It's July Already?

This post isn't going to be about Alex's adventures in St. Pete, but as I'm spending part of my Sunday afternoon going through our stuff on Flickr, I thought I might post one of my favorite shots from his trip. Gorgeous, eh?

Last night, we went to Fort Worth for a date night. We ate dinner at the Flying Saucer, an establishment so centered around their international alcohol that I thought for a minute the waitress was going to throw us out when we said we weren't drinking tonight. However, the food was quite good; I enjoyed a goat cheese/cranberry/walnut salad, and Alex had a buffalo chicken wrap. Then we indulged in some kind of ice cream/chocolate cake drenched in raspberry sauce.

The Bass was gorgeous, and Avenue Q was great. So, so great. We kept joking throughout the first act that we'd see a bunch of empty seats after intermission, due to the, ahem, controversial nature of the show. And sure enough, the four seats to our left were empty throughout the entire Act 2, despite the fact that one of the guys had been laughing his head off. My theory is that he's going to get heck from his wife for laughing at all.

Today, we've had pancakes and some lazing about, and now we're back to work--Alex literally working on work stuff, me working on getting papers together for house financing, and travel receipts to file tomorrow, then the last three weeks (and four trips' worth) of laundry, and I had been planning on ripping CDs and organizing our mp3 players.... but yeah. So far, I've managed to throw up my hands in frustration over my lack of cohesive plans for my 30th birthday party, and add tags to some images on Flickr. And, er, there's this post.

I've still got a ton of photos and content to post for the last three trips (plus earlier stuff that I'm not even going to think about at the moment)... here are two brief notes:

• I was just in Anaheim, Abilene, and Austin. What's up with the A-town theme?
• I have now come to realize that Austin is the avacado capitol of Texas. And also has the most fantastic waiting service I have ever enjoyed. I have now made my peace with this town, and accept its eccentricities as charming (with the exception of the awful highway system, which I did not personally have to deal with on this particular trip).
  

Am I the Only Goofy One...

...or when composing emails, do you also reflexively smile when you add an emoticon? I don't know if I'm smiling "back" at the little digital face, or if my subconscious believes that by physically reinforcing the expression, my tone will be more adequately conveyed in the email.

It's also possible that I'm just an insufferably cheerful person.

So, this weekend Alex and I jetted down to San Antone for my dad's birthday--his 58th, which just adds to my whole reinterpretation of age, as he looks and acts, at nearly 60, nothing like what I thought of that age as a kid. I think he's more of what I thought 40 was--then again, when you're 12, it's hard to believe the world will still exist when you're 30. Anyway.

We had a great time--Alex made the remark, echoing what I've often thought, that my parents' house is an amazing place where you can truly relax. We tried to assess the reasons why, when we got back. We both think that a lot of it has to do with all the trees around their house--which bodes well for our future home, as the lot has tons of big, old trees. But there's also the birdsong (also related to trees), the "nearness" of the outdoors due to their abundant garden spots and back deck, and the sheer quiet. Alex and I lived in a similarly country-ish area at our old house, but there was the lack of trees (and thus birdsong), and because of the placement of our electronics, the house was always loud, even if you didn't consciously notice it. Whenever the power would go out, we'd be reminded of how loud the house usually was--the constant barrage of white noise from UPS's and computers and theater equipment and fans and the fridge.

So after waking up in that relaxing place--and enjoying my traditional cup-of-coffee-with-the-parents while Alex caught another half hour or so of sleep (this usually occurs on the back deck, but due to rain this time was moved to my mom's art studio, which is in a small red shed near the house), we took off for San Antone itself. We enjoyed the re-opening weekend festivities at the McNay Art Museum, a small but wonderful jewel of a place that reminds me of the Kimbell in Fort Worth (only with gorgeous Spanish colonial architecture instead of gorgeous modern architecture). It has a similarly comfortable and human-scaled approach to art display, with one of the most beautiful inner courtyards I've ever seen. We were ferried to and from the museum in a school bus in which the bus driver decided to dramatically illustrate that the shocks were not made to hold a load of adults, much to our discomfort (and amusement).

