This, that, and that other thing

Yesterday I had off from work so I spent the day listing new things on my etsy:



I've been doing this and that lately, I did a drawing for an ArtOrder contest and I'm working on a little something for Captain Picard Day. I bought a great pair of vintage boots that I'm going to use for my FFVII Tifa cosplay. I also applied for a spot in the artist alley of The New York Anime Fest in October.

My two other roommates are on vacation in Hawaii so Alex and I have the whole place to ourselves. We've been watching the second season of True Blood and wishing we had enough money to warrent adding HBO to our cable package before the third season starts.

Do the New Computer Dance!

So I'm sitting in front of my new big beautiful computer, an HP touchsmart 3000, and this window only takes up half the screen(Artist that uses a PC oh no!). It's bigger than the TV in the bedroom! There are so many great features, like the snap feature where I can look at two windows side by side, and the voice recognition is amazing, I could almost use the internet hands free. This computer was a graduation gift from my grandparents and my aunt and uncle.

Which reminds me...I graduated from SVA! After two years at Pratt and 3 years at SVA I finally have a BFA. The ceremony was at Radio City Music Hall and was very nice, if a bit long. My parents thought that graduating from SVA is like a golden ticket for getting a job in the art world, but it simply doesn't work that way. It's up to me to pitch to companies and put myself out there. As soon as I get a nice character sheet together I will be ready to pitch "20 Fingerprints" to Yen Press. I'm also working on a couple contests and a submission to Threadless, which I will post when it's up for voting.

In the meantime I'm looking for a new part-time job. Although I still have my job at Ricky's, I've been banned from taking time off. They had a real problem with me taking off for my own graduation (heaven forbid!), but I need time off at the end of June so I can go to Buffalo for some doctor appointments. Lately my co-workers and I have been getting in trouble for not signing as many people up as we can for a contest we're running. Basically, we take your name and email in the hopes that you can win a $1000 giftcard. It's a contest I would enter if I was a customer, however the fact that the company in giving away $1000 a month for a whole year, but has not giving their workers raises in TWO YEARS, really bothers me.

Seriousness is Serious!

Sometimes I can't tell when someone is being serious or joking, especially if there is a language barrier. I was at work (my retail job) and had a half-hour long conversation with an Indian man about what lube he should get so he can please his 19 year old wife. It was one of the most surreal discussions I have ever had. At any minute I felt that some guy with a camera would jump out and yell that I'd been Punk'd, but as far as I could tell the man was serious. I admire his devotion, really, but my coworkers had no idea where I'd gone to all that time.

Saturday is the day! MoCCA Fest 2010-where myself and my friend Vanessa Taffuri are going to be at booth D6, premiering our second collaboration comic. We had them professionally printed at Comixpress and they look great! I'm very excited. I will also be selling a mini comic with the first 12 pages of 20 Fingerprints, provided I get it done in time! Bridget Rhee helped me with the fonts on my business cards and they look great, so if you manage to make it out for the festival, at least come by to pick one up! I'll also be selling my Art Loves Music t-shirts and some of my resin jewelry. Whew, that's quite a few links.

So I was sick because of the weather suddenly deciding to be nice, then freezing, then nice again. For a bit there I thought I had strep so I did what any person too busy for the doctor would do, go on Web MD! Here's a precious piece of advice-"Do not cough or sneeze on anyone". Ah, the Internet is so helpful...

Reminiscing but Looking Forward

One of my closest friends from Buffalo, Justin, left here today. He stayed on my couch for a few days, and instead of doing touristy NYC things we did museums and food. We went to Nintendo World, and a few comic books stores, and ate at places like Bubba Gump's and the Stage Deli. At night we talked about high school and our weird parents. Justin's been my friend since the third grade and it was great having him around. This last weekend was the first time I played something on my Xbox that was not Rock Band. I played and beat Bayonetta, which was so much fun. It took about 10 hours and probably would have been 6 without the cut scenes.

I've been thinking about MoCCA more and more lately as the time approaches. Vanessa and I are doing a collaboration based off of a goddess that I created, Aroha, goddess of misfit relationships. She is supposed to take care of all those in unconventional partnerships, like online dating, open relationships, and all that. I imagine she's quite busy. I also want to do a comic with Alex about our job, since we work for the same company, just a short one. I'm giving myself until after spring break, so there will be no cutting it close for printing when the time comes.

One of my Senior Series, the seven week classes that we are required to take, is a class on Storyboarding for TV commercials. Last week we visited the apartment of my teacher's friend who does color storyboards. I feel like I learned quite a bit, one thing that I really need a new computer and a tablet(and classes on how to use it!), and also that I need another website. I think that I need to keep my webcomic separate and have a website just for my portfolio. Of course, I realize that means that I should start updating my webcomic again!

