Art Salon

Not long ago, a few friends of mine had the brilliant idea to have artist workshops of sort every month. These aren't classes, just get togethers where people can work on art in whatever medium they choose in a space that is purely dedicated to art. It was born in part from one person in particular who had an extra building in back of his place and decided it would be a great place for people who couldn't have dedicated art spaces in their own places due to size constraints among other issues. So the Art Salon was born and with 4 (I think) salons so far under its belt, it looks like it'll be a continued success. A much better success than my failed art postcard attempt in college which despite a lot of interest, never got past me sending out the first few postcards. :(

My first experience with the Art Salon was the 2nd time they held one. Sadly I couldn't get out of my non artistic funk and walked away with only one quick simple sketch to cling to. (I apologize in advance for the picture quality)



Last night was a lot better for me, partly due to me refusing to pull the same crap I had last time. It's still not up to what I know I can do when I actually practice at my art (I'll probably post drawings later of some of the better stuff I've done), but I'm not unhappy with what I came home with.

The theme for last night was Apocalypse (there was a steampunk goggle making class) and the following was the only sketch I did a long those lines (yes I know it's a stretch):



Strangely, I'm both happy and disappointed with the result. I'll try to go back to it later and tweak it or just redo it to take care of some the problems I'm having with it (mostly with the horrendous typography; I also think it would work and look a lot better if the words weren't so fucking stark but that part I'm not sure about yet).

Past that I mainly just did quick sketches of the other people there, like these:




When I got bored with that I decided to play around with some cheap water colors and, I have to say, I like the result. Especially considering it's really only about the 3rd time I've tried anything with paint since I was in kindergarten.



Despite the resemblance, even in watercolor, this is not in fact my ex-boyfriend (at whose place we have these things). Just someone who looks remarkably like him and has his same taste in hats.

I also did a fan art piece of Tulip, but to see that you'll have to go to her facebook page... which I don't have the address for because I'm not on facebook myself. Woohoo mystery art!

The last piece is of me instead of by me. Enjoy some art by someone with more skill than I!

Tears of Anger

My eyes start to well up, and my voice shakes. Soon, regardless if I'm careful or not, the tears are running down my face and I can barely choke out another word. I'm not sad, or even just extremely frustrated. I'm fucking pissed. And this crying business? It's doing nothing but piss me off more.

It happened again tonight when I decided to call someone out on how they've been treating me since they found out my sex life isn't approved by them. Luckily, I caught her voicemail and not her directly, but my voice still shaked and I forgot half of what I thought was important to tell her. And when I hung up, I couldn't stop shaking. Fuck, I'm still shaking.

I used to think this was just me. That I was broken because I was child suffering from severe depression and I kept every emotion of mine buried deep inside, so when something extreme happened to me I couldn't help but cry. But nothing I tried could control the tears, or the additional anger I felt for doing something as stupid as cry.

Now I know that this isn't an uncommon reaction at all. But that doesn't help the frustration when it happens. Crying is a sign of weakness in our society. It means you're too invested, too emotional, too much of a silly girl. And that just makes me want to cry some more.

ETA: Hey! Person in the 2nd paragraph just called me back and not only did I not cry but I made clear the rest of what I forgot to add in my message. Woohoo! Now If I could only convince people that, "I'm sorry if that offended you" isn't a real apology. sigh.

All My Exes Live In Texas (except for that one in California, who isn't really an ex anyway, but that's not how the song goes)

Recently through an absurd and completely unrelated series of events I've gotten in touch with a number of my ex boyfriends/crushes/booty calls/etc. So I figured what better way to celebrate this randomness than to share with others my impeccable taste in men.

Tri-guy was the start of this trip down memory lane. He was a guy I used to work out with and occasionally go dancing with in college and who I once asked on an only slightly awkward date. Tri-guy was awesome: incredibly sweet, hella smart, and ridiculously good looking to boot. I got the friend spiel after that one date but we actually did remain friends for a while after that until we both graduated and went different places. Last weekend I was registering for a softball tournament that was being held back in my college town when I look up and there's Tri-guy! Still as gorgeous as ever and from our brief reunion, evidently still an all around great guy. Just one problem though... I play in an LGBT softball league, this was an LGBT tournament, and tri-guy was wearing the shortest shorts since Reno 911 and a rainbow flag tank top. Whatever, I was still totally justified in my crush.

George is the next old flame up to bat, a guy so awesome I named my succession of mint plants after him and who left me a hilarious drunk dial voice mail just a few nights ago. He was another person I knew from college and it was all I could do to keep from hooking up with George while I was still with The One Who Got Away (coming up later). Unfortunately, George came around when I was trying to reconcile my waxing sexuality with my not-yet-waning Catholicism, so he had to deal with damaged grog. However, he made clear what his interest was and then stepped back. He never once pushed me to do anything I wasn't sure about or ready for. And if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have the awesome story about a hot make out session on the hood of someone else's car which is a lot better story than the time another college crush of mine passed out on the hood of my car and while I tried for an hour to get him up and back into the house, another person sat there and played the free games on my phone. George has promised to keep me in the loop for the next time he makes it back to Texas and I've promised to start scoping out car hoods.

Next up in the parade involves tales that aren't mine to share so instead I'll leave this warning to any future exes of mine:
If you want to tell stories after we break up that make me out to be an unreasonable bitch, chances are I can give you enough actual material to work with. You don't have to make shit up. Because if you do, you'll just wind up looking like a dumb ass and a douche bag when I talk with your current girlfriend and we compare stories about the different things you told each of us. And I will talk with your girlfriend, because evidently my superpower is the ability to become friends with the subsequent paramours of my exes.

