Hmmmm...

On my regular website I occasionally post a Doodle of the Week. This week is supposed to feature this doodle of Brigitte Bardot. But for some reason, the image won't show up on my website. It's happened before with other doodles. I don't know why. Renaming the doodle doesn't help. Screaming and hitting the monitor doesn't improve the situation either. So whenever this happens, I just post the doodle on this-here blog.

The thumbnail image of the doodle has all that black stuff around Brigitte. What is it? A sign of the apocalypse? A message from god? Possessed computer? Corrupted file? Whatever it is, it doesn't show up on the full-sized image when I click on it.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I love the internet, but I sure hate computers.

Stuff

Here's the rough flyer I'm doing for the next Derby Dolls bout. I'm liking how it's turning out so far. Now if I only knew how to "distress" stuff in Illustrator, I'd be able to make the Texas flag look all ratty. Hahahhaha!

I've gained ten pounds this holiday season. The only difference between me and Jabba the Hut is that I don't have Carrie Fisher on a leash. Seriously, I gotta diet for real.

Last night I got a good workout at the track with about ten other skaters. It was great...we did 40 minutes of endurance and then worked on some skills for the upcoming subpool tryouts. We also had a couple of visitors from the NorCal league up in Chico. They seemed to have fun once they got the hang of the bank.

I got a great pin-up book for Xmas. Daaaaaaaaang, I wish I could draw like that. I've been sorely lacking in inspiration when it comes to drawing women lately.

I also got a real MP3 player, which rocks. It's great for when I'm on the trampoline.

My favorite band is irking me. There have been rumors that they're coming to LA for one show next month, but then there are rumors that it's been cancelled. The dudes are from New Zealand, so getting to see them is a treat. I hope they come and play!

Work is working...I'll actually get done when I'm supposed to. Woohoo! Then it's off to Unemployment Land for me. And more toilet seat work, of course.

Walla! It's done!

Zee Mudsock Commission!

Eet eez, how you say? Feeneeshed!

Now, eef zee Mudsock would reespond to my eemail reequest to deeleevir eet to heem, I would bee zee happee campir! And zo would he and zee Starfeesh!



Holy crap, it's hard to type with an accent.

Yes, I finally finished the Mudsock commission. I'm pleased overall with the results, especially the lid. The seat, not so much. But it all glows in the dark, so who really cares?
























































The husband thinks he's found a replacement seat for future toilet seat commissions. It's not as good as the Tuffy brand, but it's available, so I guess I'm going with it. I'm also going to look into getting some fancy-schmancy chrome hinges for future seats, too.

Work is going sloooow. This week turned out to be far more busy than I anticipated, so I'm actually leaving the house and stuff. Weird.

The parents are now wavering on coming down for Xmas. They still claim they have to board the dogs for the day. My sister and I are baffled...isn't that was laundry rooms and day rooms are for...storing dogs for less than a day? Whatever happens, we're having carne asada tacos and margaritas at our place.

Bah, Humbug.

The latest from YouTube. I think it's from Telemundo...I vaguely remember the crew wandering around the track before the Championship bout and interviewing everyone. I remember me yelling at the camera a couple of times. I wish I understood the piece. Oh well. I really don't understand what they were saying after the video clip with the boxing glove. Hmmmm.



Apparently my parents aren't coming down for Xmas like they usually do. They said it's because they couldn't board their dogs for the 12-or-so hours that they're out of the house. I think it's because my mom is scared to fly. Argh. So the husband, seestir and myself are orphaned for next Monday. Huh. I guess that means we can either play it like a normal day, or invite over any other Xmas orphans that are around and drink margaritas. Decisions, decisions.



The company that made the toilet seats I prefer painting on seems to have discontinued making said seats. Which sucks. Big time. Funny thing is, they apparently tried discontinuing them before, and got enough crap for it that they started making them again. Apparently I missed the memo about the company discontinuing them again. Drat. So the search is on for a reasonably priced substitute. Double drat...it's not that easy.

One last thing to whine about...

As I'm working on the revisions for the board that I'm doing, I'm taken aback at the snarkiness of said notes from one of the producers. He's one of those types that can't draw to save their butts, but he sure has a lot to say about how the boards look, etc. He also won't say most of this stuff in front of the artist. For instance: I didn't have the voice track, so I had to guess at all the acting poses for the rough board. I even put a note on the first page of my board saying as such. Yet I got quite a few snarky notes about "listening to the track" throughout the board when I rifled through the notes. Well, no-freakin'-duh I'll listen to the track, pal....when I get the damn track!

Same thing with designs...I didn't have any episode-specific designs. Left a note about that on the board. Still got snarky notes about putting stuff on model. Apparently this guy isn't too up on the process here. I would need designs before I draw the rough board if I'm to put said designs on model.

Phooey.

Avoiding Work

I'm being an incredibly lazy sod today.

I'm sitting at my desk, my storyboard at hand, ready to be revised and cleaned up, and I'm goofing off online.

Again.

Gotta love Fridays.

Last night the husband and I went and saw Peaches in Hollyweird. She's someone that I've found that people either love or hate. I love her music, and her explicit lyrics crack me up more than offend...her stuff is great to listen to while I draw or work out.

Anyway, due to her general outrageousness, I thought that the audience would look rather outrageous as well. Funny thing was, most of the audience showed up in hoodies and jeans.