Fa la la la la, already?

I can't believe it's December!! The good thing is, I've already ordered most of the Christmas gifts for my friends online and all I have left to do is shop for a few people and my family. I've been super busy with school as the semester winds down and I even went on an internship interview! The projects that I have to complete in the next two weeks consist of a 2 page joke comic, a stencil of Christopher Walken, a colored set design for my comic 20 Fingerprints, and of course work on 20 Fingerprints. I'm on page 9 now but I still feel like I should be working faster. I'm also working on a 7 page comic with Vanessa about twin girls in a surreal Japanese landscape. There's also a twist, but I can't tell you that!

Work has been fine, I was promoted and promptly transferred, and then the store that I'm at now got a new manager who doesn't seem to understand that school comes first. Many of the coworkers that I have made friends with are already looking for new jobs. A cool note though, the one that I'm at is the first Ricky's that was ever made!

Today I started Isagenix, a meal replacement system. Vanessa's mother set me up on the program, and I'm feeling pretty good so far. I gained 30 pounds since transferring to the School of Visual Arts which I hope to lose. I hope to surprise my family with at least a little bit of weight loss when I get home for Christmas. Speaking of, I will be flying to Buffalo on the 21st!

Before School Update

So my Senior Year at the School of Visual Arts starts in 2 days and I'm very ready for it to start. When people find out that it's my last year in school they always ask if I'm going to miss it. I know that I will, but because I was a transfer student from Pratt I have been in college for 5 years and I think its time to go out into the "real world". I have also been asked quite a bit what do I want to do after I graduate, and I never know what to say. I'm not even sure if I will be able to still live in NYC. But I still have time to figure it out, and my teacher for portfolio this year is the talented BECKY CLOONAN so I'm sure that she will put our class in the right direction for jobs in the cartooning buisness.

Looking over my last post, I see that I reported that Alex was working on my website, and he still is, while he is also working on a portfolio for Nickelodeon, which is exciting! There isn't a day that goes by without me thinking about Fragile Products and my guilt over not updating it in so so long. It's not like I haven't been doing comics, for instance I did a comic about my lovely friend Cat who is a burlesque dancer and I also have been working on drawing up a script I wrote for Jack Harris's class this year called 20 Fingerprints. It is about a girl with four arms who becomes caught up in a murder. She's fun to draw. In other art related news, Alex and I have an etsy-neisse-although right now only bracelets I have made are posted.

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy, since I am helping out at SVA to get the new students used to NYC. Last weekend we moved everyone into the dorms and gave tours of the neighborhood. I refrained from telling freshmen where to get liquor without getting carded, but I'm sure they'll find places if they try hard enough haha. We also took them to see Wicked, my second time seeing it but the first time since completing my thesis project on it, and we took a group to go clean up Central Park. It was hard work because the storms we've been having made a real mess of the trees, but it was satisfying to be able to play a small part in making it better. Today all I have to do is take freshmen to the movies and see whatever they want to see. I want to see Ponyo though!

A Year Later

I seem to be really bad at this updating thing. Not much has changed, I still live in Harlem, I still go to SVA, and I still work at Rickys.
My big news for this year at SVA-I got into the junior thesis show! This year the theme was Beautiful Losers, and I chose to do Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I did an 18 page comic which I hope to have up on my website soon. Speaking of, Alex is currently revamping my page and hopefully I will be back to updating soon *crosses fingers* I would love to have suggestions for comics, but I'm really hoping to start drawing from the script I wrote for Jack Harris's comic writing class this summer. I'm also thinking of finding a new job or internship. Ricky's is fun and all, but they are not giving raises this year and they have taken away all of my responsibilities. You see, I used to do all the ordering for the adult room, which was awesome, but now corporate does all the ordering for us. boo hiss. Oh, and I finally broke down and got a facebook. So that's all for now, I was distracted by The Stand on TV and lost my train of thought :D

New and improved and living in Harlem!

