blog - december 2611

Finally started working on the paintings for next march.  It's been a downer since the start of the holiday season, so I've been procrastinating for a while.


I think this might be a little ambitious, but there's going to be seven pieces going on at once for the next two months; six for the show and one for a friend that I did a trade with - I think that one's coming along nicely.


I've decided that there will always be a Buddha painting in every series of paintings I do from now on.  I guess I'm going to have to do more Buddha photography on my travels to Asia somewhere.


Today's the day that all the panels were penciled in and ready for under painting.  Two have already been started.


As always, oils takes a while to paint.  This is both a blessing and a curse; a curse due to the drying time, and a blessing because it gives me time to look at the paintings with fresh eyes every time I go back to paint.

blog - November 2211

"When it rains, it pours"

Shanghai airport, 6, November:  While getting ready to get on the flight back home, I wound my ear buds around my iphone and placed it in my coat pocket.  It was not until the plane was ready to take off when I reached for the phone in my pocket, getting ready for some music.  Much to my dismay, the phone was not present in my coat pocket.

Crap...

It's gone...

I looked around the seat, hoping that it just dropped out, but to no avail.  Strange enough, I was not extremely upset.  Just sad, and annoyed at myself.  I lost not only my phone with all the journal entries written down for this blog of the past week and a half, lots of photos that I wanted to use for paintings, but also Amy's phone card that she had for a very long time - that's the most upsetting thing.  I don't mind so much loosing, or breaking my own stuff, but loosing or breaking other people's stuff that's under my care really sucks...


Next is the ipod shuffle - along with a new set of MW3 bullet ear buds.


If that's not enugh, I find out that the reason why my computer at work is sooooo slow is due to a failing hard drive - wonderful.  At least I finally know why it's so slow, thought I was going crazy:S


Disappointed.


Oh, well.

blog - October 2411

Flight fail
Today was the day that I fly out to Shanghai ,China for some resource gathering for next years' studio art show, but things didn't quite pan out.

I guess there were some indicators that things just weren't going to go as planned when the flight was originally delayed from the normal departure time of 1:19pm to 3:00pm.

OK.  No problem, kinda sucks because I'm going to get there a liter than planned.  Original arrival into Shanghai was around five or so in the evening of the next day, but no big deal.  There would still have been time to get settled into the hotel and get familiar with the area around the hotel.

Again, the flight was delayed from three to five.

waiting, waiting, waiting.  Fine.  Decided to go to the book store and picked up a couple of magazines while I waited.

The plane did not get to the gate until around five, so boarding didn't get done until quarter pass six.

Finally, I thought, on my way across the sea.

Wishful thinking, indeed.

After sitting on the tarmac for another forty, forty-five minutes, the captain voice chimes in on the PA saying that there's a problem with the flight controls...

Every one's told to get off the plane and to the ticket counter for overnight accommodations, and that the flight will continue the following morning at one in the afternoon...

Really?

Oh, well...flow like water...

blog - October 1311

Quite a long and cool day
Started out before 7am to go surfing with the co-workers.

The Sunrise was beautiful.

The water was great - with a wet suit, of course, haha.

Waves were crap - got pounded, so not much fun, but it was nice to be in the water.  can't wait to get my own board and get better at it.  Too much fun!




The office was quiet.

Still feeling lazy as hell, which needs to change.  Starting to do some research for a DLC for next year because I got assigned the task Tuesday.




Gym at lunch, but was not into the workout:S




Got a nice surprise when I got back to the office.

My new computer has arrived!!!

It's been a long time since the last one, and that thing is running win2k:S  Hella slow on boot up and pretty much nothing really works on it - software wise.  Can't even browse the web very well at all. 

Now I'm set up and it's connected to the TV with wireless keyboard and mouse!  Freakin awesome!

Talk about a nice space saving set-up;)

Only thing lacking now is...software!

So, for now it's just a glorified browser:-I




So many things to do, so many things still needs to be done!

More cleaning around the place, organizing, throwing things away as I go through all my stuff.

Really need to get my life together.