What the..?

This wasn't a Nirvana show, it was Peaches! She herself wore about 17 pairs of shiny hot pants...I'd expect her audience to be at least half as fun wardrobe-wise! Instead, they were borrrrrrrrrrrrrring. The husband and I expected to be entertained by the people-watching, but we were sorely disappointed. When we first walked up to the venue, the husband leaned over to me and said, I feel so old! I leaned back and said, So do I! I thought that my mini skirt and fishnet stockings complete with the ol' Tiara Armov fake eyelashes would've been Amateur Hour clothing-wise, but I actually stood out. That was weird.

Halfway through the second opening act, we stopped feeling old and instead felt gypped.

Luckily Peaches herself put on a great show that made up for the lame opening acts and the boring audience. We sat up in one of the balconies and grooved. The audience almost looked lively from up there, too.

We got home by 12:30am. Jeez, remember when going to see live music meant that one would be up until the crack of noon? Gosh, I'm feeling old again!

Everything is still Nice!

This-here is a photo of the skeleton monkey seat that is currently up at Thinkspace gallery in Silverlake. If you click on the thumbnail image, you'll see a little red dot underneath the seat. That means someone actually bought the damn thing.

Um, WOW.

I was told that the gallery itself was thinking about buying the seat, but decided to put it up to see what would happen first. Haha, it sold.

Un-FREAKIN'-believable!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My friends from the Toyroom gallery in Sacramento came down for the Everything Nice! LA installation last Friday, too. They said that I'm selling my work for too cheap...my prices are OK for Sacramento, but I could get more in LA.

Well!

That's some pleasant news!

Here's more photos of the Everything Nice! exhibition:












































It's going to be up for the rest of the month in the upstairs "Project room" of the gallery.

Also, the Toyroom offered to have more of my seats at their place o' business.

WOW!

So, I guess this means that I have to get off my ever-expanding ass and get going on more work.


In not-so-pleasant news...

My cat is sick.

She's almost 17 years old and has gotten really skinny in the past few months. The vet thinks she has some sort of lymphoma that most likely isn't treatable. The biopsy tests come back today or tomorrow to make sure.

When she was at the vet for the biopsies, she was particularly unpleasant. She's horrible under the best of circumstances, but she did a real number with protest peeing and pooping on herself while she was visiting. They tried to clean her up while she was under sedation, but she needs a thorough bath. Which I'm not going to give her, as I fear for my life and well-being. So now she's home and happy even though she's a little stinky and very very thin.

How a small bundle of angry fur can have such a hold on me is just incredible.

Birthdays and such

It's been a busy week.

Last Saturday was the Derby Dolls' "Babydoll Brawl" which featured the up-and-coming skaters in the league. It went off very well, and it was a definite change of pace for me, since this was the first time in three months where I wasn't actually skating in a bout.

After the bout I had the joy of eating sushi with some skaters from one of the other SoCal leagues. A very nice bunch of girls, funny as heck, and we had a great time getting to know each other and such. They're going to discover the joys of banked track derby by coming to one of our practices in January. Mwahahahahahahaha!!

Freelance has screeched to a halt because the powers-that-be are behind in getting revisions out. So I sit, comtemplating some holiday shopping and being peeved that I'm not getting paid extra for something that is far from my control. Bastids.

The Mudsock Commission is almost done. I have the clearcoating of one surface left to do. So of course the weather turns just cold enough so that it's going to be catch-as-catch-can to get it done before Xmas. Thank goodness I have another commission in the wings that I can start on in the meantime. Oh yeah, and that dreaded hollerday shopping to do.

Today is my birthday. I'm officially middle-aged, from what I can tell.

The derby girls have been wonderful. I've gotten presents and emails and a load of appreciation from them. Which I didn't expect and it almost made me cry like a little whiny girl. They even set it up so that the husband jumped out of a cake as part of the halftime festivities at the Babydoll Brawl. What could be better than that? Having him hand me a bottle of vodka in the process, that's what.

My parents gave me a gift certificate to my favorite restaurant. We're going to forgo that for tonight, however, and have something that's more tender on our girlish figures. Then we're going to watch the DVD that the husband gave me this morning, "Roller Derby MANIA!" which features footage from the height of derby cheesiness in the '70's and '80's. I'm so stoked to see that!

A few weeks ago my friend ME sent me a cool book. She says she found it disturbing, so she sent it along to me. I can't think of a better recommendation than that.

This Friday I'm going to stop by Thinkspace Gallery near Sunset Junction to check out the LA version of the Everything Nice! show that I was part of in Sacramento. Parking is absolutely atrocious in that part of LA, so I'm thinking of riding the murdercycle. That'll make a grand impression, I'm sure! Especially since after that I'm going to the Union Holiday Party in Burbank. Yeehaw!

Gosh, I'm typing a lot. Guess I gotta update this sucker more often so that the entries aren't so tediously long. I'm sure I'll have something to bitch about sooner than later.

You've Got to Lie to Me, Baby

I'm not a huge Tom Waits fan, but I really liked the song he performed on the David Letterman show the other night. Me likey a lot!

Sacred!

Hmm, for some reason, one of my drawings isn't showing up. Ah well. This-here is a logo idea for the breakaway roller derby league in Sacramento, the Sacred City Derby Girls.

