pretty pretty pretty (!)

OHMIGOSH. PRETTYANDSHINYANDILOVEIT.

I love finding new blogs to look at.

Pardon me?

I feel a lot less sheepish when I flub up my words when speaking to an ESL student. Cause, like, they might think I'm just saying a word they don't know yet, right?

Yeah.
So when they say "Have a last day" (wha? lice? I know it was "nice" but it did not sound at all like that), it is best to smile and say, "Goo duh..." which is a combination of saying, "you, too!" and, "good!". Because, really, who doesn't respond to someone telling you to have a nice day by saying, "good".
At this point it is best if you lower your head in shame and shove your left-hand index finger underneath your top lip, but wait until the student has walked away, lost in thought over the possible definition of the new English word they just heard.

Greetings from Beijing!

New international graduate students are trickling into my office; bringing with them excitement, newness, and lots of saying, "What? Can you repeat that?"
Today a new student arrived from China and I told him where to go and yada yada, gave him a map and sent him on his way. As our conversation was coming to a close he was fumbling in his pocket and produced a gift for me. He handed me a keychain and said, "Here's a gift for you."



It's an Olympics souvenir representing the stadium where the swimmers compete. Yes, that's a pig next to it to better show you the scale of this keychain.
He was trying to tell me what it was and mentioned people "fighting" in there, and then said swimming, so I figured he meant "competing". But I'm sure there's some fighting, too.
The keychain for the mail-room key recently broke and I've been waiting for just the right one to replace it. Perfect timing.

Good Morning

So by my estimations, I should be able to make clothes like this for my future daughter by the time she is this old. Un-friggin'-believable. Maybe it's because I am easily amazed in the morning or this outfit is just the bomb. Actually... I want it for myself...
Gah! I have too many projects to get done!

(source: SugarCity Journal, look on my blogroll to the right...)

Robot Love

My possible trip to San Francisco this fall has brought an interesting thing into my daily internet fix. After finding a possible room to stay in via AirBedandBreakfast, I decided to check out the website made by Jonathan, one of three roommates in the apartment in San Fran. Rock Cookie Bottom is a blog of sorts where Jonathan posts a daily assignment. If you choose to do the assignment you are told to either email him your homework or post it into the comments.
The first assignment I turned in was to write an 8-line puppet play about a grandma having a birthday. I posted it into the comments and that was that. The next day I was pleasantly surprised to find he had made each play into a short movie production. It was so neat to see my lame script turned into a very, very weird moving picture.
Yesterday's assignment was to send him a picture of a robot. I was too busy actually working yesterday (yay, I finally have things to do now that it's August!), so I did the assignment today. I sent him the painting I did in highschool (Robot Love) and a drawing of a robot I did this morning.





I think this is the most entertaining website I've seen in a long time. And it's fun to think I might actually meet this guy and catch a glimpse of his craziness in person.

So, as much as typing makes it sound like I'm working, I have nothing else to share at the moment.

Bagels!

Today I had lunch at Bruegger's Bagels. When I was standing in line I decided that I wanted an Asiago-Parmesan bagel toasted with plain cream cheese. The woman in front of me ordered what I wanted exactly. In order to not feel/look weird I quickly thought up a new order. I ate an un-toasted cheddar bagel with plain cream cheese. It was delicious.
Sometimes I really dislike the banter that happens between perfect strangers. When something odd happens, like ordering the same lunch, you are usually required to joke with eachother. This is where the cheesy smile and polite laugh come in. There are days when I enjoy it, and days when I actually initiate it, but today was not one of those days. Oh well, I'll get an Asiago-Parmeson bagel another day.

Slow Morning

I woke up at 3:30 am. I heard Wallace get up too so I forced myself out of bed before he found a nice place to go potty. I let him out and when he was done we went back inside and I went to bed. Needless to say, when my alarm went off at 6:10 am I had a hard time waking up. 4 snoozes. I do have to say that this is better than the night before when I woke up at 4am and stayed in bed only to hear Wallace peeing right next to it! I had to get up and show him the right place to pee, and when we got back inside I stepped in poo! Don't know when he did that. All that matters is that it was gross. I don't want him to get the idea that I will let him out at all hours of the night so I might have to go back to having him sleep in the kitchen. I frequently wake up in the middle of the night just for a minute or so. I think it's unfair to him because he doesn't know that I'm not getting up for good.