Now, if you read the title you're probably think, Harlem? Is that any place for the whitest girl ever to be living? But it's actually a nice area, and I love my apartment. Everything is brand new, and it's HUGE. Four bedroom, with one and a half bathrooms, a nice living room, and a full kitchen. It's a bit of a mess since Alex went home and left his stuff here, and I just checked out of my dorm today, so I haven't really unpacked yet either.
So it's been a whole year since I updated! Wow. I just finished my first year at SVA, the school of visual arts, or the school of vicious adoration. It was great, I feel like I learned so much in their Cartooning program. I did neglect my webcomic but I was so busy. It's no excuse, I know, but the work load was kinda crazy. I'm happy I transferred here though. I know I would've been miserable at Pratt. I'm taking some summer classes too, Cartooning Hothouse and Abnormal Psychology. I have so many credits I won't have to go full time my senior year!
I've been working at this place called Ricky's, for those of you that don't know it's a cosmetic/beauty supply store with professional hair products, costumes and even an adult room. It's a fun place to work but the pay is shit, I made the same at Burger King in Buffalo! I got more hours there too. It seems like its time to get another job, especially since I owe my roommate Chris money and rent will be due before long.
Tomorrow my mom and aunt come to visit, then I go home to Buffalo with my mom for a week on Thursday. I'll be glad to see my family and my friends since I haven't been there since Christmas break! Hopefully I can get some of my friends from there up to visit here.
Updates on my comic hopefully soon, I'm using "borrowed" wireless (whoever has a network called "Manon" thank you!) and Dreamweaver forgot my ftp password which I need to update, meaning I also forgot it. Oops!
Bye for now!

Smell you guys later!

Last post at school! They're just about ready to kick us out of the dorms. I've been weepy all day :( To all my friends here (you know who you are) I will miss you dearly, but we will see each other again! I got aim now, so if you want to talk online FragileProduct is my sn. Love love love!

*Insert Clever Title Here*

So I just updated my webcomic, hmm about 16 hours late. Sorry about that. I was so caught up in my pysch report about Multiple Personalities, or Dissociative Identity Disorder, as its now called, I totally spaced. But thats done now, and it was the last school related project I had to finish! Now comes the week of goofing off until they let us graduate from here. Phew. What a year.

So here's the plug-I, like many webcomics, now have a donation wallpaper! So if you feel like supporting me for a dollar, or just want a sweet background, go here. Thankies!

Love is T-shirts

I know I haven't posted in a while, but this will be a short one. The end of the year is approaching and I'm a bit stressed out. I did find time to do a t-shirt design for Threadless.com, so please vote on it!

They're Building A Coffin Your Size

Oi Oi! I gots me a store. It has a few products in it with the fragile productions logo on it. Go check it out!

More excitingness for me-I got my acceptance letter from SVA! So I'll be in NYC in fall as a sophmore again. They have a huge cartooning staff so I'm sure I'll get much better there :) Look forward to it!

Sunburnt in the Snow

I’m writing this on the train to publish later, headed to Utica from my spring break. I’m glad to be going back-there’s only so much of my parents I can take!-but I do wish I could have had more time with my friends. I spent most of the week in Florida. My uncle won a trip to Sea World and gave it to my family. I loved seeing the dolphins and whales and manatees, and I got to pet stingrays and a penguin! We also made a point to go to Universal, where I got to go on rides with my dad. The lines were awful but it was worth it. We also got to see both sets of grandparents and our old neighbors who moved down there about two years ago. I had to share a bed with my sister at the hotel, and she kicks. Every time she kneed me in the back, I woke up and punched her. Don’t mess with me when I’m sleepy! hehe I got tons of pressed pennies, not sure the exact count, but its probably close to 80! It’s getting to be an expensive obsession, but I love them and they’re really the only thing I collect :) The last day there I took the trolley by myself and went to the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, which is awesome. Two headed animals and voodoo dolls were a nice way to end my vacation.

I watched the movie Shortbus, by the same director as Hedwig, with Cat and Brian last night. It was really funny-a favorite quote of mine from it is “I used to want to change the world, but now I just want to leave the room with a little bit of dignity”.

I put a warranty on my lucky printer today. Why is it lucky you ask? Because the guy who sold it to me gave me his number. It was my first number ever, I was very proud haha. I remember when I was with Clay he had a jar full of numbers. So I called the guy, Karl, but he hasn’t called me back yet-who told him I was crazy?

Oh, the pain...hahaha

These last couple weeks have been...interesting. I've been lied to, played and backstabbed. But I have my health, right? :D That's a joke. I feel sick every time I eat. Also in the last week I've seen three long term relationships dissolve, and I am beginning to wonder, is it worth it? Today would have been my five year anniversary with Clay, although we weren't really dating. I've begun to think that I'm undatable!

All that aside, I went on Top Web Comics and found that I'm number 381! I actually have about 176 votes, so if you've been voting for me, thank you! If not, and you would like to, please vote for me (I'm on page four now).

