The Draggiest thing I saw today!

The Maggotiest Thing I Saw Today: Monster Challenge!

My friend James, who sadly moved to Boston but is still rad, came up with a doozy of a monster for our pleasure.

The Maggot Farmer:James writes: The story is that he was a bad man who stole a pig and was sent to prison. The authorities killed the pig and threw it in his jail cell, where they left him alone to rot. After 3 moons past he managed to escape, but only after eating the pig, skin, guts and all.... and whatever came out of it. Now he has a taste for awful, and his body is starting to change.

This is amazing and totally creepy, James! Great work!

James asked if I could make out the facial features, I think I can and I think I am uncomfortable with the way he is looking at me.

Anyone else up for a challenge? It is a hazy shade of winter in Minneapolis today, I encourage you to take 5 min and create some magic- but do not eat any maggots!

The CHALLENGE-iest thing I saw today!

In the past I have posted some drawings from Monster Attack, the drawings of the son of the artist behind American Elf, my favorite daily webcomic.

Today this drawing and the story behind it made something burst in me, like a pin to a balloon:



This drawing is genius, simple, full of fun and imagination.

Also, this drawing also lacks boundaries of reality and the limitations of studied talent and time. This drawing is not grown up.

This piece made me realize that I have been too grown up. Not only have I been slacking on my drawing blog, but have been wrapping myself up in responsibility and worry. I have turned down my imagination and free spirit.



I am sadly willing to bet that some of you have too.

So, I am posing a challenge to myself and you, and your partners and your friends and you colleagues and your children, or whomever you feel like it sharing the challenge.

I hereby challenge you to create your own monster and send it in to me to post here, or just show someone you would like to see smile.

You can draw a picture and some background information like Eli has above, you could play in photoshop, make a collage, doodle on a post-it or what have you.

Do you dare to think outside the grown up box with me? To toss away worries of judgment or financial gain?

We know you can!

I wanted to make it a contest, but I did not want people to stress about bigger, better, best......but I still have a grand prize in mind if enough people want there to be a public vote......

What do you think?

Take a deep breath, let yourself go!


****Functional details, if you do not already know my email, or know me on facebook, you could post a link from tinypic.com in the comments, or we can figure something out!

The nosy-est thing I saw today

When I was at the protests on Monday, I was humored by the three lines of participants; like a layered cake they spanned the street:


The 3 P's:
Police
Press
Protesters

The Press filled the space between the riot police and the protesters. They spent most of the time watching the police. In this shot the press are running to catch up with the deviating anarchist group.

I also noted that all of the 3 P's had camera and video equipment. All three layers were documenting the happenings, all for varying reasons, I think.

The cat and mouse-iest thing I saw today!

On Monday, a friend and I went to St. Paul to check out the big anti-war march on the RNC.

We grew impatient waiting at the rally for the march to start, so we headed into downtown St. Paul to witness what else was going on.

Prior to the start of the big march, we saw a lot of the anarchist crowd during their approved protest and the trouble they stirred up when they reached the end of their approved route and kept right on marching.

They splintered off into little groups like a bunch of mice. We saw them running up and down side streets followed by law enforcement. It was comical and disturbing all at the same time.

We saw a lot of police in riot gear and even some police horses in riot gear.



We saw this guy get pepper sprayed.

Many anarchists went off and broke windows and damaged other property. 200-some were eventually arrested that day.

Then they came out again yesterday and did it all again.

The No Rush-iest thing I saw today!

I love checking out garage sales, especially on a whim as I drive around town. I am a sucker for signage like: "MOVING SALE!" or "Multi-Family Sale!" and the best is "Estate Sale!". I will follow those signs around and see what kind of treasures they lead me towards.

I saw a sign in my neighborhood the other day that was not nearly as enticing:


Isn't a perpetual sale actually a STORE?

On another note, the Great Minnesota Get Together starts today! Yes, the Minnesota State Fair is now open for business. I love the fair and I hope to find lots of fodder for drawing when I go on Sunday.

If you love the fair too, or if you need to be educated about the MN State Fair, I recommend the blog My Pronto Pup. The mere fact that someone has a year round blog dedicated to the Fair should be a big clue as to how much people here love the Fair. The author is one of MANY people who go every day of the fair (August 21-Labor Day).

Also, I saw this crazy article in the Strib today about a family from NW MN who walked 400 miles to the fair with an ox cart. What?!?!? I am not sure if the pronto pups and cheese curds are THAT good!

The Goal-iest Thing I Accomplished Today!

Around 6 years ago I went to a motivation workshop at work and we had to draw a long term goal for ourselves on a note card. I drew this:It is hard to make out via the scan, but this goal card is the goal to earn a Master's degree. In the bottom right I have drawn myself stressed, but in a good academic sort of way. In the upper right there is a lecturer.

I have had this card posted at my desk ever since, it has followed me through 4 jobs, buying my home, meeting and marrying my partner, and meeting so many wonderful friends.

Today my thesis project was approved! I am DONE. I have met my goal. My work is off to be bound.

I am a Master.

The sick thing is....now I want to draw a new card about me working for a PhD!

Ha!

I am so thrilled to be done.

I hope that you keep your goals posted somewhere and that you can work towards being done too!

The Sickest thing I saw today.

I left my liberal nest in Minneapolis for my home suburb of Eagan on the 4th of July.

