BeeWee | Design

That’s right. Finally, my awful name is a url on the internet. It will be my online portfolio, and depending on the difficulty level, it may be my new wordpress blog. Either way you will continue to hear from me.

I’d like to clarify the purpose of this blog. While it is a blog about being an interactive arts and media student in Chicago, it is also about being a person in Chicago at the current age of 21. So there may be a post one day about what I think about CSS3 or HTML5, but the next day I may post something about a date that my girlfriend and I may have gone on. I’m not sure if blogging about my academic life and my personal life will make for a successful blog or not, but I’m not too concerned about that right now. I’d love to have more readers, and get some responses from those readers, but if the content of this blog is uninteresting to you, then thanks for trying it out anyway.

That’s right. In three weeks, I will be finished with this semeseter which means NO MORE MAYA 8.0!!! 3D modeling was great to learn and all, but I’ve lost sight of what I really love. Photoshop has been open a lot more frequently than Maya has for me lately and I like it that way.

This has got to be my 300th personal blog. But WordPress is pretty big these days, so I;m gonna try it out. We’ll see what worthless things I have to say over the next few years. Enjoy, and welcome!

Today was fun. Honestly. I spent the day by myself (again) on the boardwalk of Venice Beach, looking at all the cool shops and making some purchases that I think will be a lot of fun.

After Sabrina got home I had to break the news to her that I’d be leaving tomorrow. She was livid about it, and didn’t get over it for quite a while. We went to T Mobile to sort out an issue with her cell phone. She got severely screwed by the phone company (like everyone does) and ended up walking out with a brand new blackberry phone. I love gadjets, but I’m torn on the blackberry. A scroll wheel? God, at least put a five way button in the middle of the phone somewhere, for those that can’t stand scrolling through entire menus. And what the hell is with that save feature? Fuck… nevermind.

I am partially enjoying a Corona right now (I say partially because Corona isn’t the best beer in the world. Corona, to me, is on the same level as Miller Lite. Gross.)

I just set up her phone to sync with her laptop, and of course she fell asleep. After that I set her printer up. The last thing I did before start this entry was print out my e-ticket for tomorrow.

Please God, let my taxi driver accept a credit card!!!!

I will be home tomorrow night.

Love.

So my plan was to recap the day’s events each night before I went to bed, but today was even worse than yesterday so I don’t even want to relive it. To recap very briefly, I spent 8 hours wandering a mall by myself while my cousin worked followed by sitting in her apartment by myself while she went out to hang out with her ex boyfriend and get drunk at a club. So I’m calling it quits on this trip.

I’ll be home friday.

Hello again. It is currently 5:07 AM in my hometown of Chicago, and 3:07 AM in Venice, California. Right now I am listening to “Study Natural Law” by Of the Opera, which just came out yesterday. My cousin is sleeping, and I am looking out the window at what would be the ocean, if it wasn’t so dark out that I couldn’t see anything at all.

So I guess I should give the rundown of what’s happened so far.

Before I get anywhere, I have to write a little disclaimer. I had a limo take me to the airport. I know, it sounds all pompous and “high dollar” but it actually ended up being cheaper than taking a cab, and I had no other option of getting from my parents’ house in Johnsburg to O’Hare. So don’t give me any sass.

Anyway the limo was scheduled to pick me up at 5:30 AM on August 22nd. 5:30 came and went, while I stood outside of my house with my luggage, looking like a complete idiot. 5:45 came and went. So I called the limo company.

They had my reservation scheduled for the wrong day.

So after sorting out that fiasco, a limo picked me up… an hour late. Needless to say we were stuck in some shitty traffic.

The airport was surprisingly simple. I had no problems, and only had to wait in a minimal amount of lines.

Since I did not go to bed at all last night, I was extremely tired. I tried to watch a movie on my laptop, but I soon realized that I wouldn’t be able to make it through even half of a movie. I grabbed one of those shitty flight pillows and passed out.

I woke up about half an hour before the plane landed. My ears were completely plugged from the pressure of the altitude. The plane landed safely, free of snake or terrorist attack. Thank God for that.

Sabrina (my cousin, whom I am staying with) picked me up at the airport and took me to some house where she conducted business with some associates. I guess they sell some sort of cleaning cloths at Sears stores around California. It’s kind of weird and difficult to explain, but it doesn’t matter because I fell asleep on the couch.

Before I forget, “Study Natural Law” has ended and I am now listening to “Blue Screen Life” by Pinback.

