Austintatious

Digital Painting - First Foray

2012-01-30T01:17:00.001-07:00

As I think I've said, our teacher appears to have refused to teach us anything, so this is self-taught. The assignment was to create an expressive self-portrait, I chose myself as Mr. Potato Head, as one, I have a head shaped somewhat like a potato, and two, I often feel like I can change roles from artist to tech support, from loving husband to selfish gamer, etc. I decided to include the process from start to finish so you can see how I worked, and so I can keep a record of it for my own nefarious purposes.

Let me know what you think but be kind, remember it's my first attempt. :)

Graphic Design Vote

2012-01-25T17:33:00.001-07:00

The time has come to help me decide. In my "Designing Brand Identity" (aka Graphic Design 1) class, we're redesigning a particularly heinous logo. I chose the restaurant "Salty Iguana," with the idea that if I can make this look good, maybe I can make anything look good.

I'm mostly decided on the appearance but need your help with the color. Let me know your favorite. Below is the original logo for the restaurant.

So, Austin, how do you like school? Well, I'll tell ye...

2012-01-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

It's school. Nothing profound here.

If you're still reading, school is good but already hard. I'm closing out just my second week of this semester, let me tell you what I think:

Graphic Design 1 is a lot of fun, I think the teacher of this class is shaping up to be my favorite teacher this semester. He's adjunct faculty and cares more about us learning and experimenting so far than meeting some arbitrary goal of thumbnails. He is either under the impression that it's a branding class, but I guess I gotta learn branding sometime. All we've done so far is design or redesign company logos, which is neat. Not what I want to do, but neat.

History of Design and Visual Art is fun but a surprising amount of work. We've already had a field trip to the Crandall Printing Museum, written a 3 page research paper on a designer/printer/typographer of the teacher's choice (I got William Blake) and had a quiz. In some ways it's good but I prefer art history classes when the teacher lectures and we have 3 tests and maybe one paper like all my other classes, instead of 3 research papers, 4 assignments, 5 texts, and 6 calling birds, but oh well. It better improve my knowledge of type history I guess.

Digital Painting is cool and I have a bunch of friends in the class though I'm not sure I'm going to do well due to the teacher's teaching methods, or lack thereof. He seems to be more concerned with our artistic and conceptual sensibilities, not our mastery or proficiency with painting using photoshop. He has flat out stated he's not planning on teaching us any technique or use of the program which is really frustrating, as I thought that was why I was paying him. Oh well. One semester, and you can't love every teacher.

I'm also in my last semester of art lectures, once a week and an hour and a half every Thursday, shouldn't be too painful though I've never heard of any of the presenters except one, and I've only heard of him because I took a class from him.

To get the extra credit I need to qualify for my grant I'm taking another 1 credit class, Saturday Weight Lifting. Yoga was all full and all the other classes required too much cardio/leg mobility. I've only been once but it's just like you'd expect it. Lift weights for half an hour and chart your progress.

Finally and most awesomely I've started an internship at McNeil Printing, the family (in-law) business. I've been shadowing their Graphic Designer as well as being given little projects to work on. So far I designed a sticker for BYU's Athletic Department and a company's mission statement plaque. It's more fun than all my classes combined but it's unpaid and I'm only going @ 5 hours a week, but I've learned more there in going 3 times than most of my other classes in their entirety. So there's that.

That's my semester in a nutshell, I finally am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, hoping it's not a train, and am gonna do my best to get all A's like last semester.

Thanks for reading

2011 - We Hardly Knew Ye.

2012-01-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

As one gets older, and distractions from living overwhelm us, we tend to complain how short the last year was, despite it was the exact same length of time as every other one. That being said, 2011 was really short, yo.

Can't think of the highlights month for month, summing up, it was the hardest/most credit filled year I think I've had, on top of working full or near full time, I got semi-demoted at work, we went on vacation twice to California, once to Arrowhead to be with my mom's side of the family and once to Stevenson Ranch to be with my dad's side of the family, as well as a trip to Zion's National Park to be with some of our friends, my skills in design have grown (imho) tremendously and my fear of getting a job has grown just as tremendously.

osama bin laden, Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Mars, Elizabeth Taylor, kim jong-il, Peter Falk, Cy Twombly, Amy Winehouse, Patrice O'Neal, Steve Jobs, muammar gaddafi, Paul Beckstrom all died. Some of these people were viewed as monsters such as jong-il, bin laden and taylor, some were beloved such as falk and jobs, some should have seen it coming such as winehouse, and possibly frankenthaler, and one was like a third grandfather to me, such as beckstrom. I went through wikipedia looking up all the famous people who had die, it was depressing and quite extensive. Not gonna do that again, for at least like a year.

Morgan has grown into a hilarious albeit developmentally behind boy. We've had counselors and classes to help him and he's always improving but still behind which frankly pisses me off at certain gods and breaks my heart but I love him to death and he can do no (ok very little) wrong in my eyes.

Tracie and I are both still working in case you didn't know, 2011 I failed most of my resolutions except reading and getting all A's except for one stupid typography 1.

I got my first graphic design job from a friend and fluctuate between thinking I'm the best and the worst designer ever and think this is enough for now. Happy new year everybody, let's hope 2012 is just the end of my twenties and not the end of existence. silly Mayans. They predicted our demise but not their own.

Resolutions: Recap and Renew

2011-12-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the year I wrote a post about Resolutions for 2011. To be accountable as well as to depress myself, I will repost what I resolved to do, sum up how successful or unsuccessful I was, and make new resolutions. I will do so... now:

1.) Exercise three times a week, only treat myself to fast food one day a week.
   -Sigh. I did ok for awhile, probably longer than usual, but I'll renew this one for 2012, try to lose @ 30 pounds and keep it off.

2.) Finish a second draft of "Prince Pert's Perilous Quest for the Perfect Princess." And write a new story for NaNoWriMo.
   -I did half. I haven't touched (and frighteningly can't find my first draft of my fractured fairy tale) Prince Pert in ages (that sounds bad) but I did write @30k words of an autobiographical rant that I'm counting.

3.) Read a bedtime story to Morgan most nights.
   -He still won't really hold still to be read to, but I sing to him and tell him stories when he lets me. He is getting better holding still to look at picture books, which is nice.

4.) Get A's in all my classes.
   -I actually did it this summer and fall semester. Spring semester I would have but 1 teacher who shall remain nameless (and friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless) gave me a C. The fool. I'd love to get all A's again, we'll see.

5.) Read one book a month.
   -I started out pretty good, much better than the year before, though I ended poorly. I think I managed to read 10 books this year, I'm going to try to hit that benchmark again, this time focused on design books and technical books like the Ruby on Rails for Dummies book I bought but haven't cracked open.

Bonus Resolutions

a.) become active again. Active in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that is. My 2 biggest reasons for being inactive, church being too early and Morgan being too wiggly, are about to become moot. I still want to be active more for other people than for myself, but it's better than nothing and I assume I'll eventually be active for myself once I get my fat butt to church again.

b.) do a personal graphic design project a week to build up my portfolio and skills. School is all fine and good but if I let them take charge of my education I fear I will be very lacking when it's time to actually and finally find a job.

c.) GRADUATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Color Theory Project

2011-12-11T11:23:00.005-07:00

We've been studying the color theories of Josef Albers. Our assignment has been to make 2 colors appear as one, one color appear as two, simulated transparencies and simultaneous contrasts. All the other assignments were painted, but this was done in illustrator. Being who I am, I had to put in a quote. The runner up was a quote from Marc Chagall: "All colors are the friends of their neighbors, and the lovers of their opposites."

After Effects Final- V for Vendetta

2011-12-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

V For Vendetta Kinetic Typography from Austin Beckstrom on Vimeo.

After about 6 hours on Monday, I am done with After Effects! Let me know what you think. It's not the way I wanted, but TGI-Done!

Come On In

2011-12-02T11:14:00.006-07:00

After staying up all night on Tuesday/Wednesday and only sleeping three hours last night, I am proud/pleased/relieved to be done with my Art History hypothetical museum project.

I'm tired so I can't remember if I've said it before, so here goes. In Art History we were assigned to make a hypothetical modern art museum exhibit. I chose works of art that focus on integrating the viewer into the creative experience, using methods like visual/optical blending, paintings that let the viewer decide what it was about, and even art works that invited viewers to add to it, or art works that viewers added to without the artist's permission. It was a fun-ish project, but it took way longer than I expected, I had said all I needed to say after 4 1/2 pages and it was a minimum of 6 pages. What you're looking at is the front and back of a pamphlet I made for the exhibit, mostly just showing the more famous works of art in the exhibit and a little bit of info about it. I'd post the paper I wrote, but it's an academic paper and even I think it's boring, so I'll spare you. If you really want to read it or are looking for a sleeping pill let me know and I'll email it to you. Now that I'm done, I'm going to get some deserved sleep. Only one project left for the semester!

Longfellow quote

2011-12-02T08:54:00.001-07:00

After staying up all night twice this week, I sure hope so. Hope you like what I've done with Henry Longfellow's quote. If not, it's ok, I'm going to sleep now.

Tread - Getting Closer to the End

2011-11-30T01:34:00.003-07:00

I hope.

Thanks for all the Fish

2011-11-29T12:16:00.003-07:00

We're back from our trip to California, time to travelogue the sucker.

Tuesday night @ 5 we left bound for Mesquite. It was a pleasant enough trip until around Beaver, UT Morgan threw up. We thought it might be motion/car sickness, but he threw up several times later at the hotel. After he threw up we pulled off to the side of the road to comfort/clean him. A policeman came and parked behind us which instantly made the other cars give us a wide berth. He asked if he could help, there wasn't much he could do, I didn't think it right to make him clean Morgan, but he did give us an evidence bag to put Morgan's puked on clothes in to mask the smell. I got probably too big of a kick out of it, using an evidence bag and all that. On our way again we made it to Mesquite without incident, though Tracie and I remained on edge most of the time for fear he'd throw up again, but he didn't until we got to Mesquite. The rest of the night was uneventful, largely because Tracie and Morgan let me sleep so I could drive.

Wednesday we drove the rest of the way through California, saw my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, played ping-pong and I went shopping for things I forgot to pack.

Thursday happy thanksgiving, we began the day going to My uncle's friend Tony Swatton's workshop. Tony is a blacksmith who creates weapons and armor for such movies as Blade, Pirates of the Caribbean, Zorro, Hook, Hellboy and others. It was a lot of fun, it would have been more fun but Morgan got afraid of the mannequins and weapons and torture devices and he and I spent most of the trip in the car waiting for everyone. Sigh, parenting comes first I suppose. The rest of the day was of course dedicated to eating too much and visiting with loved ones. That night Tracie, my aunt and others went black Friday shopping, we got some fun stuff and some things we wanted and other things we didn't know we wanted until they were 80% off.

Friday Tracie got whatever bug Morgan had but fortunately didn't throw up, but I spent most of the day trying to take care of her, which meant getting her more pillows and blankets and changing the movie/channel for her, though I did go to lunch with my cousin and some of his friends at a Korean BBQ that was just awesome.

Saturday we were determined to do something touristy, so we went to the Norton Simon Art Museum. I'd been there before but remember it being a lot more impressive than it was, but the grounds were lovely, and it's always cool to be in an Art Museum, at least for me. We spent the evening at my aunt's with family singing karaoke and dancing to the Wii Michael Jackson game.

Sunday we drove back and tried recuperating. Not the most exciting trip event wise, sickness definitely threw a wrench in the works, but it was still great to see family, one cousin I got to see who I haven't seen in probably over a decade, so that was cool, others it's been several years. Thanks to those who made it possible: my Aunt Kerri, my grandparents and Uncle David especially.

Hope your thanksgiving was fun too and you're getting as excited as I am for Christmastime!

V For Vendetta

2011-11-19T14:06:00.006-07:00

Alan Moore is an amazing writer; and he certainly thinks so. For my final assignment for Interactive Design 2 we're to implement everything we learned in one video. I'll be making another kinetic type assignment of the introduction speech V makes in V for Vendetta. It will form the Guy Fawkes mask when it's done, I hope it won't look too stupid and I'll have enough time to do it. I'm working in Illustrator trying to lay it out to begin with, then I should just be able to animate it in After Effects. What do you think so far?

Approaching the End... 1 year left

2011-11-18T16:32:00.004-07:00

I have less than a month left of my penultimate fall semester of college. It's been a good semester, but crazy. Big thanks to my work for letting me work such an odd schedule and to Tracie for letting me get my homework done, basically allowing me to come home and spend the evening at the computer.

My final assignments are things I'm looking forward to, but the work is going to be a bit much.

For Art History I have to study for a final and create a theoretical museum exhibit. Mine will be on Viewer interaction in Modern Art. It should be fun, but I've got a lot of work to do and it's due in only 2 weeks.

For Interactive Design, I'll be making another kinetic type video as that has been by far my favorite assignment, but I'm not sure I'll have enough time to get it done, as we'll only be meeting a few more times and I don't have After Effects at home, so the limited time at school I have will have to be enough.

Color Theory we're going to end the class with a bunch of color studies, trying to make 2 colors appear as the same color and the same color appear as 2 different colors, making objects appear transparent through color, etc. It doesn't sound very fun, but it's been a good class and I expect it to be very exciting, a testament to the awesomeness of the teacher.

Typography as you may have noticed I'll be working on a magazine, I have to have a new cover and 2 spreads done by the end of the semester, which should be fun. Lots of work, but fun.

That's about it for the semester, here's what I've got in the works for next semester:
- Graphic Design I - which I'm most looking forward to and have tried to get in for awhile now.
- Digital Painting - which I'm also looking forward to though not as much.
- History of Graphic Design, this will be the first Art History class that I may actually have to study for.
- Last Semester of Art Lectures, halle-freakin-lujah.
- Drawing II which I may drop if I can get an internship.
-Advanced Layout- Presently on the waitlist, we'll see.

And that's Austin's school. Let's see what else is going on in his merry little life:

For NaNoWriMo I got to 15,000 words and finished the story. Plus since I've got so much school, it looks to be another NaNoWriMo I'm not going to win this year. Maybe once I graduate.

that's not all but it's all for now, work is done and I wanna go home!

Trying to reclaim Youth, or just expanding my sphere?

2011-11-18T14:40:00.002-07:00

Back in March I wrote a post about Getting Older. The gist was if you don't remember or didn't read it was I no longer felt young, not because I'm bald, have a metal hip, am losing my memory and think the music is too loud and teenagers drive too fast, but because I don't understand the concept of twitter or why lady gaga is so popular.

Since that time I've expanded my horizons a bit, set up an account on twitter and have listened to more lady gaga music than the overly repetitive "Just Dance."

Here are my opinions. Twitter? Somewhat pointless, my facebook status is still where I post my clever opinions and ideas and updates on what I'm doing or thinking. But it is cool in that I can read what some of my favorite personalities and celebrities are thinking or up to, such as Conan O'Brien, Neil Gaiman, and Jessica Hische. It was actually Jessica Hische who suggested I start tweeting. Not to me personally, but she came to our school and gave a lecture (one of two useful lectures this semester) and among other things, said twitter is a great tool for a designer or anyone wanting to be known. She also built the website: Momthisishowtwitterworks.com explaining how twitter works.

Lady Gaga? She makes catchy music and dresses like a moron, but it's her way of expressing herself, and the source of a great Weird Al video. (is there any other kind?)

Now that I've overcome 2 things I just didn't "get" my next goal is to try to understand the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movement. I'll let you know once I understand them. Hope to be back soon.

Tread Covers - Take II

2011-11-14T17:38:00.009-07:00

So our group's decided on logos, now we're working on covers and layout. Here's what I'm bringing to the table tomorrow, aren't you lucky that you get to see it first! (longer post forthcoming, eventually). The last image is an example layout of what fonts and stuff I think we should use in a spread. The body text is taken from Fight Club, as the teacher hates Lorem Ipsum and the guy just reminds me of someone in Fight Club.

Or Iggy Pop (or Steven Tyler) but they don't have as many good quotes as Chuck Palahniuk.

Tread - Magazine Cover Prototypes

2011-11-06T21:02:00.007-07:00

For Typography & Layout, our final assignment is to design a magazine. The class is divided into 2 groups and our group's mag is called "Tread." (I didn't choose it. I wanted Go!, Icon, or Spork.) We're working on our logo right now, and a way to see it with a potential cover. Here are several ideas I have, I don't love any of them, but I like some more than others, but bad or good here they are:

It's that time again... (NaNoWriMo)

2011-10-28T16:46:00.006-06:00

that's Greg at the bottom right there.