Simplify

Simplify

Simplify...as much as I can.

Tons of books that needs book shelves for, etc, etc, etc.




Now to update the box blog.

sketches - June 1011

Back from the E3 trade show in LA this week.

What can I say?  I am so thankful and lucky to be in this industry, and even more so, now that I've been, and continuing to, work on one of the biggest games in the world!!!

This industry has gone through a lot of changes and it's great to be able to change with it.

A great interview with one of the great inovators of this industry!!!
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/60801/Carmack-Talks-Rage-Limitations-Of-Consoles-PC-Gaming



As a side note: 
I love how humanity has the ability to find solutions to problems when given the need.  Maybe there's some hope for us after all:)

http://www.markuskayser.com/

I can totally see this on a large scale, and the possible applications are tremendous.  Very insperational.



And ofcourse, nature is beautiful, and humans just can't beat it!
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/frozen-lake-1310164572-slideshow/#crsl=

shit - it's already october 2010

...shit

what is shit?  That seems to be the current language most everyone is using these days to describe a bad situation or insults;


"Shit!  Some asshole hit my car!"

"You got shit for brains"


"Shit" is described for all kinds of things that we don't like, or like to deal with, or stuff that's dirty - like handling shit, literally.

I'm in the middle of soooo much shit right now, that I'm swimming in it.

So much shit at work, and so much shit outside of it.

Shit at work:
Shit at work is going to give me another freakin breakdown.  There's just so much shit that has to be done for this whole next year, and that shit has to be done on time, and that's the thing, there's just not enough time to make the shit.  Everyone have so much shit to do and not enough time to do it in.

The thing is, we all agreed to jumped into this shit together without a snorkel.  But what can we do?  It wasn't like we had much of a choice in the matter.  It was like putting shit in front of a dog and there's nothing else around for the dog to eat, and it's hungry!

What happened?

The head shit makers from the other shit house threw shit on the faces of our shit house owners and started their own shit house.  They've been making some really good shit for the past ten plus years and the last one was the "shit".  So much so that the shit house owners from across the road said;

"Hey, if you come work for us, we'll build you a new shit house so you can make us some good shit."

So they bailed, leaving half the shit makers in the old shit house.

Since the shit we've been toying with impressed our owners so much, they said;

"Hey, we like the shit that you guys been showing us, how about you work with what's left in the other shit house and come up with some good shit?"

The catch is: one year shit cycle, instead of the normal two or three, and it has to be as good, if not better, than the last shit that came out of the other house, and that shit was solid gold!...shit!  How does one top shit made of solid gold?!?!  And we have to make more solid gold shit with the same tools, for shit sake.

I worked with an older version of those tools a while back, so have some idea how to make some good shit, but that's like making shit with a hammer and chisel instead of power tools.  Th problem is, no one in this house knows how to make gold shit with a hammer and chisel, not  like the other shit house.  Even though the left overs from the other house may not be the best shit makers, like the ones who left, they still are ten times better at making shit with their tool than us.  We have so much shit to learn...

I have so much shit to do everyday, that I'm falling behind on the shit that I have to do.  Shit!!!

But this is a great opportunity to make some good shit...at least that's what I keep telling myself while I'm drowning in it.

I love doing this kind of shit, but full concentration every, single, day until we finish all the shit that needs to done, is just a shit load to work.

I am freakin, tired, as usual.  I thought this year was going to be better, but shit just keeps hitting the fan.  This shit's just not healthy for me.  I don't think I've ever really recovered from the last shit that happened, because I still reek of it!!!  That was two years ago?  So much shit has happened.  My head's still spinning, and more shit just keeps on coming down the pipe.

As for shit outside of the shit house?
:
Just finish fixing up the shitty ass old kitchen with some nice shit.  Man, kitchen shit is expensive!  i am freakin broke and then some.  I am so not used to spending so much money on so shit at once.  I guess it was also time to replace the old shit windows, too.  That shit's also expensive, but I don't want shitty windows, which must be part of the reason why I fee like shit, more about that later.

