Underwater bloggin'
A few weeks ago, back when I still occasionally had time to be silly, and before this weird shaky/stress thing started happening with my legs that has me half-convinced I have MS, my friend Dan came over with his digital camera in its underwater housing, and I attempted to make an underwater video blog.



I think what I say is, "This is my #1 Video Blog." I guess I was hoping that it would turn out so awesome that I would have to make more. And maybe someday I will.

[UPDATE: I deleted the rest of this after rereading it and realizing it sounded like the kind of whiny, self-pitying blog post I hate. I will wait to post again until I have something happy to say or a creative project to talk about.]

Tofu robot
Originally uploaded by lisabeebe.

Tofu robot

No time for a real entry, but here's a photo of the shirt I bought at the Tofu Festival today. I love it. I would wear it tomorrow, except that I have to to go to an office and I suppose it's not work-appropriate.

Palm trees in Studio City
Originally uploaded by lisabeebe.

Palm trees

The reflection of palm trees on this building in Studio City feels really L.A. to me. Maybe the palm trees feel like Southern California, and the tall, shiny building feels city-ish, and the mirrored reflection reminds me of L.A.'s reputation for vanity? (Or maybe that's taking it a little too far.)

Next time, maybe I'll read the manual

I discovered recently, after months of wondering why my camera phone photos always suck so impossibly bad, that I had never adjusted the settings. Playing with the camera function one day, I noticed that it was set on "low" and "economy." I immediately switched it to "high" and "fine."

The photos still aren't great, but I think there's a noticeable difference. Both of these were shot when I was in a dark club to see a band.

Before (low settings)
Even though Meredith and Carmen were right next to me when I took this, they're barely recognizable.



After (high settings)
I took this one tonight at the Liz Phair show, because I didn't have my other camera with me. She's little and blurry, but with my old settings I don't think I'd be able to see her at all. The only drawback of the higher settings is that it takes a few seconds longer to upload a photo to flickr from my phone, but I can deal with that. Or else maybe I'll just give up on the camera phone completely and focus on thinking up ways to sneak my digital camera into rock shows.

System down for maintenance

I have discovered one problem with using Backpack for my to-do list. Today, whenever I try to access my personal pages, I get a message that they're experiencing technical difficulties.

I've been using that site to stay more organized, and most of the time it's great, but right now I wish my list were on a piece of paper in front of me so I knew what the heck I'm supposed to work on next.

Futuristicky

I've discovered lately that people who don't hear me talk on a regular basis have no idea how to say the name of this site. In conversation, I tend to treat lots of words as if they have more meaning when you put an extra y on the end, and that's all I'm doing here.

It's futuristic + Y (with a K thrown in so you won't say "icy" at the end)

Pronunciation-wise, it's "futuristic - e."

If you say it right, it'll sound kind of sticky, which I think is neat. And I don't mean "sticky" in the way that web designers use the word, because I don't pay attention to that stuff -- I feel like web stats are easy to obsess over, and that people who do are insanely boring. I mean "sticky" in a way that describes the giant mess in my apartment whenever I'm working on something creative.

Also, I think the word futuristic tends to make people think of things that are clean and smooth like polished silver or Star Trek apparel. But the future could just as easily be a sticky mess of unpredictable nanoparticles and toxic waste. (I hope it's not, but with all the idiots out there messing up the environment any chance they get, my hopes for a Jetson-like future dim a little further every day.)

New painting



"In my imagination, I am pretty and coordinated."

p.s. late last night, I wrote about having too many distractions and not getting anything done, and then just to prove myself wrong, I got a bunch of stuff done today. I don't even care if you think my little painting is messy or overly autobiographical, because I am just happy I finally sat at my dusty art table and made something. Sometimes if I paint a little robot that's fucked up in the head, I notice that I feel a little more stable myself. Or maybe I just feel better because it's fun to make a mess with paints and ink.

Another web browser feature I would like to incorporate into my life

I've noticed lately that I use Firefox's pulldown list of recent urls whenever I'm losing interest in the project I'm working on. If I'm doing something online for work and I get bored, it's so easy to just pull down a link and check blogging.la or boingboing or any of the other sites I frequent when I'm feeling lazy. Sometimes the only way I can get myself to focus on work is by clearing the history. It sounds dumb, but that stops me from absentmindedly using the pulldown links, and I get more work done.

Sometimes it would be nice to "clear history" for real.

If I could just press one button, and be rid of every distraction floating around in my head... I could stop thinking about all the art projects I wish I were working on, all the email I still haven't answered, all the writing projects I haven't looked at in months, and actually get some work done for once. If I could "clear history" on my life lately, I could forget about how I fell down like a total spaz in the Express store last week (why did I go in there anyway? I don't even like their clothes!), and how I can't seem to make any L.A. friends, and how I've promised everyone I know a screenprinted t-shirt even though I've still never screenprinted anything, and how my life just isn't where I wanted it to be when I turned 30. I could erase every memory of every stupid thing I've said lately. Ohmigod I would use that button until the letters wore off, and then I would probably use it some more.

And then instead of thinking about all those distractions, I could think about whatever I was doing right then, and I'd be amazingly focused and get about six more hours of work or creative stuff done every day. And I would make lots of money and be wildly successful and I'd never want to "clear history" again. (Although I would keep that button handy in case my successful new self still trips over stuff in public.)

Big hair

Mermaid hair
Originally uploaded by lisabeebe.

Here's another photo from the swimming pool. I wish my hair looked like this all the time.

Underwater Video Blog
Click on the image to watch a very short Quicktime movie (316k) taken in my pool.

I was surprised that the camera recorded sound even from within its plastic housing. Maybe the next time I do an underwater video blog, I'll try talking to the camera.

Another reason I need to get my sewing machine fixed:

I want to make myself a beautiful new jumpsuit. I'm thinking I'll go with the longer version on the right, but I have a feeling mine will be black instead of that charming plaid.
I'm not sure when this pattern was made, but a size 10 has a 32½ bust. Ladies, how crazy is that?!

Oh, damn, it comes with instructions.
I didn't realize the implications of the "wrap-and-go" name when I ordered this pattern online. I thought that just meant that it tied in the back, but the little images along the bottom make it seem more complicated:


Step 1
Pull remaining section between legs? Umm....is it a jumpsuit or a diaper? (Ugh, now that i think about it, I bet this thing's a real pain if you have to pee.)



Step 2
Clothes should not involve this much wrapping. I'm starting to have flashbacks to my Infinite dress. Oooh.... I was just about to complain about how the Infinite dress is lame and never looks as good as it did in the infomercial, but then I Googled to find an Infinite dress link, and discovered that the designer has also created an Infinite pantsuit. And the Infinite pantsuit, or as I'd call it, "a jumpsuit," comes in gold lamé. (Scroll all the way down on that page to see the photo.) Wow. I would be upset that it's $500, but it doesn't come in tall sizes anyway, so it would never fit me.


Step 3

Oh, good. Now I'm all set... as soon as I fix my sewing machine, find some cool fabric, stitch it all together, and master this three step "wrap-and-go" tutorial. I'm highly skeptical of all the wrapping, but if mine turns out as cute as hers, maybe I'll make a second one... in gold.