National Novel Writing Month is once again upon us! I've tried thrice and didn't hit the goal once, though I've gotten close. This time I think I just might do it.

For those of you curious, My attempted 50,000 words will be about the Unadventures of Gregory Starcross, a title I had thought of years before I knew what the story was about, or indeed who Gregory Starcross was.

Who is Gregory Starcross? Well, you'll have to read to find out, and I of course will have to write it.

*disclaimer: "The Unadventures of" was not taken from Tracie's blog name. Rather, it's the other way around. Just sayin...

I let you know I'm doing it because as with every goal it's much more likely to be accomplished if you tell everyone about it. Expect to see me say it on Facebook and Twitter soon. Ooh, the anticipation.

I also challenge anyone who has wanted to write a novel but didn't have the support or month to do it to give it a try, nanowrimo.org. it's awesome!

See you on the other side!

Picdump - number the sixth - Illustration edition

2011-10-17T02:29:00.011-06:00

Lately I've just posted boring design schoolwork. To clear out my desktop, and reward you for still reading, here's my picdump # the six: illustration edition.

Dada BonBon

2011-10-16T23:57:00.006-06:00

After much hard work, family neglect, and one night spent in hell, I am done with my menu design.

Cover

Center Spread

Back Cover

Now onto the NEXT project!

First video on Youtube!

2011-10-12T19:53:00.001-06:00

At last I feel like I'm contributing to the internet instead of just taking away, I have a video on Youtube!

Having my own blog didn't do it, posting memes on cheezburger didn't do it, even building austinbeckstrom.com didn't do it, youtube is the benchmark, folks.

In my digital imaging class we were assigned to turn @ 30 seconds of audio into a kinetic typography assignment. Is it good? It's decent. Is it mine? Oh, yeah. Is it complete? Heck yes!

For those of you who would rather watch it on vimeo, click here.

Menu Design Rough

2011-10-06T09:27:00.005-06:00

Our next assignment in Typography is to design a menu for a restaurant. Looking at the website: http://underconsideration.com/artofthemenu/, the restaurant Trattoria Pomo D'oro designed their menu under the idea: "What would it look like if Leonardo Da Vinci designed a menu?" I then got the idea: "What would it look like if Marcel Duchamp (or another member of DADA) designed a menu?" and here's what I've got so far for the cover. I've spoken with my teacher and will have to (somewhat) drastically change it, but I wanted to save what I've done so far for Dada BonBon: those who are starving only prove that they don't have any faith in their government.

And if you say "it doesn't look like a menu," I will say "exactly."

Experiments with Type

2011-10-05T02:12:00.004-06:00

As I said in my last post, I've been giving myself typography assignments in effort to improve.
Here are the first three fruits (or vegetables) of that labor.

Road Closed: Haven't I posted this before?

2011-10-04T17:36:00.005-06:00

About a year and a half ago, I posted about being at a crossroads in my life, and whether I should stay with Graphic Design or if I should try my luck down a different path.

Well, in case you didn't know and have been wondering for 18 months, I decided to stick with Graphic Design. Unfortunately I'm still not sure if I made the right choice. But I am sure it was my choice, and so there's no backing out now.

On the positive side, I've learned a lot since then; in fact I've learned a ton. (Still not when to use semicolons, however.) I've grown an appreciation and love for good design and designing I didn't have before. But still, I'm discouraged. That's putting it lightly. I'm downfallen. That's a word, isn't it?

My skills are improving, but certain factors like uncharitable teachers or my own two eyes are telling me that my skills aren't where they need to be.

Last week I met with a teacher to go through my portfolio with me before I submitted it, and I don't know what I was thinking. He's never liked my work. But to his credit he was honest and candid and told me the portfolio as it was constituted would not get me into the BFA program. Ouch. Though I can somewhat agree with him. And fortunately I spoke with him about why exactly that was, and he explained several reasons I could agree with and gave me good advice on how to improve. Although he didn't realize (before I told him) I've only been in 3 design classes, and I didn't realize that this semester wasn't the only one I could apply (until he told me).

So basically I tried applying a little prematurely, which is good. At least better than if I've taken every design class and my portfolio looks like this, I've only taken Graphic Computer Applications, Interactive Design I and Typography and Layout I. (I still need to take Graphic Design I, Graphic Design II, Typography II, Advanced Layout, Interactive Design II, Advanced Interactive Design, and others).

I also met with the counselor who explained that I would need to have taken Graphic Design I in order to apply for the BFA, which I have not. That would have been nice to know. My abilities or lack thereof are just premature, I keep telling myself. It still was difficult to hear what I've done so far is effectively worthless, however. Being rejected even when you agree with the rejection yourself is never easy. But, fortunately, instead of depression, it's helped cement my resolve to become a better designer. I've started working on a personal Graphic Design goal: to regularly make up projects on my own. Right now I'm in the middle of making several typographical posters (like this one, but not), then I'm going to make some book covers, and maybe advertisements. The bottom line is I'm going to follow the advice from my favorite Mark Twain quote I had forgotten:

"(To) never let my schooling interfere with my education."

I'm too far into school to merit turning my academic life around, plus I'm genuinely interested in my major, and I think I could eventually be very successful in the field, provided I'm able to get a job once I graduate and keep learning and improving at the rate I've been.

This post originally was going to me complaining about school and whining, and it ended up more hopeful and optimistic than I expected. Oh, writing, I love you.

Voting Time

2011-09-27T19:53:00.002-06:00

I'm a firm believer in the phrase "If it's not broke, don't fix it."

My blog's design has served me well for over 4 years now, thanks to the incomparable Lynette, my awesome sister-in-law.

But, since I am a designer, or at least trying to become one, I feel the need/desire to have a blog of my own design.

Adding into the equation the fact that Blogger has released a myriad of new blog templates, I feel the urge to design my own header and blog growing stronger.

But, contrary to popular opinion, I don't just blog for myself. Therefore what's your opinion on the blog? Is it time to make a new one, or should I keep what I've got that's worked fine and served me well throughout my blogging history?

Let me know and I might just listen to you.

Portfolio Preparation

2011-09-27T18:07:00.004-06:00

The Deadline for submitting your portfolio in order to be accepted into the B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts, doncha know) Program is in two weeks, October 14.

I don't necessarily think I'm going to be accepted, but it's one of those things that I know I'll always regret if I don't at least try.

In effort however to be accepted, I have arranged a meeting with my Academic counselor to go over what they're looking for and what I can do to improve my chances of getting accepted. (Chocolate bribes notwithstanding). We apparently have to write an essay or letter or something (letter of intent, I think it is) as well. That's due next Friday. Other than write 'something,' I have no idea what to include or not include in the letter of intent. Fun.
In addition to that, I've arranged a meeting with one of my favorite design teachers (his opinion of me is still under review) to examine the portfolio and see what I can improve, what I should leave out, general feelings about it I guess and if I should just start from scratch and make a new 20 designs in 2 weeks.

It's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster (I'm not sure why people say emotional rollercoaster. I think it's understood that I'm not literally riding a rollercoaster, as that would actually be fun, rather than exciting and terrifying.) as at some points I feel the portfolio is High Art meets Graphic Design and the greatest experience my teachers will ever behold, causing them to cheer and weep. Other times I worry they'll just spend their time trying to find one nice thing to say about it. "I really like the, um, paper you used." "It's digital." "Exactly."
I'm currently feeling the latter.

I had to miss an important meeting for Graphic Design students at school tonight because I'm scheduled to work, which brings back the "torn in two directions and only being mediocre in each one" feeling I have. Work is keeping me from being a better design student, and school is keeping me from excelling/promotions at work. I should say I'm grateful to both, especially work, for how flexible and awesome they are in spite of the fact I have the schedule from Hell. So I will.

Still, I feel a bit of wasted potential and kind of crappy that I'm forced to choose, I need money and all that, but I think my priorities are mostly in the right place, Family First, Everything Else second.

Once I'm ready to submit it I'll either have jpegs of it for your perusal or just link my website austinbeckstrom.com.

Stay tuned you lucky people, and don't feel against sending me any positive encouragement you have lying around, thanks.

*that's not me, in case you were over-confident in my abilities. It's from the famous (to me) and wealthy (to Switzerland) Designer and Letterer and awesome speaker extraordinaire, Jessica Hische.

Why You Shouldn't Stay Up past 2 am Working On Design

2011-09-26T02:09:00.001-06:00

because everything you do, no matter how stupid, appears brilliant.

East of Eden

2011-09-21T16:05:00.005-06:00

Special thanks to the fine printers at McNeil Printing for printing this for me. It was quite a process but I am glad to have it done, now on to the next project! I don't know what it is for Typography, but in Interactive Design I'll be making a Kinetic Typography assignment, for Art History I'm working on a Theoretical Museum Exhibit (it actually is a lot cooler than it sounds), Color Theory we're doing a self portrait in the style of Chuck Close, and for AVC Lectures I'm getting psyched to see Jessica Hische. Here's hoping she doesn't just spend the time trying to sell something like other visiting lecturers in the past.

Jessica Hische is something of a celebrity to graphic designers. Meeting her must be how Catholics feel when they meet the pope, or how Jews feel when they meet Jon Stewart.

There's what I'm up to in school, in case you were curious.

Let me know what you think, but it's printed and on my book now so I can't change anything.

book cover decisions

2011-09-18T01:00:00.004-06:00

As I get further into Graphic Design, I'm expecting that it may take over this blog completely, which may not be too big a deal to the three of you that still read this, but for my own records and for the future, here are new covers I've been working on after critique:

Pigasus

2011-09-14T16:21:00.005-06:00

The Pigasus was used by John Steinbeck as a personal stamp with the Latin motto Ad astra per alia porci (to the stars on the wings of a pig).

The pigasus was supposed to symbolize Steinbeck as “earthbound but aspiring....
A lumbering soul but trying to fly...(with)...not enough wingspread but plenty of intention.”

So our group is designing a series of Steinbeck novels and it was my task to design the logo. Liking the Penguin logo, I made one of Pigasus, tell me what you think!

East of Eden- Work in Progress

2011-09-14T16:02:00.004-06:00

We have roughs for my first Typography assignment tomorrow. We're to design a book cover for a specific artist, I'm in a group doing John Steinbeck. My book cover is East of Eden, and it was my job to create a logo for all the books.

Here's my first computer draft of the book cover. The logo I've decided deserves it's own post, so I don't have to write as much but get more blog entries.

Oh Remember, Remember

2011-09-12T07:35:00.008-06:00

The Eleventh of September.

I was at the mechanic waiting on getting my mom's car fixed. It was a couple weeks before my mission and I was doing my best to prepare for it, by reading an e.e. cummings biography. Like many 19 year-olds who thought themselves more mature than they were and therefore disillusioned with American media, I remember seeing reporters blabbing on the television about how America will never be the same and this would be a day to remember. I scoffed at the journalist going for hyperbole simply to get ratings, when my mom called and explained exactly what was going on.

It was shocking and (though I hate to use the word) surreal. I felt personally violated and threatened. All I remember for the rest of that day was watching the footage again and again.

Because of that day I witnessed the greatness and charity of humanity in the courageous firefighters and the evil and insanity of which humanity is capable in the terrorist attackers.

I now know the journalist I scoffed at was correct and America very well may never be the same.

Edible Typography

2011-09-06T03:19:00.007-06:00

Since I've stayed up until 3:19 on this assignment, I might as well post about it.

The assignment was to freehand the word "hamburger" in a famous typeface such as Times New Roman. (hamburger in honor of all the barbecues this labor day weekend.) Then we were supposed to write something that goes with a hamburger that looks like that object, and finally actually make something that goes with hamburgers. My results are below, (onions and fries) but I must ask: what would you have done if it was your assignment?

First Week of Penultimate Fall Semester- Done

2011-09-02T12:33:00.004-06:00

I had my last class of the week, and for my sake, for posterity's sake, the sake of anyone caring or bored enough to know, here's my feelings about it.

Art History has always been one of my favorite subjects, and I can tell I am going to like this teacher a lot. She really knows her stuff and though I disagree with at least one thing with her so far, she's fun and smart and I am really enjoying the class while doing my best not to usurp all the class comments for myself.

Color Theory is not what I had expected, so far we've painted a color wheel like we're in Elementary school and what's worse, the teacher I thought would be teaching it won't be for a few more weeks. The later assignments look like they may be fun, but right now they're teaching us about mixing paints, something I learned about 12 years ago.

Interactive Design 2 is not more web programming, it's an After Effects class. So far we've animated a circle and square. The teacher is a lot of fun, possibly my favorite so far, and it may be a pretty fun class. Plus I have the most friends in it from previous classes, so that helps too.

Typography 2 has been good, I really do like Typography even though I'm no typographer, the teacher seems good and our first assignment is to create a type style with an object, I'm going to use an onion, pictures forthcoming once I do it. I'm also brainstorming for the next assignment: a book cover.

Finally Art Lectures, the one hour class of either excitement or boredom, it's never anywhere in between. The bad news is I'm watching it with about 100 other students off campus on a projector, the good news is we don't have to write any response papers, attendance is 100% of the grade. I've never heard of any of the speakers this semester except one, Jessica Hische. Whether you're into typography or not, she's awesome.

On non-school related news but just news of this week, I interviewed for a job in the Operations/IT Department at my company and did not get it, they cited my school schedule as a chief reason why I didn't get it, I just think they couldn't handle the unbridled awesomeness of Austin, and they said yes, that was also a factor. Apparently some of them didn't like my resume either.
It was good to interview for it though it will be a long time before I choose to be interviewed again unless of course I get fired. But as my manager has said more than once, if I haven't been fired yet, I'll probably never get fired here. That's comforting.

Tracie and Morgan have been sick for the past several days, I've been borderline sick but never quite crossed it, now it looks like it's going away.

I've redecorated my desk at work, it's been completely bare since we've moved to the new building.

It's Friday, what more need be said? Hope your week went well as well and your weekend is safe and three-days like mine.

Lake Arrowhead 2011

2011-09-02T11:51:00.004-06:00

Since it's been nearly two weeks since we've been back, I wanted to post on our trip to Lake Arrowhead with a percentage of the Valantine clan. All my mother's family were represented, her parents, her two brothers, her sisters children, her eldest brothers children and spouse, and us. A total of 12 people stayed in 2 cabins at the beautiful Lake Arrowhead Chalets. It was a wonderful trip, despite the few bumps and bruises we learned that Morgan does not like sleeping not at home.

We decided to take our trip there over 2 days as it's about an 11 hour drive and the longest car ride Morgan has gone on before that was about 2 hours. We drove to Mesquite our first day and made excellent time. We had packed plenty of road snacks and energy drinks and of course music. I think every road trip Tracie and I have gone one we've listened to the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat soundtrack and Phantom of the Opera. Making excellent time to Mesquite, we had time to go to dinner and unpack our overnight things in our room before the sun set. It was a relaxing evening, we had calzones the size of footballs and watched some tv in our hotel bed.

Unfortunately, that's when things took a turn for the worse. We had bought a cot for Morgan to sleep on, and were skeptical he'd like this. Our skepticism proved wise. He and Tracie were up all night, I didn't sleep well but I did sleep since I was the designated driver (you know my family and their drinking).

Our next day started all right until I realized we were 20 miles out of Mesquite and nearly out of gas, so I turned back and got gas, which probably affected the rest of our trip. Once we got in Vegas it was stop and go traffic nearly all the way to the state line, and then we were stuck in fruit inspection hell. It ended up making our drive nearly 3 hours longer and all three of us significantly grouchier. One of the pros was we had excellent air conditioning to combat the 120° + temperatures outside.We finally arrived in Arrowhead to loving family members lovingly telling us how foolish we were to drive to California through Las Vegas on a Sunday Afternoon, not realizing perhaps I have NEVER driven to California through Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon, but then, never would again either.

