cuanto me allegro.

the pups celebrate their first birthday today. they both got a plate of lamb cuts and vegetables in a gravy sauce over their dry food in celebration. Andie has begun celebrating in other ways, however.. such as by humping Jackson's head to prove her dominance though she is half his size.
my old roomie lost her dog the other week. cuddles was older and battling kidney problems, and unfortunately did not make it. i can remember back on those nights in college, staying up late to finish projects, and cuddles would saunter into my room. she'd crawl right onto my sad camping mattress on the floor and situate herself under the covers before letting out a very content sigh. i know my roomie misses her pup, and my heart goes out to her.
queen cuddles, give my best to francis when you see her.
we traipsed all over camelsback park friday night after nichole's birthday bbq. it was dark, and we ran into three teenage girls on the hill who asked us if we were rapists.. we inquired as to their activity, and they said they were planning to ski down the side of the hill. now, this hill was quite steep. enough so to warrant some worry and morbid curiosity. they were young enough to not know any better and their parents of course had no idea what their precious princesses were up to. they'd had experience in skiing, but not on sand. brandon quite matter-of-factly says, "you know you're gonna get sand in your bindings, right?"
we were the reluctant parent league. and them our rebellious daughters. we tried humorously to make sure their decision to skate the mountain was a sound one.
are you drunk? no. do you have cellphones? yes. do your parents know what you're up to? ...of course not.
i hope you're aware of the fact that you could get quite a lot of sand in your buttcrack. (amused laughter.)
okay then! as you were!
the first run was a success, a test try, but kind of tame. we all concurred that she needed a higher starting point. the next height chosen on this steep sandy hillside was also a success. she flew past us, kicking up sandy dust and shortly after disappeared into the dark, screaming with equal parts joy and fear.. all we could see of her were the sparks flying from her skiis into the night air. one of her cholos ran down the hill to make sure she was okay, and five minutes later called the the cellphone of the girl still on the hill with us.
"what was ___ wearing? i don't see her."
we all laughed. it was near midnight and the only people in this park were either us, misbehaving or the methhead chick under the soggy pine tree who asked us if we were her friends.
"keep looking!" we scream, "she might be embedded in the crowd!"
the girl down the mountainside had no luck tracking down her friend for at least another two minutes, we started to gather a mild concern. suddenly, there's a shout from above. shockingly, lady fifteenyearold daredevil had climbed the stairs-- there were stairs?!-- to the top. her pal scampered to the top, and for some time they plotted out her start with cellphone light to illuminate the rocky path. it's fucking moguls up there. jokes are made in reference to the l word episode with bette and helena on the mountain.
"can you ski moguls??"
"no i cannot ski fucking moguls!"
katie b keeps pacing as we line the fence awaiting this sure disaster, repeating, "this is sooo not a good idea."
half the group decides to move to the other side of the path, worrying that as this girl rolls down this baby mountain hill, she will undoubtedly plow into us in a rally of pain. we are so into this moving of sides, that we barely take notice of the lady daredevil as she flies past us, nearly taking out the half of the posse that moved, at the speed of sand and light, her skiis setting a spark storm and screaming the entire way down.
"that was fucking awesome."

hey that's my bike.

i'm back from sleeping under my best pal's ceiling in the biggest little city.
i've been home a day and a half from my weekend excursion and i've had a hard time concentrating. as much as i love my job, it felt wrong getting up and going to work this morning. i feel i have become distracted from what it is i set out to do in the first place, especially in the last few months. my trip to reno/sanfrancisco seems to have jolted me into remembering what i wanted of myself and discovering that i have lost sight of what's important to me. i'm still working on things in my head- as the whole of my generation seems to be doing now. i'm not alone in being lost, but i feel i'm closer to seeing for the first time exactly what i want.
landing a few jobs in the last few days that are more along the lines of what i want to do be doing has given me some confidence. and being in a state of missing my best friend has also given me some perspective on what i can do to help fix that. where do i want to be? what do i want to do? more importantly, how can i make that a reality once i figure that out?
i took an online quiz for kicks, a 'which reality bites character are you?' and discovered, little shock to me, that i am troy dyer. well, mostly. except without the guitar and greasy hair. but that closed-off romantic, unrealized potential is wrapped up in here somewhere. if you discover my lelaina on some random rooftop smoking cigarettes, send her my way.

fatty fat fat.

