jeffrey + upstairsloft

I work with a guy who puts his judgement before mine. He is like my art director or creative director, except he is not creative, has no appreciation for art and he cannot direct. He is the middleman between the clients and me. Yes, I work for the library so creativity is at a low, but it does not mean that I should ignore…well anyhow. We bump heads and I believe to offer good rationale as to the design decisions I make. C’mon, I design for the school library.

Can I at least keep my dignity and steer away from what I am about to show you? I can go on about mediocre design versus mediocrer design. I’m inveting words just for this entry. My co-worker (everbody else I work with is cool–I’m a “student assistant”) but this guy seriously has a problem with me. He is so indifferent to everything I say and do. It’s like this anal-retent 30-odd yrs old Chinese guy has a problem with the new wave, but it’s not like I’m offending anybody.

This is his ideal website. He always opts for me to use this as a template:
- CSUS JAAC Website

He does not, at all, favor cleanliness and any visual appeal whatsoever:
- Current Project
- Recently Finished Project

In all honesty, I would rather work directly with the clients. I ask all the right questions and plus, the client was all in favor for my concept and even insulted that JAAC website. Still, the ass proceeded to push me in that direction that I did not want to go in and most importantly, the direction the client did not want to go in.

I know I set myself up for this one by listening to people about a movie. That’s a huge no-no and a setup for disappointment. Of course, as a skeptic, I had to see it to believe it. I mean, people ranked this movie up there like it was some sort of brilliantly plotted out story.

“Saw” is trash. It’s poorly executed, the twist is cheap, the acting sucks, the direction of photography is like a rip off of a Nine Inch Nails music video. This movie is no where near the movies with what people compare–Se7en, Memento, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, hell, even Red Dragon. This movie is like House on Haunted Hill, but a criminal thriller version. I don’t put in effort to read movie reviews because critics are paid to talk shit about the good movies, talk shit about the bad movies and praise movies with “meaning” like American Beauty, Magnolia and The Pianist but I do tend to listen to my peers once in a while. “Oh! Jeff, if you love Se7en, you’ll love this movie!” Saw makes Too Fast Too Furious worthy of an Academy.

Kate and I were going through some of her old pictures and we stumbled on a few good ones. I decided to make a collage, you know… ahem… graphic designer style…..

>>>Collage

Rather than sleeping for two hours, I decided to paint with acrylic. It was a liberating experience and I felt at ease. The painting turned out horrible but I felt productive nonetheless. I had the urge to do something that would help me channel whatever it is I need to channel, some inner spiritruality type stuff. Anyways, here’s my first acrlylic painting.

>>>My First Acrylic Painting

Btw. I suck. But that means I can only get better. I’m no Paul Abadilla.

Ummm… again??? Another tornado in our neck of the woods? Sacramento, California? That’s like a typhoon hitting Montana. This whole tornado business is getting pretty old.

Early morning kicked my ass. It was 1:30am and I jumped out of bed, which woke Kate up. I stood up, sat down, stood up, sat down and drank water. My mind was telling me to do all these impossible tasks in the room like float in the empty space and use my body to fill the volume–something strange like that. And I’ve had similar experiences when I ate two wholes of garlic cheese bread; that’s a whole other story involving my parents. It’s like, I’m assuming, an acid trip. I tried to fight the thought in my mind and I eventually gave up.

I walked to the otherside of bed, Kate followed, and I collpased on the ground, lay in a ball, and I told Kate to call 911. It felt like my body was being punished for not completing those tasks. Imagine, for example, your body trying to force you to find a needle in a 10 X 15 X 8 ft. haystack. I felt like my body was collapsing and the water wasn’t helping. I was half passed out and I kept asking Kate, “Did you call? What are you doing?” Then I blanked out for a few minutes. Eventually, I woke up freaked out, Kate was at my side and feeling my face and neck, wiping my sweat with a towel. I seriously thought I was on the verge of dying. My mind was fucking with me. However, it was the first time in days that I felt physically better. I was scared from what just happened, nonetheless, I feel better. I’m still a bit freaked out.

I swear, I sound like a drug addict going through withdrawal here.

Kate is great. I had a slumberless night, a fiery fever, backaches, headaches, sinusache and the chills. She came back after work, missed class, to take care of me. How awesome is that. I’m pretty drugged up right now so, fortunately, I finally feel a tad better. I squirmed so much in bed. As for my sorry butt, I had to call in from work twice–last Friday and Today. I have never felt so lousy in a long time.

Last night, I could’ve sworn I saw that freaky The Ring girl staring at me from the loft. I know I hallucinated it but that shit freaks me out. And out of Kate’s bathroom window (I kept walking back and forth from my room to Kate’s), I could’ve sworn I saw a head hanging from the corner of the neighbor’s shingled roof. The bed was spinning. I was possessed. I was talking to nobody earlier this morning when Kate was at work. I think I was praying. I was half asleep but I heard a voice, which I’m pretty sure was mine. At least, it better have been. I think I gotta lay off the blasphemy for a while–gotta keep my mouth and soul clean.

There really isn’t a point to posting these pictures but I get excited about importing photos into iPhoto and exporting them into websites, thus proving I need to do something more exciting with my life, like eating Peanut Butter Toast Krunch.

>>> Just a Saturday in Sac

Some thoughts [my 5 minute break]: I’m working on a 2d Composition for my 2d class so spending hours on little .25″ x .25″ squares has opened the floodgates for many thoughts.

Anyhow, I really need to design a new upstairsattic.com frontpage. That frontpage was pretty cool, back in 1950, but being that uPstairsattic has been around for 50 years, it’s time to re-brand. Nothing major. Hah. We’re still a bunch of kids learning the process, playing with silly little programs and the like. And umm.

O yeah. Sara is in the process of designing her site for upstairsattic.

Paul needs to be shot for getting better at drawing. Hah. More on that later.

I really need to shut up around certain people from school. I can’t be myself around these people because they feed off people like me and clown on me for no reasong to make themselves feel better. Ahem.

It’s conclave time. A bunch of birds in the Sisteen Chapel are going to elect a new pope. Hah. Elect a pope who has a firm belief in science. That’ll be the day. Current events are encouraging me to read Angels & Demons again. Stupid imagination. Like anything exciting is going to happen during conclave, that’s only in books.

It’s a trip when I think that the Pope is the last major contributor to history, who is a world, political leader, who lived through major events from the last century. The closest guy that comes to that is Fidel Castro. Right?