She Came from Planet Z

what I am doing while I am supposed to be doing my online summer school

(marker finger puppet)

hoppin' on the duck train

Well, it's finally hit me.  Duck tape crafts.  It all started when I discovered allisonswallets, one of many youtube phenomenons who became popular because of their creativity involving the extremely adhesive tape.  Allison's marketing works like a charm.  She makes custom duck tape wallets (and just about anything else you can make with duck tape) and sells them for about 10 bucks.  What she does that's so appealing, is she videotapes herself actually making the wallet you ordered.  Most of the time.  And it sells, most of the time.

So I ordered my own custom duck tape wallet from her, because I wanted in on the action, and then waited a few days, and got antsy.  So then I decided I would just go ahead and make my own duck tape wallet to help the time pass quicker.

I bought eight rolls of duck tape.  And a blade.  And now I can't stop making them.

They're suprisingly easy - with a catch: duck tape is really really sticky.  If you were to cheat and buy those duck tape sheets they sell at Michaels, then it would take you ten minutes to make one of these.  Right now it takes me an hour, because I don't want any wrinkles.

There are three left-side pockets, an ID pocket, a hidden pocket, and a bill fold. If you want to see the tutorial I used, and start your own duck tape assembly line of doom, here's the link: how to make a thin duck tape wallet.  I know there are tons more tutorials out there for different variations of the same thing, and some are probably a lot easier to follow than this one, but I stick to my duck tape dealer.

The blue one I made has little Swedish fish on the front of it, because I liked the color scheme and I like Swedish fish.  They weren't too tricky to cut out with an X-ACTO knife, so I think I've found a new artistic outlet.  I have yet to add to the white one.  

So you're still sitting there?  Go now, and become one of us, before you regret your decision to stay duck tape-free.

let's talk about the weather

The weather today is the most perfectly perfectest perfect weather that has come all year, and it came on a day that I was meant to spend inside, catching up on summer school.  I still went out for an hour in the morning and slammed down some colors so that I could officially say I had enjoyed the day before staying in one chair for five hours.

I've been a little jittery today, mainly because of facebook.  Seeing everyone else having fun with their lives is not good treatment for a lazy day spent in.  At the beginning of summer I had this pompous air of confidence, like I was really gonna conquer the rest of my life from then on, and I think that's unconciously dwindled away to where I am today.  I wish I had enough energy to keep it up, but alas, I remain a sullen teenager.  Until next time!

fine things

Well I'm about 90% better wisdom teeth-wise, and have been taking long walks analyzing the exact schedule my mouth has lived on for the past week.  Numb.  Then swell up.  Then swell down, get nauseous.  Then swell all the way down and get bruises.  Then start to chew food again, and lose the pain.  It took exactly one week.

Other than that, I've tried to keep life somewhat meaningful without spending too long killing time on the computer, cycling through the same five sites I go on every day.  At this moment I feel weird just posting little quips of my life up on some website... what?  What is that?  I guess it's a writing, organizational exercise or something.  Anyway, wanna see my art?

Painted in person!  The top one was this morning and the bottom one was last night/evening, but it's kinda hard to tell.  The warm muggy air helped with the heavy feeling that evening often protrudes, but I had a hard time just splotching that down.  I was mostly focussing on colors, in the two of them, and was trying to take very little time, so that's probably why the only recognizable objects in them are clouds.

My art teacher last year told us all that our eyes precieve light differently in person, and we often choose different colors to paint with in person than when working off a photograph.  I really like that idea, so I wanna try to do as many in-person paintings as possible.  Maybe I'll get to be really good at painting fast and accurately - that's my hope.  

We also ate pancakes for lunch today, and I was happy about that, so here is a pancake.

wisdom teeth and a party

Hello!  Guess what I did this morning?  Got my teeth taken out!  My teeth of wisdom.  What a hilarious metaphor.  Wanna hear about it?

They put me in this "twilight" state during surgery, where I was pretty much half awake and half asleep with half a brain and half a sense of vision.  The IV wasn't bad, which was good, and the whole thing was virtually painless.  Until now.  Now it hurts.  I think my favorite part was when they first gave me the "happy liquid".  My vision got really crazy almost instantly, and the doctor asked me what grade I was in.  I told him I was fine.  Then I said, oh wait, that's not right, is it?  And then I was out.  Cool cool cool!  

From now on it's ice packs and soft food.  I'd like to think I still have no brain, but I think I'm pretty sane right now.  Homework may have to get done.

Aaand, before teeth, I went to a party!  A birthday party!  I feel like I have to document these times at least a little bit, so here are some photos that I hope to someday put in an actual, tangible photo album.  Wouldn't that be nice?  Anyway, the party was shared between my two neighbors and good friends who pretty much have the same birthday.  They took about 8 other girls to DC in a limo (wowww!), where we would make a little time of it!  Have a look!

In DC, we strolled around the Natural History Museum for an hour.  Then we had some shakes and burgers at this nice little shake and burger place, and spent the rest of the evening running around monuments in the night.

We fed the fish in our man-made lake in the morning.

July pleasantries

Our July 4th was pleasant.  We went and joined the rest of our town in a parking log/grassy area for some 10-minute fireworks.  Yep, 10 minutes.  Most of the fun was just being there to be there, though.  It was almost unnerving to see just how many people live around us every day, when they all come out of their houses at once.  

We sat on a blanket and ate cheese and crackers.Then it took about 20 minutes for mom to get home (dad and I walked) because of the lines.  I liked strolling through the warm nighttime air and over-hearing everyone's backyard parties, with drunk kids calling out into the night and sounding particularly stupid from far off.

I've been doing lots of self portrait color studies here at home.  Summer school is taking up a lot of my time, but I'm getting better at just going faster.