The other half was keeping track of budget, so the shit that I wanted to get got slashed with the budget knife, so I had to figure out how to make something interesting with half the shit I want.  Shit.  What a pain in the ass, I did my best with the time constraint given.  I must say that that was a good thing.  She's good with stuff like that.  Pushed and challenged me to be more creative with what little shit we can afford.

I kinda like the shit that I did on the walls, came out better than expected.  Cheers to the better half.

As for other shit.  Didn't help when I can't sleep for more than two to four hours at a time.  Been that way for a couple of years now.  I guess that didn't help the depression shit that came rearing it's ugly head with a vengeance.  I can't control it anymore and needed some shit to keep it down.

The first shit prescribed seemed to dampen the moods, but feed the down turns hard.

I was such a shit bag.

The ones now seem to do better on both sides of the fence, but I think it's something deeper.

Shit, I'm tired

I can only see more shit days to come

sketches - May 0110

Been trying to get the energy to update for a while, but just have not been feeling up to it. I was hoping that this year was going to be better than the last, but that just haven't happened yet - I must have done something really bad sometime in my life, or the years of calm is finally catching up to me.

Anyway, I am about to embark on a trip with a good couple friend, and needs to get my shit together when I come back, because I have signed myself up with four others to do an art show at the end of July at Avenue 25 gallery. This trip is a good opportunity to gather, I'm hoping, subject matter for a series of paintings for that show. This will be my first, and hopefully not the last! I would totally be stoked if I can actually make a living off making paintings, but I am far from that place, but maybe someday I can and will.

But, unfortunately, I believe I will be going into the dark cave of crunch mode game development for the next year. Time to get mentally prepared with lots of...

sketches - March 0710

Sorry for the absence, but a lot of things have happened in the last three weeks that will be explained in this entry.

The Leap of Faith:

Talk a about Black Mondays. But since Monday, January 18 was a holiday, the news had to be delivered the following day. Tuesday was a dark day with pouring rain - appropriate, since that was the day that I gave my two weeks notice to the Company.

Started off as a normal day. Went into the office and looked for "the man". Couldn't see him, but he was active on the company IM, so I IM'd him inquiring where he is. He said that he was at his desk, which I saw, was totally blocked from view to his desk. So I went over, told him that I was giving my two weeks notice. All he said was an acknowledged "ok" and a few nods. They knew I wanted to leave when I asked to be put on the lay-off list last November, which they denied existed - please, news of lay-offs were already hitting video game news sites. Then I went back to my desk and started to work. Although I knew that people were going to quit that same day, what I didn't know, was how big of a walkout it was going to be.

The walk out was a big one. I knew that there were four of us environment artists, almost the entire senior art staff, not including the Lead Artist, plus a few others in other disciplines. What I didn't know was that the Lead Artist also gave notice after us!!! What followed that day was a strange silence. No manager came to talk to me at all. I spent the entire day finishing up with art blocking the parts for a game puzzle. The reason why it was quite was because the managers were grilling the Lead and newly promoted co-lead in regards to their resignations - the lead was being grilled for four hours, but to no avail. None of us wanted to be there. We tried our best to fix the work flow process for an entire year with little to no results!!! So It time to move on to something exciting and new, and less painful. Making games does not have to be this hard, seriously!

As for the day after, I went to work as usual, but not more than fifteen minutes into my routine, "the man" came over and said he's taking me to meet the HR guy. Well, that was that, I got asked a few pointed questions that I almost got cough off guard on, tricky bastard. Gave him my security badge and was told I can leave. Not much love going on there, oh well. That's the typical EA way of treating all but the most valued employees. But, I didn't get escorted out, at least there were some respect given, I think

.

So ends another era.

The Following Weeks:

Although I was glad to be out of there, I was also quite sad. I had a lot of good times there and there are still good people there, too. It's just too bad that the projects were not run very well. Anyway, for the two weeks that I was out of work, I did a whole lot of nothing. Slept a lot and was very lazy about house work. I wanted to go somewhere, but was just too tired and burnt out to have much energy for anything. Just waiting for the first of February, so I can start my new position at the new studio that I was denied to go last year.

