“The trick to not feeling cheated is to learn how to cheat.” – Penelope, The Brothers Bloom

When I saw Penelope in The Brothers Bloom, I thought, hey, she’s a bit like me; she collects hobbies!  (She’s even from NJ and had severe allergies a child.)

While I have many, many, hobbies, I certainly don’t juggle chainsaws.  But I definitely relate to her point of view.  The collection and practice of multiple hobbies is both an escape and a way to prove yourself.

People often ask me how I do so many things, but the truth of it is that all my hobbies are just coping mechanisms. I just feel cheated.   This feeling comes often, but like Penelope, I have to trick myself into not feeling that way anymore.  So, I keep busy and find the beauty in everything I can.

Penelope: This was a story about a girl who could find infinite beauty in anything – any little thing   … I told myself this story until it became true.  Now, did doing this help me to escape a wasted life, or did it blind me so I wouldn’t want to escape it? I don’t know.  But either way, I was the one telling my own story.  So no, I don’t feel cheated at all. – The Brothers Bloom, card trick scene

Magically, the sporadic rain seemed to fall everywhere (when it did), except on us.  All we felt was the moist breath of the Savannah air, and the sweet magnolia-perfumed breezes.  We drew in the smell of  dew on the leaves.  Spanish moss dangled from the live oak like a sleepy party streamer, hung there by a ghost statue.  Resurrection fern crawled along their branches, blooming at the drop of rain.

At serene Bonaventure Cemetary, overlooking the river,  the air was heavy with a wistful mixture of peace and sorrow. The nostaligia of aging stones carved with stentorian names echoed in the silence of the moist air.  No picture can do Savannah justice.  It’s a living, breathing city.

Hey fellow creative bloggers! I’m going to camp! Mimeographic will be attending WordCamp NYC 2009 this weekend at Baruch College.

WordCamp is worldwide conference on all all things WordPress.  Developers, bloggers, WordCamp experts, and newbies come together and share ideas. Late registration for Saturday and Sunday is still available for this weekend’s conference at Baruch College in New York City. “Mini Pass” registration for Sunday only is also available for those who can’t attend the entire weekend.

This weekend offers a full Saturday of classes for these tracks: Newbie (they’ll set up WordPress for you), Blogger, CMS User, Beginning Developer, Advanced Developer, Education, BuddyPress/MU, Open Source Community, and Hacker Room.

Of course, I will be spending my Saturday on the Blogger track checking out classes to make this and my future creative blogging endeavors more effective and just plain BETTER. I can’t wait to learn from an expert panel of geeks. Not to mention the WordCamp NYC t-shirt and the WordCamp lunch! On Sunday, WordCamp will have an unconference schedule in the morning, which means that attendees have the chance to propose and choose conferences. In the afternoon, a video of “Best Of” presentations from Saturday will be shown, followed by a Best Themes/Plugins contest, and finally, Q&A.

It’s not too late to sign up. Let’s go! http://2009.newyork.wordcamp.org

Chet is an easy muse, because he likes to wear colorful clothing (not so much yellow, though, as I had colored) & Jordans,  he screams like a true rockstar, and finally… he totally doesn’t mind that I write about him or post pictures of him all the time!  No, he’s not a bashful one.  Here’s a pic I drew of Chester last year, when I was just learning how to use Photoshop.  (I’m still learning now, honestly.)

This was a simple process:
1. Draw it in pencil
2. Draw it over in pen for more precise lines, then scan in.
4. Shade in my pencil drawing, then scan that in
5. Merge all my shadings and line drawings
6. Color in with photoshop!
7.  Add text, which I just did in a gel pen

FYI, I have never seen Chet wear a yellow shirt or a wristband with a pink star.  However, he is a very colorful fellow, so this is merely an exaggeration on my part.  I’m not sure of whether or not he ties his shoes.  And, although the guitar colors are right, he does not use a whammy bar!  The text is taken from the jaded lyrics of the song “Well I Guess Not”, which is by his band, Trickbag.

Nowadays I would do this comp a little differently.  I might overlay in a texture, and change the color of the pencil shading to match the tone of my drawing.  Textures that could be scanned in (I LOVE my scanner) are a a heavy water colored paper, with the color adjusted in photoshop, or maybe even some cloth with  grungy splotches added in.  Another thing I would add are, uhhhh, guitar strings! You live, you learn.

Grey Nails is where it’s at for the fall! Check me out!
I made this myself by just pouring some black Wet N’ Wild nailpolish into a white bottle! But here are some good choices, if you’re not feeling very DIY!

1. Lippan’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot createdwith Pat Benetar $15
2. Revlon’s Dark Pleasures in Steel-Etto $7
3. Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Concrete Jungle $18
4. Wet N Wild Shine in Kaleidescope $2 (at your local drugstore)

Each character in Alice in Wonderland (and in the sequel Through the Looking Glass) is something half out of a dream and half from a nightmare.  Every character in Alice’s world seems either selfish, slow, inconstant, and just plain MAD.  A great lesson for a child to learn!

In 1865, the first edition Alice in Wonderland was released, with illustrations of these characters by John Tenniel.  The illustrations are really charming, and they are the ones, I believe, used in the Hello Jewelry line of wonderland necklaces.  Hello has fashioned the colored illustrations on the back of dominoes (complete with colored dots)!  They are available in large and small domino sizes.

Hello’s Etsy store can be found on hellorulz.etsy.com.  Here are some pics of the mail from Hello!  (And also mimeographic illustrations from me.)

FASHION'S NIGHT OUT!

That night, I was feeling underdressed, what with my Doc Martens on and all, but my brother convinced me to go, and I don’t regret it!  If you followed my updates on twitter, you already saw some pics and you know I had a blast!  Most of the pictures are just mobile pics, or point-n-shoot shots.

Think of it as a fashion Halloween, with everyone all dressed up and going door to door from store to store, looking for treats.  It was liberating!  Free drinks, products, photos, you name it!  I had drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and attended the same party as Donatella Versace, Robert Verdi (I think), and Lindsay Lohan!  I also heard, but didn’t SEE Isaac Mizrahi singing: check out the Fashion’s Night Out Video on his site!

The night was a success!  I hope they do it again next year!  Check out the gallery to see what I mean!

12►