Eagan is a nice middle to upper-middle class 2nd ring suburb that is home to offices of several major companies, including the headquarters of West Publishing, Old Country Buffet, U-Line shipping products and Northwest Airlines plus outposts of Coca Cola, Tastee Bread, Unisys, EcoLab, and every big box chain store one could name.

Guess which company had the most American flags out for the holiday:

Why it was the world's largest defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

Fantastic.

The Dutch-est thing I saw today!

This homeowner knows how to brighten up the block:


Tulips fill the whole little yard!

It is like a mini-field in Holland!

All they need is a windmill and some wooden shoes.

The MeMe-est thing I did today....

I was tagged by the sassy MNMOM, who was tagged by another enjoyable blog friend Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein, with this little frequently visited websites MEME.

I decided, "What the heck! I could do this or fold some laundry.....but this helps promote lovely things so it should happen first."

My frequented blogs are on the right, of course I encourage you to check them out, but here are 5 non-blog places I visit pretty much all the time.

1. Etsy.com
So, I am addicted to this site and you can hear me put that on record somewhere else on the internets. (See me in all my grace at 4:51min into the vid) Some of my friends blame me for getting them addicted too, does that make me an etsy dealer?

I love what people make and I wish I could buy more. Instead I just scroll through and wish for things and also pass products on to my friends when I think they might like something.

Here are some things I have bought lately:
Skateboard necklace
Diamond Earings
Naughty Golden Retriever Puppet for my friend Nancy
Blankie Cape for a new baby in the family
Apron for the new big sister


2. emusic.com
This is where I go to download some indie rock n roll and other elements of the musical canon. It is $9.99 a month for 30 downloads. If you are interested I can "invite" you and you get a whole bunch free.

Anyway, I love music and the whole idea of independent labels so this is a cheap way for my to feed my rock and roll lifestyle and still have money for tickets to shows and things on etsy....

Albums I have downloaded lately:
The Mountain Goats
The New Pornographers
Bon Iver
Jeff Hanson
John Phillip Sousa's Greatest Hits
(The March KING!!! With The Minnesota March! I love marching bands, ok?! Here is me in marching band:

That's a huge white feather plume on top of a round helmet- HOT!)

3. Red Hot Pawn
My husband taught me how to play chess on our honeymoon last May. I am still learning...I have won 3 games total! I mainly play with a friend I met randomly on the site who lives in California. We became friends because somehow we came to a draw and I accidentally called him "honey" because I got his game confused with one I was playing with my husband.

Believe it or not, I have been "hit on" and talked to very inappropriately by people on the chess site! Now I only accept games from people I know. Let me know if you want to play chess. Inappropriate propositions can be left in this blog.

4. Scrabulous
I play when I can. There are some scrabble champs on there who are too cool to play a casual player like me.

5. Goodreads
Here I log the books I read and have read and want to read in the future. I also like seeing what my friends are reading and try to rally up new people for the book club I am in.

If you are on goodreads, let me know and I will check out your shelf!

(See, now that could be taken the wrong way, but I mean it in all literary good ways.)

The Keystone Copiest Thing I Saw today: FINALE!

And now, the dramatic conclusion of this rapid and comical airport pick-up:
Phew! I got scared at the end there!

And so ends my tale of the airport pick-up to end all airport pick-ups! It all took place over about 10 minutes or less. I wish I had the time to make a flip book or a claymation film about the events.

The May-December-est Thing I saw Today

My darling and I attended a chic private gathering, the sort where people either pay to attend or else they are "with the artist". (We were "with the artist".)

I observed a couple conversations like this one:
So Woody Allen. So reminded me of my own denial about the way the world works.

The Twitchy-est thing I saw today.

It is finals time on campus and students all over are "in the zone". Every nook around here is filled with some student sleeping, reading, crying or complaining about all the work they have left to do into their cell phone.

The other night I left work and saw this girl at a table ready for the long haul:

I'm getting the jitters just thinking about all that caffeine.

The Inflatable-est thing I saw today.

There is a house near my home that loves to celebrate with inflatables- to the max!

Every holiday they their yard is literally overflowing with giant blow-up figures that I am sure fill the neighbors with joy and happiness!

I did not even know they made inflatable figures for some of these holidays.

Halloween of course is no exception. So let me toast their handiwork:


Seriously, my picture cannot do this house justice. They have more inflatables than I could fit in the picture!

If you are in Minneapolis, this house is just a 2 or 3 blocks East of the Chatterbox Pub and just west of Hiawatha. You should go and take in its glory! Remember that their winter holiday display is just around the corner!

Happy Halloween!!

The Earthiest thing I quickly drew today.

I drew this abstract and inaccurate picture of Earth because today people are uniting to blog about the environment.



Seemed like a great idea to me, though I am not environmental expert.

So this is a friendly reminder that we live on Earth and we should be nice to Earth.

I encourage you to check out other blogs and things out there to learn something new.

Now I am off to do some recycling and try to reduce my environmental footprint.

The surplus-iest thing I saw today

Walking by the check out lanes at Target, I overheard the conversation below (Click on the image to see the full drawing!) as I walked by lane 15. Looking at lane 15, I saw a customer who is perhaps:

>cleaning up after a disaster
>wears a lot of white
>banned from the swimming pool store
>up to no good

Also file under: understatement of the day.