the torture chamber 

chlorophyll
 

coffee or tea? 

mitochondria 

under the microscope 

I was thinking of a slide I once saw of blood, where these platelets (or "blood pallettes", as I called them for a moment last night, until Garth gently told me that I probably meant "platelets") were all smooshed into a red gook with tiny little air bubbles

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.

Apparently I chose corretcly in going to Japan for a year and a half (or, at least according to blogger...) And to think - I won it by pure merit even though I said I'd rather spend time at a local cafe than a sushi restaurant.

You Should Learn Japanese

You're cutting edge, and you are ready to delve into wacky Japanese culture. From Engrish to eating contests, you're born to be a crazy gaijin. Saiko!

What Language Should You Learn?

Timoni's Idea, my answers

Timoni had this fascinating quiz posted, and on taking it, I got the same results as her (although I'm sure differnt answers to different questions :)

You Are 35% Normal (Occasionally Normal)

You sure do march to your own beat... But you're so weird, people wonder if it's a beat at all You think on a totally different wavelength And it's often a chore to get people to understand you

How Normal Are You?

Differy-Do

I changed my blog's set-up. Obviously...


Now! On inspiration from 1. an e-mail conversation with Garth last night, and 2. an e-mail chain with Bible Study today, here are our names, with the different spellings, and their ranks as popular names! (*thanks to: the baby name wizard - http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager)

(Matthew takes the cake as most popular overall, and Ashley/Elizabeth wins for girl's)

1. Marianne: My name, spelled as I spell it, hit it's peak of popularity in the 1950s, when it was ranked the 183rd most popular girl's name. [Variations in spelling: Maryanne - 1950s, 152nd; Marian - 1920s, 69]

2. Kim: 1960s, 43rd in rank [variations in spelling: Kimberly - 1970s, 5th (!!); Kimberlee - 1960s, 213th]

3. Timoni: Timoni has never been in the top 1000 names since the 1800s, so I have no idea...

4. Finity: Same here, sorry! :(

5. Ashley: 1980s 4th!! (YOU WIN with highest-acheived rank!) [Variations in spelling: Ashleigh - 1990s, 217th, ashlee - 1980s, 177th]

6. Laura: 1960s, 16th [Variations in spelling: Lara - 1970s 323rd]

7. Liz: 1960s, 528th [Variations on spelling: Elizabeth - 1880s, 4th!! Tied with Ashley)]

8. Garth: 1960s, 571st [I don't think variations exist.]

9. Alicia: 1980s, 46th [Variations: Alisha - 1980s, 142nd, Elisha - 1980s, 449th]

10. Andrea: 1970s, 28th [Variations: Andria - 1980s, 714]

11. Chris: 1960s, 60th [Variations: Christopher - 1980s; #2!!!!; Kris - 1970s, 392nd]

12. Ginny: 1970s, 882nd [Variations: Virginia - 1920s, #7!]

13. Matt: 1960s, 271st [Variations: Mat - 1880s, 571st; Matthew 1980s AND 1990s: #3! YOU WIN!!!!!]

This is a revised (and in-color!) Skylar. She is a colorless doll, living in a colorless world (except, apparently, for her skin tone...), and she has just decided to leave the dreary city of her captured existence. This shows her first experience with color. ... While I was sketching this at cg today, someone asked me: "so... how much propaganda is hidden in this great little picture?", to which I cunningly (and evasively) reply: Decide for yourself :) Also: This is only a portion of the picture. Once I get the whole thing uploaded I'll post that instead! 

dreary and bleary

It is 5am. Or it was when I got up. I am exhausted. I am going to work.

AHHHHH! Help me name this thing. I have a couple of ideas, but give me more, just in case. I want it to sound: menacing, mecanical, and... bug-like... Whatever his name becomes, he is the first of my drawings that I have decided will actually be a dangerous creature! He's about 10 feet tall, lives in hidden places - like alleyways, abandoned buildings, and subway tunnels - and attacks and devours whatever living things he may find there, from rats to people! 

Breakfast is for Bonzos

I was planning on getting up and having a healthy breakfast to offset the undoubtedly UNHEALTHY dinner I'll have at work (and to combat my unending weight gain of late). Instead I've ended up on the computer, checking to see if I'd been e-mailed back by a couple of people I wanted to be e-mailed back by, and I am now munching on little pieces of chocolate that we have resting in a bowl next to the keyboard. Why would anyone put chocolate in such close proximity to my fingers?! They KNOOOOOW I'll eat it!

I've begun Harry Potter. I'm in chapter 4 now; I've decided to take it a little more slowly than I did the last book. I read the last one in 2 days. This one I want to last for AT LEAST a week. Chris is the best person I know for making Harry Potter last. He says it's because he doesn't have time to read, but really I think he's just crafty and sly.

Other than that, I simply continue mulling over my prospects as an illustrator...

Why I love Retail

These are some photos I took this evening.

Enjoy!


Seven 

Six 

Five 

Four 

Three 

Two 

One 

On Inspiration From Kim:

Ten Things I Hate!

1. Peanut Butter, celery, and any type of bean
2. People who mimic, copy, or take your ideas and make them their own. Or, similarly, people who take the things you do and make them their own to an extent that everyone starts telling you "oh, you do that too! Just like (insert-name-here)!" Grrrr....
3. Having to stay somewhere after you were supposed to leave (like work)
4. Cleaning my rabbit's cage.
5. My "blinker one" is a little more specific - drivers who wait until they're at the light to signal so you're stuck behind them and have to watch everyone else zoom past you in the right lane... WHERE YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN! If they just don't use the blinker at all then I have to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it's just broken.
6. When I know exactly what I'm trying to paint and I can't get it on the canvas because I'm having a brain-fart in the nerves between brain and hand.
7. Panic attacks...
8. People who don't understand hyperboles.
9.Men who take advantage of women's emotions (or women's other things)
10. Dead bugs.
11. People who look down on you if their point of view is different from you (ie, the type of non-christians who think I'm a brainwashed idiot for believing in something so trite as God)

... I can't think of anything else...

