I woke up friday 749.87 dollars richer and woke up today to lose my wallet in a cheap ass motel in Des Plaines. No, the story's much tamer than it really sounds, but it is ironic that when I finally have some money in my future I have it taken away in the "City of Destiny" that is Des fucking Plaines, Illinois. I truly hope that I don't have to get a new wildcard, drivers license, and debit card and that it shows up somewhere. So until then it won't look like I'll be eating anything in the meantime, which clears up for some time for work. In less than three weeks, I will (hopefully) have finished with two documentaries, my study abroad application, packing all my things in boxes, and moving it up to the Noyes apartment, and not to mention finish four finals (and all the papers that go with it). So I'll probably not update much (at all) until everything clears and the dust settles, which will probably be sometime in early July or late June maybe if I'm compelled to write whilst I'm in Baton Rouge. Kids don't seem to be staying too long in BR, but that'll be a good thing so I can reconnect with the family and get some sleep. Ah, beautiful sweet sleep. So when I get back to Evanston, #1 and I will be plunging headfirst into the animation project. I'll use this site mostly as a place where you can get a glimpse into how we're doing and post up the drawings we get done (something to track our progress). It'll be cool stuff, believe you me. I'll pick up some frisbee golf (BLOGGER AD LINK HERE!) photographs and post them here tomorrow! Til then, check this out.

Bwahaha.

In belated, though nonetheless enormous, news: WE GOT THE GRANT!! Summer plans are definite now: I will be subletting Zack's room in ol' 809 Noyes staying here in the wacky Midwest. It was a bit bewildering hearing the news, as I've tried to suppress all anxiety, and thus, all thought, on the whole matter and now the reality is hitting me full in the face. I'm going to be animating all summer! I honestly cannot think of a better way to spend this summer. Well, maybe I can. Regardless, it's going to be intense. I don't know how the money or the technical stuff will work out, but it doesn't matter: at the very least I'm going to be drawing an assload this summer and that's all that really matters. So that makes the schedule look like this:

June 11-23: Lima, Peru & Machu Picchu (visiting Diana, Sofia, Sergio, y Andres!)
June 24-July 2(ish?): Family time in Baton Rouge
July 3- August 10: Grant Time
August 10-20: another visit home for Ben, Laura, Houston and crew?
August 20ish: The Cape Cod Caper (car willing...)

And then in Evanston drawing, working, frisbee golfing (I promise I'm not a hippie), and watching a whole lot of movies and cartoons, and reading as many books as I can squeeze in (mainly just finish all these half-read books. My backlog is almost as bad as my laundry). Hmm, now that I think about it, time for completing the grant may be tricky.
More tricky though, will be convincing Papa to bring my beloved CRV up here for the summer. I think I've already got Mama on my side, but it really depends on my old man. My poor car got broken into last fall and some bastards took off with my stereo; however, insurance replaced it with a satellite XM radio!! A satellite XM radio that's just sitting there in my car collecting Southern dust. There are so many good reasons why I should bring the vehicle up here, but that still might not convince Papa, especially as frazzled as he is these days. If I do get it, the Cape Cod Caper will become a reality and a glorious New England roadtrip will take place (a first for me!). Cross your fingers...
I've posted the drawings and some sketches for Exquisite Corpse on the right. Poor Nate has been unbelievably busy and absorbed in his editing, and has not had the chance to post them up yet, so I'll beat him to it. Tell me what you think of them below; give me some feedback! I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I'd been focusing on character designs more than anything else, and I think that showed in the drawings so I'm trying to get away from that (specifically, create more all encompassing drawings that aren't just showcases for character). And maybe try watercoloring again... I don't know. We'll see. If only people had written more this week...

Damn skippy, I changed the whole site 'round. I don't really know what the number 897 means, or the star image for that matter, but until I figure more HTML it'll stay there. Don't think of this as anything permanent, but more as a continual evolution (and I was bored). I wish I could expand the width of this whole thing so I the pics on the right could be bigger but that sounds very complicated.
If you are a fan of comics at all, even in the least bit, you have to check out The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952. Its a collection of Schulz's earliest strips, and it has some of the funniest/saddest/angriest strips ever written, especially considering really how out of context it is (these strips are of a culture and time over half a century ago). David Michaelis writes a great essay in the back and sums up pretty much everything I love and adore about Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, and Linus. Yes, I know its lame that I'm referring to my thoughts through another mouthpiece, but... I'm lazy.
Lazy, yes, and about to catch the White Sox game downtown with the regular crew. A sunny day, Olde English, bratwurst, and a slugfest of a game! Ahhh, it almost makes me render school completely irrelevant. When I return I hope to scan the official illustrations for Chapter 1 of Exquisite Corpse, which if you haven't checked out yet, do so now. So! Images soon! Baseball sooner! And Cuba hopefully not too far away...

