Picture of the Day: Eye to the Telescope

Griffith Park Observatory (taken with iPhone camera):

Also a good metaphor for what I've been searching for lately.

Perfect late Saturday afternoon lunch

Chicken gyro, dolmades and a Snapple Lemon Iced Tea at Papa Cristo's... the meal also came with live Greek music!

(Mobile blog post)

How I should always do my homework

Listening to live jazz on a Sunday afternoon at Larchmont Village. (Of course, I requested Night and Day)

(Mobile blog post)

Resolved, Year Two

My resolutions for 2009:

Resolved, that I will get enough sleep.
7-8 hours minimum per night, hopefully.

Resolved, that I will get to work on time.
Basically, anytime before 9 a.m.

Resolved, that I will not wait until the last minute to do my work and homework assignments.
While I have a sneaking suspicion that this will be a perennial resolution, I have hope that at the very least, I will get better and not procrastinate so much.

Resolved, that I cultivate a more active social life with an emphasis on my friends and family.
No doubt about it... It makes me happy to go out and do things. And I'm even happier when that includes the people I love. So, definitely more concerts, museums, galleries, restaurants, events, etc. in '09.

Resolved, that I will dance more.
Whether it means I get back into the swing scene a little, reacquaint myself with tango or just take more dance classes, this is a must. Two years away from something I love doing is ridiculous.

Resolved, that I will travel more this year.
I think this is the year of smaller domestic trips (especially now that I have the perfect car for roadtrips.) On my radar: SF (for the Cathedral of Christ the Light and the Academy of Sciences), Utah (for my sister), NYC (for friends and food), Minneapolis (architecture) and Atlanta (to swim with sharks). If I have any money left after paying off my debt and going to school, there is the possibility of Japan, but we'll see.

Resolved, that I will read more books.
In the past couple of years, I've definitely lagged on my book reading due to my crazy schedule. At the very least, I want to shoehorn in all of the books on my shelf that I haven't read yet. And that includes "The House of Leaves" and all of the other books that I think are going to scare the hell out of me.

Resolved, that I will make both my home and work offices more inviting.
For my home workspace, I need better organization and less clutter. For my office, I need color, better lighting and something fun on the walls. It's so drab right now.

Resolved, that I will eliminate my credit card debt.
I'm pretty determined about this one and if all goes according to plan, I should accomplish this within the the first half of the year.

Resolved, that I will contribute to my Roth this year.
This is the first year that I think my Roth is a better bet than the 401K that my work offers.

Resolved, that I will drink more water.
I'm borrowing this one from TB.

2008 in Review: Design Work

I spent a lot of 2008 kvetching about how busy I was with so many projects, and I thought I should highlight the design work that I am particular proud of:

Logo for my old employer:
This was the last thing I did there as a staff employee that I was really proud of, and it spawned a couple projects, including several direct mail pieces, a binder and four banners.

Art direction for the Green Issue of California Real Estate:
It had been my dream for awhile to art direct a magazine and I got my chance when my old boss asked me to design this special issue. My favorite spreads include:

I really like the colors for this holiday card for my current employer:
I just noticed that I repeated myself in this piece...ha!...I promise this is the last time I juxtapose transparent leaves over a tonal geometric background. Anyway, you can't tell from this image, but the finish is matte with a UV spot gloss coating on the leaves and logo. (I love this coating combo!)

Out of the Past

I was talking to my best friend E the other day and he brought up something from the past that made me smile.

E and I have known each other for quite some time and went to the same junior high and high school. Though we weren't particularly close back then, usually our last names put him sitting right behind me during homeroom or other classes with alphabetical seating arrangements.

Anyway, E told me that something he's always remembered was that I once showed him this language I had made up and it really impressed him that I had even gone to the trouble of conjugating the verbs. I had totally forgotten about that! Gosh, what a little nerd I was (and still am)!

I'm going to raid my high school files to see if my petit language is still around. If not, I'm sure it will be fun to read all the stories and poems and other random scribblings. I was so in my own little world back then.

Until I report back, here's something that I do remember (it actually got an honorable mention in an LAUSD poetry contest...the theme was "Discovery"):

An Accident and a Discovery

An accident and a discovery
He saw it no other way
A new talent was found
For no-talent Jim Gray

The slip of the hand
The loss of a life
The fresh scent of blood
On his broken-in knife

Morbid thoughts unleashed
From his no-talent mind
A killer he is
What a wonderful find

Meticulously slashing
His newest ambition yet
The unassuming corpse
Someone he never met

No talent should be wasted
Says no-talent Jim Gray
Especially when you're so bored
And haven't any pay.

I wrote this as a sophomore, and I was pretty dark in my thoughts back then. Most of the winning poems had to do with discovering yourself, beauty, knowledge, etc. and there I was with a poem about discovering serial killer tendencies. I'm actually surprised my English teacher didn't send me to counseling.

Dressed

Much like the rug that "really tied the room together" in The Big Lebowski, I think my newly acquired dresser really makes my studio apartment feel more like a home:
It's not perfect (there are quite a few scuffs and an actual chunk of wood missing), but I love the styling and because of its imperfections, I got it at a bargain price (for a vintage Lane dresser) on Craigslist, delivery included. Here's a close-up:
The carved-wood drawer pulls are so cool! They add a sculptural quality to the piece that is very reminiscent of Art Nouveau.

Photo notes: The phones are part of my collection and are not plugged in (though I wish they all were.) The photo collages are part of a series I did for one of my final assignments. And the Porcupine pendant has been changed into a table lamp to better effect.