american adventure take 2

Yep, its been a while...

2010-05-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, what a month... or two... I have to appologise for how slack I've been with this blog. In my defense I haven't been sitting in my room twiddling my thumbs and purposefully blowing it of. Then again if I'm appologising to any one its really just my future self (the only person that will ever really care about the thoroughness of my records).

Moving on, in order to keep this entry from expanding into the next dimension I'll try and just cover the basics of what I've been doing...

Work.. there was three weeks there were it was almost nothing but.. that is until I got fired and now in contrast its been a few days of pj wearing relaxation. Why did I get fired you ask... well to be honest, your guess is as good as mine. If I was quick to emotion and furious about the whole thing I'd say its because my boss was a complete nut job with no thought of anyones feelings but her own. But I'm not, and in hindsight I guess I just did something that rubbed her the wrong way... I have no idea though how I went from Golden child, "do it like Lesley does, well done for helping us get 98 our of 100 for our surprise inspection" goodness, to "You don't fit in here" ~sigh~ but what's done is done, and I now have no excuses not to catch up on art projects left by the waste side.

Rest assured it hasn't been all work and no play - there were a few Cha days mixed in there. A She and Him concert which was so excellently dream like I'm glad there was a witness there I can confirm with that it actually happened.

Took a visit to the LA Natural History museum to take a look at bones, bugs and bisons... we even stumbled across a live show that included a "Scientartist" - thats Scientist and artist combined (not my idea) - and a roaming roaring Dinosaur. There's nothing like watching small children wet themselves with fear... make that anyone... Don't judge me, how many times in your life have you waited behind a door to scare someone.. go on be honest!

Saw Kick Ass at the movies, which I really really enjoyed. If your still wondering whether or not to see it, I thoroughly recommend it - just um, don't bring the kids.

Tony and I also visited Whimsical Alley. SO AWESOME, I was geeking out so much I was worried I'd start hyperventilating. If I wasn't broke right now I would have walked out with a full set of Hogwarts robes and a wand... Oh and a quill set thrown in for accentuated authenticity. For other Harry Potter fans out there I recommend checking out their website, full of everything a budding young wizard.. or witch, could need ^_^

After almost killing ourselves to get to the shop it was then straight to the LMU third year animation screenings to cheer on the gang - CONGRATS again guys - the films were absolutely awesome!

And finally just a small comment (as I'm sure has been previously mentioned) on how many crazy people I seem to attract or find myself in the vicinity of. The other day while catching the bus I honestly felt like I'd walked into the twilight zone. Either that or a very elaborate hoax. When I arrived at the stop I was pulled into conversation with an epileptic that regaled me on the problems with her husband and attempt to be published in order to show the world what its really like to be an epileptic. Then attempting once again to read I was interrupted by a girl singing Michael Jackson songs at the top of her lungs... badly... to the point were even the crazy guy behind me was telling her to shut up.

On the bus we were joined by a homeless man a few stops in who was promptly told by the singing girl that he stunk and had he ever heard of shower, finally removing herself from the bus after liberally spraying him with deodorant. It was squashy the whole way thanks to the bus being late, so I made friends with a man sitting down who offered to hold my bag. Finally arriving at Glendale I couldn't believe that in only a couple of hours I'd been squashed, pushed, yelled out, sang at, complained to and generally just plain wigged out.

I can only imagine what the future holds ^_^

PS. if I happened to have missed anything - let me know :)

To grandma's we go

2010-03-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

Always pack it yourself

2010-03-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

I realise I should be putting up a run down of what I've been up to this last week and a bit (as is customary and expected on a travel blog) but as I forgot my list and this will probably be the only opportunity in a while for me to write something you'll have to put up with something a little different ^_^

Being Human is to participate in the weirdest rituals ever known. Your probably thinking - that's all very well to say, but there isn't a whole lot to compare us to - this is true - but when you hear of fetishes involving dressing up in leather, being whipped into submission whilst pushing a hard boiled egg across the floor with your nose, you honestly have to wonder.

So now your thinking - yeah but Lesley, that's incredibly rare... (either that or how could he (yes it was a he) possibly have come to that realisation and particular combination of oddities - process of elimination?)

Ignoring the later, I agree with your point - its rare, so lets look at a fact much more common - so common that its performed by more than half the population on a regular basis(monthly if your of Mediterranean descent like me) I'm referring to the removal of hair from our bodies - more specifically the most painful way - that is the process of lathering your skin in hot lava like goo then waiting till it dries slightly and becomes sticky enough to rip of (along with your hair and at least two layers of skin) with strips of roughly torn calico.

Waxing

In a society so focused on aesthetic sensibilities I can understand why it continues to this day - but how did it begin, what were the Egyptians thinking when they decided body hair was no longer an attractive accessory? Furthermore, should we be taking beauty advice from the same people that brought us mummification, that's right, the process of yanking your brains out through your nasal cavity along with other essential organs only to then store them in ornate jars alongside your decaying body ready for the possibility of a prosperous afterlife...

As I lie there once a month on a hard slim bed, my legs spread at odd angles, my hands above my head exposing my vulnerable armpits wearing only bra and panties I really wonder about the rituals we consider necessary. Then as if having all my hair and skin yanked of for an hour by a big bossumed lady with a thick accent sweating and squinting I have to shell out 60 dollars afterwords - I actually pay for what sane people would perceive to be torture!

So to reiterate - "Being Human is to participate in the weirdest rituals ever known"

I leave you now with my advice for the week:

Always pack left overs yourself; I learnt this the hard way when dining at the cheesecake factory today I asked them to put what was left of my meal (a significant amount) in a takeaway container - all I found in there once leaving the restaurant was two pieces of chicken and some lettuce... you've been warned

Breath through your mouth

2010-03-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the library right now, listening to the girl next to me burst out in spontaneous bouts of laughter, looking at the clock and wondering HOW THE HELL we ended up in MID MARCH! I know I've mentioned this before... once or twice maybe... but it is honestly freaking me out that only yesterday I was staring into the sky watching the 2010 fireworks display and hugging myself to ward away the brisk winter chill and now its the begining of spring, and we're already 2 and a half months into the new year... thats almost a quarter of the year gone (for those that struggle with maths). I'm 24 this year - no not old I know... but still along way of from that 10 year old that sat on her bed thinking, this is it.. probably not going to feel any older than this... only two years away from a projected life plan (made when I was 7) of being married with a kid in a nice cottage perpetualy dressed in overalls and painting the cieling, with a roaring fire in the hearth and some good jazz music in the background (preferably Ella Fitzgerald) - I thought it was important at the time to be visually specific when describing my future. Is this it - is this how fast life is going to go from now on?? If so I wish someone had told me - those times when two hours in the car seemed like an eternity of sitting, singing and looking at a monotony of trees speed by - someone had said - "hey" (cos in this fantasy my person of knowledge and leadership is fairly abrupt and not really polite) "hey - just appreciate alright! Because in ten years time an hour will be a milisecond, a day will be an hour and a year will seem like a really long day"

So with that of my chest I continue with my week - but before you go get yourself a snack - or just piss of entirely know that I wont continue as normal... for one thing not a lot happened this week - and as much as I don't want to bore your pants of I mostly don't want to relive it. I thought instead I'd just give you the bare bones - the straight facts - The "highlights" if you will.

Monday's highlight was missing the bus whilst wasting time in target finding out about store brand vitamins then catching 4 buses through woop woop to make it home before the next day.
Tuesday's higlight was seeing snowy mountains whilst walking to Cha - A rare and startling phenomenon when coming from a relitively flat country perpetually plagued by drought.
Wednesday saw Tony and I finally living up to our saintly persona's by visiting ASIFA for a bit of volunteer work and meeting a new friend that amazingly sat through my extremely eclectic taste in music.
Thursday was the day I discovered the podcast "The Tobolowsky files" a hark back to good old fashioned story telling. As well as small but nice sketch meet that night - I also came accross a fellow countryman who was nice enough to regail us with various highlights from his IMDB page and give my the contact information of the man that used to own Disney in Australia - he thought I'd appeal to the man based on the fact I'm young, Asutralian and a girl...
We'll skip over Friday
Saturday was more time at CHA - Cha being a highlight in itself
Then Sunday I worked all day with the lowlight being an almost three hour chat with my boss after hours that ended with me walking home listening to slit your wrist music and crying like an idiot trying to re-evalute my life and personality...

Well there you have it - not as bad as I thought - and for once a nice breif summery - something I used to think meant you only had to leave out the bits about you breathing and going to the toilet.

Hope your all well -

I'll leave you with some advice -
when travelling on public transport allways remember to breath through your mouth - This not only stops the mix of BO and homeless man stench perminently lining the sides of your mostrils but also stops you from passing out and missing your stop.

Lesley

when it rain it rains pennies from heaven

2010-03-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry its another long one...

Go Anthony its your birthday - gonna paaarty like its ya birthday

2010-03-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

Plus a little ode I wrote whilst waiting for the bus

I feel sick

The air stiffens around me as midday heat reaches a climax.
I look with searching eyes into the rippling distant horizon

Nothing

Not a thing moving in sight. My eyes try and try and trick me, finding
anything of bus stature or likeness to give me hope.
I check my wrist for the 20th time to watch time tick away with malice.
My stomach is in knots, beads of sweat litter my forehead, I know the feeling well

Panic

It sets in like the flu, giving you small hints of its presence before it envelopes
you in pure cold fury. I lick my lips and swallow what's left of my saliva on this
morbidly hot day
"don't worry" I said "The bus will be on time"
My voice rings in my head sounding strained and unfamiliar

Shit

Why did I say that? I jinxed myself! things always go badly when you least
want them to... I curse myself
My life
My dependancy on a transport system that continues to fail me when I need it most

Waiting
Waiting
Waiting

I hate this! I hate the bus! I hate the driver, I hate everyone that hindered me from
getting a license - I'll tell him.. I'll...

Suddenly the screech of brakes
The hiss of machinery relaxing to a stop.
He opens the door with a hard jerk, looking down on my squinting red face
He smiles as I climb heavily onto the steps and thrust my dollar in the slot.
In one swift nod of of kindness my anger dissolves and sitting lightly in a cozy
corner near the back I forget it all and am ready to begin again tomorrow

You got a nice booty

2010-02-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys - its a looong one

what can I say, I love hearing myself talk ^_^

Does this bruise go with my outfit?

2010-02-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Always wear a helmet

2010-02-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

If its not working...

click on the entry title "Always wear a helmet"
Then try a few times till it says its "buffering"

If it still takes too long - let me know and I'll
email you the vid ^_^

Write right ^_^

2010-02-02T12:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, thats right folks, I've gone back to writing my blog - well at least for this entry, partly because I may just have some time on my hands (provided no last minute distractions come up) and I'm looking really bad at the moment due to a severe lack of sleep - The other day I was trying to draw and literally fell asleep right on top of my drawing, pen still in hand poised and ready... I woke up startled about 15 minutes later with a red mark on my forehead, a little pencil on my nose and a significant amount of drool on my picture... not to mention some odd looks from the people next to me...

But I think I've caught up a little now and am ready - NO, excited to blog away for all three of you lovely people ^_^

First things first HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY... Hope your having an awesome time on the ski fields - wish I was there!
Another little shout out - its now officially 6 months since I've been in America, and therefore 6 months till I'm home - So for those of you who are missing me terribly or are dreading my return were half way there...

And now for my wondrous adventure this past week...

Monday BAD DAY
was horrible - yep I said it, I was on my way to class as usual, looking back with disgust at the lady down the back that burped for 30 minutes straight, but excited at the prospect of teaching the littlies how to draw backgrounds - knowing full well I'd probably only get through teaching them how to draw a straight line... they are only 5 after all... was half way to Culver City (which may as well be in another country) and the bus never showed! Now for those that know me well you'll know that I HATE letting people down, more than anything, and this was the ultimate disappointment - my boss's were upset, I was upset and they cancelled the class so I imagine the kids were too... I turned around and went home totally dejected, spending the next few hours drinking away my troubles (don't worry it was only Chai tea) and pouring every ounce of knowledge I had into a booklet for each kid, hoping it would make up for them missing out...

Tuesday AUSTRALIA DAY
And my first customer for the day - AUSTRALIAN - unfortunately I was so tired I completely forgot to wish him a happy A day, and tried to make up for it on the next guy that came along, luckily he was a good sport and played along pretending to believe in its significance... After work I loaded up on chicken salad then went with Tony to ASIFA to do some solid archiving whilst listening to good Ol Hamish and Andy podcasts - then further celebrated by watching countless you tube videos of Australian comedians and snippets from classic movies (hows that for spreading Aussie cheer). We rounded up the day at an Animation Nation meeting, listening to great artists talk about their rise to success - how to get self published and then I got to spend ages getting advice from a great artist I met previously at Comic con! Thanks again for everything Gary ^_^

Wednesday CHA DAY
I was so happy to make my way to Cha today, on the verge of serious withdrawal symptoms, it sat on the bus absorbed in my new book (the Golden compass - soooo much better than the film) practicing the art of ignoring people so I wouldn't be disturbed - I'm getting better! I even stopped myself from looking around to find the person that seemed to be making weird puppy noises... That night I rode home after stopping in to Coffee Bean to say hi to Peter and finished the night with a big bowl of soup (Yes... its still going...)

Thursday HORSE DAY
Ok so not quite - I did see a horse though, right after my class at Chatsworth - Gary picked me up this time so I didn't have to treck the few miles there from the bus stop. This gave me time to grab a drink from the local liquor store (just got flavoured water) A WORD TO YOU ALL - always ask them to break down the cost if you think they may have over charged you - I did and my purchase went from $5.50 to $3.20... which may not seem a lot for you but for me is at least one serving of yogurt ^_^ Tony and I continued our Thai tradition after class (minus luke unfortunately) then made our way to a crowded Pricillas for sketch club - they were having a mixer that night - I think I was the greatest mixing success of the night though as I had to introduce myself to almost everyone there in order to bargain tables and chairs... I even got a new Badge out of it!! (A james jean one that I swapped with a bird one I had - I felt like I was 7 years old, playing of the importance of the one he had and talking up mine - after the exchange was made and he was out of ear shot I completely geeked out over it and proudly placed it on my bag much to the raised eyebrows of my peers)

Friday CHA DAY
More Cha adventures, I got to stay a while this time as well as Tony picked me up, staying to draw and drink for an hour then it was of to Loyola (his old university). Thanks to insane LA traffic we were almost an hour late and literally ran like idiots down through campus and snuck into the back of the theatre to settle into the most comfy seats I've ever sat in IN my WHOLE LIFE!! The panel was hysterical and finished on a high - brought down momentarily when I got busted for having my feet up on the chair in front of me (woops) We stayed around at the end shmoozing and getting some great advice from the artists there - among them was Beth (the best creature designer I know), Brianne (responsible for potato factory girl blog), William Wray and Eric Canetet!! and more ^_^ As it got really late and people filled out of the theatre we stopped by the labs to say hi to Kiki and the gang working late on some animation projects then started on the long drive home.... I even got to talk to Lil when I got home - all up it was an awesome day! ^_^

Saturday WORK DAY
From 1-9 although I managed to get out at 8 for some dinner and to wait around for Eric and Tony to pick me up for the movies... Reading in Coffee Bean with Chai in hand I fell into a conversation with a guy that ended up offering my VISA advice and a contact in immigration then was on my way to Hollywood for a screening of the "The ROOM" Due to a miscalculation we ended up parking miles away so therefore had to run/jog/power walk to the theatre and join the endless line to get in - for a movie thats supposed to be the worst ever made, it sure does have a lot of hardcore fans...) Once inside and having heard the director (who looked like edward scissor hands and seemed a little high) give a brief intro and Q and A we quickly discovered that the idea was audience participation with people constantly yelling at the screen and pelting plastic spoons at certain scenes - kinda wish we hadn't sat in the first row...
That night after two nights of going to sleep at 4 I fell into bed with my clothes on and didn't move till my alarm went of the next morning

Sunday SLEEP DAY
I had work early that morning and discovered today what it must be like to have narcolepsy as I'd go to start something and wake up a few minutes later... in the same position... That night I fell asleep watching the grammies and knowing I had a later start the next day finally let my body catch up... more or less

Till next week
Lel

rain rain, go away...