New version of blogger. Niice. Just figured I'd drop in a few words:
1) First and foremost, Nate DeYoung's Exquisite Corpse {click} novel is finishing up its first week! He just cooked up a slick website which you should check out as soon as you can. What is an Exquisite Corpse, you might say? Click away and find out. I'll be scanning in the first illustration shortly (tomorrow hopefully)and will post it up here, along with other ideas/sketches I've made for the project. Though that actually may cause a problem, now that I think about it. Well, if not hopefully some stuff I've been doing in class well start getting on here.
2) Oh! And I almost forgot: New Zealand may no longer be in my future. I gave some thought about it, realized that I'm a lot more closer to finishing my film credentials than I am in my art major; and if I'm serious about switching emphasis on the majors, I need to get drawing into high gear. And so instead I might be going to CUBA! It has a great art program there and there's a NU program there, though its super competitive and tough (you need a 3.4 gpa minimum, a spanish interview, etc). I know I like to talk about these kind of things all the time (Thailand?) though at this point this definitely is what I 100% want to do. Cuba and Nicaragua are among the most similar and paralleling Latin American countries, and from the embargo act, Havana is a kind of 1950's haven that technology and modern day has forgotten. I would improve on my spanish tremendously, and there's just so many more good reasons why I want to be there. Cross your fingers.
3) And well, a lot sooner in travel plans I guess I'll be visiting Lima, Peru for 10 days as soon as finals are over. I'll be visiting family, undoubtedly our closest relatives (we'd often live together for months at a time). THey just moved over there and we'll be visiting and going to Machu Picchu in the process! How cool is that? I used to be obsessed with National Geographics and this one about Machu Picchu would always be my favorite. I'd always ask my parents if we could visit there-- and now we have a chance to go! Then it'll be flying back to Evanston and, at the very least, building up a solid portfolio. If we get the grant, (still no word) then I'll be working like crazy on animating, but if not then at least give it a good healthy start and maybe continue it in the fall on some independent study.
And here's a link to tide you over {click}. After taking this Asian Art class, there's nothing more than I'd like to do than visit this place. I remember the Scollards telling stories upon stories of adventures and trips there. To Ryan, Dan, Nate, and whoever else is in the running, I hope all will turn out well tomorrow morning. Hopefully these kids will be there next winter on TM. They'll be eating curry, I'll be eating communism.

Laura always tells me that I have the weirdest experiences; shower stalls, baseballs, and Big Bird aside, I'd always tell her that this stuff happens to everybody. Like today. I tried not to be a jerk and compare today to the greatness of Cinco de Mayo last year, but I couldn't stop thinking how sucky our celebration was this year. "Weird Girl" killed my Manu Chao from Ryan's speakers and puts on this awful Mexican techno, just awful awful music as she bounces along screaming for more attention. Nobody picked up the Baja Fresh so there's no food, except for a vague promise of it "coming shortly." Suz gave me her camera so I'd take pictures, as people started to gather for the pinatas. I'm trying to keep a good face on during this 50 degree May weather we're having, as the first batter swings at the pinata and breaks the stick. The shards are about a foot high at max, and so the next swinger basically touches the pinata with the broken stick and puts a slight dent in it. People start groaning and sighing, and so then someone takes the pinata and jump kicks it and just bashes it around; five minutes later it breaks. Nobody goes for the candy. Everybody's still waiting for the Baja Fresh.
Another Pinata stick is found, and everybody circles in for the last pinata. This guy picks up the stick, goes in the for the swing, and upon hitting the Pinata, the stick shatters in half. The broken shard backspins and flies straight into Kat's face. Everybody gasps and Kat covers her bloodied face and runs inside. Three minutes later a fire truck and two police cars drive up, and a procession of firemen, medics, and policemen stream into the CRC, carrying cases and a stretcher, as everybody gawks out on the lawn, with the pinata candy still lying untouched on the grass. Everybody breaks into small groups, murmuring and whispering, trying to hear over each other the blaring Mexican rap. The guy who broke the stick suddenly runs into the room crying, trying to outrun his friends as they chase behind him. People start wordlessly going back into their rooms, murmuring phrases like "When Pinatas go bad" and "this has been a Cinco de Mayo of sadness." I feel bad taking any pictures, and tuck it away in my jean jacket pocket, as I look around at this intensely awkward moment of Cinco De Mayo merriment. The firemen, medics, and policemen rush out of CRC, carting Kat (in her heels) on the stretcher towards the ambulance. Nobody says anything, and I can't escape anywhere as my room is hosting this musical viral infection that is still playing. As I walk back towards the dorm with Andy, a policemen rushes past us, ordering on his walkie talkie for a "blood cleanup."
And there was still no Baja Fresh in sight.
It was such a weird and awkward scene that I felt compelled to write about it. It's been a great day other than the celebration, but sometimes I wonder how other people internalize situations such as this. Most everybody walked away, as I struggled between my feelings of deep sympathy for Kat, my depressing commiserations of the celebration, and a strange inclination of laughter at the absurdity of the whole situation (it almost felt like, in the right context, a Wes Anderson moment). ...Well! On that note... Happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone!

