Stressed and Lonely...

it's been a little more than a while since posting last... i'm frantically planning and executing various photo shoots... just finished one today in fact, and i am pleased with the results!! tessa is in las vegas for a friend's wedding, so i am home alone... oh ya, i'll be shooting some pictures of my grandma without a shirt on, on tuesday... things are a little weird to say the least, but i hope they turn out as good as today did...

:D

aaahahahaha i can't breathe....

creeepy

One week at a time...

so here it is one week since my last post... in my defense, i've had much more important things to do in the last week... like pass out drunk on the sidewalk in my neighborhood... i don't really remember what happened, but i've heard stories... that's all i have to say about that...

stephanie just created a blog, so she inspired me to post again... my artwork is progressing nicely right now... i think that i've broken through some mental barriers i've set up for myself, and i am learning to be less self conscious about my work in general... i want to have a show before i get married in may... im setting a goal, and im going to do all i can to achieve that... i want to show my series about Richard, and some good pinhole portraits...

on your marks, get set, GO!!!

:D

DIY???

Many things around the house are 'Do It Yourself' so to speak. This, I guess, is a starting point for DIY'ers and Ikea lovers alike!

slacker...

so i've been neglecting this thing for a while... but things have been a little hectic to say the least ha! but my birthday was totally awesome!! thanks to the family for coming to dinner, it was super fun! and especially thanks to liz for the totally kick ass book!!

all's well on the wedding front too! planning is a slow and confusing process, but the day is approaching so rapidly that it's almost time to be stressed... for now it's cool :D school is killing me though... i'm so bad at reading for classes! haha - it's getting done barely... but it's all for a good cause, because these hectic times are building my confidence in my own opinions of photography as art, and what i want to do personally with it... i hope that makes sense...

woot! i loooooove popsicles!!

HB

that's happy birthday... to me... right now... i can't sleep (as usual) and we don't have tv, so i'm wasting my night away on the internet... browsing blogs and reading about WAMU going completely under... happy birthday ricky, now get a new bank account...

:(

Time keeps on slipping...

school and work has been keeping me so busy, it's kind of crazy. i thought this semester would be a little bit easier, but boy was i wrong! usually i can pull off working full time and going to school full time, no big deal. this time it's starting to get to me a little bit... it's just odd for me to be so concentrated on school and still wondering if im going to be able to do it... but it's cool, things always work out in the end... we'll see what happens!!

Great Success!!

the art show was a success!! i had tons of fun, watching people step on some paper tanks, and i got in trouble for eating some cake i wasn't supposed to eat... haha... shot some pool afterward in pomona... the show is up for another month, so if you're in the pomona art district or surrounding area(s) you should stop by... 281 S. Thomas St. (in the basement)

Love

there are some things that i love only because they make me laugh... and no matter how many times i see it, i still laugh...

http://ilovefacemelter.wordpress.com


nice.

It's Finally That Time...

it's been a while since posting here... ummm played my first pool league match tonight, and kicked ass!! aaahahaha

but really i am going to the gallery tonight in pomona to "hang" or just put up my pieces for the show this saturday... which all of you are invited to!!! The show is titled "Through the Looking Glass of Indirection" and it is a moving images show, although not all of the pieces are videos. It's at the SCA Gallery in pomona.
Here is a MAP...
The opening is from 6pm-10pm and there will be free food and wine!!!
I really hope you all can make it!

I'm in an ART SHOW!!

hey all... so i'm in a group art show, and it's coming up soon!!! the opening is on september 13th... there will be food and drink and art! it's a video show, and i'll have two pieces up... HERE is the website for the show... (it was still under construction last i checked) it will have a little bio page for each artist, and some of their work... i think some girl is doing a motion activated interactive video piece, which sounds cool... hope you can come!!

loves :D

Itinerary Update...