2010-01-26T00:55:00.000-08:00

I've also included a couple of the images I've been working on this week. I've been spending more time on illustration and composition... there's more examples on my DA page - comment if you can ^_^

Lazy me lazy you

2010-01-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

No more procrastination!

2010-01-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

a sneak peek at the revision for my book character ^_^

Ok, so I'm now thoroughly convinced that it is impossible for me to multitask when watching tv - SERIOUSLY I set about writing this blog entry at 7:30... its now past 11... no thanks to live free or die hard... I know what your thinking - why don't you just turn the tv of?? well that would have been the easy option, unfortunately I was somehow convinced the entire time that I could do it and it just perpetuated into this massive waste. Of. Time.

~sigh~ Its now midnight - yes folks I spent a whole hour writing one paragraph - I'm not sure why these entries take me so long... I guess I blame cable... and the internet... But the tv is muted and I refuse to look at the internet until this is complete... OH shoot.. I have to have a shower.. Alright - hang on...

I'm back... You can't tell but its actually the next morning... no it didn't take me that long to have a shower... I pretty much gave up at 1am.... No more procrastination! I'm doing this now.... actually thats a good title...

Well I left you at New Years Eve and a very late night... Unfortunately I had to work the next morning at nine, so wobbling along on my bike before anyone else had even considered getting up I made my way to a quite day at work. High fiving Elsie at one, when asked how I'd be celebrating the new year I truthfully replied - "with good food" and proceeded to pig out at Octopus Bar, followed by a mossy around the shops till Brad and Amber came to take me back. On a side note I found an AWESOME book by Mucha that was only 15 dollars! It should have been $100 - I hope that means the year will be filled with insane bargains ^_^

On Saturday morning I woke late and sat with Amber for a ages whilst Brandon crawled around my legs, then finally rolling myself of the couch proceeded to Burbank to shut myself away in the library and write my blog as well as get a quick massage and some groceries (not form the same place). I Got lost coming home that night when I tried to go a different way, I finally made it an hour later than it should have taken me but looking on the bright side there were still some great Chrissy lights on display ^_^

Monday was a work day followed by some Thai and a drawing session with Tony - then Tuesday was my first lesson at Willow community school teaching comics - its great! apart from being miles and MILES away, its a really cute little school and there's only 6 boys in the class... with some really strange names... Bruno.. Makaie... Remy and... Korfy?? It was pretty much get to know you games making up signatures and drawing barry the sheep this lesson...Next up is shapes ^_^

Tuesday was more work... suffering CHA withdrawal symptoms then heading home after as poor Tony came down with a bad cold and our trip to ASIFA was postponed. I woke up early the next day extremely excited that I was finally getting to go to Pasadena again! A good book on becoming a freelance illustrator tucked under my arm and my Ipod fully charged I made my way there, stalled only slightly when our bus almost collided with an oncoming car - lucky he had quick reflexes and the confidence of a much larger vehicle ^_^ I was also hit on by a homeless guy that would not stop trying to get a conversation out of me... I'm not sure how but he ended up finding out where I worked, wrote his name and number on my hand and was happy to meet up again in the next week to go to the movies - Dad before you fly over here - I promise I did not engage this conversation... The guy just did not get the hint! But the rest of the day was fairly un-eventful and with headphones and a book covering my face I made it home without talking to anymore strangers ^_^

I was Back at Pasadena the next day Hungry for more - only to see the entire strip of shops down in Old P completely decked out in Red and Orange as people mingled about getting ready for the big College football game of Alabama vs Texas - Dad I know what you mean now about how much Americans get into their football! I didn't even recognise some shops as they were completely covered in merchandise! That night Sketch club was back on, this time I took Luke with me as he's now in Burbank and wanted to check it out - It was so great seeing everyone again, and after being pulled into some pretty crazy hugs (I think being small people feel compelled to lift you in the air) we settled down for some serious drawing and chatting - ending the night with a page of penis illustrations everyone contributed to... I was happy to provide the most non-confrontational one, then hand it to the barrister who had made the suggestion of a collaborative project - I tried to explain to him that this was the result when you have a bunch of very sick men in the room.... ^_^

Friday Tony and I finally volunteered down at ASIFA - staying for three hours to sort and archive old Annie comics - I was proud to get through over 200 pages spurred on through the last hour by some good tunes.

The next morning I headed into Burbank around lunch time to meet up with Tony again - after a bite to eat we made our way to his friends 24 themes party - a 7 hour bar crawling marathon that had him completing tasks Jack Bower style - We made it to two bars with them as we arrived towards the middle and after chatting to his uni friends and meeting a fellow Aussie we left for Hollywood to line up for a free screening of When in Rome. It was packed outside the mall as countless crew and extras filmed a roof performance of a band I didn't know - we weren't sure if they were speaking another language or it was just because they were so high up - but it made for good entertainment while we waited. The movie was sooo great! I really recommend it when it comes out your way - just fun and funny ^_^ We ended the night at a farewell for another friend at the air-conditioned bar - and giving up trying to hear or talk to people I settled on watching Gi-Joe that was being screened on the wall then later drove a very tired and coughing Tony back to mine. Luckily he made it home ok!

Sunday was a nice quite end to the week, I worked that morning unfortunately arriving an hour and a half early so went to sleep on the booth till it was time to start. food and reading carried me through the afternoon until I finally worked up enough energy to ride home...

Until next week - I'll try and figure out a dot point system of entry for the next one.. but we all know the likelihood of that happening - Let me know what you got up to for new years ^_^

Over and out

HAPPY 2010!!

2010-01-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in the library right now, realising with mild surprise that the seats here are actually extremely comfortable... I've banished myself here until I finish this entry... In truth I wanted to have it done before the end of the year, a sort of farewell to 2009 one might say.. A sign of dedication and maturity as the world heads into double digits in this brand new century.. instead I write to you two days late.. hopeful that this isn't a sign of what things will be like in the new year.

But theres no more excuses, I have a full tummy (large Taro should take me through the better part of this entry) I'm comfy and am surrounded by people intently typing away and setting a good example for the type of work ethic I'd like to employ right now...

Before I start I would just like to say that this entry will be done a little differently - as I have regretably left it a month between entries I plan to put this in point form, I realise if I attempted to sum up everyday in lavish (albiet unnesicary) detail as usuall I'll not only have a major brain burn out trying to remember everything but I'll also bore you stupid - consider it a belated Christmas present...

So In point form (what I remember) of the last month...

CTN

CTN was absolutely awesome... I finally found my scedule today... ok thats a lie, I stole it from Anthony when I found a copy in his car the other day... So a full blown down is on its way (promise) for those of you not jumping up and down in sheer excitment and anxiousness I'd like to point out that the break down is more for me than you... a way to let everything that happened sink in...

The Next thing worth mentioning that happened after that was Alex's Birthday on the 20th... ok so I realise that came three weeks after my birthday but all that really hapened in that time was more days in Pasadena,
a weeks worth of rain,
Some more interesting run ins with homeless people
Three more boys trying to get my number (don't worry Anthony... I quickly declined)
Some serious drawing
Christmas Preperation (like decorating the tree)
and an awesome night at ASIFA that gave me a lifetimes worth of artistic inspiration I'm still sifting through (thanks again Steve)

Ok side note... I'm being seriously distracted right now by the man next to me that keeps flicking out his hands every two minutes and muttering... maybe the library wasn't the best idea...

So the 18th rolled around and I spent about a week really working hard to finish Al's video so I could send it of in time for her to get it... $60 later it made its way to Australia to a happily expectant Yvette and a crazily realieved me... Its not easy forking over that much cash when the guy behind the counter tells you it MIGHT get there in time... but it did, and after some playing around with it at the party... (all buig occasions need an appropriate amount of technical dificulty) they got it working and I successfuly made Alex cry! booyeah! Hey I didn't collect 21 years worth of pics and memories for nothing ^_^ It was great being a part of the festivities too, even if I spent most or the time sitting on Lils lap...

It was really awesome as well keeping her company that night (lil not Alex) We swaped songs, sang Part of your world with the help of Yvette on her end and Amber on mine, then I showed her how to make a BLT and we spent the rest of the night watching Icarly - Love you and miss you Lil!

Christmas Eve came steaming along shortly after and festivities were started of with a short day at work then a concert at night. Hamid and Eman came to pick me up at 6:30 to make for the Hilton near Universal Studios... We spent the early part of the night around the bar, egging on Carolers, eating dry peanuts, stealing strawberries and proving to Eman that I did indeed have 6 jobs before I left... A fact that won my a ticket to see Avatar in 3D ^_^

Passing the buffet that spilled lavishly into the halls and was filled with everything from a sushi to roast and anything else you could want or imagine we got to our own Persian delights then sitting down near the stage got ready to hear Hamid and the Blackcats rock out.

The Music lasted till 2am - broken only be a huge fist fight that had people screaming anf performing high kicks, for some well over tipsy I was surprised how fast eman had me under his arm to take me out of there.

The Next day Santa had been and it was Pancakes curtisy of Brad... I provided fresh oranges I'd stolen from the buffet the night before (I managed to get six out under my jacket... mum, you taught me well) After breacy and a present from Dad and Yvette - I'll use it well - I went for a walk to Burbank to meet Gary for a movie - surprisingly it was packed and I was thankful Gary had shown up early and gotton tickets as the line stretched all the way up the bllock. We decided to pass the time with drinks at Bobaloca then took up our place in the line for Sherlock Holmes.

The movie was pretty good, unfortunetly due to a late night before I almost fell asleep in the middle - but I recomend it if your a fan of the franchise.

We ended the night with Thai then it was home to bed

Boxing day I had to work in the morning and after two late nights left the house feeling extremely crusty and worse for wear.. but I made it through a slow day at Haagan Dasz and later met with Alina to see Avatar and have dinner at Pho... mmmm chicken salad.

Avatar was great... better than I expected... but then I had pretty low LOW expectations... But as promised it looked beautiful and incredibly expensive... It turned out the story really did resemble Atlantis but I think it was about half way through when I realised I liked Atlantis so the simalirities weren't really such a bad thing...

Before I wrap up christmas I'd just like to Thank everyone again for all my presents - I really did feel loved and incredibly spoiled this year

Dad/Yvette and Lil - for the money which I'm still spending (just bought myself a massage) and my Disney Game
Mum - for the rent
Brad/Amber and Brandon for the Blanket
Gary for the Meal
My Boss Seni for the voucher
Jen for my card
and everyone else for the well wishes ^_^

The next major event was of course New Years.. Finding at the last minute I had the day of work I started with a sleep in on the Eve and bummed around the house till midday when I finally got dressed and headed to Burbank to meet with Guss and Tony... the day was a surprise so making sure I had everything on the list Tony sent me I met with them at 2:30 for a late lunch and a long trip down to Long Beach.
After seeing some awesome motercycle tricks set up by the pier we met with Tim, and deciding against skating on the fake ice that odly resembled rubber we made for the acquarium - I think its the most fun I've had at an acquarim ever!! we rushed around like idiots making whale sounds (ok that was just me) pretending to swim with the fish, discovering the difference between Sea Lions and Seals, Getting our guides embossed (something I made my personal mission) and topping it of with ahealthy dose of sarcassm - summed up in Tony's brilliant line towards a leg spreading starfish that seemed to resemble his Ex wife - much to the caretakers horror - totall classic!

Giving up on the final embossing station we made our way to the crowded pier to watch a dareldevil with a name that resembles cold meat (pastrami I think) break a world record for the longest car jump over water from one ramp to another.. pretty sweet stuff.

We then spent the next two and a bit hours wondering around trying to find dinner as everywhere was either closing the kitchen or completely booked out... or of limits due to the fact I'd forgotton my ID (sorry again guys)

But we finally came across Baba Gump Shrimp (literally where we had started) and had an excelletn dinner of fresh prawns - I got the salad which was one of the best I've ever had ^_^

Just as the temperature dropped and the crowds started to gather we rugged up and headed to the water for the fireworks - not as good as Home but still loud and colourful and as always a slightly extravagant waste of money ^_^ when the last explosion rung out accross the water lighting up he boats and happy drunk faces of most in the crowd we head to PF changs to warm up before we headed back to the cars...

Thanks again Everyone for a fantastic 2009 - thanks to those of you that actually took the time to read my blog - it really does make it worth while - Thanks for supporting me and giving me feedback, I hope my lengthy entries haven't scared you away so you'll be back for more this year

In other quick news

I've written a song that I'm trying to compose
I'm still working on my book
I'll have my stuff in Karen's shop at the end of this month (hopefully)
I have three new classes with Gary and Shaun - I'm teaching comic books and Science again
I bought a Calender and plan to actually use it!

Some pics from New Years

Spring and Summer every other day.....

2009-11-30T01:36:00.000-08:00

Hey guys

So first a little disclaimer - this is only half done, I'm missing friday, sat and Sunday which (for those of you playing at home) were the days of CTN. I can't remember a lot of what I did so I'm looking around this tiny tiny room for my schedule to remind me... in the meantime I thought I'd put the rest of the week up.. I figure by the time you get around to reading it I would have found the piece of paper I'm looking for...that is... in a few days ^_^

Monday things returned to normality with a good dose of crazy bus travels, moseying around Pasadena avoiding the countless people on the street asking for money (both bums and charity volunteers) then sitting in Cha eating, drinking and drawing. As the dark began to take over the afternoon and the temperature dropped I checked my phone for the time (for those of you who just fell of your chair in shock I'd like to re-iterate that I was carrying my phone and yes it was charged ^_^) It was almost time to meet Tony outside to make our way to the El Capitan for a private screening of Waking sleeping Beauty. We were running late, a fact I was unconcerned with while we continued to play my ipod music through his great sounding stereo. but the reality sat in when we arrived and walked into a packed theatre of animators and industry execs. Turns out we had showed up to a special Disney screening and were incredibly out of place amongst a theater of veterans... But the movie was absolutely phenomenal - funny, sad, moving... everything a documentary usually isn't. The credits came up and the calibre of people in the theatre hit us when we turned to leave to discover Ron Clements sitting RIGHT BEHIND US - I nearly fell over Tony as we shuffled through the isle and only managing a feeble squeak put my hand out to shake his... I vaguely remember saying "Hi, I'm such a fan... can I... can I shake your hand?"
Hanging around in the lobby on the advice of Dawn - (our Disney insider) we spent the next half hour shaking hands with the likes of John Musker, Glen Kean, Ken Duncan, Andreas Dega and much more ^_^

Tuesday I needed a break and decided to chill out at home before work, catching up on emails, putting on some washing and leading a nice quite life till my shift started at 3. I finished that night at 9 - a lucky break as Ms Seni let me go home instead of staying to cash up ^_^

Wednesday was of course another Cha day were I continued to work on some drawings and try and finish my book - Guards Guards Guards... for such a small book it certainly takes a while to get through... I blame teeny tiny writing. But the day on the whole was relatively uneventful, I'd say the quiet before the storm - better known as Thanksgiving ^_^

While everyone was of with Family I woke up late with not a care in the world... Burbank was deserted and eerily quite I noticed as I sat at Thai eating my shrimp dumplings and reading my giant Peter De Seive book (a birthday present to myself from the expo). Now before you get the wrong idea I do have excellent friends that all invited me to their respective family get together's, but after 4 days of networking and practicing impeccable social editicate.. a few late nights and a lot of early mornings... I just couldn't bring myself to do the "good house guest routine" ...That afternoon my spirits were lifted by the countless birthday messages from home flooding my facebook page (thanks again guys!) and a good dose of you tube watching as I drew and coloured in ^_^

Friday the 27th came and left fairly unceremoniously - you know, I miss that birthday feeling you got as a kid. You'd wake up that day and it just felt different, the air tasted better, your had this incredible feeling of excitment, and everyone seemed to know it was a special day, in fact any joy around you you'd assume was directly related to the fact the world was celebrating you were born. You got automatic shotgun on the ride to school, your songs were played on the radio, you decided the games in the playground and best of all what was for dinner. But despite the lack of the feeling I had a great day none the less.. It started by almost freezing my ass of.. or more specifically any extremities exposed to the wind as I rode to work in the dark at 5:30 in the morning. The lines had already started to form outside to mark the beginning of black Friday (a tradition in America of Sales after Thanksgiving). As predicted NO ONE wanted Ice cream at 6 in the morning so things were pretty slow till I left at one, then it was straight down to the 2nd floor for 20% of a haircut (yay for mall employees) and feeling self conscious as my hair bounced around with a newly appointed shine I had lunch, got desert and waited for Tony to pick me up for a FREE screening of Fantastic Mr Fox down in Hollywood. The movie was ok... I fell asleep half way through, but it had some decent lines and some quirky animation. I rounded of the night with eggplant stirfry for dinner and another good dose of broadway on you tube - I'm now completely obsessed with Spring Awakening - the soundtrack is awesome!!

