Introspection Time!

I want to write a bio, as if I was making a craigslist ad about myself. Here we go.

I am...
an eclectic pop. Perpetually shy when it comes to kicking down new doors, but courageous when with someone I respect and trust. I love educated conversations and debates interrupted by the ringing of a cupcake timer or squirrel doing a strange walk in the distance. The people I like the most don't try around me, so I know what I'm seeing right away (and I'm pretty accepting, so what I see is usually not a problem). I'm good at talking and listening, but I do the first when I don't know what else to do. In other words, if you want me to listen, TELL me to listen. I walk with a confident gait, except when my eyes glance down for reassurance that my feet won't fail me. My heart is big, and my mind is open.

Specifics...

drawing (or doodling...) would be closest to my passion. I love computer graphics, although I only am familiar with rudimentary photoshop, illustrator, and inDesign.

I love to bake, crochet, cook, walk, sing, and anything else that has a positive swing to it.

I get lost in my own head. alot.

If you don't expect anything of me, you'll see who I am. If you expect this or that, you'll see that. For some reason that's always how it works. (e.g. to those who see me as smart, I'm smart, same with disorganized or clumsy or sweet, etc.)

End of the Summer

I am so sad. I promised I would update you with crazy adventure stories of graphic design and more, but I failed. Luckily, I am here for my end-of-summer update, and I DID remember to put up a new header, as promised.

I downloaded the Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium trial version as to learn some of the programs, and on my last 4 days of ownership, I am glad to say that I utilized the programs as best as I could. Here are some examples of things I created!

Illustrator

I was lucky enough for one of my friends to show me this ridiculous photo of him in Switzerland. The only thing that could have made it better, in my opinion, was to turn it into a bad comic at 2 o'clock in the morning! Voila!

Photoshop

And what could possibly be better than a screenshot of a project I worked on?!? Well, here is a poster I made for the story "The Little Matchbox Girl," which is a personal favorite tale. If you want to know what it's about, I suggest checking out the Disney version, although that is not from where I draw my inspiration.

InDesign

Sadly, I have nothing to show from inDesign, but I have been working with it to create a new section of a literary magazine for my school. This actually entails much more research than anything else, but I feel it is worth it.

In Conclusion

All of the things I posted here are experimental stuff... NOT my best work. I've created cutesy cartoons on Illustrator that probably look much nicer than the one shown, and I've made posters in photoshop that don't include making my own flames, so they've come out clearer. No judging! Also, I'd like to point out that although the design package from adobe costs somewhere around $2K, if you are a student and interested in design (like me!), you should check out their student discounts that bring it down to about $500. I think it applies for any education level, as long as you're in school. And this is absolutely brilliant because it brings the price of all of the design programs down below the price of any individual program's usual cost. Check it out! It's worth it!

(<-- me being creepy with my favorite pen ever :D)

Wouldn't it be cool if there were something like sub-blogs?

Almost like a webpage, I guess. It's just that I don't always want to post everything on a blog, so I wish I could be like "if you want to see all the pictures, click here!" Then it might be easier, you know? All the important stuff on one page, all the extraneous stuff on another. Also, if I wanted to log a trip or something, I could have a spin-off blog in case you wanted to know about that.

Aside from that, I got faber-castell pens! If you didn't know, if I ever had to have a child with an innanimate object, I would easily choose faber-castell. I always had trouble with ballpoint pens because there was those awkward skips that would ruin any drawing flow I had. Actually, I found a pen that fixed that... an old pink uni-ball pen I found worked about as well as the faber-castell pens. I soon found out that my favorite ball-point was made when uni-ball was made by faber-castell. They're still good under stanford, still the best ball-points I can find, but nothing compares to my faber-castells. Maybe my mind will change some day.

If any of you can show me a better pen than faber-castell, I will... I will... I will do something. Issue a challenge and maybe I shall complete it if you can find me a pen I like more. You won't be able to. I'm pretty damn sure. The only pen I have that comes close is my pentel pocket brush.

New header.

It's off center. That kind of bothers me...

Webcomic: Blip

If you have read all of your usual list of webcomics and are looking for more? Check out Blip! I love the comic thus far (I'm not quite done catching up). It has an original plot line with a wonderful style of art. I don't know why, but I have a predilection towards the colors and textures and style used in the comic. If you like it, comment or email me with a rating!

What did I learn from TV?

The Colbert Report taught me something tonight. It taught me that this site exists. What is that site? It is a bunch of cats. That look like Hitler.

Isn't this the beauty of capitalism? Of entrepreneurship?

Once I saw this, I was tempted to update my own picture!

I saw this cat when I visited Turkey (it was a kick-arse trip).

My one trepidation is that it would fit perfectly for a mustache-cat, but maybe not for a Hitler cat. Let me know what you think! Comment, email, and I'll post a link in the left side bar.

Graphic Design: Fresh Start

So, I'm off to a start with my graphic design learning experience! I found an amazing site that gives instructions to learning graphic design yourself. How perfect, right? It's like someone looked down and saw me. Then set up a website for me to do lots of work with.

