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2008

HAPPEH HALLERWEENS

I Grew Tomatoes

It's a miracle. Seriously. I just planted these seeds in the ground,  AND THEN THEY GREW. That never happens to me.

I think all these old people and their green thumbs are rubbing off on me.  We just talk about gardening all day, and now I can't stop doing it. They keep giving me all these good ideas and stuff. And look look! The homemade tomatoes are so much more red then the store bought! (as you can see with the sliced tomatoes- the ones on the left are home grown and the ones on the right are store bought.)  And they taste way better!

I could get used to this!

Did you know tomatoes are nightshade plants? Nightshade, as in the poison that they used to use in the dark ages. Nightshade, like they kind women used to put in their eyes so their pupils would be bigger. So if you ever feel weird after eating tomatoes, you probably have an allergy to nightshade. 

Which I wouldn't blame you. Since they kill people with nightshade.

Just a little tidbit for you.

Anyway.

Out of all the tomatoes, my favorites were the Cherokees (full size) and the Sunsweet (mini, orange), Tumbling Tom (mini, yellow), and Cherry tomatoes. They made great pasta salad, which is a staple in my house. So I think I'll be doing those ones next year. 

Why You Shouldn't Eat Things Old Ladies Feed You

The brothers Grimm were right when they wrote Hansel and Gretel. Old ladies are crazy and you shouldn't eat their food.

I was drawing a patient the other day, just shooting the breeze with her. She was pretty old, like 80 or 90.

Let me just say that we are inundated with old ladies at the cancer center. And they love to feed us and bring delicious freshly baked pies and cakes and pastries and cookies. Of course since I'm a pig I eat everything they give me.

Well, anyway, this lady was jabbering about whatever, then she started telling me how to render bear fat.

Render bear fat? That is so random, I thought to myself. Why would I want to?

Then she started telling me that bear fat makes the best pie crust ever. She won a million gold ribbons at the state fair for her bear-fat pies. At first I thought to myself: "Huh. That sounds kind of gamey."

But then I started freaking out on the inside, because I worked in the baking section of the fair, helping to judge the food. HOW MUCH BEAR FAT DID I EAT??

So I looked up bear fat on the internet, and apparently all the old ladies who are able to use a computer ramble about how wonderful it is in pies. Then I thought about all the millions of pies I have eaten that were made by old ladies at the cancer center. Who knows what else was in those pies?! BEAR FAT WAS EDIBLE, WHAT ELSE IS EDIBLE THAT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?

THIS IS REAL PEOPLE.

Adventures in Gardening

This year I felt like I needed some gardening therapy. So I planted a bunch of tomatoes and poppies. My two favorite things. There are five tomato plants, mostly cherries and cherokee heirlooms (started by seed which makes them my babies <3), so come September we are going to be drowning in tomatoes. :) Can't freakin' wait. There is going to be marinara sauce. Lots and lots of marinara sauce. 

Right now I am just enjoying the pretty poppies. Icelandics are my FAAAVORITES.

Time

Gardening

Whoever said pansies weren't tough didn't know what they were saying. They are like the only flower I can't kill.

Summer

You don't realize how green the valley is until you leave it and come back. Even the air has a green quality. Coming back is mesmerizing. Your eyes are not used to all the green and you are are surrounded by walls of trees and everything smells so good. Summer in the valley is a time of frogs, beautiful sunsets, double rainbows, strawberries, and the smell of trees and grass and bbq... 

Desert Journey

Abaratian

Anyone else read Abarat? I love that series. So many pictures! Such a unique story! Love!

This is my tribute to the series. I read book three and couldn't get over how much I liked the character on page 75. I gravitate towards colorful things and I think it was the most colorful picture in the series so far.   

I posted a badly sculpted version of this a while back on DA, but I have been working on it every so often, nudging things around on her face in my free time. It's looking much better now.  I thought it would be nice to add a little color to my blog, I haven't posted anything colorful like this in a while, so...

My ode to you, colorful unnamed lady! 

The Cancer Center

From left: Me, the Oregon Duck, Amy, Maria

Bottom: Joel

This is a  segment of my essay I wrote to get into the UO. Since my math grades aren't the best, I think it was this essay that got me accepted. Here's a little back story that I didn't include in my snippet. I graduated high school in 2007. From 2007-2008 I worked 12 hours a day, full time at Hynix, a semiconductor plant and I looked like this all day. Oh, the bunny suit years... Anyway, my parents were nice enough not to charge me any rent so I saved every dime I made. The money I made there got me through my first two years at OSU living on my own. It paid for half of my tuition, my rent, gas, food etc. I squeezed two years of education off that money, then it ran out. I had no idea what to do at that point. It seemed like the end.
But it wasn't....

The Cancer Center

....So, in one last desperate attempt to do something productive with my remaining $1000, I enrolled in the crash course phlebotomy class.  I didn’t know it would be such a life changing choice. And the day I moved home to my parents was the day my bank account hit zero.  I had exactly the right amount of savings to last me from the time I moved to Corvallis until the time I moved back. It was almost miraculous how the numbers lined up.  That was the beginning, two years ago.

