Faze

I go through phases. Some where I love Los Angeles and some where I hate it. Last night I went through a quick phase of loving Los Angeles, but I'm not quite sure what spawned it. I had just finished a successful Arch 14 final presentation. Amber and Obrien came out. Afterward the group and us went out for a few celebratory PBR's. Later I was driving to Trader Joe's to pick up some coffee for the morning. I was listening to Mississippi from Dylan's Love and Theft. Listen to it. Everyone I ran into said "Merry Christmas". It was a nice evening. Besides the stress of final projects, it's actually been a nice week. A long awaited Rio Bravo session at the barn finally happened, including a few beers and a few Willie covers. The wife and I went out with Derek and his lady to take part in the Christmas insanity at The Grove. The wife and I, while broke, still manage to eat good, sleep good, and be in love good. God is good.

Now I'm off to yet another study model building sesh.

That's all.

OMG

I was just watching some stuff from Digital Kitchen, and happened upon THIS little gem. It's good. Good because it's from the studio that does the Dexter opening, which is insane. And good because it uses a sweet song from an old spaghetti western that my dad and brother and grandpa and I would watch, called My Name Is Nobody.

TAFN.

Architecture stuffs

A couple people have asked to see some more of my school work, so I put up a few projects over at Modern Classic. Good times. I am again up far too late doing stupid time wasting things like this and watching Dexter and previews and listening to music. Our Christmas tree is great.

While kind of on the subject of school, meet Mitch, fellow student-mate from Indiana. Dude's cool. Dude's also a studio ahead of me.

Goodnight.

BEZBALL

If Peavy goes to the Cubs, I will walk onto the 110 freeway.

Not really.

There is a dog barking that will not stop. I might kill it.

Why am I still awake?

Hair fun

Before:


The Walt:


That's the end.

Thanksgiving

It's Saturday. Thanksgiving weekend. We're in the mountains, sitting by the fire, working on a project and watching some John Wayne. We got a little snow, played a bunch of cards, and have not stopped eating the entire time. It is good. I am thankful to be an American, and to have the family and friends that I do.

Wall-e

Amber and I went to a free screening of it last night in Hollywood. This was my third time viewing Wall-e, and while I rarely ever cry, I again came close last night. It was released on dvd yesterday, which would explain the timing. It was followed by a Q and A session with Andrew Stanton. THE Andrew Stanton. The one who wrote and directed Wall-e, as well as Finding Nemo, and so on. The one in this preview. It was great. He was great. On the way home we were talking about how exciting these times are for writing, and film, especially in regards to Disney-Pixar. While it would be blasphemy to call anyone "the next Walt", he is in a position to mimic what Walt did. Bring animation back to the masses. Young and old. And the fellas over at Pixer are doing a fine job. It was good times. And inspiring. I'll leave you with something he said, as well as a link to a preview of Up.

- "What really interested me was the idea of the most human thing in the universe being a machine because it has more interest in finding out what the point of living is than actual people. The greatest commandment Christ gives us is to love, but that's not always our priority. So I came up with this premise that could demonstrate what I was trying to say—that irrational love defeats the world's programming. You've got these two robots that are trying to go above their basest directives, literally their programming, to experience love..."

Up (2009)!

It's late

I just finished a topo model.
I'm tired. I should be in bed. I'm going.

How appropriate

I saw Trail of Dead the other night with Ryan. I spilled beer all over my lap, very much like the days of old when I regularly listened to Trail of Dead. It made sense. Good show though.

In other news, school is good. I'm rounding third and heading home. The problem is that this home stretch is no 90 feet. Nope. This is a desolate expanse of land extending as far as the eye can see. And it's in flames, because the devil licked it. So we'll see how that turns out.
We're good. House is good. Cars are, well, getting by. The city is fine right now, but I will say this, if I see one more Toyota Prius with a "War Is Not The Answer" sticker on it, my brains will explode. How do you think you're sitting in an f-ing Prius to begin with? You think Japan has always been this way?

That's about it.

The Rusty Nail, or...

A reason for Drambuie.

2 oz Scotch Whisky
1/2 oz Drambuie

Serve over ice in a rocks glass.

Yes please, times four.