Yes, a ripoff of the Virgin of Guadalupe. I might be going to hell for this, if it's chosen. Which I have no idea whether it will be or not. Whatever, it was fun to do.

I still have the cold from hell. The husband has a cough from double-hell. Last night he couldn't sleep because every time he laid down, he'd start coughing. No matter how much cough medicine he took, he still coughed far into the night. Poor thing! He ended up sleeping on our couch which has a recliner feature so that he wasn't completely perpendicular to the ground. That helped a little bit. Hopefully he got in to see his doctor today so that he could get some killer cough medicine to help him get some sleep.

While the husband was coughing away, I caught a documentary on cable about Charles Bukowski called Born Into This. I've never read Bukowski, but I'd heard of him before. Interesting guy, but seems rather misogynistic. What's ironic about his misogyny is that he didn't seem able to function very well without women in his life. I think that's true about a lot of guys, unfortunately. I also think it's not just a one-way street...women can be quite hateful towards men and not be able to cope without them, either.

Funny how life works, sometimes.

Back to work for me. I might get this stoopid storyboard done this week after all...woohoo!

Sick again

There's nothing like spending Thanksgiving weekend being sick. Especially when both the husband and myself feel like absolute ca-RAP.

We both have this cold thingy that's knocked us down pretty good. He's had a fever, stuffed nose, dizziness, and coughing galore. I've had the stuffiness and galoric coughing. No fever. Thank goodness. Slight dizziness. ugh.

This is the third or fourth time this year that we've gotten sick. Argh.

Ever try to do storyboards when you're sick? It's not fun. I had to ask for an extention on the board deadline because I haven't been able to put in the time needed to complete the stoopid thing. At least I work from home so that I'm not getting anyone else sick. I might have spread my disease to family members and a few of the roller derby breatheren, though. oopsie.

So I'm not much into ruminating what I'm thankful for right now. I guess I could be thankful that I'm not more sick. Feh.

I'm definitely not liking the Blogger beta crap that's going on right now.

It's Thanksgiving week, and I'm hoping to catch up on work. I only have to be at one roller derby practice this week, and I have clearcoating galore to do on toilet seats.

One thing is really bugging the bejeezus out of me, though.

Why the hell is LA traffic even more messed up than usual?!

It takes me an hour to go 13 miles in the evening for derby practice.

A FREAKIN' HOUR.

I really started noticing this a few weeks before Daylight Savings Time ended. Now, when DST ends, people freak out for the first week or so when they have to *gasp* drive at night when previously it was still day. But usually they get over themselves and driving can commence at a more reasonable pace after that initial week of adjustment.

Not this time. Everyone in the LA metro area has left their house and is on the road all the time now.

Last night I went to a dinner in Silverlake and decided to take the motorcycle just for fun. Luckily I did, because I ended up lanesplitting at least half of the distance. On a Sunday night. Made me wish I was in Texas, where a lot of businesses are closed on Sunday, hence making traffic a breeze.

Where is everyone going? Are they sure they have to be in a car to go there? Is it the nice, summery weather we're still having? Whatever it is, it's making me extremely cranky.

Anyway, while the weather holds I hope to finish the Mudsock Commission lid as well as another seat that has to go into the travelling edition of the Toyroom's Everything Nice show that's going to be at ThinkSpace in December. I sold both pieces I had in the show, so I have to come up with at least one piece for the travelling version. How neat is that?!

Three Easy Steps

Yesterday was the husband's and my anniversary. We've been married for...uh...I think it's 12 years.

Is it?

Crap.

This is what happens when you've been married for a long time. You forget potentially important crap like how long you've even been married.

Anyway, here's the anniversary card-making process.

First, I start with doodles done while I was on the phone discussing fishing lures. Don't ask.









Next, I pick the doodle that sucked the least and drew it all big and stuff.

Thank goodness I have loads of old storyboard paper around. It makes the best doodle surface ever. As you can see, I can't draw worth a crap despite having such good doodle surfaces at my disposal.













The final product. I used a brush pen and markers on bristol board. My markers are rather old and I need to buy a new set one of these eons. However, I don't use them quite enough to justify spending a couple hundred bux on a good set. Ah, the irony.

The husband seems to like the final result. So he says.

We went out for sushi at a place on the border between Santa Monica and Venice. I'm still new to the sushi realm, and so my horizons are limited. Anything that says, "spicy" in the title is worth a shot, though. This place didn't disappoint. We got full very quickly on some good schtuff.

Afterwards we visited one of the few Westside Dolls at one of her jobs in a bar across the street from Sony studios. It's one of the few divey bars that hasn't been taken over by hipster scum. The clientele is very diverse, and it was fun to people-watch while talking about stupid derby crap. Luke Wilson lurked in a corner. I wouldn't have known who it was if it wasn't pointed out to me.

Nice, low-key evening.

I'm such a geek!

No, really.

This has been passed around the internet a lot lately, but I think it's freakin' hilarious. So will you.


Now go laugh.

Video from Saturday's bout

In the above clip you can see me give the smackdown to Amber Alert! early on in this jam.




I think our jammer Judy Gloom is trying to get through. See Apocalyptica take a quick fall. I'm lagging behind because I'm lame.



