Giraffe head toy by Charles Eames, june 1951

Originally uploaded by chriswoebken

heh.

I caught a breath of summer air leaving the studio last night. It was brief, but the idea that warm air’s around makes me hopeful (I’m 95% happier when it’s warmer n sunnier). I’ve been breathing that East Coast ice-cold or too-dry, heater air and it’s kind of sucked the life out of me. I feel pretty spoiled to be home, even though the weather’s turned more damp in the last day — ’cause then there’s the smell of the garden after rain to drink in.

Now to figure out my latest dreams of glasses snapping in half, homemade ice-cave theme parks and rotting teeth.

old favorites:

My editor sez, “Hellen’s published by Sparkplug not Papercutter“.

Oh yeah huh.

Yeah!

Fall’s for nothing if not holing up to nurse a fucked ankle, cooking, salivating lasciviously over Louise Brooks films, or brewing ideas. Bike rides and hikes are harder to get on with but god are they what keeps us going.

For all the comforts of these things, there’s an edge of uneasiness — cabin fever — and to get out is to remember that I am part of the world and not just my personal space. I’d almost forgotten!

I quit my job a few days after falling down a dark stairway (while hurrying from work). I’ve been lovingly cared for and nursed back to health, and yesterday was my first hike since falling. I’m already planning the next ones with hopes of avoiding reinjury. I can bike normally, at least(!).

Being unemployed is lame, of course, but it also means there’s time live a lifestyle of complete lushiness — sleeping in, cookin, going to every event we want!

Like… APE — we went to both days and met the likes of Susie Cagle, Dan Clowes, Jason Shiga, Dame Darcy (I still have the creepy ballad she sang at Isotope stuck in my head), Chris Ware, Liz Prince, etc. We listened to rad panels on Comix in the Library, Kramers Ergot 7 (awesomely curmudgeonly contributing artists like Chris Ware and Sammy Harkham battled and griped about production of the weird, giant, hand-bound book and Jaime Hernandez and Johnny Ryan spoke too. A little.)

It's me? Swoony.

Trio of Hellen's buttons from APE08.

I was excited to see that Hellen is published now, by Papercutter, aaaand I got some’a her buttons. There were tons of really inspiring and inspired people. I was glad to meet Melaina, whom K met a while back at a local comicartist meetup. He bought all of her comix and I’ve squeezled them and read each one. She writes amazing autobiographical stories, mainly about celibacy and love.

I’ve been reading comics like mad — most from APE or K’s collection — impressed, moved and delighted by Jaime Hernandez’s Hopey Glass collection, Shiga’s Empire Park and Bookhunter, David B. (I’m on Epileptic, still), Susie Cagel’s Favorites and This is What Concerns Me, Utility Sketchbook (anon), Goodin’s The Man Who Loved Breasts, and Gabrielle Bell and many others.

Favorites, by Susie Cagle

Utility Sketchbook

Robert Goodin, another all-too-modest artist.

I still think we should start a private comic library!

In October, I took M + K to Green Gulch to share a tea ceremony (thin tea) with them for M’s goodbye (everything good moves to New York). It was blissful. I think I smiled the whole time. Later we drove recklessly toward Hog Island, bashed oysters in front of Toby’s Feed Barn, drank in the hot sauce, brine, cheese and each other. We miss her a lot, but it was a good sendoff.

Outside the tea garden at Green Gulch

Hog Island Oyster aftermath @ Point Reyes Station

I feel like I’ll forget everything that’s been happening lately because I’m not carrying any cameras, which is lame. K helps by sharing his phone for snapshots.

E and I brainstormed about pickles. She's 7!

Cook’d, or just recent edibles:

1. chicken (rosie’s) tikka masala over rice
2. pumpkin soup with creme fraiche and mashed potatoes (soup’s always better by day two)
3. copying Spork’s cauliflower sauté with homemade aioli
4. overdoing La Chouffe and rediscovering the comfy kitsch of holiday reserves
5. remembering anything with fresh straus milk is heavenly (wheatabix! tea!), or fage yogurt
6. cooking breakfast at home, going slowly…
7. Black Velvet (Samovar) tea at home or Vien’s soy lattes at Blue Bottle Linden
8. Bar J*les, sekrit of Hayes and so good Devendra Banhart eats there with us. Um.

I am awesomely surly today, letting all the bad dreams run over into daily life, noticing that the two aren’t so different. I am struggling in both. I’m showing too much on my face — red eyes, dark eyes, a solid nonsmile. It used to be that I could get away with this kind of transparency at work, but no longer — I’ll never pass for okay in this state if I’m faking it.