Finally we have Cuba, The One Who Got Away (actually last up is another high school boyfriend who my mom just informed me is married and expecting a kid but that's all there is to that story so we'll just ignore him). Cuba's brief resurgence in my life came this morning when I went to get some coffee and one of the baristas there was a dead ringer for a slightly younger and shorter version of Cuba. So naturally I have to share this with him even though I wasn't able to send him photographic proof and we spent the next hour or so catching up. In actuality, Cuba didn't get away so much as different things in life: we wanted them. But I still care for him deeply and I'm glad we're still friends even if we only catch up a couple times a year and occasionally drunkenly make out when I go back to visit my home town. But Cuba, babe, if you ever want to join the poly circle you got my number. Rawr.

This conversation was totally work related too

Me: http://www.theawl.com/2010/04/nasa-sending-humanoid-robot-to-space-station-to-kill-astronauts
Coworker: He's like a Ninja
Me: he does bicep curls!
Coworker: I see that. I think of it more as a bow staff
He's literate too
Me: no, later in the vid he works out with a dumbell
I smell robocize potential
Coworker: I see it now. 20 lbs is weak
he isn't even going all the way
Me: don't tell robonaut his form is off
he might cut you
Coworker: LOL true
Me: and then draw inappropriate cartoon anatomy on your face
robonaut's such a jerk
Coworker: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

blargh

Hey body, you and me have to have a little talk. I love you, I really do. Well, I love you most of the time. Anyways, you've always been so damn regular when it comes to telling me I'm not pregnant every month, so this business where I never know when you're going to start shedding our uterine lining? It's really got to stop. Last month, you were a week late, and while that did garner me the awesome nickname of 'Plan B' by my softball team, it was hella annoying. And now this month, you're a week early. Can we go back to the time when I could guess the start of shark week within a day, maybe two max? Those days were fun.

P.S. Please stop getting hit by softballs. It hurts and you're messing up my summer legs.

Today in Webcomics

I read webcomics. In fact, I read quite a few, and I even have a specific order that I read them in every morning. That last sentence may or may not be an exaggeration. It also may or may not be an exaggeration to say I get a wee bit anxious whenever a comic that is usually posted punctually is not posted punctually. Like, OHMYGOD, WHAT HAPPENED? OBVIOUSLY MY BELOVED COMIC HAS COME TO A HORRIBLE AND UNEXPECTED END. MY WEBCOMIC ROUTINE IS RUINED!!!!!!! I may or may not have some minor OCD.

Anyways, I was going through my normal routine on Friday and was surprised when I got to one of my favorites, Questionable Content. Yeah yeah, I know, I'm just a tad sensitive to all things poly, but is Jeph really making the argument here that people can't be in committed polyamorous relationships? And is that a whiff of poly relationships being immature compared to monogamous relationships that I sniff as well? Say it ain't so, Jeph! (It's alright if I call you Jeph, right?) And it wasn't just that I felt polyamory was being a misrepresented that got to me, but that Tai is one of only a small handful of openly poly characters in the webcomic universe as I know it. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Tai is the only poly character in QC. I'm not sure how he's supposed to be read, but I always viewed Sven as more of an asshole that sleeps around than a poly guy who happens to be an asshole.)

So yeah, I was a little disappointed and confused when it came to Friday's strip. However, my attention span being what it is, I quickly forgot all about it until I opened up QC again this morning and was surprised again, this time pleasantly. Not with the comic itself, with the blog post below it. It seems I wasn't the only one who had some issues with Friday's comic, but unlike me, these other people decided to email Jeph about it. He explains that he wasn't trying to harsh on poly relationships in anyway, and says:

One of the challenges of working in this medium is that intent and interpretation are two very different things. I thought it was obvious that I was writing about a specific situation, and not denigrating polyamory in any way, but some people felt otherwise. That means I didn't do a good enough job! The vast majority of you guys either had no problem with the strip or actively told me that it was fine! But that doesn't mean that the minority who were bothered by it don't deserve to have their concerns addressed, which is what I'm attempting to do.

This isn't the first time that Jeph Jacques has recognized something that has hurt his readers*, even if it was unintentional, and taken steps to correct it. It's one of the reasons I keep on coming back to QC. You know, besides the fun artwork and great story lines. And since I try to let people know when they've hurt me significantly, I also like to share it when people do something kind of awesomely right. So thanks, Jeph Jacques, for taking the concerns of your audience seriously.

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There's another webcomic that made me happy this morning, for a different but related reason: Punch an' Pie, specifically the 3rd and 4th panels. I've been having issues with a friend of mine who can't seem to understand that my choices are my own, and not an attack on the decisions that she herself makes. This comic was just thing I needed this morning.

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* The other time I specifically remember was when all that Proposition 8 crap was going down and the Prop 8 supporters got a lot of ads posted in places that didn't necessarily support Prop 8 in any way. Jeph may not have been the only webcomic artist who had those ads posted on hir site but had them taken down as soon as they came hir attention, but he's the only one I'm aware of who made a public statement on hir blog explaining what happened and apologizing for any offense caused, even though it wasn't his fault in the least.

Dear People of Earth,

If you happen to see someone walking deliberately towards a restroom, or a room with a restroom in it, or with their hand on the door to a restroom, in the process of pushing it open, it is a safe bet that person is in fact going to the restroom. As such, you should refrain from trying to enter into conversation with that person. Otherwise you risk making that person poop/pee/vomit/change a tampon right there in front of you. And that's no fun for anyone involved.

Much thanks,
groggette