I started cutting out fabric for a new dress last night. The fabric I bought for the dress turned out to be not wide enough for the skirt so I had to resort to another bedsheet. The original fabric was a nice dark blue with some textured vertical lines, but now the dress will be a bright, all-over floral. Oh well, it's a summer dress for a summer wedding. Oh, and I LOVE my new rotary fabric cutter. It cuts like butter. I'll post pictures once I get my camera back...

Whoa!

I was sitting here at my desk, updating account balances like I do at the beginning of every month. All of a sudden I felt this warm rush and this thought popped into my head, "I love my job!" Weird, huh?
It's a rainy Monday, yet I'm feeling great.

Various reasons why this phenomenon has occured:
This will be a short week for me since my vacation starts on Thursday.

Or the cup of coffee I just drank. I sort of spilled way too much sugar into it. Oops. Silly me...

Of course, another reason might be that I had a really great weekend and bought some really awesome thrifted sheets. I'm excited to make things this summer. Also, so glad my sewing room is in the nice, cool basement.
When opening my RSS feed aggregator this morning I saw this lovely creation by Flour:


And this funny picture from Made By Tess:


So all of these things combined have made it a very nice morning.

Stimulation

Looking at my bank balance online has never before resulted in audibly laughing and saying awesome. Unfortunately the entire amount of my economic stimulus package is spoken for, but it did make my balance look nice for a bit. Bills bills bills. It feels really great to pay bills actually. It makes me feel responsible and relieved. Granted I haven't paid any of them off entirely, except utilities, but it's still nice. Does it feel better than having a spiffy new camera? The jury is still out on that.
Who cares though? I'll get a camera someday when I'm good and ready. I don't want a crap camera so it's good to wait until I can afford an awesome one.

This morning I put food in each of the doggy dishes and tried to guide each of the boys to their respective bowls so that they would eat at the same time. Usually I feed them and walk away, and sometimes I stick around long enough to see Wallace munching away and Cosmo just sitting and looking at his weird new brother. It makes me think that maybe Wallace is sending Cosmo signals/growls that prevent him from also eating. Cosmo hasn't been losing any weight so he is eating, I just rarely get to see him do it. So today I sat down between the bowls and watched and waited for them to eat their fill. Wallace is a very determined eater. Very focused. Cosmo will eat, and look around, and eat some more, and look at you for approval, and wag his tail when you pet him. He is always needing encouragement so I'm not surprised that he's the same way with eating. But then there's the side of him that will wait until you're busy untangling Wallace and then sneak around the fence corner to go find decomposing things to eat and roll in.
I'm so in love with all of my boys.

I really really really cleaned the bathroom this last week. I sprayed a putrid smelling thing on the mildewy tub and walls that almost made me choke. Cosmo, on the other hand, plopped down right next to the tub as if he didn't smell a thing! I kept having to kick him out because I was afraid he would start licking it. I also took down the *clear* curtains and washed them because they were almost opaque. Now they are back to being clear and I absolutely LOVE taking a shower now.

Speaking of chemicals used for cleaning... I recently bought a bottle of the new Green Works All Purpose Cleaner

I really like the smell of it, and of course that it's made from plants. The only problem is that it gets so sudsy. It makes whatever you're using to wipe with turn into a solid block of soap almost. But I did find that putting a little bit into a bucket and filling the rest with water works very well. I even cleaned some windows with it, which maybe is not the best use, but I didn't see any streaking. (**UPDATE: When I first published this the image was GIANT! But I went in to edit it and understood the html well enough to get the number of pixels down to a size I was happy with. Cool!)

