jeffrey + upstairsloft

Happy Birthday Uncle Raymond. I wish I could be with my family right now—my parents, brother, cousins, aunts and uncles. If I land a job in Chicago or New York, I will fly out once a month. It’s not like I’ll be doing anything else with my money but saving to travel, paying bills, buying things here and there and feeding Kate. Anyhow, I miss the fam. I wish I were there for Uncle Raymond’s would-be birthday and the family party on Saturday. Sigh. Almost done.

My mom scolded me when I told her I drink my wine of awesomeness (Arbor Mist) at 4:30 in the morning because it lets my mind rest before I have to wake up at 6:30 to go to school. Without that relaxant, I’m awake for an hour and a half trying to sleep. My mind rarely rests. But tonight, yes, tonight folks, I am drinking my “wine” early, out of my usual coffee mug, to calm me down. It sounds grown-up to say I am drinking wine, but it really isn’t. It’s a $5.49 bottle of fruit flavored wine.

I’m thankful to be with a chick just as weird as me. It was a normal thing for her to watch me vacuum hair off of my head with the hose so I can reduce the amount of hair that sheds when I shower. In fact, she walked over and vacuumed it for me. True story. A normal early morning at the Reyes-Tanhueco Place.

Music entertainers like Mickey Avalon and Gym Class Heroes make the art of music a shitfest. Eclectic characters posing as true musicians. I’m sure shoving your throat down your throat during a performance is something to be entertained about, but it has nothing to do with musicianship. There’s a fine line between music and entertainment. Even Gnarls Barkley plays it off—plus Cee-Lo and Dangermouse are talented musicians.

As for Virginia Tech, my heart is out for you guys. 32 people. 64 parents. All their friends and loved ones. That’s a whole set of lives changed right there for some deranged idiot who probably caught his girlfriend cheating on him and shot up the engineering building because he wasn’t doing so well. Nothing justifies these actions. He is sick. People are sick. The mainstream media are sick. Nobody is safe.

Finished my business system that promotes my portfolio and me.
>>> Stationery Set

“I discovered that when you make oranger oranger, it starts turning into red.” Probably not the most enlightening thing I ever said but it just makes perfect sense. 1.5 years later, bustin’ out the color theory principles. Palabra.

The best thing about Sacramento State, on a true and honest tip, is my instructors. Sac State advertises on Myspace. This school is run by a businessman state-of-mind. My instructors are far from that.

My birthday is coming up soon. Be my friend. Get me this.
>>> Jeff’s Gift

When I am finished with school, I can focus my energy from constantly self-editing myself and breath in everything else the world has to offer. School tends to have people living in a vacuum. And while I constantly observe and absorb culture and the world around me, it’s just not at its true potential to let things seep in. Forcing a kid with ADHD to have tunnel vision will only have him fighting to see everything he’s being forced not to see. So yes. I am in a battle between staying focused and wanting to explore.

I agree with Paul. We are experiencing an emotional rollercoaster. One day I am a dope designer. The next hour I feel like shit. I am always second guessing my abilities, talent and skill. I feel ashamed for what work I have but sometimes I feel proud—it all depends on the context in which I evaluate myself. Anyhow, I suffer from design bi-polarism.

People often mistaken me in class for being some hot shot guy, when I will freely and openly admit to being the most self-conscious designer in the class. I think it has something to do with how people misconstrue my ambitions with cockiness or over confidence. I don’t gloat. I set a high bar for myself but I don’t talk down on people or talk down on myself when I present solid work. Basically, I only bitch about being a bi-polar designer to Kate and Rob

The only time I talk at school, now, is if I am goofing off or during design crit. I’m quite disconnected right now. When it all comes down to it. my true passion is to become a designer, design author and design educator and the path I am pursuing and the things that I am doing, at the time, seem relevant. In fact, this semester I am spending a little more than half of my time studying graphic design than designing. That’s 18–20 hours split in half.

I admit to being highly disappointed in myself for not photographing. I can blame it on a million things from having no time, not being inspired or anything like that. I even promised to castrate myself if I didn’t scan in the 7 sets of photos I have from the end of last summer. That was 2 months ago when I made that promise.

I launched my iPhoto (I have libraries for each year) and it was a sad and unusual image to see no sets of photos and I’ve lived out 4 months of this year. Normally my library is packed with images in the fourth month. From the film photography to digital photography, I have nothing. No art. No documenting of my life. It’s sad.

I purchased a Canon Rebel XT just a year ago and I’ve made great use out of it. I still do. But it’s huge. I bought it primarily for product shots for my designs. I feel discourage to lug it around when I go out. That brick of a camera is especially bulky when I always carry around my iPod, cell phone, pens, my journal, and my Olympus XA and in some cases my Nintendo DS, every time I leave the house or travel.

I remedied this; I purchased a Canon SD1000 for an awesome price. I can’t wait to get back into documenting my life, even if it’s digital. When I get back into the loop of seeing daylight, I will knock the hell out of using my film cameras. But documenting simple occasions from a night out with my friends or just the impulse of wanting to take pictures without lugging around a brick with a lens is awesome.

I do not, however, in any way mind lugging around my Nikon FE. I request to be buried with my Nikon FE, my Univers Swi55 poster, my strat, while wearing a pair of chucks that I wore to the 2004 Incubus concert. No lie.