Hurricane

Had this come up just now when I had my playlist on shuffle. Still a good song after all these years, but you already knew that. Just thought I'd share the nostalgia.

P.S. The bassline is really easy...Anyone know the guitar part?

Chronicle

Whew. After a week or so of constantly working on it my portfolio is off to Chronicle Books to try for their design fellowship. I hope I get it, but you never know. I think my work is good but there are a few problems with the portfolio itself. Always amazes me how many times you can look at a page and not see the giant, glaring mistake until you're in line at FedEx. Oh well, nothing to do about it but fix it for the next one and wait to hear back from them.

Today I have to finish my book for the photo exhibition, write my artists statement, finish a draft for a banner at our BFA show, and work on my website. No pressure, no pressure...


This is part of the aftermath of me making that portfolio. So much scrap!

The little door

I stopped by the library to get a book on bookbinding really quick for putting together my portfolio. I was in a hurry so I took the elevator down instead of the stairs...and I got the elevator with the Alice in Wonderland door. And I had my camera for once!

Kinda made my day...

Saying Bye.

The Boss took off for NY to start his new job last weekend. That means time for a dinner meet-up! A couple familiar faces and a few new ones showed up to see him off. Good food, good drinks, and good times were had for all. Unfortunately I was super tired that day so after one drink I was ready for a nap and not a very good conversationalist at all.

This time we went to El Zocalo's in SF for pupusas. Mmmm...So delicious. I just had my first one the other month so I was totally ready for more. I got the beef soup, a chicken pupusa, and one that had some sort of flower in it (?). I don't know...I didn't recognize what it was on the menu so I ordered it. Pretty good stuff. They're basically just a stuffed tortilla/pancake thing.


After food we started talking a bit more. Here is his bran-spankin' new DSi. The last GameBoy I had was a GB Advance so I'm pretty far behind now. This one looked pretty neat tho. He was saying that the electronics were OK, and having the 2 cameras was a little odd. I don't remember exactly. But that doesn't matter, what is important here is that Super Robot Wars was inside. Spent quite a bit of time talking about using a Gundam to smack Shinji around and the like...


He also had on this shirt, which I thought was Uniqlo, but it isn't. It is from Yamamoto Naoki's old band. Never heard the music but damn that shirt was pretty distracting.

Workin hard?

Poor blog, how I miss you. I basically cut myself off from the internet for a while to work on school. Still have a TON of stuff to do but I need to get back to the blog!

Basically, I'm graduating this semester and getting ready for it is driving me nuts. Making my portfolio, photographing and modifying old work, business cards, resume, etc. while also planning/designing our BFA show, participating in a photography exhibition, taking an art history class, eating, sleeping 2 hours...you get the idea.

The picture is of a book about the galaxy I did. Not going to use it though because it was too blurry but I love that book. Need to re-print and bind it before the show starts. I made it last minute so the construction was pretty darn poor.

I'm also super worried about finding a job after graduation. This isn't exactly the best economy to be entering a competitive field in. Everyone says I shouldn't worry, but it is my nature to do so.

Still, I'm trying to relax. I normally take an afternoon/day off every week and go have fun. This week it is going to be in SF. The Boss is headed for NY to do great things so he organized a little going away party. Pupusas! I had my first one the other month after Compost Modern and have been craving them since. Can't wait to see the M.C. crew again and have some drinks. It's been too long!

Hatch

Well, I've been bogged down with all sorts of stuff lately. The other day my body decided to just shut down and I've basically been asleap for the last two days straight. Feel much better now, but I'm way behind on things.

Anyways, the other week we went up to S.F. to visit Hatch Design. It was super fun but now I'm even more behind than before...Ugh. This picture was from inside Hatch. They had a wall that was taken up by all these drawers. They are from an hardware shop that used to be in their neighborhood since the 1800's then closed up. I wanted it.


Lunchtime in Levi's Plaza...


I went on a shoe-shooting rampage towards the end...Still not sure why but I have 6 or 7 of these.




And the last picture that was on that roll.


Great day overall. I was using my old Minolta and Ilford SFX film for anyone who cares. OK, back to work!

Compost food

So I spent the whole day at Compostmodern 09. The conference was really informative and entertaining. I'll be breaking up my posts about it over a few days since I took around 100 pictures and have lots to think about now. But first is the important stuff...Food. The above image is just some random liquor store I passed while wandering around looking for lunch. You see so little hand done type in SJ that this is actually nice to see now and then.


I eventually ended up here and am super glad I did. I stopped to check it out because of their sign, and once I saw the place was packed I decided to give it a go. I'm a sucker for holes in the wall like this. Glad I did.

This was part of their menu above the meat counter.


...and their drink list.


Anyways, their food was pretty damn good. When you order something they pull out the corresponding slab of roasted meat and slice it up for you. There were a ton of sides available as well as different meats to be had in both dinner or sandwich form.


I gave their beef sandwich on sourdough a go and added a side of some tasty chili. This and an IBC root beer came out to ~$10 which isn't too bad in SF. The cup on the side had their bbq sauce which was more sweet than spicy like you normally get. It was a little odd at first but was nice once I got used to it.

The tables are family style so I ended up eating with some guy in a suit. Turns out he was in town for a business conference and used to come here all the time when he worked in the area. We ended up talking for about an hour about sustainability as it relates to design. He, like many people, didn't really know what graphic design had to do with sustainability so it was a pretty good little talk. Interestingly enough...one of the lectures later that day had to do with talking to business people about just that issue.


Anyways, I left and ran back to the conference in time for it to start back up. This is one of the walls outside. Ridiculously cheesy but it sorta fits.


After the con we went to Sugar for the afterparty. Had a couple drinks and chatted it up. Met some new people, talked with some semi-familiar faces, and in general had a good 'ol time. I seem to be addicted to martinis after Eva's party so I drank one of them. Felt really bad for the bartender...This pic was taken after the place cleared out a bit. When we first got there it was PACKED and there was only one girl bartending. That had to suck. The coordinators apparently called and warned the bar we were going to swarm the place but I guess they didn't think it'd be that many people.


After all that drinking we got a little hungry so we stopped by this place for some mexican before going home. I forget just what these were called but the name started with a p and they were delish. Just the way to end a night.


Finally saw this place on the way back to the car and thought the sign was a little different. The picture didn't come out but oh well. Whew. Long day so I'm going to bed.

P.S. click the pictures to see them a little bigger.