freeeeeeezing

it was unbearably cold yesterday and i hate it more than i hate doing dishes. as i was walking and my face went numb, i really wanted to set up a heated tent somewhere on campus as sort of a warm yourself for a bit and then go to class. it would have sand, and beach umbrellas, hot beverages or beverages when consumed in large amounts make you "feel" warm...wink. it would be like an oasis but only warm. we always try to accomodate for the heat in the summer, fans, air conditioned facilities, free bottled water etc. but everyone always just deals with the cold, "it's the cold, what can you do?" i want to fight the cold, i don't know how but i do. i'm just ranting because the cold irritates me so much. i think within the next few years i will have to investigate new geographical living areas, i think dry heat would be ideal. arizona, the southwest/west. moist heat is disgusting. the only thing that sucks about dry heat is a whole new rhelm of animals that thrive there. crazy snakes really freak me out. the worst i've seen here is a garden snake, but in desert areas there are so many more and that freaks me out. i don't mind snakes, just when i know where they are, when they come out of nowhere and surprise me that's when i panic.

the best thing about snakes is how they move. it's amazing and so different than most animals we see. no apendages to aid with travel, just muscles contracting and relaxing. so interesting, especially the snakes that are really fast. i mean worms move the same way, but they are slow and uncoordinated, so snakes, yes! lately i've been very nature drawn, probably because i'm cooped up all day everyday inside because i never have a free moment and when i was small and lived in rural iowa all i did was explore. i need to do more exploring, it's liberating.

so today i ventured to the mall. ahhh scary, but i was there insanely too long and i was by myself so it makes it 10 times worse. but it sparked something i've always wanted to do and that is make something out of mannequins. i know people do it all the time and blah blah who cares. i want to use mannequins to bring to life one of my drawings. it involves clowns with a plug and cord coming out of it's eye. i want to make it really work and glow, how kick ass would that be. i'll see if i can rummage up a photo of that drawing cause it makes sense to me cause i created it, but to others not so much. this blog is going to help me out a lot when i get the opportunity to create artwork i want to and have so many ideas i can't remember them all. k. mannequin clowns with plugs/cords coming out of there eyes. done.

i also realized today i fucking hate washing dishes. this has nothing to do with anything, but i really do. i just want to throw them every time i see them in the sink. i mean the whole set only cost me $5, garage sale special, it's sooo tempting, but i don't think the roommates would appreciate that too much. i love/don't love garage sales, i like that everything is cheap and i'm giving it a home other than the landfill. but i hate them because it sometimes creeps me out thinking that someone i don't know used this same exact thing, mostly dishes, cause i don't know i like clean things a lot. that's why i never buy shoes at thrift stores, i could never do it, i might cry. but it's no different than buying t-shirts there either, i mean someone has sweat in your shirt. ahhhh. sure it's been washed but how clean is it really? i want someone to do a dateline investigation as to how clean your clothes really get after you wash them. okay. well i think we've covered all the topics: clowns, dishes and thrift store freakouts. it's time to end this day.

some fine reading

so i was at work today, which consists of selling merchandise, etc etc. and i figured i would get some homework done while i'm at it, so art history it was. i was reading about roman art and they were talking about how the romans started thinking about making art that is deceptive to viewers. i really like deceptive art so this caught my attention. i mean why recreate something which already exists. i think it's great when artists can mimic something so well, it's hard to decifer whether it's a photo or a drawing, or something along those lines. these roman artists were creating work which were windows painted on walls and they were to mimic the outside world. if an artist could mimic a window or door and actually fool people, that to me would be amazing and a great moment to show that they can recreate the world. but it's funny the book i was reading was talking about this because my dad recently gave me an old cabinet front and it looks like a window, i'm pretty sure it's so i can make deceptive art, i mean what else would i do with it. maybe "looking into the future" sometimes i like to think i can predict the future, i guess this would be a time to put my money where my mouth is even though i have zero dollars. but i'm glad everything has come together and that cabinet frame has a purpose in life. hooray!

symmetry

so today in survey 2 we were talking about sexuality in contemporary world powers because in this victory stele this author was saying how the way the leader is portrayed is in a way showing his attractiveness and power. blah blah blah. but it was interesting because then we started talking about current world leaders and how they are portrayed can be similar. a guy in my class was talking about how a poll of women during the clinton scandal said she should be punished for his wrong because he was so attractive. and that got me thinking about a conversation i had with lindsey before my class about how she saw or was reading a study about how people who are more symmetrical are more appealing to the eye. if you think about this theory, it makes complete sense but i find it sooo intersting and it makes me want to take headshots of people i know and see if they are symmetrical or not. not just to be like ahhh you are technically not as attractive as so and so, but just applying a science to the way people look because no one looks exactly like anyone else. i think i will start doing that and posting them. i'll have to do some research about "ideal" measurements but it will be fun.