Most of the trip can be summed up as sleeping in, playing games with family like Michigan Rummy, Shanghai, Shoot the Moon, Pinochle, Super Mario Brothers Wii, Rainbow Six, Age of Empires, Acquire, that's all I can think of, and going to Lake Arrowhead village to shop and browse. Though every night was a struggle to get Morgan to sleep, it was possible and one of the best vacations ever. This was the first family vacation we've gone on with Morgan, and probably the last one at least until he gets a little older. It was such a treat to visit and just be with family, not to rub it in to those that didn't go, but a treat nonetheless. (Maybe rub it in a little.)

Thank you thank you to my dear grandparents for making this possible and basically paying for everything for us, we love you. It was such a treat to be with loving family in the distant mountains and not have to worry about a thing. Good times.

And now back to work.

Book 7, 8, 9, and 9 1/2

2011-08-29T08:36:00.006-06:00

How do I let time from blogging slip away like this? Is it because the blog craze is dwindling in favor of tweeting, google+, facebook statusing, mass emails, life in general? I digress. I've read/listened to 3 books and one play and wanted to review them all in one post, as I have little to say about each and thought if I combine the reviews it should add up to once decent sized post, and become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Book 7- Tipping Point
by Malcolm Gladwell

Several individuals have been getting after me to read the Pop-Economics instant classing Tipping Point. (At least that's what I thought. Turns out they were recommending Outliers. Oh well. **spoiler alert** I read that too.) It was read by the author and fairly interesting for a boring subject. Basically he just gave examples of how little things can make a big difference, from medical epidemics to social epidemics. I wasn't too sold on Gladwell's point of view, it didn't change my mind on anything but it was still interesting and I wasn't worse off for reading it. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Book 8- Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim
by David Sedaris

I loved When you Are Engulfed in Flames so much I wanted to read something else by David Sedaris, and by read I of course mean listen to. For those of you unfamiliar with Sedaris, he writes mostly autobiographical/memoir-ish writing, with a nearly unhealthy dose of hilarity. Unfortunately, apart from 2 or 3 stories (the standout being "6 to 8 Black Men" about other culture's holidays, and specifically the Dutch Santa Claus and his 'helpers') I was not impressed. It was crasser than the first but more unforgivably, it was less funny. I should probably listen to it again, as I realize I may have given it more to live up to as I loved the first book of his I read, this one was good, but comparatively not as good. Still, 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Book 9- Outliers
by Malcolm Gladwell

Sure it makes sense to group the books by the same author together, but this is the order I read them. Outliers is about 2-3 times longer than Tipping Point, and about 2-3 times better. Well, no, not exactly, but I can't resist a comparison like that. The first half or so of the book was enjoyable, riveting and interesting. The second half got boring, tedious and made me regret enjoying the first half as much. If you're interested in Malcolm Gladwell's opinions on what makes people succeed, read this book. To me his opinion's boiled down to talent, practice and luck/timing. 5 stars for the first half, 2 stars for the second, averaging out to 3.5 stars total. If you're interested in learning more about less recognized things that make people succeed, read this book.

Book 9 1/2

The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde

I call it 9 1/2 because one, it is a play, not a book and 2, it is less than 2 hours long. Still, if you haven't read, seen or listened to this play, you owe it to yourself, your teachers and the English language to do so. Most people, myself included, call it the wittiest play ever written. It is Wilde's masterpiece, and being one of the few authors I have read everything he's ever written, I agree. In the words of Algernon, it is perfectly phrased and quite as true as any observation in civilized life should be." For those of you unfamiliar with it, I will provide a brief synopsis and then comment on the presentation I listened to, not the play itself. It involves Jack who lives in the country but goes by the name of Ernest in the city so he can live a life of pleasure but still maintain respectability to those who know him as Jack, and his friend Algernon (I didn't name him) who pretends to have a sick friend named Bunbury to visit in the country for a similar reason. Jack proposed to Gwendolyn, who accepts him largely because she thinks his name is Ernest. When discussing the engagement with Gwendolyn's mother Lady Bracknell, Jack is found out to have questionable parentage and so is forbidden to marry her. Algernon learns both of Jack's double life and his 'excessively pretty ward' Cecily, and goes to Jack's home in the country masquerading as Jack's wicked brother Ernest. Algernon instantly falls in love with Cecily who is already in love with him, again because she's always wanted to marry someone named Ernest. There is confusion and comedy aplenty in this "Trivial play for Serious people." It is my favorite play of all time, and I can't say enough good things about it, so I won't try. This version had a full cast and I would rate it a B. I enjoyed most of the actors with the exception of Algernon who has the best lines in the play after Lady Bracknell and must have thought "breathy" was an emotion, and the only emotion Algernon could express. A minor quibble was everyone calling Cecily "Sicily" which grew annoying quickly, but Jack and Gwendolyn were satisfactory if not enjoyable and Lady Bracknell was superb (doing her best to channel Edith Evans who played Lady Bracknell in the 1952 film).
One other note, though I am an admirer of Rupert Everett and have a 'man-crush' on Colin Firth, I would recommend refraining from seeing the 2002 film of the play and rent the 1952 version as it is better in every respect. Particularly Lady Bracknell. Apparently no one told poor Dame Judi Dench it was a comedy, as she performed Lady Bracknell the same way she portrays 'M' in the James Bond movies. Now that I think about it, that's the only way I've ever seen her portray anyone...
Here I go, get Austin to talk about Oscar Wilde and you can't shut him up! Ok, the play gets of course 6 out of 5 stars and the performance listened to gets 4 out of 5 because I really only had 2 problems with it, bad Algernon brings it down a star, the pronunciation of Cecily, while annoying doesn't affect the grade.

For the remainder of the year I am endeavoring to read the Lord of the Rings in its entirety which I have not done in over a decade. Thanks as always for reading.

Fall Semester-2011 Edition

2011-08-29T08:14:00.003-06:00

So I will be starting fall semester today, my second to last fall semester if everything goes according to plan...

I figured now would be a good a time as any to write about what classes I'm taking. Mondays and Wednesdays I'll be taking:
20th Century Art History (my last Art History class ever),
Color Theory (I'm excited even though the subject sounds boring, it's taught by one of my favorite teachers), and
Interactive Design II (Not sure what we'll be learning here, Javascript, Ruby, or just more HTML & CSS. Either way, probably class I'm looking most forward to.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I just have one class, Typography & Layout II, taught by neither of the teachers I took Typography & Layout I from, so we'll see. Other than that, I have Art Lectures on Thursday nights again, it's only an hour a week and the less said about that the better.

For those of you curious or in case you forgot, I'm expecting/praying to graduate at the end of next fall semester, or December 2012. Since I've been in and out of college since the end of 2000 (with a mission and taking time off and part time for several years) It will be a blessed time indeed when I am finally a college graduate. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's just a dim pinprick at this point in time, it's there. Hallelujah, it's there.

Now I've got about 5 more posts I want to do, a job interview (within the company) to prepare for, my wife to murder, and Gilder to frame for it. (wait, scratch the second to last one.)

3D Design Part 3: Thinking Outside the Box

2011-08-11T13:29:00.008-06:00

My final project was to use found objects and make something out of them. About 90% of the class made robots out of VCRs, old cassette players, wooden bowls, aluminum cans, etc. I had the idea of having a large hand made entirely of toys coming out of a toy chest. Either because it's 2011 or everyone already bought them, I couldn't find any toy chests even though I shopped at 3 DIs and 1 Savers. What I did find however were toys and lots of them. However, even at $25 a piece they can add up, so I recruited my dear uncle Jim and cousins Andre and Ivan to loan me some of their toys. By some, I mean about 2-300. The finished product wasn't quite what I had envisioned, apparently a little bit of wire has a hard time holding up so many toys, but it turned out pretty cool, several other students actually took pictures of it and the teacher told me if I did a series of these I would be able to get into Grad school. Not what I want, but it was very flattering and warmed my little black heart. Made it fun to dream for a minute. Now I'm going to have to dismantle the thing, I'm going to take it over to my uncle's and see if they'll help me take it apart, as they wanted to see it completed.

looking up at the hand.

yes, that's Appa at the top.

3D Design Part 2: Before and After

2011-08-11T13:18:00.004-06:00

Since I took a picture of this rock before I carved it I wanted to show it both before and after. Besides the fact that it broke several times, I'm mostly happy with the way it turned out, the rock underneath turned out to be a beautiful color.

The teacher said the finished work looked like Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. I think it looks like a polished piece of pink poo. In a good way. What do you think?

3D Design Part 1: A skull, a pear, and a thing

2011-08-11T12:51:00.005-06:00

Here are my first 3 assignments, The wire sculpture, the matte board fruit and the non-representational rock. Enjoy.

I don't love any one of these, besides the rock I thought them a colossal waste of time but it was a required course and I got to visit with friends and learn from a true artist, the teacher and the amazing Derek Hegsted was in my class. Check his site out, he's incredible.

Hey, Remember me?

2011-08-10T11:48:00.005-06:00

It's seems most of my posts over the last few months have been "I haven't blogged in forever, I need to catch up!" Not that I haven't wanted to, it's just hard to get started and there's always something else I should be doing. Since this is the first time this summer block I have homework due the next day and I'm procrastinating, why not blog? Also, having the excuse of not blogging for over a month is a good way to begin I guess, cuz that's what I've been doing. I haven't blogged in over a month. What shall I talk about?

My summer semester is over tomorrow. I've taken some pictures of the assignments I did, will try to post them tomorrow. To let you know what you're looking forward to, the class is 3D Design and no, it's not design with computers, that would be useful, and we can't have that. Our first assignment was wire sculpture, meaning make like a skeleton or contour out of... wire. To say it was more fun that it sounds would be an overstatement, but it wasn't my least favorite assignment, probably second least. I did a skull and at the urging of one of my friends in class used 1 continuous wire for the whole thing. My second assignment was my least favorite, we were supposed to take an organic object like a piece of fruit or vegetable and make an abstraction of it using matte board, basically a geometric fruit. I did a pear and hated every second of it. Ok, not every second of it, I was quite glad when it was done. My second to last project and second favorite was carving a non-representational (looks like nothing) shape out of Alabaster. It was fun to actually use rock carving tools and see it take shape. Mine ended looking like a cross between the lock ness monster, a shiny piece of poop and a twisted part of the male anatomy that isn't always polite to mention in polite circles. (the penis) The final project and the one I have been looking forward to all semester was a found object assignment. Unlike the original found objects like Duchamp's fountain, (which were more 'readymade' but whatever) we had to make something with our found objects. Originally I had planned to make a large hand made out of toys coming out of a toy chest. Since I couldn't find a toy chest, I decided to use an old TV. I've spent more hours on this one than probably the rest combined, and although it's not quite what I had hoped for, it still looks pretty cool. I'll show pictures soon.

Morgan's still behind in his speech but he's always improving, so it could be worse. I couldn't love him any more and he couldn't be cuter, but I'm often sad I can't give him the attention he needs or deserves, as some days I am so exhausted I literally can't move. Hopefully he'll understand that one day and forgive me for at least some things in the way I raised him. He can now say his name "Mowgaine!" but it often sounds like "My name!" and he still speaks about 60% in sign, but as I said, he's always improving and even though he doesn't talk a ton, he gets his point across most of the time and already has quite a developed sense of humor. *tear* I'm so proud.

I'm still listening to books on CD, currently listening to Outliers. The first half was extremely interesting and informative even if I didn't buy everything; so far the second half has been boring to the point of making me afraid of crashing the car, (either because he's boring me to sleep or to break the monotony) and doesn't seem to have any useful information other than Korean people don't make good airline pilots. I'm up for any suggestions on what to read/listen to next if you wanna make some recommendations.

Work is good, we're in our new building and apart from the air conditioning treating us like we're polar bears, it's a good change. I've made peace with the fact that I won't get promoted because of my ever changing school schedule and am trying to teach myself Javascript, which is already much more successful than trying to learn Python.

I'm excited for next week, we'll be spending it in Lake Arrowhead, CA (namesake of the second worst bottled water I've tasted, looking at you, Sparkletts.) with my grandparents and some extended family. It will be our first vacation with Morgan, and other than the 10 hour drive there, it should be awesome. If anyone wants to water our dead plants or feed our invisible dog let us know. We're debating buying a portable DVD player for Morgan to watch while we're in the car for 5+ hours at a time. (By debating, I mean I'm somewhat against it and Tracie's buying it.) My gripe is one of my favorite parts of going on road trips growing up was time with family, singing silly songs, playing road games, etc. While it's hard to do with a delayed speaking 2 year old, I'm afraid it will get us in the habit of watching movies in the car rather than interacting. Thoughts, anyone? Bueller?

We've bought Biggest Loser Challenge for the Wii and in my opinion it's the best workout program we've bought. (We've bought a lot.) We started 2 weeks ago and I've lost 4 pounds so far. It's a cool game, it measures how good you're doing in the exercises and tailors the next day to improve what you were not excelling in the day before. It has hundreds of different exercises and is always different, all good things. The only downside I can think of is the computer generated avatars of the people from the show are creepy/nightmare fuel at best. But hey, you can just tell yourself that devil-faced-Jillian or Bob the Blob will skulk into your room late at night and eat your spleen if you have that piece of chocolate cheesecake.

Other than that life is fairly good, no complaints other than the normal ones, can't believe I'm still in college, can't believe my leg still hurts, blah blah blah. Overall I'm happy and healthy and losing weight! How's your summer going?

Checking up on my Goals

2011-07-07T18:09:00.003-06:00

2011 is more than halfway over, a good a time as any to reevaluate and realign my goals, don't you think? You don't? Oh well.

Goal 1.) Exercise three times a week, only treat myself to fast food one day a week.
How I'm doing) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HA. Not off to a good start, though I dance to Just Dance 1 and 2 at least once a week, but that's about it, and fast food, I don't want to say. I'm thinking of doing the HGC diet, I'll let you know if I go through with it. You'll likely be able to tell if I'm suddenly typing thinner, or hypothesize about how many of you I would murder for a Klondike bar.

Goal 2.) Finish a second draft of "Prince Pert's Perilous Quest for the Perfect Princess." And write a new story for NaNoWriMo. Also participate in Script Frenzy.
How I'm doing) Nada on Prince Pert, I think I'll switch that goal and just transcribe it to computer first, it's still in handwritten form only. I chose to write my novella "The Friends of Henry Paris" instead of Script Frenzy. Since Henry Paris I haven't written any fiction except for the more believable stories on this blog, I'm getting the itch to write again, it's just a matter of time management now.

Goal 3.) Read a bedtime story to Morgan most nights.
How I'm doing) Reading the bedtime story? Not very well. However, when I put him to sleep lately I've been telling him stories, his favorites seem to be Moby and the Beanstalk and Goldilocks and the three bears (mamma bear, papa bear and moby bear). I embellish and change some facts in the stories to keep myself interested and he doesn't seem to mind. I may not be instilling him with a love of reading yet, but I hopefully am instilling him with a love of storytelling as well as knowing his father loves him.

Goal 4.) Get A's in all my classes, buy Adobe CS5 and don't skip class.
How I'm doing) Despite some teacher giving me a C+ even though I turned in the best assignments in the class (not just according to me, but most of my classmates) I've done fairly well, even getting 100 in my photography final assignment (that few of you have commented on...) I also bought Adobe CS5 and love it.

Goal 5.) Read a book a month.
How I'm doing) It was somewhat wavy at first, but since I rediscovered books on CD and Provo library has improved their selection, it's getting easier and easier. I'm on my seventh book now, the fourth book on CD and on a bit of a marathon of books read by the author.

Those are my goals, so far so decent, about 2.5 out of 5 but the year ain't over yet, nor is my use of impropper grammar and speling!

Book 6 of 12: On Writing

2011-07-07T15:58:00.005-06:00

I've wanted to read On Writing for several years now, at least since right before I bought it. Being easily distracted and what's that! I haven't made time to read it. No more. While looking for books on CD at the Provo library with the stipulation that the book must look both short and interesting, I saw On Writing and snatched it up. Then I listened to it. It was read by the author which I'm quickly deciding is the best way to listen to a book. I've read two books by Stephen King thus far and this was by far my favorite. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a fan, not because he's not a gifted writer but just because I've only read a couple Stephen King books and I don't think it right to group myself with those who have read Carrie and Misery when I've only read the Eyes of the Dragon and The Gunslinger. I'd say I'm an admirer.

Enough about the man, onto the book. While it's true a large percentage, at least 50% of the book is more memoir on how he became a writer and perhaps more interestingly, how he became Stephen King. That portion was interesting, listening to the man read his work was a delight, but the book truly shown when he finally started giving advice and tips on writing and on writing well.