The worst injury in this game went to the Sirens' Dinah Beatcha. I'm not sure what the hell happened, but apparently she was at the bottom of the pack pileup. She got majorly concussed and had to sit out the rest of the game.




The last jam and our makeshift victory flags.

Undefeated in 2006

Yep, undefeated.

My team pulled quite a coup last night in Little Tokyo. An undefeated season. I'm feeling pretty damn accomplished about it. I can't really tell what the rest of the team thinks...or the rest of the league, for that matter. I think some assumed that we'd win. I think some resent that we won.













Above is our skateout/introduction to the crowd at the beginning of the game. We had lights, fog machines, and one of the guys dressed as airline ground crew. Our skateout song was, "Push It" by Salt N Pepa. Yeah, that's how we roll.

The girl who was supposed to sing the National Anthem didn't show up, so the scorekeeper, Clobber Girl, sang a sweet rendition. The audience started singing along. Um, wow.

The first half of the game was insane. The score was tight, the hits were hard, and the pack was flying at the speed of light. My team wasn't at its optimum performance level. By the end of the first period we were ahead, but by only five points.















Here I am obstructing the forward progress of the Sirens' Amber Alert! I look pissed.




















I look really pissed in this photo. My team was getting penalties up the wazoo, which meant that most of the second half, we skated short one blocker on almost every jam. It was crazy. I got a little angry about that. The Sirens were getting penalties too, no doubt. But we were at quite a disadvantage the second half. Luckily my awesome co-captain Myna Threat and I managed a helluva pep talk at halftime to motivate our girls to do their bestest.




















But in the end, justice prevailed and my team won. The score was something like 40-17. The Sirens put up a good fight, but we fought better. That's why our team tagline is, "We Love to Fight and It Shows".

At the afterparty I made a total a$$ out of myself and lost all the buttons on my uniform shirt. And there's photos. Nice! But I think that since it's not every day that I win a league championship, some slack should be given for my idiotic behavior.

I'm sore. My shoulders are sore, my legs are killing me, and I took a smack to the jaw that misaligned something in there. Damn good thing I don't have to show up to the track until Wednesday...I need the rest.

Dirty and Quick

Here's the quick and dirty version of the Babydoll Brawl flyer.

It turned out OK, but it's so hard to do a quarter-page-sized flyer. It really limits the style of font one can use and have it still be readable. Whatever. It's done for now. Next week I work on a color version.

Tonight the team is coming over for pizza and DVD watching. Should be fun. I can't wait for Sunday and for all of the Championship stuff to be over. In the meantime I have to tidy up the house and be stressed for a bit. Ugh.

Got a letter from one of the studios that I took a failed test for telling me to come and get my portfolio or else they're going to throw it away. Jeez, the cheap jerks didn't even call me to tell me my portfolio was ready in the first place. I guess I'll take care of it next week.

Is it Sunday yet? I wish it were.

Babydoll Brawl

Here's a rough drawing for the special after-season bout the Dolls are having on December 2.

Instead of the regular teams playing, the up-and-coming Dolls(aka, "fresh meat") will be playing in what I'm calling, "the Babydoll Brawl". Catchy, isn't it? They've just split up into teams and the new captains are already setting training schedules and figuring out how to get everyone up to speed. It should be fun.

Since popular culture is rife with fun images to use, I ripped off the Coppertone girl for the poster. I'm in the process of building it in Illustrator now.

Project Mudsock is coming along nicely, too. More on that later.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ah, Halloween.

How I love it so.

Especially when I manage to find a decent costume. Last year's was damn fun. This year started rocky but is getting better. I was happy to have the syringe effect work without too much of a hassle. I won't tell you the engineering it took to make it happen, but I can tell you that I was able to *gasp* dance with it not moving anywhere I didn't want it to.

The photo you see here was taken on Saturday night at a small party that one of the husband's co-workers hosted. It was pretty amusing to have duelling Umas present. We didn't fight; we just contented ourselves with taking a photo together. Oh, the blonde cheated...she was wearing some hellish high heels while I flat-footed it. She's still quite striking, isn't she?

Tonight we're staying home and passing out candy to the kids. We get a buttload of kids in our neighborhood because of the amazing house decorations some of our neighbors have. The decorations draw people from all over the Westside. A couple of blocks down the street there's a major "keeping up with the Joneses" Halloween decoration competition going on that's been happening for the past five years or so. We checked them out last night and got tours of the people's houses and everything. They keep adding more and more every year and make it better and better and more elaborate. I'm jealous that they have the time and energy to spend on it.

Maybe next year.

Blogger finally behaves

Two days and many screaming fits later, blogger has decided to let me upload my photos.

Bastards.

Anyway, here's my comparitive anatomy page of human, ape, dog, and cow skeletons for research purposes.







Here's my highly extensive and exhaustive stack of subject fodder for the project at hand.














This is what I came up with for the lid.


















Here's the inside of the lid. The seat will be dealt with later.

Jeez, you think I could draw more rough on this last drawing?

Next I gotta prep the seat and find tracing paper so that I can actually start painting. The painting's the easy part, it's the clearcoating that's always a pain. Especially now that it's starting to really cool off weather-wise. I have until December to finish. I might juuuuuuust make it.

I also have another commission to start. A bellydancer. Woohoo!

You'll just have to take my word for it...

...when I say that the Mudsock commission is coming along nicely.