Well I'll be back asap for the CTN update, for now its bedtime... I really need to stop going to sleep at 2 in the morning...

- Your Now 23 year old US correspondent
Lesley

You dropped something.....

2009-11-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

Its Thursday morning...I feel tired, a little crusty... and there's this stubborn bit of sleep in my eye that wont come out unless I take out the tweezers- which will mean a sore eye for the entire day, so for now its won this battle... but not the war....

So how is everyone? (you'll have to call it out reasonably loud so I can hear you...) good? I hope your all good - I'm ok myself - a little frazzled at the moment trying to get things organised. CTN is up this weekend and there still seems to be quite a bit to get done... as of yesterday I can check business cards of the list, but my portfolio is far from complete...

because of this ever increasing window of opportunity to finish things this entry will have to remain short - "so what only 12 pages this time instead of 20?" I notice a tone of sarcasm in your voice - don't deny it - and nether do I, I suspect it will end up longer than I want, but such is my nature... and my lousy ability to be direct - I'm a beat around the bush kinda gal.

Before I really kick things of though I'd just like to mention - for those playing at home - that although I'm sure your all eagerly anticipating my birthday coming up on the 27th and want desperately to shower me with gifts of appreciation for giving you this lovely blog to waste your time... PLEASE don't send me things (unless they are money or other things that can be sent electronically - including E-cards - as long as they sing...) I have a VERY VERY small room not to mention taking things back home is going to be tricky...

Ok onto the last week... I've actually started writing things down so I can remember better -
We left of on Friday - a day Hamid says he now owes me for - Once again Hamid - I had a GOOD TIME - not to mention I got a shit load of free food which lasted me the entire week.... could explain my weird tummy though...

Saturday was Halloween, made known by the bucket of "candy" greeting us in Animation class that morning. After an hour of drawing and marveling at the frequency flicker effect... (fancy name for animation) Tony and I went over to the bank to start up my Bank of America account... how our conversation with the teller got onto weird couples and being patient I don't know - I do know that I walked away with 1 dollar in my savings account and the prospect of a new card with panda on it ^_^
I had work till late that day - made strange by the man calling me up on my phone (I had no idea I'd lost it - for those of you that know me this is a less surprising occurrence - more predictable). I rushed from Haagan Dasz at 9:45, got changed into my Bliss costume (skirt over my pants and my bike helmet) then it was of to my first Halloween house party - A night of drinking (no not me) Freezing and chatting with Jesus, Harry Potter (complete with Hedwig - you looked awesome Tony) and some death metal guy... honestly you'd think mascara was more a girl thing... The highlight was seeing a girl that had obviously tried to dress up as a nerd and really just looked like she raided my wardobe... We wrapped the night by watching Aladdin at a haunted house... we ALL fell asleep ^_^

Sunday morning I stumbled out of bed early to meet the guy holding my phone captive - they actually hassled me about not using my phone... I have my family for that buddy! Then it was work (by myself) till 9 and straight home to bed - ok so I may have stopped for yogurt and Taro on the way...

Monday was Cha day - Then just when my bum was starting to loose all feeling from sitting there all day, Jen picked me up and we drove to Irvine to see Josh and any one else from IV floating around (IV - International Village) We stopped into Cha first (another one) for dinner, then it was into campus to watch some live Comedy at the pub - my favourite was this guy that did an excellent song about your "first time" - comic genius!!!
We left shortly after (I felt sorry for the next guy - it was like going to sing on stage after Beyonce or Christina... tough act to follow...) bumped into a few people then got directions home - Thanks again for an awesome night Jen!

Tuesday was errand day - the highlight was getting my legs waxed - not the waxing part but the discount after - only 30 bucks!! agghh nothing like a good discount to make your day - I also had a major scanning session, ate sushi and generally just relaxed ^_^

Wednesday it was back to Cha- the monotony broken only by a big hard sticky thing falling onto my hand then into my helmet - to my horror I discovered it was a lollypop - straight from the mouth of the guy standing over me - GROSSSSS! I pased it back mentioned pointedly that he'd dropped it and amazingly it went straight back into his mouth!!!!!

It is at this point that I would like to publicly apologise for making fun of anyone
that used hand sanitiser in my presence - It definitely came in handy at this
moment - both on my hands AND the inside of my helmet...

That night Alina and I met up to go to a Disney portfolio drop - not quite what I thought it would be, but it was nice catching up with Alina while we waited in line, not to mention meeting Alison - a really sweet recruiter eager to add us on linked in and generally help us out ^_^

Thursdays science class was dealing with Corn starch and water to make quicksand - what it actually made was this weird gloop and a HUGE mess - but the kids loved it and I convinced them to take most of it home - parents were not as happy - muahahaha. Sketch club that night was really fun - especially as Matt and Edd were back - missed you guys! ^_^

Friday I came into burbank early to do some errands - for example waiting in line at the library for the homeless people to finish surfing the internet - pretty sure I saw one checking his emails.... I also got some groceries and had to walk home with them as a nice guy from the YMCA locked my bike after I had told him I didn't have a key... grumble grumble. Hamid picked me up that night for a jamming session back at his - we got through a few songs then got distracted by Who's line - The likeness between you and Drew Carey still freaks me out Dad :P

Class on Saturday was kinda dead as only a few showed up - but we plugged through our Ariel clean up none the less - and I proudly presented my "one perfect drawing" to a pleased Alex, just to show him if I'm not being lazy, my clean up volumes are right on the money.. or model... Tony and I headed to our usually lunch meeting at Pho then it was dessert and work till late.

I Opened again Sunday morning, (honestly I may as well have slept at work) then left at three to do some last minute (slightly panicked) photocopying for a little pamphlet of my work to hand out at the Animation army meet that night. After dinner at a new Thai place - not so much as new as I'd never been there before, and thanking Alina again and again for my cool prezzies (she wont be here for my birthday)
- Awesomely soft bed socks with sticky feet
- THREE cool brush pens
- A whole box of Light blue col-erase pencils
- Wicked ORIGINAL watercolours from her sketchbook
- Chopsticks
- A cute little purse in the shape of an apple
Safe to say you seriously spoiled me Alina!!
Running late from trying to find a car spot we rushed into the studio relieved to discover everyone standing around chatting. We both slapped on some name tags and decided to divide and conquer - I was just finished chatting to Kyle (met him a while ago) and had started talking to some other animators and illustrators when it was time to sit on the floor and listen to the panel of recruiters tell us how to get a job. They had some interesting insights - and even better things to say when I went up after and talked to them individually. Two of the three seemed really eager to get me work before I had to leave - so I left the night on a high.. that was until I discovered I couldn't find my house key...

Monday - I borrowed Heather's key and headed to Cha for some thinking and drawing - finally finishing my God Delusion book along the way(thanks again for the book Dad). Unfortunately in my haste to finish I had it held up whilst getting on the bus - a fact made clear by the bus driver who decided to announce on the loudspeaker to the entire bus that I was an atheist - waaaay to go dude :(
I got a bit done that afternoon then making it home FINALLY got to have a good long chat with mum

I'll leave it there for now as I have to get going - Not to mention I'm actually getting on top of the entries - well until after CTN

-Your faithful (slightly lazy) corespondent Lel ^_^

My New Card - let me know what you think :)

No I'm the teacher...

2009-11-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, the tv is of, I've had lunch and there is now NO MORE excuses for me not to write this blog entry... unless something major crops up in the next half hour I am determined to get this written and of my mind... crap... have to pee... be right back.

Ok I'm back... So you must be wondering what (besides laziness) could have kept me all this time - well single person reading my blog and actually interested in my adventure - thats right, don't bother looking around, your it - the one person reading this and making me feel like these times spent writing a worth while... in fact, take a break - you earned it - you got his far.. go ahead and pat yourself on the back - then grab something to nibble on - I recommend something high in long lasting energy.

I would like to report that a sudden Alien abduction has kept me - while they jabbed at my body and spoke in strange clicks and whurs all I could think of was not my own safety but my lateness of entry to this blog and your lack of entertainment for the hour or so it takes you to read it... hey you could be a slow reader - I don't judge..

But I'm am a sad to report it IS laziness - and the mounting pressure of knowing that with everyday I left it there would be more to write... so without further ado here is the last few weeks (Dad I'm dedicating it to you)

Firstly I'd like to quickly point out that last week entry I forgot to mention that Dad and I spent AGES at the bookstore on Friday and he bought me some new clothes ^_^... I realise this isn't stop the press news but I didn't want you to think that I forgot a second of time spent with him - so thanks again Dad for my books and clothes!

Ok back to it

Saturday we woke up at the usual LA time of 10:30 and headed out to the pier for breakfast at the Ivy - unfortunately it was the prospect of "saying" that rather than the food itself that lured us in - I enjoyed my omelet and its size expanding over neighboring borders but I think Dad would have preferred something with bacon in the title and the smell of waffles - not Tortillas... A word of caution - if its breakfast your after and they're asking whether you want guacamole with that - get out - get out NOW!
Full and feeling refueled we continued to the pier to explore, the highlight was watching a man and his sons ride a parachute ride (ok ready guys WOOOAHHH - no no stick your legs out - yeah - WOOOAAAHH... the thing was a few feet tall). After a lap we agreed it was looking a little tired and decided to head back the promenade to wait for our movie to start - The invention of Lying was great! In a word - Cheeky - you be the judge ^_^
Grabbing yogurt on the way back to the hotel we packed up to move to the West In as it was closer to LAX, then dumping our stuff we caught the tram to the beach for a dinner of steak and Chicken - you can guess who had what. We were almost lured into a quant Italian place offering free bread and pizza to those waiting outside but ended up with something a lot tastier and whole bunch more fancy!

I woke on Sunday (after another brilliant sleep) to an empty room as poor Dad had already caught the plan to Oakland to see the Jets play. Lying for a little longer in heaven (or otherwise known as down pillows) I dressed and headed down for a continental buffet breakfast - soled to me by a guy that honestly looked pregnant - skinny except for a hug rounded belly... An unwary cab driver took me home then it was of to work for my first FULL close (including counting the up the till - its the small things in life).

Monday I was set to meet Dad at Hollywood - so getting the call he was out of the gym (go dad) I caught the bus down and met him outside the Chinese Man theatre - we had an awesome day, walking the star pavement to see who was dead and who had a questionable mention - eating yogurt (I don't think I convinced him of its addictive powers), Spending a creepy hour at the wax museum - taking hillarious photos and spending the longest time in the gift store reading insults and excuses books. We had lunch at a Shabu Shabu restaurant then topped it all of with a screening of Astro Boy in the main theatre at the Mann usually reserved for premiers! All to soon we were looking at swatches and realizing the time - so after a 10 minute hug goodbye and some strange looks from onlookers who thought we could be part of a show I waved him goodbye in the cab and walked slowly to the bus stop for home. Dad - we really did have a blast ^_^

Deciding to move Cha day to Tuesday it was of to Alhambra this morning with my God Delusion book from Dad and some fresh sketch ideas in my head. I spent all day drawing, eating and drinking, then met Tony in Pasadena for a lift to a special interview with Paul Felix in a little place on Magnolia (Felix is a concept designer for Disney). We had a great time that night learning and soaking up the brilliance offered by Felix and his insane "I want to crawl up in a ball and rock myself back and forth vowing to never draw again" drawings. I also met a nice lady from the recruitment centre at Disney and am hoping she remembers me come decision time... Later after a chat with one of Tony's friends we spent 20 minutes looking for the car before it was home and bed.

Wednesday it was Tuesday all over again with a Cha session then a rendezvous with Tony at the end of the day - this time we were of to the Arc light cinema for a screening of Coraline, complete with interview with Director HENRY SELICK agghhhhhh. It took us a while to find the place as we realised sheepishly we'd been going up and down the wrong street, but we found it in the nick of time - parked - and avoiding the circus which was Boon Dogs 2 premier to find our seats in the downstairs cinema and I have my work critiqued by a nice guy who was friends with Brad Bird himself!! The movie was EXCELLENT and so much cooler to see on the big screen. Later at the reception we got to speak to Henry who signed my sketch book (look on my DA page) then feeling sick after numerous Swedish meatballs (what can I say, they were free) and clutching out Free Coraline buckets and t-shirts, we stole a poster from the front and ran out - laughing like lunatics the whole time - Nice one Tony! :P

Thursday I had magnetic car building in class that afternoon, which took waaaaay longer than expected and the reward for completing them was taking them apart seconds later - sorry kids - Not to mention before it started I was mistaken for one of the kids... (no this is not a joke - I don;t who was more shocked me or the lady when I told her I was actually the teacher) The day continued to decline when I realised I'd run out of money for the bus and still couldn't take money out of my card - cut to me asking an old lady outside Ralphs for money like a junky that needed a little extra cash for a fix - totally Humiliating!! the next bus I was able to get on out of sheer pity and a vouch from an indian women that thought I looked innocent (she kept swiveling around in her seat giving me the thumbs up like we'd cheated the system). back in Burbank I was able to borrow 1.25 of Migel for a ride to the sketch club only to discover no one was there as Pricillas was having a mixer - worrying about a ride back I was saved by Ratnar who after a short session of drawing with a few late comers drove me home. (Just want to take the time to appologise for giving you the wrong directions home Ratnar - its not like me to forget my left and rights!)

Friday morning Hamid picked me up around midday for our road trip down to San Diego - based on passed experience I was slightly worried we'd get lost, but after only one minor detour we made it for lunch in the mall were the performance was being held. I chose stuffed cabbage and Golden spoon yogurt for dessert ^_^
Feeling stuffed and happy I nestled myself in the corner of the Persian restaurant drawing, chatting to the band watching them set up. A few hours later they were good to go so with the knowledge we had to be back in a few hours Hamid and I drove down the beach for a walk along the cliffs as the sun set. As the sun sank behind the endless stretch of deep blue sea and moon rose to a chilly night we decided to head back from some dinner. I had baked eggplant with enough rice to feed a small Army whilst Hamid went for a buttery sweet chicken dish. feeling defeated by our meals we asked for a doggy bag and were offered fresh bread to take with us (my breakfast for the last week or so). The performance was awesome, the band was on fire, the lead singer crooning to the crowd in Persian as everyone and their grandma got down and danced - All started by a little girl who was first up and started bellydancing in front of the whole restaurant - MISS YOU LIL - There was also a performance by Silhouette - The persian version of the Veronicas ^_^ After much Dancing and sneaking up to the secret room to check my emails I fell asleep in the car waiting for Hamid to grab his equipment and it was a two hour trip back home... worried the whole time that Hamid was going to fall asleep at the wheel...

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

2009-10-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

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 ^_^

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

2009-10-12T01:24:00.000-07:00

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

I'm still here ^_^

2009-10-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

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!

BUSY busy busy ^_^

2009-09-24T09:07:00.001-07:00

Due to procrastination and a busy life I must now attempt to sum up the entire week (and a bit) in this one little entry, I may I'll break it into days like the other to make it easier for myself ... and you hopefully ^_^ here goes..

