Yeah!

Hey guys!

Guess what's up?

Our video is pretty much done!!

I can hardly wait to see the finished product.

We saw a preview of it the other day when we got together.

It's an interesting little thing.

So interesting.

Thoughts

We are doing a video thing.

I don't want to go into too much detail about that...
But let it be said that I am realizing a couple shots I wish I had gotten.
Oh well, if it's too late, it's too late. We'll see!!

---

I wish that Film Festival thing had happened last weekend. That was a shame.
I wonder if it is happening this weekend and we're just not going.

---

I am listening to They Might Be Giants...
...that's what came up on random

"Why Must I Be Sad?"
From the album "John Henry"

A very great They Might Be Giants album.

I feel kind of bummed that I haven't been using the garage.
There are two very obvious reasons for that though.

1) I haven't been home almost at all in the last couple weeks.
2) It is friggin' COLD now and I haven't tackled that issue yet.

My room is still looking tidier though.

I think I am going to write a letter to Bob Dorough before I go to bed.

MORE LATER

Possibly the last blog on the topc of garage?

Here is the description/conclusion of my project:

My problem for this project was narrowed down to two related ideas. I was frustrated because I have trouble turning things I want to do into things I have to do, and I worried that I wasn’t doing enough artistic and musical things. I felt disorganized, and although I had plenty of time and space on my hands, I wasn’t using it in a way that would maximize my artistic output! I want to make music and take pictures and draw and DO things with my life.
I eventually decided to take advantage of some unused space out in my garage and make it livable for my purposes. I put a forlorn table back together. I moved my collection of papers and drawings out there. I stacked all the board games and puzzles neatly on the pre-made shelves and I made sure the space in the rubbermaids was being utilized.
I decided to get a bulletin board for one blank ugly wall, and I ended up making the whole thing, surrounding a (pre-owned but out of use) white board with boards for tacking stuff into. The whole thing looked very handsome once I had it put together, and I plan to continue tacking stuff up there as I see fit.
It's a work in progress, but I think I achieved my goal in really formulating a space, and an organization, that I understand and will continue to use and improve on. I feel good about it, and I feel like I can now count it among spaces that I use.
Throughout this project, and also in the documentation music video I put on youtube, I want to remind people, hey:
Maybe you have something in your life that you’re not taking advantage of.
In doing this project, I took advantage of two things:
1) The unused space in the garage, and
2) The open-ended nature of this design problem assignment.
In the ends, my needs were met. I feel happy and comfortable, and I feel like I acheived something. My bedroom looks better because of the changes made in the garage, and the garage looks better because of the changes made in it. Just using what was available to me, and making that bulletin board a reality, I have made this progress.
I am very privileged, I know, to have so much space in my house, and to be in college and have opportunities for inspiration, but even if a person’s circumstances are different, there is always something that eludes us, something that we haven't though of, that we can put to good use and improve our quality of life with! This stuff is all around us, it is the fabric of our existence, and we just need to remember that we have the power to access it.


AND

Here is the video.



or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGUVjvRhtCA

Please please please watch it, cause it's much cuter with the music!
I didn't use it with music in class.
Good times.
Lots of love from Angelica

ACTUALLY a brief update.

It's late and I got all self conscious about hammering nails into the wall because of my neighbors. But tomorrow I'm going to get home around 6 pm, so I should be able to hammer all I want, then!!!

I got one up so you can see the direction it's going in.
...literally.




Keep in mind the image is reversed...
But not for long, because I'm gonna get a camera this weekend (I hope?)

Now I am off to do more productive things than blog about this.
-LAUNDRY
-DISHES
-BATTLE THE NEW ANTS IN MY BEDROOM
-MORE ORGANIZATION OF BOXES IN MY BEDROOM (this is project related, actually)

BRIEF UPDATE (I hope)

I don't want to ramble on about all the things i did today that didn't have to do with the project so I'll keep it short. ...but that's still what's going to happen, here.

1) Linguistics class
2) Blogged for this class
3) Choir
4) Work
5) Went to get new cel phone. Fail. Apparently my name isn't on my account anywhere.
6) Gospel Choir
7) Down time (finally!)

It was a very busy, tiring, frustrating day.

I did get some stuff going on my project this evening...I glued together the boards with the lighter stuff for the bulletin boards...



I did four of those. It will basically cover the whole wall, I think.
And I went into my bedroom closet and got the whiteboard out...




