Some stencils

Sitting in coffee news and my battery dies, so I start drawing. I get some good work done and here are a few stencils I got. This will be a mARTin post, because it's been a while and I feel bad about that. This can make up for all the missed posts since it's like 3 stencils at once. I could spread them out, but that feels like cheating you all.

Your bad eyesight is cute

I'm in coffee news right now. Colin and I decided that a line drawing of our setup in my basement would look cool, so I took some pics and came here. I wore a messed up hello blacksmith shirt in honor of the band, it's one that got water on the back logo and so it blotched and we can't really sell it to anyone. So I go up to order and of course it's the indie girl that works there. Short, black indie hat, over sized indie glasses (the kind my mom wore in the 80's, not even joking, I was converting VHS to DVDs and they were there in '85). So I goto pay and she asks if I made the shirt I'm wearing. I say yeah I did, and we have a short conversation about my band and how she's seen me wearing the shirt. I say that it might have been my friend Colin too, since it probably was. But I got a compliment on the shirt, which other people say they've gotten, but I never have. And I got to talk about being in a band and making shirts and all that cool stuff that I like with someone who I know has no connection with me.
It was awesome.

Camera hassle

So, yesterday I bought a camera. The Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ5 in black. This is the latest version of a camera my friend Ben Corner has. His is really nice, so I went with that. It was also about $150 off of retail and so it was a good deal. However, the place I bought it from is a very confusing place, topchoicedigital.com. It's an online retail site that has a lot of stuff. So I bought it and then they called me today to verify that I wanted to buy it or whatever. And then the sales representative asks me if I know what the camera comes with. I say, kinda, I know the basics. And says, well you know the battery it comes with last only 20 to 30 minutes. Holy crap, that's not very long at all. So I say, no I did not know that. He then offers me a 120 dollar battery half off if I buy it with the camera. Hmm I smell something fishy going on here. Why would a default battery only last 20 minutes and why are they pushing this longer life battery that I know I could find cheaper from other sites, I did a lot of research into all this. So I ask if I can call back in a bit after I think about it.
I do research and take a break and call back just now. The guy goes, so do you want the 2 or 4 hour battery? And I ask how it is possible that a camera only lasts for 20 minutes. He says, and this is where I get upset because it goes against my ration thinking and the research I did, that the camera uses the same amount of battery when it's on whether it is taking pictures or not. A professional photographer will take 200 pictures in 20 minutes and so they get the most use out of said 20 minutes. I would be wasting them while not taking pictures. From my knowledge, cameras take more battery when they are taking pictures, especially if they use flashes. So he says it's 200 pictures or 20 minutes, which ever come first. Also, their site shows two batteries, a long life and an extended long life. Both under $60. And they don't say anywhere how long the life is.
So, I know some of you have cameras and would have first hand experience. How would you say your camera drains battery, by picture or by being on? because I think they were just trying to get me to buy a $60 battery.

What to do, what to do, want to do something.

I say "so" way to much. I was going to start this entry as "So..." but I wrote this instead. Anyways, so I'm doing laundry right? And I do laundry like my Dad I guess because I can't do anything else until the laundry is done. I'm trying to clean my basement, but I find myself just sitting here. Hmph. I also can't bring myself to do much right now. I jammed on guitar and drums, but only one instrument is boring sometimes. Then I knitted some and did a few rows of my scarf. I want to go outside for fresh air and maybe grab coffee somewhere to wake me up, but all my pants are in the washing machine. Argh. So I decided to write a blog I guess.
I'm sorry for the lack of consistency these past few weeks. I have been busy and out of it most all the time. I'm either really busy for a few days or out of it for the rest of the days and in between them. Like, I've stayed up to about 4 or 5 every night for the past 4 days. Last night I went to bed at 1:30ish and laid in bed for at least 2 and a half hours. I know because I listened to two albums all the way through. This is what people told me to do instead of watching shows like destroyed in seconds and dicking around the internets. But it didn't work. I thought way more than I wanted and freaked out and made goals and made plans and realized my plans and goals weren't completely realistic and that it all is too stressful and that I should give myself 7 hours to accomplish two things, laundry and clean my basement. Because it will take me the 7 hours today to do that.
Yesterday Hello Blacksmith had a impromptu band meeting/practice. It was great, we have a good idea of what we need to do in the next two weeks. And we have the basic layout for our CDs designed. Just need to do some finalizing. But that was really nice.