Yesterday I found out that because I'm retaking a math class that I had previously failed my new grade will replace the old one. All I need to do is get my cumulative GPA to 2.0 or above, but I was thinking I had to balance out that F grade with a really good grade to get the number up. I will be getting a B+ in the class (I was so hoping for an A, oh well) and I don't even have to take the final. Hoo-ray. And then I can start the long journey towards my textiles degree. (I was going to write "fashion degree" but sometimes that word makes me feel so dirty. Or maybe just ditzy. Textiles is such a ridiculous word to use. I don't think many people know what I'm talking about when I say the word.) I've been mapping out draping techniques in my mind. Of course I'm only going off video images I've seen and so I only have a vague idea of how to do it. My goal is to make a shirt or dress pattern strictly from using my dressform. I have memorized the general shape of a bodice and I'm starting simple so all I will do is make it fit the shoulder/armpit/bust/neck area and then make it longer if I want to make a dress. Then I will have to put darts in where I think they should go to give it some shape. Again, I know generally where they go, but this whole thing will be trial and error. I have got to get some zippers! I think my need for zippers has given me the wonderful excuse to not sew anything. And also my lack of time/energy.

I've added another blog, The Mindful Home, to my RSS feed. The writer is a young girl (21, younger than me even!) who is trying to live simple with her husband and daughter. I was so interested in her story that I've already looked through all of her archives. I like following peoples' lives and adventures. It's like a modern-day sitcom. Or maybe it's a soap opera. Actually, it pretty much just a reality show, which I like. She's experimented with so many things to continually improve her goal of living simply and lessening her carbon footprint. Reading about the things that she does makes me feel like I could do so much more. It's hard to make changes though, as I'm sure she would agree with. But I have a feeling that once you start down that road it gets easier to add on more and more changes. (And I guess I did add another RSS feed...ManBabies)

(Good luck for your marathon, Hannah!)

Those who cannot do, write...

In order to live a more healthy lifestyle, and to save money, my plan is to not drink any alcohol. I tend to spend more money on drinks when I am drinking drinks. I am also going to try and not eat crappy food. No more restaurants. But if I do go to one, and I'm positive I will, I will order something small-ish. I will try and chew my food completely before swallowing in order to satisfy my hunger without over-eating. I read somewhere that setting down your fork after each bite will help in the effort. I will try to eat a more balanced diet. I am tired almost all the time so I need more iron. Green, leafy vegetables. I guess that means spinach? and ...? I will exercise more, maybe. My daily commute is not exercise, and I don't really go on bike rides just for fun so I could stand to add that on the list. Playing tennis once a week is wicked fun, but not necessarily exercise, so I should do it more frequently. I live so close to East Campus I should be going to practice my swing on the tennis walls, but I find other things to do. The idea of running is appealing to me, as an idea. I'm afraid the outcome would be painful humiliation, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Too bad my iPod crapped out on me. Another plan was to not drink any coffee, and, well... it's cold in the office this morning. So here I am drinking my cup'o'coffee, pretending to be healthy. Honestly, I'll start tomorrow.

Another Day

I had a math test last night. We had the privilege of using a page of notes, front and back, so of course I took full advantage. I copied nearly every page in Chapter 5 (the one I didn't study at all and knew practically nothing about), shrunk each page down, and cut and pasted the main ideas and as many examples as possible. In the end it was extremely helpful, and mostly readable. I whizzed through the test when I thought I was going to have to take the whole 2 hours and even then end up failing it. When finished I went up to look at the answer key and see the damage, but I didn't miss very many at all. Needless to say I am very pleased.
And today I was looking at the UNL transfer guide for the Textile and Apparel Design program and I only need one more math class and then I'm done with it forever.



This is coming up very soon.

Nom nom nom

I'm fairly certain that I have a cavity. It's in the tooth that's had a weird hole in it since forever ago. I was told, or I overheard mom being told, that it might become a problem for me down the road. I guess I've made it down the road. I was looking through the yellow pages for a dentist who would be close to my home and had a nice sounding name. I was sitting on the couch and I think I slumped over into a nap. I never knew looking for a dentist would be so draining. Needless to say I didn't find anyone. I decided to try my luck with the College of Dentistry. It's cheaper, but I already have insurance, and it's close to my home. My first appointment will be a sort of getting-to-know-you meeting filled with all sorts of fun things like x-rays and paperwork. This is my favorite kind of meeting!
In celebration of my toothache, during lunch I bought 16 ounces (1 pound!) of sugar (for coffee: also very bad for the teeth) and a Snickers bar. I felt so responsible.
In other news, I need a part time job it seems.

Notes on a Friday

After reading the book "Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn, I typed in www.katherinedunn.com to find out more about the author. That's not actually her website, but the website for an artist. A lucky find by me because I really love her work.