Then we headed off to enjoy a Jazz and Arts Festival at Crockett Park... but were perplexed to find it nearly empty, few booths (with the exception of the excellent Starbucks booth that twice provided us with free caffeine), and most befuddling, no music at all. Most people, performers, and vendors had apparently been frightened off by some earlier drizzles. We pronounced it neither jazzy nor festive, and instead spent awhile browsing through Half-Price Books, a dangerous activity for four people addicted to print. This was the third bookstore Alex and I had been to in a week and a half, and we brought home our fifth (at least) sack of books. I think we're a bit flustered by all our books being packed in boxes, and desperately trying to fill that hole--and since we plan on using movers for our next move, we don't have the thought of hauling heavy boxes to deter us.

Then we enjoyed a yummy (if loud) dinner at Tomatilla's, and headed back to my parent's casa rather late. A good time was had by all.

I'm now reading a ton of material in preparation for an all-day meeting tomorrow. Alex is off to Vegas (yes, again!) tomorrow through Friday, my mom is in town Wednesday through Saturday, my pal Jayne will be here over the weekend and a tad longer, and we have plans for yardwork and socializing over the weekend. Ah yes, and there are still preparations to be made for Alex leaving for Russia the following weekend.

It's a busy life, but at least it's an interesting one.

Rolling My Eyes

Did you hear about the latest "Da Vinci Code?" No, it's not another book/movie controversy--some musician/computer guy claims to have found a hidden musical composition in Da Vinci's Last Supper.

Oh. Come. On.

Even if I didn't have that master's in art history giggling at that one, just my general sense of logic would have scoffed at this one. "Pala first saw that by drawing the five lines of a musical staff across the painting, the loaves of bread on the table as well as the hands of Jesus and the Apostles could each represent a musical note." Riiight. Because hands and bread loaves so closely resemble musical notes. Oh look, is that a knight of Templar over there in the corner?!

Yeesh. You think you get away from the kookier interpretations by sticking to old paintings in naturalistic, non-abstract styles... but there will always be some bizarre theory that makes your whole discipline look foolish. Maybe that's why I wrote my thesis about liturgical objects instead of paintings. When an object is used for a particular function in the church, and it bears a particular image, it's a pretty safe bet that that image is obviously tied to the function of the object. It's not too far a leap, there.

Then again, maybe there were hidden musical notes in St. Veronica's robes on one of those altarpieces I studied... wonder what that means, hmmm?

Color Me This

(Apologies for cross-posting this, but it applies equally to all groups.)

Okay, file this under the "sheer genius" category-- the site COLOURlovers.com not only provides ever-changing color palettes that are ranked by users, but you can download palettes in a variety of formats, including CSS. You can browse palettes by newest, top, or search by specific color combinations.

So, so pretty. Good for adventures in interior design, graphic design brainstorming, or a CSS recharge for your website.

Will Wonders Never Cease

I thought to peruse the Cartoon Art Museum's website, since we'll be in the Bay Area at the end of this month (and I've always been sad that I didn't know it was there, the one time I was in San Fran)... and lo and behold! One of the exhibitions that will be going on while we're there is called "Worlds of Wonder." Whom, O dear reader, does this exhibit feature?

• Mark Buckingham & Steve Leialoha (Fables)
• Linda Medley (Castle Waiting)
• Patrick McDonnell (Mutts)
• one of the artists from Flight
• artists from several other comics I've been meaning to read, like Y the Last Man

It's too cool to absorb right now. Fantasy... comics... art... California... my brain might explode with all the coolness.