So many reviewers say the same thing about so many writing books it's almost cliche, but this book I would really say is one of the only ones of its kind you need on your shelf. I've read more books on writing than I care to say (10-15 probably) and this by far was the most helpful and most enjoyable one I've read by far. It's a treat to read and filled with useful insightful information.

If only reading books on writing actually made you better. Guess I have to get back in the habit and start writing again for real!

5 for 5 stars.

Digital Imaging II - Final Project

2011-06-30T12:02:00.006-06:00

So originally I just found 4 pictures I liked and decided to copy them or be "inspired" by them. Then I learned we had to make it some kind of narrative or concept. So, I decided the first 2 pictures represent Tracie and I alone, chaotic, in pain and frankly, dead. The third picture represents union or creation, and the final picture is the product of 2 coming together, our son, made up of pictures of us. See below for the original pictures I was inspired by. Do you like?

I Better Post something

2011-06-29T12:33:00.004-06:00

...Because the month is almost over and I've only got 2 entries.

I haven't blogged of late mostly because I've been busy or lazy or haven't found much of what I've been doing to be very blogworthy. But I need to write, and one of the best ways to find something to write about is to start writing, as they say.

In case you're concerned about me reaching my reading goal, I have read several books since my last review, I just haven't written new reviews about them, but I'll try to get them written either today or tomorrow so I'll be at book 6 of 12. Phew. Concern over.

I finished my first block of this summer's classes, also known as Digital Imaging II also known as Photoshop Advanced. The final project was to have 4 images on a theme, my last blog post of the MC Escher copy was one of those 4, and the one my teacher said was "graduate quality" and one of the best in the class he had seen. Not bad for one of the only two graphic design students in a class of photographers/photo majors. In fact, not enough of you have commented on it, I've decided. Tell me you love it. TELL ME!

For the second block I'm taking 3D Design again (hopefully for the last time). I really like this teacher, he actually substitute taught the sculpting class I took 6 years ago, I only remember this because he brought the casting of Bug's Life characters he had made for Pixar then and now. He's also from Katy Texas and knows a few people I do. Go figure. (His name's Leland Prince for those of you curious. Since I'm only saying good things about him I assume it's acceptable to mention him by name. Leland.) Our first assignment is to make a sculpture out of wire, I'm doing a skull because I'm not creative and because skulls are cool.

I'm more looking forward to the final project which is supposed to be a combination of found objects, I'm planning on making a monster out of toys that's coming out of a toy chest and attacking a doll, or possibly small child. I told the teacher the idea and he suggested a smaller box like a shoebox or something, I might go cardboard depending on what if any type of toy chests are at D.I. He also told me not to worry about being too creepy or offending anyone, I told him that's what I'm aiming for, so thanks. ;)

I'll post my other 3 pics from the photoshop class, though to be honest the one I'm most proud of is the M.C. Escher homage or copy I did that you've seen already.

Many people have been asking and thought I've told them already it gives me something to write about, no, I'm not pregnant I'm just fat, and also, December of 2012 is when I'm scheduled to graduate. Only 12 years after I first started college, I'll finally have a bachelor's degree, even though I'll be married over 6 years by that time. (And yes, I'm the first person in history to make a joke about getting a bachelor's degree while married, so laugh, dang it.) Growing up I dreamed I would have a master's degree and a PhD even, but I've just been in school that long instead. But, getting a Bachelor's at 30 is better than 40 I guess, and if they're right that 30 is the new 20, I'm doing pretty well for myself, (as well as a pedophile, but still).

Speaking of pedophiles (no, I wasn't, you were) I'm finally ready to start writing again after my writing assignment/project from Hell. My next story will either be about a Mormon serial killer who targets kids under age 8 so they'll go to heaven, or about a medieval squire who has to do the knight's job after the knight dies, a fantasy comedy, what I hope to be my niche. The serial killer story sounds like it could be fascinating, but it's not my style and the last time I wrote something that wasn't my style I ended up with an old west ghost story so dull and poorly written it's used in writing classes as an example of what not to do and in birdcages as lining paper. What does this have to do with pedophiles, you ask? Why are you asking about pedophiles, I ask? How dare you.

Now I want to talk about Moby, but it seems wrong somehow after mentioning pedophiles in the last paragraph. Fluffy bunnies, Summer rain, the Princess Bride, innocent lambs and freshly popped popcorn. All better.

Morgan is growing like crazy. He still doesn't talk much but he's fairly good at telling us what he wants, and not just with whining either. He's learned a good number of signs to tell us if he's hungry or wants more or thirsty or wants to go outside, for example. His second birthday was 11 days ago, we had a Tracie's-side-of-the-family family birthday party, but haven't gotten around to a friend and more family party yet, but we'll have it sometime before he's 3. One thing I was impressed with that someone who's not his parent may just find gross, but Morgan has the habit of taking off his diaper during nap time if it's dirty. The other day I came into his room after nap time to find the diaper on the floor, but unlike usual it was surrounded by 'used' wipes. My two year old wiped his own bum. And he did pretty good too. I was impressed and wanted to post it on Facebook but thought it was TMI even for me. My blog I have no qualms, however.

For TV we're still watching Netflix with no end in sight, thanks to recommendations from both friends and Netflix we finally watched Avatar: The Last Airbender (the show. Not the movie) and loved it. It's now one of my favorite shows. Ever. I recommend it, is what I'm saying. Even if you've seen it already. Watch it again. I've also watched the 3 episodes of Sherlock, I liked it quite a bit, the writing and producing is tight and excellent, but what makes the show great are the dual performances of Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch. (Or should I say Bilbo and Smaug? nah.) I'm no Sherlock Holmes scholar or even fan, but they both are mesmerizing to watch. Other than that I'm rewatching old favorites like Psych until the next season is finally on Netflix, Better Off Ted, IT Crowd, etc. What have you been watching?

In final note since I'll probably forget (to post it) tomorrow, June 30th 2011 is our fifth wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Tracie. Thank you for making the last five years the best of my life, I look forward to the rest together.

M.C. Escher is my favorite Emcee

2011-06-21T19:37:00.003-06:00

Copying MC Escher's famous hand drawing for my Photoshop class.

Thank you to Carrisa for letting me borrow your Wacom Tablet:

Book 5 of 12: Homegrown Democrat

2011-06-17T12:41:00.005-06:00

For book 5 (which I finished quite awhile ago but haven't taken the time to write about it) I listened to Garrison Keillor's Homegrown Democrat, hence the title of this entry.

I've loved Keillor ever since I heard his voice and that love has only grown since I went on a mission to Minnesota hoping to convert the residents of Lake Wobegon and their non-imaginary sister cities.

Homegrown Democrat I expected him to tell humorous stories he's famous for and perhaps a few anecdotes on why he's a Democrat. What I got was the opposite. Maybe 3 chapters of classic Keillor stories and 20 on why Democrats are awesome and Republicans... not so much.

It wasn't necessarily a bad experience as you might think. For one thing Keillor's voice and prose is indulgent in a good way and I still enjoyed it, though to paraphrase Agrippa, He didn't almost persuade me to be a Democrat.

I come from Republican stock and for a long while thought myself Republican, but as I've gotten older I've mellowed and gotten to be not as smart as I think I am and so remain apolitical.

If you're a Democrat listen to this book, if you're a fan of Keillor just listen to a Lake Woebegone collection instead.

2 out of 5 stars.

Sometimes bed doesn't quite cut it.

2011-06-11T13:07:00.005-06:00

But a drawer will.

...and for some reason a fork.

Digital Imaging II

2011-05-26T17:30:00.010-06:00

I'm taking Digital Imaging II for the first half of summer school. I really like the teacher, but so far been more of a review of what I learned in Digital Imaging I than learning much new, although I am learning that having a nicer camera has a HUUUUUUGE difference in the quality of pictures.

Make sure you click on the images to better see them. See them better. Just click on em.

Book 4 of 12: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

2011-05-23T08:43:00.004-06:00

For book 4 I somewhat cheated. Those of you with a disgustingly good memory may recall that I wanted to read 12 books this year that I already own but have never read. Well, my spare time being what it is, (fictional) I found time to listen to a book on CD. Since I don't own any books on CD, I listened to this from the library.

I first heard of David Sedaris (the author) in my Creative Writing class. He wrote what became my favorite reading assignment of the semester, the short story "What I Learned," a surreal retelling of his college experience, and quite possibly one of the best and funniest short stories I've read.

While at the library I hunted for some books on CD that I wouldn't hate listening to, such as the last book in the Belgariad that I could finally finish and stop lying about having read them all. Another was a set of short stories/tales written and told by the incomparable Garrison Keillor, someone I grew fond of after serving a 2 year (mostly) honorable mission in Minnesota. In the vicinity of Garrison Keillor I noticed quite a few comedy CDs being passed off as books, as well as other books on CD being passed off as comedy. Among this collection was a familiar name, David Sedaris. Hey, I thought. He's that guy that wrote that story I read that one time, that was funny. I should check it out. So I did and on my way to and from work and school for the last 2 or so weeks I've been among David's captive audience. His writing (and reading, Sedaris reads his own stories) is at once dry and witty and bawdy toilet humor. Self-deprecating to a fault, he manages to be dislikable and lovable, distant and relatable all at once. Now that I sound sufficiently like the back of a book jacket, let me try to sound like myself. David Sedaris is one of the best storytellers I've had the pleasure of listening to. When You Are Engulfed in Flames is a collection of 22 short stories mostly regarding one aspect or another of the author's life. He tells stories about (I won't list all 22, just the 13 or so I found particularly entertaining): a family member who once had a parasitic worm, trying to catch up with his taller walking companion, memories of a hilariously bad babysitter, talking about Princeton (my favorite), a rude neighbor who became a friend, buying a skeleton for his significant other, accidentally being stuck in a waiting room without clothes because he doesn't speak French (it makes (more) sense in context,) accidentally coughing a cough drop into the lap of a sleeping airplane seatmate, his parent's art collection, using album LPs as shields from kamikaze French birds, having a boil lanced from his backside (the title is "Old Faithful,") and moving to Japan on Jon Stewart's recommendation in order to quit smoking.

I would recommend them all except maybe 2, (neither of those are listed above), one story I wouldn't recommend because of it's graphic nature (though I wouldn't necessarily blame the author as it's about his encounter with disgusting people and why I would never hitchhike) and the other I wouldn't recommend just because I tried listening to it about 4 times and couldn't stay focused on it enough to know whether or not it was any good.

But, for what it is, namely recollections and short stories told from a selfish but self-deprecatingly lovable narrator, I can't think of a better read. It doesn't have many hilarious quotes, just because that's not his writing style. His jokes are subtler and more drawn out than a string of quotable one liners, but it makes for a richer reading (or in my case, listening) experience. 4 out of 4 stars. 5 out of 5, whatever my rating system is.

Picdump- Whimsical Edition

2011-05-23T08:29:00.010-06:00

Funniest Cartoon I've seen in awhile

2011-05-17T08:55:00.005-06:00

Courtesy of Chuck & Beans from shoeboxblog.com

Friday the Umpteenth

2011-05-16T09:23:00.006-06:00

As a kid, I watched a lot of television. (Still do, but then, I still consider myself a kid in many ways.) One of my favorite programs was the Disney channels' "Adventures in Wonderland." In addition to being closed-captioned for the hearing impaired, it also was recommended for viewing by the American Federation of Teaching and the National Education Association, as they pointed out at the beginning of ever episode.

It was a fantastic show, (don't let the picture fool you), clever and educational with (mostly) great songs. I think one of the reasons why it hasn't been released on DVD is one of its famous guest stars was OJ Simpson. And as we all know, the only thing Disney likes more than money is bleaching out and hiding any hint that casts any kind of shadow over their family-friendly wholesome image.

One episode I remember was about Friday the Thirteenth. The residents of Wonderland were all afraid and haunted by the bad luck associated with this day, until the Red Queen pronounced Friday the Thirteenth to be "Friday the Umpteenth" which was the luckiest day of the year. All the Wonderlandians (Tweedle dee and dum, Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, etc.) realized that luck is a matter of perspective. For example, when one character was building a house of cards, he found out it was Friday the Thirteenth, the house of cards collapsed. But after the proclamation of Friday the Umpteenth, he realized that, though it collapsed, it was the biggest, tallest house of cards ever constructed.

To nine year old me, this was huge, and very educational. You mean luck can be changed simply by perspective?

This Friday the Thirteenth was a wonderful day, and I didn't even need to change much of my perspective to make it so.

I've worked at my job for a year and a half now, the longest I've ever worked anywhere. I love it here, but I've felt a bit trapped, as my school schedule has prevented me several times from promotions and advancement. However, on Friday, I received 2 promotions, one with a pay raise, and one without. Still not a manager, but it's progress as well as I think the first time I've received a pay raise, not counting commission jobs in the past.

I also was 'paid' for my first graphic design job. My friend Charity wanted someone to make business cards for her, I volunteered my services and designed some business cards for her etsy shop, PitterPat Heart. She and her husband paid me by taking Tracie and I out to dinner and arranged for our favorite babysitter to watch Morgan so we could have a grown-ups night out. Best. Payment. Ever.

So this Friday the Thirteenth or Friday the Umpteenth was one of the best days I've had in quite awhile. In fact, the only 'bad' luck about this day is I'll have to wait until January for another Friday the Umpteenth!

Book 3 of 12: Odd and the Frost Giants

2011-04-29T08:05:00.005-06:00

I really read this in March, honestly, but with school and work being school and work, I didn't have time/didn't make time to review it then.

So this was my third book of the year, the first 'kids' book, also marking a quarter of the books I've set out to read this year. Yay me.

Odd and the Frost Giants is a story of an unusual boy (is there any other kind in children's literature?) who has a bad leg and annoying smile and leaves home. (His father died years earlier and his mother wed a widower who favored his own children over protagonist Odd.) It takes place somewhere in Scandinavia sometime in the middle ages (Viking times). Odd lives in his father's old woodcutting shack until he meets an unusual fox who leads him to a singular bear overlooked by an individual eagle. The bear's paw is trapped in a tree, Odd frees him and they follow him home. While asleep Odd thinks he dreams the animals are all talking, but this being a Neil Gaiman book, Odd wakes up and not only realizes the animals are all talking, but is told that these animals are none other than All-Father Odin (the Eagle), the Mighty Thor (the Bear of course) and mischevious Loki (Fox) whose fault it naturally was that they are in this predicament. (A Frost Giant tricked Loki into giving it Thor's hammer)

With Odd's help they make it up the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard. There Odd drinks from Mímir's well, outsmarts the giant largely through smiling at him in an annoying way, and Asgard again belongs to Odin, Thor and Loki, who of course returned to their natural forms. Freya the goddess fixes Odd's leg which he had broken when a child and he returns home all growed up.

Despite the fact that the book really should have been called "Odd and the Frost GianT," (there was only one) I really liked it, though it was very, very short. It read like a child's story merged with a tale from Norse mythology (my favorite mythology) which is pretty much what it was.

My biggest gripe and only gripe was just the brevity of the story. While it made it easy for me to reach my goal, having read it in a few hours on March 31, it read more like an outline of a story rather than a full, fleshed out tale that Gaiman is known for.

Still, if you have a few hours to spend and you love Gaiman as much as me, I would recommend it. 3 out of 5 stars.

A Few of My Favorite Things

2011-04-27T18:58:00.004-06:00

Playing Peek a boo with Moby
Seeing a freshly clean room in my home even if it's only clean for a few seconds
Going to J-Dawgs on the rare occasion I'm in Provo
Calming down an angry customer on the phone
Having time to just relax with Tracie
Birthday Cake
Falling in love with an author I didn't know existed
A new CD from one of my favorite musicians
Getting a water filter $1000 cheaper than originally advertised
Visiting friends
finishing a 50 page novella
building a website
completing an 8 page brochure
drawing a life size self portrait that actually looks like me

Being DONE with the semester

Neil Gaiman on Dave McKean

2011-04-23T22:02:00.006-06:00

My final project for Graphic Design is complete! We were to design a brochure, I decided to do mine on the collaboration between the writer Neil Gaiman and the illustrator Dave McKean. I found a great article on Gaiman's website that I used for the text, here's what I did:

A Statement: An Artistic Statement

2011-04-23T21:50:00.014-06:00

For my Creative Writing class, we had to write an essay on things we learned this semester, what we liked about writing our novella, etc. Because I love my writing almost as much as I love myself, I wanted to treat you to reading it even before my teacher does. Enjoy.