It was not clean at all, because I hadn't used it OR cleaned it off in years and everything was dried on...I think that's why it was in the back of my closet to begin with...so I got some cleaning stuff and I cleaned it. That actually took a surprisingly long time to do, but I was very satisfied when finished!



So then I had to do some socializing/dinner eating, and when I got back to work (around 9:30 pm?) I placed the whiteboard where I wanted it on the wall...I didn't hammer the nails in ALL the way because I didn't want to bother our neighbors, who might have been going to bed right above the garage. I did hammer them in though and I hung the whiteboard up so I could look at it. I think it looks fabulous.




I don't know how it will look once I nail up the boards (I'll do that tomorrow, when they are dry, and hopefully earlier in the day), but I imagine that it will look even better. I am excited about the wooden pieces. The ones in the foreground of that last picture are currently drying together to become one of those things to run under the whiteboard that will have pens on it, and there are pre made ridges so the pens won't roll away! See, that's why I bought those wooden pieces. Heh heh.

Anyway, that's more or less it for today.

I still really want to go to bring-recycling. Hopefully this weekend.
Also, my roommate helped me choose a new digital camera, and I should be able to go buy that this weekend as well. Also we are going to try and get a space heater for the garage. This should more or less round out my project, I think.

Anyway, I'm excited about it. I feel a lot more comfortable in the garage now than I did two weeks ago, and it will only get better from here.

We also hung up some halloweeny lights in our window today so people will sense that we are friendly!

THAT IS ALL FOR NOW! Goodbye.

Like wow.

Yesterday was surprisingly busy considering...everything.
I figure I might as well share what I DID get done, since i didn't get much done for my project.
That way you know I'm not just dinking around.

I ate some yummy lunch/dinner while going over my Art History notes.
I went to the choir I don't normally get to go to, because I am really falling behind in learning the extra songs...which meant I was in choir for a solid 2.5 hours yesterday. I think I coughed upwards of 100 times during that. I can hardly WAIT to be completely healthy again...

Anyway, by the time I got out of choir it was 7 pm. (Jeeze...)

I decided to get my car and take it home, which was a terrifying experience because the windows were fogged up in a mysterious and upsetting way, and my brakes were making a scary noise. I actually didn't crash and die.
I then went to Jerry's to see if I could get some kind of bulletin board stuff...I ALMOST got off at the right exit but not quite...so close! Then I stopped really dangerously at a yellow light that I really should have just driven through, and my brakes did something even MORE terrifying, and I felt pretty sure I wasn't going to live to see Wednesday...then I got to Jerry's and parked.
...by this time it was about 8 pm, and they closed at 8, but they helped me out anyway, cause they were pretty cool.

I got some boards, and some backing, and it ended up being more expensive than I wanted but at this point I really didn't care much about that, I just wanted to make it happen.
I also got some wood glue (might be helpful for other things as well!!) and when I was standing outside by the wood cutting dock, I saw these bundles of wood on the clearance rack, and they just happen to be exactly what I had been wanting for something else in this project! YES!

Ok, so by the time I got home, it was closer to 9, and I decided to check my email.
My sister had emailed me. She's not going to be mad at me anymore! YAY!
So I talked to her on IM about that, and then expressed that I needed to go glue pieces of wood together, and she was all confused and needed me to stay and talk to her about her audition for Midsummer Night's Dream instead, and I haven't talked to her in a week, so I did that...
Meanwhile, my boy finally emailed me (my phone is still dead) and said I could stay with him if I wanted (since we both have lots of homework and studying to do in the next few days) so I did that, but I had to do it very promptly because I felt too scared to drive again, which meant I had to take the bus at 10:10 pm...

So that was the end of my day yesterday. A very full day, no?
I was really irritated with myself that I didn't get started on the boards that i bought, but I took some pictures. Tonight I can do the actual labor involved! I'm excited.

Wow.
Things are progressing slowly.
Partly because I am still coughing and feeling tired.
Partly because my attention is pulled so many ways.

I don't THINK this "project" is the most important thing in my life right now...
But I am turning it into such a hopefully-good cleaning thing that it has a fair amount of importance.

I was going to work on it more tonight but I think I will mostly begin studying for my History of photography midterm. I might do a little more work on this though. We'll see.

