dr. horrible

By the way, for those of you who haven't watched Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible Sing-A-Long Blog....oh go find it. Really. Your world will be better. Neil Patrick Harris + Nathen Fillion? How could it not be amazing? Really - your awesome levels will increase.

photo time

Hi folks! I have had such a nice few days. But I don't have much time right now, so here is a photo blog... The f irst few photos are Dr. Horrible induced...also my excitement at Daniel bringing me a new card for my camera! I can now store the technical ammount of "two gajillion" photos.

The next photos are my two sisters and I, outside of the theater where Roxana performed admirably in And Then There Were None - the Agatha Christie. It was hard to get scared with Rosie and Daniel next to me whispering "that's what she said" after every other line.

Then, at dinner (fine dining of Subway) - they decided to neither speak, see, or hear...hardeeharhar.



This is my dad in his kitchen! I don't get to see him nearly often enough - the other night I went over there and we watched Top Chef together and had a heart to heart, which was really nice. He's always busy working (data analyst for Edison International) or coaching soccer, so it's always good to get to go watch movies or talk with him.

How I can make one day feel like three

Phew! Yesterday was a very long, very wonderful day! I have discovered the key to my having a good weekend - going to sleep by 10pm and waking up before 8am! Friday night I went to my dad's house and watched Top Chef with him, and then had along heart-to-heart. I was at home, asleep by about 10:30. I woke up around 7am the next morning, and spent a few hours happily sweeping, scrubbing, cleaning... then I headed over to Amber's house, where we stopped at Whole Foods, and then went to Aardvark's for clay, and then went down to the Irvine Fine Arts Center!

Now -for those of you who don't know, ceramics has been an obsession of mine since I was about 11. It actually started at the Irv.FAC - we went with Girl Scouts once. I loved it (although the first time I went, I was so excited, I went and got a bucket of water, and set it down on the wheelhead. The first thing they said to do was test the peddle. So I did. And water went FLYING. It was so embarrassing, but I survived.) Then, I was at Cypress College when I was about 13, and walked past this door...

I peered inside, and there was Bob Dylan and Tom Waits playing, murals painted all over the walls, the wheels, and the cubbies, and a big flashing sign that said "CERAMICS" and this silver haired woman with the brightest shirt I ever saw going around and encouraging everyone. I signed up for ceramics the next semester.

That class turned out to be so much more than a class for me. I stayed there for 5 years - they helped raise me. Char and all of the lab techs took me under their wings and taught me everything about throwing, glazing, and firing. Les would help me load the kiln, Ducky would show me how to use the power chisel to clean the shelves, and Jeremy let me raku with him. Oh, rakuing. That's a whole separate post. Oh man. My heart palpitates just thinking about it. Greg Morissey was the handbuilding/low fire glazing expert, Jim used to come up to me when I was learning how to center and thump my elbow and say "oops, center it again" so I learned how to center really well and really fast. John Danner and I started the same semester, and stuck together - he ended up making me some incredibly useful personalized tools, Rebecca, Fil, and Tifani started a little later, and when I met them, my life was complete! Rebecca now lives in Utah, but is still doing ceramics out there (and is thinking of opening her own etsy!) Fil lives who knows where, but apparently resurfaces every once in a while, and Tifani is her own fairytale, which I ruined, and is also another post.

My point is - I loved everything about it. I loved the actual act of throwing, loved the smell of clay, loved sticking my whole arm down in a glaze bucket, loved the old film of Paul Soldner rakuing, loved the day when we got to watch the slides of Char's favorite cups, loved the first day of class ("WOW" day she calld it - for "Weed out the Wusses") I LOVED cleaning that big beautiful silver sink and singing, taking breaks and hanging out on the patio by the aloe vera plant with all the smokers, organizing boxes in the clay cage, helping to load and unload kilns...I loved the precision of loading a glaze kiln, but I loved the bisque kiln because it was so big I could stand in it to load it.

Raku - originally a Japanese form of glazing, was Americanized and made popular by Paul Soldner, known as the Father of American Raku. He also happened to be one of Char's instructors when she was in school. He would come and visit, and every once in a while select students of Char's would get to go to his house for parties, potlucks, and sitting in his hot tub surrounded by the bush that looked like a water monster, and 80 different bonsai trees. I lived for the day Char deemed time to raku. At our studio it was a three person process - and my two favorite parts were definitly actually using the tongs and walking into the kiln to get the pieces, and watching the golden-molten glaze lift off in cotton-candy-thread-like pieces if they were stuck to the kiln shelves, and opening the lid of the reduction barrel - and the backdraft and smoke that would happen every time it opened. I actually lost my eyebrows once from that, and lit my ponytail on fire! Arm hair was a thing of the past. ;oP

Char ran an incredible studio. It was, as she always said she wanted it to be, a mini Utopia in a world where it's hard to find a perfect place.