Okay so got my classes no big deal
Met with Financial Aid with little to no problems
Met with my counselor and she made me feel a whole lot better
Went to my fist class, and it's gonna be fun (Studio Lighting Class)
Came home, and now I'm going to a Bartending Comp tonight (i think) in Laguna Beach

School is a piece of cake... I get so stressed for no reason...

iPhone update, and other things

okay... iphone... iloveyou - but you're so laggy sometimes it makes me crazy! all i want to do is open my contacts and browse through them. but i'll manage :D

right now i am sitting with my back up against the window of the financial aid office at school and i'm first in line! NICE! i thought it would be a nightmare today, but now im feeling like it'll go a little smoother than i had anticipated. We'll see -

TODAY'S ITINERARY:
7am - wait in line to meet with a financial aid advisor
8am - wait in line to buy a classes catalog
8:30am - wait in line to meet with my counselor
9am - Crash class number one (not sure which class yet)
1pm - 7pm - attend studio class
6pm (yes i know, but the worm hole i've created allows me to jump back in time) meet at the lab for julia's birthday
10pm - drive down to Richy's house to stay the night and drive Jeff to the airport in the morning

We'll see how far i get :)

iPhone

Got it... Love it...

AAAAARRRRRrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!

Here is my iPhone dilemma... (i am so mad right now i can't do anything but laugh about it, and laughing is NOT helping)

Yesterday, at about 7pm, I went to the AT&T store to get an iPhone. I know my number was attached to a business plan before (iPhone is not available for business plans), but I was told that I can change that in store by opening up a new personal account. I waited in line for about 20 minutes, and was helped by a woman who looked very busy. I told her that I wanted an iPhone, and gave her the story about my business number and wanting to switch it over to a personal account. She told me that they are not able to do that in the store, and that she could not help me. So I left.
Then I called Char on the way home to find out what I needed to do to get my number to be my number, and she said I should just go to the Apple store and buy a phone, and take care of all of the switch over stuff over the phone with customer care. So off I went again, to the Brea Mall, and when I got there they didn't have any phones for sale. She then told me that I can't pay for a phone in cash anyways. (That seems crazy that they don't accept cash?!?!?) So she told me to buy a gift card with the cash, and I could come back in the morning to get a phone when they have them in stock. I left Brea mall with a brand new Apple Gift Card worth 230 dollars. When I got home at 9pm, I checked the store's stock of iPhones for sale for the next morning, and they didn't have it in stock. BUT! the Costa Mesa store did, so I planned to go there in the morning to get my new phone.
I woke up early and arrived at the Costa Mesa Apple Store (south coast plaza) at 10am. I walked into the store, and was helped by James. I told him my story, and he said that they can't even SELL me a phone unless I have an account ready to upgrade to the iPhone service. He suggested that I call AT&T right there and get my account switched over. I stepped out of the store, and into the deserted mall (cause nobody shops at 10am) and called customer care. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with them, and FINALLY I had my OWN number on my OWN personal plan. I went back into the store and spoke with James again (who was totally nice and very helpful). He put scanned the barcodes on the iPhone box, and inputted my information again, and it still came up invalid. The Apple Store computers were still showing my number as having not been switched over to a personal number. No big deal I though. I said oh well, it probably hasn't updated in whatever data base they use. I'll go get some food and come back and hopefully by then it'll have been updated and I can get my phone.
I got a really bad philly cheese steak paninni-ish sandwich, and a bowl of ceasar salad dressing with a little bit of lettuce in it, COVERED in parmesan cheese. After a wonderful lunch, I went back to the store, and tried again, but to no avail. Still showing up as a business number. The worst part is that there was nothing James could have done to help me, because I could tell that he felt bad for me, because I had been there for 3 hours already. Waiting and calling, and waiting some more and calling some more. I called customer care back again, and they still told me that it should work, but that there must be something wrong with their computers at the Apple Store. The Apple employees kept telling me that they get their information directly from AT&T so it wasn't their fault. Hahaha... it's obviously nobody's fault. I thought the whole thing was funny. (I was only laughing to keep from yelling)
I went to Memphis and had a drink round about 2 o'clock, and went back to the apple store. After another try to buy the phone, I made my final phone call to AT&T. It lasted 39 minutes, and after being transferred to two different departments, and being on hold the majority of that time, they told me to wait until tomorrow. It should be ready to go tomorrow. AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
In summary, I was at the apple store for about 4 hours today, and didn't buy anything. I bought a crappy lunch that was over priced, and had some crown royal from memphis. I spent a good majority of my time on hold with AT&T and trying to politely get someone to help me solve my problem. You know what's really funny? AT&T customer care representatives ask you if they helped solve the problems you called them for today, and if there is anything else they can help you with. HAHAHA made me laugh every time, and no you didn't help me solve my problem, but thank you for letting me call you AT&T.