The end of the semester is here and I'm surrounded by excited/relieved/panicked students. Actually, not so much surrounded anymore. Maybe I was earlier this week, or even yesterday, but it's kind of a ghost town right now. Students have vanished overnight, or at least they're still passed out from a night of binge drinking. After all, it's not yet noon.

Yesterday afternoon I was a busy-bee, walking all over campus. Cars were lined up, double-parked all along 17th and 16th streets slowly getting filled with stuff. And more stuff. Many desperate looking parents trailing behind their offspring with armloads of stuff. They're really coming home? I really have to feed them again?
I helped one girl shove a futon mattress into her backseat. Her car was too small for such cargo, I thought, but it was squished and shoved and it fit. But then, why did she want to keep it anyway? A futon? I'll never understand that.
Dumpster divers found the mother lode yesterday as well. I saw a tv being handed over the top of a rolloff as I walked back to work. Honestly, don't people know where their garbage goes? Wait, do they care? Oh, right. Not a bit.

Final note: I listen to Pandora radio at work most days. For the past few days I've been listening to my station of "The Cardigans" and totally loving it. I love every single song they pick for it. Hurray for femme-rock! Not really. I'm not a feminist, and I usually like male lead vocals more than female, but this music is just so fun and exciting to listen to. Anyhow, it's a good station.

My Morning

This was fun to make. I had to hold myself back from putting oddball locations down as choices. Like... on the roof, or... right beHIND YOU!!

Oh I crack myself up...

P.s. I'm wearing my new dress! I feel like a purple people eater.

Purple Rain

Last night I started sewing a dress run-through. It's a run-through because I want to get the technical parts right before I use the nice (expensive) fabric.
I chose a dark purple thrifted bedsheet. After cutting the pieces out I realized I needed to line the bodice. I don't have any satin fabric at home so I chose to cut the lining out of a different sheet. So the lining is very colorful and fun. It will be my little secret.
This dress is turning out to be fabulously easy (it only has 4 pattern pieces!). This of course brings on my inner debate. Do I really need to sit through 3 years of reading, writing and arithmatic to get to that fourth year of sewing? Have I ever really believed in the necessity of a college degree? No. But I've been told, and I tell myself, that it's the experience. It's the overall experience that will round me out as an intellectual human and prepare me for this life. That sounds nice. I guess. But all I want to do is sew clothes and look at clothes and feel clothes and admire the skill of other people who sew clothes. Did they go to school for that? To be a fashion designer you must live and breath fashion. You have to know your customer. You have to know the future. You have to know the human form, and how to cover it.
I feel like I am heading in that direction. Sure I make Simplicity clothes right now, but I'm seeing how it all works. I'm seeing the way patterns are shaped in order to fit around arms and necks and waists. They're all pretty much the same. It's not a huge leap to start making patterns based on your own body, or that wealthy-fashionista-who-will-pay-you-$$'s body.
One thing I find humorous is how this part of my life is shadowing the way in which I learned how to make art. I started out drawing faces of models in Seventeen magazine, over and over and over. Sometimes I would draw the torso, if it was included in the photograph. Rarely would I draw a whole form, legs and all, because it was quite difficult, and I really enjoyed the way faces were made more than knees and feet. I have memorized the way to draw a face. Sure I usually draw the same general face whenever I'm doodling, but it's still just as easy to copy a face from a picture, or even from real life. And here's my point: I've started out making dresses, mostly because they're so cute and fun, but they are also very easy. On the other hand, making pants is relatively hard, but I'm excited to meet that challenge. I can draw legs if I want/have to, and the same goes for pants.
In other news, I'm considering actually stimulating the economy with my economic stimulus package. I think it would be very beneficial for me to have a nice digital camera so I can record things like the process of making a dress. This one looks very nice. I'm not sure how much the government will give me to spend though, so I might have to pick a different one.
That's all for now.

Potty Talk

an enlightening conversation overheard in the Yia Yia's bathroom:

blonde 1: I never sit on public toilet seats. I squat.

blonde 2: Oh, I know. I do, too.

blonde 1: I was in the Union bathroom the other day and I heard this girl saying, "This toilet seat feels funny.", and I was like why are you even touching it?

blonde 2: *laughs*

blonde 1: There's no soap.

blonde 2: Gross!