|
 |
|
|
|
|
February
2002 Archive
Thursday, February 28, 2002So, tonight was the last Esperanto lesson. Tonight and Tuesday night I got on the elevator with a slightly sketchy looking guy. I looked down and noticed he had boxing gloves in his unzipped duffel. Helped explain the bandage on his nose. Tonight we were making small talk about getting home late. I said, "Work, then class." The boxer asked, "Art class?" I answered with a look of appreciate at the good guess, "Nope, Language." "Oh, which one?" I answered, "Esperanto" as he walked of the elevator he turned back, smiled and said, "The International Language."Damn
straight.
Wednesday, February 27, 2002Ooh, my very first flameFrom
"Amelie France": "Brandy,
In
viewing your web site, and giving it an honest-to-goodness chance,
I have come to the following conclusion: You are the most egotistic
bleeding heart to have ever stepped onto the Web Bandwagon. To
think that people want to have a daily update and countless reviews
and comments of things you put in your mouth is the purist form
of delusion. If
you've even gotten this far in my letter, I suggest you allow
your artistic talent take over your verbal self. If not, I suggest
writing for a philanthropic cause rather than self-promotion. Amelie.
Another
country heard from.
Tuesday, February 26, 2002Good administrative work done on the site today. Cleaned up much-neglected files on my computer and on the server. It's very lovely to go into my loosetooth.com file, and see the current, needed source files, not files from the past 4 years all tangled up.[sigh
of relief] Well,
the snow is moving horizontally out the window. I'm looking at
another day of working on the site. Yes,
it doesn't look like anything is happening on the site. The same
homepage navigation. The same under construction pages, who have
definitely outstayed their welcome. Store "doors" still not open. But
that's all going to change. And relatively soon!
Stay
tuned...
Wednesday, February 20, 2002You know what state never gets mentioned?Delaware.
Tuesday, February 19, 2002BibliophiliaSo,
I go to the library once a week. Twice a week if I have the time
and interest. Some people are suspicious of this behavior and
ask me what (on earth) I do at the library. I answer, "learn stuff."
Which is true. Doing that sometimes saves my sanity when I'm saturated
with client work and living from deadline to deadline. My time
at the library is completely for me. And more than anything else
- I love to learn. I've
always loved libraries. In Fridley, Minnesota, I would go to the
Anoka County Public Library. It was exciting to get to watch Nickelodeon
on the few tv's they had. Or watch an educational video with one
of the monstrous top-loading VCRs. And the air conditioning and
books were an amazing solace during the hot, boring, tense, school-less
summers. All the Choose Your Own Adventure books you could want
to gobble up. I
remember my elementary school library, in the circular Robert
Louis Stevenson. The library was in the inside curve, with an
entrance to the center courtyard. I would check out Steve Canney's
Kids America over and over and over again. I
can't remember my middle school library at all - which is really
odd. I
can still vaguely remember what was where in my high school library.
The wall of fiction. Where the bio books were. But mostly I remember
some academic event in the library. I think it was math team.
Taking a test with a horrible migraine. We must have been the
hosts that month. I wasn't a slouch in my math classes, but I
never made a mark among the math elite of math team. I
adored Burling Library at Grinnell College. One huge slab o' concrete,
five floors. Their was a definite culture to this library. You
sat on the first floor if you were studying with others or if
you would rather socialize than study. Distractions abound. Whereas
on the fourth floor the concentration is so thick that it slows
you walking through the stacks. My nearly nightly routine was
this - eat at Quad dining hall for a couple hours, socializing
with a couple table's full of friends. Do bullshit work or general
fucking around after dinner until 11pm. Go to the library and
do stream-of-consciousness research until just before midnight.
Right before midnight, zip over to Steiner (printmaking studio)
or Fine Arts Building just before they locked the doors for the
night. Work until about 2 or 3. I had umpteen crappy, 10 cent
xeroxes from those magic hours of perusing. Now
it's Harold Washington. 8 floors of learning goodness. Granted
many of the books purported to be in the library are not on the
shelves, but there's still loads of things to soak into my brain.
Now I prepare for my visits to the lib by checking online what
books have to go back that day. Normally, I climb out of my computer
chair and cross my apartment to grab my wallet from it's place
and bring it back to the computer to get my lib card # off my
card. Today, I finally came up with the brilliant idea
to write down the number on a post it note left on the computer.