I tried to battle the garage spiders today. They won.
This was somewhat surprising, but after we tried to get the Mama Long Legs to fall off the ceiling so we could send her outside, and she heartily resisted, I began to feel bad for her and decided she could stay on the ceiling...until I get the guts to attack her more vehemently.

What else...

I put the green legs back on the green-legged table. That was productive.
I cleaned some of the shelves and re-arranged a good amount of stuff so that's looking a lot better.

I'm going to talk to my room mate about definitely getting a Space Heater in there...maybe on Wednesday I will drive to Bring Recycling and see if there is anything else that jumps out at me, perhaps a lamp or a small chair or easel. I am thinking of making or getting a small easel that one would sit at a small chair to use.
I am also strongly considering/planning to make a bulletin board for that hideously ugly wall.
Then I could easily plan up art, photos, magazine clippings, AND ideas/notes/thoughts.

I think this will be a good idea. I just need to decide how I want it to be.
I don't think I want it to be in a silly shape, but possibly a circle, or an arrangement of squares.
It depends on how much bulletin stuff (cork?) I can get...I have enough wall space.

I think I will also hang the whiteboard up if I can find it.

I put some duct tape on that chair, but it's not sturdy enough to sit in...I wonder what else I can do to it.

MEANWHILE,
I am now healthy enough to sing in choir, but not healthy enough to sing Alto 1. So that's pretty sad.

ALSO:
My life is really nice right now, except that this project is making me feel like an idiot and a jerk, and, more importantly, that my sister is really mad at me, maybe even more than she has ever been, and it's pretty upsetting.

Sunday Update

Hey all

So I am at the computer lab.

I really want to go home and keep a truckin' on this garage project thingy but my guilty conscience is forcing me to work on a project that I have actually been PAID to do.

This computer lab is open until 9pm tonight, so I am afraid Ur Lyfstyl Ur Desyn is just going to have to wait for now...

BLAH! 2

Aaaaaaaaugh.
Things are slow-going, but at least they are moving in the right direction.
WHY IS EVERYTHING SO CRAZY AND MESSY?
This was not the problem I set out to solve. The problem I set out to solve was about needing to incorporate arts and musics into my life.
However, I'LL BE DARNED if my bedroom doesn't get cleaned up as part of the process.
Also included above is a (very flattering) picture of the situation with the "Dungeon Room" in the garage, and also a (very flattering) picture of the King of Death spider whom we are keeping alive under a large clear rubbermaid container until further notice. The organization proccess HAS already begun, and things are, as I said, moving in the right direction. I can feel it. I just need to get my hands on a few more things that i want.

THINGS I REALLY WANT TO GET TOMORROW:
--Some super gluey super glue.
--Duct Tape
--Masking tape
--SOMETHING AWESOME (Must fall into secret category!)

If I buy all of these things, I will almost definitely put the table together tomorrow evening and I might even do something with that chair! (Ooooh!!!!!!!)

I have work tomorrow mid-day and I also mean to work on some editing that I have to do after that, but I should be able to hit up Fred Meyer's on the way home.

Lots of love from Angelica

BLAH!

Disorganization!
Wasted Space!

I am spoiled.
Nay, I am BLESSED with such a huge and possibility filled living environment.
Can I try not to waste it?
Can I actually take ADVANTAGE of this??

Andrea Zittel has solutions for people with tiny living spaces.
Can I speak to people with lots of space, lots of stuff, and yet disorganization and in-functionality? I DON'T KNOW! I don't know if I can!
I have to see what I can come up with!

Continual Update

For all the people who follow this blog (I'm looking at you, John Park), let's see how I did today.

Hmm. It could have gone worse.
I did go to get some see through rubbermaids.
And I accidentally (just now) started a small argument with my room mate.
This is only related because, as Prof Park pointed out, the room mate issues are a part of this whole thing.
I found out that she has been (consistently?) using drinking cups and mugs as other kinds of cups, to use in her painting or whatever. I would really rather she use something else for that, maybe use jars or plastic cups, and when I told her this, she just sort of responded as if I was being silly, and she was just going to keep doing it (even though 95% of our cups are mine).
In fact, the reason I even found out about this cup thing was that she put some kind of nail polish remover in one of my plastic mugs from farrells and it seems to have had some very horrible negative affect on it. Farrells is closed, which I am still very bitter about, and the fact that I have these two Farrells cups makes me very very happy and to discover that she has abused one thus makes me very disturbed. She was apologetic, as the destruction had been an accident, but when she failed to agree to change her habits, I started getting irritated and complaining about other things, and then of course she felt attacked and started getting on my case about the things that I do wrong.
Well, that was actually what I wanted, because it was a bit humbling to remember that there are these stupid mistakes that I make that irritate her just the way she does to me. Unfortunately, my brain justifies these things, even now, in that I am often out of the house for about 12 hours out of the day, and when I'm home I don't give much attention to those things--just the things that she HASN'T done. She re-affirmed for me today that, in fact, she does not have ANY comittments on Mondays OR Wednesdays this term, so she just gets to be home all day on those days (in addition to Saturdays and Sundays).
I think I'm just jealous.

