It's official. Countdown begins.

Mental state: apprehensive & aware, not shaking

Dehydration scale (1-10): 7.8

Coffee intake in past 24 hours: <10 oz.

Beer, wine & spirits intake in past 24 hours: >12 oz.

Hand residue factor: ink and wash stains

Craving status: New York strip steak

Current desk display: 2 bananas, 1 Blue Moon Lager, 8 pieces of battered trace, laptop, desk brush, Elmer's glue, ipod, engineer scale, 1 eflute 100 scale topography model, drafting tape, various pencils and pens

Most recent sleep period: 230am-830am (sleeping in!!!)

He performed card tricks, too

The male model tonight had a vast array of talents. One, he wasn't half bad at the job we hired him for. He started off the night with a pose that was a crowd stunner. He got on his knees and proceeded to lean back, all the way so I couldn't even see his head. He was spread eagle in front of Sara and I, who had a hard time collecting ourselves and begin the drawing. I only have a skeletal outline of it, but from what I do have you can imagine the situation.



After the first set of 10 one-minute poses, he took a break. He read a bit from a book, some kind of "how-to" manual of card tricks and related magical maneuvers. At the next break, he broke out a formidable wad of 100 bills and special gold coins to demonstrate a sleight of hand trick.


3 min pose


5 min pose


5 min pose

I felt a lot better about this week's drawing results. Men are supposed to be more difficult than women to draw. Perhaps I do not share this sentiment due to the fact that the woman we drew last week more resembled a 13 year old girl than a mature woman. I feel bad for saying that, but that is the kind of harsh criticism folks ought to anticipate in the modeling universe.


10 min pose

I rather like this one below.


10 min pose

And no, he isn't sitting in a puddle of poo in this last one. It just looks that way.


15 min pose

Music notes

Not that I have the time to be doing this, but I was browsing the concert circuit and I came across a notable gem or two.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone w/ the Papercuts, Bottom of the Hill
December 5, 2007 (Wed)

St. Vincent, Great American Music Hall
February 17, 2008 (Sunday)

Explosions in the Sky, GAMH
March 21 & 22, 2008 (Fri & Sat)

Dozing in the library

There are few places in Wurster Hall where a person can get any privacy. There are also few places where you can comfortably take a nap. Naps are seriously mandatory at school these days, as final projects are coming to a close in the next two or so weeks.



I've taken to napping in the library along the south facing windows where there are a series of small tables (they fit one comfortably). It is very pleasant. You don't get the noise from studio (people slamming drawers, nailing, power tools, music, etc.) and it has a favorable microclimate that induces a quick 45 min nap. The tables are not oversized so you aren't uncomfortable haunched over with your head in your arms. And if you need a makeshift pillow, just pull a nice hefty book from the shelves and begin improvising immediately! Plus, people rarely venture along this wall. It seems that napping is one of the preferred activities in this part of the library environs.

Your only risk of napping in the library is one of your classmates coming across you as they get to the end of the stacks. It is important that this napping zone not become too widely known in our class for risk of overcrowding.

Other updates: A male nude model is the main event in my Wed. night drawing class.

Holiday muse-ic

This shall prove to be a grand show featuring both a well established and an up-and-coming Portland music act.

Stephen Malkmus has been residing in Portland for several years now. He recently had a kid, I guess. I saw Blitzen Trapper over the summer at Holocene. They were a little loud and anxious, I thought. I hope that the last several months on the road have polished their act and things will be more interesting this time around.

Too cute

This is from my favorite otter. Happy Thanksgiving y'all.



P.S. Tonight on the way back from my parents' house, we got pulled over for speeding and an obstructed front license plate. Tickets were about $400. However, we were spared the breathalizer.

P.P.S. I wasn't driving.

A car went into the corner store

On Monday night, as I was biking home south on Shattuck, a police car busted past me going 60. Other official vehicles followed seconds thereafter. I didn't think much about it, shit like that happens a lot on the border of Berkland.

I got to my apt., at Grove Street and Adeline, and found my roommate Garrett outside, looking down the street. He said he'd heard a loud crash 5 minutes earlier. We walked down a half block and at the corner a Saturn had apparently veered off the street, hit a tree, and continued its journey into the side of a building with a corner store. The tree was on the ground, a victim of this crime, which appeared to be a case of grand auto theft. The doors of the vehicle were wide open and there were no signs of any driver or passenger. Police were swarming around on the streets, perhaps responding to reports of sightings of the alleged suspect. We didn't stick around to find out.

Based on this incident, the reaction time of the police in Berkeley is pretty good. By the time Garrett and I got to the crash, the crime scene van was already there and they had roped off the immediate area. I am sure the suspect easily escaped. God knows he could have been hiding in our carport. There's a lot of hiding places off of Grove Street.

