Sometimes I hate this area. I mean absolutely despise it. Particularly when job hunting. I look on sites like The Creative Group, and even on Indeed, which lists practically everything- and can’t find a single thing for a Graphic Designer in a 50 mile radius of Gallia. Seriously. That’s what I have my email alerts on Jobster set to. You know what Jobster’s been sending me? Movie Extra ads for West Virginia.

Then I follow this dirty Jeep-looking-thing, probably owned by a teenager, out of my old Alma Mater on my way home from ma-n-pa’s (who’s farm land, by the way, has been surrounded by the neighboring power plant’s buy out. Once tree-covered hills are now bare with dump trucks). “Life Is Good” it tells me. Okay, I think. I’m stuck in a dying town in “The Black Hole of Culture.” I’m stuck in a greasy kitchen working 8 hours for little pay, and even less creative satisfaction every single weekend. I have two 12 hour days this semester, and they both end in Statistics. I miss my little girl like crazy.

“Life is Good.”

I have a little girl who misses me like crazy too. I also have a best friend who has been nothing but good to me for 3 years, who is just as creative as I am, if in slightly shifted ways. I’m getting an education in a career that lends itself well to working from home, historically speaking. . . life’s starting to look better.

Okay Dirty Jeep, show me thy wisdom.

I am not, however it may seem, alone in the universe. I’ve been seeing blogs all over the internet of people who think like me. I’m sure I’m not alone in SE Ohio. In fact, I’m sure of it. There just hasn’t been a place to come together. I’m going to test this theory.

In my “spare” moments in the next month or two, I’ll be developing something new. It’s going to be a blog/forum, and it’s going to be a site for those of us who are trying to survive in the Black Hole. I’m going to call it FASE Ohio (Fine Arts South East Ohio) for now. An acronym, but also something of a commandment. If I’m going to stay here- I’m going to face it full on. Or else I might miss signs like this one.

Is it possible to obtain Divine Intervention from the back of a vehicle which has probably spent a good deal of its recent time mud-running in the strip mines? I think so. Proving that even in Gallia County anything is possible.

Roat (Wes) explains the plan to Mike & Carlino (Steve & Jeff) at rehearsal.

Synopsis:

“A sinister con-man, Roat, and two ex-convicts, Mike and Carlino, are about to meet their match. They have traced the location of a mysterious doll, which they are much interested in, to the Greenwich Village apartment of Sam Hendrix and his blind wife, Susy. Susy refuses to reveal its location, and with the help of a young neighbour, realizes she is the victim of a bizarre charade. She knows the only way to play fair is by her rules, and manages to find a way to level the playing field.”

- shortened considerably from the script synopsis.

Jess’s Take:

This show is going to be performed at the Ariel Theatre in Gallipolis on the first full weekend of February.

Wait Until Dark follows a line of great picks by director Michelle Miller, such as Misery and Broken Up, that have pushed the boundaries of Gallia’s Theatre scene. I love working with Michelle, who makes a habit of picking shows for adults to apreciate. Starring such local favorites as Wesley Jackson as the sinister Harry Roat, and Stephen Sisson as the con-man Mike Talman, this show won’t disappoint.

Samantha Fooce, playing Susy Hendrix, and Jeff Wittman as Sergent Carlino are great aditions to Michelle’s usual cast picks. And the spunky Coryn Lord as the young neighbor Gloria adds her usual flare to the stage. You’ll also see J.D. Markley make an appearence as Sam Hendrix. You’ll not be seeing me, I’ll be backstage pulling curtains and moving set pieces

So, if you’re looking for something a little different (and with better sound & picture quality) than a movie at Spring Valley- try seeing a live show. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat.

For More Information:

Show Info at the Ariel - Order Tickets Here.
Google Book Result - See the Script
More Info on Fredrick Knott - The Playwright, see what else he’s done.
Wait Until Dark -
The Movie starring Audry Hepburn, 1967 Thriller Flick

The original was in this forum thread by “rileycentral” :  

WordPress › Support » addlink bookmarklet gone?.