Why am I still awake? And why am I burping up pepper? It's the worst taste in the stratosphere, ever in all of time and space. I'm tired but cannot sleep. This is my life. I will sleep until almost noon tomorrow, while I get up at seven and shower and go to Kinkos and then school. I will do all of this asleep. It will be dangerous because I am cursed. I can see the Matrix now, and guess what... everything is architectural!

I made this:



Then I turned it into this:



One day I will finish school, and get a job at Tommy Burger.
Goodnight.

Back to reality

I went sport fishing in Mexico this weekend with my dad and brother. It was a quick, but much needed get-away from school and the city. We left San Diego at ten Saturday night, drank coffee and played cards in the galley, and then bundled into the sleeping quarters for the night as the boat tossed about. I was up at five. The cook had bacon on for breakfast burritos, and then our lines went in at first light. My number one sardine of the trip took a bite that sent my rod smoking, and ten minutes later I was standing in a pool of blood next to my beautiful Yellowtail. We fished the day silly. Beers. Hamburgers. My brother and I simultaneously hooked some Skipjack while trolling. Later we rolled them up, ate some sashimi that was alive a half hour before, took naps, and headed home.

It was refreshing to get out for a bit, with nothing but the sea in every direction, and remember how small my problems actually are. It's difficult to protect this state of mind as I return to reality. If I need a reminder, I just have to stick my head in my freezer and take in a nice whiff of my catch.

Seared tuna with wasabi butter sauce. Who's coming?

1925 - 2008

"Sometimes nothing can be a pretty cool hand."

-Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke, 1967

One of the all time greats has sailed off into the setting sun. Here's to him.

In other news:
I'm at school. I'm rendering a 3D Rhino model in Maxwell. I'm preparing a laser cut template. I'm about to pin these up for the class. It's raining outside. I'm wearing one of my favorite shirts. And I am going to squeeze in a beer before the crit. Good times.

I am a design student

I don't eat.
I don't sleep.
I don't play.
I don't laugh.
I don't exist.

Thoughts

Last night I awoke to somewhere between eight and ten gun shots, followed by a helicopter for about an hour. While it sounds cheesy, it's normal to wonder where God is in all of this, right? Or to wonder where I am in all of this? Why am I in all of this? That last question is growing increasingly more difficult to explain. We have great friends. That remains constant. I'm in a great program. That becomes more apparent daily. But when my schooling is finished I am going to take my little wife by the hand, and we are going to run from this place with our hair on fire.

To keep from going insane I will take advantage of, and utilize the following:
School, ball games, shows, parks, trains (which will be safer now than ever), museums, buildings, case studies, restaurants, and so on.

I will look forward to:
Children in a hand built home on a large tract of land covered with dogs and trees and vegetables and guns (that are not owned by gang members) and sunrises, and one pretty little wife.

Poolitics

"...but you know you can, you can put, uh, sausage in a pancake. It's still a pig in a blanket."

- Matt Pool

Politics

"...but you know you can, you can put, uh, lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."

- Barrack Obama

It seems that politicians and presidential/v.p. hopefuls will ignore the opposition when they don't deem them a threat. Seem the case here? Thoughts?

Food

I usually eat everything on that list like ten times daily. Breakfast, lunch, and supper dog. Ain't no thang.

AIM

Does anyone aim instant message?
If so, is it worth it?
If so, should I do it?
If so, what are your secret aim names?

If not, just send me a letter, and I'll send one back. Remember those days?

Best, worst birthday ever

Thanks so much to everyone who came to help me ring in my 28th year. The cocktail party was more than I could have asked for. The drinks, the menu, the hors d'oeuvres, everything was great.

And thanks to those who stuck around long enough to take me to the hospital. As the night continued, the classiness settled a bit, and the plethora of mixed drinks led to rapid jogging in place, which then led to me blowing out the brake light of my truck with my face, which then led to five hours in the E.R. and a handful of stitches.

The stitches are out, the swelling has subsided, and the forehead is healing. While at the doctors office, the nurse told me that I weighed ten pounds more than I thought I did, and that my blood pressure was a "tad" high. I have since been very unenthusiastic about getting older.

I will buy a bike, or start running with my wife, and see what I can do about all of this.

Thats all for now.

It's a lovely evening

I'm sitting outside Silverlake Coffee Co. after a days work. The wife is with friends. The sky is pink with the setting sun. The breeze is warm. I will work on school applications now, then go to Cha Cha. After that I will work some more, then go see the Dodgers. After that I will turn 28.