Lifted from kahvi:

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Something most people don't know about models (at least figure drawing models): we all know each other's names, have vague ideas about what the other person looks like from charcoal, pen and ink, watercolor and pastel images. But very rarely do we ever meet each other in person -- unless an instructor accidentally double-books a class or one of us happens to be a university student killing time in the department.

I'd met a few via the exceptions above: Eric, a thirtyish man with long, thinning hair styled to resemble cat ears; and Melody, a ceramics student (famed for her acrobatic poses) who's been posing for more than ten years. In the past three weeks, I've met many more: Liz, the office assistant for the art department with the gorgeous sea horse tattoo on her left arm; Bert, the man Tim Liddy described as the "Sean Connery of figure models" who just had his own show last April (twenty artists with pieces depicting him in various mediums). Bruce, the yoga instructor and former journalist who may be the nicest person I've ever met (and confirms my suspicion that the artist adds twenty pounds to their art).

Joe Owens from Meramec came up with the idea of pair modeling for his summer students as a way of 1)introducing more students to the concept of shared space by having them draw two people instead of one and 2)keeping those of us who rely on modeling for income afloat through the mostly slow summer semesters.

The past few weeks have been my favourite experience at Meramec, apart from the classes I did with Bob Lewis. I loved working with the other models, talking to them about posing, composition, our outside occupations (lots of writers, former teachers, soon-to-be artists in their own right). It was wonderful to talk to everyone and get their opinions on certain things about posing, art students and adminstrators. It made me feel good about the work and reputation I'd established.

If anything, it made me a little sad that I'm going to be leaving StL in less than five weeks. A little.

Burr Oaks Cemetery: 'Bodies Will Be Indentified'

..and when I say neighborhood, I mean this happened in Alsip -- in the township where I'm going to be living, less than five miles from where I'm going to be living.

....

And all I can think is "at least it wasn't Restvale Cemetery." Because then it would have been *across the street*.

..because I can't resist a good meme.

( alphabet meme... )

..who is going to see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs with me?!?!??????

Anyone?

Caroline? hereinmypants? quietkindofcraz?

(..because I do not want a (purposely) photo-less obit to be the last posting in June.)

- Rainer Maria Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus

- Sobe Lizard Lava

- Doctor Who dvds (Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker)

- Pair-modeling (which I will describe later, at great length)

- The Borders powers-that-be who apparently fired the *entire cafe staff*

- Red Dwarf dvds from Netflix... and DVD Decrypter

- the "Tank Girl" comic Aubrey gave me

- the ring I bought for her

- my fiancee

..I wish you the best of luck on your journey and the utmost happiness in the next life.

Be safe and DO NO HARM.

In keeping with the Doctor Who streak I seem to be on, here's a video dedicated to my favourite Who girl. The song's quite catchy

..and I made something for who_secrets I'm quite proud of. This is the non-PC version. I made a nicer version for the comm.

NuWho fans on F'list, the cut here is for you. I adore you and advise you not to look, lest you hate and detest me forever..

( Doctor cuteness and Companion shallowness abound.. )

Title: Pyramids of Mars
Author: nice_girls_play
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #287: The Solar System: Mars
Characters: Severus Snape, Sirius Black
Summary: A quiet night at home, watching "Doctor Who." (*Classic* Who. Abandon hope all ye David Tennant fans..)

--

( Oh yes, I know you're a Time Lord... )

We survived our first road trip together, in spite of fatigue, hormones and deadlines. And it begat good results:

1) We have a place to live. Aubrey and I spent two days in Chicago last week, shopping around for condos. We settled on a place in Alsip (Southwest Chicago): first floor condo, two beds, two baths, indoor heated parking garage with a handicapped space and a ramp, unlimited outdoor parking. It's a few miles away from the Midway and 95th Street L-stops, 45 minutes away from DePaul's Loop and Lincoln Park campuses. Carpet needs replacing but not right away. The master bedroom has this cabbage-rose liner on the walls that I've vowed to destroy with my bare hands. Aubrey made an offer and the seller accepted the next day. The deal closes the first weel of July. nyghtshayde got excited when I told her we'd be living across the street from the cemetery where Muddy Waters is buried. :)

2) I met Aubrey at her place in Evansville, we drove up to Chicago Wednesday. Friday, we drove 9 and a half hours south to Fayetteville for Maggie's birthday. The girls have a three new additions to the household: a stray cat, Chessa, turned up pregnant at their house. They took her in and she gave birth to four kittens on Wednesday, the 10th; two of them made it. I got a nice photo of Aubrey with the two kittens -- one of whom looks like she's going to be tortoiseshell. Chessa took a shine to Aubrey. The two of us bunked on the futon in Maggie and Marisa's living room. The second night, Aubrey poked me awake -- Chessa had curled up and fallen asleep in the crook of her neck.