All I did was change the width of the popup window to 800px to allow for the new 2.7 admin layout.  You’ll need to change the url to your own, then copy and paste the code to your address bar and drag it into your bookmarks bar.  That’s what I did in Safari, anyway.  If there’s a better way- please let me know.

javascript:void(linkmanpopup=window.open(’http://urlhere.com/wordpress/wp-admin/link-add.php?action=popup&linkurl=’+escape(location.href)+’&name=’+escape(document.title),’LinkManager’,’scrollbars=yes,width=800,height=550,left=15,top=15,status=yes,resizable=yes’));linkmanpopup.focus();window.focus();linkmanpopup.focus();

The last few weeks since New Years I’ve been finding interesting site after interesting site, sort of like when I was finding CSS-Tricks and GoMedia and all of those designing how-to’s a while back. Now it’s been a journey down a path of simplicity, do-it-yourselfing, and money management. It’s hard to find just the right blogs without getting lost in the forrest, so here’s what I’ve found before pulling myself back:

Zen-Habits: It all started with ZenHabits.com. I’m not sure at all how I came across this one at first. Just a stumble into the garden, I think. About living simply, the power of doing less; a dream I hope to realize someday soon.

This led to Get Rich Slowly and The Simple Dollar. They pretty much speak for themselves. I’ve been learning quite a bit about this.

Which led to You Grow Girl, a blog for your average every day gardner. Very pretty, and practical. Lovely fruits and veggies!

Threadbanger is a pretty awesome, accidental find that sort of goes along with the rest of these. It’s a DIY site for us freaky starving artist types. Pretty spiffy.

Now, as I have to go to my icky Statistics class, it’s time to pack up and leave the lab. Be watching for a links page with these and others of my favorite sites. I also have another idea hidden in my brain somewhere that I’ll try and squeeze some time into. And tomorrow I’ll probably be posting about the upcoming Ariel show Wait Until Dark. That’s the plan anyway.

Have a nice night, internet land.
Jess

I’m only posting this because apparently 0% of the 37,683 people who have taken this quiz are like me. . . which is totally unsurprising.

School starts next week. More posting will come with this. Routine is nice. I’ll be taking Printmaking, Digital Photography, Junior Studio II, Statistics and Archery. I have to add in Exhibits and we’ll be all set for the 4 year plan, somehow that didn’t get added in to the schedule like it was supposed to. No biggy.

I’ve been working on my New Years goals, this week is going to be dedicated to getting a good start on the year. I have a long way to go.

Here goes nothing.

Messing with Conditional Tags in the sidebar, which is definitely something I’ll be utilizing in the ArtStudio139 site.   The blog has a bloggy side, and certain pages simply have links to sub-pages.  The home page has nothing but a search box so far, and won’t until sometime tomorrow.  Time for me to snooze. 

Oh, and I’ve started using FeedBurner for my RSS.  So if you’re subscribing to the old address, by some slim chance, there’s a link to the new style up in the new header.  It says 16 readers, yeah that’s obviously a placeholder.  Right now my real stats read “1.” ha.

My next step is going to be getting the Folio cleaned up & spuffed up.  After that the shop.  I’m going to upload a couple of starter designs to Zazzle, a couple that some Church friends will enjoy, especially.  And maybe link to some good books on Amazon.  Do a Movies about Art shop page, as well.  That may be a Friday task, because I’m also going to start on ArtStudio’s template tomorrow.

Other plans include actually writing real articles now and then as a way to help me learn things. . . instead of just these goofy site updates.  

There’s also a a show coming up, which I will not be on stage for, but will probably be backstage when the time comes.  It’s another Michelle Miller production, but Steve and I were in Florida when auditions came around.  Somehow her favorite male actor got a part anyway though.  I guess there were only two girl parts that got filled in pretty quickly.  Oh well- I have too much on my plate right now, anyway.  Spring or Summer I’ll get back in something.

Enough rambling.  Time for sleep.

End.

The website is getting its new look, which Dustin dubbed “Cleaner” than the last.  This one is probably going to be slowly developed over the next couple of months as I see new techniques I like.  I’ve already discovered how I’m going to handle the top navigation, but that will have to wait until tomorrow night.  Be expecting a new shop to emerge as well.