Warning: Obtuse Ramblings (Only for the Bored & the Concerned)
(A More Mature and Enjoyable Post will be Available Shortly)
If there is anything I have learned lately, its that 1) I am a person who, inexplicably, can relate to many things. I don't say this in some higher level of air or step above, please don't take it anything like that, but I for some reason tend to "connect" more than I see in other people. Example: Nick and I were talking about music the other day; Nick is the kind of guy who almost "uses" music as a tool of identity-- I don't mean this in some concious or deliberate manner. But his specific music taste gives him individuality; he likes this type of music, and probably doesn't understand why other people like that kind of music. He is a lover of all things Pumpkins; to him, Billy Corgan is the best thing, the only thing, that has happened to music since Grunge (and since that, Led Zeppelin). That's his trinity-- and I almost... well, not envied him, per se, but it made my 5500+ music collection seem horribly schizophrenic and even shallow. Who is this whore pretending and claiming to identify himself with such diverse music? Max, in an "Honesty Binge" last year, had to (for charity) tell the truth for five hours of what he thought of people. When it came to me, he blurted "Miguel, you like way too fucking much music." I'd go to a RZA concert with Max, and then would see the Allman Brothers with Ryan. Music seemed to be much more pure and honest to a guy like Nick. I told this to him, and he dismissed it thoroughly. He told me that he envied me, because to him I could see the worth of a song he wouldn't waste a minute for; I could relate to more music than he did.
So now, saying that, lately, I've been noticing my areas of "disconnect," where my understanding or empathy is limited. And I've been noticing it's occurring more often than before. In sending that email to the Hinman mail room, I was completely disconnected. I would never have done that a year or two ago; I would've, in a steady rationalization, hesitated in sending the email-- or at least (and most likely) call Janelle like Leo did. Bam, problem solved. My anger though took over, and that's something I've been noticing happening lately more frequently; I'm disconnecting. Right now, I'm upset at a friend of mine who, I haven't been exactly the nicest person to recently. This friend has always been there for me and always the nicest girl, though I have always felt her a little more distant. I would never feel comfortable with her without someone else, and I would always feel like she would kind of give me her shoulder more than her hand. Maybe not that cold, but still I would feel this very present distance that I would, at least I'd would like to think, try to break. Weeks could go without a word, and when I would see the friend again, it would be very artifical and fake (personally, the most despised trait). So when push came to shove, and business mixed with that friendship, I withdrew and became very impersonal- reacting angrily and openly which is very uncharacteristic of me. So when I hear the friend talk about "fake friends" and having only "two or three real friends," it made me very upset, though it made clear to me how disconnected I became of the whole situation. My problem was the same problem my friend was going through; and both of us reacting to it the way we did only fueled antagonisms. And so, I lost a "real friend." And the thing is now, I don't know even whether I want to repair the situation. I, or we could fix it but "fixing it" would mean staying slightly put off at her distance and artificiality which I've always felt. Or maybe she has been reacting to this constantly as well, forever irreparably increasing distance between us. Past mini-scuffles have made me believe this, as it always ends the same (which only makes me more upset). Now, I am not an angry person, and I've never really had to deal with these problems in the past... I don't know whether these areas of disconnect are of me changing as a person, or just the simple different circumstances of past social life and current; that is to say, there are so many variables that I wouldn't know if I would've reacted the same in the past. Regardless, I'm starting to view a divide between my present self and my past, and a typical desire of me yearning back to the past. It's probably unhealthy, though its a frustrating detail as I'm struggling to become a better person in the disheartening light of disconnects and careless errors that seem so absurd and irreparably wasteful. How does self-hope function in circumstances that I see so hopeless? Oh geez. My emotions has led to opaque and vague words. But now I can shake this nagging feeling of mine off, and hope I gained some clarity for sleep.