All my life I've been a story teller. Throughout my formative years, teachers, parents and other adults would call me a liar on occasion, but I never used my gift of gab for selfish gain. Well, practically never. I used to invent stories about wicked dragons and good monsters for friends. I told tales that those creatures were the original residents of our neighborhood and mysterious shapes in rocks and esoteric carvings in trees were remnants of their primordial battles, or records left by storytellers of times past. (This was in Southern California's foothills north of Los Angeles). I came to find out that my friends/ storytelling audience took these tales as fact, and I never corrected them. This was around the time when I was in Kindergarten, and I hope they figured out the tales were fictional by now, although a part of me enjoys indulging in ruminations that I was such a skilled story weaver that they all still somewhat believe. Writing just grew as an extension of my storytelling, a way to remember 'facts' or at least things I said, and a way to cultivate my budding creativity. "We owe it to ourselves to tell stories," said Neil Gaiman. I continued story telling throughout growing up, sometimes reading another wordsmith's writings to a sibling or other child, other times reading my own, or making stories up on the fly, whether about dragons, pirates, giants, the color indigo, popcorn, shoes, Australia or spacemen.

I still tell stories. This semester in creative writing I was assigned to write a twenty thousand word novella (as no doubt you're aware). Rather than stick with something I'm comfortable with, namely humor, or something I'm familiar with, fantasy, I decided to dust off an idea I kept in the shelves of my mind for about three years. So for February and a half I typed up what would become a Western ghost story. My first draft emerged as bloated and unintelligible and pointless, and those are the positive things about it. But, I wrote the tale in about six weeks, an hour a day for about 3 days a week only. Not too bad. Then came the rewrite, and it felt like it took a few more hours and many additional cursings and yelling than the original. It was definitely more difficult, not least of all because I waited until three days before the assignment's due date to begin the rewrite. I knew what I needed to do, but I had never rewritten anything, let alone never written anything of such breadth as this novella. I knew I needed to eliminate one character since he was meant to be a secondary character and exposition giver instead of the one who swoops in like a God in a machine rescuing the "heroes" not once but three times. I knew I needed to make the threat of a evil ghost/vampire/zombie man more immediate and more terrifying, as well as many minor edits to make narrative threads more connected and make more sense. But knowing you need to change something and actually changing are two different things. I can say "I want to write the greatest novella ever written" for example, but that won't write the story for me, any more than saying "I need to quit drinking" can cure alcoholism. Usually, it will just make it that much more daunting. Rewriting was a new thing to me, I've never been good at it. Before rewriting I'm always unsure of where and how to begin, how to tell if what I rewrote was an improvement or just a substitution of one problem for a new one; like putting out a fire and causing a flood. But, like telling made-up stories to believing peers in childhood, once I actually tried, it was possible. Not easy and not as fun as the stories of a two headed dragon whose fiery breath formed the crescent La Crescenta, California took its name from, but I could do it. And I did.

The new draft is about ten times better than the first draft, but it's still not anywhere near where I want it to be. It's not that interesting and the dialogue hardly "pops," if anything, it "plops." As I said before, the story is different than anything I've written. Being deeply attracted to strong opinionated women, (and married to one) I often include several such characters in my stories. But in this story there's only one female character of note, and I'm sure reviewers (if I ever get any) may think I treat her unfairly if not misogynistically, (that's not a word, but you should get what I mean). The story as I mentioned before has little if any humor, whereas a common feature in practically everything I've written is some amount of comedy, whether highbrow dry wit or lowbrow jokes concerning bodily emissions. I'm talking about farts here. It's not the darkest thing I've ever written, probably second or third, and I've never been much of a fan of the Western genre. Exceptions would be the movies Maverick and Blazing Saddles, though to be fair that's more comedy with a Western setting, isn't it?

A Western, to Austin.

So why did I write a western ghost story? I think for the same reason I made up fantastical stories for kindred Kindergartners in my youth: for the challenge. To see if I could do it. Maybe the concept my subconscious conceives is that if I can create a Western story I find interesting when I don't care at all for the genre itself, then writing about things I do care about should be easier than writing a story about sparkling vampires. Similar to running at higher elevation where the air is thinner to make running at sea level a breeze, if the hardest task can be accomplished, what can't? Whether or not writing this Western story has turned out good for me or bad for me, I can only say that the best news is I'm eager already to start writing something else. Not to distance myself from this story, but to get right back and snuggle next to my Muse and keyboard and start plucking out a new tale. Writing and rewriting this story, I haven't lost my love of writing, far from it. I have gained a greater appreciation for creating a cohesive narrative and I've gained confidence that I can at last rewrite. It only took me 29 years of storytelling to go back and correct my mistakes made in the first draft.

Now that I've accomplished the writing goal I've had for several years, that is, learn how to rewrite, I must reflect on new writing goals. Publication? Certainly a nice goal, but I think my level of proficiency will never reach quite the heights I'd like in order to have my work read professionally. I tell myself that if I aim for publication then writing and storytelling will lose much of its magic, so I avoid it for now. I have no reservation having it read or printed, but I do refrain from allowing myself to imagine I'll be a world-renowned writer ever. This is both for ego protection and realism. For my next writing journey, I'd like to write something completely different. Something silly and witty and creepy and immature and philosophical with strong female characters and no attempt to be anything more than a darn good read. But, like the goal to rewrite is different than the act of writing, the desire to write "something" witty and creative is a different animal altogether than actually writing it. However, thanks to this class I am completely up to the task and ready to rewrite my next story before I even write it or know what it will be about. Maybe about a young boy who makes up stories of dragons and monsters in his neighborhood that the other children believe and start coming true. Nah.

Changes

2011-04-23T21:34:00.002-06:00

The differences a semester can make.

Reason #947 Why I love where I work:

2011-04-20T15:13:00.002-06:00

they got me a princess cake.

Portfolio Going Live

2011-04-19T17:52:00.003-06:00

For My Interactive Design class our final assignment was to make a portfolio website. After much sweat, labor, swearing and begging for help from everyone, I present austinbeckstrom.com version 1.0. Let me know what you think, I'm partially thrilled with it, partially embarrassed by it, but goshdangit, I'm done with it!

One assignment for the end of the semester done, three to go!

Progress

2011-04-13T19:37:00.004-06:00

In Rendering the Human Head I've been rendering a lot of human heads. I thought it would be fun to see my progress. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or intentional, but one of the models from the beginning of the semester posed for us again today. The image on top is the one I drew at the beginning of the semester,
This is the one I drew today. The nose and neck are too long and one of the eyes seems a bit off, but I still think I've improved. What do you think?

Little Whinging

2011-04-12T18:17:00.005-06:00

No, this is not a post about the fictional town in Surrey in the Harry Potter universe, it's a post of me whinging (or whining) about school and stuff.

Aren't you lucky?

The semester is nearly over, and through no fault of my own (cough - procrastination - cough cough excuse me) I have a literal mountain of work to do. And no, I'm not using the word literal incorrectly. There is a mountain of work I need to do. So there. Would you like to hear all about it? I thought not. Here it is anyway.

For Rendering the Human Head, simultaneously my favorite and least favorite classes, I need to complete a dual self portrait of myself (hence the 'self' part) showing 2 different aspects or expressions. My plan is to draw a carnival freak show, myself as the 2-headed artist with one face typical realistic/naturalistic looking, the other snarling angry evil Austin. It should be fun, I just need to set aside time to do it, but that's harder than it may at first seem. It's due in 2 weeks, so it's probably last on my priorities right now. What's first on priorities you ask? Funny you should ask that.

I took Creative Writing: Intermediate Fiction Writing this semester because I had the foolish idea that all the art and design classes would get boring, so writing would be a welcome reprieve. While true, I forgot that writing can also be an awful lot of WORK. I wrote the story I've been thinking of off and on for at least 3 years (yay!) but it reminded me I can be a terrible writer (no, no, it's true. Stop with your reassurances and raving at my brilliance, just stop...for now) and I have a LOT of work cut out for me to get it good enough to allow someone else to read it without worrying about the implications of them using it as a torture device or weapon of mass disgustion. That's due funnily enough on my birthday, and while I know what I need to do mostly to fix it or at least improve it, I'm learning that knowing I need to fix something and fixing it are two very different things.

Interactive Design began as the class where I thought I knew more than the rest of the class. Somewhere between then and now I now again feel like the dumbest kid in class. Everyone's site looks professional if not brilliant and mine appears juvenile and worse: non-functional. Hopefully by next Thursday I'll have a functional website with pictures of things I've drawn and designed and then I won't be the only one to know what a horrible artist I am. Yay! Seriously, I've really enjoyed the class, I'm just stressed about the amount of work I'm putting into a website I don't even like. Kind of like that girl I dated once, all that work and energy for someone I didn't really even...

So, last class is actually always the first one of the week (Monday and Wednesday mornings) I think it was the class I was most apprehensive about, though it's become one of my favorite. I am speaking of Typography and Layout. This class more than any other makes me think I could become a successful designer someday. I really like the teacher even though I'm not sure he cares for me, I really like the class and all the assignments. My last assignment is to design a brochure of... something. Most people either did places or events, I chose to do one on one of my favorite artists: Dave McKean. I'll post pictures of the brochure eventually, but it's coming along rather nicely, it's just, like everything else, will require a lot of time and I will probably need to take a day or two off of work next week and the week after, and possibly choose not to sleep.

From Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum comic, illustrated by Dave McKean.

This wouldn't be so bad but I also have a wonderful but demanding job and a inexplicable desire to advance within the company (odd, I know) but I find little time or chance to do it except near the end of the day when I'm so exhausted I can only sit here and blog about my troubles.

However, while school is taxing if not outright insane (it's outright insane) there are many wonderful things in my life, most notably my new video game just kidding my wife and son. Thank you Tracie and Morgan for bringing me back from the brink of insanity, and to Morgan, for sending me there in the first place but your smiles and giggles make everything worth it.

Thanks to you readers for reading my blog even when I whinge or whine and I apologize for not writing as frequently as usual, and I amend to write more, once this semester is over.

Franklin Gothic

2011-03-23T14:17:00.007-06:00

For my Typography class, we were assigned to a certain font, write 300 words about it, and make a poster using only typography.

I'm not quite finished but here it is so far:

Those of you interested in learning more about Franklin Gothic or if you would just like a helping of my witty sense of humor, here's the essay I wrote and included in the poster:

Franklin Gothic is a sans-serif modernist typeface created by Morris Fuller Benton in 1902. It was named in honor of the American printer Benjamin Franklin. Hence the Franklin at the beginning. “Gothic” is a term for typefaces which originally meant sans-serif, and is becoming increasingly out-dated. Much like the contemporary Gothic culture.

Types of Franklin Gothic include: Franklin Gothic, Condensed, Extra Condensed, Italic and Condensed Shaded. Types of Franklin Gothic not included: Diet Franklin Gothic or Franklin Death Metal. (Although there is Hot Metal and Cold Metal). Franklin Gothic has been known by many different names such as the imaginative Gothic #1, Gothic #16, Square Gothic Heavy. Variations/copies of Franklin Gothic have been implemented by such companies as Alphatype, Autologic, Berthold, Compugraphic, Dymo, Star/Photon, Mergenthaler, MGD Graphic Systems, and Varityper.

Distinguishing features of Franklin Gothic are such things as (apart from being a bold sans-serif typeface) the double story g and a, the ear of the g (is it not cute?) and the tail of the Q. Franklin Gothic fell out of use around the 1930's, however, with fonts such as Futura and Helvetica, sans-serif fonts like Franklin Gothic experienced a revival and it is still popular today.

Franklin Gothic appears in many places, such as New York University, ROCKY, The Dark Knight, (the movie, not Batman), and Cardiff University. It was once believed to be in the famous opening crawl of Star Wars, but later it was said to be News Gothic. However, News Gothic is based on Franklin Gothic, and Franklin Gothic is still used in the subtitles of the Star Wars Films. Other places you'll find Franklin Gothic are the computer/quiz game You Don't Know Jack, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, section headlines of the N.Y. Times, the Showtime logo, and the Onion magazine's printed publication. In the 1980's, it was used in Nickelodeon's intertitle and in CBS Sports. Finally Franklin Gothic can be found in many places most of us may not have heard of like Frederator Studios, the art of Lawrence Weiner, The PBS Series “The Electric Company,” and many more.

And of course, this poster.

Happy Anniversary, to... my hip?

2011-03-17T09:01:00.005-06:00

Well, it's been one year today that I had my surgery. It was a long painful process and I'm still not fully recovered. That being said, I'm still in much much less pain than I was before the surgery (and shortly after). I still can't extend my leg all the way but it's getting better/closer all the time. I've been able to put my own socks on for a few months, though I've only been wearing sandals or slip on shoes for a year now. I'm almost completely caught up on school from when I had to drop a semester, though regrettably that entire semester went down the crapper when I had my surgery. However, it all becomes worth it when I chase after Morgan and can catch him and play with him without howling in pain. (Until he kicks me somewhere extra sensitive, the surgery didn't protect me from that.)

Also, happy St. Patrick's day, and happy birthday to my friend James!

Picdump Number 3

2011-03-14T20:27:00.013-06:00

Twenty thousand words- I did it

2011-03-11T11:40:00.004-07:00

Roland is celebrating for me.

Draft one of "The Friends of Henry Paris" is complete. Is it genius? Hardly. Is it coherent/cohesive? Occasionally. Did I write every word? You bet your sweet bippy I did.

The longest thing I've ever written and completed, My old record was around 30,000 words but it was only practically the beginning, and was so bad I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist.

This story I think has a lot of potential, it is very rough and inconsistent, but that's what first drafts are. I'm just grateful it's complete and now it's time for me to start rewriting. Since I've never been very good at revision, I'm hoping this class will do a good job teaching me the technique.

But I did it! I really did it!

For those of you who don't know or forgot or would just love to hear me explain it again, The Friends of Henry Paris is a novella I've been thinking about for something like 3 years now. I've tried writing it as a novel once before and gave up, I tried writing it as a screenplay once before and gave up, I've plotted most of it out several times but found it boring each time. This class made it possible/necessary for me to just plow through it and I did it.

The plot of Henry Paris is a good but not great one, but frankly I'm a bit tired writing it out, if you want to know you can go to glassofrandom and read the synopsis there from 3 years ago, (exactly 3 years ago, in 2 days, to be specific) it suffices me to say it's a Western ghost story/coming of age story/mystery and I don't care what anybody else says I'm proud of it, I wrote it, I did it.

Now to make it coherent...

Morning Motivation

2011-03-10T22:23:00.003-07:00

I can't be the only one. Now I know I'm not, thanks to nedroid.

Getting Older

2011-03-08T11:31:00.012-07:00

I'm no stranger to feeling old. What are some of the hallmarks of aging?
Losing your hair, needing glasses, memory loss, hearing loss, thinking most modern music is just "noise" sound accurate? How about confusion with technology, or getting cancer? This all happened to me in high school. Last year I got my hip replaced. And I'm not even 30 yet. (Though it's getting closer).

But it wasn't until recently that I finally knew I was getting old. What did it for me? Two things, actually.

and

Not to mention the fact that neither of these are current news anymore, I might as well be complaining about microwave ovens or even the interhighway, talking pictures and steam engines or how the heck Ryan Seacrest is still hosting American Idol. But those things I was ok with. (Except Seacrest).

These things, not so much.

Can someone explain to me the appeal of twitter? To me it sounds like blogging for the lazy or remedial quotes from the illiterate. (And I already thought blogger was blogging for the lazy.) And I'm sure that my views of the website just further cements my age and status of no longer being 'with it.'

I think my contempt of Twitter began with news of Ashton Kutcher amassing twitter followers or "twits," as they are often called, (I'm sure I'm the first to make that joke). Ashton Kutcher is such a concentration of douche that if someone wrung him out the water would cover most of the world's surface in a grim reality of Kevin Costner's creatively named Waterworld.

I am avoiding twitter at all costs right now, though the closer I get to graduating and seeing most/all designers have a twitter feed on their portfolio websites, I feel I may have to abandon my dear principles and follow the crowd. And such dear, dear principles they are as well.