I should do better with twitter now, too- I’ve found Twitter Tools by Alex King, which will allow me to update my status from here, which is going to be much more convenient. I’m trying to use this new 2.7 interface to its fullest. Oh, and, thanks to the Twitter Status app in facebook, it also updates my Facebook Status at the same time.

What other crosspostiness am I thinking? Well, I tried to re-install the LiveJournal crossposter to update the old LJ for my long-time friends more often, but evidently it has a category problem with 2.7, so that will have to wait. I’m also going to bring back my facebook photo album, if that still works, and put it in the “Life” section.

There are other things I’ve been doing for the new year- I’ve switched bank accounts and am now getting that completely switched over, and telephone companies to something cheaper, and I have now switched half my light bulbs over to the spirally kind. I’m hoping to have enough dough saved up for Adobe CS4 by next semester.

As ever, I’m hoping this year will be better than the last, although 2008 has probably been the best of recent years. I think I’ll redo my 43 Things to have some goals for 09.

So, as the snow falls, I finish this post- and prepare to go bundle up the short one for some awesome wintery art creation outside. Then it’s hot chocolate and popcorn strings for the pseudo-Tree! Until the next random post-

End.

I’m really here to post quickly about my plans to do a new layout for the Holidays.  New knowledge in CSS, JQuery and design in general is prompting me to update.  So don’t be surprised if Wing o’ the Wolf gets a facelift around January.  This layout won’t completely die, though- I’ll be using something similar on ArtStudio139.com, which should be going up in the next few months for Amy Landrum.

Alright, back to getting things together for my pretend portfolio for my pretend interview in Junior Studio.

Here’s the link:

http://twitaway.com/

Mine is downloading now. I did the Twitter thing, and got an email with a download link like 5 minutes later. It’s 23 MB on dial-up, though. *ugh*

Also- another video podcast to watch- “TheInDesigner.” http://www.theindesigner.com

It hasn’t been updated in a while because he just had a kid, but there are already 51 spiffy episodes full of InDesign tricks. I have half of them on my laptop!

Enjoy

Jazz Anthology

The biggest thing I’m taking away from my Movies About Art class, besides the technical stuff like learning how commissions work and how difficult it is to obtain gallery showing, and how critics will be critics, unless they’re Henrys. . . the thing that has most affected me from this class is that being weird isn’t just okay- it’s almost a requirement. That being different from the rest of the world is almost necessary to realizing your true potential, and to really experiencing the world. That it’s okay to be that 16 year old girl who went to Wal*Mart in bunny ears three days after Easter with her off-beat best friends. . . To be an artist you have to be an observer, and to be an observer you have to separate yourself from the flock, and that’s okay.

But to separate yourself from the flock means you’re watching the rest of the crazy sheep. . . and there’s a sadness there. Seeing that nobody else is seeing what you are seeing. It’s not only lonely, but at times infuriating. That’s why many artists go crazy in the end, I think. Still, there are a few who held on. Who learned to accept that they’re just not like other people. Who learned that it’s okay to be weird.

I’ve been very lucky the last two years. I’ve been taught by practicing artists. People who are also observers. Not just my art teachers, but my Literary Imagination prof as well (see her book - Eros Operatica) . I’m being taught so much beyond the technical, and it’s a blessing. It’s remarkable to look back and see how my path got me here.

I can know the secrets of life that are mine, that the rest of my generation may have forgotten. I can be different. I can feel the subtle wrongness of Jazz and Tea. There’s something there.

If I can teach my daughter that it’s okay to be different from the rest of the world, I think I’ve completed my overall mission on this earth.

My dad’s a high school teacher. He lives on the stuff. I’ve never touched the stuff, besides cappuccino.

Thoughts? Should I join the dark side?

Now, the Fun with Fonts, I was wanting to add a Typography blog to my list of RSS feeds, and #1 on Google was ilovetypography.com- so I clicked, and I was taken.  Tons and tons of info in the blog, and a super fun font game to play!  I got a 25/34 on my own, then I shared it with the lab and we played as a team and got 30.  Good times in the Mac Lab

So that’s all for today- enjoy!