*whew* I'm so glad I saved those trips across the apartment. Actually,
I am glad I'll save looking for my wallet in the abyss of my desk,
when it should be in it's resting place. Today,
I'll look for images of queens in the picture files. Look up an
Esperanto reference for class tonight. Some art stuff. Better
motor -
Monday, February 18, 2002Wow. Week went by fast.More
collage work done. Some client work finish. More done on the store,
but plenty more to do. Helped my friend Steve reupholster a chair
yesterday - tuckered me out. Went to bed and woke up with a right-temple
headache. Slept in, because it is a holiday today, right? Got
up put on yesterday's clothes and headed out to get screws and
groceries. Got screws. Got groceries. Today is warmish and sunny.
With my stale clothes, grogginess and headache, I was flashing
back to Grinnell College. One of those nice Spring days after
a huge spate of work, when I'd walk around with a mind half-empty,
not weighed down with deadlines and to-do lists. But I'm not quite
myself, sort of sickly and smelly with a sore head. So, I feel
a little out of my body walking down the street noticing the temperature
and spring air and feeling a freedom but still not feeling quite
right. It's
a good weird feeling. Deciding
whether to work on the store, the modicum of client work I have,
or work on collages...
Sunday, February 10, 2002All Work and No Play Makes Brandy Pooped OutSo, this weekend was dedicated to busting some ass on my long-awaited online store. For two years now I've been lauded this mythical store. Finally, it's coming to life! Much ass has been busted this weekend. I had more than 2.5 days of work to do, so no store as of tonight. But I've got a snazzy mannequin whose been painted and coifed and already had her first photo shoot in my jewelry. She is yet to be named, and you'll see her soon. To
the upper right is a photo that charms me to bits. Today I knocked
around in white thermals and khaki Dickie coveralls. The apartment
was very cold (with howling winds all day) and I was feeling industrious
- so the pragmatic clothing seems apropos. The photo was taken
as a near reflex after I looked down and was charmed by my own
toes. (My life is good) And the image shows off my snazzy linoleum
floor (better if you open the bigger pic link). Off
to slumber.
Friday, February 08, 2002HOW?Thanks
for the tip, Shea.
Thursday, February 07, 2002RantSo, again today I rode past the Marshall Field's on Michigan Avenue. The only thing in their new, circular display window is some vague prose about 9/11 and New York. I do think people should grieve and be reverent, but why January 2002, not September 2001? Because they wouldn't give up their precious display area during the lucrative Christmas season. Duh. So, it's convenient homage to tragedy. Rave And
that's not to mention the benefits of the things I'm learning
themselves. Go
make your brain hurt - in a good way.
Sunday, February 03, 2002We (younger sister and bride-to-be Burgundy, size 4 matron of honor Sally and size 16 me) hunted for bridesmaid dresses. 3 stores, about 6 hours. Remarkably, we found a dress that both complimented my sister's gown and looked good on both of us attendants! Happily, the dress is [apple] red, which I was the color I was hoping for. Now the understandable wild card is whether Sally will be pregnant or not for the Fall 2003 wedding. She's trying, but there's no telling how pregnant she'll be for sis's nuptials.I'll
be happy to return to Chicago tomorrow. We've gotten some wedding
stuff done (attendant's frocks and invite ideas) and I helped
paint an apartment plus several good meals and company, but it'll
be good to get back to my things. Building my online store and
working on a bunch of great collage ideas that I've gotten on
the train ride. Sadly
no 02/02/02 blog. But I did look at my watch at 2:02 pm
on 02/02/02. I'm such a dork.
Friday, February 01, 2002In Minnesota now, embarking on the Great Bridesmaid Dress hunt tomorrow.If
"Spring has sprung," then does that means Winter has wuntered
here in the Midwest? We now have the temps and snows and slush
we had been reprieved of for too long. Can't complain too much,
but yesterday I had by first bout of Wet Winter Sock Syndrome
only one block away from my home on the way to Union Station.
Not too bad, but it reminded me that I gotta practice puddle jumping.
And
I saw a human-sized nose. My sis asked, "Aren't all noses human-sized?"
Good point. This was a nose the size of a human. Very interesting
dichotomy between the local actors with the shitty, but quirky
job of handing out samples of Remedex ("Take it at the first sight
of a cold") and the beleaguered, African-American folks waiting
for the Harrison bus outside of Osco. Perhaps they will thwart
their next cold with the free samples they got. Back to the Remedex
folks - Longest straw got the traffic sign, whistle and lemon
yellow traffic cop costume. The short straw got the giant nose
costume. Or maybe the other way around, since the nose had to
be warm and was anonymous. Not
much to report. Will report back when there are things to report.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