I'm no stranger to musicians/singers dressing strangely. After all, I grew up in the 80's.

Glorious, confusing, gender-bending 80's.

After all, my favorite singer growing up (and still, actually) what this man:

But Lady Gaga I just don't get. I think she dresses and acts that way not for any artistic statement, but for attention. Granted, it's not the lowest a person has ever gone to be famous,

picture unrelated

But it's definitely up there. Once Lady Gaga did her thing and wore garbage, bubble wrap and a midget hobo skin for attention, I decided I might not know what is cool anymore. (though the 5 o clock shadow on her armpit isn't cool, is it? I'm right about that, right?) Not to mention her repetitive dance beats that sounds more out of date than, something out of date.
Why can't artists be judged for their music alone? Why are musicians the only people who are regularly called artists nowadays? What ever happened to TV dinners, Jack Parr, vinyl records or the Studebaker? Why are over the hill wannabe hipsters who had cancer ranting about a female singer with a zipper on her eye instead of just accepting that he's getting old? Some questions have no answer. I don't know what's cool. Maybe I should just accept the greatest truth ever uttered by Grandpa Simpson:

I used to be with 'it.' Then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it.' And what's 'it' is weird and scary to me. And it will happen to you.

Remembering the little things

2011-02-22T17:20:00.006-07:00

I've had a lovely day, and so, in effort to not just complain about all that is my life, I'd like to post on the serendipity that is my February 22.

For lunch today I was given pizza simply by knowing someone in another department. My car repair bill was a whopping $16. My old supervisor told me I'd be fired unless I ate an ice cream sandwich he gave me. (that's his sense of humor.) My teacher let me move my homework back a few days because I've been sick.

It's nice to have a good day, even if it's because of small and simple things. If nothing else, it's something to remember when the proverbial tornado of life inevitably sucks your metaphorical farmhouse into ruin.

Date Up

2011-02-16T16:10:00.007-07:00

No, this isn't in reference to when I started going out with Tracie and began dating "up." It's the word "Update" all mixed up. No, really. Go ahead. See for yourself. The "Up" is after the "Date," where normally it goes before. It's mixed up to show how I currently feel. Feel I up mixed. Cool, huh? Why, is our dearest Austin mixed up you ask? Sigh. Where do I start? Why not at the end?

School is insane. I feel simultaneously brilliant and stupid at the same time. Yes, I know that what I just said is redundant redundant. Typography is a great class with a great teacher, it really is. But the teacher moved the deadline for our project to next Wednesday instead of the week after that, and I also have to find 20 examples of Typography I like and trace them all by that same Wednesday. And trace an entire typeface (I've chosen Baskerville).

Rendering the Human Head is better than it used to be now that we actually draw people instead of skulls. My drawing has improved vastly already, I'll try to post some pictures to prove it, but probably not, as I'm busy and have about a thousand things to do before posting my moderate artistic abilities growth.

My novel/la is coming along decently enough. I am beginning to understand what Anne Lamott meant by "sh!@#y first drafts" as it is quite, as my mother might hear, "sheddy." But, the revision is the next step, I'm just writing the darn thing. It's quite fun to finally put down the story I've been thinking about for several years now, hopefully it will soon be a bestseller coming to a bookstore near you. (But not Borders...) I'm a few hundred words ahead of where we're supposed to be, so I haven't had to write it outside of class, which has been helpful.

Interactive Design is still my favorite, though they give us too many stipulations which somewhat hampers my creativity, such as only use 2 columns if that, and only use 2 colors for your website. But, the limit on creativity does have the side effect of increasing my technical knowledge, so that's something.

Work is wonderful as always except for the small fact that I want to take my level 1 certification and start getting paid an extra dollar or two dollars an hour more. I've been doing the job of a level 1 certified tech support agent (Scan Technician as we're called) over a year now, it'd be nice to be paid accordingly. But, they are very understanding and helpful and fun, and I'd rather work here than just about anywhere.

Home which I personally feel should be a refuge against the harsh world is instead a war zone, thanks to the effects of Hurricane Morgan. We clean and we clean but he just makes messes and breaks things faster than we can put them away. He's lucky he's the cutest boy in the world, otherwise he'd be the I don't know what. I don't understand how people can have more than one child, I really don't. We have now painted his room and the living room, now just the office and our bedroom to go. We have a long to do list of decorating things I also need to work on in what little spare time I have between schoolwork and homework and workwork and Morganplaying and housecleanibg.

On top of all the topsy turvy emotions going on, we recently found out that Morgan may be autistic. I didn't want to talk about it but it's been eating me up inside so much I have to at least mention it. We went to the doctor to get his shots and for his 18 month checkup and the doctor remarked that his language development (or lack thereof) is troubling. He jabbers and babbles but doesn't say many comprehensible words besides "mom" and "dad." (papa and 'fuff' for food and 'gum' for come on are the only other ones I can currently think of.)

Some of you may know I have a brother with special needs and an autistic cousin, and I really really don't want an autistic child. I've ranged on emotions like threatening Heavenly Father to leave the church if my son is autistic to begging and pleading with Heavenly Father not to let him be that way. I don't want an autistic child. I love my brother and the relationship I have with him, but at the same time I feel like we were cheated out of a real relationship because of his disability.

I'm not looking for reassurance or platitudes, I'm just opening up about it in hopes for some catharsis.

It's difficult to see friends whose children are speaking and developing like 'normal' children when my own isn't. I've actually been avoiding a few friends lately because it's been too hard/painful.

I love my son more than just about anything. I won't love him any less no matter what's wrong or not wrong with him. But I want to have a real relationship with him, I want him to have a family of his own someday, not be stuck in a home or something his whole life. I also realize that this is all very premature, he could just be developing language slowly, he's meeting or exceeding most other development milestones. I'm just afraid because I know what it's like and don't want it for anyone. I still have unresolved issues with God regarding my brother's condition, I don't want to have more issues about my son. It's not like I'm asking for Morgan to be a super Stephen Hawking genius, (bad example) I'm asking for him to not have a disability that will affect his whole life, and ours.

I'm sorry for the seriousness, I didn't expect or plan to write any of this, but I'm not sorry I did, I feel like some of the burden has been lifted, hopefully off Tracie as well as I know she's had to bear all my frustration and yelling and crying and whining regarding the possible autism of Morgan Danger by herself.

So that's my life right now, there are other things of course like the continuing struggle of having a metal leg and now hip, having a car that still won't pass the state inspection, coming home after 7 pm every night, not getting enough sleep, etc. etc.

So there's my dateup on what's up with my life and why I've been avoiding blogging lately.

Book 2 of 12: The Strangest Secret

2011-02-14T17:47:00.004-07:00

This was a motivational tape we had as hold music at one of my worst jobs ever. I enjoyed listening to the hold music and for some reason decided to buy the book, or have it bought for me, I can't remember which.

In addition to being the shortest book I've read since Mercer Mayer, it was one of the best. Filled with great tips on being successful both in life and sales, I give it my highest recommendation I can. But don't buy it. I'm sure you can find it online very easily.

For those curious, The Strangest Secret is the first spoken word record to go Gold, and is full of great tips that seem cliche, but that's because nearly every self-help and motivational book since takes from its wisdom.

A few gems from the book and it's author:

Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.

Excellence always sells.

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.

We tend to live up to our expectations.

It's one of those books that's short enough and good enough that I plan to read it again and again whenever I need a pick me up or have 15 minutes and want to read a whole book of something that doesn't have more pictures than words.

5 out of 5 stars.

Book 1 of 12: Anthem

2011-02-02T16:37:00.012-07:00

So, of my new year's resolutions, one of the most easily trackable is my goal to read one book a month of my choosing. School books don't count.

A few minutes before midnight January 31st I finished reading "Anthem," Ayn Rand's 106 page novella. Like many of my favorite books, it was recommended to me by Ammon. Unlike many of my favorite books, it isn't one of my favorites.

It was a good read and I might recommend it, but I have a few hang ups that I just can't get over.

Anthem is the story of Equality 7-2521, someone who dares to think differently in a post-apocalyptic society that has eradicated the concept of self. The words "I" and "me" have been replaced with collective pronouns "we" and "us." The future she tells of is frightening, it reads as extreme Communism if there is such a thing. The individual only exists to benefit the whole.

As expected, Equality 7-2521 leaves the oppressive society to found his own with his female companion/love interest Unity 5-3000. What left a bitter taste in my mouth (besides chewing on the pages) was, Equality was supposed to be extolling the virtues of individuality and escaping the values of society, right? So then why did he start his own? Shouldn't he have just lived alone in his own enlightened state, rather than preach to others his capitalist dogma?

I think it comes down to my belief that the opposite of Communism isn't Democracy, it's Anarchy. And I guess Ms. Rand wasn't saying to shun all things Communistic, but to embrace change and the contribution of the individual. But still, it came off to me as hypocritical, escaping the opressive society where no one is special to create your own where everyone is equal.

But, it was short, I read it and it helped me meet my goal of reading one book a month. Now I plan on reading books that I own but have never read.

Rather than making you readers feel cheated by making a whole new blog entry to say something I think I may have already said, here's a list of books I own yet haven't read and now plan to this year:

The Strangest Secret,
Conversations with the Dream King,
An Abundant Life: Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown,
Sex and Humor: Selections from the Kinsey institute,
On Writing,
Philosophy of Jokes,
six nonlectures,
Odd and the Frost Giants,
My Name is Asher Lev,
The Children of Hurin,

For you math whizzes out there, you may have noticed that there's only 10, plus the 1 of this month equals eleven. "But there are twelve months in the year, Austin," you say. "Yes, I know." I respond. The last one will either be A Catcher in the Rye which I've been meaning to read for ages, (the Cretaceous at least) or some Malcolm Gladwell book, whichever one my brother and/or father insist I read. Or that's the shortest. Or something someone else recommends to me. No Twilight or Hunger Games, thank you. I'll read them when I'm good and ready. (never)

For February, I'm thinking of either reading The Strangest Secret or Odd and the Frost Giants, as those are the shortest ones.

I'll keep you posted as I always do. In the meantime, thanks for reading and don't forget to tip your waiter/waitress 10% more than he/she deserves.

January in Review

2011-01-31T17:30:00.003-07:00

The first month of 2011 draws rapidly to its close, but not before I get a say in the matter.

This January has been one busy son of a motherless goat. I've started my new schedule of 13 credits and 30-35 hours of work a week. It's not easy. Those 13 credits total 18 hours, not including any homework, that's all class time. Fortunately Moby still appears to recognize me, at least for now.

We got a new entertainment center with sound system and PS3 to go with it, special thanks to Brett for helping us set it up, and for my employer for giving me such a generous Christmas bonus to pay for it.

We managed to paint Morgan's room and our living room, just 2 rooms to go. (This is in addition to the squares/splotches of color that have been on the walls for months.)

We've actually managed to stay on top of laundry, and not in a "scale mount clothing" type of stay on top, but actually folding and putting it away. It's amazing. Same with dishes.

My classes are all going well, I actually start my novella on Wednesday, we're finally drawing people/models instead of skulls for my "Rendering the Human Head" class, I made 2 unique and attractive (IMHO) monograms for my "Typography & Layout" class, I attended a workshop given by James Victore (and all I got was a lousy sticker. I kid, I kid), and I'm still building a website. (If you want to see what I've done in class but not fit for having my name attached to it, go here. That's no template. That's a site from scratch.) austinbeckstrom.com is bought and waiting for something useful/interesting on it, but I need to get Host Gator's FTP information but I'm not willing to wait an hour on hold to get it just yet. So yeah, classes are going well, even though I was up until past 2 last night doing homework.

We went to church 1 time this month and plan to go more next month. We had trouble coming back after getting sick and church changing times to 9 am. But we're gonna do it, darn it!

As far as my resolution goals go, I haven't been keeping them exactly, but I am doing them somewhat.
I'm not exercising 3 times a week yet, but I am getting more exercise thanks to both stairs at school and Just Dance on the Wii. My junk food consumption is down, but I am still eating out more than once a week.
Writing goals are good-ish, as I'll be writing something like 20K-40K words next month, I wrote a topic article for Cracked.com and submitted pitches for several others.
Bedtime stories to Morgan are going ok but not every night, I need to re-step up on that one.
I won't know for sure that I've got all A's but I've only missed one class of any of my classes and turned in everything I've been supposed to, guess I just gotta keep that up.
Finally, I've been doing more reading than I did last year, but not much fiction, mostly writing books/textbook and design books/textbook. I'm going to read the rest of "Anthem" tonight, since it's like 50 pages and it's been due at the library for long enough for them to send their collector squad after me.

On the fun side, we've been watching "Veronica Mars" and "30 Rock" on Netflix. I highly recommend both/either if you're a fan of good writing and acting.

I grew a beard for over a fortnight (18 days) but finally got rid of it because it was itchy and had more gray that it should and Tracie didn't kiss me as much/at all. Pictures are on facebook if you must see it. (Of the beard, not the kissing. Regrettably.) Morgan made the cutest face of confusion and then recognition the next day when I got him out of bed and he saw a beardless daddy.

We also still managed to find time for friends and family at least somewhat, not as much as we'd like but not too much that they got (overly) sick of us. No matter what they tell you. ALL HAIL THE CHINESE CHEESE BISCUIT!

Creative Monograms

2011-01-31T08:55:00.005-07:00

Reasons I'm growing a beard

2011-01-20T15:19:00.008-07:00

1. I can sleep in an extra few minutes since I'm no longer shaving.
2. I get compliments from fellow (mostly bearded) coworkers.
3. Food storage.
4. I'm already sexy, bald, and have a cyborg leg, If I wanted to look cooler, it was either this or an eyepatch.
5. So my face gets less cold when I'm outdoors.
6. Got to grow hair somewhere. (Get your mind out of the gutter, I mean my bald head, thank you very much.)
7. I'm tired of being the unique one. I wanna conform. In my creative writing class, EVERY guy there is balding, wears glasses, and has facial hair, except me. Now I am just one of them. Except I have a cane.
8. I got tired of people asking me if I went to BYU or UVU. Now the beard tells them.
9. Tracie has a new reason not to kiss me besides my breath.
10. I wanted to join the ranks of the likes of: Sean Connery, Philip K. Dick, The Ghost Pirate LeChuck, Abraham Lincoln, Chuck Norris, Brigham Young, Alan Moore, Evil Spock, Mr. T, Commander Riker, ZZ Top, Hemingway, most non-British philosophers, (Nietzsche only had a mustache, but WHAT a 'stache!), Gandalf, Dumbledore, Obi-Wan, all the Beatles at one time or another, and according to most Western art, a guy named Jesus.
11. (bonus) Just look at me.

More than I can chew

2011-01-19T13:38:00.003-07:00

On Mondays and Wednesdays I have one class at the GT building, then a class in the LA building, then again at the GT building. Why is this noteworthy? Well, because they are on opposite ends of UVU, and are seven floors apart.

I began the schedule ok. It was somewhat crazy, but handicapped parking made it doable. However, because I'm not the only handicapped person at UVU (just the cutest) I had found it progressively harder to even get a handicapped spot when going to the LA building or returning to the GT building.

So today I had the bright idea of walking to all my classes. That way I'd get to keep the sweet handicapped spot and get a little exercise too. What I got instead was covered in sweat, 20 minutes late to class, and the inability to stay in my drawing class. Now I'm in so much pain I don't know if I can stay at work.

If I never exercise how will I ever get better, but it's really depressing when walking makes my entire day shot.

I'm beginning to think that 18 hours of school, 34 hours of work and 30 hours of sleep a week is too much, too much and not enough. Fortunately I have a great job as well as a wonderful family I can fall back on and who are very understanding. Because right now I feel a lot like the fish in the middle of that picture up top.

But, as Tracie (and Dori) would say, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming swimming!" I'll try to keep swimming as long as I can walk.

In happier news, I am loving most of my classes, especially Interactive Design. I've gone from feeling like the dumbest person in class for my early design classes to the smartest person, since I know what HTML is. Go me.

One Classy Guy

2011-01-10T18:14:00.004-07:00

It's hard to go to college in Utah County and not get a BYU education. Even though I'm not going to BYU, it appears all my professors this semester did.

That being said, this looks like it's going to shape up to be a memorable and busy semester.

