Happy Halloween

Bauhaus minus the Bauhaus

Ah, Bauhaus... It's such a great event, especially when you don't go to it. Instead, I hit up the party that Michelle had at her place. It was really entertaining. I've added some pictures bellow. Later on we went to the annual block-party in the Central West End, but it turned out to be lame. The costumes were impressive, but there didn't actually seem to be anything going on. It was basically a ton of middle-aged drunks out in the cold. Some of the bars were closed (uh, yeah) and others were either too old or they were the Drunken Fish with a $10 cover. really lame. We went back to Michelle's hung out more and then hit up Steak n' Shake at about 2:00. They were doing some pretty impressive business for that time of night...

I was so sad to see to PIZZA PIZZA picture go I I thought I would throw in another of Keith trying to look Italian. (Believe it or not...I still have more)

Neglected

Hello again. I'm sure you are all wondering what happened to Michael? Is he dead? I appreciate the concern, but I'm not dead. I have been working nonstop to get all of my shit together for critiques on Wednesday. I spent last week gutting my studio, sanding the walls, scraping all of the paint off the floor, refinishing my worktable, Getting all of my old work out, and repainting both the floor and walls. In addition to all of that I wrote and designed an article about the birds. It is essentially an insert for National Geographic which tells the story of the "Greater American Bluebird," and its struggle to survive in America's Cities using the pictures you all have seen in old posts. I loved writing it and my brother helped me out with the proofreading. Gotta put his communications major to use. It still needs some tweaking, but it is one hell of a nice step in the right direction. My crit went really well and since then I have been thinking of ways to use this publication. I have come up with a few things that would really be interesting to see how they play out. The first is to actually go into doctors offices and other wiating areas and insert the pre-printed bird articles into their issues of National Geo. Gluing them in and everything. The problem with it is documentation and getting a reaction from people. But it would be fun to do a little guerrilla publishing. The second idea which I will do no matter what is submit it to both National Geo and The Autobahn Society. I plan on framing their rejection letters. The third idea was brought up to me by Ron Leax, one of my professors. He has connections with a magazine in Portland, OR that might be interested in publishing it as an art piece. We'll see...

I've posted some photos from Jill's studio today. This is the stuff I have been working with her on all semester:

Corner Piece

Old Pieces

Other Corner Piece

Why do I want this so bad?

Terror in the Heartland

Softball, A Capella, and Hookahs

Part II: Saturday

Tim and I got up really late for understandable reasons, and the only reason we got up when we did was because Sammy had told me last night about her softball game. It was the last game of their season and I really didn't want to miss it. Tim seemed really enthused too. We got there around 2:00 and it was hot as hell. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the stands faced directly into the sun. Nevertheless, we stuck it out for Sam. On top of the heat the umps didn't show, so the girls had to grab two random guys to make the calls.

The game was insanely fun. Sam pitched the entire time and really gave Illinois a run for their money. In the end they pulled out a victory of 7 to 2. I found out later that it was their first win all season. The girls played another game later that day, but Tim and I were starved so we split.

We hit up Blueberry Hill. I hadn't eaten there in a good 2 years; it was tasty, but I still have a good number of restaurants I'd go to first...

Later, Michelle gave me a ring to see if I wanted to go see Diane perform in the A Capella concert in Graham Chapel. I was hesitant (I'm not a big A Capella fan) but Tim was into it and it was something to do. We went over at 7:45 or so, and met the girls. The concert was about what I expected. There is no doubt that they are talented, but it just isn't my thing. Also, the person who was manning the sound sucked. Tim was getting really pissed about it.

We left at intermission, because the second half was improv comedy and no one wanted to see it. We headed out to Sam's car because they had planted my birthday gift there. I kind of already knew what it was considering they have gotten me the same thing for the past three years. JONES SODA! I love it. To my surprise, there was the excellent addition of Arrested Development season 2.

We hung out over at Michelle's apartment for a good while. There was a party in her building for an ultimate Frisbee team. For a bit we thought about going, but we walked in and found that a) they were all freshmen b) they were all guys and if that wasn't incentive enough c) they didn't have any cups. We literally walked in the front door and out the back.

Off to the loop! We weren't really sure where we were headed but we figured we would find something. It was still a bit early, but it was just about to pick up. When we started to reach the end of the strip we were running out of options. Michelle recommended we hit up the hookah bar there. We were all down.

The bar was kind of empty when we got there, except There was an old couple grinding on the dance floor. It was totally unnecessary. We got our first round and chilled for a bit. I think what kept us there was the music. There were two D.J.s who switched off and they were both amazing. One played nothing but funk and old R&B the other played Hip Hop. As the night went on the place got much busier, we got some more drinks and a lemon flavored Hookah. Then when we were starting to get into the place more, Emily H., Jacqui, and one of Sam's friends Michelle showed up with some others. It was awesome, we kind of took over the back half of the club. The hookah really wet to my head. All of us couldn't stop dancing. It was kind of surreal with the smoke, crazy lighting, and funk music. I had way too much fun and the next thing I knew it was 2:00 and my legs could barely hold me...I think it hit everyone at the same time and we decided to walk back.