We had lunch a nice lunch at Common Grounds on Saturday. I got to show Aubrey a little bit of Dickson Street, but we both wore out pretty quickly (five days on the road at that point). We paid a visit to Dickson Street Bookstore and I bought her an untranslated copy of Aimee and Jaguar. We had a late supper at the house that night with all the girls: grilled cheese (as in, "we have five different kinds of cheese. Take your pick") and tomato soup made from scratch in the slow cooker. I love visiting the girls' house, and I'm glad I got to bring Aubrey there -- it's such a nice, warm place to visit.

..meanwhile, I thought I should probably mention..

I got into DePaul University!!

Name your 10 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms (in no order of preference):


1. Rick Sorenson/Vyvyan Basterd (The Young Ones)
2. Arnold Rimmer/David Lister (Red Dwarf)
3. Severus Snape/Sirius Black (Harry Potter)
4. Jay/Silent Bob (View Askewniverse)
5. Four/Sarah Jane (Doctor Who)
6. Two/Jamie (Doctor Who)
7. Rik Mayall/Adrian Edmondson (RPS)
8. Metatron/Grant (Dogma/Interstate 60, as discussed with nyghtshayde)
9. Max/Jude (Across the Universe)
10.Spike/Angel (BtVS, Angel)

Cher's daughter undergoing sex reassignment

Headline's not technically correct (because gender transition and sex reassignment are not neccessarily the same thing), but hey.. Chastity Bono is trans. Ain't that something?

01. Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their livejournal.
02. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
03. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!




It's a piece of Doctor Who fan art called "The Doctor's Boys." It features Ten and all of the Doctor's male companions (over a 40 year period) drinking in a pub. Those companions include Adric, Harry Sullivan, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Jamie McCrimmon, Captain Jack Harkness, Turlough, Ben Jackson (hidden behind the menu), Ian Chesterson, K-9 and Micky Smith. I like it becaust it's creative and it undercuts the NuWho implication that the Doctor is only attracted to the company of nubile young girls (esp. Rose fen *hisses*). Also, it has immortal-man Jack hitting on Jamie, a piper from 18th century Scotland (who looks none too impressed).

That resurging cough?

It's bronchitis.

I'm at home on antibiotics and Cheratussin syrup (basically Robitussin with codeine) when I should be working on the article or addressing envelopes for the wedding.

Lesson learned.

Yes, it's been a busy week.

We have a new cousin in the Horvath clan (13 now by my count, 11 according to the rest of the family). Turner William Horvath. Mother and baby are doing fine. He was born Tuesday, May 26. Erica and I went up to see them at St. John's Mercy in Washington Wednesday evening. He's a very happy baby, hardly cried the whole time we were there. I teased Uncle Bruce about having a Gemini child.

ME: "He's going to grow up to be just like meeee! *giggles*"
BRUCE: "Hey, there's only room for one wild child in this family and that's *me*."

Thursday night was Ricky's high school graduation. I had an art class at the Guild from noon to three and since Queeny Park (the venue where most of the public school graduations are held in StL) is just a quick jaunt up Manchester, I got a salad and settled in at Panera for a while before heading out. I got there at 6:30 and found the place deserted. I called Grandpa:

GRANDPA: "No, they're not having at the park this year. They're having it at some arena."
ME: "Where?"
GRANDPA: "I don't know. I threw the invitation out."

I called Erica.

ERICA: "I don't know. I'm not even there. I have rehearsal for 'Oliver!' tonight. Do you want Grandma's cell number?"

I called Grandma's cell number.

No answer.