My Typography and Layout teacher I already like a lot more than my last one, but to be fair I've only had 2 classes with this one thus far, and he hasn't critiqued any of my work yet. But, I'm looking forward to the first assignment: creative monogram. That's right. It's graphic design and apparently it's 1900.

Creative Writing should be fun, at the moment I'm planning on writing "The Friends of Henry Paris," while it has nothing to do with his friends, it should still be enjoyable or at least complete with 30-50K words by the end of the semester. Wish me luck.

Rendering the Human Head may be more boring than I thought, although I'd be remiss if I didn't make a slight retraction from my last statement concerning this teacher. When I took one day of his class last semester I thought he was dull beyond all belief and stoned beyond all comprehension, only to discover now that he was suffering from jet lag, not weed, and so the class may be less drug-fueled than originally planned. I'll let you decide whether that's good or bad.

Rounding out the 3 credit classes is Interactive Design, or Dreamweaver 101. It's exciting to FINALLY be in a class that actually teaches something I actually want to do. It's also exciting to be in a class where I feel like I know the most out of all the students, as I know enough HTML to blog, and to work in Tech Support. Yay me. In other news, the teacher teaching it is my age. My. Age. Not slightly older, but my age. That's depressing. But, hey, soon I'll be graduated and all will be right again in the world.

Last and probably least is Art Lectures, about 200 or so UVU students in an auditorium once a week listening to a visiting Artist/Lecturer pontificate on being an artist and whatever that entails. I'm more excited to visit with friends from past and current classes shortly before and after the lectures, but still, it's just one hour a week for 10 weeks. I can probably handle that. Of course, I have to take the class twice more, but at least it's (hopefully) different lecturers each time.

And that's my first week of class. I'll keep you posted (probably) on how the semester and my sanity fares as it (hopefully) does so.

Until then, brothers and sisters, adieu.

The Good News and...

2011-01-05T15:37:00.004-07:00

In addition to several others, I had my first Creative Writing class today. The good news is I'm looking forward to it and looking forward to writing a whole whole lot. The not as good news is instead of a bunch of short fiction, the class assignment for the whole semester is to write one novel(la) length story, about 30,000-50,000 words. The main reason that's not so good news is I'm not sure what to write about, and it won't be as easy to post on my beloved glassofrandom. I have several ideas, some even good ones, but we'll see what is destined to become my longest story ever written.

For those of you familiar with my work or have read glassofrandom in the past, I'm debating between several.

Prince Pert and the Perilous Quest for the Perfect Princess, a tongue-in-cheek fairytale prequel, I actually have a first draft already written, but that's about 20,000 words and I don't know how much I can add. I probably should actually remove quite a bit. There are only so many "fairest of them all" jokes you can make.

The Friends of Henry Paris, a western/horror/mystery story. One of my ideas I think has the most potential, but possibly too long for a novella. It's about a small town Sheriff in the old west who hires someone to kill a pesky thief, only to have the pesky thief come back from the dead and makes things even worse then he did when alive. OOOOOOOOooooooo.

Magpie, or Nick the Thief, a character I came up with in my last creative writing class. Basically a harmless thief who is so antisocial and awkward the only way he can connect with people is by stealing seemingly worthless objects from them. But the plot begins when he steals the wrong thing from the wrong mob boss. Dun dun duuuuuuu-- you get it.

I've wanted to write 50,000 words of one story for several years now, and now it finally appears that I will do just that.

What do you think I should do? What would you write if given a 50,000 word assignment? Not that I'll listen, but comments are what I love, and they warm my little black heart.

Bless their little black hearts.

Resolution Revolución

2011-01-03T11:08:00.004-07:00

Inspired by va rio us blogging friends of mine, I'd like to post some New Year's Resolutions. Why is it a Revolucion, you ask? Besides the incorrect spelling, tis because I am going to make SPECIFIC resolutions. So "lose some weight" becomes "exercise thrice weekly and junk food only once a week." for example. If you don't get it you're gonna get it because...
here...
we...
...go!

1.) Exercise three times a week, only treat myself to fast food one day a week. This will mean play less video games and make my lunch before work.
2.) Finish a second draft of "Prince Pert's Perilous Quest for the Perfect Princess." And write a new story for NaNoWriMo. Also participate in Script Frenzy and remind those who would like the reminder to do likewise. It's only 88 days away, people!
3.) Read a bedtime story to Morgan most nights. I don't say every night because if I forget or circumstances don't allow it, I won't lose my goal and give up. I started this on Christmas and have done so nearly every night since then.
4.) Get A's in all my classes. This is specific, how can I make it more specific? Do my homework, turn it in on time, be awesome, buy Adobe CS5 and don't skip class.
5.) I haven't been happy with how little I've been able to read this past year. I love reading but have found little time to do so. I think I can commit to reading one book a month. I have a lot of books I've been given both as Christmas presents and a few backed up from birthdays, so I plan to read these books, and possibly write a review of each, though it will probably just be a heads up, since some of you may know my reviews end up being either "I love it, read it!" Or, "I hate it, don't bother even using it as toilet paper, you may get cut." So the goal is to read a book a month, not review a book a month, of the books I own and have neglected since coveting them before I did own them.

No goals on blogging, I think I currently blog a sufficient amount. Not too much that you get sick of reading what color sweater my bichon frise is wearing this hour, not too little that you worry you'll start seeing my face on milk cartons, provided they start putting children's faces on milk cartons again, or that you start drinking out of milk cartons.

There are other hopes and wishes I could call resolutions like reading more scriptures and being a more active parents, husband, houseworker, employee, student, etc. etc. But these are enough for little ol' me for now.

What are some of YOUR new year's resolutions this year?

2010: A Year

2011-01-03T08:31:00.005-07:00

I turned 28. My wife 26. My son turned 1.

I had to drop a whole semester. Soon I'll have made up that semester finally. I got a new hip, knee, and everything in between.

In addition to my junk, TSA will see a whole bunch of metal in me.

I was out of commission over a month, rarely leaving the living room. (hip surgery apparently does that to you.)

We got a bunch of new furniture like couches and desk and a TV.

My graphic design ability and knowledge grew exponentially. (According to me of course). My technical knowledge went from "This is a computer." to "This is a monitor. That's the computer." and beyond.

There was some oil spill on my birthday that was kind of a big deal.

It snowed in May.

I got published in Touchstones.

I'm one more year closer to finally graduating.

Leslie Nielsen died.

Some of our best friends moved away. Some others came to visit.

I didn't see my family (the Texas ones) nearly enough, but I did get to see them.

I managed to keep my job over a year. Usually I'd have been fired or quit by now, but I love it.

I lost weight. I gained weight. I lost hair. I didn't get any back.

Our tv broke.

I didn't read as much as I'd have wanted or written as much as I'd like, but I drew an Olympian amount. (There's no Olympian God of Art. Techne maybe, but that's more of a personification of a concept than a god.)

In other news, Morgan claimed the title of cutest baby ever. (He was in the top 5 since he was born, but this year he won it.)

I was going to have a picture of a "ripped calendar" but after googling that I think I have to wash my eyes.

Other than the few ouchies and surgeries, it's been a good year, hope yours has been too, and hope 2011 just blows 2010 out of the water.

UVU Parking Services

2010-12-29T13:40:00.005-07:00

So recently I was ticketed at UVU for parking in a handicapped spot. Some of you may know that I am in fact handicapped, and I do in fact have a handicapped placard. That was hanging on my rearview mirror.

So I sent an appeal to have it removed, as I didn't think I needed to pay a fee to be handicapped. UVU Parking Services responded that it would be dropped and marked as a warning. I thought "Ok, whatever. Don't admit your guilt or apologize, fine." But I wasn't paying the 20 bucks.

Later, I received an email stating that I had to pay the fine or they would drop my classes, punch me right in the testicles, and confiscate my first born son if I didn't transfer ownership of my favorite Andrew Jackson portrait.

Not wanting to escalate the issue further by sending a strongly worded email to them, nor writing the local newspaper a scathing editorial about how UVU is now charging me for being disabled, I decided to go to UVU parking services and clear up the matter once and for all.

So, taking up my luxurious lunch break, I went to UVU parking services. As it turns out, UVU parking services is a tiny shack far enough removed from campus that I wondered if it was in actuality just some random annoying weirdos playing a trick on me. Like on Punk'd. But, not being the celebrity I deserve to be, that wasn't the case. Sigh. Because of the genius of their design, I walked nearly 360° around the place to get to the front door, bringing my cane for both sympathy and guilt. And, if action movies have any real application in life, for backup. Trudging through slippery snow with a cane and evidence of my handicap improving my mood so much, I opened the screen door and saw two rather flustered looking individuals there, I hobbled in as much visible pain I could without moaning and asked "who wants to talk to an angry person?"

I realized then as I realize now that working at UVU parking services most likely all you ever talk to is angry people, but I also knew that I was being inconvenienced and penalized for being handicapped. I was not happy.

I explained that I am handicapped and am not paying a premium for that wonderful yet miraculous opportunity being disabled provides me. No, no, the constant pain is reward enough. They explained that I needed a UVU parking pass anyway, never mind that I've been assured by both UVU parking patrollers and Utah POLICE officers that such is not the case.

After arguing/whining the point a bit, I conceded to pay the fee for the privilege of parking in handicapped, faced with the lame excuse of "blame the people who use their grandparent's handicapped passes and abuse the system." Thanks, Chuck. But I'll blame you if that's all right. Not being privy to the screening process taken to determine whether I'm handicapped or not, but I'm so grateful I passed your test of what constitutes a handicapped person. Yay, me. So I went to parking services to not pay $20 and I ended up paying $80. Yeah, win for me. Moral victory or something.

Pretending I didn't hear them laughing as the door hit me on the way out (which I don't think was possible, it was an inward opening door) is counted as a victory in my book. I don't get to say "UVU hates disabled people," or "UVU is charging me for having cancer," or anything accusatory and fun like that. I don't even get to say "UVU parking services is filled with jerks and morons," which I'm sure would have been very satisfying to say. But I won't say any of those things. Instead I get to have another handicapped pass to keep track of, one that says "I'm disabled, and UVU apparently has the right to decide that."

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T11:41:00.012-07:00

Merry Christmas everybody! I was unsure how to caption the picture above. I was thinking something along the lines of "What Austin would look like if he could grow hair and hadn't let himself go." or "Way #37 to make your kids afraid of Santa: tell them he used to be a Ginger." or "unable to make a career out of being a red-headed Abraham Lincoln impersonator, older Ron Weasley makes an even more unconvincing mall Santa." But then, that's not really in the spirit of Christmas, is it? I think Calamities of Nature may have gotten it more right than a lot of holiday specials, but alas, they won't allow me to post the picture on my blog, and I'm too lazy to take a screen shot. But check it out.

Seriously, Christmas is more about giving, receiving (well it is) and charity and family. (And charity from my family, as they give up some of their quality time to be with me. And remind me of that very fact, as often as possible.)

I personally think that Christmastime is a special time of year, not least because we celebrate the birth of the Savior of all mankind over 2000 years after the fact and about 8 months too late. But I'm not one (and hopefully never one) to complain about Christmas losing its magic, its focus on Christ, particularly to materialism and commercialism. (I will complain about the family that had a life sized stable with statues of the nativity on their front lawn, complete with life sized Santa and reindeer on the stable roof, but that's more about taste, less about sacrilege.) Christmas IS a time about receiving, (among other things) and that's okay. It's not bad to feel good about getting presents. What is bad is feeling entitled to presents, expecting/demanding more, or only being or appearing good so the gullible old Santa will reward you accordingly.

But I think it's perfectly fine to be happy and grateful to get so much good stuff. True, I was spoiled this year. Arguments can be made for or against whether I deserved what I got. But I had so much more fun buying things for both Tracie and Morgan as well as a few others in my life as well, I'm not sure what I enjoyed more.

In the spirit of receiving, I'd like to announce some of the presents I got from Tracie and Santa and others partially so I can remember what I got this year and partially so you all can be jealous or grateful that you don't have my life, or swag.

* This t-shirt.
* A nice new polo shirt.
*new pjs.
*new slippers (that I'm currently wearing at work trying to pass them off as shoes. Shhhhhh.)
* A book on editing and rewriting fiction, one of my weakest weaknesses as a writer: Revision and Self-Editing.
* Vein of Gold, a book about discovering your own creativity.
* Sex and Humor, a book on an exhibit at the Kinsey Institute, about two of my favorite subjects.
* A car charger for my iPod. (I tried writing ipod, but Apple wouldn't let me.)
* New cologne.
* New deodorant, body wash, face wash and cleaning products. (Someone trying to tell me something?)
* A small transportable tool kit.
* Santa sent the obligatory gummy cokes and orange and chocolate. He better, since that's the only thing keeping me believing in him, and only faith is keeping the old breaker-and-enterer alive. (there's a movie idea for you: Santa is cursed to deliver presents for good children as only their belief in him keeps him alive. Santa's personal Hell. Merry Christmas.)
* very nice checks in the mail from even nicer grandparents.
* an iTunes gift card in my stocking,
* an expansion to my possibly new favorite game: Munchkin.
* a very nice writing pen. As I'm of the opinion that the better the pen, the better the writing. (At least I'm less frustrated than by a sub-par pen which then can distract and frighten away the Muse of writing, or worse: Terpsichore.)
* Special massage oil, I'll let you decide what I mean by that. Special.
* Fanboys, A DVD I've wanted to see for awhile and now I can.
* Something Something Darkside, The Family Guy take on Empire Strikes Back.
* Unusual soda pop flavors: grapefruit, raspberry, cucumber, etc.
* A Guide on how to be an efficient zombie once you become one.
* Space Ghost Coast to Coast Volume 1. We'll see if it's as funny as I remember.

That's all I can think of for now, partially (completely) because my brain is partially (completely) fueled currently by junk food and candy. Sweet, wholesome, Christmasy candy.

I hope your Christmas was sufficiently Merry and amidst all the giving and receiving you didn't forget the savior, or that it's ok to be excited about all the loot you got.

A letter to Wal-Mart, Target, Macey's, Smith's, Harmons, Walgreen's, Honk's, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree

2010-12-23T23:29:00.003-07:00

Lots of people apparently like candy cane kisses and mint M&M's. Especially around Christmastime. You would think to stock more of them around this time of year. You would sell more, and therefore make more money.

And I wouldn't be so bitter about not buying them earlier.

If This Were A Virus You Would Be Dead Now

2010-12-22T08:32:00.004-07:00

Fortunately it's not. It's me talking about "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson.

I was going to call it a review, but it's probably more of a gush and recommendation for you to read it.

It's a post-cyberpunk story published in 1992 that predicted a whole lot of the way things are now. The main character is named Hiro Protagonist, he's last of the freelance hackers and the greatest swordfighter in the world. It says so on his business card. He also delivers pizza. It's the only book I know of with a hacker who carries and uses a samurai sword. That alone would be awesome enough, but I haven't gotten to Raven.

All you need to know about Raven is he rides around on a motorcycle with a nuclear warhead in the sidecar and a tatoo on his forehead that says "Poor Impulse Control."

Anyway, it's a story of the internet and computer viruses and Sumerian legend and pizza delivery and the Mafia and the church of Scientology and it's just awesome.

I haven't read anything like it, it combines computer detail with humor with action with mythology with language with in case you didn't notice, these are all Austin's favorite subjects.

The book has flaws but its strengths far outweigh any flaws or weaknesses of the book. If you're looking for an exciting ride and want to laugh and feel your mind expand, read it. That is all.
five out of four stars.

End of Year Goal

2010-12-21T12:55:00.003-07:00

I'm going to try to post at least once a day until the end of the year so I'll hit 100 posts for the year. I've already got nearly double last year, and if my calculations are correct (they're not) I will have double last year by the 31st.

Only problem is, I'm not sure what to blog about. But when has that stopped me before?

I find it strange that I'm working 40 hours a week and feel like I'm on vacation. It's been nice to come home at 4-5, instead of 8-9. Although I AM looking forward to next semester, I am not looking forward to what it is going to do to my sanity/schedule. Hopefully work will die down, meaning I won't have to work so hard or so frequently, but we shall just see.

Stay tuned for more upcoming GlassofRandom posts, as some of you may know I'll be in a creative writing class next semester, and hopefully will write a page or two of something I don't mind sharing.

I got my sketchbooks back but not the grade. However, the teacher left a note at the end of the sketchbook saying "I love looking at your drawings. -Don" which made me very happy.