I sat down with an anatomy book, some other reference, and a stack of paper and sharpened pencils to sketch out what the next in commissioned toilet seatery will look like.

It's funny.

In a good way.

Unfortunately blogger isn't letting me upload this brilliance, so just close your eyes and imagine the detail, the nuance, the absolute genius of what I just described in such nitpicky detail.

Well, Mudsock might be able to do it.


The Halloween costume is almost done. Just one more detail needs to be added, and it's ready to go. Unfortunately I found out on Wednesday that this idea was done by one of the Derby Dolls last year, but I was too busy getting completely blotto at the time to remember. Dammit. So the husband and I had to come up with another idea for the derby-related Halloween party that we're going to tonight. It's barely acceptable, but it's comfortable and it involves fake blood.

Tomorrow night we're going to one of the cool-kid studio's party. I was amused to get an invite, as I'm no one's idea of cool, but we're going. Funny, I can go to their parties, but I need to take a test to see if I'm good enough to work for them. Ah, irony!


Skating was good last night. Most of the team was there, getting their groove on. It was the first practice since the last game where I felt the team was together. Next week we really have to get our butts in gear for the game next Saturday. The all-ages game in Little Tokyo. The Championship game. The game that will knock everybody's socks off, and if you miss it, you'll regret it for the rest of your days!

Shot Down Again

It's happened again.

The passive-aggressive shootdown for a job via test.

I had to take a freakin' test for a potential job last week. It was one of those "PLEASE hurry up and do the test because we're on a tight schedule and we need to know ASAP whether you're good enough to do revision work for an ugly tv show!" situations. Of course I was also on deadline for finishing my actual freelance that was paying me. And then of course I was prepping to leave town for the weekend for the Everything Nice art show in Sacramento. More on that in a minute.

So I hurriedly did the test. Did I do an amazing job? Apparently not. Does that mean I don't at least deserve a FREAKIN' PHONE CALL telling me so?! That's all...a damn phone call saying, "Don't hold your breath, it ain't happening" is all I need, so that I can get back on the horse and try for another job(hopefully a job that doesn't require stoopid tests). But noooooo, just the deadly silence telling me that I'm not worth the two minutes it would take to get them off the hook. Rude, just plain rude. I want to know the test results of the production people and executives in this damn industry. Oh wait, they don't put themselves through that humiliation, but artists do. What's up with that?!

OK, end rant.

So on to better things.

The art show in Sacramento was freakin' great. The show was curated by local artiste Kim Scott, who is one of my fave Sacto. people. She did an amazing job. The variety and quality of the show was astounding. And I'm not just saying that because I'm in it. The photo is of the two pieces I slammed together for the show. The toilet seat sold quickly, much to my chagrin. I really don't want to be known as the "toilet seat girl" a la Dead Like Me, but apparently that will be the case for awhile.

I may have picked up a couple of commissions for more seats from this show. I guess that's good, right?

I stayed with Kim and her husband Craig, who actually runs the gallery that the show is at on Friday night. They just finished building a house as part of an artists' complex in north Sacramento called, Surreal Estates. A group of artists got together a few years back and proposed building artist homes in a fairly blighted neighborhood(daytime crack dealers were the norm when they first broke ground on the project) with the help of grants and stuff from the city and state. They finally finished about two weeks ago, and the results are pretty cool. Nice, tidy houses with big ol' studios out back with big roll-up doors for maximum art-moving fun. I loved it.

Saturday night I found myself going to a Halloween/wedding party for a friend of my old friend from high school, Shonda. They had live bands and everything, which was fun. I did my derbygirl best in arm-wrestling and plain-old-wrestling boys. Luckily I didn't injure myself beyond bruising my hand from spanking people(I'm getting quite good at the spanking)and being a little sore from the wrestling(which I'm horrible at). All in all, a fun time. I drank a stoopid amount and ate an even stoopider amount of chocolate-covered pretzels(which are of the devil, I'm convinced).

So now I'm jobless, prospectless, and ready to tackle the issue of Halloween costumes. I have most of the details already, I just need the hairdo, the shoes, and one vital accessory. The husband needs a couple of wardrobe details and the hairdo. Which I have to shop for this week. At least I'm of use to somebody.

Yeah, baby!

I'm about to get dressed, pack up the car, and drive to Sacoftomatoes.

I finished my freelance and other pressing work matters, derby crap is on hold for the weekend, so it's time to go hang out with artists and rollergirls.

Tonight I'll be watching the August bout on HDnet. So should you, if you know of a sportsbar that'll show such things. I'll also be hanging out with aforementioned artists and doing a "drink and draw", which is something that socially is great, but I can't actually draw well when I've been drinking.

Like that's ever stopped me from being a doofus before.

I don't have a real reason to post the dramallama pic. I just thought it was hilarious. Goes to show what I find funny early in the morning before the Red Bull kicks in.

Oh, did I mention that my team won again last weekend? Ah yes, Fight Crew beat our old nemesis the Sirens. The score was something like 32-20. I think. I don't really remember. All I know is that we were down two key players but we still pulled a win out of our a$$es. One more game of the season and I'm done. Sooooooooo happy! The Championship game will be on Nov. 4 against the Sirens again. It'll be an ALL AGES show! The flyer for said game is hideous; I didn't have time to do a wonderful composition, so I just did the two anime skaters and someone else did the text, etc. Bleh.