(I'm screaming on the inside)

It's all about location location location...

Here are pictures of the wedding location... It'll be fun :D

It's The Final Countdown...

May 9th, 2009

Leo Carrillo Ranch, Carlsbad, California

(official wedding date and location)

Tis' the Season...

Okay, so it's definitely wedding season!! Tessa and I went to her cousin's wedding last weekend, and we went to my cousin's wedding yesterday... a guy i work with got married two weeks ago, and another friend is getting married in a few weeks from now... and we're planning our own wedding... it's so weird growing up... i never thought i would ever feel old enough to be married, let alone see friends and (younger) family married off... but it's really cool!!! I'm super happy for everybody, and happy that my time is coming soon :D

check out my flickr for pictures of John and Christine's wedding and Scott and Jenae's Special Day... Congratulations!!!


Loves :D

Flickr Account

Just upgraded to a PRO flickr account... i think it's one of the best things i've done in a while... i can upload unlimited images now! Check out my Photostream for new pictures... i think from now on im gonna be the obnoxious guy with the camera ;)

Wedding Shmedding

so i went to a wedding today... it was pretty okay... i took some pictures (not as the wedding photographer though thank god) it was tessa's cousin's wedding... learned a few things that were good to know for my own wedding, and also a few things that i don't want... i've got another wedding to attend on saturday... more learning and enjoying time with family... always a plus!

loves:D

Nations Qualifier Round

Here is my flair round... i've learned that it's a really bad idea to drink heavily the night before your qualifier at 10am... i had a ton of fun, and that's all that really matters :D

enjoy eighth place!!!

snore...

just got home from work... went directly from the airport back from vegas today to work... it sucked... how'd i do? 8th... i'm okay with that... a little disappointed in myself with the results, only because i know i could have done better, but i didn't... so i did the best i could and got 8th... video will follow soon...

loves

Time Flies!!

welp it's that time... i'm going to vegas finally, to compete in the Nations Flair Challenge! i'm super excited, and i've practiced really hard for the last month or so... i'm not going to win, but i'm going to have lots of fun!! i'll let you all know how i do!!

loves :D

vviiddeeooss

time lapse testers... i'm going to use video like this for an art installation... these are just tests to see how it works... i like the way they turned out...

New toy

I GOT A NEW CAMERA! finally, i have a point and shoot, after talking about getting one for years... typical... but i got it yesterday, and had so much fun taking pictures last night, except the flash died on the walk home... it wasn't the battery either, because i replaced the battery when i got home with a brand new charged one, and it still didn't work :( but i took it back to fry's today, and they exchanged it for me, no problem! it went waaayyy smoother than i had anticipated! so the new camera's flash works, but so did my first one for the first few hours... hope this one stays for years :D check out my flickr for the first two photos... they're really artsy... haha...

it's getting worse

Holy crap... So I think this whole "internet community" thing is slowly taking over my life... I will not use twitter, I will not use twitter, I will not use twitter...

I started out like most people, (although a little late) on myspace. Then I graduated to facebook. Both of which I like, but I preferred facebook. Now that myspace is slowly turning itself into facebook, I really like facebook better. But recently I have discovered some completely different online communities. These are groups that I knew existed, but never bothered to investigate, because I was completely happy with myspace and facebook.

First is flickr. I really love the idea of posting pictures and having people actually look at them, and talk about them. Not like profile pictures, more like this is what I like to do pictures. Then I kind of got into the youtube community, but my computer hardly has the capacity for video production, so my participation in that community was limited. Although, I do like to browse through channels, and friends of friends of friends. But now I think my life is slowly being taken over by Yelp!