I finally pulled over into the parking lot at West County Mall and popped open my laptop to see if I could get a signal. I did and Googled "Lindbergh High School" "2009 graduation" and "arena." It turned out the ceremony was being held at Chaifetz Arena at St. Louis University. I hopped onto 270, then 44. I made it to the arena just in time to hear the second senior speaker babble on for five minutes about how 18-year-olds are like Silly Putty (....?). I watched the seniors walk and when Ricky walked, I was able to spot Uncle Rick and the rest of the clan. Localized cheering section, plus the man must be nearly 300 pounds by now. He and Bruce left early with Jimmy, so I sat out the rest of the ceremony with Grandma and Aunt Vickie.

Ricky hadn't known I was coming. He let out a scream when he saw me and gave me this big swooping hug. I love this kid so much. More than any of my cousins, apart from quietkindofcraz, Ricky is my buddy. I grew up less than ten minutes away from his house and used to come over and babysit him every day for four or five straight summers. He's a terrific person. I gave him a book of blues poems as a graduation present and he seemed to really like it.

Friday was my birthday. I'm 26 years old. I slept late. I went out and met Missy and Vanessa at Van's house so the three of us could go grocery shopping for Caroline's bridal shower. The kids were great -- Johnny is 17 months old now, Clair just over a year. We went to Sam's Club and got a special cart so the two of them could sit in the little double-seat without needing to be carried. I pushed the cart and wrangled the kids (retrieving binkies, making sure Johnny didn't get into any of our handbags) while the ladies picked things out. Eventually we paid for everything up front and pulled over to the little fast food nook SC has. Johnny was fussy and wanted down, so I picked him up and attempted to get him to sit on my shoulders. The cheeky monkey threw his leg over my head (in a Broadway arch -- he'll have a great dance career if we can keep him away from the PS3 and the Magic cards)and scuttled downward. His mama caught him before he could get away. Clair was getting fussy too by this time, so I picked her up and held her on my lap while the three of us ate and chatted. By the time I put her back, she'd peed through my shirt, my jeans AND the fringed scarf I was wearing through my belt loops.

ME: (to Clair) "You peed on me. We're not friends anymore."
MISSY: "Ohhh! Don't say that...!"

Aubrey got into town at 3. lagaiem and takentogether got into town around 5. I was beyond ecstatic that they were able to drive up for the weekend and that they got to stay with Aubrey and I for the night they were in town. I won't say too many nice things, (since they're, in all likelihood, going to read this :P) but it was wonderful to see them, as it always is. The four of us hung out in the hotel room for a bit before heading out to the Schlafly Tap Room downtown.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Dolores were there getting a drink when we got there -- with Caitlin! I hadn't expected Cait to be with them and I was delighted to see her. I got to show her emy fantastic new handbag with women writers on it -- including her beloved Jane.

There ended up being ten of us in the dinner party: myself, Aubrey, Maggie, Marisa, Erica, Caroline, Jonathon, Chris, Edward and Bobbie. Bobbie and Eddie got me a card that sang "Super Freak." Chris gave me a copy of "The Spirit" on dvd. The girls gave me the t-shirt I'd spotted at Little Bread Company two months ago when Marisa and I had lunch there -- I nearly shrieked. I nearly shrieked anyway. I was so giddy and happy that I had so many of my friends in one place and that we were surrounded by good food, good beer and good vibes. Matt and Dolores got to meet and talk with Aubrey for a little while. That made me happy.

The girls and I watched "Milk" when we got back to the hotel. The next morning, Maggie and Marisa had to drive back to Fayetteville. Beforehand, the four of us had lunch at Mokabe's -- Aubrey and I had originally planned to have dinner there and since the cafe is *right by* the 44 exit anyway.. It was great. The best birthday yet.

The bridal shower was Sunday. Aubrey came with me to stave off the possibility that I would have to deal with Rene. The four of us, along with John (and little Johnny in tow, being rambunctious as he does best) set up the food and decorations. Approx. 30 people ended up coming -- Caroline's mother, her grandmother and aunts, Jonathon's mother, grandmother, his aunts, cousins, the wife of the best man. Everyone got settled in with no trouble, everyone liked the food. We got everything together pretty efficiently: the presents-opening took about an hour, we cut the cake right after that. The party ran for about two and a half hours altogether.

( The Bridal Party )

Rene mostly hovered around Caroline, Missy and Van, failing to endear herself to anyone with her vast knowledge of wedding party etiquette. She seemed to particularly be getting on Vanessa's nerves, the culmination of which occurred after the bride got a photograph with her bridesmaids. Rene insisted on getting a photo of "the friends who've known each other for ten years or more" -- which included her and Stephanie but excluded Van. Van was in the picture anyway, because Missy was not taking a picture without her and I was not going to stand alone. I don't think it's going to hit her properly until the day we're all at the church and the three of us are standing at the front in our matching dresses and she's stuck sitting in the church pews with Bill (if he still tolerates her).

