. I told him he should email me anytime. I hope he does.

As of Late

Just finished up a poster (well, 2, actually) for a new night at the rose. The original idea I had for it ended up going in two different directions, so I saw them through. I like them both, which is neat considering I have a hard enough time liking posters I make in general.

Are You Pumped??

Just ordered these today:
Ya, I'm pumped.

Half-There

Today I accomplished many things.

Got a haircut.

Constructed a bed.

Went to the boutique warehouse sale.
[bought a t-shirt for $10]

Got drinks with my old college buddies.

I think I might be getting sick. This could be a good thing considering I don't want to go to work tomorrow. Though, we are going river rafting on Tuesday, so that could backfire on me.

Actually, I'm not too stoked on that either. I really haven't been feeling all that present. Like I'm only half present. I don't want to do anything but have been doing a lot. I think it's because I've been running on autopilot.

Feces, Human Feces

Last night I took Sam with me to a party at my sister's new place. She just moved into the Wallingford neighborhood and is living in this amazingly huge house. Most of the people there were pretty douchy looking. Lots of bad rap music, drinking games, and baseball caps worn backwards.

Though all of that was going against it, I did enjoy myself and get to know my sister's new boyfriend better. So far, I'm getting a good vibe from him.

Sam and I left the party around 12:30am. As we were walking to the back of the house, Sam stepped in some shit. We soon realized [by the stench of it] that it wasn't dog shit. Yes, he stepped in shit. Human shit.

We all had a laugh about it.

Today will be slightly more productive. I'm about to head back to Wallingford to return my sister's car and have breakfast with her and her boyfriend. We're then going to check out the Boutique Culture Warehouse Sale, which Blackbird is involved with.

It's nice being kept busy. Last night I had a nightmare about her dating a guy. I don't know where that came from. All I know is that I'm struggling with moving on and getting her out of my mind.

Art Project Dropout

When I was in New York, I bought a pack of sunprint paper. I hadn't done anything with it partly because it's barely ever sunny here and mostly because I'm just too damn lazy to do anything that requires any type of set-up.

Today I returned home from a family brunch with the determination to do SOMETHING creative, at which point I grabbed the sunprint paper and got to work. Well, it didn't turn out so well. I forgot that it's best to do it at high noon (not 5 o'clock) and with something to hold down the items being printed.

I had one good idea, which was to use shards of glass to create some interesting shadow-play. Unfortunately, as I was drying off one of the pieces, it cut through my shirt and sliced open my finger. Things went down hill from there. I only had some wax paper handy, so I wrapped my finger in that. I didn't stay on the roof much longer after that.

Realizing my finger was still bleeding profusely, I thought I'd pay homage to my Twin Peaks obsession and try to write out Fire Walk With Me in my own blood. It seems I clot much faster than I expected, and only got as far as "FIR".

Needless to say, I need more creative time that actually renders something worthwhile. This was just one upset after another.

Artwalk at B-Bam!

Last Thursday was the Capitol Hill art walk, during which I coordinate a show at B-Bam. I finally remembered to bring my camera. Here's a glimpse of the evening.

Another Month, Another Poster

LICK! is around the corner. I had wanted to incorporate this design I had collected in my inspiration book a while back (I put it up in an older post) of a woman having her nipple tweaked.

This is what I came up with:

But it turned out it was a little too controversial. So this is what it turned into:


Haha

Today's Youth Are Filled With Such Angst

Oh Trouble.

You have made me a wreck.

Inspiration

I finally got around to scanning some pages from my inspiration book. I've started keeping it at work, but have been wanting to draw ideas from it at home as well.

Here's a peak at some of it:

CapHill [ ] Party -day 2-

So I'm a day late on this, which really only means that I partied too hard last night to give a shit to sit down and write about the night I had.

Got to block party around 7pm to start my shift at the B-Bam booth. Earlier that day I had thrown a pancakes & mimosas fund raising event at my place. Worked the booth, sold some stuff, had a friend sneak me some beers. Though I didn't get to see Gossip (supposedly they've dropped the "The" from their name), I did get to hear them. They sounded great--and I bet their stage presence was amazing considering all the experience and fame they've had in the UK.

However, I have to say, I wasn't too excited about them playing block party. I remember seeing them in the parking lot of Lifelong AIDS Alliance back in the day for free.
At the end of the day, it's cool to see how huge they've become.

Once I carted everything back to the store, a group of us went and got beer and went up to B-Bam to watch Sonic Youth. A-MA-ZING.
We had a good view of them from upstairs and could hear them fine. Somehow my buddy got beer on the ceiling while trying to shotgun a beer. There was also a trip to Dick's at some point. But that's when things got a little hazy.

CapHill [ ] Party -day 1-

It begins like this...
Worked at B-Bam until 6pm--first beginning at the store and then setting up our booth. We are the most ghetto booth there. Everyone else has canopies. All we've got are 2 tables and some legless mannequins.

After roasting in the sun for too long, I went home to...clean. Broke two glasses while washing the dishes.

Starfucker.
Very awesome show. Unfortunately the crowd was annoying not just because it was mostly teenage hetero couples, but because their mosh etiquette sucked. It's an pop-electro dance band. There's no need to be slamming people up against the steel barricades.

I left towards the end to catch a bit of Built to Spill.Last time I saw them was maybe 2 years ago at the Showbox. I mean, they're great and remind me of the good in my teen years. But they can get a little jam-bandy in concert. However, this show was cool because the setlist was decided on by the fans prior to the block party. The part of their show I caught, I thoroughly enjoyed.

On a final note, I'm not that into The Dutchess and the Duke. I've tried, but they're just too folksy in that indie-cool kind of way that it makes me want to barf a little.

RIP, Little Buddy

I'm watching my parent's dog this week. Took her swimming at the park, and instead my cell phone dove in head first. Suicide attempt? Well, it succeeded.

I am lost without a cell phone. When did it get to this point?

Such Good News

I found out this morning that I will NOT be losing my job at the end of August.

See, my position is funded by a county grant, which was suddenly yanked. But after some meetings, and my bosses fighting tooth & nail for us, we got the funding back. That having been said, I can now go about my business a little less stressed out.

On a completely different note, here's a video of one of my favorite boxers, Nicolino "El Intocable" Locche. Sooo good.

Fruit Salad

After boxing class this morning, I came home and whipped up this fruit salad that has become my new favorite thing to eat in the summer.


Ingredients:
* 1 nectarine
* 1 peach
* 3 chopped mint leaves
* A handful of chopped walnuts
* 2 teaspoons of honey

All of the ingredients are from the Capitol Hill farmers market, except for the chopped walnuts.