So Many Things...

So much time and so little to say.

STRIKE THAT! REVERSE IT!

We'll begin at the beginning... or at least where we last left off.

Thursday

Our first real class with Marge... or at least a class where we weren't watching videos or being babysat by someone else. The Tamarind book manuscript is finished and now Marge can move on to other things... like raising 5 million dollars for the new building. Crazy crazy.

I didn't feel good that morning and was having trouble paying attention in class. Also, I'm not good with names and hate it when people ask things like, "What artists were working in lithography in the United States in the early 1900's?" Even if I know that stuff most likely it would never make it from the recesses of my brain to my mouth in time to give an answer. Then I just look extra stupid... so instead I tried to just sit there and look cute. Did I mention my new headband? It takes me back to the old days when I wore a stocking cap nearly year round. This gives kind of the same feeling... the warm pressure on the ears. but without the bad hat hair. It's perfect.



Thursday afternoon we had demos in how to etch our Tusche Wash Tests. After the demo, I worked on putting the first etch on my stone. I think I may have gone back later in the evening and put the first etch on my plate as well. At some point during the day, the Cardinals trounced the Pittsburgh Pirates 16-4! And I didn't even get to watch it because I was in class. *sigh*

Friday

Fridays are work days but I didn't really get going until around 11:30am. I was there. I just wasn't doing much. I guess I still had residual feelings of yuckiness from the day before. I started getting ready to put the second etch on my stone right before lunch. Of course, we all managed to screw ours up (except for the lucky person who volunteered their stone for the demo). My pretty pretty tusche washes almost completely went bye-bye. It's so frustrating. I knew that I was probably going to screw it up but I was hoping by some miracle it would actually look good. Oh well. I spent more than TWO HOURS carefully rolling up my stone with ink, to try to get back the information on the stone. But it didn't help much.

I know this probably makes no sense, but I'm too tired to properly explain it. You'll just have to trust me that it was a pain.

Since I worked through lunch I went home around 3pm and then came back later in the day to finish the second etch on my plate. It wasn't quite as bad as the stone, but it still didn't look super.

Friday night Patrick and Alex came and got me and took me with them to Valpuri's house. There ended up being six of us there and we sat out on the roof and had beers and wine and enjoyed the evening air and conversation and Valpuri's ability to stick things in her nose and also sing Ace of Base. Here is another video for you. It takes a second but I think it gets more amusing towards the end so stick with it. If you pay attention closely, you can enjoy Valpuri's rendition of "The Sign".

Saturday

I slept in a little this morning and then met up with Alex at the studio around 10am. We worked until 5pm and were able to print both of our first plate editions and then my stone edition. I felt good about what we accomplished today, so we don't have to worry about taking the day off tomorrow.

We stopped at a little produce market near my house after we were done working and I got a cantaloupe, some nectarines and two mangoes. The girl at the register commented that I was eating pretty healthy for someone my age. I told her that I was probably older than she was and she said that she was 26. She felt bad after I told her I was 28 and wouldn't stop apologizing. Like it was really that big of a deal.

This evening Patrick came over and watched the Brewers-Reds game. He recently purchased a bushel of roasted green chiles so he brought a frozen pizza and put green chiles all over the top of it. It was fantastic but a little spicy. Here is Patrick skinning the green chiles:



Normally, I would've watched the Cardinals game this evening. But they are playing in Arizona and it is blacked out since I live so close to that market. It is stupid. Anyway... I missed yesterday's 4-2 loss and today's 9-8 loss. Maybe if I were watching them they wouldn't lose so much.

After the game we went back to Alex's apartment to enjoy some television, including our new favorite show, Flight of the Conchords. Those zany New Zealanders! Such good times.