I'm afraid Monday to Thursday is a bit of a blur - But I'm sure it consisted of the usual combination of Cha visiting/ Taro drinking and general moseying around and wasting time. Thank god Friday sticks out, although starting out slow with an hour wait for the bus (the 222 is a difficult one to predict). You know your living in LA when it doesn't faze you to ride the bus with the incredible hulk in the morning - that would be a guy dressed up as the hulk, not Eric Banner... One of those hug worn costumers that looks like a combination of green spray paint and parts of the couch. We also got a little scare when a guy that was honked at decided to chase after us and hit the bus that KEPT breaking down!... not sure what broke in his mind to think he could take on a bus?? I walked across country to meet Shaun at Starbucks getting almost killed by a bike in the meantime (note to self, ALWAYS look before stepping of a curb, even if the little green man is beckoning you forward ^_^) My meeting with Shaun went great, even with the bizarre presence of the man sitting outside on a deck-chair complete with cup holder.

Later, getting lost downtown and finding an extremely elaborate movie shoot (complete with cranes) I picked up some art supplies, and ran into David and Rob as I made my way to Little Tokyo. I couldn't stay long so grabbed some yogurt for sustenance and caught the 92 to Glenoaks where I sorted through dust and broken wood for a decent frame at the 98c store.

Dave and I saw "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" that night followed by Thai and a really long chat where I got some prezzies (so spoiled) which included Richard Williams animation survival guide - basically the bible of animation how to's ^_^ THANKS DAVE!!

Ok I'm tiring already so the rest will have to be an arrangement of carefully thought out dot points ^_^
Friday

Saturday
- Waited an Hour for the bus - again that 222 has it in for me... but I'll get the better of it next time muahaha
- First animation class, drew portraites of how we felt that morning, mine was held up! (as were a few of my pics :) Going to be in-betweening Aurora and the prince and his horse (to which I completely geeked out and squeeled like a big girl) - basically our teachers goal is to have us try for Disney in-betweening at the end of the course an get a job!
- Took three hours to get downtown to the sketch crawl, met Alina in the Bradbury building - (what an amazing place, like a giant fancy escher painting with detail in every corner, including the doorknobs! sketched for a while...
- Went to the markets - talked to a security guard while Alina was in the bathroom (poor guy looked like he had been driven insane by the many hours he has to spend outside the girls toilets EVERY day, had a laugh...
- Went back to Alina's and played piano while she got ready
- Dinner and drinks was at CHA and of course a looong chat
- Strolled down the road to Nucleus for the Terrible Yellow eyes opening - drew on the walls, talked to Brittney Lee, Kazu, Ben and Orion (Disney) had an excellent time - stayed till 11, had a street dance upon running into some of Alina's friends then got drinks and went home

Sunday
- Woke up early
- Alina picked me up for our 3 hour road trip to Salvank - a little replica of country Holland, complete with windmills and lots of friendly old people (so thats where they all went...)
- Strolled around the postcard village, begailed by dancing, the smell of applekirks (definitely spelt that wrong - basically a pancake in the shape of a tennis ball, drizzled with raspberry jam and icing sugar) in the air, smiling faces, ompahpah music. Had meatballs for lunch with saurkrout - not too bad, service was a little abrupt so I took a bunch of crackers and jams to make up for it!
- Explored every corner, browsed all the stores, wound up music toys, tried on viking hats and learnt a little more about Hand Christan Anderson.
- Had a pretzel for dessert, was almost forced into a buying a kookoo clock then tired and eyes just about popping out of our heads we made for the car and the three hour journey home.. to which I proved to Alina that I really do shutdown from 3:30 to 5 then am roaring to go till 2am the next morning!
- Had tea and yogurt for dinner then made my way home with some more videos and a sore belly...

Monday was another Cha day, which saw me catch up to some drawings, designs for the book and my website as well as starting and finished "The Dip" (another present from Dave) a book about Knowing when to quite and when to stick it out - a pretty good read if you stuck in a rut ^_^

Tuesday was my errand day
- Had another Rice triangle for breaky
- Went to Woodbury to ask whether I could use their animation tables- got pushed all around campus and left with still no answer
- Rode to Micheals to get a frame - jackpot! (got materials too)
- Back to ASIFA to check if it was open, met Steve the al knowing boss of the archives and practiced some volunteer work I'll be doing from now on (I'm thinking Saturdays) and looked over the fortune of materials and references they have on offer
- Back up to Burbank for a yoghurt stop then to the Council to FINALLY get my permit so I can draw on the street ^_^ then Library to print notes, taro for extra brain strength and onto Office works to get more supplies. On the way home I stopped by Ralphs for groceries (now officially looked like a bag lady - complete with pillow and made spagbowl for dinner - yum!

Wednesday was another Cha day, the highlight was managing to finally get my hands on Coraline!! woohoo so I watched that along with a few other you tube vids to round of the night.

PHew - if your still there, go get yourself some sort of food reward, you deserve it ^_^

Over and out
Lel

for more pics go to my facebook page

Thats freakin awesome! Your so gonna cry when you see this!!

2009-09-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so it may be another long one - I'll try my best to sum up the last few days, but lets be honest, we all know I really stink at being brief... Not to mention I'm attempting to multi task by watching the MTV VMA awards at the same time as doing this which means I'm extremely distracted... honestly its taken me half an hour to write three lines...

Take 2 - its now the next day, I gave up last night at midnight when I fell asleep on my keyboard.
So where were we, I left of on Tuesday after my glorious debut volunteering for Siggraph and the next days spent at Cha. Thursday night was as always down at Priscilla's drinking tea and drawing with the gang, to which I discovered the barrister there wants to marry me and take home to meet his mum ^_^ Friday I made a trip to Studio city to Meet Shaun and Gary for an interview, the job will be a lot like the one I had at cartoon kingdom except a little less money and only teaching. I actually start training this friday for my two classes starting next week (lego and science... at least I wont have to wear a wig). It took me a while to get down there especially as I decided to walk from studio city - as always it looked a lot shorter on the map. I arrived sweating like crazy and tried my best to hide it as we went through the interview... thank god for long lasting deodorant ^_^
The interview went great and it was a pleasant journey home looking through cute little boutiques and chilling out at Bobaloca.

Saturday Howard and I got to know each other on the two hour trip to Victorville. We were set to join David for a picnic in the city as caricaturists. Howard started first while I grabbed some free food (meat smothered in sauce, beans, bread and corn - thank god I brought something green) then I joined him at 12 and David followed at 1. I was a little nervous as it was my first time doing heads and bodies, but after some really positive feedback and a lot of fun I'm seriously eager to do it again!

Sunday Alina picked me up early to go to the county fair. Imagine the Easter show minus the showbags. The air was cool when we stepped out of the car and the sky dark with the look of ominous clouds rolling in (it was great!) but as always it fined up as we made our way around the park, cheering on pigs at the races, pretending to be cowgirls at the horse barrel competitions (I actually responded with this after a guy knocked a barrel over - GO steve! don't worry cowboy, shake it of, YEEHA!) ^_^

We also strolled through the safari, patted baby animals, rode the sky line, chowed down on smoked corn and were all set to go for a GIANT turkey leg until I was told it cost 10 bucks! We cleverly avoided the most other fair cuisine which included deep fried twinkies, oreos, zuchinies, chees burgers and more! NO wonder people are fat here!

Well thats all for now

Until next time ^_^

Good times ^_^

Its a Mystery!!

2009-09-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

Warning: The entry includes strong language

Ok, momentary freak out, thought I lost my date book, I'm not saying its in my list of things to take with me in case of fire, but as my life seems to be getting increasingly busy I do need it for past and future event co-ordination ^_^

I would also like to add a note early in this entry as most of you may not reach the end - I've had a few emails recently that tell me your trying to "catch up" and life is too busy.. Its not a mystery novel people, there's no plot twists, over reaching plot developments or cliff hangers. Just read what ever entry is at the top and you should be ok...

Right, now that thats been said, we can move onto my fabulous life that I know your all vicariously living through (she jokes pathetically).

Monday was extremely educational, Alina and I spent around 5 hours wearing the soles out of our shoes stumbling around LACMA. Imagine all the museums and galleries in Sydney and combine them into one uber museum situated in the downtown area of LA. There was all sorts of cool things to look at, like the giant Tupperware sculpture outside (long lines of Tupperware dangling from the ceiling that you could walk through). We started out in the Pop art section, browsing everything from Warhole to who knows... I think the main criteria for pop art is it has to be HUMONGOUS (love that word) Honestly you could have a blow up toy crocodile stuffed through a ladder (which we actually saw) but as long as its bigger than a car its considered art... The only really cool thing was the Giant doll house... the only thing worthy of being huge, and the biggest 20 dollar bill... but only because it had a little person on it moving around and painting the white house.

Then it was of to the Pompey exhibit.. making fun of hermaphrodite sculptures and others with little pointy penis's and GIANT testicles ^_^ I started this fun little game were we had to make up a caption for each sculpture and painting... We tried to do another building but after making it round the first floor (and seeing a hysterical Dracula silent film) we conked out and had to recuperate outside in the courtyard.

Later that afternoon we had fun moseying around a little area with cool galleries and book stores, then met a friend of hers for dinner at a sleek indonesian restaurant nearby.

Tuesday's highlight was my volunteer work at Siggraph down in the LA film school. We were thanked profusely for helping place biscuits on a tray then spent the rest of the night FREEZING OUR ASSES OF inside the theatre watching 3D animation shorts and adds contributed by some of the worlds best independent and major studios and film makers. One of my faves was "French Roast" I suggest you youtube it if you've never heard of it, the character design work is amazing!! I also loved this really creepy one of a little girl that gets turned into a doll and of Course Partly Cloudy by PIXAR. There was also this brilliant add for the convenience of a particular credit card that showed a guy going from his work to home on a water slide - ALex remember when we hypothesized the creation of a slide that would take us from our beds to the dining table.. well this totally kicked out dreams ass! I was so devastated when I realised it was all 3D so my dreams of a pilgrimage to try it out were ruined...

Wednesday was CHA day (yay) and a massage to finish it all of, then today was pretty much the same... minus the massage. Why am I spending away willy nilly you ask? well I have an actual job this weekend!! thats right folks $200 is commin my way ^_^ I'm doing some caricatures at a festival somewhere I have never heard of...should be fun! Oh and I have a job interview tomorrow for another company a lot like Cartoon Kingdom so wish me luck...

For now I'll leave you with some observations of today...

- Man ran up and hit the bus after he was beeped at for being in the way
- Smokers are litter bugs! I told a smoker to throw their butt away today
- Can a cookie really be outrageous??
- Drawing big allows you to get in more detail... obvious but only a recent realisation

OH and I also got a library card! I'm trying to continue my DVD education so I got Oklahoma (the Hugh Jackman version) West side story and the Animation show - if you have any suggestions send them my way ^_^

And one very last thing (promise) did anyway send me a present recently... that is two limited edition Coraline dolls?? I got them yesterday and have NO idea why... No return address or sender info, if you have any information on this mystery please let me know asap... or I may have to send them back...

These are some sketches I did of a little baby while at Cha... thanks again to Jackie and her baby Elijah for letting me stare at them for an hour ^_^

My new monthly destination...

2009-09-06T12:11:00.001-07:00

Well Folks,

I just finished one of the BEST breakfast's I've ever had! Picture this steamed corn, carrots and bright green broccoli florets accompanied by polish dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut and mushrooms, rich melt in your mouth Goulash with tender chewy gnocchi and a perfectly cooked cabbage roll stuffed with lean pork, chicken and rice! I'm salivating just thinking about it!
It was the other half of the dish I chose not to finish last night so that I'd have something special to wake up to this morning ^_^

Yesterday was really great. I woke up late and after a light breaky (was already preparing for my dinner) made my way to the Starbucks near my street to meet Hamid for a little jamming session. I was early so spent some time in Frogen Yozurt for a second breakfast and a cool down in the air-conditioning. When 11:30 rolled round and I hadn't heard from Hamid I started to worry... then after calling to confirm the location we were supposedly both at I realised with a jolt that I was at the wrong starbucks! Luckily he was very forgiving and told me to hang in there while he jumped in the car and came over to pick me up.

Later, after getting lost a few times (always a great way to get to know someone) we spent a few hours in his house playing piano, singing, going crazy on his bongo drums then rocking out to "I will survive". He was trying to teach me to be angry... but I'm not sure it was working out, I tried to explain that I'm just not an angry person ^_^ At three we wrapped up and it was more circles to try and get back to Burbank.. but we made it and after grabbing a few things in Burbank I made my way to Alina's place.

Dinner that night was ay Polka, a little Polish restaurant I'd heard about on the Food network channel. We got of to a late start after our reservation was pushed back about half an hour or so... but once we sat down we were treated like royalty.. or better yet, part of the family. After being offered complimentary drinks we were served our spinach soup and salad - the salad was really fresh with a sweet fruity dressing. then out came our mains (my breaky) followed by a complimentary dessert that was (to Alina's delight) on fire ^_^ not to mention complimentary little truffle chocolates... Safe to say they deserved their large tip, and as the doors closed for the final time that night we shook hands smiled blissfully and piled in the car with our left overs for the trip to the Hive Gallery.

We didn't stay at the gallery long as it was VERY crowded, VERY loud and EXTREMELY hot.. but there was some great artwork, some interesting looking people (you could get in for less if you dressed provocatively) and as always some strange personalities ^_^

Hope you all had a great weekend and to all the dads out there (especially mine) HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!

Catch up

2009-09-03T01:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the length - but I've saved up a few entries ^_^

Sunday
Stayed at home all day to stay our of the smoke filled air thats slowly creeping round the burbank area like a monster stretching its fingers further and further, licking at the dried bush with delight... Lucky Alina could pick me up from the house today and at 6:30 it was of to the Monkey comics gallery to have a peek at the girls drawin girls exhibit (a nice blog to check out if you have time). After parking round the back we came in through the massive comic store at the front, Alina left me to browse the numerous isles then I met her in the main gallery (very small compared to the shop) for meat flying of the bbq live modeling.
We had fun sketching and chatting then saying goodbye to new friends I reversed the car out of the lot (parking is not Alina's strong point) and we finished of the night in a very disappointing Thai restaurant that charged us 10 buck for a tiny plate of veggies.

Monday
Spent all day at Cha and met some cool artists!

Tuesday
After going to sleep at 3am that morning I woke up again at 10:30 and had to quickly dress and start my ride down to Flower street to meet Tony at Dream Works. Not factoring in that it would be down hill most of the way I arrived half an hour early but was more than happy to sit by the main fountain and soak up my surroundings ( I saw Chris Sanders walking around!!!) After a while I met up with Tony, Joe and Devon and it was onto a free lunch (The studio provides lunch for everyone -and they even have a frozen yogurt machine!! I was in heaven). We chatted about the industry, food and drawing whilst occasionally looking over at the poker game going on in the middle of the cafeteria (the end of a big comp between the whole studio.. looks Like Jeffery K is the one to beat - who I actually bumped into... literally, he was trying to get through the crowd and asked me to move aside.. nicely ^_^)
I Spent the next 3 hours or so in their office chatting with the likes of Chen Yi Chang (lead character designer on Mulan) and Nico Marlet (character designer on Kung Fu Panda) looking at their work, soaking up the atmosphere, picking up tips and generally having such a good time I'm pretty sure half of what happened has completely left my mind. Later that day we had a coffee break (or frozen yogurt break for me) and met some more people (who I've completely forgotten their names, but they were so nice and encouraging!) then after trying to get through to James (I'd met him at lunch earlier and he asked me to stop by) but having no luck I headed back to Tony's office to see some more stuff and finally end the night with a some brilliant words of encouragement and a long ride back home (stopped over for groceries and Sushi ^_^)

Today was another trip to Cha but along the way I took down some interesting observations
- Red sun and red moon
- Had the nice bus driver
- Faces in the trees
- Lady that smelt moldy and dirt started picking hair of her chin and EATING IT!
- Man with a bicycle pump but no bicycle
- Met a nice guy and girl on the bus that want to take me to the zoo... sounds a lot more sinister than it is ^_^
- Saw a plumbing van with the name "Mr Rooter" - no kidding!