[Insert Title Here.... Again]

It weirds me out a little that our church is changing its name--rather drastically--from "Fellowship Bible Church North" to "Chase Oaks Church." It will now have an appended title, "A Fellowship Bible Church," which other associated churches are already using... but it's a bit surreal. They've got good reason, though--our location is moving near the Legacy Theater (where we lived in The Line for Star Wars) at Legacy & Chase Oaks, and they'll also be across the street from a (non-affiliated) Fellowship Church that has been causing some name confusion.

Still. It's like as if my Dad suddenly decided he'd like to be called Hubert.

Speaking of parents, a big congrats to my mom, who just sold her first painting! She sold an acrylic impression of a hydrangea (on canvas) for $75. She's already earned more at her artistic endeavors in 2007 than I have.

Speaking of those R2D2 mailboxes, Alex's cousin David (well, his Dad's cousin, but who's... er... counting) saw one in Houston, so it's been confirmed by a reputable source! Grand Admiral Jared went out looking for the aforementioned Abilene one yesterday, but couldn't locate it, as Barrow doesn't actually cross North 1st. Hopefully, we'll run into it anyway. (Hasn't anyone located one in Dallas yet? C'mon!)

And John Pendolino's radio story must have gone out on Monday without a hitch (I was at breakfast with our interviewee at the time), because our bank guy just called on personal business, and also mentioned that he had heard the story and would like the URL for the CyberCemetery, as he's really interested in old government information.

I'm sitting on news items here that I have to wait out--several that I've been waiting on for awhile. One has been dragged on for awhile, and two should be decided--and therefore able to be discussed--soon, but in the meantime I've just been frustratedly keeping my mouth shut. I'm good with other people's secrets... just not my own!

Congrats, Kudos, Hooray!

A BIG congrats to my Dad, who last night won Best Artist of the Year at the New Braunfels Art League!!

PS. Next week, we begin regular hours again at the library, and I can catch up on the past three weeks’ worth of posting. I haven’t had time to post anything after work hours, because of early closing—and I just don’t get online at home much. Ciao, my beauties!

Hungry for Some Art?

BoingBoing reports that Barney's of New York is selling Andy Warhol-inspired Campbell's soup cans.

Unrelated Banter:

My office door made it to YouTube! Check out this student film, featuring the library mall and third floor of Willis (my door is the one near the clock).

Yep, still adding DC photos to flickr (this is a railing near the Capitol building):



And Some Linky-Loos:

• videos of James Bond title sequences
• Cold-War-era fallout shelter guide
• research your next digital camera or cameraphone--on flickr!
• National Geographic has a show on animals in the womb--verrry nifty
  

TGIF... (And We're Home for the Weekend!)

This is evil of me, but... I opened a CRS report that was titled "Intelligence Issues in Congress." And snickered.

• Comics made from information found on Wikipedia.
• Comic about how the airline instructions given by flight attendants resemble a dance.
• What really happened after Grant Wood, the painter of American Gothic (1930), left the farm. (From this set of photoshop-ed ghosts in famous artworks.)
• And, just in time for winter again, more BoingBoing examples of video-game-inspired scarves.
• An elaborate Rube-Goldberg contraption. Makes me want to go home and play Mousetrap.
• The communication of your youth... now wireless.
• Portraits of gamers' hands: this Star Wars arcade one is my favorite, next to this one.
• Photos of kitchy souvenirs superimposed on their real counterparts. Alex and I did something similar in DC, having not seen these photos, with the back of a penny at the Lincoln Memorial.

Abilene Backlog: 10.26 - 10.29.06

In the morning, we left from Mandy's house (where we'd crashed upon returning from DC) and drove straight to Abilene--do not pass go, do not go home and do laundry. After this point, my travel-logged memory becomes fuzzy, as I stopped taking analog notes and neglected to go directly digital, either.