Also, I'm ridiculously spoiled.

ON TO OTHER TOPICS!
(As if anyone is still reading this)

FINALLY finished doing and putting away these hoardes of laundry.
Well, sort of.
It's hard to explain.
All of this stuff is connected!!
But it's moving in a good direction.
I'm not going to have much more time to work on it until...geeze, probably Saturday night, because tomorrow I have five classes, and on Friday I have 3 classes and 5 hours of work and then I need my nice downtime, and then on Saturday I have vowed to myself that I will FINALLY finish editing that wedding footage that I have been procrastinating on, so I need to actually make that happen this weekend.

Regarding me being sick, I do not have any horrible stay in bed fever sickness, but I do have a really painful sore throat and some coughing and lost voice, and I also feel like I have a little grey cloud floating over my head (at a time when I really feel that I should be very happy and satisfied, so I should not be depressed) which is making me want to just sleep all the time.

Hopefully by next week I will be recharged, and I will have worked on this project some more!
Time is a frustrating beast. All of a sudden I need a heck of a lot more of it!

GAH PATRICK STEWART IS AWESOME
Thanks
Angelica

Like Wow.

I am still sick.

Today I decided not to go to work or to gospel choir...this was DEFINITELY the right choice.
I also took a nap for a couple hours which was also the right choice.
...somehow I wrecked my lunch though. I think I had the burner on too hot.
It hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things because I'm sick, so I couldn't taste it, so it isn't like I was going to enjoy it anyway.

I might go to the store and look at some clear bins today.

Ughhh

I have felt so tired and sick today...yesterday I was getting sick but today I just felt crappy.
I went to all my classes (excluding this one) but I spent most of the day feeling very sore and doing stuff for classes...I don't think I should have gone to choir, because now my throat feels (even more like) I devoured a cactus.

Since I did not get everything I wanted accomplished, I will relate the things today that I did which I find related to the topic.

One thing was that my boy and I bussed to springfield and looked at some pawn shops. I thought there might be something I could use in the garage and I didn't really see anything for that, but I did see some interesting musical instruments, and I saw something that could be used in art (possibly?) It was a bin full of ten-cent metal pieces that I guess have something to do with rachetting? I am not sure what they could be used for but there was something in them that screamed potential. If anyone is curious and wants to make some robot-looking-type art out of silver things, those are at some Pawn Shop that is easilly accessible via emX bus.

Here is what I got regarding the evaluation of the garage:
1) There are at least two spiders living in thee (not counting the scary king of death spider living under the clear rubbermaid container in the middle of the room. We are keeping him). I need the spiders to be gone in order to work comfortably. Unfortunately, my boyfriend is a sissy when it comes to Spider-Battle, so I need to think of a less sexist solution to that problem. I am not going to do that when I am feeling so sore.
2) I have ascertained what is in the three rubbermaids in there and it doesn't seem quite right. -One of them is full of sweatshirts and dresses that I used to keep in the closet. Those need to go back in the closet.
-One of them is full of hats, costumes, wigs, eccentric things. I need to do inventory on this...
-The third one contains blankets, clothes I never wear, unmatched socks, swimsuits, and some things I definitely need to get rid of.
By the time I finish re-organizing these tubs, I should definitely have only two, which will leave the third free for containing something else (blankets from the hall closet?).
3) There are more unused shelves in the garage than I remembered, and it will be easy to buy at least FIVE new clear rubbermaid containers for art supplies and other things to go in. This will be an enormous help.
4) I am having second thoughts on partioning the space. Would it not be better to share the space entirely with becca, so that she also has access to the shelves, and so that I will also be able to see the "painting" of "nature" that is on the other part of the wall, to inspire me? It would also be more fair that way so that we each have access to the door and to the small dungeon room. I will put off any partitioning plan until I am sure what I want to do about that.
5) I am 90% sure I want to move all the board games into these shelves but in that case I need to decide what I'm going to put in that other room. Also the shelves need to be CLEAN for that to happen! No more spiders!

