Item A: Sketches


( Someday I will draw people with limbs again. For now, all I have are scarves and glasses. )

Item 2: My "fancy pants" printer is broken. I wanted to draw some Avatar fanart, but if I can't print out references to, well, refer to, then I am positive Sokka and Ang will somehow end up wearing scarves, glasses and smoking cigarettes. :C Booo, lousy Epson C84!

Item 3: I had an absolutely wonderful weekend filled with good friends, miniature golf, pizza, ridiculous amounts of ice cream, Caddyshack, Guitar Hero II, and avid discussion of the recorder part in the first minute or so of "Stairway to Heaven". Too bad it all leads up to a work week which will be the end of me.

And it all comes down to a very low high...

WOE UNTO ME!

;)

First, a sketch.


This is how I treat my bank statements.

Believe you me, fellas... There is going to be a ridiculous sketchdump this weekend.
A sketchdump consisting mostly of lads in scarves.

That is the best kind.



Second, it's wonderful to see you again, Miss Amanda (bleupencil). I missed you and your beeyooteeful art! *confetti*



Third, I think I am in love with Journey - I can't seem to get enough of them.

I wish Steve Perry was my friend.

Oh! In case I somehow missed telling any of you lovely folks about this, last weekend I went to go see The Steve Miller Band at Konocti in Kelseyville. Yes, that Steve "Fly like an eagle" Miller. ;)

Here's the story on that (proper essay format thrown to the wind)...

Saturday morning, I packed, got ready, and then drove myself over to Brett's house to begin The Epic Journey to Konocti. We left from Natomas and arrived in Clear Lake no later than 2PM (which was pretty swell seeing as we stopped in the magnificent microscopic town of Zamora for lunch and briefly had heart attacks over the gas prices. Yikes!).

Now, you would think a town named Clear Lake would be a quaint little place just from its name alone, right? WRONG. Upon arrival, I could almost hear the banjos being played in the background amongst the abandonded bowling alleys and and barber shops. The place was seriously a scenario out of a Twilight Zone episode. Luckily, the hotel we were staying at was in a tiny spot that seemed somewhat civilized, so we stopped there for a bit and put our luggage away.

After the brief interlude, Brett and I hopped back in his truck and went exploring. And, by exploring, I mean getting lost on Old Highway 65 and keeping our doors locked, hoping the "mountain folk" wouldn't eat our faces off whenever we stopped at a red light. (Okay, I'm being a teensy bit melodramatic here, but you would have to see the place for yourself.) Driving along, we found and made note of where Konocti was located. (Incidentally, once there, Brett was nice enough to put all the scruffy bikers that showed up for the rally on "my team". LOVELY.) That was when Brett decided it was time for ice cream, and we found, of all things, gelatto in Kelseyville. Seriously, WHAT.

After the successful procurement of gelatto, we went back to the hotel to decompress for a while and get ready for the Steve Miller concert.

I had decided that since this was Steve effin' Miller I was about to go see, I'd wear a keen dress, because, MAN, Steve Miller you guys! So wear a keen dress I did, and I'm sure I took forever to get ready, but at least when all was said and done I was probably one of the cutest Steve Miller fans in Section B! ;) Of course Brett also looked very keen and dashing (I still think you should've kept the fauxhawk!), but if Steve Miller had to pick one of us to have a sandwich with, there would've been no contest.

Alrighty, so here's the jist of what the actual concert was like... Steve got off to a good, strong start with about 4 or 5 rocking songs. Everything was going peachy and the audience was on their feet having a blast...

That is, until Steve started busting out the old-school-jazz/blues-with-ridonculously-long-guitar-solo-in-the-middle tunes.

Now, don't get me wrong fellas, I'm a musician all the way through, and I like to believe I can appreciate all kinds of music. I'm thinking a couple of these kinds of songs sprinkled throughout the set here and there would've been just fine by me, BUT he played about 5-6 of these beasts back-to-back! There are only SO MANY jazz/blues fusion pieces with 15 minute guitar improv solos one can take before their ears start to bleed and their face begins to melt off! I can't really describe the feeling of "..." Brett and I were going through after the 1,345th fusion guitar solo, but it looked something like this...


Take note of the twitch in my eye.

And just when I was abotu to go wait in the car for fear of not surviving another crazy number, Steve mercifully busts into "Fly Like An Eagle"... Which turns into an extended 15 minute version of the song where EVERYONE gets a solo this time, and of all things, the KEYBOARDIST who looked a lot like Seal comes to the front of the stage to do a RAP to the song. You heard me, a RAP. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry... I think I may have done a little of both.

Fortunately, "Fly Like An Eagle" seemed to be the point at which old Steve-o got that ridiculousness out of his system, and from there on he played the rest of his big hits which made for a strong ending to the show.

After the show ended, we headed back to the hotel for the night and left for Sacramento the next morning (in one piece). :)

Basically, the set would've been absolutely perfect if he had excluded, or at the very least, cut the middle portion in half. However, I'm not going to be too harsh here and tear the jazz/blues fusion set down enitrely, because I'm extremely grateful that I got the chance to see Steve Miller at all. He's an excellent musician, and I don't regret going to see him in the middle of BFN in the very least.

On that ending note, kudos to Steve Miller for coming to California, and to B for being a good sport!

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.

She did not let her parents know, and above all never hinted to Peter how often she thought about Ender, how often she wrote him letters that she knew he would not answer. And when Mother and Father had announced to them that they were leaving the city to move to North Carolina, of all places, Valentine knew that they never expected to see Ender again. They were leaving the only place where he knew to find them.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card



In other news, I realize that I haven't updated this journal in eons. I'm sorry about that guys - kudos to those of you who have kept me on your friends list. :)

So, what's been going on?

First and foremost, I turned 24 on August 8th, which is rather exciting seeing as I have a year to go until it is time for my quarter life crisis. ;) I can't wait!

I recently got my bellybutton pierced. I originally wanted a labret piercing, but way too many of my friends and co-workers gave me "the look" when I told them what I wanted. I find "the look" exasperating, so I pierced myself where no one will ever see. (It's a surprisingly neat little piercing, too.)

Work has been going smashingly. My probation period will be over on August 22nd, and then I will officially be (relatively) safe from there on out! Wish me luck. :)

Last weekend I went to Lake Tahoe with my lovely friends Brett and Vonner vonner4. Good times were had, and many soy snacks were consumed!

I joined a different gym. As much as I liked 24 Hour Fitness, the fact that there was all sorts of shady characters there at any given time never made me feel comfortable. Ergo, I signed up with the Family Fitness Center which caters to a less shady clientele. Incidentally, it is also much closer to home. :) (Good luck on your new gym venture too, wogs!)

What happened to bleupencil?! ;_; Come back and play in OpenCanvas with me, Miss Amanda!

I've been thinking of comissioning musician portraits from a bunch of you lovely artists on my friends list to fill my soon-to-be new digs. I've already run the idea by e_apollo (I can't wait!), and I'm interested to see who else would have time to take on such a comission. lokabrenna, kuphoria, envertigo, wogs, used_bandaid basalt - are any of you talented folks accepting comissions?

Speaking of arts, I have just recently picked up the old sketchbook again and will hopefully start posting my own junk . I also have a digital camera to muck around with, so we'll see where that goes... ;)

The end!

No explanations.


( More nutty animamamals. )