Boober and Mommy's last photobooth of 2008

I managed to engage Hibou is one last photoshoot of 2008 before I go gussy myself up for the wolves of 2009. Sorry for the greasy hair in these pictures, I am getting to the shower I promise.

So for this first one I told her to smile. She didn't seem to be too enthused by my smile so this was all I got from her.



Ok at this point CJ has come in the room and she is getting embarrassed. I told her to look cutely innocent..she just looks pissed that CJ is in our room.



"Ok now show some 'tude Boober..but not too much, we still want people to love us"




Happy New Years my dear readers. Don't shame yourselves and I will try not to too.

Chairlift - Bruises

Why is the guys section in this so creepy? Anyone? I had this song stuck in my head today. Perhaps because i bruise so easily I feel like I should be singing it.

Domestic Tendencies

Christmas has come and gone just as fast as it snuck up on me. This was a very different kind of Christmas for me. For one, there was no major breakdown on my dad's side of the family, no mentally scarring event. Second, this was the first year I really felt like Christmas, the whole getting up in the morning for presents deal, didn't belong to me. I live in Shepherdstown now and that feels like home, my little slave quarters with Hibou, not mom's house or dad's. So getting up in the morning and opening my stocking was an awkward experience. It felt more natural doing it with my room-mates (which we did the day before Christmas, we had a nice little Christmas morning complete with biscuits and gravy). Third, I was bad on Christmas...again (there I got to say it Pang :) I went to a Texas Hold Em game Christmas eve after all the presents and that and ended up just pulling an all nighter. Shameful I know. I got home before the girls woke up though but there was no fooling Rick (mom's fiance).

Here are the presents I geeked out about the most. I can't seem to deny this domestic urge inside of me that fuels me to hold kitchen utensils as some of my most favorite and most desired of objects. Few girls get the fuzzies for a zester or some tart tins. Few girls but this girl. Im going to put them in a hope chest so that one day some handsome man will take me to his mother for approval and she will say " you're the daughter in law of my dreams!" Sike! (you all remember that word? I don't know where I pulled that out of) Im using these here new kitchen utensils pronto!



And here is what I got from Pang and JR. That sweet cookbook in the back is a giant book of traditional French cuisine. Look out, im moving into gourmet territory! Pang also got me that corduroy purse...corduroy is not for hippies, despite what Brian may say.



P.S. I got that food processor I have been talking about for like the past year. Soon to come: humus, salsa, soups and more :)

Garfield Minus Garfield

Its very possible that I am like the last person that has heard of these but here you go anyhow. Jon Gobeil just showed these to me the other day. I used to read Garfield when I was a kid, but I never noticed just how depressing Jon was in these. These kinda make me want to laugh and sympathetically say "aww" at the same time. His depression, especially with the absence of Garfield is so sadly comical. Jon Gobeil made me promise that if he turns out like this I will shoot him. Oh my. Im so glad I have my little Boober to keep me company :)

The surprising kindness of girls

I have never had a lot of female friends growing up. I seem to relate better to guys, to enjoy their company more. I would grow tired of the gossiping or petty cat fighting involved with female friendships and seek solace in the uncomplicated male friendships that allowed me to be sarcastic and sometimes crude without them passing judgment on me. But, lately, although I have been getting my fair share of Bug and Jon time (friends from way back) I have also come to realize that I have some really cool female friends. I have seen over the past month, that when girls are called upon to support their female friends they can do quite an amazing job. Whether it is Pang going for walks with me or Erika scratching my back and kissing my head as I laze about at work or Chels telling me how much she admires me - even looks up to me - or Tess remembering me in her prayers. Its kinda cool. It's the feeling I had in middle school and high school of having girls I could talk to, hang out with, or shake it on the dance floor with, but without all that silly teenager stuff I remember. And sometimes there is the surprising kindness of girls you don't even know - like the girl at the bar the other night who when I introduced myself replied with "wow you're beautiful." Just something I thought of.

Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens

Another contribution from Jeremy. It took me a long time to digest all the music he exposed me to. I tend to grab onto certain songs and then just stick with them, not exploring more until I feel like I need to. This song, on the Illinois album was one of those songs that just clicked with me right away. Do you know what I mean? There are just certain things that will strike you a certain way the first time you hear it or the first time you see it and it feels like you were waiting for it to find you or you had been searching for it but you didn't even know it. I listened to it over and over. I took it with me to France to remind me of home and listened to it when I got homesick. This was the best video I could find, it's not awesome but it will do. Enjoy.

November Book Club: Interview with the Vampire

Sorry this is so late..got a little distracted

So this book was pretty interesting, right guys? It was right up my alley - old style writing and vampires of course. But there were some things I did want to talk about. I will ask some question, let you all answer, and then give my opinions.

Personally I was most intrigued with Claudia, the beautiful child vampire that Louis has a very interesting relationship with. She, as she matures intellectually, realizes that she is a woman, with all the lusts and needs of one, but she is stuck forever in the body of a child. A body that she pampers and drapes in silks and laces and that Louis describes with the conflicting minds of a lover and father figure. What do you think Rice is saying with Claudia? What is she saying about women of the time, and what is she saying about the status of a child and her aspirations to be grown.

Louis is the main character and throughout the novel he struggles with his existence as a vampire which he equates with his loss of a soul and his humanity. Armand observes that everytime Louis kills, emotionally he dies too. Why is Louis not able to come to grips with being a vampire when everyone around him can embrace their new nature? Louis says that he doesn't feel that he truly appreciated anything until his transformation, so why is he so disillusioned?

Why do you think that the vampires that Claudia and Louis first come across in Europe are mindless zombie-like vampires?

Something that Pang and I kinda talked about was the role of sexuality in this book. Louis' feelings for Claudia and Armand. A question I saw online asked if Louis' character transcends sexuality altogether. What do you think?

So...answer whatever you want or just write stuff and ask your own question.

Becky, would you do us the honor of choosing our next book? I figure we can take a break December for the holidays and pick up again in January. What would you like to read?

The drawings Im not too embarrassed to show you

No more drawing class. Woot woot! I did improve this year though and I think I enjoyed the figure stuff even more than the still-life, so all in all not so bad. Here is some stuff I did over the semester.


This is a self portrait I did of myself (obviously when I was a kid) and little Hibou...creepy I know, but I love it still



This was a figure study I had to do. Im getting better at doing the forms but I still hate shading things.



This was a little 20 min sketch we did in class that I am quite proud of, I think it's the fastest I have drawn and still had correct proportions. Yay!



As may be obvious, we were working on muscles. Bug kindly modeled for me when I had no one else to turn to :) He will want me to point out the nipple rings :shudders:



Also notice the santa hat

This could be habit forming

Me and my new best buddy...we are a package deal. We danced so much it hurt..what a night

this looks confusing I know...have you seen the sarah palin snl interview? this is them doing "pew pew pew"

Thriller- Indian Version

Thank you JR :)

Ruby over Diamonds- Kashmir

This song is so sensual and the notes pull me down into a soft pile of blankets to listen to it over and over again until I don't hear anymore