Read(s) of the Month: September

The more I feel stressed out, the more I read, apparently. Which I guess makes sense because whenever I feel overwhelmed in any way, I look for exits. Books make for great escapes.

Anyway, I'm done with Principles of Design 1 and Digital Design 1. The final project for Digital Design 1 was food boxes/carriers for a food joint. We had to come up with a concept for the food joint and design and make the damn box/carrier. The flip food box had issues, so I made another box (actually I made at least four or five — including the prototype — and only submitted three).

On a term break this Wednesday and next Monday ... thank Goddess for the breather!

Reads of the month:

• Into Darkness by Jonathan Lewis
• Room by Emma Donoghue (finally!) — OMFG I love this book so much I think I'll buy a copy!

I also borrowed I, Lucifer again but prolly won't get around to reading it. I also think I prolly won't finish The Anthologist — when I put it down (for reasons unrelated to the book), I don't feel the need to pick it up ASAP. Also, I'm reading an old Kathy Reichs that I'd missed (so hard to read in chronological order when you have to depend on a library) which is hard to put down, so.

[...]

So the assignment (100% weightage!) for one of my classes is:

To design a packaging for restaurant/café for customers to take away their food. This packaging should feature the unique qualities of the restaurant of their specialty dishes or ingredients.

I found this unique and awesome food packaging and so have (very foolishly) decided to base my assignment around that (because it looks awesome fun to make and I was itching to make my own). Following the video, I actually managed to make it cuz it's really simple!

Other than this little spot of joy, I feel like everything else is a chaotic, crushing mass — work, classes, my eating, my physical condition ... Fuck.

Read(s) of the month (can't remember when I finished reading these, whether it's at the beginning of this month or the end of the last):

• Cat Out of Hell: <3
• The Last Tomorrow: Is he trying to ape Ellroy? Cuz it's a fail fail fail. If not, then I think it's an overly complicated tale with very few sympathetic characters (if there were even any at all). Will not read Jahn again.
• Lost Cat: I cried. Because [spoiler] ... Tibby and Fibby both died =...((

Homework =(

I always take fucking FOREVER to complete my homework from the Principles of Design class. So now I don't have any time to do the stuff that I actually like doing and want to do ... =(

This is the homework for a/symmetry. My instructor didn't actually approve two of them (one of the asymmetrical ones and the symmetrical out-of-the-box variation) but I prefer what I'd done that horrible ones I did that she did approve. I feel like the moon should be colored in ... but can't visualize whether that would make the whole design more "heavy" (wtf?).

Freedom to Read

A simple one. I really should start working on my Principles of Design assignment since I've already decided to once again skip stretch & core and aerial prac this afternoon (during which I'd planned to hold up to five seconds on my toe hang and practise my spinning straddle — but, oh well ...).

Sigh.

And Tango Makes Three

ARGH. This whole fiasco makes me SO. MAD.

I work in a library. I believe libraries should provide access to and be a repository of knowledge and information; libraries must be inclusive. What I don't believe libraries should do is "reflect existing social norms, and not to challenge or seek to change them". Hell. No.

The NLB's stance (and, I believe, the government's) to not challenge or change — to maintain status quo — should be drivel espoused by unthinking folks, not by a public institution of knowledge. Shame on you. I hope your decision and your justification for your decision are met with universal condemnation and ridicule.

#FreedomtoRead

Read of the Month: July

A very fast read this time round (because it was a crime/thriller book): Where Evil Lies.

Promising start, very unsatisfying denouement — almost anticlimatic. Female characters seem to be there only to give blowjobs, fuck male characters, and provide emotional comfort. The author seems obsessed with blowjobs (including a "mouth rape").

Oh well, at least it was a quick read (and didn't piss me off as much as Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth). When I dropped off the book this morning, I thought I should've stuck a Post-it in there to let the person who has reserved the book (yes, there was one — goodness knows why) know it's not worth their time.

On with the next book!

Crimson & Clover

One of my favoritest songs ever. I love both the original by Tommy James & The Shondells and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' cover (which reminds me of the opening of one of The L Word episodes even though iirc the music used was the original and not the cover). I also have a cover by Tommy Roe and used to play all three versions over and over on loop.

Joan Jett ... So. Hawt.

'Crimson and clover' is also why I fell in love with Jarvis Cocker's 'Black Magic' on the very first listen.

There's just something addictive about this particular riff/chord pattern ... In the words of Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night:

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die. (I.i.1-3)

Hello Cruel World

Yay! I didn't nod off or waste too much time watching the telly this afternoon so I got something so show for my time! E's (Mark Oliver Everett) lyrics again. I initially thought of doing only "Hello cruel world" but decided to continue the stanza a little further. Not a good choice (also, it led to the food stain — the perils of writing on the kitchen table). Much prefer just the first three words.

Some Practice

Bought a ZIG Calligraphy II pen and I'm liking the 2mm tip. I skipped Stretch/Core and Aerial Gym to practise my handwriting ... wonder if it's even worth it. Sigh ...

Anyway, eels' lyrics today: 'A Daisy Through Concrete' and 'Somebody Loves You'. The other one — "Write now, right now" — just occurred to me.

If I'm not too lazy tomorrow, I'll want to be able to write something for a cutting.

At Last ...

Finally finished the book, so ...

Read of the month: The Little Old Lady who Broke All the Rules. (I do and cannot recommend this book.)

Yay to getting some learning on Illustrator!

B for Beastly

God, my Bs are hideous. Yuck.

And one practice A from last night:

But I'll take heart from Jess's words; I'll practise. Hopefully I'll get better.

Handwriting Practice

Goodness, it's almost the end of the month and I've still not finished The Little Old Lady who Broke All the Rules. It's just way too easy to stop reading the damn book — I just don't find it that engaging.

Anyway. No cutting, just doing an 'A'. I feel like I need a larger piece of paper (I guess I could write smaller too). I confused myself doing those swashes (which is why it's so scrunched up and lopsided.

Classes start next Monday. I'm a little excited, more nervous and anxious.

"Happily Ever After"

I think it might've been Emily who'd suggested offhandedly "happily ever after". And why not?

A very rough draft of what I had in mind (then went over it shakily with a pen). I still need to work on my swashes which I'm terrible at. Basically, handwriting is not my thing, but yet I find it sorta fun — quite ironically because of: swashes.

I'll prolly keep the heart shape. The H I was pleased with initially but now feel it looks out of proportion and unbalanced. There could be more I could do with the ps too. I mean, double p — a ligature maybe? And my descenders are always so shitty too. Sigh.

Papercut #2

On sick leave yesterday (food poisoning) and requested for urgent leave today because I simply don't feel like I'd be able to cope with eight and a half hours at work. Still zero appetite; subsisting on water and sweetened soy milk.

So, with today off, I pretended I made things for a living ... and realized I couldn't do it — I took too long to make something that looks too terrible.

First draft on graph paper in pencil then traced over with a pen.

Thought process: "Why not make a cutting?" So pencil on A4 drawing block, then traced over with a marker. Brain asked, "Why not add flourishes to surround the word?"

"YIKES. Word drowned in flourishes ..." =(

Do over in pencil:

Changed my mind about a small flourish ...

Traced with pen then marker. (Why? Heaven only knows ...) Commence cutting:

Done:

Conclusion: looks wonky and therefore ugly. (Plus spacing between letters is CRAP!!) But what's done is done. Dare I mount this as a gift for Hazel on Friday?