Hello again. Happy end of summer.

Is my blog dead? No. It's just . . . declining in priority. FaceBook has taken over some section of my interest. Conflicted as I am about FaceBook, I do use it.

And I'm employed! Full time! I'm back in the fantastical world of Higher Education Administration, which I *love.* I was even a Marshall for the Chancellor's Convocation for Freshmen. I chatted up the parents, directed traffic, and supported a heatstroke victim while she threw up on my shoes. Not her fault, poor thing. Note to self - stance is important when rendering first aid.

For my next trick, I'll have to figure out how to keep people from using my blog as a bulletin board. See the comments to my last entry. It's quite a mystery.

Some Signs Point to 'Yes'

Going back to work for my favorite M.S.U. (medium sized university), and loving it! Worried, though, about the future. The financial picture blackens . . . http://chronicle.com/article/Will-Higher-Education-Be-the/44400

Cherokee Nation Stop Sign

Just returned from Thanksgiving in the wonderful little town of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, a hot bed of cozy Americana! Highlights of our whirlwind tour included world-class pizza at "Sam and Ella's cafe," a delicious Thanksgiving turkey dinner, a tour of several Barbecue restaurants (most of them closed for the holidays, unfortunately), and roasting imaginary marshmallows over an imaginary camp fire while conducting an imaginary orchestra with a 3-year-old. (Note the "food" theme, so far. Very important. I gained three pounds.)

Also toured the Cherokee Nation, or at least that part of it in Tahlequah. Those shapes above the word "stop" on this sign spell out the word 'stop' (naturally) using the Cherokee alphabet. Which, according to our host, isn't really an alphabet, it's a syllabary: the shapes stand for sounds/syllables, rather than letters. The flags and marker in the background are to honor Cherokee soldiers killed in a variety of U.S. wars.

New England Coast From Above

Just got back from a friend's wedding in Maine. It was so beautiful! I've never been to Maine before. A secret gem. They say the population is shrinking, currently around one million people. But great people! We had such a good time. Just a little fast Ethernet (or maybe microfiber) and I wouldn't mind migrating there.

I took this picture from the plane on our way home. The earth is so lovely from above, don'tcha think?

Nothing is Safe

These are hand-painted clothespins. :)

Avalokiteshvara in Santa Fe

Just Doodling

Spot the Issues

Happy Friday.
:)

Wordless Monday

It's Just Words, Baby.

Hateful words of the day: nunc pro tunc. That's right, it's Latin! Latin for "I'm not a very good attorney and I don't want my clients to find out so I'm going to use a bunch of useless Latin phrases to make my clients feel dumb!" Only other attorneys aren't fooled by this stupid tactic and, since the attorneys on the opposing side aren't allowed to talk to the other party except through his/her attorney, laypeople never have a chance to find out about this stupid tactic. (Situation not helped by the fact that criticism from the opposing attorney should be dismissed as a matter of course as self-serving claptrap.)

This calls for something soothing; something less painful but much more satisfying: art.

Sophisticated Term of Art #1: LIES! (The first in a series.)

"In her response, Petitioner asserts that her 18-year-old son is still living at home. Considering she withdrew him from High School in February 2008, ejected him from her home at that time, and he is now incarcerated in County Jail on felony charges, Petitioner's assertion can only be described as a 'lie.' "

Why settle for such a simple little word when a gloriously obfuscating phraseology like "knowing misrepresentation" is available?

;)

Crysanthemum

Nothing new to report. Currently reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (fiction). Just finished Yoga for People Who Can't be Bothered to Do It, by Geoff Dyer (essays).

The Alice Within

A Toast and a Smile

I learned a piece of trivia today - have you ever looked at the signature line on your personal checks? It appears to be a line of super tiny prose. I wonder what it says. Anyone know? Maybe it's a poem.

Can't Get Through February Without Posting a Valentine

A valentine, and then some clever book titles for yet-to-be-written books, for no particular reason. Just something my brain did to kill the time in a CLE class on family law.

Thinking Inside the Box
Three Years in Hades
The Honest But Unfortunate Debtor
Merciless
Time Rich and Money Poor
Inconformability

Comics and Funnies

It's been a long time since I drew any comics. This one's new, and it didn't come easy. It happened like this: my friend Hatchet tells very funny stories about her twins. I told her she could do stand-up. Then she told me I could draw comics. I said "nuh-uh." She said "uh-huh." So I said "I'll draw a comic if you get yourself on video imitating Logan's 'the floor is made of hot lava you must pick me up right now' routine." Not to post it on YouTube or anything, just to see how it feels to be funny on camera.

It was really hard coming up with anything to say in a comic. My brain has turned to putty. Remember the "Angriest Dog In The World" comic? If you do, I'm impressed. It was basically several frames of the same angry dog graphic, with a very simple gag. I think it didn't go anywhere because frankly . . . it didn't have much to say. That's about how I feel right now.

Therefore I shall close with a quote. This is the last sentence of the Author's Note at the front of Life of Pi, by Yann Martel: "If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams."

What do you think that means?