Yelp is insane! This is a whole different online community. Different because they actually schedule events, and do things as a group! It's amazing! AND people talk about food, all the time! I think I'm in heaven... Plus their message boards are chock full of all kinds of random conversations and discussions. Right now I'm reading about joining a kickball league, and possibly meeting people down at the beach to eat your favorite on-the-go instant ramen dish. They go to new restaurants together, and drink. People seem helpful and understanding, rather than hateful and vindictive like they seem on many other online communities. I've been a member for two days, and have reviewed three places, created a new bi-monthly event, and gotten priceless information on where to get good food.

My life is over, or is it just beginning?

Rialto Cafe

so there is a new-ish cafe in downtown fullerton called Rialto Cafe... the food is pretty good, but the service is terrible... the servers are really nice, but they take FOREVER to do anything... im eating breakfast here right now as i am typing and my waitress just astonished me... i ordered a coffee and a glass of water... she's chatting away with the three or so people that are hanging out at the counter... she drops off my coffee and my water glass...

SHE DROPPED OFF A GLASS WITH ICE IN IT... NO WATER IN MY WATER GLASS...

just ice... i then asked for some water as i am holding up the essentially empty glass...

amazing...

I pulled into Nazareth...

Went to the Key Club last night to see Austin James Band last night... and the first time i saw them was not a fluke... this band is so awesome live!!! eventhough the key club sound sucked really bad, i had a great time... AND they ended with a sweet rendition of The Weight... can't go wrong with the weight...

GO SEE THIS BAND!!

okay bye bye:D

wedding plans...

so i'm engaged... and we're slowly but surely planning a wedding for the ages! there will be an adult sized ball pit, pony rides, and a ferris wheel (which i will not ride)... i want jugglers and fire breathers and a carnival barker challenging my guests to step right up and see the oddities and freaks that are sure to shock! but as much as we would like, our lives are not circus lives, and we're just going to have a DJ and some food and booze... all we need is a place to do it...

so much for wedding carnivale, here we come friends and family... good food and good company on our wedding day... (without the ceremony - i don't want to sit through one of those and why should you?)

March 1st (tentative date)

loves

oh my...

i just woke up from a 14 hour power nap... haha... it was awesome!

duuude.

so it's 3 am on sunday morning... i just got home from work (memphis) and i have to be back at work (taco) at 9am... i can't wait for school to start again... this whole working 6 days a week thing is getting to me a little bit... BUT on the bright side, i am making some okay money right now, and i can start saving for my trip to china in january!!! woo hoo!! Taiwan here I come!

see ya'!

apiphany...

so i had a sweet practice sesh for my flair routine yesterday!! things are coming together nicely right now... work is sweet!

COME TO MEMPHIS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHTS FOR GAME NIGHT!! pictionary, scrabble, boggle...

i just won an ebay auction, woot, and im excited for school to start again... i register in two weeks i think... and im addicted to flickr... which is good, because it's forcing me to take more pictures...

right now my photo major has made me really good at talking about photography, but has really held me back from taking pictures... weird huh? so i'm committed to taking more pictures now...

loves :D

flickr

okay it's official... i'm on flickr...

Ricky on Flickr

okay bye bye :D

Times Times

So not much has been happening lately... I have officially registered for Nations (flair comp in vegas july 27-29) Both jobs are going well... I register for fall classes on july 15th, and that's about it... I had a few tasty bottles of wine recently... Specifically a Parrone Malbec Reserve

Shot another roll of pinhole pictures on the bus... hopefully results will satisfy... When adella gets back from humbolt im gonna scan the negs and put em up....

Guess i'll just keep keepin' on until something else comes up... look for the group video show in pomona in september... hopefully i'll have two pieces up there...

that's all i got for now

:D

competition shmompition

went to a "bartender battle" last night... aka popularity contest... didn't win, but had fun... and i know that it's not the REAL thing, but i had some absinthe last night... my mouth tasted like a pack of black licorice took a crap in it... bad idea...

Totally Bogus

I am kinda pissed at people today... Some regulars came into my work for brunch today, and they drank a lot (as usual)... They left at about 230 or 3 pm... No big deal... But i saw them getting into a car at about 530 when i was getting off work, and they were obviously in no condition at all to drive... so i told them they were not allowed to drive and took their keys... i gave them to someone (fellow employee)inside my work, and i left... I come to find out that they were pissed that i took their keys and they ended up driving home... now i look like the asshole when i was the only responsible one in the bunch... i hate people sometimes...

