I'll be in Chicago this weekend... Be back Sunday night.

New Monkey, Beautiful Weather, and Eliasson Lecture

first off I put up the April Monkeys. (two this time) They're sort of howler monkey like. I had to put them up early because I'm going to be in Chicago on April 1.

Today's weather was awesome. I got to ride my bike everywhere I needed to go. The sun was out all day long and this evening was total floating weather. (weather so perfect you can't feel it.)



Tonight I went to see my favorite artist, Olafur Eliasson, give a lecture in Steinberg. I was completely blown away. the lecture was by far the best of the year. I'm sure you guys don't care all that much, but I'm going to be thinking about this lecture for years to come.

Number 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm number 2

I Need a Necktie Cape

Enformal

Last night a group of us decided we'd all go to the Engineering formal. (I think Graham may have influenced us a bit) We all got dressed up, and, seeing as this was a sober affair, we did a little pre-partying over at D-Court. It was pretty fun even though most of the time there was spent molesting an inflatable Elmo. (Incriminating picture's will probably surface soon.)

After sufficient boozing up to take on all the Engineering students, we walked over to Whitaker. The entire way we were joking about what this party was going to be like, and I must say that most all of what I considered to be stereotypical engineering comments turned out to be dead on accurate.

You could see through the windows coming in what the party was going to be like... Introverted kids in the corner of the fully lit room and far too many people doing the jitterbug. I thought to myself, it's for a good cause. (The formal was bayou themed and all the proceeds went to Habitat for Louisiana residents.)

Inside there was a light up disco floor. It was kind of...cool, but small and all the lights in the room were on so it's effectiveness was limited. There were also an absurd number of B&D/police. There must have been 5 or 6 there. That many guards for quite possibly the tamest party I've ever been to. I mean their bar consisted of water, lemonade, and iced tea. At one point a cop actually started dancing with the chaparone. (she wasn't very good) It felt like middleschool all over again.

Okay so even though I have now bashed the party pretty thoroughly, I actually had a good time. I could make a total ass of myself without giving a shit, and the company was entertaining. Justin got wasted and hit on Sam, Erin walked into the coatroom and saw Justin about to kiss her and shouted, "HA!" Tony and Mike actually got kicked out of the party and Mike got into a fight with one of the guards. (got to make those guys work for their paycheck.) Tom spent the rest of the night trying to get his flask back which got confiscated during the brawl. All in all a night well worth going to.

Bye-Bye Mushi, Rents, and Pieta

Mushi has been shipped off to his new home in Long Beach. My parents have come and gone for a short visit. I'm starting to build my Pieta... And that's all I got. (No time to write a lot)

Emergency Communities, St. Bernard Parish

I'm back from Louisiana and had one insane experience while there. Essentially, we were living on a hippie commune for a week. I was skeptical at first, but they are doing an amazing job for St. Bernard Parish. They average 1,500 meals a day, plus distribute water, clothes, and provide free internet and long distance phone service. The destruction is unimaginable and it is organizations like Emergency Communities that are holding together the fragile threads of these communities. Many of the residents are Post Traumatic Stress and a ton just are not coming back. As you drive down the streets the destruction is limitless. St. Bernard was under 12 feet of water for a number of days. Houses have floated off their foundations, mold has taken over, and currently all trash pickups have been halted. Peoples lawns are now piled to the limit with debris with no one knowing when it will be removed. I'd image that a trash truck could only pick up from two or three homes before it has a full load.

While there, I served food, gutted homes, picked up debris, distributed clothes and water, and tried to help whenever and wherever I was needed. You feel like you can't stop working, for every second wasted seems like it could be spend helping someone out.

This trip was way more eyeopening than I had ever expected. I've been in a bit of daze since I got back, because I just have so much to process. One thing is for certain, I took a lot more from New Orleans than I could ever give back.

If you guys want to see my photos, here is a link to the ones I posted on Facebook. If you want to read more about Emergency Communities, please visit emergencycommunities.org. And if you guys want to hear more about my trip I would be more happy to talk!

Spring break

So I'm just now packing up for my trip down to Louisiana. I'll be gone until the 19th and it may be hard to reach me so don't count on hearing from me until then. I ran errands with Kiani earlier to get ready and subsequently got to meet her new dog Audry. Here are some pictures of her:


She is one beautiful dog. (I want one so bad)

My dad sent me this:

At one computer expo(COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have
>to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive -- but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because almost none of the controls would operate the same way as in the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Katrina

Here is a story NBC did on one of my classes. It aired at 5:00 and they showed clip from my interview. (I sounded like a total tool)

Also I found out that Playback Magazine did an article on the Please Touch Show which made me out to be some sort of art god which carried the sculpture department on my back singlehandedly. It's just a bit over the top but I'm not complaining... It's always good to have press.

Who told Frank he could wear the Tron costume again?

I had an idea last night to illustrate a Primate ABC's Coloring Book. I couldn't sleep because I kept coming up with funny ideas for letters. I'll keep you all updated, if you want me to or not. (The belly of the Orangutan gave me the idea.)

Jesus is My Coach

I can't quite put my finger on it but something seems wrong. (more here)

Snow Monkey Munny, Illness, and exhaustion

So the last 24 hours have sucked hard core. I caught a stomach virus from my roommate and spent from midnight to 4:30am vomiting uncontrollably. I am gradually getting better now, but I'm on no sleep and I still feel like I have taken a few punches in the stomach.

On a more pleasant note, I finished my second Munny. He is based on the Japanese snow monkey from last month.




I posted him on the Kidrobot forum yesterday evening and later that night I had a buyer. She made me an offer I couldn't refuse so sadly this one is getting shipped off as well. I've got him for a little while before I need to pack him up, so if you want to see him let me know.

Boy Sticks Gum On $1.5 Million Painting

Helen Frankenthaler's "The Bay" is misinterpreted by a 12 year old.