I think my pants are done, time to dry them.

I think I remember a sweet drum solo somewhere on led zep II

So last night was pretty fun, after coffee news I went home and charged my phone, called Dylan back and he said a small group was getting together to hang out and possibly play poker. So I play some GTA4 (oh yeah, I got a xbox for this christmas + last christmas (i didn't get anything last year) i don't think i have told anyone but colin or meghan yet, so yeah) and then Dylan said to head on over to the DPHQ, which is jack, francis, and alec's apartment that is literally next to the triple rock social club, the site of many great shows. So I head over and we hang out play poker for a while listening to jazz. It was fun. Then about an hour and a half later every one kinda looses interest in the game over food that jack got at work, pancakes, pizza, chicken alfredo, and more. So dylan and I end up finishing the game and I won. I felt bad for taking the pooled money because it seems like that group is scrounging for cash more than I am. Then they went on an adventure and i drove home and played more gta until like two.
Now, this is where I get hazy, because I put Led Zepplin on my iPod and started Led Zeppelin II when I went to bed. I don't remember how long I stayed awake, but it was for freaking ever, and it was the half awake sleep. It made the music intense and hard to listen to. So, I think I heard like a ten minute drum solo complete rock out, but I don't even know. I'm listening to it again to see if I can find it.
But then I dreamt, which I really don't do often. And it was a mix of thinking I haven't gone to bed and sleep and it was pretty bad. It wasn't nightmareish, but it wasn't pleasnt. There was one part that I remember being nice, but it's all very clouded. I guess I like it when I just don't dream at all over that kind.
Then I woke up, and I guess I didn't want to go back to bed because it was 9 something and I was wide awake. So I laid in bed for an hour and had a horrible taste in my mouth and so I vigorusly brushed my teeth and since we're out of milk and orange juice and anything with flavor that won't rot yor teeth in a second, I had a sprite, Then I wrote this after watching youtube videos of sharks, cats, and two kids stacking cups like pros.
Three tacks into the album and no drum solo yet, hmm. But I'm digging the album so far. I don't think it will top IV, but it's amazing still.

Stories from a coffee house pt. 2

So it's not much of a story, but I thought it was pretty funny at the time (like two minutes ago). I'm sitting in coffee news, have been since 1:00, and across from me sit paul rothman (highland park tennis pro) and three girls. One goes to the bathroom and comes back and sits down. She waits for a quiet moment and says "I just want to let you know, the bathroom here is bad, there's no toliet paper, just paper towels. And all the paper towels are soaked with water. And the soap dispenser is broken and it was just a rough time." Now, this may be funnier to me because I'm here and I've used said bathroom and I know exactly what she's talking about.
But yeah, there's this woman sitting to my left who has had like 3 beers and is just hanging and reading the newspaper. She's awesome.
Well, that was a lame post, let's spice it up more with my time today at coffee news.
i got here after deciding to go somewhere and do some blog reworking and some graphic design. I was originally going to brewberrys, but coffee here is unlimited refills for 1.73 and I wsa going to be where ever I went for a while. So, I got here and it was packed and I had to sit kinda by the counter, which was different for me. Then I needed an outlet so I jumped tables to right next to the door. It turned out that all the outlets were being used for christmas lights and that it is very cold out for a t-shirt. So I needed to move and I had seen Abby Phillips at a good table earlier and so when she left I jumped tables again and ended up with a good spot.
I saw this other lady move tables when I did the first time and she was also looking for an outlet so when she came to the back section I pointed her to a good table with a somewhat hard to see plug. Then greta showed up and I got to see her awesome acer aspire one, it is freaking small and sweet. I think she wants to get ubuntu on that baby, and that will make it 10x cooler. yay for linux. then she left and I finished my blog header picture and a general color scheme and put it on the blog (you might have noticed). then I did a rhino stencil. now I'm writing this.
So far, in my 6+ hours of being here, I have listened to the complete albums of:
iron & wine - the sea and the rhythm
okkervil river - the stage names
oasis - whats the story, morning glory?
beirut - gulag orkestar
built to spill - ultimate alternative wavers
and I am half way through pantera - vulgar display of power

An unstoppable force

Here's a stencil of a rhino, may end up being another shirt, we'll see.