Archive for December, 2004
New Computer
The top photo is of course the ceiling hole we found on Sunday when I was working on the new computer and moving my boxes around. We thought for a moment that we had an infestation, but it is a leak. Beech Meadow was supposed to come by and look at it, but they went up in the roof and “fixed” the leak. It’s like trusting a compulsive liar.
The bottom photo the computer I got from my parents for Sarah. I put my old CD Burner in it and tried to put a second drive I got here at Virtual Scavengers Project for a small trade, but the drive was bad, so I have to get a new one. But I had to get out the drill to take out some stupid rivets and do some frame modification to make it fit. So that was fun and frustrating all at once. There are a ton of other little things I had to do, but I won’t bore you all with that right now.
But I am done with it for now. I need to get back to freelance work, and I look forward to that tonight.
Return to Paradise (1998)
By virtue that this movie had an Elvis faced young Vince Vaughn I gave this movie a whirl. I actually came in to watch the second half of the movie, Sarah had some time to start it and I walked in when things were just getting interesting. But that was just it, they were a little more interesting second half.
The movie revolves around three friends that go to Malaysia to party one summer before going into the working world. They indulge themselves fully, including over 100 kilos of weed and have a great time until the money runs out. Then one day two friends leave and the other one stays and that same day, the police come, take away the third friend and lock him up for two years for drug trafficking. The amount of weed he had was just enough to receive a status, unless the other two friends (one is Vaughn) come back a claim some responsibility.
Malaysia had stricter laws on drugs, and that is interesting, but that is where the cool stuff stops. The first half of the movie involves this twisted budding romance between Vaughn and Anne Heche. It is this kind of love hate thing to begin with, but it gets old and ridiculous really quickly. Then, like I said, Vaughn resolves to return to Malaysia, the other friend gets hung for trafficking drugs anyway, and then the movie ends with Vaughn in jail and you saying, what the heck!
Don’t see this movie, unless you are in love with Vince Vaughn or for some bizarre reason, Joaquin Pheonix who is the friend that is imprisoned for two years.
Thoughts on the “value” of artwork.
Having grown up in a household where there was always just enough but never any extra & also having to put myself through college and THEN still start over from scratch a few years back I am keenly aware of where my money goes. Debt scares the heck out of me & I constantly scrap to live within my means and still make sure all the bills are paid & my girls are provided for.
With that said – I also understand that sometimes, so long as needs don’t suffer, you still need to find a way to spend a little on your soul. I understand that the “cost” of an item and the “value” of an item are different things. And, even more critically, that this cost/value relationship varies from person to person.
So with this background in my head I found myself immersed in much discussion about this the Mid-OH Con. I know that one thing that Jeff appreciated about me on this trip was my utter randomness. It didn’t take much to make me happy – I just found contentment in whatever we were doing.
But it’s that same randomness that drove him crazy when it came to my buying habits that weekend. I left the hotel that day thinking I must have a skewed view of what is valuable. Thankfully, a little time, a little perspective & finally laying my hands on a piece of artwork I loved convinced me otherwise.
Here’s how it happened:
I had small goals for our trip: 1. Meet John Byrne & have him sign my She-Hulk #1 (a wonderful series with clever, funny writing. Read it if you like genre deconstruction humor like I do). 2. Meet Jeff Smith & have him sign, Oh, something for the kids– I brought a couple things, I hadn’t made up my mind yet, and – 3. Have fun!
I quickly learned I was in little league with goals like that. I saw some people around me getting a dozen or more things signed – and not like a fan would as a memento, but clearly with designs on how valuable it would make the items. I heard over & over discussions of which sketches to buy that would probably be worth the most later.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint – I sure I have as many mercenary, materialistic thoughts as anyone else. But when it comes to art & other creative work, it kind of spoils the fun for me. Undeterred though, I was having too much fun so I just let it all roll off of me – it didn’t affect me, I didn’t care.
Ah, but then I fell in love.
On Sunday, at the very back of Stuart Sayger’s book I found THE coolest picture of my man Wolverine. I’d been toying with the idea of a Wolverine pic all weekend, but everything – though done in each artist’s unique style – was so much the same. This was truly different – the black & white, the texture, all the little details. This wasn’t just an image – it captured an idea. I could not stop thinking about it as we continued walking around.
Finally, though low on cash, I decided to see if I could cover the balance with a check – this picture needed to come home with me. My mistake was announcing this in a group. OMIGOSH! The lecturing did not stop. I should think of what else I could get with that $100. If I was going to spend that much I should really think about something, maybe by a name artist that might be worth something someday. And the big – I was making an emotional rather than a logical decision. As tired as I was by then I was easy to wear down & I went home empty handed.