Now, I am working at the Cancer Center, as a phlebotomist. I see a lot of pain, sickness, and bravery where I work. I work with the general public, but I see a different side of them, a side that most people don’t get to see. Cancer patients have a unique perspective on life. It is a wonderful privilege being able to spend time with them.  I only hope some of their greatness rubs off on me. My patients have beautiful hearts, they still smile despite the fact that they’re facing death.  Most people in the world are good, and that fact becomes apparent in my line of work. I am proud to be there with them. I’m proud of my patients, and of the work I do. 

Staring into the face of terrible sickness, with the possibility of death changes a person.  I have drawn the blood of prisoners, drug addicts, and who knows what else.  I remember a prisoner came in in shackles. He sat down in the drawing chair, and his escort, who was an armed police man, stood there next to him. The man was white and shaking.  Clearly he was terrified. I remember saying, don’t worry, I’ll try to make it not hurt.  I guess I did a pretty good job because he kept saying thank you, thank you,  thank you, in sort of a hysterical kind of way. I don’t know what that man did to deserve coming into the center in shackles, with a police man wielding a gun, but all I could see was a scared human being in pain. No different from anyone else. Almost childlike.  Childlike in the sense that he was terrified, looked like he was on the verge of tears, and really appreciated a few kind words and being treated gently. In the end we're all just people.  I still think about that man, and wonder what happened to him. I haven’t seen him in a long time. Did he get better? Did he die? Wherever he ended up, I hope things are better for him now.

I am a person, not your dog.

I HATE PET NAMES.

I don't think there's anything I hate more. I seriously hate it.

I was given a name for a reason! Use it!

And why is this suddenly becoming a problem for me now, when my whole life people just treated me like a normal person. Now suddenly every guy I talk to wants to call me something stupid or creepy. Is it something I'm doing?? Or have I just been running into these guys by chance and it's a weird coincidence? Am I giving off vibes that makes them think that's ok??! WTF

THIS IS A GIRL. I HAVEN'T BOTHERED TO NAME HER YET.

Am I the only person in the world who feels this way? AM I CRAZY? I hear people using them all the time. Happy, functioning, normal people. It seems like the majority of the population enjoy using them. But they make cringe violently. Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. Everybody else think's it sweet. But if I hear someone call me "sweetie" or "hunny" or "chicka" I want to puke. I want that person to get out of my face. That's not my name. I am not your dog, cat, or breakfast. Call me by a name. Or leave me alone.

Are you gay or are you just trying to patronize me?
#clue

You can call me anything. You could call me Greg, and that would be fine. Anything is better than "bunnyboogers" or whatever it is you call people. Learn my name and stop treating me like I'm some animal.

Weekend at the Columbia Gorge

I have a confession. I love looking at other peoples albums on facebook, because it's the next best thing to visiting the place. Some people get to travel to so many exciting, foreign places, and see so many interesting things. Looking at their albums is my way of visiting those places, I guess, because I don't think it's in the cards for me to travel.   I have just never had the opportunity, and I'm so busy with school and work, I doubt I ever will. Luckily for me, I live in the most gorgeous valley, where there are so many things to see. All I have to do is drive. The upcoming blog posts will have more photos from my adventures.

This weekend was perfect for visiting the Columbia Gorge! It was cool and kind of misty, but the weather was just right for taking interesting pictures. If only I had more time.  We only spent about an hour there, then moved on to Portland.

Here's me and my mom at the river downtown. City stretching out behind us... very cosmopolitan. Behind us, to the left, is OHSU, which, if by some miracle I ever finish college, will be my grad school.

Well that took forever. Blog posts are time consuming. Now, I think it's time for a huge giant soda, tacos with homemade tortilla shells, and some Lion King.

The Fish Dream

For 3 years, spanning from a little before I left for college (in 2008) until a little after I moved back (in 2011) I would dream about fish EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. But every night it was a different dream. Some nights it was "Rainbow Space Fish", other nights it was "Floating-In-Air-Jellyfish" or "Glowing-Cannibal-EeI/Betta-Hybrid Fish". There was the "Fish-In-A-Picture-Frame-Growing-Roots-Out-Of-It's-Body" dream. I even had the "Fish Being Eaten Alive By A Black Widow" dream. EW. I couldn't figure out WHY I WAS DREAMING ABOUT FISH. 

I tried looking up meanings on the internet, every result I got was "Pregnant women often dream about fish". WHAT. I HAVE BEEN PREGNANT FOR 3 YEARS? How did this happen? Why didn't I notice?? WHY HAVEN'T I GIVEN BIRTH YET SO I CAN STOP HAVING THESE DREAMS?? Obviously, you can't trust dream websites. Anyway, so I thought, maybe if I buy a fish, the dreams will go away. I bought one, it committed suicide. I bought another one. It died  a few weeks later of some kind of yucky fish disease. But it didn't stop the dreams.

