Monday, October 26, 2009

I apologise in advance for this late and LONG entry...

Well Folks, I'm back, thats right, for those who feared me dead or suddenly without the use of fingers or the capacity to recall information from more than two days ago, your fears were wasted... thats right wasted as I am only (I regret to say) incredibly lazy and have again left this to the last minute...

So pull your socks up, fluff your pillows, grab a snack and get ready for another installment of my exciting sometimes scarily mundane life in the great big US of A

Just a side note before I really get into the past weeks details - I forgot to mention that I went Salsa dancing with Hamid a week or more ago - we started with some brief lessons which resembled line dancing somewhat then it was lights down, disco saddle up and a live band to take us through the rest of the night. My only advice was a sweaty mexican assuring me to let him throw me around and relax, I responded with a pleading "only if you catch me" and it was smooth sailing from there. The only casualty was my large toe, unfortunately with the prospect of 100 other feet in the room I stepped on it myself which was kind of embarrassing especially as I now have a good portion of my nail missing. But all up it was a great night ^_^

I'll start with Saturday, which of course began with another Animation class, thank god I dIdn't miss the bus this time, and was able to shoot some scenes before class... as well as after (thanks again for waiting for me guys) The guys I refer to are Tony and John who then took me to the zoo where Tony and I went halvsies on a year pass. We spent most of our time sketching Flamingoes then moved onto Lions where the kids were making more of a show than the cats (poor things) lastly it was monkeys then Tony and I got lost trying to get out, that is we went in a big'ol circle ^_^

That Night Matt took me to a big Sketch party were I met heaps of really great people! We ate (I think I stole all their olives) drank (Ed tried to convince me to have a car bomb...) drew and played ALOT of garage band I distinctly recall waking everyone up at 2am (including myself) when the mic was dropped purposefully in my lap and I was forced to sing - I chose Shout it out loud then finishing up promptly fell back to sleep on the couch. We ended up trudging out at 4:30am knowing with a sinking feeling I had promised to see an early morning movie with Gary and that I know only had the chance for 3 hours sleep... The way home was kept entertaining as Matt and I sang along to Jason Maraz's entire album word for word :)

Falling asleep before I hit the pillow, I woke up the next morning to Gary's message about when I wanted to catch the movie "Where the Wild thing are" I agreed to the afternoon session so that I'd have time to shower, dress and more importantly force myself out of bed...or roll out and crash awkwardly to the floor... The movie was excellent, some would say a little heavy for a "kids movie" but I really enjoyed it. I definitely recommend to watch it on the big screen, even if your not a fan of the book ^_^ Unfortunately hi ho it was of to work I go... or went... and to make matters worse I had to close which meant I had to stay back an hour more than I was set to... ~sigh~

Monday was Cha all day, monotony broken up by the unexpected sighting of Edd as I ran to catch the bus at Glendale. But it was a fun day of eating and designing logos as well as a few new Autumn pics that I hope to have up on my DA page very soon :)

Tuesday I woke late and with a considerable amount of effort rode to Burbank for brunch at Octopus. Then refueled and pumped I rode down Magnolia to the guild where I was told that I wouldn't be able to get a refund for the class I missed thanks to an honest misread of the start date. They won't even credit me for a class next semester and had absolutely no sympathy - meanies - to make matters worse, as I rode back up to the shops some guys in a low rider drove passed hanging out the windows howling and sticking their rude fingers up at me. That night I bought a printer/scanner and found out after opening it affectionately that it was without a plug to connect it to the computer - all up, not the best day...

Wednesday was of course my second Cha day for the week then it was Karaoke with Hamid at the Blue something or rather. After beating him at a game of pool (he knocked the white down the hole) he shouted me yogurt then with a flick through the book and a listen of some of the other brave soles that went on stage I banged out The Cilmi classis "sweet about me" and left the a little shaky with adrenaline but on a complete high ^_^

Thursday I had my science class - ROCKETS - then I met up with Dad outside Starbucks and we spent the rest of the night looking around Burbank and Eating at a little Italian restaurant by the mall ^_^ After introducing him to Migel at Bobaloca we continued to the sketch club for my usual thursday night session this time made a whole lot cooler with Dad by my side sketching away. I felt like a kid again watching him confidently place his lines on the page in the familiar stage band composition that I used to colour in way back when ^_^

Friday I woke up reasonably early and caught a cab to Dad's hotel. I was fortunate to get Kevin, a nice guy that knew the area well, and after seeing my furtive looks at the meter agreed to only charge $80 if I paid with cash (it was going to be 115 or more so that was lucky) it was also lucky that Dad was able to meet me outside and cover me as after two stops along the way to get money out, my card was still failing to work. While Dad did his speech at the hotel I was able to mosey around Santa Monica then we met up later in the afternoon after I'd managed to sketch the circus and been chatted up by more than a couple homeless people (I really think I attract crazy people) for a browse around the shops (thanks again for my outfit dad!!!) and a later dinner of lobsters and yummy bread with garlic dip! That night I stayed in the hotel with Dad experiencing one of the BEST sleeps I've had since being here! like sleeping on clouds ~sigh~

Stay tuned for more adventures with Dad ^_^

Monday, October 12, 2009

Hi ho hi ho its of to work I go ^_^

Hey guys

I sit on my now bright purple satin doona (I turned it over) which is now vividly reminding me of the flower girl dress I wore to my aunt and uncles wedding kicking myself that I yet again have another long LONG extremely finger tiringly, head scratchingly LONG entry to write...

