There was quite a turnout at Freelance Fandango this week. In attendance were Yichao Zhang, Nori Kimura, Haley Waddington, Corey Macourek, Anique Zimmer, and myself. There was a children’s drawing on the whiteboard. We decided to critique it. And then, after guessing as to what some of the elements were, we decided to take turns embellishing it. We were all quite happy with the result. Somebody realized I was drawing beakers falling from a plane. Everybody groaned when I said they realized I was drawing a chem trail. Yichao is a fantastic illustrator. She brought in some of her ink drawings for show and tell. Corey brought in proof for his “Ghost in the Shell” poster. I brought in the Manga my brother brought back from Japan last week. Each week we try a new Kit Kat flavor. But this time, Haley brought in a couple of flavors, and we had leftovers from last week. We sampled: Lemon Crisp, Bitter Extra Chocolate Bean, Chocolate Mouse Cake, and Melon. Stan Brown wasn’t able to attend because he still had Covid. He could tell from the photos we posted online that he missed a perfect time.
I completely messed up on Tuesday. Krista called me to watch Sumo at 4:25. I had an alarm on my phone set for 4:25 and thought it was going off to remind me about Sumo. So I turned it off without looking at the label on the alarm, which would have told me to open the room for Epic Sketch Time. It was only after Sumo was over I realized my mistake. Krista apologized, even though it wasn’t my fault. I mentioned earlier in the day that we’d have to watch Sumo in the evening because I had Epic Scheduled. But, like many sports fans, we forgot our schedule in the excitement for the match. I spent the next half an hour emailing and texting apologies to those who’d waited patiently for me to get my act together. Bill Morse tried to reach me on my phone. But its battery was low, and I’d left it in my office to recharge.
I suffered a setback on my project. The file I was working on became corrupted, and I could not open it up. Macs have a system called “Time Machine,” You can go back an hour, a day, or a week and open an earlier version of your file. Unlucky for me, Time Machine was not running. I’ll have to look into why it was turned off. I was lucky in that I did save an earlier version of the file, so not all of my work was lost. But I did spend the rest of the week getting back to the stage in the project when I’d start to apply color. It took three days because I spent half of one day failing to access an older file version via Time Machine. The plus
Yichao Zhang had her first art show at the Asia Pacific Cultural Center. I didn’t think I’d get a chance to go because it was the third day in a row Krista had to travel to her office in Olympia to work. And the odds of her getting home early were low. But came home early, she did. So when my phone alarm went off, and I looked at the label expecting it to be a reminder for me to pick her up, I was excited to see it was a reminder to see Zhang’s show. So I went off to the show expecting it to be some light snacks and drinks and found that there was an impromptu presentation as well. Plus, I was called upon to mention Freelance Fandango and The Grand Drawing Room. I also met Ron Snowden, a watercolor artist, who teaches there on Mondays. He said he might come to the live drawing sessions. I bought a couple of prints from Yichao. I’ll pick them up from her on Monday. I will have to tell her that her work is underpriced. She is a truly exceptional artist. After the show, I followed Krista’s instructions and brought home some takeout from Zen Sushi Burrito. We usually order shrimp bowls with extra Yam-Yam sauce.
I had too many things to go to this Friday. Lynn De Dino had her Tripod slideshow as 7. Travis Bundy was selling prints at Friday Night Fright’s presentation of “Maximum Overdrive.” I spent my evening with Corey Macourek at the Grand Cinema presentation of “Ghost in the Shell.” Corey did the movie poster on 3D paper. His prints sold well, and he made back his investment, which is saying something as the cost for production on these prints were three times as much as normal. 3D paper is expensive stuff. I love this anime and haven’t seen it in the theater. I think the last I saw it was when it was released in 1995. Two years ago, I was starving for social contact, and now there is an overabundance of things to do with friends on Friday night. My level of carousing is very low-key compared to the average Friday night carouser. Watch me paint the town red with my choices for a fun time: art shows, slide shows, anime, and horror movies.
Alley News
Pat Smith and I have gone walking nearly every day this week. I mentioned earlier that Krista spent most of this week in Olympia. She and I did manage to get at least one walk-in together. But this was a busy week for her work-wise. Pat is enjoying learning the ins and outs of playing Pokemon Go. There was a special Pokemon event today. When Pat called, Krista shooed me out the door. She was decompressing with a book. Pat and I drove over the Wapato Park. There are a lot of Pokestops and Pokegyms over there. Today’s event encouraged players to catch Pokemon called ‘slowpokes.’ I was telling Pat about ‘shinies’ when he caught one. He would go on to catch five; I only caught one. When we got home, there was still more play to be had to evaluate, exchange, and determine which ones to evolve. A couple of new features popped up in the game that I’d never experienced before. If I’d known about them, I would have changed our strategy as we walked around the park. The park parking lot was full, so we had to park on the street outside the park. It was warm, sixty degrees. I didn’t bother with a coat. Pat and I even saw a turtle sunning itself on a log poking out of the lake.
Here are some of this week’s dreams:
March 12
#IDreamt of two people who pinned their hopes on the t~shirt designs they created. The designs were well crafted. But I know from firsthand experience it’s hard to sell shirts.
March 13
#IDreamt bank robbers put a bomb around my neck and sent me to the bank. I refused to go in, so the bomb detonated. I didn’t die, but I was carrying my head around.
March 14
#IDreamt My wife and I lived in Japan. Instead of getting older, we got younger.
March 15
#IDreamt I was washed up on a beach with many others. The shock wore off as we made our way inland, and I recognized a friend. I thought we might be heading toward our houses, but the others disappeared when they rested.
March 16
#IDreamt I was going to drive to Yakima to deliver a board game to a friend but realized I could save a lot of time by mailing it instead.
March 17
#IDreamt that nearly all US Military bases were built underneath dragons’ nesting areas. Partly because of their consistent flight patterns and partly because nobody wants to mess with dragons.
I watched some movies this week:
26. March 13
Crimes of the Future (2022) Rating: 7
I like how Cronenberg explores questions about society, how it changes, and what changes it. The imagery can be disturbing, just like the questions.
27. March 16
Bird Box (2018) Rating: 7
I’ve put off watching this movie for four years. I don’t know why I waited so long. This film arrived in the theaters before the Covid pandemic hit. The premise of danger outside the home and fear of contacting others might have hit too close to home. It’s a solid horror movie, and I like that it doesn’t look for an easy out with the creatures.
28. March 16
The Darkness (2016) Rating: 6
Sacred Native American ground is tread upon by an innocent child. So a family goes home with something in tow. Some good creepy elements but nothing that would end a good date night badly.
More next week,
Mark