Character designer in training

2009-09-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

I did these after talking to the guys at Dreamworks the other day... I plan to set aside an hour a day to focus souley on improving my character designs ^_^

Anything thats magic outta be good ^_^

2009-08-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

I'm back, thought I'd update you on the great day I had yesterday! ok so it started of mediocre, after riding down to the market and grabbing some groceries I spent the next few hours at bobaloca slurping down a taro slush and hoeing into the food I'd just purchased - the combination of pretzel rolls and "mums spicy magic sauce" with lotus root on the side is sooooo good!
It was soooooo hot yesterday, I mean like really really hot, when I rode down our hill I felt as though I was riding through a fan forced oven as the hot air bellowed in my face (I honestly couldn't breath).
After finishing some drawings the feeling of guilt crept through me, I knew I was putting of the projects I had to do on the computer so with a reluctant sigh I got back on my bike and rode home.... thank god I made it, to be honest for a while there it was touch and go... the heat was so bad I almost keeled over!
After getting home and chugging down 3 glasses of water, I set myself up downstairs and got started on my projects, then finding out I wasn't going to be able to go to the roller derby with Gary (the tickets sold out) I made my way to Alina's to go with her to the gallery.
Found on Silver lake rd, the gallery looked like a house thats been converted, imagine a small two story house JAM-packed with as much art and toys as they could get in there, an eclectic colourful assortment of vinyl figures, paintings, sketches and children's books. The theme was doctor Zeus under the title "Oh the art you will see" Alina had in my opinion one of the best with a beautiful water colour of thing 1 and 2.
After mingling a little and looking around at all the art on display we left with our tummies grumbling for little tokyo. turns out they had a kinokonya (asian book store) so we browsed there first then it was straight to this little hole in the wall noodle hut that Alina claims she's constantly finding excuses to go to. There was a line outside (as per usual) so we had time to wonder around a little before we were seated. We tucked into massive bowls of noodles accompanied with delicious broth, pork and veggies ^_^ mmmm
Then it was onto yogurtland for dessert and a hop, skip and a jump back home, all in all it as a fantastic night! I'm of to another gallery tonight for a closing ceremony which means food, activities and fun!

Oh and I also want to make a shout out to Michaela my lovely room mate for my little kiss band
and my new house mate for giving me a lift yesterday
thanks guys!

Over and out ^_^

Oh and for those of you who are disappointed as I am that I missed out on the roller derby, I'll be able to go in september, I can't wait! ^_^

This is for a blog I'm trying to get into
check it out at : http://www.terribleyelloweyes.com/

God gave rock and roll to you

2009-08-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

Yes Dad, I'm sitting here writing this as I listen to all the KISS songs I just downloaded ^_^ I thought you'd be very proud...

It's almost like a warm hug as the sound of live guitars filter electrically through my laptop speakers and Paul calls out to me like a voice from the past... Today was fairly uneventful, well to my standards anyway, I had to catch 7 different buses which was slightly crazy, I saw carpet lady again, not sure I mentioned her before but she's an Asian lady thats gets on to go to China town and has an odd habit of wearing tops that match her bag which looks suspiciously like she's made it out of spare carpet... or rustic curtains.
The first bus also broke down... twice, similar to what our old Laser would do, and mum would quickly try and start it as if nothing had happened.. it may have gone almost unnoticed in this case if it wasn't for the guy down the back that was clearly on drugs (evidence by the sores all over his body) and in a hurry to get somewhere (drug meeting?) "What the (&^%& your &*^$ kidding... I need to (*^&% be somewhere!" it was pretty funny.
They had some great flavours at 21 flavours as well... not 21 as the title claims but 2 were mint with choc chips, junior mints and actual mints mixed in as well as this cinnamon flavoured one with cookie dough and all sorts mixed in ^_^
After spending the rest of the day in Cha trying not to get stuck to the seat (it was so hot today I considered crawling into an air-conditioning vent and staying there forever!).
I realised at 5:30 that I should have got going ages ago then it was a race against time to catch 3 buses in less than an hour and half in order to catch the last 155 from burbank that would take me to the sketch meet... every stop over was agony! But I made it (woohoo) and had a great time with Edd, Matt and the rest of the gang... I may even have a couple of job opportunities from it... finally ^_^
Hope everyone is staying safe and avoiding public transport when they can, I'm of to see J.I.Joe tomorrow

Lel
xoxox

These are from today, I did an emotion for every letter of the alphabet, well almost every one, I got up to V.. Oh and I'll change U, I asked everyone at the meet what I should do (I'd already drawn underwear) and all at once they looked up and said, "uninspired" ... then someone said unmotivated... am I sensing a theme??

al

Is the baby still there??

2009-08-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

Things have been really great the last few days, just chilling out, saw Luce today down in West Hollywood which was excellent, we had a free day - that is got free drinks, $10 extra credit on my phone and when a button fell of the pants Luce wanted they were discounted an extra 20% (bargain!). There's also been lots of drawing - A shirt is in the works everyone, the theme is monsters ^_^ (go to DA for some sneak peeks), lots of sitting badly - I got a massage the other day, it sounded like a machine gun going of as she tentatively slid her thumbs across my shoulders, the sound of 1000's of knots scurrying away ^_^... and of course lots of eating, word to the wise: it takes 20 mintues or more to cook a rice pudding wrapped in thick leaf, DO NOT open just because its soft on the outside as you'll find hard uncooked rice in the middle... not tasty :(

And now a little short narrative I wrote on the bus while travelling to Little Tokyo:

I look out the murky dirt stained bus window at tired, dull streets rolling by. The slightest points of difference spark my attention... guy on a bike... washing on the balcony... the faces that greet me are mute, devoid of expression except an innate sense of exhaustion, a sign of silent battles with the heat rippling proudly though the air.
The bus twists and turns, chugging up and down uneven hills, bumping us around in a kind of spontaneous co-ordinated movement. A dance none of us learnt but seem to know the steps to. A baby grabs my hair from behind, cooing curiously, causing a smile that breaks my transfixed stare. I shift uncomfortably on the hard seat longing wistfully for this journey to end, or at least a pillow, I don't know how long I've been traveling or how far there is to go.
The terrain seems to be changing, people outside mingle about, pushing through the heat as they go about tasks of the day. I feel the close of my journey approaching and think longingly of my destination and what's to greet me when I arrive.
It's been another moment of my life in transition, in suspended displacement, on the painful yet necessary mode that is... public transport.

Signing out
^_^

P.s. thanks to Luce for the title idea, that little doozy had me cackling for ages ^_^
Oh and the image is for my display - I'm going to do some caricatures for people... for money...

Hey - you wanna ride?

2009-08-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hey blogspotters

I figured I should let you in on the spoils and adventures of yesterday, not to mention my harrowing 40 minute jog down glenoaks in sandals and suspenders at 1 am this morning (Dad don't read the last part)

I went to sleep the night before on a high, faced with a jam-packed day to follow I wanted a decent amount of sleep, however as is predictable I finally got to sleep at 2 so waking up late I realised with a jolt I only had 30 mins to grab a handful of nuts, run out the door to burbank and catch a bus to meet Alina.

Half way and sweating I got the call that Alina had finished her hair appointment and was ready to meet me, luckily she took pity on me and decided to pick me up from where I was (thanks Alina!). chatting away, the trip to Alhambra flew by and before I knew it we were settled in a tucked away booth at CHA eating stew and talking about crazy boss's how to accept people telling you your work sucks and basic industry do's and don'ts.

Full and happy we moseyed over to Nucleus gallery to drop of a painting of Alina's they were have on display as part of a "where the wild things are" exhibit. The gallery was really quirky, displaying a shop front and hiding a large opened floor that displayed around 3 to four artists. When we'd finished browsing art and books we headed over to the Valley - a large Asain shopping centre with a massive supermarket boasting live fish, squawking product sellers and lots of taste testing!

An hour later I was being dropped in Pasadena for some yogurt and to catch the 181 to meet David at the observatory. It was a long ride but I made it and joined him for the hike to the top of the mountain. We had a great time getting to know each other, looking at the view of LA, watching the sun go down and then heading in for an amazing trip through space in their dome that made it feel like you were flying!! Stumbling down the mountain after the show I listened as he told me about mountain lions (that are in the park) and other places I should visit, it was then my turn to do the talking at an Italian restaurant as he ripped into a late dinner where things took a philosophical turn as I was told to explain my views on meaning of life and why I think I'm here..

Faced with the prospect of walking home I was seen grabbing a taro slush At 12:30am from Bobaloca. As I slurped down the last dregs of my drink I started to freak myself out with sounds around me so took of running the rest of the way... warn out, red and sweating like crazy I made my way up Cabrini with thongs in hands then wiping myself down with a handtowel (not allowed showers after 11) I lay on my bed and fell straight to sleep!

Lesley's Law

2009-08-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever noticed that an incredibly good day is almost always followed by an incredibly bad one... or bad couple of days - I think its the universe's way of balancing out joy in the world... In any case I'm going to call it "Lesley's law".

With this in mind I had a bad case of Lesley's law the last day or so. Following my great drawing day that saw me floating home with sheer euphoria and sense of gay whimsy.... not that kind of gay people... It was all taken away upon the discovery that my sunglasses are now missing, YES its true, my last ray of hope (and vision) was taken away... and the worst thing... I have NO idea HOW!! I'm absolutely positive I put them on my dresser so in the night they have grown legs and ran away... its the only explanation I have... even Michaela is baffled, we sat on our beds for half an hour staring at each other in complete confusion...

Upset, frustrated and slightly headachy from not being able to focus properly I spent some time moping then went downstairs to make some lunch. To improve my mood I made myself a really nice chicken salad (marinated chicken I made the other night) and upon taking it into my room to watch tv... DISASTER struck... or should I say, Lesley's Law (actually now that I think about it maybe I shouldn't associate my name with something so depressing... ) struck and the salad flew out of my hand and landed ALL OVER my bed.. the floor and my computer!

Later I was seen looking for a firewire cable to back up my computer (as I'm petrified something will happen) and told by every electronic store that no one had any (one place didn't even know what a firewire cable was... how is it he got a job I haven't)... Not to mention my electronic book I bought is locked so I can't print it out and read it normally (its hard to read 60 pages on the computer)

But my law also works the other way - badness must be followed by goodness so after this I was able to print out my other e-book (all 214 pages of it) and got a discount, Had an amazing session with the guys at the sketch club that night, and after biting the bullet and finally getting my eyes tested for a prescription was given a free contact fitting (she felt sorry for me as an unemployed, insurance's person that was at the point close to tears). So with my contacts in I was able to buy myself some funky sunglasses ($5) and found a great deal on belts ($4 each!)

Hope your all well and having a good day.. just watch out for the bad one...
Lel

Always look on the bright side of life - do do di dooo di do di doooo

2009-08-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

So yesterday and today are shooting days with Michaela... or should I say WAITING, WAITING, pretending to talk to homeless people days.. I'm serious acting has to be one of the most boring jobs ever! its almost 90% waiting around, and then when you do have to act you repeat the same thing at least 8 times... I had to take soooo many bites of a jam and philly sandwhich yesterday it almost made me sick!

Looking on the bright side of things, I was shouted a nice lunch of chicken and veggie pot-stickers, got to make a few new friends and was then taking out to the movies after... so I guess the life of an actor isn't all bad - especially when your director is willing to give you a neck massage!

We saw "The Time Travelers wife" with Rachel McAddams and Eric Banner - not bad, ATTN: MUM! - do NOT see this film, unless you want to spend an hour trying to compose yourself after, we don't want another "Hours" episode ^_^ but it was pretty decent, nicely acted and considering I was dead tired, reasonably interesting story-line...

Now as I'm slightly lazy (and running late for the shooting today) I'm going to try a new way of writing these - sort of like a shopping list I guess, with little observations I made during the day... (clears throat) here goes:

- Daily Observations but Lesley (if you don't know who that is you may have stumbled on the wrong blog)

- Man holding baby turtles on the train
- Girl carrying a tree in a pot at the bus stop
- Women with a bag made out of curtains - that actually matched her shirt
- NEVER catch the bus if the bus driver isn't 100% positive were he stops - you could end up in woop woop! (as I did)
- The 96 bus does NOT go to Glendale... but it does go past the LA zoo ^_^
- Streets are named after places - this makes giving or asking for directions VERY confusing...
- The moon is red - the moon is RED like bright, shiny seriously freaky red as my glasses RED
- Army guys are nice - until they try and "take you home" - it is at this time that a seat near the bus driver is advised...
- Some bus drivers should not be driving - and others can make your day - "good morning precious!"

Oh and lastly if any one was worried or interested, no luck yet with my glasses... I think I have given up hope

Until next time
Keep reading ^_^

Lel

"Hey Sexy lady"

2009-08-16T22:29:00.001-07:00

Ok so no matter who says it or how - that comment is just creepy, especially coming from a 40 year old Mexican riding past you on the street...

After meatloaf for lunch (thanks again for the recipe Gpa) I spent most of the day at Burbank on the corner handing out fliers to families about my cartooning business... trying to do something similar to what I was doing for Danny - besides the occasional "No thanks" I got some good feedback, one lady even smiled encouragingly and told me I was doing a good thing.. yay me ^_^

Next stop was meeting with Alina for a little catch up then sitting in the cinema (still wearing sunnnies) to watch Ponyo. The movie was great - and in true Miyazaki style, kinda weird :) based on a crazy adaption of the original little mermaid it was the charming story of a little fish that becomes human for the love of a boy... not to mention the song at the end - really cute!

After that I sat in Bobaloca for a while drawing fish - well so would you if you'd been watching them for the last hour and a bit... then slurping out the last dregs of chai and waving goodbye I caught the bus home. Homemade chicken and veggie soup for dinner mmmm

Over and out

No glasses matching your description...

2009-08-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hey there blogeroos

I thought I'd add this little ditty as my memory slowly filters out information I'd forgotten - I remembered why I spoiled myself with a movie - I spent 6 hours on public transport on a journey to the lost and found depot to be told by a very disgruntled women she didn't have my glasses! You know what, I don't even think she looked properly... supposedly there's different boxes for different lines so my glasses could be in any box... bet she only looked in a couple - and to top it all of handed me a card at the end saying - call this number to see if they're there.. THAT information would have been more useful BEFORE I spent so long on crowded extended buses down here, I looked at her eyebrows furrowed and grunted something to that effect, but then of course felt guilty cos I guess its no her fault...

Oh and I included a better pick of my tattoo (which someone thought was real) Its a dragon (I've since been told its hard to tell.. thanks mum) Hope you all have fantastic Mornings, noons and nights

Lel

Oh yeah, and if any one is interested in seeing me in a movie, let me know and I'll send it to you ^_^

Get this party started ^_^

2009-08-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and family,

So its been a while between blogs... well a few days, and guess what... not much has happened, yep things have been pretty quiet, in fact I was contemplating whether or not to bore you with an entry tonight but I figured you'd hear about it if I was home so... may as well keep the babbling tradition alive ^_^

Yesterday was toped of by a trip to the movies, (among a few chores... actually not sure if I can call them chores if I create them for myself... seriously people I'm so desperate for a little purpose I've been creating imaginary jobs for myself...) But I fake rewarded myself anyway - with Julie and Julia... that movie with Merryl streep and Amy Adams, it was really nice, had some funny moments, and even made me tear up slightly... there was a bit about sisters and well... (miss you guys) And of course it boasted lots and lots of food!

Today was heaps of fun, I made my way down to Little Tokyo after a browse of Glendale markets (tasted the nicest roast capsicum sauce - "mums magic") and it was going of! there were balloons, jumping Castles (news flash, it just took me 5 minutes to figure out how to spell castle - stupidest word ever...) Kids, stalls and more. I started with a quick browse then straight into the museum for some craft. We were making Kokeshi dolls, which are Japanese dolls originally from Northern Japan- the museum was having an exhibition with over 200 different ones from the originals to pop art infused modern creations. Holding my doll proudly after being told it was the first one of the day to wear glasses, I got my face painted (hey as a fellow face painter I have to suss out the competition) had a browse of the exhibition, then spent the rest of the day drifting around the various smaller festivals sprawled throughout little Tokyo.