According to creepy (I shouldn’t be looking at this shit) horoscope #389720, I’m already doing everything wrong and am being a pussy. Who knew!

The mess of my car is well aligned with my emotional state — I am either too busy and well to care, or it’s obvious that I don’t give a fuck and wouldn’t know where to start anyway. All I mean is that as much as I feel I’ve got my shit together in some aspects of life, there’s always an underlying messiness of emotion or physical stuff I want to push away and pretend it’s not there. I hate that about myself. Among too many other things.

Not sure what to do, or how to make myself feel better this time.

In anticipation of a long work week, I’m hesitant to use too much energy lest I burn out early on.

Still getting over a cold and scolding myself a bit for having such an indulgent “vacation”. Too many evenings included champagne. I also shared a beautiful chef’s tasting menu & wine pairings at Millenium with k and met up with termie for lovely, overpriced brunch (totally worth it).

Met and reconnected with a lot of good people @ houseku birthday, wish there was an easy way to connect with people on Flickr, etc after a party like that — guess that’s what business cards’re for but it doesn’t help that mine are totally fuckin outdated. I was changing about 80% of the info on mine as I gave moocards this weekend.

Didn’t feel too stoked on the idea of going to wordcamp once Saturday arrived. I tended the garden for a while in the hazy wet Presidio when I woke up, so the idea of abandoning my tea, garden and warm house for geeking and sniffling was not terribly appealing. I did it anyway and was glad for it, the only downsides being increasing the sick factor and also that I was without my MacBook. I blogged that shit with brushpen and a quadrato pad. (<3)

I want to scan some of it for maybe not but a lot of it’s more kvetching about geek celeb bullshit. Noticing that I treat WordPress not as a social tool — I don’t even know what my audience is and prefer to think of it as low- to no-traffic at all, something that not many people are aware of.

I want to share and be real in my communication and this is a medium for that, to be sure, but I am simultaneously very private and shy by nature, so to be able to journal I must look at it as a purely singular act. Not to impress or impart a certain image of myself, but to share in an uncensored way my ideas, and not be concerned with how or whether it impacts people. It is important to me to be mindful of others when I publish, and to be accountable as everyone should be when using the tool. Still, I think it’s silly to be driven by your audience to the point that you’re employing a created identity, and writing to fill that roll, in order to whet your audience’s appetite.

So, I drew what I saw an thought and absorbed at Wordcamp, happily unchaperoned and outfitted with only the basics. I didn’t even pick up my camera… I just wanted to listen an observe.

It’s not news to anyone that I enjoy dressing like a four year old but ohh, it’s only gotten worse-er.

Ever since Fumi pointed me in the direction of the beautiful Japanese sewing books at Japan Center, I’ve lusted after the gorgeous patterns, colors, fabrics, the cute models. I broke down and bought one (Girly Style Wardrobe), despite the fact that the directions are in Japanese. Thankfully they use metric measurements with Latin numerals, so I can eek through them that way…

The challenge will be to make the patterns me-sized and make adjustments so that they’re more flattering to someone with hips and other things that keeds don’t have to worry about. There are several beautiful a-line dresses that I’ll shirr or add the ability to gather with a tie, at the natural waist or below the bust (empire waist). Otherwise they’ll be shapeless, and that’s hangs flatteringly on a svelty-limbed girl or woman but is unfortunately sac-like on someone like me.

Anyway, I’m already dreaming of linen and liberties and ridiculous notions… maybe I’ll make something for the girls, too. I gush over Liberty Fabrics but never explain, so I’ll be lazy and point towards flickr again (one of my self portraits is in this search, I’m wearing a Liberty band in my hair): Liberty of London. I’ve only used it in small quantities because of the cost, and my favorite place to get it in fat quarters is Ambatalia in Mill Valley — a tiny fabric/notions shop with an owner that shares my name and penchant for collecting weird shit.

The photos below are borrowed from a blog (Knitting While Intoxicated). I am crediting Knitting for two reasons: to thank ‘em because I can’t scan at the moment, and also to assure you that I didn’t title the images “Japclothes”. Nope. They did. Just sayin’. There are also a lot of cute variations on the patterns and fabrics when you search flickr for “girly style wardrobe“, the name of the book.

Also, thanks to Maya from WordPress, I’m going to WordCamp this Saturday :> I’ll be there photo’ing and probably being shy about blogging, but excited nonetheless.