Wine

I did not intend to spend two days in Ypsi, but I'm glad I did.

Sunday did not as planned in any way. I had wanted to get up, go to church, go to lunch, then go to Ypsi. Instead, I woke up around 1pm to hear that it was time for yard work. Hrm. I think I did something wrong to the chainsaw, because it's not working right, but I guess the blades could be dull? I dunno.

I love my friends. I go out every once in a while to see my friends Adam, Courtney, and occasionally Ali (when he's in town) in Ypsilanti. Sunday, I got there around 4 (planned to be there around 3 -_-), and the majority of our time was putzing around, and I like that. I finally won a game of Monopoly over there!!! And it was because I had all four railroads. People were hitting those spots unusually often that game, and my early luck in getting all four helped fund my green-space monopoly. Though I don't think the green really paid off.

We roamed around EMU for a while after that. Ali had this really awesome camera with him, it's serious business, and was snapping shots the whole time. It was fun to look at those afterward, especially in cases where he had the rapid shot pics going, and they were like tiny animations. There was Courtney spitting water like a fountain, Adam and I playing hackey sack, Adam climbing a wall (with one shot making him look really epic), and in general, us walking.

Later, after getting ice cream (or was that before roaming? I don't recall), we settled in, and they had me try some wine. They had three red wines for tasting, and today, they sent me home with a whole bottle of the one I liked the most- Casillero del Diablo, a cabernet sauvignon from 2007- as a birthday present! Awww. They like that one the best too.

Wasn't planning on spending the night, but that's how things happened. It was hot. Good LORD IT WAS SO HOT LAST NIGHT. Still is! But we've got a high of 60 tomorrow to look forward to, so I'll live. I ended up with my socks half-off my foot, and pulling my shirt up just so much that it wasn't so warm... and so my belly could say hello. I'm kinda glad their cat isn't very much of a lap cat, because I don't think I would have responded too kindly to it in that stuffy apartment.

The next day (today!) was more putzing. The three of us guys played videogames and screwed around while Courtney still had to work. After a few hours of that, though, we decided to go hang out at the Subway on WCC's campus, where Courtney works. We grabbed a booth, spent her lunch break with her, and then just... stayed. At some point, Adam and I played more hackey sack in the vacant end of the cafeteria, but there was a bit of scribbling in sketchbooks that I'd like to write in a new paragraph.

Some time in February or March, I modeled (yes, nude) for Adam and Ali. They frequently hire their own models, since they can't be as choosy in their Art Studio (a three- or four-credit class). Generally speaking, they have two go-to models; Brennan, a guy with a body like a friggin STATUE, and Samantha, a chick with a rather more natural build. They've hired and sketched the two of them often enough that I'm sure I could identify them, if they were nude. Their heads are generally left blank, like mannequins, so I wouldn't be much help there... But one day in high school, Adam said he wanted to draw my face, so when he offered me money a while ago, I said yes!

Well, Adam is intending to write and illustrate a big ole fantasy story, and now my face is in it. The character with my face is like, 7 feet tall, though, and a bit more solid in the arms. I'm a little tickled by my presence in his sketch book, and I feel really fortunate/honored too. Not everyone gets to be the basis for a fictional character. I also stumbled upon a sketch I thought he'd just tossed or ignored, because Adam said to me after I'd done this one pose, that he and Ali had Samantha do it, and they really liked it. The pose itself was me holding this broomstick (sans broom) and resting my arms on either end, with my right arm being a little "heavier" so it was slanted, and the intention was to make that into a polearm. So a couple weeks later, seeing the sketch of Samantha in the same pose, I thought mine was done with. I spose I was a little disappointed...

But it turns out they're companion pieces! I was flipping through, and there I was in all my fantasy-nude glory. Both sketches have been fleshed out, so to speak, and they're both really cool! The difference is in the style, though. I was more "earthy and jagged" while Samantha's avatar was "ethereal and quasi-angelic".

I love the detailed thinking that goes into drawing. Like that polearm picture? I have horns, because Adam told me that male animals (playing up the "earth" side of things) had horns as displays of dominance in a pack, and all these other little details. We could seriously talk for hours about his Grand Story, which he's been imagining, crafting, and totally reworking for at least six years. I never know which incarnation of certain characters we end talking about, but the easiest things, and most fun in my opinion, is the mythological side of things, rather than the linear stuff. I'm almost inclined to go rewrite some ideas I had into my own mythology. I love heroes, I love magic, I love quests, pantheons are cool, muses, fates, underworlds, overworlds, world trees, it's all just so awesome. In fact, I'm getting ideas just writing about thinking about writing! XD

Quick recap of what I know is coming up for me:
Tomorrow, appointment.
Monday, U of M interview.
Next Tuesday, election.
Visiting Grandpa this weeked?

If I missed anything, lemme know!

Sean
Sean