Then she retired. I stayed on as lab tech for a few semesters after that, but it was too hard for me without her, and without most of the people who had been in class with me for 5 years. I moved to Wisconsin for a little while - found a spot where I did ceramics once, and cried the whole time.

Discovered the Irvine Fine Arts center, and I remember that I hated it the first time I went, for the sheer lack of Bob Dylan music and Char's big booming voice. I pretty much stopped doing any ceramics for a while.

But you know what? I couldn't quit it! I don't do it as much as I used to, that's for sure, but every once in a while my hands just ache for clay. I still get Char's voice about technique in my head when I throw, and I hope I am not forming any bad habits, but throwing for the sake of throwing is now just as enjoyable as it ever was.

However, I STILL HAVEN'T RAKUED SINCE CHAR RETIRED.
ohhh woe, woe, woe..

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wow, I sure left my original post. Okay, I guess that illustrates how much I love ceramics..the point is, getting to go throw yesterday was a very good day for me. Amber and I threw from about 11am-4:30pm when they closed. I had to stop throwing because I ran out of clay, and did handles/trimmed cups for the last two hours. I forgot how quickly I can go through clay. Next time I will be bringing more.
I used Soldate 60 - which was our staple at Cypress College. It takes glaze well, and has enough sand in it that structurally it's fairly easy. Next time I might take some B-mix, just to get some really fancy schmancy glazed pieces.

There was a lady there yesterday that actually knew Char, and we started talking - she said she could see Char's influence in my pieces. I am not sure she meant that as a compliment, but I take it as one - Char was always after my pieces to be more dramatic and have more direction. I felt really good about these cups.

After ceramics, Amber and I went and had some sushi at a new little sushi place in Seal Beach, then got the dog and went for a run on the beach. It's day 2 of week 5 of Couch to 5k, and it wasn't so bad running with Amber. It helped to run on the boardwalk between houses and ocean - I LOVE running in neighborhoods. Imaginging the people who live in each house and looking at their design is what distracts me the best from running. Adam likes the gym so he can watch people and the tv, but that's not distracting enough for me. He also likes the park, which is nice, but I have to retreat really far into my own head for distraction.

By the time I got home, ADAM was also home, which was nice since I hadn't seen him since Wednesday morning. He left at 6am this morning after a good luck kiss for Ventura for his physical exam for the State Parks.

Alrighty, I think this post is now officially four times as long as any reasonable blog post should be. I am going to go get dressed and call Amber - today is a bike ride to the farmer's market, and going to my little sister's performance of And Then There Were None.

missing my man

harumph.

that's what I have to say this morning.

harumph.

Adam left Wednesday for his job doing National Forest Visitor Use Monitoring - he went all the way up to Monterey. I talked to him at about 7pm Wednesday - he was stuck in traffic in LA. When I got home, there were sticky notes everywhere "I'll miss you," "love ya babe," "don't worry, I'll be fine," etc. But now...two days later...I sure wish I had a phone call from him to make sure he got there fine and all is well. I am sure it is. Especially since the sticky note on my microwave keeps telling me so. But still. I miss him, it'd be nice to get a phone call. :)

The worst part is, he took the dog, so my house is SUPER empty. Luckily, for the last two nights, my little sister and her boyfriend have come over after karate and watched the office with me - I end up falling asleep before they leave, so it works out. I like my alone time, but I like it more on Sunday mornings in the daylight when there's a dog around. :P

So anyhoo - I am feeling the need for some Adam-loving, so here are some photos. These photos are us on the 1st Annual Disc Golf Road Trip last April. The one on the left is the last day we threw - it was a crazy great day. There were water holes, it was STUPID hot (we found a water spigot in a campsite and everyone totally doused themselves), and I made the most incredible 75 foot putt ever. The picture on the right is Adam earlier during that trip - one thing about him is he has a hard time sitting still when we go camping. I don't even bother setting anything up because then that takes away the stuff he can do. So he putters around putting everything together...and then tries to make things. Like fish hooks and fishing lines. So that's what this photo is.

I miss him! I know four days is not very long at all, but it is just strange to not have him around when I live with him, ya know? I guess it's good for us to have these little breaks every once in a while, I am going to be so happy when he comes home.

hello world

Oh my goodness.