On the bus home I had a nice chat with a couple of guys I had sketched at the stop then it was home for master chef time where I made a minestrone soup, meatloaf and began marinating some honey soy lemon chicken... mmmm, the meatloaf just came out of the oven, I guess its time for a taste

Until next time ^_^

Mr blue sky

2009-08-13T00:08:00.000-07:00

Today I collected yet more crazy bus stories as I watched one driver yell at us all for having the windows down when he had the airconditioning on - and another lady yell at him to keep his eyes on the road. All this on the way to see China Town (on purpose..sort of) where I browsed crowded markets and navigated push cart trolleys all the while trying to find a bathroom.

A bus ride into Pasadena later, had me snacking on Blueberry muffin flavored yogurt (don't knock it till you try it), and then a four hour sit in cha for a major drawing session to which I welcomed an hour massage after. Its always a bad sign when a masseuse touches your back and says almost instantaneously - "Oh you so tense, your back very scary" but she powered through and did an awesome job - I was so relaxed in fact, I didn't even mind their was no door... although I do wish those people didn't have to walk by just when she had my pants down and was working out my butt...

Refreshed and happy I floated to the bus home, where I and my milk tea were lucky enough to be picked up by Tabitha for a ride the rest of the way, or more importantly up our mountain... I now sit/lie/shift around on my bed listening to Peter Combe's remembering whistfuly the old days and much less scary back times...

Until later
don't forget to stretch and tell me about what your up to

Lel

such great heights ^_^

2009-08-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

thinking of you today Ant...

xoxoxxox

Oh and saw a movie with Tabitha today, "born to be a star" it was really funny, I definitely recommend it ^_^

HELP! I can't SEEEE!!

2009-08-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Its true folks, I'm sitting here blind as a bat... ok not that bad, but I am sufficiently headachy, "why" you ask with concern... well... I lost my glasses... Don't get me wrong, the day started out fantastically, Rode my bike to the mall singing Miley Cyrus songs with the breeze in my hair and my rainbow ribbons whipping out like kite tails. I was allowed to keep the bike in the Sports chalet (safe and secure) not to mention all my busses arrived on time and within a few minutes of getting to the stop.

I may have missed my stop on the bus and ended up in Chinatown, but I got to have a look around (hear some manic chinese conversations) and then catch the train (a significantly nicer ride) to Pasadena. 21 choices had Oreo flavoured yogurt (very tasty) then at Cha I got to spend 3 hours drawing, eating chicken dumplings and drinking hot Taro tea.

Oh man, life was good... then whilst ridding back home, it all went wrong.. chugging up the enormous mountain, otherwise known as Cabrini dr I finally made it to the top where I was met by stairs... have you ever been half way through trying to do something crazy and start laughing - well that was me half way up. I made it to the top bruised, scratched, sweating, puffing and muttering curse words under my breath like a sailor in a bad storm! flicking the kick stand I opened the door, carefully pulled open the blinds...unlocked the sliding door... slowly inched open the screen door then after navigating my bike up over the threshold, through the living room and outside onto the patio, I wrapped it in tarp and made sure everything was locked and shut after me... this my friends is what I'll have to do EVERYTIME I use my bike!!

With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach I went to change my glasses around and... they were gone!! To further the badness I'm not supposed to go to the lost and found office for three working days... so I'm sunnies bound for three days... in a word... unfair!

In other news Yesterday was alright, I was supposed to meet Luce at little Tokyo but we missed each other and without phone credit (surprisingly not me) it was a no hope situation, but I did have a decent look around and had some really nice sushi, so it wasn't all bad...

Heres hoping things improve tomorrow...

Oh by the way, if you can ever get a hold of lemon almonds, DO - they are fantastic!! I picked some up at the markets yesterday morning ^_^

this is my new character - and a look at a little comic strip ^_^

I told you I'd be back!

2009-08-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

forgot to put this one in last night. Luckily for me yesterday was fairly uneventful... well excepting the fact I FINALLY WENT INSIDE DISNEY STUDIOS!!! Take THAT security guard that laughed at my determination! I said I'd be back and I was ^_^ well I got through the front door anyway.

I arrived at 12 after taking the long way there (got acquainted with Norbet) and lining up with the cars entering peddled casually to the booth announcing proudly that I was here to see Matt Robert's. She smiled kindly and passing me a visitors badge told me to park my bike and head in! It took me about 15 minutes to walk the short passageway as I gawked awkwardly at the art of Princess and the Frog on display.

Whilst waiting at reception, slyly getting to know Eric the security guard, I bumped into Wayne (one of the guys from comic-con) then turned to see Matt smiling and extended his hand for a shake. Slightly disappointed we headed out of the building to the abc next door, through the marbled hallway to the food court. Its was great having lunch with someone who is as like minded about animation, in a place surrounded by future colleagues (I hope :P) on the way out we even saw Glen Kean, but I kept my cool and tried not to geek out too much... that is until we were out of site.

Back in reception we parted ways and after a chat with Eric about his honeymoon in Sydney I got back on my bike and spent the rest of the afternoon getting supplies for my clothing business and little accessories for Norbet... (I'm now the proud owner of a little green bell ^_^). I arrived home later that day, distinctly more sweaty than when I left, and locked and covered Norbet before heading inside.

I had prawn stirfry for dinner, then drew until bed

Hope you guys had a great Saturday ^_^

Introducing NORBET!

2009-08-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys.

I love the PUBLIC METRO SYSTEM!! I know, coming from yesterday you'd have never believed it, but today seriously restored my faith, I had to catch 5 different buses and it went of without a hitch, they were on time, efficient and everytime I got of one the next was waiting for me... I don't know if its good karma or sheer luck, but whatever it is, I'm one very happy girl.

So why catch 5 buses, I can hear you saying with disbelief. No I wasn't leaving the country, it was purely my love of food ^_^ Having tasted only 6 of 21 Choices awesome yogurt flavours, my first stop was Pasadena to which I was helped along the way by a very nice Russian lady (they really get a bad rap) and an extremely helpful Bus driver. Once there I had a little look around then was waltzing in the sunshine with my vanilla and peppermint/white choc chip frozen yogurt. mmmmm, stopping briefly for a chat with a guy asking for donations (he wanted to know about my life... I think he was seriously bored... it sounds a lot creepier than it as) I made my way down to Alhambra to CHa for tea ^_^

It was there I got a great start on my book and belt ^_^ in fact I was on such a roll the only thing that broke my concentration was the message I got from the lady I'm buying a bike from. Looking at the time I knew I had to get going, so blowing my belt dry and praying my pants wouldn't fall down, it was two buses back to Glendale and asking about 20 people were Carlton dr was before I finally got to her house.

She was still building it when I got there, but I had a nice chat playing with her little one year old and her and her partner drove me home with my beautiful green bike in the back! I call him Norbet ^_^

Hope you like the pics!

... Isn't he beautiful ^_^

I love my.... air-conditioning

2009-08-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

So its the end of another day, another extremely Stinkin HOT day! seriously I'm considering driving round in my own personal ice-cream truck or just not going outside...ever!... But I did go outside today, wanting to make a jump start on my 3 o'clock meeting with Kyle, I grabbed a crush while at the mall then headed down to the seventh circle of hell bus stop to wait for 40 minutes in blistering heat for the bus I thought would never show!

Luckily it did, emerging out of the rippling heat and chugging to a halt on the scorched pavement. I arrived later at Universal and after a quick look around and a use of their restroom facilities I made my way to the Starbucks. I can't believe I actually found it, and with a Ralph's salad in hand (quick side note - they were having all this taste testing at Ralph's, it was awesome!) I met with Kyle for about and hour and half. We had a great chat about the industry and he even gave me his book "I love my scarf" ^_^

Later that afternoon I spent time in the mall, looking through the art section at Barnes and Noble, trying on cloths (yes you read right) and wasting time till it was cool enough for me to head back outside. Now I've finished enjoying my omlette and I'm watching the Disney channel - life is good ^_^

Hope everything is good with you guys!
Lel

http://kyleboyd.blogspot.com/ - KJyle's blog, you should check it out ^_^

Oh I'm also thinking of making my own book, "I hate bow-ties" - I'll keep you posted ^_^

21 flavours of sheeeer bliss ^_^

2009-08-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

Ok so its official I have the best friends in the world! - just throwing it out there ^_^

The day started late (again) as I lay sprawled in bed trying over and over again to get back to sleep. I gave up at 9:30 figuring 8 hours sleep was good enough and had some breaky looking forward to cracking open a new bag of dried mango (still can't believe its only 3 bucks!). The morning was spent online looking for more work and getting back to people about my future bike... lime green beach cruiser here I come woohoo! Then after some lunch sitting with Amber watching Scooby Doo - the new version - and looking adoringly at Bradly gurgling I made my way to the Mall for a refreshing drink and a look around.

It was crazy hot today, so I was extra happy to receive my Taro crush, but what made me even more delirious was the comment by the owner or boba loca "So your new here huh... don't worry I remember your application... I'm going to see what I can do" Yay for money and a stop to my ever decreasing savings account! (everyone cross your toes!)

At three I was back home making a star on the floor in an attempt to cool down and digest the 2 giant glasses of water I downed in 3 seconds, waiting for Jen to pick me up. It was awesome seeing her again! We spent the late afternoon browsing Old Pasadena and deciding on a place to eat. leading me down the exact alley where James had his studio she took me to a" cook your own food" Jap place which was extremely tasty (although it took us a couple of burnt chicken pieces to figure out the art of bbq). Then after shouting me dinner (seriously if your reading this Jen you are too nice!) we made our way to 21 flavours frozen yogurt, where they run things a little like cold rock and have flavours of yogurt that include Zinadoodle (cookie dough and cinnamon mixed in!) IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!

Groaning with sheer fulness we walked slowly back to the car and chatting about music and sites the whole way home. Then as if the night wasn't good enough Jen gave me a present, a pack of beautiful pencils and graphite's as well as cute scrap book of memories from Irvine!!!

I told you - I warned you - I have the BEST friends EVER!

Luv you Jen ^_^

Night everyone

Aloha!

2009-08-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

Agghhhh, yes lovely watchers and readers, that was the sigh of a very content girl after a very lazy day.

I woke up late, but to be fair I went to bed at about 2:30 (sorry Dad) so I felt I deserved the sleep in. After the usual for breaky and kinda wishing I'd had a shower the night before (it was avoided not by choice) I resolved to go for a swim that afternoon then tucked my laptop under arm and headed downtown for my 12:30 meeting with Jeremy.

By the time I arrived at the mall I was sweating pretty bad, cursing the clouded sky for deluding me into thinking it may be cooler jumper weather... it wasn't, but as I had committed to the jumper there was no turning back and I grabbed a large icy drink to cool me down. At 12:30 I was waiting patiently at the Island cafe, looking at the menu and hoping I'd recognise Jeremy when he walked in.

He found me, and after going over formalities - Hi, how are you, having a nice day? we got onto the good stuff, and spent the next hour and a bit eating, laughing, going over my work, talking about a planned attack for the industry and his journey to story-boarding at Nick. All to soon it was time to say goodbye and grabbing a some yogurt as well as couple of books from the movie shop (A massive Norman Rockwell collection and a calvin and Hobbs showcase) I called Tabitha to see if she could pick me up and waited in a sushi restaurant until she arrived.

Well, talk about not judging a book by its cover! the outside was disheveled with a large 50% of sushi sign blocking the sidewalk, but, tentatively walking inside I was met by a fresh decor, friendly staff and the BEST egg sushi I've ever eaten, in fact when I ordered my second round the guy gave me extra!

Later, driving in the car with Tabitha we stopped by Traders for some groceries then we were home bound so I could put away the groceries and chill... so much for going swimming ;p

Over and out

Just don't get my bad side

2009-08-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys

So today I was ready for my close up, and after waiting all morning for Michaela to pick me up (as sad as it sounds the highlight was my salad topped with the dressing I bought from Cha ^_^) come 1:30 Michaela was at my door puffing and ready to take me to the shoot.

It started slow, so slow in fact that I fell asleep on the couch, and was woken only to the smell of pizza permeating thorough the flat. When they had finished woofing down their lunch it was time to get started. They were shooting with an extremely old clunky camera (black and white with no sound and made a loud clicky noise when it began rolling) but after measuring the light, distance and double checking the story boards it was "ready actress" "Ready camera" "Marker, rolling, speed, ACTION".

All up I had 24 shots, 8 dress changes, a nap in my trailer (also known as Undres car - which had that lovely new car smell) until we FINALLY wrapped at 9:30 (so much for only going 4 hours). I say the thing I can take away from this is I am VERY good at talking to myself (I had to pretend in every shot that my boyfriend was with me and we were talking).

After the wrap, we grabbed yogurt and Taro tea to celebrate (I was shouted the yogurt for doing Michaela the favour) then it was straight home to bed... ok maybe not straight away ^_^

There's no more peanut butter

2009-08-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks

Not much to report today, I spent all morning uploading a MASSIVE amount of pics on my DA page... I think about 12 in total, and once my butt was official numb I left (with my new sun-cream on) and headed to the movies to use my free ticket on "500 Days of Summer". The movie was excellent, really funny and definitely not your typical love story (I stayed through to the very end of the credits Ant, keeping the tradition alive). After I grabbed some yogurt pretzels and licorish for the bus ride home and now I'm sitting on my bed, watching Ace Ventura (and now the Incredible's) going through all the outfits I'll have to wear tomorrow for Michaela's shoot (she wants me to be in her film.. I have to walk around talking to an imaginary person the whole time...should be an interesting day ^_^)

Heres one of the pics on my page, but you should check it out if you
want to see more

http://lelpel.deviantart.com/

Oh I almost forgot, I went into the Sushi place today and got egg... 5 bucks for frozen egg... such a disappointment :(

I'm watching you...

2009-08-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

OK FOLKS,

its late, I;m tired but I figured I should put this up before I forget the cool things that happened today... well ok ONE cool thing, but I thought it was worth a mention ^_^ I started the day early, which was a surprise as I think I made it to bed at about 2 this morning. I got up non the less and after having something to eat settled down on my bed for some internet catch up and an attempt to fill out all the applications I picked up job hunting yesterday (this took FOREVER!) - Oh my god - it must have been the most repetitive thing I've ever done, I wrote about my history more times this morning than I've done in my whole life!

At around 2:30, Tabitha and i headed to Disney studios for the free movie they were showing (I was handed tickets the other day) however when we arrived we were told it was full and were instead given a movie ticket each to see any one we wanted! (A better deal I think) After one of the guys followed us back to the car to take the ticket I'd left on the front seat, we piled back in and headed down to Irvine. The drive took ages with all the traffic, but gave Tabitha and I a chance to get to know each other.

She dropped my of at the Uni centre, and after grabbing some yoghurt (they have Yogurt land there now!!) and checking to see if Will was working (Alakazam comics - he wasn't and Toru quite :( - I wondered around for a bit then went to the web to see if any one was around. Unfortunately everyone has picked this weekend to bugger of, so disappointed (but with plenty of lunch invites for when I get back to burbank) I went to Cha (YAY) for my fave beef stew and a Taro - holly crap I forgot how good it was!!

I sat there for about four hours, eating, sipping and drawing (I think I filled about 10 pages in my sketch book). This is were the cool thing happened (sorry to leave it till last) I was just chilling out drawing the people I saw walking in when I guy noticed and asked if he could take a picture of the one of him, of course I agreed and then later handed him a sticked with my DA address saying I'd have it coloured online soon if he wants to download it. Once I left they looked at the card and his girlfriend started laughing, I looked over, worried I'd been too forward, then she smiled at me and said -

"I watch you!"
Me: "sorry?"
"Oh yeah, that sounds a little creepy, I mean on Deviant art... I watch you"
Me: "No way! wow, thanks (wow do I live in a scarily small world)"

How cool is that!! I actually met someone who watches me, in Cha of all places, and to think I may have never known ^_^
Oh and some girls liked my stuff too and grabbed my facebook details so Yay for making friends in random places! If they are reading this, thanks for being so nice guys, it really made my day ^_^

Signing out
Lesley

Wait to you see the ton of stuff I'm going to add to my DA page tomorrow ^_^
heres a taste...