here are some pictures from chicago i took last week. it takes me a while to do things like load pictures, but i loooove reflections. enjoy!

miles and miles

this weekend involved a lot of driving. from des moines to iowa city to chicago to iowa city to des moines to minden to des moines. it's like 1,000 miles or something, insane. i can't even imagine what it was like before modern automobiles to make a trip like that. there would be no such thing as a quick trip. but then again, things were not as busy busy rush rush like they are now. it would be so great, and i would do this if the interstate was a more friendly place but i would love to walk my common trips like from des moines to iowa city. because when i'm in the car, i always say "soo close, i just want to get there" it would bring a whole different situation if i was walking, i would take forever it would seem. i can't even fathum the experience, but i don't think it's very safe to just walk the interstate, but i guess i would just walk the shoulders or even down lower where the road meets nature. but maybe some day i'll feel motivated and do just that. of course the appropriate documentation would happen, if it was a long trip that takes days, sleeping would be the hardest part of all because it would be terrifying to sleep out there, so exposed and unprotected but none the less it would be interesting. i guess i could take the highways, maybe not as scary but worth a shot. hmmmm this could be a great " hey i just graduated and want to do something outrageous before i have to get a real job" experiment. i would pick up trash while i was walking my route, it just makes sense. it would be like hiking iowa from one destination to the next. like ragbrai but m uch longer and i don't think i could walk across iowa, maybe not in the beginning. then there is the factor of wow, i do have a job right now but that would be part of the whole experience. do you leave behind the hectic world you live in now for something more relaxing or would that be too boring.

okay the final thing would be 1 week, i would do my normal schedule for one week. all my normal stops, and time everything. how long i was in a car. then the next week everything would be walking and i would time everything again and make the comparison. a trip to iowa city or the opposite direction, western iowa where i grew up would take forever but would be a great experiment.

THE BEAN, I SAW THE BEAN!

I was in Chicago today and saw the big bean in the park. it is sooo great. simple but effective. i will have pictures tomorrow when i download them on my computer. but the bean is reflective and i forgot how much i love reflective objects. i want to do a whole series of photographs that involve taking pictures through reflections. it's like going through another medium to get an image. almost fake, but it makes me think philosophy of time travel thing. or something along the lines of the decisions you don't make are a whole different world. i read about this somewhere, i'm not just making things up, i don't do that. but reflections make me think of that because it's like a whole different world because what you see is not exactly like you would see it if you were looking at it in the flesh. it's hard for me to put into words what i'm trying to say so i kind of sound like i have no idea whats going on, but the thoughts are there just not communicated very well. that's why i would love to do a photo series on this. because to try and visually communicate that seeing through reflections is like seeing into another world. becasue you see things and you think they are reality but really you are just seeing what is shown in the reflections. yeah. i'll have to keep forming this out there thought into something constructive, and the only way to do that is to take pictures, i'll add it to my list of things to do.

so it wasn't allergies

today was my visit #2 to the doctors office for this "allergic" rash i am currently wearing. come to find out it's some sort of virus, meaning it's not contagious and there is really nothing i can do to rid myself of it. so good/bad news cause it is really annoying. so i ask "how can i contract something like this" and the response is "who knows, it could have come from anywhere, at the grocery store...anywhere" first that makes me paranoid because i didn't know about this virus entering my body, how many other things are just coming and going with out me noticing because me, myself, personality, who i am and what i do are just one aspect of this complex body. it's two separate worlds coming together in one physical form. the inner workings of the body are like backstage at a show, no one see the work and effort going on, and if things didn't happen backstage nothing would be happening at the show. this is a terrible metaphor that i would think of, but so many things happen to me in one day that not only keep me alive but allow me to function as who i am. i am always talking about how i think it's amazing how we are all technically the same, humans, mammals all that stuff, but no one is exactly the same, no one, it's not possible. there is no way one person likes and dislikes, has the same tendencies, looks, moves, evaluates situations like me. why don't i like bananas, i don't know, i just don't. so many varieties to the same thing. it's just a great thing. this rambling has really gone nowhere, too many things entering my brain at once, it could have traveled so many paths, like the systematic workings of the body, or germs, or other medical things i know nothing about, but it did spark a great sculpture idea involving the things i prefer and not...should be a fun time.