First of all, Alex Hardy has released SimpleContact Pro. I’ve been using the free version on my site for a while now, and have been loving it- and am seriously considering buying the Pro version for myself and for clients. I’ve posted about it before, and the biggest difference is the ability to add custom fields. $20 for pro, the version I’m using is still available for free. Hopefully should have the funds soon!

Katie at GoMedia has posted two of three parts of her How to Design a Font series, and has other useful Typography tips, here. Which has come at an opportune time, since I’m really getting into this part of Vector Graphics & Junior Studio at school. I’ve bought a couple of books from Amazon for super cheap, and have seriously considered buying a copy of Fontlab, even before seeing her posts. (That’s another 45 bucks with student discount for the not-so-professionally-expensive program TypeTool. blech. Sucks being a poor college student.)

I’ve always loved the look of the written word, and studying Typography has seriously improved my work already. My design for a campus Bible Study flyer even got chosen over the others, even the seniors, in class- and I blame my use of stock photography & making the verse the focal point. . . She wanted modern & eye-catching with “maybe some music or worship graphics.” Modern? Well, after watching the documentary on it- the only thing I could think was Helvetica. So if you have some hateful feelings toward the font, sorry- but it got the piece printed

Started talking to Steve this morning about starting a new font-creation hobby, so we can get really good at this. I think he’s excited.

Oh, and if you haven’t been to CSS-Tricks, you’re missing out. Some fantastic content from this guy, almost daily!

Yeah, I think that’s about it for today. I survived my 8 week World Civ class, now for the rest of the semester! Midterms came out pretty well. Advising Day is Tuesday already! Yeesh! I’m almost done!! Maybe watching Reni turn 4 on Tuesday helps me get a grasp on how fast time really does go by.

Oh, PS- HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I went to Steve’s church last night as an Artist. . . I wore what I wore to school on Wednesday! Actually, I was a hippie-gypsy-artist, because those were all the guesses I was getting. Dug my cloak out of the closet for today! It’s good to be an individual =)

Much love.
End

Well, okay- so I don’t know if I really did or not, for sure. . . yet.  Just happy I beat the thing!

There was just one little thing that was really stumping me, and that was how to get a double stroke on some text at the bottom of the fake flyer we were supposed to be making in Adobe Illustrator.  We were allowed to Google, so I googled- and found this tutorial.  With a healthy dose of sarcastic humor, I learned about the Appearances Window, and life was good!  I even found a new blog to subscribe to.

I love learning new things!

All for now.

First of all, thanks to the podcasts of CSS-Tricks.com the site is 100% CSS Designed now!  View the source- you’ll  not see a single table tag!  Freedom from generated Photoshop Slice code and the headaches and complications it brings at last!  Thank you Chris Coyier!

Secondly, I’ve moved the site to the new server- NearlyFreeSpeach.net.  Thom’s blog has been up there for about a month now, and if he’s had any trouble with it, he hasn’t let me know about it.  Their business model is really unique: you only pay for the disk space, bandwidth, and MySQL space that you actually use in a given month.  Which is great for me because:

a) if I don’t get a lot of hits in a month, I’m seriously only paying a few pennies for the space I’m taking up instead of five bucks for a gazillion gigabytes I’m never going to use, and

b) if my site’s not working for some reason, they’re not getting paid, which means they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure we’re running.

Some other nice things about them- they have a TON of support material, every question I’ve had has been answered in the FAQ’s so far. And they allow editing of .htaccess, which you can see the results of in my pretty new urls in the address bar. Instead of being “?p=485″ we can all see the title up there. That makes me smile. And, as you should all know by now, I like seeing words that imply that you’re talking to real people with senses of humor. That’s how I try to work, and that’s how they work. It was really their FAQ’s that sold me.

So, NearlyFreeSpeech.net- if you’re shopping for server space, I highly recommend them. And they don’t have an affiliate program, so they’re not paying me to say that!

I’m starting with the lessons on converting a Photoshop Comp, which, it’s comforting to know, so far has confirmed that I’m doing MOST everything correctly. This is just going to get me in the CSS frame of mind, and will help me get cleaned up. Pretty exciting!

He even uses Coda, on a Mac. *squeak of joy*

Off to Movies About Art with me!

-Jess