Show up anyway. It'll be fun.

A Secret Wish

It's been brewing for awhile now, but I have a wish that's getting bigger and bigger, much like a tumor or goiter.

It's something that I didn't want to happen, but as in all things, it's signaling an end.

I wish I wasn't a team capitan.

It was fun for awhile, and gawd knows I've learned a helluva lot in the past two and a half years of doing it, but I think I'm done.

I'm done with the feeling that I'm obligated to show up to every single practice. That I'm babysitting. Hearing all sorts of excuses as to why others can't show up to practice or help with committee stuff or plan team events. Not being particularly liked. Not being respected. Getting crap from passive-aggressive members who haven't been real good about communicating in the past about my tone when talking to them. Not getting much credit for trying to improve. Not getting a "thank you" every once in a while. Knowing that the main reason I'm captain is because no one else wants to do it, not because I might be good at it.

The only person on my team that I feel that I'm really friends with is my co-captain. Oh, who got injured on Wednesday so she's not playing in the game tomorrow. Crap! She's a wonderful girl...everyone loves her. Now that I think about it, there are very few people I think I'm friends with in my league. Ironic, considering how much time I spend on it. Some of the reasons why are my fault, but much like those who have already left the league, I'm not in any of the league cliques. So I'm out of the social loop. Hell, I'm out of the loop in general.

I have to concentrate more on the art side of life anyway, so after this season I think stepping down as team capitan is a good thing. Then I can give the excuses when things don't get done. Wow, that would be an interesting change! I'd be curious as to who would step up; my co-captain won't, which is fine. How would the team dynamic change? Will they be nicer to me once I step down? I can only hope.

Bad Mood

I'm in a bad mood.

Work's stressing me out 'cos I have way more revisions than I thought I'd get. Out of a 225+ page storyboard, I think I've had about 10 pages so far that I haven't had to totally redraw. Jeezus. The whole thing needs to be done by the end of next week. I'll make it, but just barely.

Derby's stressing me out 'cos I want to kick the ass of one of the girls on my team. She's a selfish little twerp and it's been kicking into high gear lately. I really really hope that she wants to switch teams in January.

I'm still trying to recover from the sludgy cold I caught last week. I feel like I have asthma because I can't breathe worth a damn.

Beavis is at it again.


However, there are things that I'm happy about.

Next weekend is the group art show that I'm lucky enough to have a couple of pieces in. See flyer. This is another reason why I need to get my work done; so that I can go to the opening!

I also got a commission for another toilet seat. Luckily Mudsock is smarter than I look 'cos he read my blog about asking for art with a crappy turnaround time and so he got a good timeline for me to work with. It's a fabulous idea and I'm starting with some studies. I hope to do it up well, and I'm enjoying the research needed to make that attempt work.

November can't come soon enough; hopefully I'll be able to slow down a little bit by then.

A Note About Artists to Non-Artists

It's happened again.

I ticked someone off. Shocking, I know.

I got an email earlier in the week from an acquaintance asking me to do some artwork for them. They even wanted to pay me. Great! So how did I queer the deal? I asked about the timeframe. They needed the artwork right away. I couldn't give it to them right away. When I emailed them that information but offered to do it in about a month's time, they didn't bother to reply.

Uhm, hello. A helpful hint to those of you who ask for work from professionals: don't expect them to set aside their day jobs for your stuff. We may appear to do our work effortlessly, but it's still work, dammit. It may seem easy to just draw up some skeleton pirates with a couple of pin-up babes thrown in, but if were truly easy, you'd be able to do it yourself without asking the likes of me to do it for you. It took me years to learn what I have, and I'm still learning, as far as I'm concerned. So it makes me cranky when people assume that this is all easy and fun all the time. I wish it were, though.

I know that other professions get the same type of assumptions. I try to be aware of that, and so keep the asking of favors from such folk to a minimum. Now if they offer, well hey, I'm jumping on that bandwagon so fast I'd disturb the space/time continuum. I'm an opportunist, after all. I just don't want to be an assumptive opportunist!

Poo!

I hate being sick.

Yesterday afternoon and evening while I was Yom Kippuring away, a cold took over. Ugh. My sinuses are stoopidly stuffed, and taking sudafed isn't helping.

At least this happened this week instead of next.

To break the Yom Kippur fast last night, the husband and I went to one of the sushi places in the mall where the track is housed. I'm a new convert to sushi...I wouldn't touch any of it as recently as a year ago. Then I discovered the joy that is spicy tuna.

I looooooove spicy tuna.

We ate an amazing amount of edamame, tempura, and spicy tuna rolls. It was delicious, even through the stuffed-sinus haze that was enveloping my face. Hopefully if I stay employed we can discover the joys of the other sushi places in the mall soon.

Back to the ick in my face...

Isn't it weird how people don't carry around hankerchiefs anymore for when they need to blow their noses, wipe their eyes, and other handy things? I guess it's a generational thing...my dad still carries around a hankerchief. It was extremely handy when I was a kid for when I'd start crying like a real girl for whatever reason and my dad would wipe my face clean. I think it was the hippies that stopped the useful-hankie trend. Freakin' patchouli-smelling, pot-smoking, hair-growing, Social Security-breaking selfish bastards.