A New Hope:

It has been five weeks now, at my new job, and I am fairly busy, yes, actually busy with making something in a 3D package, and trying to learn how to use the new tools and pipeline for an unannounced title. It has been so nice to go home and actually not be frustrated or mad about something at work - win! I actually have a computer to work on that has all new hardware and not something that's five to six years old - win! It's closer to home, so I can actually ride to work when the weather gets nicer - win! Do you sense a trend??? I sure hope it gets better every year:)

sketchs - january 0410

This should have been the New Years baby for last year. Sure ant pretty, that's for sure. Must be a portrait of Dorian Grey when he was young.

Ah, 2010. Reminds me of the sequal to 2001, A Space Odyssey, remember that one? I sure don't. I never even watched the whole thing. But some how I'm curious as to the follow up story to the original. I only saw bits and pieces, so I never saw the end. So, I must see it sometime soon.

sketches - December 2309

It's been too long since my last Christmas card, so I had to get some inspiration. My original idea was not panning out due to complexity - I wanted to do a kid cooking Christmas dinner and making a huge mess of the stove top, while trying to read a cook book on a music stand. I can see it in my head and needed to do some research for reference images, but ran out of time, so I'm resorting back to what I feel comfortable doing on such short notice - goofy kids, which I have a lot of fun drawing. We should come up with a children's book - any ideas, people!!! Hint, hint. Maybe I'll try something grander for a Christmas card next year.

This has been one hell of a year, as most of you may know. The tally comes to four people's parents that have past away, one thinking she had cancer, one moving away, two nearly died, lost one as a friend, close co-workers quitting to go to another company, shitty situation at work, depression. On the other hand, gained some new friends, got closer to others, a lot of self reflection and very thankful for all the good friends that I have and that everyone is in good health.

So quite a year, but nothing compared to what Leaded's gone through, going through. My thoughts are with you mank! I hope next year will be better for everyone, I really do. I'm keeping my fingers, toes and what ever else I can cross, crossed, as well as many other superstitious things, less the sacrificing of a living animal...or person?...too much, never mind. We are, after all, living in the twenty-first century where that does not occur, right? Somehow, I doubt that, we just call it war:p

sketches - December 1809

Had the strangest dream last night.

I was in a large warehouse size toy store, and helping Batman fight the Joker and his side kick little girl. There was this large bin of brightly colored, super soaker looking airsoft guns that shot a hundred BBs at once, and I was racking them off at the Joker behind cover. The little girl was pretty mean with cans of silly string as lines of it shot my way. It was a long night of Batman and me chasing them back and forth and I can't remember the rest, because the dream took on another path.

sketches - December 0609

Mine Got! What is this?!?! Another blog entry this soon?

I guess I must try and keep this shit up to save face. I got you guys into this and I failed to keep up. But it's just been one hell of a couple of years. Can't wait for it to be over!

So the classmate friend called me up earlier this week. We had not talked in many months. Life got busy for everyone. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! Anyway, he wanted to see if I would be interested in going painting Saturday afternoon, and I said yes, otherwise I would never go out painting by myself. And so we went across the bay, North of Alameda, next to a port for container ships. By this time it was already after one, so there isn't a lot of light left, maybe two or three hours before the light just changes too fast to paint.

I have not painted in so long, that I had no confidence in myself to paint anything decent - I'm just not a very fast painter, so by the end, the painting kinda changed with the sunlight. But I don't know, I kinda like it.

sketches - November 2709

OMG, I am SO getting Final Fantasy XIII!!! And I hope that it is going to be good. Because if it is reviewed well. Then I will have to get it. And when I do get it, I might just retreat to the "man cave", and immerse myself in another epic late night, no sleep, anti-social behavioral, nerdy glee of casting freakin bad ass spell affects, and can't get enough of, RGP!