Sketch a holic ^_^

2009-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

I'll keep this short... which makes sense as not a lot happened yesterday... although I do have a GIANT blister on my foot from walking around for so long... I spent the morning drawing, trying to get back into the swing so I wouldn't be too rusty at the sketch meeting that night (worried about drawing a dodgy pic in some one's sketch book).

Then after some lunch I headed out to the mall to hand out some resume's. At most places it was the same deal "sorry we're not hiring right now" but a couple of people sounded positive so fingers crossed I can get some work with them, there was a few others that said I needed to apply online but unfortunately you need windows to run the program, so there goes that idea (although I'm thinking there might be a library around here that I can use...) oh wow, I just got a call from the CIEE people asking if I had a job yet (way to rub it in people)

with sore feet and a worn out smile I decided to head home - I did quickly stop into this t-shirt printing place, its a little too expensive for one off printing (waaay more than the first place i went to) which means I'll have to find somewhere else I think. Once at home I had some dinner and waited for Alina to pick me up for the sketch meeting.

It was soooo much fun! I was a little nervous at first as everyone was really good! but after a few sketches I really started to relax, and by the end I didn't want to leave, I was also given a ton of pics to take home, everyones variation of me ^_^ I thought I'd show them here...

Oh and if your looking for photos from my trip - head to my facebook page, they're all up (with comments)

These are some of mine (I finished drawing everyone so I started doing some for myself)

These were some of the ones given to me ^_^

Oh dear its DEAR! (wow I think my titles are getting lamer and lamer)

2009-07-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Bloggers, bloggets and wee little blogeroos

Today was a little more relaxed, but some how a lot more painful...I woke mid morning to the sound of gentle typing and bery stiff legs and back (I think the shoulder bag is making me lopsided) then mumbling a good morning to Michaela, I stumbled downstairs for toast and yogurt then plonked myself on the bed determined to sought out the stack of cards I had collected over the course of Comic con.

It took me almost 5 hours to do (minus some time for a lunch break) but I made it! woohoo, I even got a couple of replies in that time, which was really encouraging! unfortunately none live in Burbank so they were mostly messages of "keep going" "need any help don't hesitate to message" and that kinda thing. So feeling saintly I decided to head out around three thirty for a walk down to the mall. As I walked down my street I was stopped by crossing dear (no joke there was 5 of them and a little baby!) just wondering around our neighborhood, then once I made it to the shops picked up a Taro tea and did some hard core browsing.

I found a nice white belt that I was going to draw on but unfortunately its too small (never occurred to me that belts come in different sizes) plus its non-refundable as it was a closing down sale.. aggh well, I'll grab another one tomorrow. Also whilst in Pink Berry a girl commented on my shirt!
"Hey can I see you shirt"
"Sure"
"Wow thats soo cute!!"
"Really? thanks...actually I made it..well I mean its my design"
"Shutup!! for real??"
"Yeah" (smile)
"Do have like a website or something with more stuff on it?"
Then a couple of the other girls she worked with wanted to have a look, so yeah I'm now seriously considering making some t-shirts up to sell!..... Any one interested?

After yet more browsing watching the sun slowly sink behind the mountains and finding this killer bookstore that looks like it could break records with how many books the guy managed to fit in ... "excuse me where is the comis book section"...man:"see that pile on the floor...yep thats it" ^_^ I decided to catch the bus home, stopping along the way to pick up a magazine and double check I had coinage (you always need exact change).

Hungry and thirsty I had dinner when I got home. Later as I walked past the other girls room and saw their decorations I decided our room needed a little touching up, so grabbing Brad, together we put up a few posters, it looks so much better - Brad:"Thats better, now its more you" ^_^ You said it mate! I also got to chat with Luce and Uncle Steve on Skype which was nice, as well as answer a few more replies from the letters I sent out to people :)

Matt got back to me - so hopefully I'll be able to spend a little time at Disney this week
and tomorrow Alina is picking me up for a late night sketch session at a local cafe with a group of artists which should be really fun!

Well my friends
thats all for now

Lel

Flick to Flickr my friends ^_^

2009-07-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys - if your hanging out for photos of the con

I met a girl in one of the panels taking photos and asked if she
was going to put them up - they're much nicer than mine and it
will give you a taste while I'm getting of my bum and putting my
own up ^_^

http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkista/sets/72157621788175758/

But I would walk 500 miles · And I would walk 500 more · Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles

2009-07-29T10:18:00.001-07:00

Ok folks... here it is, another day in the life of me.. well you wanted it, I mean thats why your here right? unless you just stumbled across this page accidentally, in which case I apologise for wasting your time so far, and suggest you move on to the site you intended to get to in the first place ^_^

For those that for some reason are here on purpose heres what happened... I got up late to discover a person lying next to me... no not in my bed, in the one next to me... after stumbling down stairs for some breaky (had porridge opposite Brads mum) then internet browsing for a while, my new roomie started to Stir. Turns out her name is Micheala, she's from Indonesia and is very nice! we had a little chat rugged up in our pink silk doonas about room rules, our general sleep patterns and why we are here. She's 23 and is studying film at the university next to universal studios (she even gets to shoot on the back-lot).

Once I'd finished doing a few net tasks I got dressed and politely declining a lift, slip, slop, slapped for a trip to the shops. Well, what a trip it was, as I walked glenoaks looking for local shops (emergency food) and any places job worthy (community centre that has day camps and children's workshops) I FINALLY made it to the downtown shopping centre were I proceeded to browse, slurp down a giant taro slushy with pearls then settle at mongolian for lunch.

After a good look at all the shops on offer I set out for Disney.. another hour or more later I finally made it, same deal the guards stopped me from going far, but I was in there longer than last time (muahahaha) I didn't bother hanging around and instead of mopping headed straight up olive to Nickelodeon (stopped by social security office to freshen up and get water) where I got inside! the security guard at the gate was this really nice old guy that took my inside to the security office. I didn't manage to talk to anyone important, however I did get some great info about the internship from one of the guards who's doing it as we speak, as well as a look around the studio and a some more water ^_^

Tired and sore from all the walking I headed to Pink Berry for a pick me up as well as picked up an application (yay for free yogurt and money if I get to work there teeheee). Whilst waiting for Brad to pick me up and take me food shopping I got them some little chocolates as a thank you then it was of to Trader Joes for some groceries and a chat with brad about more house rules and how to get around.

That night I had to decline an invite to dinner by Brad as Tanitha (my next room neighbour) offered to take me to a comedy show at 11. We ended up at the Shabu Shabu place above the Chinese Man for dinner, and after eating ourselves stupid rolled to the show for a laugh and then it was back home to bed.

The day after...

2009-07-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone

So this will definitely definitely be a pretty short one (I can hear the halelua chorus) - don't blush..I know your all busy people ^_^

I got to sleep in for a start Woohoo... when till you ask.. ok 8:30 but to my defense I am still slightly on Sydney time. Any way I rolled myself out of bed at 9ish (tough to do on the top bunk) and after having a miner freak out that I couldn't find my key (and was busting to go to the toilet) finally found it and made my way to the bathroom and then breaky.

The morning was spent online, and wondering around the mall eating, browsing and wasting time. After a trip round the block I was bored and decided to collect my things and head to the station. I made the mistake of thinking I could walk as thats how I'd got to the hostel but forgetting i now had two extra bags by the time I got there I was dying! teehee

Whilst waiting I chatted to a fellow Con attendee then when on the train, stretched out and slept most of the way. Brad picked my up from North Hollywood station and when I arrived I was shown around the house and introduced to the new addition (Amber had the baby while I was away - a little boy called Bradley who is very cute... and SOO tiny ^_^)

I unpacked my things, had a proper shower.. with proper soap! and then curled up in my OWN bed and fell asleep in about two seconds....agghh for the small pleasures in life.

Over and out
lel

Oh I've decided to put photos on my facebook, as it takes too long here...

I'm pee'd out!

2009-07-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

I woke at 6:30 (no luck with the sleep in) and knowing I was meeting Pascal and Alina at 8 I burried my head in the pillow a little longer, but as the noise on the street picked up and the sheets began sticking to my skin with the rise in humidity I rolled out of bed for a handful of nuts, wash of my face and a slow trip down to the Marriot.

Calling Pascal to let him know I'd arrived and seeing Alina we made our way to the breakfast buffet. I was so excited, the first proper breaky since I've been here... the smell of eggs and bacon were wafting from the sparking silver dishes with an array of fruit (mango included!) sat calling my forth beside it.. We saw Pascal and just as I was about to mention minding the table while I gorged myself he said "So starbucks? bagel and coffee? the Breakfast here is pretty expensive" I could have cried! But I settled for some yogurt and an entire packet of fruit and nuts resolving today I would get a pretzel as soon as I was inside!

I waited with Alina at the professionals entrance till 9:30, snuck my way in with the jostling crowd and stayed on the floor for a while to show Alina a few things, then saying goodbye, promising her I'd make her an omelet when I saw her next and dumping my stuff I headed to the PR booths for an interview with Cartoon network. I met Tom again looking worse for wear and waited till 10 to go in. It went well, "you have the stuff, you just need to package it" then once I mentioned I'd be here for a year she looked shocked and said "Oh really? oh in that case, heres my card, call me when your in burbank and we'll have coffee" ^_^

Thanking her I ran to my first panel (how to draw monsters) - not too bad, got some helpful tips, then I ran over to the other side of the convention to my next panel were I learnt about cartoon voice overs (funny stuff) There was this old guy on the panel that started laughing at one stage at one of the jokes by another panelist - it was one of those laughs that gets everyone going, so soon we were all rolling around in stitches! :D

It was around 2, so wanting to get the most out of my final hours at CC I spent the next few hours on the floor spending up a storm saying goodbye to all my idols and introducing myself to a few more (I met the Johanne who does Horace - and CHRIS SANDERS!)
As a voice crackled over the loud speaker telling everyone CC was now over I stayed back to help all the guys pack up and move all the boxes down to the car "wow Les your a friggin trooper.." :) After the free books and prints its the least I could do!

After an hour of sorting. packing, loading, puffing, sweating and laughing hysterically when the wheels on our dolly went flat and started to fall of (plus there was an awesome walkway covered in sticky-tape that popped when you stepped on it....its the small things) we said good bye to a few people then Martin, Mike, Pascal, Vin and I went to Joe's Clam Shack for a well earned meal!

We had a blast there till 11, talking about artists, the Con, our plans and teasing MArtin for his horrible choice in cocktails (ordered for everyone... Mike's was the funniest - shark attack - the guy that served it put it on the table then suddenly started screaming about a shark attack as he whipped a little plastic shark out and poured some red liquid it had in its throat into the drink)
It was a night of dancing waitresses, good meals and excellent company but all too soon it was time to go, and exchanging cards and hugs we said goodbye and I was dropped at my hostel promised of a place to stay and maybe even a job when I come to san fran ^_^

I grabbed yogurt after chatting to the guys that were up (guy in yogotango gave me an extra large serving for the price of a small (so nice)) then talking about my plans and being told to sign my work for when I become famous (seriously nice guy from texas). I tried writing in my blog (fell asleep between dot points) then headed to bed!

AND that my faithful bloggers and blogeroos was COMIC-CON 2009!

until tomorrow
lel

P.S> don't worry I'm sure the entries will be a lot shorter from now on ^_^

PP.S for those that are cocktail drinkers... you should try poprocks in your drink - Martin had one and it was the funniest thing ever ^_^

PPP.S The title of the blog is referring to how much Pee in the wind merchandise I have... not how much I've urinated in the last few days... just thought I'd clarify...

They like me, they really like me!

2009-07-26T07:17:00.001-07:00

(before you start this I advise grabbing some sustenance as its a long one)

Ok firstly I'd like to acknowledge that so much seems to be happening in a day this weekend that I seem to be leaving things out, for example yesterday I forgot to mention that I met one of the guys who founded animation mentor and was told to email him if I ever wanted to join up.

That said, I'll now try my best to include everything (well the important stuff any way... I won't be telling you about my toilet breaks and such) then again it is 1am so technically its yesterday and it already seems to be fading into the blur that is comic con 09.

It began the usual way, finding myself in the exhibit hall line at 7 I decided instead to sign up for interviews as Nicolodeon was on its last day. I waited for 2 and half hours and chatting to a couple of guys that were at the Eisner awards, in fact their friend had won for Tiny Titans (they been Kazu's Amulet for best childrens publication) so they'd been celebrating till four (and I was complaing about going to bed at 12:30..).

The line expanded quickly and before we knew it we were being yelled at to disapate "People NO LINING there can be NO LINE! you can pace the floor or sit down BUt DON'T stand there!" The poor guy got so sick of everyone ignoring him that he created a line on the other side of the chairs, when we asked him if it was just a scam to make them follow orders he smiled and said "Hey they're the ones that wanted a line"... classic

After getting my name on Nic, Disney's and Stone Archs lists I dropped a few things of with Pascal and headed back upstairs to.. you guessed it... wait some more! My Nicoldeon interview went great! They really loved my stuff and said I need to apply for the internship as it would be prefect for me and I'd probably be hired through that, they also said to mention then when I sent my stuff in as they didn't want me "falling between the cracks"

Buzzing from their enthusiasm and the kindness of my new friend Chris (really nice guy that lives with his wife in the red woods near San Fran) I went to tell Pascal and the others the good news, then grabbed my lunch and went back to sit out the others, unfortunately I missed out on the James Jean Pannel while there in the freezing cold as well as not making it to Disney (got to 25 - I was 34) But I did make it to Stone Arch to apply for illustrating their childrens novels, they said I was a great artist but they want me to send them some progressions - pictures that tell a story.

Before leaving for my first "how to" panel I signed up with Impact publishing (how to books) then made my way to room 18... Finding it not what I expected I snuck back out (not very conspicuously I might add as there was only 5 people in the room) to the costume designers panel happening upstairs. It went later than I intended so rushing back PR I arrived as they were calling my name.

The Lady really liked my stuff and was relieved that I had actual experience teaching (I think I was the only one of the day) So gave me all the details and said to pitch the company with an idea for my how to book... I'm thinking of modeling it of the class's I teach at Cranbrook. The good news kept coming as I took up a spot in the line to chat with the ladies from the Costume design panel. My accent caught the attention of a young girl and her mum and we started discussing art and why I was here, it turned out they loved my t-shirt and was wondering if I soled them! (I told them to keep a look out on my blog cos its coming soon ^_^)

After a "what is animation" panel (looked at different forms) and a weird goodbye to a guy I met inside (we were laughing about what we saw on screen and had a little chat outside) I went to shake his hand and he went in for a hug then it was like a "do I don't I" on both parts for a few seconds until I finally grabbed his hand, shook it and nodded as he gave me a card to keep in touch... Who hugs someone after a 30 second conversation?... very strange

I stopped by to say hello to the actress that plays the large nun in Sister act (not as nice and happy in person...shame) then chilled out with Pascal and Michael for a while, I also met Alina who is really nice! (she sends me her blog updates)

After a few more meet and greets with industry guys we packed up ("you have to leave now the doors are shutting") and about 20 of us headed to dinner and a sketch crawl at a gelato place nearby. I even got to have a good convo about sushi with Cheeks (one of my idols) as he and his wife are coming down to Oz for their honeymoon (I was reguiling them about the joys of sushi trains). Getting tired and contemplating the walk home it was group hug time with the people that I won't see for a while and a long trip back (got lost... twice... Alex I really do have no sense of direction!)

Bedtime!!
yours faithfully
lel
xoxox

make it count!

2009-07-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys

Well it was another fun filled, always entertaining (unless your lining up in the sun and there's no one to talk to)CRAZY, surreal, long ass day at the con. But I survived (yay me!) just...

I write to you tonight from the Eisner awards (the oscars for comics) listening to the gentle hum of people mingling and the croozy sound of jazz traveling over head. Squashed in between two reasonably large people (happy for the warmth) I'll try not only to keep this brief but also hopefully make sense as after only getting about four hours sleep last night my brain is not functioning at the higher level... or any level in fact.