So. I am so used to livejournal, where I have it set to email me anytime someone leaves a comment, that it didn't even occur to me that I may have been getting comments and not knowing it on here. I just clicked back through my archives - and - HI EVERYONE! Sorry I never responded! I had no idea! *laughs*

Well, that certainly, suddenly, made me feel like I was actually writing for an audience. It's funny, I was just talking to a fellow etsian at karate last night about how to continue being a blogger, you have to have a certain amount of narcisism and not care if anyone else is actually reading it. What great timing to find out that people are. :)

I am totally underprepared for my pyschology test today. I have karate tonight - and I am inspired all over again. I had the fastest stripe test from Mr. Fuller last night - I did my lessons, did a few strikes, and into third squat position I went. I actually felt like I deserved this stripe, just for the amount that I *cared* about it. It feels good to really care about karate again.

Photos: My little sister is the one with the blue gi (she's an instructor) and in the crazy-hair photo on the right. I'm the other one, holding the kali sticks. The crazy-hair photo is her at her blackbelt test making me more afraid of her than I've ever been.

earthquake preparedness

Something we are talking about a LOT at work is earthquake/disaster preparedness. We serve so many adults with developmental disabilities in so many different ways that it's really incredibly daunting trying to figure out how to be personally prepared, and support our clients. I am on the safety committee, and..well..phew, it's overwhelming.
I am glad for the chance to really think about my own preparedness, though - for those of you who don't live in Southern CA, WE HAVE EARTHQUAKES. :P We're about 150 years overdue for the next "big one" and in an effort to stem the flood of panic, I am trying to PREPARE!

Today we participated in the Great ShakeOut. Over 5 million folks participated - it was a HUGE earthquake drill. Schools, businesses, and individuals all over So Cal paused at 10am and pretended that we were having a 7.8 earthquake.

My first order of business is to make a Go Kit in my car - with food, water, first aid, etc. So no matter where I am, I can have it. Because it can be expensive to do that all at once, we put together a timeline for our employees to follow - one item every two weeks starting in January. I figured I'd post it here, so if you were so inclined to become better prepared yourself, for whatever type of emergency scares you the most, you could follow along!

Timeline

□ JANUARY 9th Water
3 Gallons (that’s enough for 1 person for three days) (Water in specialty disaster containers have a 5 year shelf life – regular water bottles have to be changed every year.)

□ JANUARY 23rd Food
Non-perishable food that doesn’t need cooking
Energy bars, dried fruit, jerky, peanut butter, canned food that can be eaten cold. Take a look in your cupboards for food you already have!
Also remember: can opener if using canned foods, salty foods make you thirstier, do you have any allergies or special needs?
Enough for three days

□ FEBRUARY 27th First aid kit
Target, Home Depot, Rite Aid, and Walmart all have first aid kits starting from $4.99+

□ MARCH 9th Comfortable, sturdy shoes
Don’t throw away your old pair, they’ll last you for three more days!
□ MARCH 9th Change of clothes
If you can’t spare anything from your closet, make a trip to a thrift store for something your size.

□ MARCH 24th Cash and coins
So you don’t have to worry about using an ATM in an emergency, and to use a payphone if your cell phone doesn’t work

□ MARCH 24th Important phone numbers
Put inside a ziplock baggie to make sure they don’t get ruined. Maybe you could put your change in there also, in case you have to make a payphone call!

□ MARCH 24th Emergency Blanket
Sometimes they are included in the first aid kit!

□ APRIL 9th Flashlight with batteries

□ APRIL 24th Hygiene kit
Tissues/toilet paper/feminine products/medication/hand sanitizer, etc.

Andrea's Scarf!

This is the scarf that has been occupying my life for the last few weeks. I can't believe it's done. What will I do without it? Oh, I know...everything I haven't been doing!

My cousin ordered this custom scarf for a friend of his. It was supposed to match a hat she has - he took a stealth photo of this hat with his cell phone, and that's what I went off of.

She wanted "easter colors," for it to be "flat, but not ribbed," "soft but not fluffy" and with no fringe. I did my best! I ended up doing seed stitch to keep it flat without the ribbing, and I laboriously taught myself how to do intarsia to get the sort-of-almost plaid look that her hat has.

My cousin is giving her the scarf today - I don't think I've ever been so nervous about a custom order in my life. :)

The first photo is me with the scarf covering my face, the second photo is my little sister, and the last photo is my sister with her boyfriend. I kidnapped them last night after karate and made them watch the WoW SouthPark episode, then we watched The Office until I fell asleep.

I am so looking forward to working on my other projects now that this scarf is done. I need to totally finish JW's bag, which means I need to sew the lining, and then I can start listing the things I've been neglecting!

This Saturday I will be going to the Irvine FAC so I can do ceramics - I want to include some of my pieces in a corporate gift basket that AbbeyLane is putting together.