Its been two hours since writing the first paragraph, the reason being another event thats cropped up in the last week or so. We have more people, yep thats right, Tabitha is out Lauren, Kim and Bridget are in (I'm pretty sure the first name is wrong but to be fair I've only seen the girl twice). I spent the last two hours having a D and M with Bridget which covered everything from family, to the way we learn ^_^

Last Weekend was jam packed, beginning as always with animation class Saturday morning, where I've now been dubbed "The Speed Demon" . Straight after covering overlap and timing I was picked up by Hamid for a another jamming session. We had heaps of fun banging on bongo's, playing duets on the piano and singing the afternoon away - we were so caught up in the music in fact that I was running late to meet Gary back at burbank for our night at the Derby track with the LA derby Dolls.
Getting to know each other a little better in the car, we stopped for dinner at an old sandwich place thats been around sine the early 1900's, then it was of to the track to watch girl on girl roller action, I'd explain the rules but I'm pretty sure I still don't understand exactly how it works, but I can say with certainty that it is a sport, and does require considerable more skill than just being able to skate on a raised track and knock people over.

Early Sunday morning Alina and I travelled out to the country to get the low down on American war history. Crunching along the gravel covered ground and hugging ourselves tightly against the wind we browsed the many stalls set up by the dedicated participants in "Walking through history" Everything from Roman soldiers to Cowboys, there was a parade, live battles and roasted chickens on a spit. After watching the parade and some sketching we heard our tummies grumble and headed back lunch.
I said goodbye to Alina and grabbing yogurt met Gary at the movies to watch Whip It - an awesome movie directed by Drew Barrymore and starring Ellen Page about Roller Derby and finding your crowd ^_^

The rest of the week was spent drawing at Cha, celebrating the opening of Yogurt Land in Burbank (sometime the smallest things in life make you happy) then after a great science class on Thursday with my new assistant making snow I spent friday morning at the zoo and had my first day working at Haagan Daz. Yes my friends, you read right, I FINALLY have a job... not exactly the one I was hoping for, but its 8 bucks an hour that I wasn't getting before. it went great, only a minor incident with some whipped cream which should have been caught on film.

Saturday it was back to class, unfortunately I missed the bus and had to catch a cab, I learnt the hard way that its illegal to hail cabs in LA... don't ask me why... but I manage to make it only 10 minutes late. After I had lunch with Anthony from class, we spent a few hours in Pho noodle hut comparing notes on the industry geeking out about animation and making plans for a zoo group with the rest of the class. After it was work again, feeling the strain as the un-used muscles in my arm were being coxed back to submission.

Sunday started early again with a trip to Descanso Gardens with Alina for some water colour painting. We were lucky to get in after being told we weren't able to use Alina's family pass as we weren't family, resisting the urge tell him I was adopted Alina pleaded that here we are orphans which seemed to work ^_^
We spent most of our time in the rose gardens, then browsing the rest of the park and saving an earthworm from possible flattening we then hit an art store on the way home and I spent the rest of the day at Bobaloca drawing and hanging with the guys.

Oh I have also found a new show to feed my obsessive personality - GLEE!!! (the name and the way I feel about it ^_^)

This is a picture of me in the shirt I got for free today as well as my new glasses

Sunday, October 4, 2009

I'm still here ^_^

Again I sit here in the library kicking myself for leaving this till the last minute again.. the days are filling up so fast I need my diary to remember what I did yesterday!
 
I'll try my best to keep it in order (for my sake more than yours) but I figure as long as most of events get a mention it'll be ok.
 
In fact I may treat it a little like a newspaper article...
 
LESLEY's NEWSY NEWS!
 
The most recent of which is that I've started my science lessons with Creative Smarties, Its down in Encino and I completely lucked out with a great group of kids! the guys that run it are the exact opposite of Danny, they're organised, they care about the work I do and want to COMPENSATE me for any extra work and training! Not to mention theres a couple of girls in the class called Willow so I spent the first lesson staying true to my inner Buffy obsession and making excuses to say their names as much as possible ;p
 
Our first lesson was about wind and the second we got to make bouncy balls - I swear, I think I'm having more fun than the kids ^_^
 
In my days off I have of course been spending time at Cha, running into a lady that told me I was a skinny crack addict that needed to go change my clothes. Theres been a lot hapening around Burbank. In fact I still have a sore tummy from the Taste festival yesterday in which I basically paid 30 dollars to get sick. I ate so much I had meat sweats! All the resteraunts and small food outlets in the area had a stall out so you could taste their best dishes, all the proceeds went to the YMCA and their scholarship innitiatives. After going through all the stalls I spent the rest of the night listening to the live jazz band pumping music from the main stage and doing caricatures, in fact I ended up getting another gig from it so I will hopefuly be doing a party in the future!
 
The house has some new arrivals, one of which being my new roomie Kim, a young studying actress who's so nice she gave me a massive hug on our first encounter as I was waking up in the morning and she was moving in ^_^

We also tried our family dinners - Erin and I proposed to have dinner all together every two weeks. This time it was my turn cook - I made stuffed mushrooms with a Bolognese sauce - it was quite tasty

As usual the weekend was packed with Movie watching (the secret of Kells - a beautiful 2D animated film from Scotland about the Book of Kells and its secret origins. My favourite was a spell binding song sung by an extremely talented 9 year old) My animation class. The opening of the gallery I was in, which went really well despite the weird crowd and even stranger gallery owners. Not to mention the strange guy that made me get him a new straw when he dropped his on the ground, I think he was offended that I hadn't heard of him and questioned why him and his "posy" were in clown suites ^_^

We also browsed book stores of original children's art, I caught up on errands AND did more caricatures around the area. Alina and I got to spend more time together on Wednesday when we met after she'd finished work to have a bite to eat and see Mary and Max at Dreamworks - opened by its Writer/Director/creator Adam Elliot, who surprisingly remembered me from our brief encounter at Cremorne theatre in Sydney ^_^

Stayed tuned for more to come soon
I promise the next one wont be as long!