My wayward thoughts and travels.

Who said staying up all hours of the night doesn’t pay off! :)

I won this little pill artist, called “Drugs and Art Don’t Mix,” from Terry Border of Bent Objects! (Check out his blog to see more of his work and for a better understanding of what he does than I can probably explain at this time of night/morning.)

In his contest post the other day, Terry asked for people to write something about “art,” and I did. Here is what I posted:

I Hate Soap Operas.

I have ever since I was the snotty nosed, pig-tailed, five year-old Grandma baby-sat after school. Our afternoons were filled with her incessant dramas with plots that never moved on. And I still cringe to this day when I flip through the channels and see that blasted hourglass or spinning globe.

But, every day, Grandma would give me a choice. From her favorite chair at the big table she’d point at me and say, “You sit here quietly while we watch my soaps or go in the other room and draw.”

I picked “the other room” every damned day. And that’s where an artist was born.

In a little room off the front porch with a low coffee table, the perfect size for drawing at, and out of ear-shot from the melodramatic soaps, I learned how to create. My pencil found it’s way across the paper to produce friends for me, creatures with wings and horns, girls wearing clothes I wanted to design, or even some butt-kicking Ninja Turtles.

So, art, for me, began as an escape from the anathema of my youth and still exists as an escape. An escape from rules, reality, assumptions, life, yourself, myself, or just really bad TV.

So, I enjoyed writing my little entry in the wee hours the other morning, and I was rather surprised today to see that I won. In Terry’s post today he wrote, “Many fun works were created for the last contest. Only one could win though, and so the winner of the little pill artist is Melissa. I really enjoyed and connected with her story.”

Neat. I’m stoked.

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P.S. I think I first came across Bent Objects from Skull-a-day, another blog I subscribe to. They did a joint project, which you can see here.

P.P.S. Here is a video of Terry Border, talking about what he does. It plays automatically, so be ready.

Here are my brothers, mom and I, (standing in birth order), at mom’s, doing Shawn’s signature move. :)

My family and I got together for my mom’s birthday this weekend. She’s 26 this year! It’s so crazy, I’m actually older than her, she should be in the Book of World Records. :)

It is technically morning, but I haven’t caught any Z’s yet. I will soon.

Anyway, I was searching the internets for something a little less melancholy than my mood and reacquainted myself with Regina Spektor. I like her voice and the fact I can hear all the lyrics, a problem I have with a lot of music.

And this song speaks to me a little, emotionally.
Yeah, I just admitted that. Shut up.

Now, this is what I’m talking about! I wish I could play the banjo on a house on the river!

Although, it does strike me as a little bit “Deliverance,” but oh well. :)

For Christmas, my family ended up drawing names to appease the people (like me) who didn’t want to go gung-ho commercialism-satisfying stuff-buying, and to appease the people who couldn’t imagine Christmas without the stuff. Or something like that.  Anyway, it was rather funny because a trio of us bought each other gift cards to book stores. “Hey thanks for the gift card! Here, give this to your girlfriend, I got her name, it’s oddly the same exact size as the gift you gave me. Crazy!” It worked out great because we are all a bunch of book-reading fools!

So, with my gift card I got this sweet book. I’ve been looking for this kind for ages. I’m glad someone finally put one together. Although, I think it should be an annual thing.

And while searching for that video I came across this guy. I’ve seen his stuff around before and it’s pretty funny. Who would think of this stuff? Watching this video made me think of Cartman from Southpark, “Mom! I want more Cheesy Poofs!”

Happy New Years everyone! I hope you all had a good celebration! I hung out with my brother Shane and a bunch of his old-school friends. We hung out and talked, and joked, and Shane and Joe entertained us with some music. Joe has a quick Jack Black type wit and made up some hillarious songs! Fun, fun, fun!

Here is to 2009, a year that looks to be a little daunting with the economic crap going on, but still hopeful (especially with our new president)!

Hey everyone, or one. :)

I’m in Colorado again for a week and all I have to say is, having a cold and the resulting congested head while traveling through mountains with popping ears sucks! Sucks!

Anyways, I visited with my grandpa today and he and his girlfriend brought up my solo road trip. They still can’t get over the fact I did the trip alone. I just kept telling grandpa that girls can go outside without escorts now-a-days and he lovingly called me a smart ass. So, with traveling on my mind, I have spent an hour reading some really good sites and then following their links, and then their links, and so on.

- A Map for Saturday. This is a documentary I really want to see, video below.

-The Tao of Vagabond Travel. This is an awesome article that summarizes how I feel about traveling and mainstream beliefs, but explains it in a far more articulate manner. He uses this video to illustrate his point on the definition of “success,” it’s brilliant. I think the creators of Southpark made it.

- How to Travel the World for Free. The above article was defending this one. This author mentions couchsurfing.com, which you all know I used and hope to use more of in the future.

- One Week Job. Now this is super sweet, the guy (Sean Aiken) works one job per week for 52 weeks! I’m intrigued by the unconventional idea and his unconventional looks, he seems pretty confident in himself. He talks about kidults and the “Peter Pan Generation,” right here, which I definitely relate to. I’m a kidult, probably forever. :) But to get an overview, watch the trailer for the documentary his friend, Ian MacKenzie, and he are putting together!

One Week Job: The Documentary from Ian MacKenzie on Vimeo.

Alright y - bedtime. Night.

Merry Christmas in like half an hour! I hope everyone enjoys the holiday! I’m currently chilling at home alone while the brother and wife are gone. Marie was kind enough to make me chili before she left. So, I’ve been farting under their comforter all day. Just leaving them a nice present. Merry Christmas! :)

I hope this video puts everyone in the warm and fuzzy holiday spirit.

He walks into my bedroom backwards, drops a stink-bomb and walks out. Pretty funny…but I need to retaliate some how. :)