I didn’t stop thinking about it though. I looked around my house. I already had a habit of surrounding myself with things I love: The 50’s deco kitchen table I couldn’t leave at the Bloomington antique mall (even though I had NO CONCEIVABLE WAY to get it to my house). The Pollack-looking painting my girls did together on beautiful spring day visiting my dear friend Laura (they didn’t believe me when I said I was going to frame it). My Batman that I agonized over spending money on at a time when there was none (until my daughter who was staring at it with me, literally took my hand & told me it was okay – I should get it). All those stupid little Tiffany-style candle lamps I’ve managed to collect. And all the other goofy stuff. It’s an eclectic riot, but it’s MY eclectic riot.
One of the things said in our discussion in Ohio was – “Sure you love it, but do you REALLY love it $100 worth?” It was a no-brainer. The answer was a resounding YES! It never WAS too much to spend. The value of being able to have that wonderful picture made $100 seem like nothing. I knew it was something I would cherish. There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying art with your heart rather than your head.
I contacted Stuart & arranged to pick it up. When I saw it again it was even better than I remembered. The BEST part was when he gave me a “tour” of the drawing. Telling me about how he created it & pointing out all the details that I already loved. I was a happy, happy girl when I left that hotel.
So no, I didn’t get an Adam Hughes sketch or a John Byrne sketch or any other solid investment sketches from well known established artists to bring home with me, but that’s okay. I got to meet them & I get to keep the memory of the experience.
I don’t mean to pontificate. I’m a geek-girl – I KNOW there’s excitement in having a sketch from one of your heroes. I would have been thrilled to get a sketch from Mr. Byrne – but (to be truthful) I think I might have loved it because it was from him; not necessarily because it was as a beautiful picture.
So whether it excites you because it’s gorgeous or it excites you because of who signed it – I think we’re all out there because we admire all these amazing artists who take the time to share their talent with us.
I’m still a newbie at the whole Con thing. There’s nothing special about me – I could become more calculating as my experience grows. But who knows – maybe I’m the smart one. Later when Stuart is fabulously famous (and as talented & hard-working as he is, he deserves it) everyone will lament ‘Oh if only we’d listened to Christine! *laughing* Nah, that doesn’t matter a bit – I’ve already loved that picture more than the $100 spent within the first moment of owning it. That, my friends, is “value”.
As for me, I hope to remain blissfully random….
Later!
Event: My sister’s graduation
Friday was a busy day. Jessica’s graduation, due to some genius planning by an engineering school based mostly around that concept, started at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. I don’t think there is one person in the whole that would say, “Gosh, that is pretty convenient but I wish the graduation could have been at 2:30 on a Wednesday.” I think it would be more along the lines, “They can educate young people on how to design such wonderful cars as the classic Pacer but they have the planning skills of one of Oscar the Grouch. (Seriously, you have to have been pretty messed up to be living in a Garbage Can).
So enough of that. We left at 11:00 a.m. in Indy, I took a half day and came in early so I wouldn’t have to use Vacation and Sarah was able to get a mom to sub in a few hours before a fellow teacher took over her classroom due to some difficult circumstances in getting a sub for the rest of the year.
We got there at about 4:00 p.m. The ceremony was really short actually. It was only about 2 hours from 4:30-6:30.(Check out the top picture, that is the field house with the Kettering Banner. They have blue and gold for colors, original.) Nothing like my graduation day where you funneled probably 50-70 thousand people into the Big House, made them wait 14 hours for all of the 12,000 undergraduates to process in, and then held a less then engaging ceremony for another 3.5 hours. I swear, all one parent needed to do was throw a beer onto the main speaker and that place would’ve looked like Detroit a few weeks back.
Afterwards we all headed to Grand Blanc for dinner at the Kruse Muer. DO NOT EAT HERE! This place has service about as much as President Clinton had morals.
It took us about 25 minutes to get our water and drinks, and more importantly, my parents made reservation at this place last October because of the seating space they had for a large group in the back room. But when we got there, “Dah, we don’t know nuthin about no seatin in da back mister.” They kept trying to tell us that they didn’t understand why someone would sit us back there when the front right next to the front door would be just as quiet. Not once did they say, “Oh, were sorry for the inconvenience, let us move you back there” or “We realize what a huge event this is for your family, here is a discount on your meal, sorry about the problem” or “We’re sorry we are stupid, we’re going to go bury our
head back in the sand with all the other ostriches and your meal is free”.
Kruse Muer in Grand Blanc has horrendous service that will not help you but will gladly overcharge you and take all of your money.
Ah, doesn’t everyone feel better?
Tomorrow : After a couple of beers and a lot of bread we played Mario and hardly went to bed.