Behold the holy cheesy story, and then the game play, heh, heh

http://ve3d.ign.com/videos/58849/Xbox-360/Final-Fantasy-XIII/Trailer/Japanese-Launch-Trailer

sketches - November 1809

So ends an era that is my work at EA.

I remember the golden days of working at EA back in 2001. It was hard times for me around that time. I had just took a risk and jumped jobs to go with a friend I met at PCPL, sold to THQ. He quit and went to Midway Games. I was all excited and wanted to do something really fun - a third person shooter remake of Area 51! I mean, hell yeah! That could have been lots of fun, except for 9/11. Shortly after that the studio got shut down, and I was out on my ass.

I was on unemployment for a little while until that same friend that I jumped jobs for got me an interview with EA. Oh yes, the "dreaded" EA where they "work your ass off and then throw you away when they're done with you" reputation. But what could I do. The bills gota be paid, so I went and interview. Next comes the "TFT" contract, where they screw you by saying that you are considered a "full time" employee, but with no benefits. Meaning that you are considered a "salaried" employee, and not an "hourly" one, so you are not bound to the "forty hour week" max rule. Instead, you work overtime and not get paid for it. Nice one. I was stuck. What can I do? Bills had to be paid. The three month contract got extended twice. When it was up, then, they gave me a full time offer. Gee, thanks. I was stuck. What can I do? Bills had to be paid - off to the dungeons I go.

The first project was "Freakstyle". This was a SSX meets Motocross type game, and it was actually pretty fun to work on. The project was a co-dev with Page 44 Studios. Well, color my ass impressed. This freakin corporation's got some nice shit. I was set up with everything I need for production. I was quickly set up with a personal TV hooked up to a PS2 test station that's connected to the workstation. Holy Crap! No more sharing of one test station to every four or five artist! I got a lot of work done! No benefits, still sucked ass.

I was put on the second project right after the first one with no breaks. I was to help out on Bond, Nightfire, building track environments. That was pretty challenging, and I had lots of fun as well. They say that the "third" one's the charm - I guess it was for me, because I was put on the next Bond game: James Bond - Everything or Nothing, "EON" for short. To my luck, I was put on as the only artist on Multi-player. The Art Directed didn't care about the look of it, so I had free reign, baby!!! I did almost everything that had to do with the environments, from concepting, to modeling, to texturing, and even lighting and props - awesome!!! That was my "Golden Era" at EA.

It all went down hill from there.

I just didn't understand how they could take apart an awesome team like EON, where everyone worked well together and can totally make another game just as fast and efficiently. After EON, I was pretty mush a firefighter. I guess they figured that If I was good enough to do everything in a fast and efficient manner, that I could do a lot for projects that are in danger of not making ship date, and so, I that's what I became year after year following crunch after crunch. But what can I do. I was stuck. Bills had to be paid. I dub that time the Dust Bunny Era......

The last era is be Dead Space. This project was indeed challenging, but the challenges didn't come without great sacrifice. What started out as an attempt to be closer to the other half on the other side of the world, didn't quite work out. The job was much more demanding than expected, and what was supposed to be a three month training tour turned out to be eight. By the end, I not only saw very little of the other half, but also blew a major fuse in the noggin as well. But not all was a lost, there I have met and made some good friends. I guess I kinda fell in love with the people on team that I trained and that was totally worth it. The studio was full of eager people who are eager to learn new things and they totally reminded me of me when I first started in the industry - I got swept up by their energies and could not leave them stranded when the tidal wave of work came. They were not ready.