in my unruly youth years ago, i remember sitting in the back of the bus on the way to some band competition with the tubas and the drum corps. we were harassing head drum major leah for some reason i can't recall, most likely in response to some insult or comment she made about the drum corps or any one of its members. and to boot, she was on the other bus in the lane next to us, so it was not as though she could hear our insults anyway. i'm sure she deserved at least ten percent of the abuse, but all i remember is chris georgeson spelling out "fatty fat fat" in christmas sticker-decals on the window of the bus for her to read as we cruised past. dallis shrieked out soon after that she wouldn't be able to read it because it would appear backwards to the other bus. the rest of the drum corps scrambled to correct it in time for leah to see. whether or not leah saw it-- though she was not "fatty fat fat" in technical terms-- i can't say for certain. she glared at us anyway.
but the sound of my pals voices crying out "fatty fat fat" still rings very clear in my older ears. it was all in adolescent fun anyway.
i'm posting some photos of the bathroom i haven't before, including a detail of the fatty fat fat rat in honor of my chubby little, frozen rat i finally buried today. and thank you to my dad who dug the hole.

finish. repent.

i managed to pull out a finish on the mural work at the VaC around three this morning. i don't have progress shots for the mice above the mirrors because i painted them in one night. there's nothing like the pressure of knowing they open tomorrow and i have no more time to debate on the finer details. on the plus side, i spent the last three years observing my rat, so research was not necessary-- and i draw a pretty mean mouse when pressed. i have wanted to get back to my rodent roots and i had a funny little idea of a chubby mouse and the word "repent" scrawled into my tiny sketchbook that i wanted to turn into something.

the candies look delightful. i'm more than pleased that this is finally done. i also regretted that i didn't have a DeathStall for Pancho Villa, so i snuck him in behind the door.

urinals.

i've still been plugging away on the VaC's boys bathroom. a few more nights to finish, i've gaged the amount of work pretty well. The VaC opens Friday night and i look forward to my work finally getting its audience. the girl's bathroom won't be finished in time for the opening, but it's really coming together as well. The artist working on it is among my favorites, and i anticipate its finish; it will be the bathroom walls i have to look at more often.
i've done some work in the stalls (death stalls) as well, and i want to credit my pal zach for providing me with help on the research and details. my original intention was to have the five stalls in the girl's bathroom, each with a famous historical odd death. after finding out i had the boys bathroom instead, i was limited to two stalls. damn urinals. i selected my favorite two odd deaths and put them up anyway. here's a taste:

Rasputin: He was reportedly poisoned, beaten, and shot before he finally drowned. classic. the idea behind the DeathStalls is to make you slightly uncomfortable while using the facilities. that, and you should learn something too. multi-tasking while on the pot, emerging that much smarter from the bathroom. you can wow the ladies with your new-found knowledge.

hope to see you at the opening.

mural progress.

the Visual Arts Collective finally set their open date for April 4th. which means i'm working pretty diligently to finish my mural work in the bathroom. this is the most recent progress. i'm pretty pleased with the work so far, and a bit surprised i've made the transition from almost exclusively small works to giant wall work (needing ladders and step stools) this easily..

you didn't make it.

adios, my chubby little rat face. you will be missed.

life and times.

the last few weeks have been.. emotional. end of february came and i saw the passing of my friend and coworker amy jones from cancer. she was a phenomenal lady and a great artist. and not in the way you say "she's an artist" and people look at you skeptically because they're picturing scrapbooks and cuts of quilt fabric like i first did when i met her.
(the term "artist" can carry such negative connotations i often refrain from using it to describe myself. it's just something that i've been doing since i knew how to pick up a pencil. it's wrapped up in my personality and my being and giving it a name seems to take away from the entire picture. plus, people judge you for it.)
amy was first class. a dry sense of humor that matched my own, despite the difference between us in years. when we'd dance at work to some cheesy 80's tune or Young MC's "bust a move," she would laugh and look at us like we were crazy. we never got her to dance, though. but i will remember fondly that summer with my three coworkers, dance moves and music on the radio as a golden time (not to sound overly "Outsiders" and PonyBoy).
She left me her kiln, of which i have absolutely no idea how to use.. but i feel i could do great things with it once i find out, and each piece will remind me of her.
watching her struggle with the same cancer that took my grandmother ten years ago surfaced emotions for me i haven't felt since then. before amy had even been diagnosed, she reminded me of grams. and watching her go in the same way was hard. i felt the same hopelessness. i wanted to feel like just once someone got cancer and beat it. that there was hope.
my pet rat has also fallen ill after her surgery for tumor removal. i'm watching her like a hawk and babying her. people will scoff at you for dropping money on something like a rat. but it's a living creature completely dependent on you for its care and well-being and if i have the means, why would i not want to make her short life as great as possible?
in art news, i'm still working on the bathroom mural at the Visual Arts Collective's new space on my free days. it's a lot of work, but it's looking pretty good. i'm getting to realize a childhood dream of coloring all over the walls, basically. Another local artist, PasteEater, is working on the girls bathroom and i have to tell you, it's looking pretty sweet. I'll post photos of my progress as it comes along.