Strike a pose

1 min poses


10 min pose #1


10 min pose #2


20 min pose

Pie n' Wine

There is a pie and wine party tonight that I probably should not go to given the fact I am really behind on my studio design proposal. We have a preliminary pin up on Monday. But I will nonetheless venture forth toward fruit-studded baked confections and the sacred libation of Dionysus.

Today I spent most of the day completing a draft of an unrelated drawing assignment. It was beautiful outside and I should have been outside running, biking, or shopping.

Light at the end of the tunnel - Wednesday all I have planned to do is pack for my pending 2 night journey up north...and worry about what I have to get done for studio when I return on Saturday night.

I may try a vegan Japanese restaurant with Christina tonight. Not sure if I will end up full after that one, but then again, there is a pie n' wine party calling my name.

Naked people. Six hours of naked people.

Graduate school provides the opportunity to do things you haven't done before. You learn and grow from these experiences, thus enriching your educational experience. I myself have traveled three times overseas on the dime of the Beatrix Farrand fund, among countless parties, receptions, conferences, sponsored field and professional office visits.

Graduate school will also pay for nude models.

For the next two weeks, a nude model will visit my landscape drawing class and we will utilize her/him for three hours. There will be breaks. Apparently, nude models are traditionally given a five minute break for every 20 minutes of work performed. That means, collectively over two weeks, almost 70-80 minutes of breaks for the nekkid one while we gawk, stare and try to pretend we are only mildly amused.

Monday will begin with a female model. Our professor Chip claims that women are "easier to draw." I wonder what that means. He claims men are "difficult." I would like to know more details about that one.



Having never been in a class with a nude model, I have many questions about procedure, proximity, and expectations. I do hope this person is relatively in shape. Otherwise, I might as well just go hang out in the locker room of the Y with a tablet and charcoal. I am concerned about being too close that I may feel like I am staring.

My classmate Sara, who has taken figure drawing classes before, assured me that while it IS weird, you quickly acclimate to the environment. However, she told me that she's seen it all in terms of models, including a man who appeared to have visible STD symptoms. Ouch.

Oh, we were told that all cell phones will be collected into a box when we enter the classroom as a safeguard against unauthorized photos being taken. Also, there will not be drinking allowed that night in class (which goes against normal operating procedures). Wish us luck. And above all, wish us virile, attractive models!

In memoriam

Dale William Edmonds
October 28, 1946 - November 14, 2003

Next semseter

We've already signed up for classes for Spring semester 2008. Oh, how I wish it were my LAST spring here. Sadly, it is NOT.

Anyway, it appears as though I will not be required to take LA 202: Neighborhood Landscape Design. Under normal circumstances, this course is taught by my adviser Louise and I would jump to take it. However, this year she is on sabbatical and will not teach next term. The course this term is apparently going to be split between two fill in faculty members, one of which I am uncertain I like very much.

The other options are to take either Peter's Advanced Urban Design studio (CP 248) or Randy Hester's Environmental Planning studio (LA 205). I decided to enroll in Randy's studio. I haven't had Randy as a professor since Spring 2006. He's a big reason I came to the department, so perhaps this will reignite my enthusiasm for studio. Lately, I just feel pooped because we've had to crank out obscene amounts of work the last three weeks.

That stuff is pretty mundane, though.

Things to look forward to are Thanksgiving. I will be a basket case trying to get out of here. The good news is that Chip cancelled class on Wednesday night, so I will be able to meander on home before midnight to pack for the mad dash home. I will spend two nights at home and there are already plans in the making to see the Chuck Close exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

Night Falls on Kortedala

This is Jens Lekman at Bimbo's in San Francisco on Friday,
November 9. Photo credit to Jason.

One powerpoint, two powerpoint, three powerpoint - bust!

Come 11am tomorrow, I will have had presented three Powerpoint presentations in one week. The topics have been diverse, yet interrelated as most things happen to exist in this world:

1. An Introduction to Three Watersheds of Contra Costa County
2. Sustainable Storm Water Case Study: The Mount Tabor Middle School Rain Garden, Portland, OR
3. Mending a Divided Watershed: Rodeo Creek

Despite the flurry of practice, I have not learned how to animate slides yet. That function is generally overused and abused in presentations - we've all seen that circle that flys spinning counterclockwise onto the screen - but it is a good feature to use when you are displaying plans or maps with layered information. So while I do not claim to be a PPT guru, I do have some formidable skillz with this application.

I better sleep, I have to get up in three hours. I really need some damn sleep.

Prevailing over blockage

All I needed to get over this writer's block I've had was to go visit Whole Foods. That place is a cluster fuck of pretension, urban vanity, and irresistable boutique chocolate bars.