Thursday, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Abilene Civic Center, to celebrate HSU's successful Secure the Future Campaign. Friday... I'm not sure what we did Friday, to tell you the truth. I think Alex and I spent several hours reading through Jared's print volumes of Penny Arcade, and then I think we wandered on campus awhile to see the new Alumni Wall. Alex and Jared stayed up late making Mii characters, and I passed out after reading comics. Saturday was the usual Homecoming mix: Kathryn and I did our BYA duty at the Cowpoke Posse table, preused the bookstore, and made our usual appearance at the Art Alumni Reception (wandering the halls and critiquing student art while laughing at the memories), and Alex and Cameron set up the computer lab for the Gaming Tournament. Jared and I joined them later, and then the festivities began--hosted by Tiibo Tibo Thibault. (Sidenote: It was crazy and awesome to see our friend Seth dating Lisa, who is my college roomie Martha's younger sister.)

First we played America's Army, a game that is at first incredibly frustrating, but at the same time has got to be one heck of a recruiting tool. Yes, the US Army actually provides this game freely, in the hopes that they will recruit some enthusiastic youths into military service. You've got to wonder, though, if recruiting gamers is the wisest idea... I forsee the Army's motto changing in the near future from "be all that you can be," or "an army of one" to "fraglords."

I hated this game until the very last few rounds, when I discovered missiles. This is pretty typical; I detested Battlefield 2 until I learned I could get an anti-aircraft missile launcher, camp out on top of buildings, and really spectacularly snipe people. Muawahahahaha, ah, the beautiful destruction that ensued. I'm not much of one for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, either, except for the "Gold Rush" and Stargate maps. Now, when we returned to Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons last year, I was a lot happier.

This year, we played Savage. And oh-my-freaking-gosh, that game is amazing. The music, the look, the gameplay is all so different from what I've played before, and I love that the light changes throughout the game. Although to be honest, I had some difficulty navigating through an area a second time in the dark when I'd previously been there in the light. But you get used to it.

The neatest aspect of the game is that it is both a RTS and a FPS. Each team has a commander who views the game from RTS mode, while the rest of the team is in FPS multiplayer mode. It's nice to get direction from the commander--it really helped me, since I'm not a good enough gamer to do well in a multiplayer game alone. I can't really describe the experience adequately enough, but you should download it yourself, as it's free.

We played until midnight, then headed back to Jared's--and thus ended another year of Homecoming festivities.

DC Backlog: 10.25.06

The morning session about digital distribution was a bit of a blur for me while Alex checked us out of the hotel, and we bid farewell to Valerie and my new acquaintances. We walked to--where else?--Union Station for lunch, and gobbled down pizza at Uno, which had excellent fries. Then we walked down to the National Gallery of Art for the behind-the-scenes library tour, which our tour guide graciously let Alex join (there were only five of us). We saw their reference area, closed stacks, artist flat files, catalogs, photo collection, and slides, and my little geeky-artist-librarian heart nearly burst.

Alex and I checked our watches and hoofed it to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum for the last few hours before our flight, snapping photos, touching moon rocks, and saying hello to Charlie Duke's crew photo (my parents went to a Bible study at his house in the 1980's, and I watched Halley's Comet from his backyard when I was eight).



We retrieved our checked luggage from the Hyatt, and lugged it to Union Station, through two Metro lines, and on to Reagan Airport.

After another glorious flight, Alex's mama picked us up, treated us to Sonic, and patiently watched our photo slideshow before we all crashed at Alex's sister's house.

A Shower of Links

Rain: much-appreciated for my cracked yard.
Same Rain: much-un-appreciated when it completely soaked my pants this morning at work (got a hair dryer?).
Still the Same Rain: much-re-appreciated for its beauty on the window panes, once inside and (relatively) dry with a warm bagel and coffee.

I finally read Ender's Game, after many years of noble intentions. (Thanks, Kali, for reminding me!) I found it very, very interesting--and liked it--although it wasn't exactly what I expected. I'm glad I didn't read it in high school, though; I think the violence would have been a bit much for my sheltered self.