You would think that dreaming about a magical rainbow fish would be a fun and happy experience, but this was not so. The rainbow fish was like a piranha, and would viciously attack and eat all the other fish. It made me very upset to sit around and watch this in all its gory detail, (and to my dream self this seemed like scary, JAWS-like gore), not only was it horrifying to watch, but I also felt extremely disappointed in the rainbow fish. why would such a beautiful thing be so evil? This did not a restful nights sleep make. 

Guardian Cosmos

2011

I just love her poofy dress.

The Desiderata

I made this and it got billions and billions of pins on pinterest. Maybe I should just make inspirational magnets for a living.... ಥ_ಥ

Paneling and Screentones

This was a study in paneling, screentones and digital coloring. Lineart was done back in high school and I only JUST got around finishing the text. Now that I look at it I can't stand certain things about it. Like her broken wrist ARRRGH. But I do like the coloring on it and I wish I could color like that again but I can't remember how I did it xD. It was 2007! 

ORIGINAL:

80's ringtones

I tailored myself up a few new ringtones today. If anyone else out there is a geek for 80's music then help yourself!!


Todays specials are: Tears for Fears, Hall and Oates, and The Tubes.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/19/77535/HeadOverHeels.mp3
http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/19/77535/out%20of%20touch2.mp3
http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/19/77535/shesabeauty.mp3

To save to your desktop right click and choose "Save Link As..."
Then just email attachment to your phone! Enjoy. :)

2009

Dream 1.28.2012

From time to time I write down my dreams, usually when they are interesting or weird. Last night I had a very bizarre dream, and I actually remember what happened. It's dreams like these that I like to write down. Usually, if I go back and read them a few years later I can kind of figure out what they were about or what waking experiences triggered them.

My dream last night was very bleak. I found myself in a big city that was under a brutal, 9/11esque attack. All around me buildings and towers were burning and crumbling and to the ground. For a minute I seriously thought I was in 9/11. There was shattered glass and explosions, smoke and debris all over. I’m not sure what was going on but I thought it was the end of the world. The sky was dark and active, but I can't remember if it was a thunderstorm (with no rain) or smoke and fire from the buildings, or some kind of war up there or something.

As this was going on little children were floating up into the sky. As they were lifted up their bodies faded away, ghostlike, until they vanished completely. Then their light would speed off into the falling buildings, stopping them from falling. Every little bit of light helped. The more kids that went into a building, the less damaged it became.  Every toddler and preschooler  in the city floated to the buildings. I felt really sad watching this. The little children were protecting the buildings and the city. I remember thinking they were saving humanity. It was up to the children to save us all.

I was with Derrick who is five, and Carly, who is three, and Jordan. We were running, and trying to take Derrick and Carly out of the city before it was too late and they had to go to the buildings. I kinda didn't want the city to crumble, but I really didn't want to lose Derrick and Carly. There was one particular skyscraper that I kept seeing. It had a perpetual cloud of fire towards the top, with inky black smoke billowing up- suffocating - and shards of glass ballooning out, hanging in the air. This explosion neither expanded nor contracted, it just stayed there, frozen in time, unless a child’s light went into it and made it smaller.  The light of the children was causing the building to stand a little straighter, placing windows where they had blown out, compressing the explosion.

I remember being in a moving vehicle speeding away from the city. Jordan had Carly. I was holding Derrick tight and telling him I love him, but in the back of my mind I knew that within a few minutes he and Carly would be next. They would have to go, and it was beyond all of our control. That was just how it was. There was no stopping it. I snuggled with Derrick for a while and then passed him to Jordan and took Carly and snuggled with her. Then Jordan lost hold of Derrick and he floated up in the air and vanished towards the buildings. I was so mad at Jordan because I wanted Derrick and Carly to go TOGETHER. I still had Carly, my sweet little three year old niece with her golden ringlets and her big innocent brown eyes and I didn't want to let go of her and let her go all alone, without Derrick. I kept thinking how she would feel if I let go of her and she had to go all by herself. I can't remember what happened after that, but I think somehow Carly slipped away. It was very sad, and I just wanted to cry the whole time.

Then I shifted into another dream which involved driving really fast on a road that was getting more and more narrow until the cement barrier was scraping the both sides of my nice new car and then jerk behind honked and crashed into me. ARGHH.

What was all that? I have no idea. It could have been that I popped two advils and covered myself in icy hot before bed.  All I can say is the last time I do that. Hur hur.

2009

Doodley dump #1

These were made back in 2007. 

These images are clickable. Just click to see them in their real sizes.

Intro

Welcome to my blog! I have no idea how to start!!

CAUTION: This blog is my attempt to exercise my creative side. I haven't done anything creative for a while, and I'm out of practice! So read at your own risk!
Besides, all the cool kids are writing in blogs.

So logically, if I write in a blog I will:

A: be a cool kid.

B: be more creative

C: my life will be better

D: things will be awesome

I hope you have fun on my blog! I will try to make it as entertaining as possible! I think it will sort of be like a scrap-bookie/ journally kind of thing. Only more fun!