I went there with the idea I would spend $10 on dinner and I spent $34. Half of that was spent on some good EFAs from the ocean swimmers. I am almost out of the Walgreen's brand I currently use. These things cost $17 and claim to be derived from "Wild Caught Small Fish" with "No Mercury, PCBs and Lead." Hmm, funny thing but I thought most consumables we buy lack these elements. I love unheeded advertising! Looking at the label more closely, I see that this is a product from Norway or Iceland. I guess they fish on the international boundaries of these Scandinavian countries and can't 100% guarantee the nationality of their net's catch.

After I procured my oil allotment (sp) I got in line near the express area. This area has a clear view of the salad bar and pastry case. I began musing over several of the elaborate confections, one a variation of a Boston Creme, the other a more traditional, yet vegan, carrot cake. In the glare of the case, I saw a man put his hands into the candied pecans container of the salad bar. He continued to crush the nuts in the palms of his hands (it looked like he was warming his hands by the fire) and then sprinkle the crushed contents onto his salad box. The remainder crumbery, not desirable by him, was returned to the greater nut box. The first thought through my head was "Gross" but the second thought was something along the lines of "if you act like this in a public place of relative scrutiny, how in the world do you behave once you get home?" Good lord.

Time to nap. Stay out of the candied pecans.

Writer's hesitation

I've had a few free hours since our doosy of a presentation at 2pm today. I thought about posting a run down of the day's events, but it just isn't terribly interesting to describe. Then I thought about posting some announcement about the tailless raccoon I saw outside of Wurster with my friend Tim on Saturday night, but I realized I've already done that before (it's weird...the thing looks like a odd-shaped bear with no tail).

Still, no spark of inspiration from that either.

I then thought about just going on strike for a little bit, hoping that interesting writing topics may just need some time to ferment and ripen.

It's hard to say what will happen. Maybe it's the lack of sleep causing this streak of uninspiration. Who knows.

When weekends aren't weekends

School is great and everything but it gets tiresome when you log in more than 36 hours there over the course of a Saturday and Sunday. Today I arrived at 8:30am and I just got home (it is 2:46am on Monday). The day before was about the same.

Things in my group are good. We left our building tonight in high spirits after plotting out our presentation board, which is more than 6' long. Whenever you plot anything more than 48" long, you always risk having graphics go astray or print out blob-like. By the graces of all that is holy, the 72" board printed out complete and pristine. The colors weren't half bad, either. Our 30 slide powerpoint presentation is also in top form. We run through at 10am tomorrow, and then do the presentation at 2:00 in front of a selected panel of stakeholders and critics. Shall be interesting. I cannot wait until we are done so I can catch up on all the other crap I've ignored for days.

I had a nice catch up with some friends from Oregon on Friday night. We went to eat at Sam's Place, some seafood joint in the thick of the financial tourist trap district. Can't say I adored the neighborhood, but the fish wasn't half bad. This restaurant is one of SF's oldest, apparently. The service is alright, if a little slow but it was a Friday evening.

My take home message of the evening was that people who have jobs have it easy. They have time to dine and socialize, plan morning outings to the spa, and even exercise. People like me barley have time to get 3.5 hours of sleep a night. A condition which I am currently headed toward if I do not wrap this message up soon.

Only 27 min left of my favorite month

Well, the bell is about to toll the end of the fine month of October.

No other month compares in my opinion. October is the time of year you truly feel the day's length fleeting and your senses become awakened to a new palette of smells and colours. The sun begins to set around 5:00pm and soon the dinner hour is completely black, suggesting a different variety of foods should also be introduced. Thinking back to late June, when evenings would often trail along until nearly 10:00pm, the evenings of October seem entirely longer and dominant to the days. Something nice about this October is that it was essentially a dry month, too, allowing me to bike to school and back without cursing Mother Nature.

Now just 21 minutes left in October 2007.

I should take a quick moment to commemorate the birthday of my father and three uncles, who turned 61 and 59 last Sunday (28th). Happy birthday, Pops.

Tonight is Halloween. I am without costume, still at school, and I just finished coloring these perspectives I promised my studio group all weekend. I will now go scan them and head home.

Here is one:


Oh. Here's to a rockin' November.

Shellac = shiny fun things

Our midterm for my Landscape Drawing and Painting class is to make a weird proscenium and memory chamber for two soon-to-become threatened species: Apis mellifera (common honeybee) and Quercus agrifolia (Coast Live Oak). It is a strange project but it is very doable because there are only a few guidelines we must follow. Above all it should be interesting to look at. I think I succeeded.

Look inside the boxes:





Required parts were two matchboxes and one cigar box as the base for the assignment's elements. I didn't want to bother with procuring a real cigar box, so I made one using museum board that I found in a drawer. The matchboxes were easier to come by.

I used a lot of shellac-varnish on my box. Everything is eerily shiny and decoupage-y looking. It would probably go up in flames if one of those matches was lit. I am exhausted from all this craft making. I shall now sleep.

Happy Birthday, Janine

Today is Janine's birthday. Here's to you!

I sent her a card from this cheeky site I just found. Some of these are pretty damn hilarious.