Alright, I need to switch medications and try some benedryl. I need sleep and a clear nose. Here's some more derby stuff from the last bout to watch. The 3D stuff is still viewable even if you don't have 3D glasses. You have to watch that one especially 'cos it features ME.

Atoning

I'm a bad Jew.

A very bad Jew.

Especially since I'm not even Jewish. I think the husband is an even worse Jew, especially considering that he didn't marry a Nice Jewish Girl. If Jews had hell, he'd definitely have his own section there just for that.

Today is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. One is supposed to not work, wash, eat, drink, watch tv, wear leather shoes, have sex, put on make-up or deodorant, or goof off for extended periods of time on the internet. It's hardly halfway through the day and I've hit all of those but one. God would kick my ass for that, if I were really Jewish.

Why aren't Jews supposed to do any of that stuff? Because they're supposed to go to temple and pray all day to atone for their sins against god. I just found out today that atoning for sins against other people doesn't count on this day; you're supposed to atone for those sins before Yom Kippur starts. Well damn, that throws off my whole schedule. The husband and I are not eating, though.

So right now I'm goofing off while taking a break from work. I'm hungry, of course. Yesterday's pre-Yom Kippur meal was a cheeseburger at a local cafe. It was quite delicious, and we had some killer sweet potato fries with spicy mayonnaise that was as addictive as crack. Yummmmm. Tonight we'll be breaking our fast by visiting one of the sushi places in the mall where the track is. Oh yeah, I'm running practice tonight. I'll be all weak from hunger and stuff, but that's OK.

We went to a wedding this past weekend for our friend Adrien and his lovely new bride Janet. The ceremony had the husband and I squirming because it was a)in the sun and b) a Christian ceremony. We didn't expect either, but we adjusted enough to get through it without being too embarrassing and we got to see everyone get nicely plastered at the reception. We got to find out who's pregnant, who's sleeping with whom, who's not sleeping with whom, if anyone went on any good road trips, and just how much beer can everyone drink, anyway? It was fun and I ate way too much.

I also got a pregnancy update from Mudsock and Starfish. Apparently she has strangers touching her belly when she's out and about. Um...ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Why would anyone want to touch a stranger's belly, whether there's a baby in there or not? That's just weird and creeeeeepy. But speaking of creepy, they're gonna have a cool Halloween-themed baby shower. That should be fun.

Alright, back to work.

How Do You Do That?

Today I was picking up some of the revisions that I have to do for the project I'm currently freelancing on. As the notes were handed to me, the supervising director said a baffling(to me)little fact. Not every storyboard person numbers their board pages or scenes.

What the..?!

How could that be? That can confuse the production assistant who has to xerox the boards and hand them off to the timers, animatic scanners, etc. if they drop the board and the pages go flying. Not to mention that even the artist themselves could get confused if they get the pages out of order. How do they do that and not get confused?!

This subject came up because I'm fairly rabid about numbering pages, scenes, etc. Not because I'm obsessive-compulsive, but just so that I can try to keep myself reasonably organized of what I already did and what I need to do. This attention to detail was noticed by the supervising director and production assistant of the project I'm currently on. They had some stories about certain board artists going off on production people when said production people asked the artist to at least number the board pages. Wow.

I wonder if those board people still get hired elsewhere.

Funny

Today I have a sense of accomplishment because I was able to mail off my artwork ahead of schedule. This is momentous, as I'm a fantastic procrastinator.

On my way out of the post office, I saw the funniest thing. A UPS guy making a delivery to someone working at the post office!

HA!

Pix

Here's some pix from last Saturday's game. This is the first time where there's good photographic evidence that I hit people while skating with my own team.

Above is the aftermath of me putting the smackdown on the Tough Cookies' Violet Fury. We both went flying, but it looked cool.

Below is a jam lineup ready to roll. I'm eyeing the off-screen Tough Cookies jammer. She's scared. Really.
















Here we have me taking Tough Cookies team captain Iron Maiven up to the rail. Haha, OW!
















Here's Maiven after I schmacked her. She was in the back of the pack, so I had to hit and run so that I wouldn't get a penalty for blocking outside of the pack. Yes, there are rules to this game. Who knew? Poor girl was pretty damn tired by this point. But I had a job to do. A violent, fun job.

















Right now I'm in the midst of figuring out how to pack up artwork to put in the mail. I bought bubble wrap and am trying to fenagle a way to shove one of the pieces into a just-barely-too-small box. Thank goodness I still have a week left to find a workable solution. Gosh, this being-an-artist stuff isn't easy!

Moving very slow today

I hurt.

A lot.

All because of Saturday night, where Fight Crew beat the living bejeezus out of the Tough Cookies 42-18(yeah I love my team right now!). The major stretch fest I had before the game thanks to the chiropractors that volunteer their time for us at every bout kicked my ass but good.

I asked for my legs and lower back to be stretched. The little guy who did it was very quiet, but damn, he was effective. I felt great during the game. I was feelin' fantastic and pumped full of adrenaline after the game. I drank an obscene amount of margaritas and Irish car bombs at the afterparty and was pleasantly hungover yesterday.

Today I woke up and thought I was gonna die.