I am currently smoking a Marlboro 27 cigarette. Smoke is getting in my eyes since I can’t hold the cigarette due to all this typing.

Anyway, I woke up to a completely empty house. Sabrina had left me in some stranger’s house, alone, so she and her coworkers could go out to eat. In other words, she pretty much abandoned me. I was thoroughly pissed. After about an hour she came back and took me to her apartment. This place is a closet. It’s gotta be about 250 square feet. That’s a generous estimation, too. For those of you that can’t visualize 250 square feet, that is less than half the size of my studio apartment in Chicago. If you’ve been there, then that should give you a good idea of how small this apartment is. Not only that, but she told me that her rent is $1000 a month. That is twice the amount that I pay for rent in my place. So do the math. An apartment that is the size of mine in this exact same spot would probably go for about $2000 a month. That’s four times the amount that I pay.

What the fuck is it that she’s paying for?

Well, she has a view of the ocean. That’s pretty cool, but I have a cityscape view which includes the Sears Tower. And location can’t be it, either, because I’ve got a badass location, too. The South Loop. So who knows, I think she’s getting ripped off. Well, in actuality, I’ve got a sick deal on my apartment. But still, I think $1000 a month for this place is pretty fucking steep.

So we went to a hookah bar/restaurant, and I had an excellent pizza. Sabrina had lentil soup (um… gross). We also had a double apple hookah. So that was really cool.

There are so many hippies here, it’s insane.

Also, on the way back we saw a gang “chillin” in an alley, and two guys about to fight a few blocks away from the gang. One guy lifted his shirt up to reveal his slightly flabby, but slightly toned abdomen while warning his would-be adversary, “You better recognize!” After his enemy “recognized”, he began yelling, “West side, baby! West side, bitches!” I’ll tell you, this man is the lowest of low on the food chain. I hope survival of the fittest still applies today, despite modern science and medicine. This man simply must not reproduce. Although, I have seen first hand people reproducing that simply shouldn’t.

Society is crippled by the reproduction of people like this “West Sider”. But hey, you don’t like it, move to Johnsburg right?

We watched Waiting at the apartment, while I tried my hardest to solve an issue I’ve been faced with with web design. I won’t get into it, due to the fact that the only person I know that would understand what I’m talking about probably doesn’t read this blog. And if he did, he would laugh at my ignorance.

So now I guess it’s in my best interest to go to bed. No pictures to upload yet. I only took about five or six today. I’ll wait until tomorrow night. Hopefully I’ll have about 100 by then.

Thank you for reading. If you’ve gotten this far, leave a comment with the word “twist tie” because that way I will know you were actually interested in my day. Thanks again.

Love you all.

Oh I forgot to mention, I already miss home. Please send me a text so I know you miss me too.

I have arrived to California. We are currently sitting in Sabrina’s tiny little apartment overlooking Venice Beach, and it looks like we are about to walk down there. Shit. I thought I’d have more time to write about my trek from Johnsburg, Illinois to Venice, California.

I guess I’ll write more when we get back. I need to eat something. Check back soon.

I hope his angels carried you gently away to the gates.
I carried Grandpa to his final resting place, and if you’d let me, I’ll do the same for you.

And I hope that he’s waiting for you there.

(I’m sorry
I heard about the bad news today
a crowd of people around you
telling you it’s ok
and everything happens for a reason

when you lose a part of yourself to somebody you know
it takes a lot to let go
every breath that you remember
pictures fade away, but memory’s forever

an empty chair at all the tables
and I’ll be seeing you when all my days boil down
but its better where you’re going anyway

I’m sorry
I heard about the bad news today
it’s really hard to get through
tough times and long days
but it really just depends on the season

when you lose a part of yourself to somebody you know
it takes a lot to let go
every breath that you remember
pictures fade away, but memory’s forever

an empty chair at all the tables
and I’ll be seeing you when all my days boil down
for now we’ll say good bye
we know it’s not the last time
I’ve lost the best part of my day
but its better where you’re going anyway

an empty chair at all the tables
and I’ll be seeing you when all my days boil down
for now we’ll say good bye
we know it’s not the last time
I’ve lost the best part of my day
this is the last thing
i will remember
its better where you’re going anyway)

Sonny ~ New Found Glory

img03
Originally uploaded by benjaminthomas.

I’m never leaving again. This is where I belong. I’ll give my heart to this city.