For starters, I'm re-doing the header of this blog, as I said I would (oh my goodness... I'm actually following through!). Then, I'm going to work on some posters for school things, then maybe help a friend with a webpage. I figure I'll blog my reactions every time I finish one of the classes. That way, I'll feel more motivated to actually follow through! So keep me to my word, ladies and gents! Check out the link, and watch my progress, okay?

Learning Graphic Design: Typography

Okay. First step. Reading material and resources!

Now, I want to start with typography, because I have fun with that.

I read some articles from that website, and decided to play around with images, and see what I think. Dafont.com offers free downloads of tons of fonts. Cool, right?

I'm going to make some posters with them. They will be pretty basic, because I don't know much about poster-ifying, so more like arranged words.

I'll update my progress as well as some old posters :)

Another Morning Blog

Gosh, these summer mornings just got me bloggin. I think internet either makes me very productive or very unproductive. I can't decide which this is. Anywho, here's another little blog in the morning, so I don't make countless random entries. I would twitter this stuff, but my last twittering spurt woke my friend because her cell phone kept going off :P

10:31 AM

Christian groups should not try to understand slang. I have learned some... strange things. Check out the site, it is kind of ridiculous, but a cross check with Urban Dictionary proves most of the definitions to be correct.

Also, I have been reading this blog on somewhat cool music, and I really like it. I feel like, although I don't like the "LOOK HOW OBSCURE I CAN BE," early QC comics arguments, "look how indie I can be!" trend, this blog does a cool thing by making good bands more popular. I'm probably late in the game to find the site, but I'm also late to download Phoenix and Neon Trees, but I still like them, so hey, whatever.

On a completely different note, my cat is actually snuggling me! Which is weird, because even my grandmother called Clara "Kathy's bitch cat." Kathy is my mother, and it is ridiculously weird to hear my grandmother say that, heh.

Lastly for my 10:31 AM post, I want photoshop and illustrator and all of adobe's produces *cries*.

10:41 AM

Am I the only one who finds it weird that Google Chrome is not a supported browser of Google Gears? Just saying...

Classes

I have a fascination with certain aspects of graphic design such as colors, spacing, typography, etc., and the more I try to teach myself this information, the more I want to take classes in specifically these areas. The problem is, my school is so small that they offer bits and pieces of these knowledge in classes that just don't interest me. I want to go in depth about typography, for example, and I don't know where to learn about it. I know the art teacher knows it, for he gives students a typography project that takes one week or less of the overall art program. That frustrates me so much! I know I could learn more if I took the class, but I would have to only learn a little, then move on? ARGH. I need someone to teach me :(

Internet Searching

You know those scary people out on the streets late at night? Just loitering?

That's me. They are probably just looking for internet... I've been so judgmental all this time!

... stupid bugs keep biting me >:(

Mornings

I always write too much in the mornings!

From now until noon, I'm going to add all new thoughts on this blog entry.

8:50 AM

Maybe I should update the banner on top of the page... It doesn't do that well by me.

Also, my cellphone is missing. I have the horrible problem where either my cell phone or charger is perpetually missing, so there is no way my cell phone ever works. This is why I adore email :D

I wish there was some way t-mobile would let me check my texts, missed calls, and voice mail online, though. It would be super convenient.

8:53 AM

I just got google chrome's beta version for macs, and I love it! It works so nice, but there are a few things I am still adjusting to. I always accidentally press out of it, because the bar at the top is noticably smaller as compared to firefox. Whereas firefox asks me something along the lines of "you have 34 (or some other unreasonably high number) tabs open on that page. Are you sure you want to close all of them?" chrome is just like, "she must know what she's doing... people aren't THAT clumsy on computers!" And then all my tabs close. Luckily, I found a button at the bottom of the page when I reopen it that lets me open all of those tabs again, but it doesn't find the exact place I was in the polish-electronic-pop song I was listening to (http://obscuresound.com/?p=4588). Hmph. **The lyrics aren't actually polish... they just have a polish following**

9:34 AM

Wow, I withheld for a while... well... thanks to twitter :)

SPEAKING OF WHICH. None of my twitter toolbars work in the beta google chrome! They worked for a little, then both of em died :( I forget what they were called, but I think it just might be a glitch with the toolbar access thing. Chrome also keeps putting all new bookmarks in my toolbar, which is kind of weird. I'll figure out something.

Lastly for this post, I'm about to update some software on my computer. Last time I did this, it crashed and wouldn't turn back on, so I had to re-image it, losing a TON of data. Let us hope it doesn't do that again. If I don't post within 20 minutes... well... let's just say Mah Precious (my laptop's name) will be resting in Mt. Doom.

9:49 AM

Back. Alive. I can barely believe it! I'm actually going to have to do that again in a few minutes, though. Phooey.

So, two thoughts while I was upstairs gathering things.

1) Do you think people would be mad if I spray painted something? It's illegal and all that, but there are so many places around here that are practically deserted that could use a touch of happiness, right?

