Life Blog

Hollar at your boy.

The economy here in the USA is in bad shape. I saw evidence of this at my local grocer today. The section of the bakery case that contains the “higher end” items such as tiramisu and tuxedo mousse tortes looks a little thin these days. Slim pickin’s. Is it because customers are buying shit up? No. It’s because the grocer isn’t stocking the fancy things so much anymore. If customers were buying, the case would have all sorts of empty trays and cake”displayers”. Instead, the case is just…empty. Tough times.

Printmaking is not being my friend. Why does it seem like I’m moving backwards?

My first semester as a graduate student is over. Looking back, it was an eventful five months. Even though it seems like nothing ever happens. I’ll break it down for you in abbreviated fashion.

U-haul. “Neverwhere”. Ugly-ass apartment. Disgusting. Dirty toilet. Kicked in door. Dishonest landlord. Chicken Critters. Beth, Shannon, cool. Max, dude, shady as fuck.  Target. Lowes. Money. Desperate apartment improvement. Graduate Luncheon. Overwhelming. Scared. Bitter waitstaff. Jerry. Helen. Rain. AT&T, 6 hours cust. service. Praying Manti(i?).  Job looking. Iced coffee. Rain. Closet treadmill. Parental visit. Chicken Critters. Petfinder. Molly! Schnoodle. Adoption application. Puppy stalking. Pick up day, Paris IL. Maleah, adorable. Wiry hair. Dandruff. Diarrhea. Tapeworm. Sleeping in my lap. Petsmart. Money. Jake, her buddy. Emergency vet (she’s ok). Seperation anxiety. (Re?)vaccination. Veternarian. Roundworm. Hookworm. Sick little angel. Dog Park. Failed etching. Failed woodcut. Failed color studies. Terrible newscasters. Charlie Bears Walks. Sticks. Squirrels. Tornadic activity. cramped apartment. Spaghetti dinner. Sarah locates job. “Godfather” paperback. Print conference in Fargo. Super Pita. Hjemkomst. Tools. Money. Nate, house, dog. Guano’s. Blackjack in bar? +$45.00!Julie Mehretu. Jerry fish birthday. Sushi topped with fettuccine. Minneapolis visit. Maleah introductions. Chipotle. Sequential edition. Better color studies. Detectives looking for neighbor. Multi-million recreation. Iron pumping. Nice treadmill. Seminar presentation. Undesireables visiting neighbor. Feeling disliked. Dog park. Shady landlord. Detectives talking to negihbor. Fantasy football, I am suck. Seminar debates. Letter from realtor. Cash for keys. Landlord being foreclosed on. Great. Apartment searching. Moving, second time in two months. Noisy neighbors. Nice place. Visiting artists. Carmon. Postmodernism. St. Louis. Carmon’s opening. Thanksgiving. Bratty yorkies. Word bubbles. Nephew hockey.  Wine. Pull tabs. Racist establishment. Catch Phrase. Drinks. Friends. Lyle’s. Money I don’t have. Hangover. Stamps. Good gouache paintings. Stronger drypoint impressions. Diet coke runs. Ice storm. Final critiques. Italian night. Poker! After school gouache. Christmas. Food. Best friend. Beers. Bratty yorkies. Grandchildren and gifts. Family. Food. Concert. Soulful opener. Second act. Moonshine swilling, union blue wearing confederate guitar player. Coked out singer. Excellent headliners. Wii. American Idol. “My Heart Will Go On”. New Year’s Eve. Marley and Me. Tears. Flatbread. Poor Dick Clark. Lambic. Deep Cleaning. Empty studio. Gigantic woodcut.  Painting doors. Assistanceship. Straight A’s. Sweet dog, so loving.

It’s been awhile since I “blogged”, been pretty busy. But we did find time to take our girl to the dog park. It’s so nice to watch her run and play freely. Aren’t my two girls pretty? We moved to another new place for the second time in two months. But I’ll address that next. For now, just enjoy pictures of my favorite girls.

There is all kinds of shady shit going on in this town. Some just plain weird things too.

We’re at a printmaking conference in Fargo. The first picture is us eating at “Ultra Pita” a hip new pita based restaurant franchise. The second picture is Jerryfish trying to lowball a vendor at the conference. The third picture is of an older gentleman who arose on a platform with his organ from the orchestra pit at the historic Fargo theater to play music as people were filing in. We saw the movie Fargo there. The man playing the organ was the highlight of the evening. He received a healthy round of applause. Like pull tabs in Minnesota, the bars in Fargo have blackjack tables that benefit the local hockey teams and such. Apparently I’ve still got it because I turned $20.00 into $45.00! The last picture is me pouting because I was unable to get WIFI in the hotel room.

Here are a couple pictures of my “studio”. I share the room with Jerry and Robyn, the other two printmaking grads. But we all do most of our work out in the lab where the presses and big tables are. The local news here is brutal, seriously. It’s so bad that it’s comical. The crickets are abundant too, and cicadas. They’re everywhere and  they’re really loud.

Three days into owning a dog, we had to take her to the emergency vet. It’s ok though, she just got a little too rowdy with the neighbor dog and opened up the first layer of stitches from being fixed last week. She didn’t even notice.

We are officially dog owners now!. She is super sweet and surprisingly well-behaved. Lots more pictures to come. It’s hard to get her to sit still for a picture. Her name is Maleah, they called her Molly, but we “Italianized” it a bit. She has been very busy sniffing things and tries to befriend everyone and everything. She has very big paws. Her eyes are brown, the strange green is caused by the flash and I didn’t fix it because I don’t know how to. She’s very tired, she doesn’t bark…At least we haven’t heard it yet. She is a lover.