Take us to January 2009, the start of a sequel. This time around it was going to be "different", so we thought. The art team was now armed with the knowledge of all the mistakes and successes that was made on the first one. We made sure we gave tests to potential vendors that we thought would be a good fit. The test was on two areas of production; the artist side as well as the technical side - both are needed for a successful outsourced pipeline. There were four vendors in all that was tested, EASH was one of them. Needless to say that I was proud of the results! EASH was top runner on both counts! So we had a good start, but to make a long story short, the process that the art team came up with to solve the outsourcing issues, were never taken seriously, and so, we are still struggling with getting things organized enough and prepared enough before given the work to our outsourcing co-developers. It has already been twelve months of this BS. I am done! So when the ex-GM and COO left and formed a new company, and a lot of people left with them, including a good co-worker friend, the "writing" was on the Wall. It was time to pump up the ball and bounce... But before I bounce away, I felt that I needed to do what ever I can to help out the team that I had trained. They were good, but still had management problems, so I asked to go for a two week training of the team, because there were a lot of newer artist that I have not met before. I needed to assess the problem and make suggestions and additional training as best as I could. It was sad to know that I may not work with any of them ever again. But hey, what can I do? My mind was fried, my spirits are low, I haven't created content in over three years, and the fun meter here has hit rock bottom - why on earth do they give management responsibilities to artist like me makes absolutely no sense. I need to make the best game art, ever, and that's just not possible for me at EA anymore. I need something more.

In my attempt to bounce a little early, I offer myself as one of the 1,500 "sacrificial lambs" for the upcoming sacrifice to the unemployment Gods. This seems to have become an annual ritual performed in order to appease the corporate bottom line, but no go.

And so, here I sit...tick, tock....

I feel sad for leaving EA, I had some great times and met some good people.

sketches - October 0109

Wow, it has been a while since my last entry. I've just been too burned out and had no motivation or inspiration or energy to update. This year has been a bitch. I'm hoping that next year will be better for everyone.

Happy holloween!

sketches - July 0609

July 4Th was one of those days...

One of those totally awesome days! Yeah! Seemed like all the planets aligned, well, almost anyway. The day started out with waking up around 9:30am. The sun was bright and the sky was totally clear. The Warden was in town so we decided to have a late planned/impromptu BBQ. As expected, with this late of a notice, brought up the night before, not a lot of people showed. But that's ok, less to cook;) The original plan was to do some BBQ'n and then hit the range, but because BBQ'n takes a lot of time and by the time we would have been done eating and cleaning up, we would have miss the window for the range visit. They close at 4pm. So, we decided to do the opposite, and everything worked out perfect.

We hit the range and was also accompanied by Rave Boy and GF. The Warden had brought down the Kimber as well as his 38, SIG and TRP. We got two lanes and while I started hitting the targets in front of me, The Warden was instructing Rave Boy and GF in the second lane. My aim was not as true this time as it was the last, but didn't do too bad either. Got all shots on the target sheet and even three of ten shots in the 20 ring, at twenty five yards! Not too bad for me:) Rave Boy and GF didn't do too badly either, and both seemed to have had fun. All in all, range day was a success. Next comes the BBQ'n

As for who did, or did not show? The Professor was not going to make it because he had chores to do at home, but he did show up just a an hour or so before everything was cleaned up. He had some food and chatted. The Acupuncturist could not make it due to previous plans, so did not show. The only ones left and did show were Rave Boy and GF. As for the BBQ itself, everything rolled like clockwork. Even though we were in no rush, we didn't seem to stop at any one moment, thinking that there's nothing to do - everything seemed to have flowed like water. Awesome!

The Warden prepared chicken Adobo, stuffed mushrooms, and Portabella mushrooms with ground beef.

I started up the BBQ and cooked two filly's, two tri-tips, hot Italian sausages, and sliced red and green bell peppers, as well as the rice - all the while sipping on twelve year old Scotch;)

After the great food, and some chatting, I began the clean-up effort. Clean-up went just as smooth as butter. The Professor left for his home and we all agreed to meet at his place for some pyrotechnic fun - burning things!

And thus ends a perfect day:)

sketches - June 1209

It's been a trying week filled with the sickness that is the common cold, at least that's what it seems like anyway. Caught the damnable thing from the Warden, who got it from fatigue and snoring all night long last Wednesday. I could hear the sawing of logs from his room - he confirmed the illness the next day. Although I had suggested to him that if he did not feel well, to stay home and recover. But he did not head my advice and came up to hang out. As always, it was great to hang with the Warden, but when he left, he did not take everything with him - and he admitted so! I felt the disease Monday morning with a slight sore throat. First thing that I did, after cursing the foo, was to start eating raw garlic. Yes, raw garlic, with food of course. Can't eat those things raw without burning all the taste buds and setting the nerves on fire - pure torture! I do believe they did help quite a bit because the symptoms were relatively mild compared to what a cold usually felt like.

