Actually the next day, my tooth stopped hurting! If it happens again I'll definitely find somebody asap. Dr. Brady's office told me to ask the school's clinic/health services, which is what I expected pretty much.
The boat tour was awesome! On the groupon we got, it included a free drink from the bar and I went to get them and the line was so long I missed the beginning of the tour, but it was an hour long tour! I did meet some nice people from Milwaukee in the line though. Probably the best free drink I've ever gotten from a place...well didnt taste the best but it had so much gin in it. There were people on the boat that were drunk which was pretty obnoxious and hilarious at the same time. They were on the lower deck just yelling and taking pictures and laughing. Pretty funny to hear them while the tour guide was talking. It was a really informative tour, but there was so much information. It was really cool to be on a boat again too. I dont think I've been on a boat for a year or two. I think one of my favorite parts was going underneath bridges. The change of space was really interesting and it changed the way I felt almost instantly every time we went from having massive amounts of sky above us, to having a bridge right in our faces. Cars driving over the bridges were also really strange. But it made me think about architecture because of how foyers have low ceilings and then the building opens up, etc. Makes me wonder why I like some of the artwork I like also.
We decided to get BBQ. However the place I wanted to go to was an hour away on the blue line so we found another place. They had a huge beer selection and I found this crazy beer that doesnt taste like beer at all! Monk's Cafe beer or something. It was delicious. And I got a brisket sandwich. Just what I needed! The day was beautiful and it didnt rain! We thought it would but we were pleasantly surprised.
We went scouting around for that beer at lots of different liquor stores and finally found it at the one place we didnt think would have it. The liquor store right next to her apartment. We got it, invited some people over and played Jenga. We wrote challenges on each block so that when you pulled it out you'd have to do a challenge. I had the honor of providing a soundtrack on guitar while my friend did an imaginary striptease. It was quite an experience and he had good theatrical awareness when I was winding down my tune into a finale. Dad could probably play the tune I played, it was a "C" to "G" silly sounding tune. Dad will no doubt go into muscle memory if he tries to play it and play almost exactly what I played.
The next day we went to the Lincoln park conservatory and zoo. Wow. It was awesome. I had never been to either of them before. The conservatory was gorgeous. I wish we would've spent more time there just smelling the flowers. Whenever I think about going to the conservatory, I always forget about what it feels like to walk in a space with lots of living plants and the smells that are possible. Pictures are great, but being there is amazing. Its a very humbling experience when you see that flowers have better color theory sense than you do, even after taking a class and studying books.
The zoo was so fun. I think my favorite thing was seeing the big cats. They were inside a building that was just a big open space and the cages were in the walls. I was sad that they couldnt get as much sunlight as the other animals, but when I saw a tiger climb up a log and start roaring, I was amazed. Its roar took over the whole space. No amount of human chatter could even overshadow that animal's power. Very amazing to see and hear that.
We also saw Meerkats(sp?) which were hilarious. I think my other favorite thing to see were the behaviors of monkeys and gorillas. Gorillas were strange because they would hoard sticks from each other. It made me think of George Orwell's "1984" where razorblades were forbidden and could be used as a kind of currency in underground circles. The gorillas were very interesting and HUGE. One was very close to the glass and it put things in perspective for me that an animal that massive could easily rip me apart. Kind of nice to know that I wont live forever.
I didnt realize how inspired I'd be by those two places. But I want to go back very soon.
After the zoo, we went to ihop and feasted on breakfast that we didnt have that morning b/c some of us felt a little hung over.
I've been continuing to make collages. They're getting very specific now. I am now doing transfers of very small pieces of paper just to give shapes a slight colored edge or a small gradient in one side of a shape. I'm also learning that I can stack ink on itself to make darker shapes and create my own colors through optical mixing, similar to Seurat's pointalism in "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte". My work now, however, is looking more like Rauschenberg and is reflecting some of my older photoshop and inkblot pieces. I have a post about it on my blog called "Things to be balanced...". The title stems from lots of things in my life that I'm having to balance. The titles for most of the pieces in the post have to do with money, but also they're abstraction studies so compositional balance is a given. I'm really excited about where I'm going with them and I enjoy making them very much. I need to start subscribing to magazines just so I can have a consistent flow of material. I've been using Glamour and GQ magazines, at least, at this point they're the most effective.
I have a paper to write and some laundry to do, so I'll catch up with you soon!
Love you!
-Mark
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