The Austin James Band

This is the Austin James Band. I went to the Detroit Bar tonight cause I needed a night away to relax from working a bit. We went without knowing what band was playing or anything, and this band ended up headlining. They were fucking awesome!! If Queen and The Beatles (Sgt. Peppers) conceived a child in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, this band would be their spawn. Really good...

In other news The Helio Sequence is playing at The Detriot Bar on the 14th... If you can go you should go... Even if you've never heard them before... ESPECIALLY if you've never heard them before!!!

heck - tick...

so the new job is freaking awesome! (by the way) my new schedule is a little busy right now, but i think once i get settled in things will be great... i've been a little frustrated because there are a few projects that have been put on hold, but making time for them now is becoming priority one... pinhole project, a stop motion animation, and a crosswalk... all in the works...

loves :D

werk ya jerk

hello! i got another job that i'm really excited about!!! i bartend at MEMPHIS now, and i love it!! come see me on saturday nights!

M E S S A G E F R O M A N D R E W

so here are a couple of songs that i put together... my friend andrew always leaves me awesome messages, so i decided to record them... here are the first in a series of short songs based on his voice mails...

BE WARNED!!! he uses foul language frequently, so if you're at work or near children, this might not be appropriate!!!! But it's still really awesome!

ENJOY!

ANDREW 1

ANDREW 2

ANDREW 3

summer

school's out for summer!!! schooooooooolll's out for ever! (think alice cooper)

so now i'm wondering what to do... i'm gonna work and practice some flair and then work some more... it's a nice break right now, but i can tell that i'll need to be keeping busy or else i might go crazy this summer...

procrastinafjhsdhfasdfgasdgagas...

anything to keep me from studying for finals... haha... I've decided that I'm going to officially compete in Nations '08, a flair bartending competition in Las Vegas at the end of july... and now that school is over all i have to do is prepare for it... and perhaps find a second job for the summer...

This will be me by july... only better! HA!

ummm....

time to let go...

so i work a day shift at a bar as a "bartender"... this means i am actually a glorified stock boy... no problem though, cause i like working where i do, and the potential for better shifts is almost on the horizon, so i work my shifts with a smile and do what im told... here's the problem... my job is basically to set up the bar for the night shift, which begins at 5pm... usually i get beer delivery at 10 - 11 am and i put the beer in the coolers in the early afternoon (done by 2:30pm) so that the night shift has cold beer to serve when they start... (no problems yet) so i've beeen getting a beer delivery at 4:30 pm for the last 3 weeks now, and it was seriously ruining my day because i would then have to rush around frantically trying to get beer in the cooler by 5pm... then i would leave work super pissed off... that was the problem... so today i came to a realization... it's not my problem... i still had to put the beer in the coolers and what not, but today i didn't let myself be pissed off about having to set up so late... it wasn't my fault so i'm not going to feel bad about it... plain and simple...

it was such a sharp change in my normal mode of thinking at work... i can't control everything, and i can't let the things out of my control get me angry, mad, sad, whatever!

toady was oddly a really good day... i love it when that happens... :D

finals

so im an art major which means i don't really have finals... which sounds awesome right? well the lack of final tests means they make up for it in projects... and they're keeping me up most of the hours of the night... but it's almost over... it's almost over... it's almost over.... it's almost over... (anything to keep me motivated and finish up)

by the way, watched There Will Be Blood last night during a marathon design session, and would definitely recommend it...

news video...

so here is the tentative version of my final for digital studio... i think it gets the point across... and tessa says she's impressed that i finished it a whole 4 days in advance... (i usually pull an all nighter the day before it's due)

Too Much...

so i've taken on this video project for my final in digital studio class... it sounded pretty easy... just film some stuff and put it together... no real intense editing, and the sound will be linked with the video, so no syncing... only problem is that i have to learn Final Cut Pro and make a video by next wednesday... worked in the computer lab at school today for almost 10 hours and i think i've finally got the hang of the program (kind of)... it's 2:30 am, I'm going home....

