- Learning how to cook my mother's pansit and lumpia. I can now cook my own version of pansit and it has become second nature to me to know how to cook it.
- Finished REACH PLATE for Boston's REACH Beyond Domestic Violence Annual Plate Auction.
- Created 5 "Take-Home Art Activities" and samples of activities for the parenting class to work on with their children.
- Created a 20 minute end-of-the-year video presentation for the After School Program.
- Designed an AmeriCorps brochure for the program to recruit new members.
- Designing/Designing a postcard for LEAF to announce our move to the new location.
- Created a sample scrapbook/artists book for the parenting class using my nephew, Owen as the example.
- Assisted in helping the parenting class make scrapbooks/artists books of their children.
- Created several lesson plans for the daycare and samples of the lesson plans.
- Created 2 huge paintings/banners for Global Youth Service Day.
- Taught 1st graders a lesson about Recycling.
- Created 3 posters on Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse.
- Helped in the food can drive that us AmeriCorps members donated to Cornerstone Community Outreach.
- Taught the parenting class how to make butterfly kites with sticks, colored tissue paper, and string--they may or may not have flown.
- "Co-taught" staff how to make sushi rolls w/Julie.
- Sold one of my art pieces at Feed the Beast to one of my friends.
- Exhibiting artwork at the Chicago Cultural Center.
SHORT TERM GOALS/TO DO LIST:
- Get my bike fixed.
- Do my laundry.
- Clean my room.
- Update resume.
- Add paypal to website so people can start buying my comics on-line.
- Get cooking tools to aid my discovery in my love for wok-cooking.
- Buy a sushi knife.
- Getting boxes for the move.
- Create a farm scene/mural for the daycare wall on butch paper so the kids can begin adding farm animals and other farm stuff to it for this week's theme.
- Mail REACH plate.
- Teach high schoolers in 2 afternoons in the beginning of July how to make a DIY xerox comic book.
- Create "TO DO BEFORE I LEAVE CHICAGO" list.
LONG TERM GOALS:
- Start saving up to have my own artist studio and/or turn one of the bedrooms in Michigan into an artist studio.
- Use my AmeriCorps Education Award to get a new laptop and to take beginning classes in website design, graphic design, print production and/or children's illustration.
- Thinking about moving out to California to be with my comedian and artists friends who have moved out there in the last couple of years.
- File every piece of paper in my bedroom.
- Starting my own business painting murals for nurseries, children's bedrooms, elementary schools, and daycares.
GOOD THINGS:
- Bone folders.
- Adam Snow's "mixtapes" on the internet.
- Finally watching all of Star Wars. (I TOTALLY remember of course watching this countless of times when I was younger, more as a memory, but I never really knew the storyline.)
- My art supplies.
- Finally losing weight.
- Darkstar Video.
- Living in Chicago for ten years exactly at the end of August.
- Lola from Dr. Katz's office.
- Getting my haircut from Tigerlillie.
- Finding my ring with the dove on it while cleaning my bedroom a couple of weeks ago.
- Wearing necklaces again.
- Experimented and wore lipstick for the first time in 16 years.
- Buying super, super, super cheap sashimi at the Korean grocery store.
- Jodi's booklist.
- Adam's Pixelated Reviews.
- Remember the Milk.
- Goodreads.
- Malbec red wine.
- Remy Martin XO.
- Devin & the Straights.
- Borrowing James laptop for work.
- Scorpio Sardo's drinks.
- Spending Mother's Day with James and Jeremy and a bunch of Jeremy's friends--where Jeremy made miso soup, salmon maki, and edamame, and I made pansit and lumpia--It was a hit.
- Going to Six Flags with James and his son for Memorial Day.
- Grocery shopping at Harvest Time with Steve.
- Hanging out at good ol' Beans and Bagels with Adam and Steve.
- Going to finally be a part of my nephew's life now that I am moving back to Michigan.
- Facing the problems/situations that I left behind 10 years ago like an adult.
- Talking to Sharry about Maxwell's Street Market and her need to cook even when she is not hungry, which that conversation influenced me in cooking more as well.
- Hiromi's (Japanese/Filipino family owned restaurant open until 2 a.m. with karaoke in Tagalog, Japanese, Spanish, & English, BYOB)--this is where I am going to have my goodbye party.
CURRENTLY:
- Starting to feel a bit more grounded.
- Being able to relax and read.
- Realizing how much I don't care that much about the Kids in the Hall anymore because I didn't even know they were here in Chicago a while ago or the fact that I am now 6 degrees away from them through the people in comedy scene in Chicago.
- Wanting to attack Kristy's bing cherries and mango.
- Reading Augusten Burrough's "Dry."
- Reading Jeremy's copy of Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet."
- About to go to Schuba's "Your Sunday's Best" with Kristy for pre-midnight celebrating/partying for her 30th birthday!/(It's been a long time since I've watched stand-up comedy.)
- Have artwork exhibiting at the Chicago Cultural Center until July 20th.