Our last stop was Michelle I.'s where we collapsed and for some reason started watching The Simple Life...

Who's a Dog?

I was looking through my pictures and found this one. I took it at a peach stand in North Carolina last summer.

Twenty-Two with Bubbaloo Lou

Friday was my twenty-second birthday and it was a really long one. It started off at 7:15 AM with waking up to go over to Jill's studio. I got in the shower first thing. It was really painful getting up. Not only was it dark outside, and really cold, also Tim had come in the night before so I went to bed pretty late. When I got out of the shower I picked up my cell phone which said that I had two missed calls. I knew instantly who they were from. I called Jill back and she told me she didn't need me till nine. I was kind of pissed about this considering I had so much trouble getting up and now that I was I find out that I could have slept for another hour. So I desperately tried to go back to sleep. Right when I was about to get a shred of peaceful rest at 7:50 my cell phone goes nuts, vibrating its self off of my dresser. I pick it up and on the other end are my parents singing happy birthday.

At about 8:30 I got in the car and made my way downtown. Jill and I met up at this diner near her studio which has an amazing breakfast buffet. I am not one to pass up a free breakfast buffet. We hung out there for a good hour talking about the next few months and our work and stuff. Jill said that today she wasn't going to work in the studio, instead she wanted me to run a few errands for her around town. The first of which was for me to head out to South St. Louis and grab a 75 cent part for her angle grinder. I had a hell of a time finding this place and then when I did get there the woman behind the counter mad fun of me for driving all that way for a dinky little part. On the way back to the studio my reserve light came on and I started to freak out a bit, because I really wasn't sure where there was a diesel station. I found one though. All in all the round trip was about 45 minutes and the cost was much more than 75 cents at $2.99 per gallon.

I ran a few more errands for Jill, dropped off some work in galleries and such, then at about 11:30 she had nothing left for me to do. This was a good thing because Tim was waiting at the apartment and I was pretty sure he hadn't eaten anything. When I got back we hit up the U-City Grill. (My personal favorite) It was excellent as usual.

After that I had to go into studio. One of the grads was giving a lecture, and I had some bowls that I needed to trim before they dried out too much. I left early, because it was my birthday and such...

I got back to the apartment and Tim was visibly agitated, but it was like 4:00 and I couldn't think of anything that we could do outside the house. We played F-Zero for way too long and finally an excuse to leave came up. Graham and Areal were headed out to House of India for dinner, and even though it was only 6:00 and still really light outside we both jumped at the chance to get out.

The Indian was great, but it was kind of piled on top of two other massive meals so I really couldn't eat all that much. (It was really early too.)

Back at home we found ourselves in the same position as before...bored. I called everyone I knew. I went through my entire phone book and got nothing but answering machines. Except for Russel who had gone up to Chicago for an LDBC, Sam who had made plans to go to the Casinos, Tien who was just going to dinner, and Tom who had another friends birthday. LAME! I was really depressed by all this. It got to be 8:30 and we had to do something. Tim and I headed off to Riddles to see if we could get some drinks in us and wait out those friends that had given me maybes.

Riddles is one of those places that starts off the night with old people and then as it gets later the crowd gets younger...So yeah, the old people hadn't left yet. We waited it out though. We got some beers in us, a band started up at 10:00 and sure enough Tom calls me to see if he could meet up with us. Inebriation kicked in and suddenly we were having fun. Tom told us that the night before he was held up at gun point two blocks from Riddles and that the only ID he had was a Drivers license from New Zealand. On top of that when he went to see his friend Lou in Forest Park, where he was playing in a band, he found that his tire was flat. After a few rounds we decided we would all head over to see Lou. Apparently, it was Lou's birthday also and Tom was really intent on going. (Not like Tim and I had any other plans.)

The concert was at a place called The Boat House and guess what, we caught up with the old people. Lou was filling in for the sax player of a Cajun band named the "Zydico Crawdaddys." It was really strange. Lou is 22 and I don't think there was another band member less than double his age. As uncomfortable as it was at first, after another round I was up there playing the washboard. Also we spend a good portion of the evening coming up with Cajun nicknames for Lou. My favorite was Bubbaloo Lou, but Louisiana was a close second.

We hung out with the Crawdaddys until 11:30 and then headed back to the loop to hit up a midnight showing of my favorite film, Rushmore, at the Tivoli. It was the perfect end to an insanely long day. Even though I have seen the film 20 times or so, seeing it on the big screen with a full audience made it a lot of fun.

My weekend didn't stop there, but I'm really tired of typing, so maybe tomorrow I can fill in the rest. I'm sorry if you actually read all of this post...Long!

