Thursday, June 30, 2011

Makings the stuffs

I've no idea why I was so struck with the whole Portal thing. Don't get me wrong, I still really like turrets and all the variants there of... but my intense intrest caused a some project backup. The first of several has finally finished. I hope to get another 2 done this weekend...

Anyway- portal 2 turret embroidery project:

But no- it's not just some really mediocore piece! There's more!


I think the best thing about the turrets is the sad little things they say. I've also completely failed to find a good use till now for the RadioShack voice recorder thing I bought over a year ago. Solutions all around. Referenced from this photo. Not as good as some of the other turret embroidery out there either. Need to work on my detailing... and some other types of filler stitches...

Anyway, yeah, doing stuff... Still doing gardening-things. Haven't had a bottle-planted plant die yet so I keep putten' them seeds in there...
(Blogger was down last night when I wanted to write this post... so instead Adam and I played Little Big Planet for the first time... holy shit. Beautiful AND fun. New project ideas!)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Being too social...

A low level of lots of things has been going on for about a month now...

Adam aged and there was events related to it that took up time. We've been contemplating moving and viewing a number of places as part of that-- have since given up that idea for a while. Adam's mother was in town and then my sister was in town. We've been out hiking, there've been some parties and general GWS House gatherings involving food.

Overall most of my time has been diverted towards being social rather then crafty... which is fun but leaves me with little to show for it all... I've got a continuos low level urge to really buckle down and craft but keep failing to find a solid block of time... alas. Soon. I keep thinking soon...

I do have one thing to show for the social though... Had a company off-site last Friday... split into teams and built soap-box like cars. Our team was awesome and won, obviously. Not only was it the fastest (too fast as the video below shows) but it also went the furthest. We were team P.R.U.D.E-- Princes Rainbow Unicorn Dragon Elf. That's what happens when there's too many girls on the team... Our car was AWESOME. It had a masking tape unicorn skull on the front and a heavy metal chain you could hold hold. Our slogan was "Ride the Beast".

Below is a photo of me racing (or attempting to race) the car for the first time. It wasn't the first time I'd been in it while it was moving, but it was the first time going that fast and on that part of the hill... Obviously someone else on our team clocked the fastest time...

No one was hurt in the making or racing of the cars. We had ~4.5 hrs to make them. Only scraps/parts from our company's garage were allowed.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Sickness & Sanding

Alas. I've been sick all week, which hindered my attempt for regular blog posts... I should have stayed home longer on Tuesday because of it (my going into work this week has lead to my saddest, most incoherent series of SVN checkins ever). But because I forged (floundered) ahead through work on Tuesday I deemed myself healthy enough to attend the very first TechShop class I had ever signed up for.

I am now certified for the vacuum forming machine in the SF location. Woot. Now I just have to shell out the rediculous $$ required for a membership in order to get into the building (day passes are $50! Month passes are $125!) It was an interesting class, and fun. Pricey, but whatever. I was the only one who was A: a total noob B: a girl C: brought their own parts to test vacuum forming. I brought several of my clay and resin pieces from the Portal 2 project to mold- got to use 2 sheets and now I have just enough parts to assemble 1 Frankenturret from the plastic bits... need to paint & cut them out however... blah

My sickness-clouded brain really isn't up for anything complicated... but I have been able to attempt casting and sanding of results... so it's not like I've *just* been laying on the couch with a vacant gaze and drooling... although there has definitely been a lot of that. And tissues... I've gone through, like, 3 boxes of tissues...

The sanding never stops... it's starting to get at me. Blah. See, I made a mold of the full (collapsed) turret form and now I've got to cast it several times and cut the shapes out from the whole. Loooots of dremel work. Kicken' up a looot of dust. Maybe that's why I'm sick? Will probably pull together my Frankenturret v3 this weekend from the new molds. I've been thinking for some crazy reason that I want to turn it into a planter... I've yet to have anything die on me... I've got a Edamame seedling in a tiny bottle, so I guess that's a good test of how long it'll take to die... It's so cute! The bottle is maybe 3" high?

Sunday, June 5, 2011

San Francisco & a Movie

A: Living in San Francisco is fucking awesome.

B: The movie Hobo with a Shotgun was fucking awesome.

Proofs as follows:

San Francisco is a great place to be. Exciting things can happen right on your door step! For example, SF Carnival could easily wind below one's window. Marvel at the delightful shots Adam and I were able to take from the comfort of our bay window.






This one wasn't from our house- it was from the parade down Mission St.


San Francisco also has crazy delicious food just about everywhere. It helps that some of the *most* crazy delicious food happens to be down the street from me. May I share with you my mouth watering lunch from this Saturday, curtisey of Coffee Bar.



Do you see that? That's a Cobb salad done right- none of that blue cheese shit, they put Fetta on there! Also featuring a Havanna Latte- the most delicious drink possible that fits in the coffee Ven Diagram. The up side of such tasty food is that some times you can convince people to come aaaaalll the way up to the city and hang out with you and sometimes the food works as bait. Or at least helps.

Topic B :

Andy and I saw Hobo with a Shotgun tonight. It was actually... really amazing. Originally just a trailer idea in the middle of the Grindhouse double feature this film exceeded expectations. Or at least fit them to a T? It went there. It delivered. It's not a film for everyone, that's for sure... Trailer here... if you dare. Rutger Hauer makes a really believable hobo. Well acted, no joke (at least the hobo and the hooker were well acted... everyone else was the appropriate level of over the top/cheesy). The soundtrack was flipping amazing. At times it reminded me of Funny Games, but didn't make me want to cry. Very much in the same vein as Planet Terror.



in other news, I've bought even more seeds and tried to clean up the planter in the back yard a bit for a garden... Only re-claimed a small portion from the weeds, will attempt more later stuff actually grows...