2) The reason the US has its troubles is because it is a system run on money and manipulation. There is no way to change anything unless the system is altered. Sadly, I can't think of better motivation than money, and a way to avoid pure corruption (rather than stupidity) than votes. I guess we just have to start journeying and see where we end up. Let's just hope we don't make the wrong moves, right?

10:11 AM

Is it just me, or is the font getting larger the more I write? Hmm...

I just updated my webcomic list, adding Gunnerkrig Court and Blip to the list. I am going to write up some reviews on those, and hopefully have enough energy to follow through and post them. Sadly, I actually have to go work on college things... I'm just... sooo... tired! I have a reason, though? It was so hot last night that I crashed on the floor and didn't bother to turn the light off. Because of the heat and my laziness, I woke up throughout the night with my eyes hurting from the light, and my shoulders from the floor. A normal person would have a) gone to their ACTUAL bed or b) turned off the light and stayed on the cool floor, but I did neither. At one point, I dimmed the light... but at three in the morning it is too scary to fully turn off the light and get back into bed. So I'm tired.

I feel like this post is the least coherent one I have ever posted...

11:42 AM

I'm so irked. I wanted to take a course in graphic design at the local art museum, but it is over a hundred dollars and only has four classes. On top of that, scheduling says I'd miss two. The worst part about it is that the class offered exactly what I needed, and you can't find those everywhere. The internet is annoying me now. Probably because I'm grumpy and tired and hungry. Hmph. Well, I guess this will be my last morning post. I'm gonna take a nap now, bye!

Internets and College Search

So, although I haven't had internet (for the last... say... nine months?) on any stable basis, for the last few days I've been waking up especially early to go to a place that does! This means I've been catching up on comics, doing research, and looking at colleges.

College is frightening. That's the truth. I'm planning the trips, tours, and whatnot, while my parents ask me lots of questions. Suggestions? Sometimes. Advice? Only in strange idioms. Questions and doubts about my choices? Hellofalot.

Here are the top 2 I am currently looking into. Shoot me an email to tell me what you think!

Fordham: Located in NYC with a liberal-quasi-religious basis. The school was formed by Jesuit priests who did not believe in grades, but managed to survive despite its liberal ideas by classes on rational thought and realistic activism. They don't have an architecture major, something I am considering going into, but I can always go to grad school for that.

Northeastern: A polar opposite of Fordham, Northeastern is what my maternal family calls a "big block school." They function on large class sizes with rudimentary information, then letting students pursue their own goals. Basically, instead of coddling kids to reach their creative limits IN class, they limit the small-class feeling to inspire students to follow tangents outside. I kind of like that method of learning, but if they do it wrong, it's gonna be hell. Another BIG plus is their huge coop program. I could be working in a field before I leave.

These two choices aren't the only I've looked into, and obviously I have a bit more to do, but I think I'm doing pretty well, dangnamit!

Thoughts (Free-write)

I have the intense urge to learn a peripheral amount of information about everything. I love knowing my passions in depth, but I wish I knew enough carpentry to fix a cabinet, build a bridge, or install a window. I wish I knew enough acting to lie well. I wish I knew enough electronics to fix my damn cell phone charger.

But then once I learn a little, it doesn't seem like I know anything anymore. For instance, I learned enough graphic design to design our school's literary magazine, but now I wish I could learn juuust a little about basic shape manipulation or typography to give it a more polished look. Still focusing on the peripheral knowledge, but deepening my understanding of graphic design. I think that's why I love art so much... I'm never bored just learning more about the same thing. There's always new territory.

New Cat!

Guess what! That was supposed to be a video. Blogger has failed me D':
And I have no clue what that font was hyper linked to...

If I Do Start Posting...

This is what is to come:
-More comic reviews
-Sketches of some new characters/plotlines
(I know I never finish a plotline, but why not post progress, right?)
-Cool Random Facts (reflexology, best words ever, etc)
-Possibly Videos? (dog tricks and such)
AND
-More Rants (FOX channel advertisements are WEIRD... fox is weird)
-Maybe a new banner for the site! (fun!!)

Back on the War Path

So I'm back on this blog. I'm not promising consistant posts or anything, but I have a quick thing to talk about.

I watched Glenn Beck today, and I think I get how he organizes his shows.
Step 1) Go to GOOGLE VIDEOS
Step 2) Search one KEY WORD (today, it was "global")
Step 3) Find many liberals SAYING this word
Step 4) Find a COMMUNIST saying this word
Step 5) Say they're saying the SAME THING by cropping the video footage

Done! Paranoia instilled! Reason saved for a later day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maH0nQDw0X4

Check around 40 Seconds. It's deplorable. Do people actually listen to this (and believe it)?

On today's show of global takeover, apparently he things a world economy is a bad thing. He just doesn't know who is controlling it! He thinks it is god. Global Governance is controlled by God. Don't you know? Urgle... I know I may not be the most educated ranter on the internet, but I just do not understand how anyone who is educated about anything can believe these idiots without looking up their own information.