This morning I got up at five (dam you internal alarm) and quickly having breaky and grabbing the stuff I'd prepared earlier that night I headed down to join the line. I got to chat with a really nice girl whilst waiting to get into the convention centre, and a really nice man (george) whilst waiting to get into the Exhibit hall.

Once in I was on a mission to find Joe Moshier for Tony and tell him TBOZ says hi(mission success) He happened to be at Chris's Pea booth (Joe is actually the founder) and after a good chat about Tony and showing him my work, I got to meet his friend from Disney who said she'll give my stuff to someone who matter!!!!!! ^_^ (fingers and toes crossed for that one folks)

(HEy ant Remy's on stage presenting an award ^_^)
(oooh Coraline just won best comic for teens and tweens... OH MY GOD NEIL'S ON STAGE)!!

Ok I'm back ^_^ So giggling with girlish excitement all the way to my next line I chatted to a girl named Mindy while we tried to get our names on the list for Nicolodeon's Portfolio review. The good news is I got on... the bad news, I missed out on the line for the Coraline and didn't make it in :( So it was straight down to Hall H for a three and a half hour wait in the sun chatting with a group around my age about the legends of Disney, Australia, and a bunch of other things. In fact we've all decided to go to the Disney Festival together later in the year which should be really fun ^_^

FINALLY getting into the panel for Disney (Lasseter, Clements, Musker, Miozaki and a bunch of others) I was faced with the choice to either stay or leave for my interview... Safe to say once John had recieved his standing ovation, my 3D glasses were on and the starting bars of Toy story 2 bellowed through the sub boofers into my chest my decision was made for me and I was dazzled for the next few hours whilst my idols ecplained the work going on in their respective studios over the next few years or so!

I was next found running up to Ballroom 20 to get into ANOTHER long long LOOOOONG line to try and see Bones, then Dollhouse presented by JOss whedon and Eliza Dusku. This time I befriended some weirder folk (but entertaining all the same) and knowing we had missed bones (line was too long) we high fived (yes James literally.. its cool here!) as was made it through to see Joss.

I even asked a question in that one, "Hey joss, thanks for hiring an Australian actress and letting her keep her accent, that said, how come Doll house isn't showing in Australia... only on Pay tv??
Bottom line (after being explained by the Australian actress what that meant) he's gonna send a memo ("you live in an awful country" lol)

Ok the guys that wrote Night at the museum were just on and they were HYSTERICAL!

Next up I headed back on the floor to chat with Michael and Pascal for an hour (and getting given a card by one of the guys that heads animation mentor saying if I ever want to join he'll make sure it happens!) I declined a dinner invite with the whole gang and made my way (with yogurt in hand) to the Eisner awards (and l'm glad I did - so thanks for making me go MIchael ^_^)

I can't wait for tomorrow!
over and out
Lel

Buttons buttons who's got the buttons??

2009-07-23T21:13:00.001-07:00

Hey guys

Right now I'm sitting in a hall of 500 die hard "Dr Horrible's sing along blog" fans singing along to the screen, shouting out call backs and waving their hands in the air. ITS AWESOME! If you haven't heard of it I suggest checking it out, its extremely funny and directed by Joss Whedon ^_^

Today was crazy!! I got up around 6, snuck out of the room with everything I had prepared last night, checked out, had breaky and after grabing a pre-made salad from Ralphs took up my spot in the line to get into the hall ^_^

My first panel was ASTRO BOY with KRISTEN BELL!! she wasn't doing autographs but it was cool just to be up close, not to mention there was some excellent insights into the film and I got to see Freddy Highmore all grown up! I left after trying to battle my way to the front of the crowd to get Kristen's autograph (or even just touch her hand lol) and saying so long and see you again to Elliot (my friend from the line up) I had some time to get to my next panel with Scott McCloud (Dad he's the one that wrote understanding comics ^_^)

He was interviewing a really talented comic artist and was really funny (note to self... come up with a new word for "really"). Having eaten lunch in the line (salad with my bare hands because I was too tired to remember cutlery) and already been told that the portfolio review session for Lucusfilm was full, I had some time to kill in the exhibit hall. I had a quick look around and gave Pascal my computer to mind as it was now cutting deeply into my shoulder, then headed back upstairs to my next panel.

Trying and failing to sign up for the Disney Ink portfolio review session! My tears (metaphorical) were turned to joy when I saw ERIC GOLDBERG!!!! standing outside the door to the "20 years of Disney Master classes" and had a chat, got his autograph and a little picture of the jeanie (one of the things he animated) as well as gave him my CD to look at ^_^ (fingers crossed everyone)

The panel was SOOOOOO excellent I think I peed a little at one stage I was so excited! After it was more autographs including..... (trying to accumulate some suspense)....................... GLEN KEAN!!! (excuse me while I scream like a small 13 year old Twilight fan seeing Robert Pattterson in the flesh) AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH ^_^ I gave him my CD too... ~sigh~ so good

It was then a few more hours in the Exhibit hall to wonder artist alley, get more feedback on my work and a shit load of buttons!

After hanging with Pascal and his friends for a while (and taking a break in their booth) I grabbed my stuff, said goodbye for now and headed to the panel I'm in now...

Then It'll be straight back to the hostel, check back in and go to bed.... ready for tomorrow
Until then my friends

Your very dry mouthed lel ^_^
(there's so much to look at I realised I haven't actually closed my mouth in around three hours!)

Get out of my way Darth Vadar!!

2009-07-22T23:17:00.001-07:00

This will be another short one as I kinda have to recuperate (then again I said that last time and it was still pretty long...)

HOLLY CAMOLY Comic-Con Is !@(*!@#^( BRILLIANT.. phew! This morning I picked my shirts up from Mission Valley and talked to some more people about phone deals... looks like I'm gonna have to settle for pre-paid. Then taking all my things back on the tram to the hostel I grabbed some yogurt and headed to the dorm to finish my CD packages for tomorrow.

While getting girly sticking sparkly stars and swirls to the covers and delicately slipping my cards in the sleeves I chatted with a German guy about girls and craft, then packing suncream, lunch, water and boredom busters I walked down to the convention to line up. It wasn't long before I had my badge and first array of FREE stuff that I was lining up ready to get into the exhibit hall. Whilst in the line (that grew increasingly longer and longer and longer) I chatted with three veterans about the best way to approach the Con, laughed at the Twilight people camping outside Hall H for the panel in the morning and then thanking them for the pleasure of lining up with them and knowing wistfully I wouldn't see them again was bustled down the escalator to the Hall....

Well what followed next was a total blur I do know that I began by delicately picking my way through the booths and by the end was pushing people out of the way with my bag trying to get through the MASS ^_^ I do remember though that I met Sean Galloway, Bobby (taught my in the painting course) a whole bunch of people I admire AND PASCAL!!!!! finally!! AND he gave me two of his books for free!

I also saw Chris who I first met when he was workign for James Baxter, back then he was coming up with a little concept called "pea in the wind" Now its a full blown franchise with heaps of fans, I couldn't believe he also recognised me ^_^ So that little pea necklace I have on is from his booth ^_^

But yeah Loads and LOADS to see and it was only the preview night... I ended up with around 10 books, a few cards, pics and
a few bruises ^_^ But it was good fun, I also FOUND MY GLASSES woohoo!! (I had to wear sunglasses all day because I thought I lost them... oh and when I found them I also go offered to buy a lock (which was great as I forgot to get one when I went to the shops to search for my glasses)) its fun how your luck just changes ^_^

Now I'm in my dorm bitching about Americanism's we can't stand, funny accidents, and the joys of comic-con

Until tomorrow
Lel
xoxoxxo

How much is that doggy in the window?

2009-07-22T00:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie today as its past midnight and I've just spent 3 hours figuring out how to approach Comicon! I have my itinerary all sorted I think... just a few more things I have to go through... ok ALOT more things, but it'll have to be tomorrow as I think my brain just melted and dribbled out my ears!!

But today was fun, I took a couple of trams to Mission Valley to try and track down a t-shirt printing place, Found one! ^_^ and after many trips back and forth between him and target I now have 3 shirts on order (I pick them up tomorrow.. sooo excited)

I also found a place that made taro tea with pearls which was nice a refreshing and after a good browse around of the shops and an in-depth conversation with the phone people at AT&T and the guy at the pet store (got to hold a little puppy for ages) I left for dinner at Ralphs and printing some things for Comicon.

In fact I got this great deal $41 for 40 colour prints on 250 gsm paper (all my uni friends will know thats great) but the guy did it for me half price as he's quitting tomorrow (yay for me). There's a few new people in my room too, I think I'm the only girl now. But one of the guys is here for comicon too from Mexico and we had a great chat about how we were going to approach it ^_^

Well I think thats about all, spoke to heaps of people today which was nice, sometimes you forget you haven't really talked when your traveling by yourself...

By for now
Lel

PS Lil - you should ask Dad and Yvette for a teacup poodle, they're hypo-alergenic, don't yap, super tiny, waaaay cute, and ok by themselves... I got to hold this little one for ages while I talked to the guy in pet shop about owning a dog and your situation - good luck ^_^

Getting Zany at the Zoo

2009-07-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

Ok so this one will be more of a "show" than a "tell"

But in brief, I woke up early this morning after a rotten night (tried reading at 2am to get to sleep) and giving up going back to bed in our sweatbox room (seriously you press your hand on the 4 inch thick door and you can feel the heat billowing out) I trundled downstairs to the kitchen, slurped down some porridge or "oatmeal" and after a little chat about day plans with the german opposite I headed into the mall to get a camera case (fluro lime green ^_^)

By 10:30 it was time for some yohurt, a chat with the manager about staying longer in the hostel and a LONG, Steep walk up to the Zoo. After 5 hours of feeling sorry for animals cooped up in cages, bustling along with crowds of sweaty, panting tourists and trying to work our the Zoo's stupid map I called it quits and headed back to the hostel.

It was tuna and egg Salad for dinner, then checking my emails and washing my face I headed out to make my way back to the park. I decided to take the bus and got extremely lost trying to find the amphitheater, (found a bongo player along the way) But once there it was worth it. Mum you would have loved it, a 100 piece organ and a man that knew his stuff... and was quite funny ^_^

Getting dark and cold I nestled my tea in hand and watched dazzled as the lights tinkled around the organ and its sound filled every inch of the square. deciding it was getting too late I said goodbye to my new friend goseph (lived in Australia for a year) and accompanied by a women walking her two mean looking dogs walked to the station to get the bus back home.

now enjoy some pics

(I didn't put them all up.. there was a really funny one of this Zebra with a MASSIVE you know what that kept going out and in much to the kids delight "Daddy what's that?" ..teehee)

cachick

2009-07-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Just a little note, do people want me to put photos here, or put them on an actual photo album site (like I had last time)
leave a message here or email me....
Thanks

"Just watching the makeout fest over there"

2009-07-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I promised I wouldn't update this everyday but so much happened today I think it only right I tell you... or if anything have it as a reference for myself later.

At the moment I'm lying on the floor of the internet room looking intently at the feet of my friend from whales (I thought he was an ozzie, thats how easy it is to make friends!) thinking over the days events and trying to stomach left over meatloaf that really isn't as good warmed up the second time.

The day started late, well as late as it could of with the guy crooning african jaz loudly outside our window... walking over to the window I mumbled how great it was to wake up to and the girls laughed saying he stood there every morning "oh...joy..." Deciding against the free pancakes I made my way to Ralphs to buy oatmeal and jam then after eating quickly I slapped on my suncream and headed to the mall.

Yoghurt and a good browse of the shops was on the agenda and then deciding to head inside as the sun began to cook my skin I nestled into the airconditioned cinema to watch UP!! to quote Chris Farley "OH MY FREECKEN GOWD!!" what an EXCELLENT movie, I think I may go as far to say better than Wall-E sorry Ant, its been nocked down a notch... If possible I think this one had some even sadder scenes! the whole experience was topped of when I saw the add for Princess and Frog... I was basically in disney/pixar heavon (I wonder if such a place exists)

Then I went on a mission to explore the convention center, convienently only down the street to the waters edge, it stretches into the distance like the nile with its end blurred slightly by the rippling heat and palm trees tossing lightly in the breeze. Now when I say mission it really was, I snuck around inside after being told I wasn't allowed to linger and questioned security guards about the best time and place to line up on the day... it was after looking longingly at the water for a while I walked all the way up to the top of fith av and paid 20 bucks (had to after taking 20 minutes to find the entrance) to enter the gay and lesbian festival. I got wristbands, tatooes and a free massage from this Australian women.

After sitting on the grass watching gay lovin and listening to an awesome three person alternate band with a lead singer who "stupidly" followed her friends advice and wore her plastic dress, I walked home for the rest of my meatloaf (bad idea) followed by all my left over dried fruit (which I think my roomates may suffer for later) and will probably draw till I go to bed.

I think I may go to the zoo tomorrow
Sorry for another long one

your faithful US correspondent
Lel

PS I asked this 1-tell guy about a phone today, should have something figured out by the
time I get back to Burbank

pps apologies for the bad pic, I was trying to secretly take it whilst showing of my guns.. a few people are now looking at me veeery strangely

I'm baaaaack (image that with a melodic slide

2009-07-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I figured I'd save you on the first day as most of you already know I'm here safe... plus the only really eventful things that happened was the Auckland security people stealing my vegimite and that lovely lady in customs that looked at me as if I just slapped her in the face when all I asked for was a pen!

I will however spill the juicy details of today as I feel like I've been here for a week rather than two days (that is how long this day went for!) for those that don't want details you can finish reading now knowing that I have indeed arrived in San Diego safe and sound and extremely sore and tired, for those with more time... read ahead ^_^

I woke up early (6am) and tried to get back to sleep as I listened to the traffic buzzing outside our jammed window... then failing miserably snuck downstairs with my computer to figure out how I planned to travel and wait for breaky to open up... 2 hours later and contemplating weather to finish of the dried fruit I had upstairs (from the markets yesterday) the kitchen opened up and I quickly gobbled some toast whilst chatting to a scottish couple trying to fix the toaster that was now broken (it wasn't me)

After yogurt and 600 cash withdrawal at the farmers market (I really hoped I'd see a celebrity) I grabbed my bags out of storage and made my way (slowly) to the bus stop... 4 HOURS, 3 buses, waiting, getting chatted up by strange people, dying of heat and thirst (the only vending machine I saw SOLD OUT of water) later I made it to the bottom of Brad and Ambers st in Burbank then with the little energy I had left trudged up the hill. I tried asking a few people where Via Ricardo was but thinking i was a dirty sweaty hitchhiker they wouldn't even slow down. Finally a lady pitied me and told me to throw my stuff in the back and took me the rest of the way (thank god she did as it was a while further)

Luckily Amber was home and after I downed a bottle of water and transfered stuff from my bag she drove me down the hill to catch the bus to the station, The bus took AGES to get there and waiting in the heat I stuffed my face with fruit and nuts realising with a lurch that after ALL that I hadn't even given Amber my rent money!

Needles to say I didn't go back up the gigantic hill to give it to her ^_^ An hour or more later I was at the station chatting to a guy that was also going to San Diego, when we arrived at Union station the train was delayed for an hour which gave us time to complain about the heat and what we'd do if we saw someone wearing a beanie (death was the only option)

The train was three hours (I slept most of the way) and when I finally arrived I walked to the hostel (I now have dents in my shoulders from the bags)

The hostel is really nice and the room looks clean and comfortable. Not to mention the guy at the check in desk is very friendly... very very friendly! I had a browse around tonight and was talked up by another stranger "you know its unhealthy to eat alone..." hmmm no kidding I also heard that you shouldn't talk to strangers...

I also bought some socks (3 for $15) and discovered two yohgurt places mmmmm... then got a free lift back to the hotel from this guy with one of those bike lifts after getting extremely lost... Phew, after all that I'm now going to have a shower (a proper one as the last one was just me crouching in a bathtub splashing water on myself) and go to bed

Until next time...

Oh and Ant, I'm gonna see UP tomorrow ^_^