remember my awesome neighbor i told you about? well here he is:




in the top photo he was drunk at my house, hanging out and telling me about his life and i demanded that he let me take a portrait of him. the first photo (of him crossing his arms with a badass look on his face) never came out. but right afterwards, he said, "naw. i gotta do something cool like face the door and not look at the camera or something. like this."

the second photo is when i came out of my apt in the afternoon and found him wasted in the hallway with blood everywhere. he told me he just woke up and there was blood all in his bed. when the sock came off, his bloody, mashed toe had its toenail sticking straight up at a 95 degree angle. he thought it was hilarious at the time. because he was so wasted when it happened, he didn't go to the doctor until a day or two later. i think he's still limping around waiting to see if the doctor is going to chop it off because he got an infection that started to extend up his leg. the random hand in the photo, is the maintenance guy who lives downstairs in the storage room. he's equally as awesome. i'm shooting him next....hmmm...maybe i'll do a whole building neighbor thing.

in my drawing class on monday we had our (and my) first nude model drawing session.

i arrived a little late for class and readied my materials real quick and jumped right in. she did some varied poses for about 2 minutes each while we did gesture sketches just getting a feel for the form. then we got into the pose where we would spend the rest of class drawing her. my teacher taped her off so when the model took breaks, she could get back into the exact pose. after our first break, the model went up on the stand and was getting herself adjusted. she frowned as she was trying to figure out how to place her arm. i stepped around my easel, walked up to her, and started to place her arm for her in the correct spot.

the whole class gasped and a second later my teacher screamed my name, "AJ! that is the ONE rule that was said at the beginning of class! DO NOT TOUCH the model!"

"i'm so sorry. i was late and i didn't hear you say that. i am so sorry."

so now everyone in class is either jaw dropped or snickering behind their easels in disbelief.

"can i please see you outside, AJ."

crap.

she got outside and started shaking me as i profusely apologized and half giggled because i can't believe i just did the one thing you don't do. "aj. i can't believe you just did that. imagine if it was a boy who touched her. i would def. have to throw him out. and what? just because you're a female and it was innocent, i just let you stay? you've put me in a huge predicament."

then we laughed together. "of course i would be the person to do this. if you have to throw me out, i understand, i'll go home." but she doesn't want me to miss the session because she knows i'm one of the students who enjoy our time in class. "just because you and i come from some happy hippy artist world where being nude is no big deal and we're carefree, doesn't mean we don't have to abide by the rules."

"ok. let's go get a drink from the water fountain. can you keep a straight face when we go back in there and act like i reamed you a good one?"

"i think so. give me a second." laugh.

"do i have to punch you, aj?"

"no. i'm good. let's go."


soooo. yeah. awesome first nude drawing experience. it was totally innocent and i thought nothing of it. when i am shooting females i don't think about it either. i'm just too laid back sometimes. oops.

i have a new hobby. roller skating. well i'm not new to it. in 4th grade i got these awesome white skates with pink wheels and i would roller skate everywhere and all the time. since then i have always enjoyed the little ventures to the roller rink every once in awhile when friends in my life are feeling funky. nerd and i went 2 weeks ago to the adult skate and i have never been so into it. i went again this week...and i plan on going to the lessons on saturday mornings. i just can't get enough of it.

no. i don't want to roller derby. i don't want to speed skate. i don't want to break dance skate. i want to old school quad shuffle rhythm dance roller skate. i realized that this will be interesting. considering i am 6'3''. falling will hurt bad. but i dig it. can't wait to buy a pair of skates!