Oh Internet, I love/hate you

The internet's finally back! It's been out since Thursday *cries* so now that it's back, my comic is finally updated! Hooray! My gallery opening went well, I got the new comic done in time and made 10 dollars, not much I know, but enough to help pay for dinner. We went to Uno's and it was amazing-I had the steak and shrimp. Cheryl was sad the guy she likes didn't show up, but everyone that I wanted there was there :D thanks guys!

That's all for now-gotta go to Psychology!

Design Procedures class is a hoot

Hooray for finishing projects early and goofing off! So I'm 20 now, as of Monday. Do I feel different? No, not really :D My ex actually texted me on my birthday and surprised the hell outta me. Still don't think I ever want to see him again though :P Cheryl and Alex made me an ice cream cake under Alex's roommate Sean's supervision (it's his recipe). It was delicious!

Despite how happy I was on my birthday, I just have this feeling that something bad is going to happen, or maybe it has happened and I don't know about it? It's weird. Broke out my tarot deck the other day and pulled some interesting cards-they tell me that my problem is a female but to have optimism (thank you sun card!)

Soon I will have a new comic to put up on my website-I've been working my butt off to finish it in time for Cheryl and my gallery opening on Sunday at Melodic Revolution in Clinton, NY (near Utica) Six more pages and a cover-think I can make it? *falls over dead* I'll be damned if I don't try!

Can One Person Make a Decision for Two?

Man, I just thought the "lets just be friends" line was only used in movies. Was I ever wrong! I learned this week that it's better not to try. hmmm...that doesn't seem right, does it?

Oh well, my January submission for "wonder" on the Word It site is up, go check it out (it's the two at the bottom of the page) and I also have another comic in the College Crier. I think it's going to be a monthly thing, at least until I go back to Buffalo where there is no Crier. My gallery opening with my lovely roomate Cheryl is coming up too, but what day it is, I couldn't tell you ^^;;

That's it for now, we're gonna run and get some brunch before the cafeteria closes!

Arg.

Today's blog is brought to you by the need to vent and the number 3!

The feeling in my stomach can only be described as an icicle prodding from the inside. I can barely eat. Everything makes me gag. I threw up orange juice yesterday, which I didn't even know was possible!

I feel lost and confused. I hate being the only one in the world to seem to know what she wants, and I hate the fact that I can see the patheticness in others that I once killed in myself. Sorry to be vague. *hits head against wall*

But my birthday's coming up, so I'm going to try to be positive. I can't be sad on my birthday!

Emo Kids Smell Funny and I Hate Them.

Not really ALL of them! I just wanted to comment on how I seem to keep getting older as the other people going to concerts get younger and more annoying. I mean come on, do you have to scream along with every word?! Do you really like this band, because to me it seems like you want to drown them out with your awful-ass singing. But it was nice to get out and see a show with Cat and Litney, Kill Hannah is always awesome and The Pink Spiders was cool.

I'm glad break's almost done with, although I've been having anxiety about going back. I couldn't sleep last night. I went to bed at 3 like normal but just layed there for hours. When I finally fell alseep I got a few hours in before I jolted awake for no reason at 11 am. Today I helped out my dad at the antique mall, which was pretty cool. I love looking at all the stuff there. Then tonight we had a fairly large table at Denny's, where we recounted our favorite Toole memories (I'll never forget you burned that picture of the Pope!) Good times.

In other news, I have finally proven my theory about the conspiracy against girls with big boobs. After size C, they stop making bras with pretty patterns! Damn you, bra industry! I did find a nice push up that Cat convinced me to buy, although it was a bit pricey. Just when I thought my boobs couldn't look any more amazing! hahaha. (I'm not joking)

I Came, I Saw, I Ate

What have I been doing with my winter break? Well, since you didn’t ask, I’ll tell you that I have been putting all my energy into eating my parents out of house and home. After a semester of dealing with awful college buffet food, I need to unshrink my stomach. I was home for about ten minutes before I was into the cupboards. As long as my mom continues to stock up on fruit snacks and Pringles, I’m all set. Eating pickles at 3 am in my underwear? Why not? Plus, my uncle gave me a package of jerky about the size of a baby (I just compared jerky to a baby, what are you gonna do about it?!) Between that and egg-drop ramen (cook up the package with a scrambled egg-it’s good!), I have about 5 times the normal amount of sodium in my body. If I don’t make it back for next semester, you’ll know what happened. I have no regrets! And on a somewhat related note, my darling friend Cat, who took me out for dinner (are you surprised?) helped me realize that I shouldn’t feel bad for my feelings. I’m a passionate person. That’s how I roll, bitches. Now where’s my jerky?