Willy Willy Wonka

Y-U-M-M-Y, yummy. 

This movie was chock-full of inspiring quotes, Tim Burton Styled Magic and Wonder, and I really liked it!

To all of the critics who gave it terrible reviews I say: You need to stop mumbling. I can't understand a word you just said.

Wasting Time

Salary.com calculated that employers spend $759 billion per year on salaries for which real work was expected, but not actually performed.

Top Workplace Time Wasters (according to AOL and Salary.com):

1. Surfing the Internet (44.7%)
2. Talking to Co-Workers (23.4%)
3. Conducting Personal Business (6.8%)
4. Spacing Out (3.9%)
5. Running Errands Off-Location (3.1%)
6. Personal Phone calls (2.3%)
7. Applying for Other Jobs (1.3%)
8. Planning Personal Events (1.0%)
9. Arriving Late/ Leaving Early (1.0%)
10. Other (12.75%)

For me? If I had an office job I would definately fit into the 44.7% category of internet surfers, as well as the "spacing out" group. I spend most of my time doing THAT anyways.

...

And NOW they tell me I could get paid!!

In other news

1. VHS or Beta: BUY THEIR CDS! Or at least get to a show. Timoni, Karl, Luke, Garth, and I all went on Friday, and it was uber wunderbar. I hearted them... is that proper? Are you allowed to past-tense "I heart"? KIM? Do you know (if anyone does, it'll be you :)??

2. I don't have any more Cheerwine points.

3. I DO have a brand new Harry Potter book, which means that tomorrow after church and after we see Willy Wonka I am going to retreat into a world all my own, and ignore every living being until it is finished.

And then I will loan it to Chris (right? I think we said I'd do that...)

4. I **still** cannot find my chapstick.

5. I want to be a full-time artist. Maaaaaaaaaan, I want to do that...

POLL OF THE WEEK:
Tell me how I should go about this. Drop out of grad school, work full-time, do art on the side? Finish grad school, work part-time do art on the side? Some other great idea that you can give me which I haven't yet thought of?

This is Skylar. She is a doll who is very forgetful. Oftentimes she will even forget that there is another doll who's taken up residence in her tummy-compartment. Every time she opens the door after wondering what might be inside, she finds herself very surprised! 

My Common Grounds Collage of the day... MONSTERS!!!! They are slow, cumbersome creatures, who are not fully aware of their size or weight, which causes them to create accidental destruction. Because of this, they have trouble fitting in or being accepted, but all they REALLY want is a friend.... 

Squares... or some other such nonsense. 

Bring it!

10 more Cheerwine points today! Ohhhh, the excitement is building like nothing else!

Wicked-Crazy Perks

I am currently drinking Cheerwine (provided generously by Southern-Traveling-Drea) as I Pretend to Look for Rabbit Cages Online While Actually Writing in my Blog. Cheerwine has some sort of promotion going on right now where you can win up to $1000 by entering the code on your cap into their website. Who would pass up such an offer? I ask you. WHO??

Not me. I have quickly given them my very personal information in order to register on the site (can you believe that as a phone number the computer actually accepted 123-456-7890?? You'd think that with all of the fancy programs out there they'd be able to guard against hoodlums like myself taking advantage of their good nature... But alas. They cannot).

So what incredible prize did I receive for my code (which was, by the way, K4F3-R6W3-F011)?? I got 10 points. TEN POINTS! Hoorah!! Now, I'm about to go see what 10 points gets me...

...

Sweet sassy molassy! I am already a whopping 1/30th of my way towards getting a license plate that proclaims I am a "Cheerwine fanatic". FINALLY! I can have PROOF!...

I am ALSO:

1/30th of the way to...
- a deck of Cheerwine playing cards that "slide easily when shuffled"
- a Cheerwine 3-ring binder
- a Cheerwine calculator (complete with Protective LCD cover!)
- a nostalgic 1917 Cheerwine tv tray (shouldn't I be the one to decide if something is nostalgic to me?). In it's defense, it *does* come with 4 coasters...

1/50th of the way to...
- my very own Cheerwine apron, which, they tell me, is "the perfect protection for those embarrassing CW spills."

1/300th of the way to...
- an analog Cheerwine Swiss Army watch. Color: caramel.

1/500th of the way to...
- a Cheerwine patio umbrella. (However: I'd only feel okay about using this if I was outside watching Nascar on my portable tv while drinking a beer. Seeing as I don't have a portable tv, a good lawnchair, AND I don't like beer, I am, it seems, out of luck).

OR, if my name was "Chris Lord", I would go straight for the golf section, and be saving up for my 1000 point rain umbrella, my 7000 point golf bag, and my 1200 point 12-golf ball set.

I, however, have focused on the license plate. At this rate it will take me roughly 29 more cheerwines to get to where I want to be. Drea, keep 'em coming!!

Cheerwine Fanatics of the world, raise your right hand. 

Marianne's quote of the day

"No Playcorp product is intended for the transportation of live cargo, no matter how cute and humorous the spectacle of a little hamster driving along in his little truck may be."

Read the entire, incredibly humorous article here:

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4127

And now for the latest -

In case you're wondering exactly what I've been up to lately, these sketches and collages were done over the past week or so. Look beneath each one for its tres exciting title!




"I Wanted to Be A Viking, But I Couldn't Grow The Beard." 

"Admit It - You Know You Want Me" 

"Nobody Can Love Me" 

"I'm Standing Here Wond'ring..." 

"You Don't Want To See Me When I'm Angry"