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.