• On making up words (a librarian's prerogative, apparently).
• AL Championship Series begins TONIGHT! ARG, why will I be in class??? I think for once, I can't root for the underdog. I'm sorry, I'll normally root for anyone against the Yankees Empire, but it just goes against the nature of the universe for the Tigers to beat the Yankees. It's just... wrong.
• Very interesting take on the season 2 (yes, 2, as in on DVD) opener of "Lost." Those of you who've watched the season 3 opener (Auntie K, I'm looking at you!), read the post and see if the correlation between to two strikes you, as well.
• FaerieChat Session (guess the Shakespearian spoof!).
• Work underway on Clone Wars... Can't say I'm thrilled about the move from 2-D animation to CG, but I'm willing to suspend judgement.
• I [heart] Unshelved.
• What's hard: coming up with meals that are: healthy, convenient, tasty, and cheap. Any pointers?
• I just re-found a poem that I based a painting title on. It makes me feel more than a little silly that, although I remember the painting, I'd forgotten that I got the title from somewhere else. At least I still remember where I got the title for "Tree and Leaf" from.

Saint Anthony of Padua

I recently obtained a small icon of St. Anthony of Padua.* I feel an affinity for this saint, much as I do for good ol' St. Veronica (patron saint of photographers and of my thesis). In Tony's case, this is because I was first made aware of him when I actually visited his Basilica in Padua, Italy. There, I discovered that this charming saint is the saint of lost items (have you ever heard of a more useful saint?) and of finding hubbys for single gals (again, a handy guy). Not only that, but the basilica had on display the coolest relics I've ever seen in person: his tongue and vocal chords (he was a superb orator). As legend has it, his coffin was opened 30 years after his death: his body was dust, but his tongue and vocal chords were miraculously preserved "uninjured, fresh, and of a lively red colour." I just love hagiography.

It was only after I got back that I realized that my hometown, San Antonio, is actually named after him. Small world.

*Not to be confused with the Egyptian hermit featured in some of Bosch's most disturbing paintings. Ask me about my most interesting Art History class someday, and we'll chat about Bosch the Bizarre. If Thomas Kincaid is the "Painter of Light" (*cough* self-aggrandizing marketing ploy), then Hieronymous Bosch is the "Painter of Really Disturbing Hybird Animals, Torturous Acts, and Naked People."
And people say Art History is boring.

Pet Peeves and Other Joys

• Improper use of the word: "literally." I wish I could remember the NPR anchor's irritating flub last night, so that I could mercilessly mock it here. Ah, well, my forgetfulness has saved him from my ire.
• A (unofficial) list of non-liquid and other airline-approved carry-on items. Is it ironic that this list of items like powdered shaving solution, powdered sunscreen, and tooth powder, made me think about the powdery nature of many explosives? (Um, gunpowder, anyone?) I mean, to me, a can of tooth powder is a bit more suspect than a tube of toothpaste.
• What a great idea: wiki textbooks for students in developing countries. Free and never out-of-date!
• Hey, Munch's The Scream has been recovered, two years after it was stolen! Hooray!

The Weekend Update

Escapee
Originally uploaded by Starrlett.

Art Projects! Peeps! Visting Parents! Giant Steins! and more photos await you at my Flickr page. (Also includes some older updates from January.)

Stories to tell and jokes to be had at my expense, but they must wait while I run some errands and get myself to work.

Oh, and thank you Helen for re-posting this site; I had been thinking about it this weekend... Enjoy the demented fruits of Peep Research.

C'est Finis!

Alex and I finally took the finished photographs of the undersea nursery mural! Here I am next to the whale for scale… (I’m standing in the corner of the room. Can you tell that the whale wraps around the corner? Yippee for forced perspective!)

Over the next few weeks, I will try to edit the photos and Alex will then get them uploaded to Snazzy Décor so you can see the complete room. It was really nice that for once, my husband got to see one of my completed works in person! It’s odd to have painted these big things that most people I know can only see in photographs.