Bad ideas are better than no ideas...

currently i am working on a video piece about our culture of fear, and i am using the major nightly news reports in said video. i took clips from the 5 and 6 o'clock news casts from channels 2, 4, and 7. Now i am going to edit them down to just the major breaking news headlines. Violence, Consumerism, and Sex. these topics accounted for about 90% of the total amount of "news" reported. (by the way, I only took clips from last thursday and friday.) after watching the same day's news cast on three different channels, my eyes were opened to the lack of news that is on the news, however one station was noticeably more news oriented than "infotainment."

Here's the list...
#3 - Channel 2 CBS news (had almost no election coverage. 95% violence / 4% shopping / maybe 1% election)
#2 - Channel 7 ABC news (had a little more election coverage but still mostly violence. although their shopping coverage was lengthy and somewhat light hearted.
90% violence / 8% shopping / 2% election)
#1 - Channel 4 NBC news (no mention of shopping anywhere in the broadcast! Mostly election coverage, and news about environmental concerns. there was also some mention of major news stories from around the world. (25% election / 50% environmental concers at local schools / 10% violence / 10% "green week" / 5% world events)

I HATE THE NEWS.... but if I had to watch local news it would definitely be channel 4. i did get some good material for the video :D

Get some culture....beeeyoch...

This play was really funny... I saw it last night at The Complex in hollywood, and I must admit it was rather entertaining... I was a little skeptical at first, but once we reached the second act i was rolling... it was hilarious! It runs through the middle of may so buy tickets and go see it!

Brain Dead

This is a video that determines which side of your brain is more dominant.... Is she turning to the left or turning to the right? See if you can make it switch... hahaha i love it!

=edit=
A better explanation of the spinning girl

professional

hey dudes.... its 4 am and im thinking about publishing my own website with my own domain name... a very informed little bird told me today that it would be a much better space to have for a more professional looking portfolio than the blogspot page... i think that little bird is right, and i might just have to do something about it... woot... here i come!!

THE LINK
so i juggle and i am kind of obsessed with it... i found this link just after posting my last thing about failure, and i know he's talking about juggling, but i think i can apply to anything... really... just click THE LINK and see for your self...

ps... you should see that kid juggle too... he's really effing good!!!

words...

no kidding, an autistic man told me that failure is a loaded word.... the full length word strikes fear in the hearts of many, "you're a failure," but the truncated version, "oh my gosh i'm going to fail this test!" seems so light hearted compared to it's counterpart... i am a bit of a slacker (the understatement of the year - haha) and i have definitely not succeeded in many things, but i would not consider those efforts a failure. to say that something or someone is a failure is among the harshest of criticisms. it's almost like a personal attack rather than a criticism. i think the person who yields the word failure as a weapon is a person afraid of admitting their own mistakes. everybody will fail at something sometime... the people who do not keep striving are are the only true failures...
it makes me think about my own life, and figuring out what i want and doing everything i can to achieve those goals... i could take some cues from the people i have surrounded myself with... an anthropologist, a group of kids that own a successful upstart company, a philanthropist, a woman who worked her way up from the bottom of a company to become owner, and most importantly, a woman who will never give up no matter how many times she has been set back no matter what stands in her way... if they can find a way, then so can i...

.

it was a caliber day...

I mean calibration day.... which sucked... I got a new-ish photo printer Epson 2000p ... New to me... so I was trying to print some of my pinhole picts from New York yesterday, but they were coming out sooOOOoo blue... I was getting pretty frustrated because to get the images remotely close to what they were supposed to look like, I had to add a layer to put a red cast over the entire image... I am obviously doing something wrong! I would have liked to have it done so I could have shown prints today in crit class, but it looks like I'm showing them digitally today. This weekend will be devoted to color calibration, and color calibration only... :(

Day of rest...

My brother came to town last night to celebrate his birthday, and we celebrated pretty hard. We went to eight different bars, and somehow I made it home on by my own accord. Needless to say, I barely moved off of the couch today. I'd like to interject that this is the type of day that I really wish we had television. I did do a little work today on some of the pinhole portraits I took in New York a few weeks ago...

N00B

Welcome to my new blog! I'll be using this space to talk about school and business endeavors, art stuff, and probably to post some images of my own as a small portfolio-ish space.