Stupid Classroom Rules

Guilty secret - I snapped a furtive picture of a poster at a Junior High School. I couldn't resist:


I know it's a terrible picture. I know I'm not supposed to focus on the negative. I know I'm supposed to keep a positive attitude. But seriously: "I will keep your hands and feet to yourself?" "I will celebrate each other's acheivements?" Yikes.

This is what No Child Left Behind has done for us. It should have been called "No Child Left Behind Except Those Children Who Live Where Property Values Are Too Low to Provide Tax Income Sufficient to Hire Actual Professionals As Teachers."

What Leets Get for Christmas

Laugh out loud pasta sets, of course!

Quote For the Day

"The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone."
- Manifesto of the Unitarian Jihad

The Collision of Braininess and Manual Dexterity

This is so cool: It's a New York Times article on NYC Resistor, referred to variously as "Kingdom of the Geeks," a "Frathouse for Geeks," a "hacker collective," and a "creative community for nerds."

Plus, that's a picture of Devon! Hotness.

More Homemade Holiday Papers

Viola! Here are the remaining papers I made this year, using the method I described in my December 6th post.



Aren't they lovely? Also fun to make. :)

New Year. New Look.

What do you think? I thought colorful posts would do better with a nice blank background. (See Inside the White Cube, by Brian O'Doherty.)

Homemade Holiday Wrapping Paper

It took longer than I'd planned, but a jam session of about 5 hours resulted in a plethora of pleasing papers! Finally getting around to posting them. Here are two, I'll post more later. After coffee. Maybe.



Happy 2009, people.

What I've Been Reading

"It was unwise to read old books; the fury they ignited wasn't old; it was new. If she couldn't get the pompous fart himself, she wanted to search out the descendants of H. Hardless and stab the life out of them. But the child shouldn't be blamed for a father's crime, she tried to reason with herself, then. But should the child therefore also enjoy the father's illicit gain?"
- The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, chapter 31.

Cooking in a Pith

This video is awesome. You must see it! Especially you, Hatchet: Cooking In a Pith: 951 Curry

5 Things Meme

Ten Years Ago I:
Took my first serious job and began paying back my student debt.
Five Things on Tomorrow's 'To Do' List:
(1) Sleep late; (2) process class evaluations for DateSmart class; (3) pay car insurance bill; (4) research whether a tort action will lie against opposing counsel for fraudulent in-court statements leading to an unfair judgment;(5) go to a caroling party.
Five Snacks I Enjoy:
(1) Popcorn; (2) pate de foie gras (sorry); (3) olives; (4) red wine; (5) curry.
Five Things I Would Do If I Were a Millionaire:
(1) Pay off student debt; (2) buy antique building and convert to art studios; (3)-(5) buy coffee for 3 friends with remaining $5.83.
Five Places I Have Lived:
(1) Washington, D.C.;(2) Badlands National Monument, South Dakota; (3) Estes Park, Colorado; (4) Boulder, Colorado (home); (5) Denver, Colorado
Five Jobs I've Had:
(1) Girl Friday for a Private Detective; (2) Office Temp; (3) Night Security Guard; (4) Administrator; (5) Lawyer

Inspired by Killing a Fly with a Ukelele blog.

Quote For the Day

"I walk slowly, like one who comes from so far away he doesn’t expect to arrive." -Jorge Luis Borge

Editing is Easier

Take these sunflowers, for example. The hardest part was last summer, when I sketched out the basic forms in blue and goldenrod. Then they languished in my "studio" (ha!) for several months, until they were needed. I finished them in a 20-minute rush session. Hooray!

Irony and Guiltless Wrapping Paper

Presents in wrapping paper sometimes fill me with a sense of dread. Without going much into the ugly, tangled mess that is "the holidays" in my mind, I'll just say: (1) wrapping paper destroys forests and/or (2) wrapping paper guilt requires careful removal and space-consuming storage.

Imagine my excitement when my friend over at Law and Motherhood told me about making her own wrapping paper from paper grocery bags! It's brilliant! Fun to make! Higher quality paper! Covered with original artwork made by someone who loves you! Perfect memorabilia for the sweet and sentimental.

Here's my first foray into grocery-bag birthday wrapping paper, for a certain wizardly barrista I know:

For my next trick I'll use the ol' "stamp made of a sponge" trick to make holiday paper.*

* - Get a flat sponge, a sharpie, a pair of scissors, relatively loose paint, a plate, and a bunch of paper bags. Draw a simple shape on the sponge with a sharpie. Get the sponge a little moist and then cut out the shape. Make a shallow reservoir of paint on the plate. Dip the sponge in the paint just enough to transfer to the paper. Set the sponge, paint side down, on the paper. At this point you can either wait for the paper to absorb the paint or you can apply a little pressure to get the image to transfer. It depends on the denseness of your sponge and the viscosity of your paint. In the alternative: the ol' potato-stamp trick, using a potato and ink instead of sponge and paint. Potatoes tend to result in crisper images if you cut the stamp side flat enough. But be prepared for serious ink stains on your hands.

I Hate Looking for Work

About sums it up.