( The Pity Party )

Aubrey stayed until Monday morning. I'm not sure when we're going to see each other again before the July trip to Spokane (nematoddity, do you and Cat feel like having a lunchtime visitor?). Maggie's birthday party is on June 12 and we're both invited to come down to Arkansas. Aubrey has to find out if she can get away -- the owner of the condo she made an offer on decided not to sell, so we're looking at other places now. She might have to make at least two or three more trips up to the city to look at places with Anita.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting at home working on an article, making phone calls, writing cover letters, making up a budget for the next three months and fighting a resurging cough. DePaul sent me a notice that they received my application. I should know in the next four to six weeks whether I've been accepted or not. I'm going to US Bank later this week to find out about getting a pre-approval on a student loan, in the event the college *does* accept me but doesn't want to offer any financial aid in the form of a Stafford or Perkins loan.

I'm also finishing up Ada and re-reading Thich Nhat Hahn's Living Buddha, Living Christ. Trying to stay focused and not hyperventilate most of the time.

..so here's a fun video for everyone, combining two of my favourite things: Doctor Who (with my favourite TARDIS team) and Queen.

I walk a tight rope
and live with a high hope
that somehow we still feel the same

Through this catastrophe
it's quietly telling me 'welcome'
-- there's that word again

I don't care if the world's upside down
if you're lost or you're found
I know your feet will stay far from the ground
If you just stick around

I know the shots you call gentle
cause I could fall and break
you'll hear what they say

I read between the lines
It cuts like a hate crime
And tell me today's not the day

I don't care if the world's upside down
if you're lost or you're found
I know your feet will stay far from the ground
If you just stick around

-- Upside Down, Sung by Scott Matthew

1) The dearth of art classes in the summertime goes on. But I did have an interesting Figure I class at Forest Park last week. I've never had a student draw my labia before. She did a decent job.

2) St. Louis's Wheelchair Games were at the VA on May 15. When Aubrey and I went in to register and get our wristbands, "We Are Family" was playing on the PA system. I giggled for two straight minutes.

3) Johnnie O's is hiring. So are the South County and Kirkwood Panera Breads. Best case scenario: I could end up working part-time for a coffe shop AND a sex shop.

4) I'm working on two pieces for Vital Voice -- one on how area hospitals treat patients with same-sex partners, one on out gay politicians in Missouri. And yet, I still haven't been paid for my last two articles.

5) I sent out my application to DePaul in the mail. I should have my answer from them by the end of June. With a 68.4 acceptance rate, I'm hoping that answer will be yes.

6) No word from Valvoline so far. (I'm quite annoyed).

7) Ditto for my tax return. Somehow, my financial information from 2008 was misplaced, so I had to call up Borders, Blockbuster, St. Louis Community College and Sharper Image to get copies of my W2s. Fortunately, I also kept a ledger of the work I did for Existence Assistance and St. Charles Community College. I'm crossing my fingers that it comes soon -- that's my Beatlefest money. Incidentally, Existence Assistance is no more -- Chuck took Sean's idea and got it incorporated elsewhere. "You were right to tell him to fuck off," Sean told me. Yes. Yes, I was.

8) I spent this weekend with Aubrey and Aaron looking at condos and houses in Chicago. I fell in love with the bed at the house on Lavergne (four handcarved posts, drawers in the baseboards, cabinets and a mirror built into the headboard, two electric lights with frosted glass covers and a mirrored ceiling -- freak's delight or what?), but not the house it was in. We found a condo in Oak Lawn, Aubrey's going to make an offer on -- three beds, two baths, good dimensions for Aubrey, good neighborhood, a mile away from metro travel. I've got my fingers crossed.

9)..now I just need a job lined up in Chicago. I've revamped my resume and am fighting my anxiety to draft some cover letters for the job ads I've found so far.

10) Somedays, it just not pay to do the "forward-thinking, adult thing:" going to the dentist and paying for three months of car insurance.. just put my chequing account into overdraft. Joy.

I always say I'm getting my ducks in a row. So why does it never *feel* that way?