I have thought of another issue, and that is what I am going to do with the floor.
I do not want to leave it cement, I want to put something down, but I don't want to put down a blanket or rug that I will really like, because I will want it to be something that I can get paint, glue, whatever, etc, on. (Also I don't want to get paint etc on the floor). What might I put down on the floor that would make it cozy but be alright to get messy if need be?

Anyway, that's all I managed to accomplish today, I guess.
Well, I also finished doing and putting away these loads of laundry, which is practically related.
Organization and functionality of living environment are all related.

PLANS

Hey dudes. Dudettes. What's shakin'?

Tomorrow I am not going to be in class because I need to shuffle around some of my activities tomorrow to ensure I get all the work done I need to do in as timely a fashion as possible.

What does that mean? It means I need to be sure and get some stuff DONE in my garage re-designing project TOMORROW.

So here are some things I would really like to work on tomorrow:
-Get garage "tidy" (get those papers out, etc)
-Re-organize/condense things on the shelves.
-Dust all the shelves
-Evaluate wall-texture for possible whiteboard & partition possibilities.
-Evaluate shelving space for possible purchasing of new clear rubbermaid style containers.

Some of these things I might do tonight before I go to bed but hopefully all of these will be finished by thursday, and maybe even more than this depending on what i have time for in the next few days.

VIDEOTYME

Hey guys, so I hashed together this video.
Now that my computer is out of sickbay, I can post it, too.

It's quite Me-Centric. Ego ego ego what?
I needed to do something, and apparently, this video is what I needed to do.
I mostly like the way it came out. I I I Me Me Me Etc etc etc.
Sorry for the state of this blog; I almost always write things the way I am thinking them...
...that is to stay a sort of stream of consciousness? I wouldn't disagree.
This is literally the way that I think. Guys. Seriously.

Anyway, here's the video.

Stuff and Nonsense

Today has been emotionally trying. As usual.
But differently than usual.

I am typing on my old laptop because my new one is in the shop...
Hopefully the trackpad will be fixed under warranty. Hmm...
Then I will post the video I made (am making?) documenting some of the singing I did with my friend Stephan this past weekend in Bandon, Oregon.

I am feeling a bit sad and lonely at the moment, thinking about people I miss...
Part of me wants to do something else productive tonight, but another part of me thinks I ought to just go to bed, so I might as well do the latter.

Tomorrow is another day, and maybe it will bring something beautiful to me.

Mind Map of me...

So here is my mind map.

I guess we'll see how it looks as a jpg in this blog.

Hey, guys! Here's what we talked about today!

So first, I'll copy up my list of "problems" that we addressed.
Note the fascinating fact that it starts out being specifically related to our group topic, and widens out to address the problems of...our entire society?

+We don't/aren't able to fix the objects that we own
+re-appropriating of broken things is not done enough
+we are not offering out broken things to others to potentially fix
+creativity limited by limited skill set
+methods that used to work are no longer the best way of doing things, but we stick with it anyway
+fast food (and other easy access things) so prevalent, it's easier than going to the trouble of fixing a meal
+equipment, tools, and materials are expensive, should you want to DIY
+some things (eg: ipods, phones, cameras) are too complex for us to make or fix.
+lack of problem-solving skills
+laziness
+time management
+social stigma-home made stuff potentially looking crappy and cheap
+home ec is a joke/kids aren't learning what they should be
+parents not passing down skills
+standardized testing/teaching
+dissolution of the family structure and lack of agriculture
+technology
+capitalism itself.

Wow, guys, we came up with a lot of problems!

Now here are some ideas, mostly attributed to the self proclaimed creative, out of the box thinking girl in our group...

+What if everyone in the group made a living room together, or some similar situation, with each person making something out of other, discarded objects?
+What if a designer tried to market a DIY table (or other furniture) set?
+Self Satisfaction should motivate us to DIY
+We should Restructure and Re-Establish Home Ec in schools
+More awareness of history would help us understand what went wrong, and how we can improve the future (that one came from Chris, I believe)

Alrighty. See you all later!

Hello, all. This is blog #1.

Just want to check out how things are looking here.

More will be added later as needed. That is all.