The List

This is just a list of stuff I'm dealing with, because I don't really have time to go into detail right now:

Got all of the cousins in We ♥ Katamari

New Monkey in the works

Working in installation space with no clue of what I'm doing

The Life Aquatic Soundtrack is amazing

Kink in neck

No Arrested Development last night...I hate Baseball

Built a really cool bench

Screenwriting Professor back from Belarus with depressing stories

Car still not fixed

Looking for Russian Student to join me across Siberia

Tim will be here on Thursday

Midterm in Personal Finance way too close

Working to get the site running with Russell

I'll be 22 on Friday

Make It Dance

You guys have got to try this. I recomend the Orange bear with the DJ Kane song.

Botanical Gardens, Fashion Show, and Tay

Today kicked off with a trip to the botanical gardens with the parents. It was highly entertaining. They have this giant geodesic dome called the CLIMATRON! It looks like something out of Logan's Run, and the best part is it's name is registered...just to keep other people from using it. the inside is actually really interesting, but I really think that the name could use a little updating.

After the gardens we went back to campus to check out the annual parents weekend fashion show. The theme this year was Gypsies, Tramps, & Thieves. (I found out from my Dean who was sitting behind me that this comes from the title of a Cher song.) So the way it worked, was each of the seniors in Fashion Design put together a line of four dresses which focused on one of the three categories. What was really funny was when they announced each of the students before their models came out they would say their name and then their category. The second designer's introduction was, "Sara August, tramp."

After the show I ditched my parents, because I needed to get over to Taylor's mom's house for a surprise birthday dinner. It was fun, and I new all of the people of course. The problem was most of the people there went to high school with Taylor, so they kept gossiping about people I didn't know. That got really awkward for the three of us who were clueless. Nevertheless, the food was really good!

Botanical Gardens

Gourds

Inside The Climatron

Koi With Duck

So my Mom and Dad showed up today. Last week I asked my Dad to bring his old Schwinn Varsity with him so that I could have a bike to ride at school. I was really excited about this, but yesterday he called me while I was in studio. He said that he had the bike checked out and when they were looking at the handlebars they found a crack that ran through the shaft and along the fork. That meant that the steering could give out at any moment...The guy offered him a deal on a new Giant crossover bike. I really didn't like the sound of that, so I told Dad not to bother. Anyway, they showed up today and strapped to the back of the car was a bike. I thought for a second that they might have gotten old Schwinn fixed, however, as I got to the back of the car I could see that it was a different color. My Mom told me that Dad was so disappointed after he talked to me he ran out to a pawn shop to see what he could find. He found a late 80's Schwinn Aluminium 594. Exactly what I wanted and a quarter the weight of the old Varsity. This is it...



....he he, red walls

I took it for a few test rides and I love it. It needs some grease and the derailleur needs to be tweaked, but that is no big deal. All I want to do is ride right now, unfortunately its 12:30, I'm sick, and I have to be at Jill's at 8:00. Lame...

Illness Strikes The Trans-Siberian Rail Road

So suddenly I am really sick. It woke me up in the middle of the night last night. I was having a a dream about traveling the Trans-Siberian Rail Road and suddenly I felt like I was choking. I soon realized that it was mucus, not the Russian syndicate. I am really pissed off with Kleenex right now, because they have obviously cheapened their product. It is pretty bad when you can't get a tissue out of the box with out tearing it in two. On the up side, that weird smell coming from our fridge is gone. I'm not really whether my roommates got rid of it or my nose has built up its own defence...whichever, I'm happy.

This week has started off interestingly enough... there is some guest artist in ceramics who is making giant clay butts. The funniest part about it is that Ron, the head of ceramics, is forcing his 3D Design class to work with this guy. Imagine you're a freshmen and your art professor is asking you to wake up at 7:30 three days out of the week to construct a huge ceramic ass... Also this week, I shared my first ever beer with Russell. He is off probation now, so he can now drink illegally like every one else his age. I'm still mad at him though. We were supposed to go out to Ewing, IL for a road rally last weekend. I was so looking forward to it too. Instead, he ditched me for some manic chick, and drove up to Chicago with her.

Lastly, the parents are coming up for this weekend and then Tim is coming in the next weekend for my birthday. (Are you paying attention Russell?) Anyway, it looks like Mikey isn't going to be getting much sleep these next two weeks. When fall break comes around, I am not going to do anything...

General Lee

My cousin Elizabeth sent this to me. It is one of the greatest things I have seen for a long time...Thanks again Lib, you made my week!

New Month, New Monkey...

So this months monkey's names Bo-Bo. Creative I know... Bo-Bo has been kind of a back-up monkey for a while and I have kind of had no other choice than to use him. I haven't been in the monkey drawing mood lately. Sorry guys, and yes I know he doesn't have a right arm. (Whatever)