Thursday, July 30, 2009

3 digits & i'm still sweatin

the summer is still continuing in its own unique way. i'm getting a bit of cabin fever, lusting after the fall & antsy to begin school again. my birthday is in a month & a half, & that is also how long i have to enjoy? being a teenager still...

some goals I have achieved:

being more creative:
-created four more shirts with embroidery, leather piece stitching, etc.
-started the martinellis piece, almost? done
-also started a more personal project revolving around my town, family, & closest friends. it is in two parts, one is a book i created myself that will involve polaroids (a kind of parallelism between me leaving tri-cities & making a new home elsewhere & also polaroids disappearing). The other part is simply a photo album with my favorite places & people from the tri-cities.
-also I have been sketching quite a bit, trying to keep up, finding my own artistic voice in terms of that medium.

shopping smarter:
-started going to weekend yard sales with carly! they are a great way to find amazing deals. I found a sweater for 50 cents, a pair of easy spirits for 50 cents, a purse for the same, etc. etc. etc. It has really helped me find cool things as well as save money
-still going to vintage shops to search for interesting items. I recently found an antique sketchbook with aged paper
-I have failed a bit in cutting back on buying food myself. It is hard because I get this intense cravings & just have to buy & bake...haha, but!

gaining valuable knowledge:
-i have been baking! mostly desserts & such, but also figuring out really simple recipes that are cheap to make for next year when I am on my own! Things like: special K pb choc. bars! :] & also tomato, mozarella, & pesto mayo sandwiches, as well as dabbling in a little bit of experimentation when it comes to using fake meats in things like pasta dishes & mexican dishes. Also I think I may have finally perfected my bean dip dish. It is VERY good now, I get compliments on it a lot.
-I've continued to read. I recently finished "Siddhartha" by Hesse, it was interesting but I think it was a bit behind my reading levels. I also am starting to read another Camus book "The Plague" and also Gide's "The Immoralist". Furthermore I'm starting "On the Road" by Kerouac & also "The Great Gatsby" <-- another goal of mine is to finally read those basic classics I always set aside.
-also I have been starting to watch new documentaries & specials on Ovation TV, which is a nice way for me to relax after work but still learn. Ovation TV features artists, musicians, & the like on its channel.
-also I have got new but old music to listen to, retracing my older roots by downloading Ella Fitzgerald, as well as the Meat Puppets, The Vaselines, Young Marble Giants, etc. Also I have started going to shows at our local venue The Red Room for shows. I recently saw Helio Sequence & it has fueled a new love for them, as well as Deer Tick.

new goals are to...
-write more letters to different friends, apparently my pen pals are laaaazy or maybe just too busy to reply? so I am going to try with new friends instead. I'm tired of walking to the mailbox only to be disappointed, haha.
-start the bus pass piece after I get my next paycheck, it should be a fatty paycheck so I will have enough money to buy a large enough canvas & supplies I need. Also I need to do prelim sketches to figure out everything beforehand, messing up this piece during would absolutely be catastrophic.
-bake more & maybe put together a favorites recipe book for my apartment/house next year.
-continue to go back & get old roots music...trying to remember all those goodies I lost in the computer crash of 2006 :[
-still buy a microphone
-travel a bit more, try to visit a friend in grand coulee & also go to seattle to see molly & also do museum visits while im up there.
-continue to sketch
-finish Walden... it is getting very slow. Also start other books too

anyways...more to come! only 46 days left

Sunday, July 5, 2009

blip blip blip, the summer is making my skin drip!
got real hot today, but i did not notice due to the long shift at my new job at the tri-city country club as a buser.
***goal achieved!!!
-i officially am employed & working between 25 & 40 hours a week, just enough for me, & hopefully enough to get at least 3/5ths the way to my trip to London next summer!

***goal achieved!!!!
- I learned how to sew on the machine! I have made two v-neck shirts, three pillows & also discovered the wonderful craft of embroidery & how cute it can make clothes look!

***goal achieved!!!
- Bought two new books- The Brothers Karamazov & The Idiot, both by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I started The Brothers Karamazov last week, & although it is slow at first I see great things to come (i hope)! I'm also reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau & absolutely adore it. It has changed & challenged some of my viewpoints about materialism & that is a great characteristic for a book to have. As well, I've started reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, it is a quick read & I'm not sure if I like it yet but I enjoy the protagonist's thought process, very unique.

***goal achieved!!!
-Deepening relationships for sure. Especially with my sister Kate, old friend Annie, & old friend Jeromy. Also I rekindled some old friendships who never thought i was going to see them again! very nice :]

***goal achieved!!!
-expanding my musical horizons! Got music from Bat for Lashes, Yeasayer, Atlas Sound, Frightened Rabbits, Last Shadow Puppets, Casiotone for the Painfully Lonely, as well as numerous other bands. Those are just the highlights, ones that stuck.

***goal achieved!!!
-writing to my friends with my typewriter a lot! already have four friends i am currently writing to. It is very fun & wonderful. Writing helps with my confidence in deepening relationships & asking questions that need to be asked...

& with that I leave you these quotes:

"I consider it a good rule for letter-writing to leave unmentioned what the recipient already knows, & instead tell him something new." Sigmund Freud