My lower back is in pain. As are my triceps. I bruised the knuckle on my left ring finger. I have a strange, sharp bruise on my shoulder where the collarbone ends. My quads are beginning to scream at me. My stomach muscles are cramped. My ankles are sore. And this was from winning the damn game where I remember falling maybe about three times. Definitely a case of, "Wait 'til you see the other girl!"

Today I get to whine and mope because tomorrow I pick up revisions on the storyboard I'm working on. Woohoo! And then in three weeks I get to skate in this bout against our nemeses, the Sirens:

Expanding my Horizons

I can't believe I'm posting this, but what the hey, it's Friday and I'm in a mood.

This-here is a rough for a poster idea for the Derby Dolls championship bout in November. Because we're in new digs in Little Tokyo, several girls wanted a poster that's themed to the J-town atmosphere. So I decided to try out my anime hand. It's not as strong as my pimp hand, but I think when I add color to it it'll look more pro.

I hope.

Tonight I'm going to El Coyote for dinner with my team. I've never been there before, so it should be an adventure.

Tomorrow will be the first bout this season that is played without substitutes for my team...or any of the other teams for that matter. I'm proud of my team for that. They rock.

But for the moment it's back to work. I'm almost done roughing out the board. Thank goodness!

Test Etiquette

It's now the norm in the animation biz to have prospective artists take a test to get on a production.

I hate tests.

I'm not in school because I hate tests.

If they called tests "auditions", it'd at least sound a little bit better. As it is, whenever I hear an artist talk about the test they're taking for a particular job, I feel like their talent and integrity is being challenged.

Why?

Because most of these artists are experienced. It's one thing to give someone straight out of art school a test...hell, that's how I got my first job in the biz. It's another to have someone with 10+ years experience be handed a test for whatever their forte is. That's what a portfolio and a resume are for.

For a long time I wouldn't take a test, because in my experience with these tests I felt that if I'm asked to take a test, that means I'm not getting the job. I used to do storyboard tests and never got a job out of it. So why waste my time on something where I a) wouldn't get the job, and b)wouldn't even get a callback telling me that I didn't get the job.

That's just damn insulting.

Recently I had to start taking tests again. I've managed to get myself in a situation where I had to swallow my pride and do tests again. Both recent tests were for people with whom I've worked with before. Argh. Both tests were done in the alloted time I was given and I was in contact with the "right" people so that the process should've been as painless as possible. I got a callback on the second test right away. The first test? Still no word after me calling them for a couple weeks straight.

That's crap.

If I ever find myself in a position where I'm giving others a freakin' test for a position(the thought makes me retch), the least I'd insist upon is them getting a freakin' call afterwards. Especially if I know them. Is it really that difficult to pick up a phone and make up some stupid lie as to why you didn't hire someone? Jeez, we'd appreciate the effort. Miss Manners would have something to say to you, that's for sure.

Edit: guess what? I got a call this afternoon from the folks with whom I turned in the first test. I didn't get the job.

I never thought I'd say this...

...but I'm beginning to miss spinach.

As a kid the only spinach I was exposed to was the usual cooked goo in a can. I hated it. Putrid, awful stuff. As an adult, I came across uncooked spinach, and my world brightened. It was delicious and nutritious. A bonus on the iron, since I have the Red Cross crawling up my telephonic ass every couple of months for blood donations.

I was in heaven a couple of months ago when I discovered that one of the local Whole Foods markets had spinach caesar salad at their salad bar. Throw some chicken on that and it's the perfect light lunch.

But now, my world has gone gray again because of the E coli spinach scare. I tried to get some fresh spinach at the store last night and was severely SOL. I had to settle for romaine lettuce. It's nice, but it isn't the same.

Stoopid E coli!

Boardin' it up...

The skateboard deck I did a couple months back for a skatepark in Missoula is up. It doesn't hold a candle compared to what other people did, but I'm glad I did it anyway. Check it out!

Huell Houser - SoCal GOD

Yeah, you read that right.

I stumbled across this today and laughed until I coughed up a lung. Which is interesting since I'm not smoking nor do I have a cold.

For those not in SoCal, Huell Houser is something of a local celebrity. He hosts a show on the local PBS affiliate called California Gold. It's actually kinda cool...Huell goes around checking out weird out-of-the-way stuff in California. Just when you think you've seen it all, Huell finds something else to top it.

The best part of the show is the man himself. He has the interviewing skills of a five year autistic child on LSD. Well, alright, the kid could do better. Huell also has a fun southern accent, which of course just adds to the lack of interviewing skills.

To top it all off, his fashion sense is distracting, in a fun way. Not that he's over the top in his wardrobe choices...it just adds the proverbial cherry to the whole California Gold experience.

To those in SoCal...if anyone actually tried the Huell Houser drinking game, we could set up a betting pool of how fast the participants would die of alcohol poisoning.

Sat. Sept. 23

I'm going to be a busy little booger for the next month and a half. Work and roller derby. Work and roller derby where I'm skating in the damn games.

See flyer.

Sat. Sept. 23 is the next game. It's gonna be a nasty, brutal game. You'll love it.

We seem to have a new space for ourselves, too. It's in Little Tokyo, which is about two miles from our current Chinatown location. It's indoors. It's in a mall. It's in an old bowling alley that's been turned into a dojo. It's next to a bunch of tasty-looking sushi bar establishments. It's looking to be pretty danged awesome.

So if you're in LA, come see me and my team skate.