Took Tuesday off because I didn't want to get anyone at work sick and get blamed for it. Pretty much stayed in bed all day to try and recover. Throat felt sore but was not "sand paper" sore like it usually gets when I catch a cold. More garlic with all meals I ate. Woke up Wednesday soaked in sweat, but felt well enough to go to work. The rest of the day was uneventful, the same for Thursday and Friday.

.

Went climbing Saturday with a couple of co-workers at the Planet Granite in the City. It was Gorgeous day in the Marina District. Had lunch together then chilled for the evening.

.

It was hard getting up Sunday morning when the jogging friend called around ten in the morning. Postponed that jog til noon and we completed eight miles, woohoo! The rest of the day was just trying to relax for the coming week at work. I'm going to need it because we have a big push for a milestone at the end of the month. I'm anticipating long days and nights. Can't wait for the upcoming Mendocino trip! Did laundry, chores, and though I received the new rotors for the other half's car, did not get a chance to put them on. That will have to wait for the following week.

.

End of transmission...

sketches - June 0209

It's been a busy few weeks at work. As for the past few days, I have been busy being "the Cleaner", with a laundry list of things to do in and around the house. With the other half coming home in a few weeks, it will not do to have a messy reception - heads will roll! Besides, I was also fed up with the mess as well. Since I am forced to take PTO for this week, that is what I have set out to do. The insides are pretty much in order, now need to make some time for the outside. I will need to fertilize and mulch the lawns and pull out the three foot weeds waving at me from the fence line - I'll give them a wave real soon... Gave the patio table top and two chairs one coat of Danish oil, and they will need at least a few more by this weekend. The rains do not help, and why on Earth is it raining in June!?!?! I'm also thinking about getting some new plants and trees for the side planters, but we'll see how much time I have:p

Going to the Warden's house tomorrow to hang out for a day, and I'll be unplugging this old ass computer and bringing it with me for him to help upgrade. I'm still running 2K and it can't run shit anymore, much less games:( While I'm at the Warden's, I think we will hit the rage for some target practice, hee, hee. I liiike...

As for today, went mattress shopping in the morning and got one purchases and delivered on the same day, today! Frikin sweet! You see, it was necessary because I'm tired of waking up everyday with lower back pain! I hope I can finally get a decent nights sleep from this night forth!!!

With the bed all set up, I drove to meet the Sketch Friend in SF. It was a beautiful day at the Marina today, and I asked to meet there because I felt like changing it up a bit from the local book store we usually go to. We were only sketching for about a half hour before the winds started to pick up - it was damn cold! so with only one finished sketch, we hit a cafe to warm ourselves up a little before we went our separate ways. We'll try it again another time.

sketches May 2009

Crazy busy with work and tired as hell.

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I love my new bike! Took it on a maiden ride last Sunday, after Bay to Breakers, in the Berkeley Hills with the ex-coworker who use to ride it all the time. This is the third time riding up Tunnel Road. Unlike the first time with my old road bike, which was a total bitch due to being out of shape, or the second time, which was easy with granny gears on the mountain bike. I was psyched for nothing! The ride was, in my opinion, moderate. It was pretty much around 5.54 miles of medium accent, which I think is much less of an incline than say Ralsten Avenue, which I will try and tackle this Friday morning.

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Over and out.

sketches May 0509

Tuesday nights are usually bouldering nights, but since a co-worker wants to do figure sketching, I decided to do the same. The only place that I know of, that's close to home, is the figure drawing workshop at the Palo Alto Arts Center, off of Embarcadero and Newell Rd.

They have open workshop every Tuesday nights that's open to the public, and cost $5 a session. I think climbing will shift to Wednesdays and Saturday mornings, got a membership so might as well milk it for all it's worth.