Fresh out of Art Fest my sister and I got ready to go to Kendra's going away party. (Aside: Next week is Caprice's graduation party and the week after is Mae's going away party. When did we become so social?)
We were all sort of worn out but it was still a lot of fun. The highlight was our usual game of spoons- the deadliest card game outside of the Orient.
In some ways this year's Art Fest was great, in others not so great. From all appearances it seemed a lot more organized, both as a whole and with getting things set up for the library. Things were pretty slow in the children dept.'s tent. I worked Sunday last year (only Sunday I've worked, I think) and things were CRAZY so I theorize it will be the same tomorrow. Suckers.
The food was a huge disappointment. Was it good? Yeah. Mostly. But there was nothing amazing (amazing being what should be the minimum standard of Art Fests). The Italian sausage dog was pretty good, the lemonade passable. The ice cream nut bar was pretty good, actually. I do have a filmed-for-Flickr video of Bryan eating, which is pretty awesome, but the sound needs tweaking and when I render it in Sony Vegas the videoskips waaaay more than normal. It'll take time to clean it up. Yes, I'm going to spend what could be hours on a 40 second video of Bryan eating.
I got off work an hour before the library tent closed, so Caprice and I had a chance to walk around and see the sights.
The art was pretty good this year. It's almost disappointing in itself because half of the fun of Art Fest is seeing all the expensive crap people put in their homes. I wish I took more pictures, but today I wasn't in much of a mood for photographing. I did take plenty of shots of this <link to be placed when I get the business card I forgot at the library> guy's work. I'm saving up money next year to buy a tank.
Also: They had airbrush tattoos. Yeah, I'm real cool now!
Note: No I'm not writing a drunken Vox post. Technically. I've been sober for 20 years (During the "Terrible 2's" I was depressed and drank constantly.) But when I've had a day this out of the ordinary, when it's as late as this and I'm just physically exhausted, it's like being drunk.
It's over. Fini'. Done. End of the road. Last page. Show's over folks. Today I took the last math exam of my life. Never again will having to relearn proofs and equations frustrate me to wits end. No longer will I have to ignore how much time I waste on homework which only serves to help me pass a test which only serves to help me pass a class which I never cared about. It's a weird feeling.
Speaking of math, while at the mall I saw the girl from my math class (the one that draws the pretty pictures). I didn't make an attempt to say "hi" or anything which strikes me only as slightly odd. She was only barely within the range of acceptable non-forced greeting distance.Plus there was a group-hug in progress and it would have just been rude to interrupt. I might have still attempted a casual wave if my mind hadn't gotten glitched. Mere minutes before seeing her I said to myself "I wonder what would happen if I saw math girl here." And there she was. I like to think I understand chaos better than most but a coincidence like that is bound to confuse me for days at a time.
And since they aren't important enough for their own paragraph: I bought Portal. I bought a Nora Jones cd. The cd I wanted to buy a long time ago when I was at a Starbucks with the movie theater group. The girl I had a crush on told me she hated Nora Jones because it all sounded the same. Well guess what? It DOES all sound the same, and it all sounds PRETTY. I'm going to listen to it in bitter revolt while doodling in Photoshop. But still with my crappy mouse because and not a fancy new pen tablet as planned. Both Wacom Intuos3 4x6 tablets Best Buy had in stock were in boxes that looked more than a little shelf worn. Guess I'll save my money a little more.
Most important of all of today's events, of course, is that Caprice took me to lunch to celebrate me getting through the math class. Which really, I'm not sure of the logic in that since I owe her for all but forcing me to not drop out of it. We went to Panera Bread and, tired as I was and as unfamiliar with the selection as I was (it's been a while), I had trouble reading the menu without my glasses. I picked a last minute chicken...tomesto? Something. It's one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. Half of it is still in the fridge, waiting for me. Calling to me.....No! Must resist!
Anyway. Tomorrow...well today, is Art Fest. Again. Also is Mother's Day this Sunday. This happened last year too. Can we maybe try ending the semester a week before so I actually get a break? Anyone? Yes? No?
Alright alright. I'll go to bed.
My goal this summer: Get to a point where I can wake up on a sunny Sunday morning and stay in bed out of contentment instead of reluctance.
This is a nightmare creature. I took the pictures a while ago but nobody has looked at them. It's one of the most terrifying/cool things I've taken a picture of, so...LOOK AT IT!!!!. Kay thanks.
I've posted a couple videos to Flickr tonight. I can understand why a few might be wary of video. We all know what horrors YouTube provides. But I was shocked at the outcry to follow.
First of all, Flickr is not a site for professional photographers. There are some amazing artists on it, but a paying pro customer has just as much right to download all 200 pictures of grandma from the last vacation, or even use it for scientific research on nesting habits. That bird nest, Caprice and I decided, is going to replace this guy as our random reoccurring photostream. Yeah, remember him? Despite the nest webcam taking pictures constantly, odds are still about even to finding another of his creepy night club girls in early morning "everyone's uploads" browsing.
Got off topic there. Artists! I was talking about artists. There are purists out there (sometimes myself) that frown upon using Photoshop to get a good picture. For good reason, too. There's a lot of ugly Photoshop work out there. Besides that, you should be trying to get a great photo in the field, not a mediocre photo you can clean up later. Flickr members have voiced the same concerns about video. They think Flickr is just going to get cluttered up with obnoxious members that can now make noise pollution as well as visual pollution. Myself- I'm not too worried.
After a couple classes and a few books on the subject, multimedia has been something constantly on my mind. It's the idea that art can be experienced in so many more ways and combinations than just a picture OR a song OR a film. Video adds the possibility of two obvious additional dimensions and an unlimited amount of unknown dimensions that can only be guessed at by creative thinking. 90 seconds isn't a long time, but it's enough to make art.
The Flickr people describe a video as"-like a photo, but it moves!". I couldn't agree with them more.
I didn't get much sleep last night due to high winds. Not so much the wind itself, but the stuff it kept knocking over. Around midnight there was a huge crash and my sister and I went outside to see a huge metal shingle flew off the word shed unto the metal shed. I was about to go over and pull it off when it again blew off the metal shed onto the ground. Whee.
THEN this morning she showed me the giant metal shingle that blew right up against the backyard door. Fun times.
And when we came back inside I turned on my computer to write a Vox about it. Then I got an email from myself for this, which of course I wanted to show my sister.
Math exam went well.
I've much studying to do.
Only ten days left.