Almost all my Christmas shopping is done, just a few more things to tell Santa to get for Tracie and Morgan's stockings. I told myself not to wait til the last minute, but that's what I'm apparently doing.

That's about all I can think about blogging for now, maybe tomorrow I'll talk about last weekend or finally do my review of "Snow Crash."

Tabernacle 0, Fire 1, Jesus wins

2010-12-20T15:14:00.004-07:00

Something quite extraordinary came out of the tragic fire of the Provo Tabernacle. A giclee print of the Resurrected Lord was completely burned, except for the image of the Savior.

I am not one to believe that a piece of toast that looks like Mother Teresa or a twinkie that looks like John the Beloved's pinkie toe is anything more than a delicious coincidence, but you have to admit that this is cool, no matter what the significance or coincidence it is.

Nursery

2010-12-14T15:48:00.004-07:00

I've contended with Tracie over the past few months about putting Morgan in Nursery. He isn't 18 months old until the 18th of this month, and it didn't seem right to put him in Nursery when he's too young.

The real reason of course was I wasn't ready to let him go to Nursery. But, this past Sunday, I agreed that it was time. Taking him to Nursery, he practically leapt into the arms of one of the adults in Nursery and started playing with the toys, not even bothering to look back at mom and dad. He appeared quite content and all but proclaimed the Nursery workers 'new mom and dad.' I felt a bit hurt and abandoned, something I thought/secretly wanted Morgan to do. But then we went to Sunday school. And actually were able to listen and participate. And then I went to Priesthood. And actually was able to listen and participate.

During Sunday school the Nursery workers brought Morgan back to me to change his stinky ways, and Morgan seemed indignant and frustrated. As if I was the one responsible for the inconvenience of dragging him away from his grand old time in the Nursery.

Apart from the poopy interlude, Morgan seemed happy, I was able to stay in class longer than 3 minutes and actually pay attention, and it gave me time to miss him (not that I'm looking for more time to miss my family, but still). I am glad our son is now 18 months and for the WONDERFUL blessing that is Nursery.

I DID IT!

2010-12-14T15:20:00.004-07:00

I finished my 200 page 1/2 hour a page sketchbook for "Drawing for Illustration." This meant skipping most of work today and only getting about 2 hours of sleep last night (by last night, I mean 9 am-11 am) but I finished it! Now that I'm done with that infernal sketchbook (technically 2 sketchbooks) I don't know what to do with myself. I'm currently at work so sleep is out of the question, (my manager is lenient but sleeping at work is a bit too lenient.) I'm too tired to read much but apparently blogging takes less brain cells because here I am!

I haven't felt this tired in awhile, I was actually mildly hallucinating at one point, and all my dreams involved drawing. It was a great class, I thought it would be my easiest this semester, but it turned out to be the most work, probably more than any other class combined. However, it was also the most rewarding, funny how that works. The only exception is that I don't think I'm going to want to doodle or draw for awhile/a few more years.

My skill has visibly improved over the semester, at least in my opinion. The sketchbooks have been turned in and I can go get them after December 20. (This is me making a mental/bloggal note of when I can pick them up.)

I am sleepy. A part of me is worried (the very small conscious part) that I think I'm typing coherently but when I come back to reading this blog I'll see yhsy o etpyr s;; yjr eptfd eoyj ,u jsmfd pmr lru yp yjr tohjy/

Now I've got another hour and a half of work to do, and a lot of caffeine to drink so I can do it. But HALLELUJAH that notebook is done.

So Close. So very close.

2010-12-08T16:09:00.004-07:00

My semester is almost over! Just finals tonight and next week. This picture has little to nothing to do with the post, but isn't it awesome? (Unlike this post, some of you may say.)

I am so very glad it's over. One of the best semesters I've ever had both gradewise and learningwise, but also one of the most strenuous. I'd like to give a big thank you to Tracie for her patience and understanding, and to my employers for their not firing me and understanding I need time off to do schoolwork or rest or whatever.

After this semester, I just have like 4 or 5 more! That's awesome and hugely depressing, but at least I'm finally going to take Graphic Design classes! Let's hope I like it!

What I'm really looking forward to is the bread and circuses of Christmas vacation. Instead of leaving and going to work and school and any errands several times throughout the day, It's in at 7 and out at 4.

And now that the semester is practically over, I can talk about what classes I'll be taking NEXT semester! Hooray!

I'll be taking Typography and Layout again, hopefully from a less evil and incompetent teacher than I had before, Mr. Wormwood was his name. Unfortunately, from several friends who have taken THIS teacher say he's more of a Mr. Screwtape. Just as evil and more malevolent, albeit less incompetent.

(500 Narnia bucks to whoever gets that reference, and/or its relation to this one.)

I needed an extra art class so I chose "Rendering The Human Head" even though it's by the same teacher (Staff) as the one I dropped this ending semester. But, I hope to improve my human head rendering capabilities, which will do me well when I finally get that job as a caricaturist at the carnival.

Interactive Design is next, I'm hoping has something to do with designing websites or at least something more interactive than "I've become the painting." Though that may be cool too.

Thursday evenings I'll be attending art lectures, which I'm looking forward to and dreading as it's supervised by the same Professor Wormwood we've discussed before. But, I'm nothing if not forgiving (I am nothing) and I need to take the lectures to graduate anyway, so here I come.

The last class and sadly the one I'm looking most forward to is the one completely unrelated to my major, even more than rendering the human head. My last class is English 3420: Intermediate Fiction Writing. That's right. I'm intermediate now. The teacher I wanted has her class all full, but they opened a new one and I am taking it from a teacher I've met before, but never taken a class from. But I love writing and no one can take that away from me, not even a hockey-mask-wearing-psycho wielding a hand-cutting-off-machete. That's right, I'm not even afraid of you, Guy Hebert.

That's my school life, stay tuned for the next time I post, probably when this semester is over!

Wake Me Up When November Ends

2010-12-01T18:47:00.002-07:00

One of the downsides to not blogging in November is when you try to sum it up you think "What happened this month?"

Like any other month, I played too much video games and didn't get enough sleep. I worked and went to school most of the time, unlike other months we had 2 lovely Thanksgiving dinners and I nearly completed my sketchbook. It will still be a mad dash to the end, but it's doable. I may post some sketches I did, I may not.

For my Ethics class I was in a group where we taught a class period about Deaf Culture. I mostly led a discussion on Ethical issues such as Cochlear implants, raising deaf children to be hearing or to be Deaf, as well as applied different Ethicists' systems to the above issues. I think it was fairly successful, the teacher called it "Excellent," which from what I understand, is a good thing.

My Digital Imaging class I did about 14 pages of a children's picture/activity book and now I have another 14 pictures to do for my final. I can't catch a break.

For work I was worried about being fired as my performance has been very subpar in my opinion, only to have my manager today take me away from my desk to have a talk with me and tell me he thinks I'm doing great and am going to make my bonus this month. I need to work on my opinion of myself, or at least continue this masquerade of productivity I seem to be exuding.

All in all in all, November has been a busy but fun month. (Tracie may tell you differently.) Morgan has finally learned how to climb out of both his play pen and crib, is learning more words and does more "tricks" like pointing to his mouth for food, nodding, shaking his head, becoming a better dancer, and playing "Greensleeves" on the panpipes. Ok, I made up the last one. It's "What Child is This."

We went to the release party for "Touchstones" the school literary journal that published my story and saw Heather, the woman who taught our "Birthing From Within" classes. As Tracie said, it was a pleasant surprise that transformed a potentially tedious evening into a delightful one.

This month (November still) we bought a new tv, a 50 inch plasma, as well as a bunch of cheap stuff we didn't really need but it was so cheap we bought it black Friday deals.

Next month (December, technically this month) I hope to finish all my classes, pass all my classes, and blog more, as I've missed it. Work out more, as I need it. And play with Tracie and Moby more, as I love it.

I plan to blog much more this month as I'll have much more time in about 2 weeks with school being out for a few weeks.

Here's to hoping December is a month filled with adventures and love and stories and fun and happiness, and lots and lots of blog entries.

How Michael Caine Speaks

2010-11-23T22:47:00.001-07:00

Who do you think does it better?

Morgan at the Park

2010-11-08T17:33:00.006-07:00

When Life Gets Tough And Nothing Can Cheer You Up...
Think of Moby At The Park-
and smile.

(more pictures at morgandanger.blogspot.com)

Wandering while Wondering

2010-11-03T16:56:00.004-06:00

Or is it Wondering whilst wandering? I haven't had a rambling post in awhile, mostly just tidbits, bittids, and pictures.

I got a rejecting letter of my submission to "Warp & Weave," the Sci-Fi/Fantasy magazine at school. I was surprised, as it was one of my favorite things I've ever written. (Seducing the Seductress for those of you in BTBL.) But, I guess it was too advanced/dirty to be included in the school magazine. And to be honest, it's quite a narrow genre. It's a fantasy/comedy/sex story. Not necessarily in that order. I knew it was dirty, or at least more "adult" than my other submissions, but I've read previous issues of Warp and Weave and didn't find it worse or more mature than anything else. I'm interested in why it was passed on, but oh well. They accepted two of the weakest things I've ever written, which tells me I have a skewed opinion on my abilities as a writer.

My Ethics class is fascinating. Today we talked about the Function of Education, interesting topic, no? It reminded me of two of my favorite quotations, the first is from Mark Twain, the other is from an unknown author, meaning I am too lazy to find out or the author is too smart to accept credit.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." -Mark Twain
"I had a class assignment to write 'what do you want to be when you grow up.' I wrote 'happy.' The teacher said I didn't understand the assignment. I said they didn't understand life." -Author Unknown to me.
Next week we'll be discussing Aesthetics, which I've been looking forward to since the beginning of the semester.

Digital Imaging is still a lot of fun, I'll let you know how my picturebook project progresses as it... um, progresses.

Illustration still the favorite, Finance, not so much. But, the semester is halfway over, and I already have my classes planned out for the next.

Work is finally slowing down again, which is good news for my homework.

We are starting up our book club again, the first book is "A Catcher In the Rye" which I've always wanted to read, and now I have an excuse/goal to.

As you can see if you scroll down slightly, Tracie and I have started a new fitness for life program. I'll let you know how it goes as it progresses.

Morgan is still the cutest and greatest source of aggravation and joy in our lives, just as he should be. He laughs at the weirdest things and already has an attitude when he doesn't get his way. I'll post more pics and videos on his blog when I remember to bring my memory card to school.

That's about it for now, stay tuned for more fun as always.

addendum: I don't think this merits a new post, but the other day Morgan sent a text message on my phone to an invalid number. The message?

"Hybanedefababeababalabediaattavatatucuatatuauatabuabaltaba"

This is probably only cute to me, but there it is anyway.

Better Already

2010-11-03T15:18:00.003-06:00

Some of you may know, we recently started a new fitness program. Some of you may be on the same program.

Basically, instead of "lose weight fast" this is more geared towards living more healthily, healthier, healthy living.

You get points every day for doing something. For example, 20 points for exercise, 10 points for avoiding fast food and junk food, 5 points for eating fruits and veggies everyday, etc.

It started on Monday and it's amazing how much better I already feel. I've always said it's better to be healthy than skinny. As I've gained weight, I've said it more frequently. But now that I'm working towards living healthy instead of "well, I only bought one double cheeseburger instead of three, so that's like healthy right there! I'm not gaining weight, so it's okay to have the supersized shake." etc.

Now that I'm refraining from fast food and garbage food, drinking more water than none in a day (64 ounces and counting), getting exercise and all that fun stuff, I am amazed at the energy I already have! And I'm 50 pounds lighter than yesterday! Ok, that last one isn't true, but I feel great and encourage you if you're not happy with your health to give it a try!

Goodbye October, Hello November

2010-11-01T07:35:00.005-06:00

October 2010, or 10-10 is gone.

That month I didn't manage to read anything not assigned to me, I am 25 pages short of my goal in my sketchbook, I turned out some great drawings in the 75 pages I did do, though. I ate a lot of candy, although I blame the lazy kids for that, no one came to our house trick-or-treating yesterday or Saturday. October was the month where winter showed it's cold cold head, it snowed the one night I didn't park the car in its new carport/covered parking area thing, although Morgan did a whole bunch of cute stuff, I'm getting closer to being able to put my own socks on again, we're starting a new exercise program on Tracie's side of the family, and I find myself wishing it was 2011 already.

November I hope to do almost double the drawings I did in September and October, I am forsaking NaNoWriMo for that reason, I expect to see more snow and less reasons to get away with wearing sandals. On a more time wasting note, I plan to buy a new TV, finish watching "Pushing Daisies," and find a new show that was canceled way too soon to get obsessed with. My oldest brother will turn (I'll let him tell you if he chooses to), I hope we'll be able to go to Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving. This month it will be my 1 year anniversary at Security Metrics. I'll be one month closer to the end of the semester which means that much closer to graduating. If I have time, I'll work on the project I'm excited about but don't feel like sharing in case I don't have time to do it. Until then, goodbye, October, bring on the November!

Touchstones

2010-10-31T17:00:00.005-06:00

Austin,

We are pleased to inform you that we have accepted your piece "Origin Of A Crazy Cat Lady" for publication in the fall 2010 issue of Touchstones. We would like to invite you to attend My Word, the Touchstones release party, where you may receive your complimentary copy of this issue. My Word is at 7 pm on November 30 in the UVU Student Center, rooms 206 a & b. Congratulations.

Sincerely,

Editor-in-chief,

Touchstones
Website: research.uvu.edu/touchstones

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T13:40:00.002-06:00

From the Rubbles to you.

Morgan: the Destructor

2010-10-28T07:34:00.005-06:00

That's it. Our TV (heretofore known as "baby #1") has given up the ghost. It is no more. It has ceased to be. And I can't help but feel Morgan had something to do with it. Mostly because he had something to do with it.

It's not like we loved baby #1 more than he. He spent time watching the Wiggles and other kids shows on it. Even as a brand new baby, he seemed interested in things like Food Network. When he got older and learned to "use" the remote, (meaning point it at the tv and push a lot of buttons,) he showed a preference for the Spanish channel. I thought "great, baby #1 is teaching Morgan a new language! It's fun and educational!" But all that time with the remote and tv, Morgan was just researching its eventual demise.

It's been dying for months. The line of static at the top has been getting lower and lower. It's taken longer and longer for it to turn on, it doesn't shift through channels, but it still worked.

I don't know exactly how he did it, but Morgan broke our tv. One day it was working fine, the next day: nothing. I tried everything, even unplugged it and plugged it back in a few times.

The good news is we now need to buy a new tv. The bad news is we have to buy a new tv. To tv #1: so long, old friend. We had some good times, we had some bad times. I promise to buy a large, flatscreen hi-def replacement to ease the loss of your glowing goodness.

I'm glad that baby #2 (hereafter known as "Morgan") was the one that came out the victor in that deathmatch. He's cuter, I feel less guilty spending my time watching him, and I've spent more time and money on him.

Fall

2010-10-27T17:54:00.010-06:00

For my photo class, now we're working on images for children's picture books. The group I'm in chose to do a picture book/section on Fall.

A good idea, until it snowed today. Fortunately, I got some pictures before the snowfall. These aren't done or submit-worthy, but this is what I'm up to.

I'm a fan of fall. It's not my favorite season (I'm a spring man) but it's probably second favorite. I for one enjoy the cold air, the changing colors, and of course, the pies. What do you love about fall?

The Halloween Twist

2010-10-25T23:05:00.007-06:00

My latest Illustration assignment was a creative self-portrait with a Halloween twist. After a few (20 or so) preliminary sketches/thumbnails, I thought of the pumpkin shaped trick-or-treat bucket, and thought what if my head was the pumpkin, and the bucket was my head? That idea eventually became a skeleton in a big spiderweb/muscle-looking cape holding my head with candy in it. And the pumpkin is filled with eyeballs. Hope you enjoy it, it's probably my favorite drawing I've done in awhile.

Deciding to Draw

2010-10-19T07:51:00.003-06:00

No Nanowrimo for me for 2010. I have 150 more 1/2 hour sketchbook drawings to do before December, so I'm going to spend my spare time doing that instead of writing a story. This will be the first time I've not attempted NaNoWriMo in 3 years.

So, to my writer friends, you have to do Nanowrimo for me. No excuses, unless they're as good as mine.