josie

Howe was a beast. A scoring machine, a bull on his skates, and a good guy and teammate. A good farmboy from Saskatchewan. As a Wings fan, I admit disappointment in the way we played the last few times he attended games. The presence of a legend like that only rubbed in how lackluster our performances were. Well, now he can play the game on a great rink in the sky and be on a line with Sid Abel again. Ted Lindsay, don't you go hopping in that game just yet.

Uh... this is as close as the internet gets without going porno... Also, update update, I should've seen it coming... Bosses want me to join their drinking pile tonight. Good thing I have trapeze as an excuse to leave early and not drink.

VICE did an interesting mini-doc on a violent Quebec hockey league, the LNAH: Touches on enforcers, pain, race, etc.

Nice! And happy birthday, Bio! Hopefully all the house/work stuff works out to be a nice bday present :)

Well, dude, obviously I did something wrong to motivate the stabbing! I deserved it! My brain is a labyrinth of stupid. Awww c'mon now. I'm an illustrator or a designer, thank you very much! :lol: But yes, you are absolutely right. The hard part now is holding it together and not getting too depressed at the application process. I've never felt so stressed out- this is probably the largest decision I've made on my own in my life. Heh, update: 9 of my coworkers just left to go party until Tuesday together for one of their birthdays. The office is nice and quiet now... and I'm stuck with this bucket load of "emergency" work.... which I just now realized is their work....

This is generally my philosophy. However, at my current workplace, half the company lived together at some point (they seriously named the house they lived in after teh company), have been best buddies since freshman year in college, and break up with their significant others in order to "spend more time together". They drink 4x a week together, go to music festivals on the company's dime and do drugs, and generally think NOT being in their weird incestuous cuddle puddle means there's something wrong with you. My god, I just want to work somewhere where I can be friendly with everyone, but not feel like I'm in a weird dorm situation. I crave professionalism. I crave respect. I want my boss to be my boss, not a potential Best Friend and Drinking Pal!

My god, that sounds so familiar. I brought up that we need another art director (we used to have 3 for about 12 people... now we have 1 for about 30), a few feedback issues, and that some kind of hierarchy would be good. As it stands, besides the AD, everyone is "equal". But they are not, because if you're a barstormers drinky pal, you're a lead. People in-fight over projects, and it becomes detrimental to work and timelines, as well as creating a tense atmosphere. I am the third most senior designer, I have been here 5 years, from the 13th employee (lucky lucky) to 48 people at its peak. I couched my arguments in good sense and gave alternative wiggle room solutions. Was told I would ruin the culture. Well.. dear... that's why half your company wants to leave, is the culture. It's sad, this boss is a good dude, he's just overwhelmed. The real boss doesn't care, we're his private piggy bank/ego trip. And I'm very upset with my friend for bringing this crap up over drinks. Don't. Drink. With. Your. Bosses. A little is fine. Like, 3x a year, Xmas, a party, and like, one other shindig. But becoming drinking buddies? Good job, you are now Part of the Problem. You can't use good judgement then.

Context- my best friend at work is leaving for a better job. Apparently she got drunk with the bosses last week and told them people were disgruntled in the company. Another person there told me she did not say names. I received a drunken text from my boss that night, asking me to meet with them the next day. My boss one by one pulled aside the people she's friends with, myself included. And it was the most unprofessional, terrible, witch hunting interrogation. He sat me down and tried to spin it as a catching up meeting, but then just kept asking "What's wrong". I was taken aback. So, I listed three major things that are affecting the designers at this company, things that no company worth its salt should allow to happen (all professional things, nothing social or about the toxic culture). He became increasingly defensive, and shot down every idea or comment. Not a "thanks for you feedback, we'll take that into consideration" but a "well, you're wrong. So what else is wrong". I asked if there was a problem, and he responded "no, no you're doing great, just, what's wrong". "I haven't really posted any complaints". "Well... so what's wrong." It made me feel so terrible, you ask for feedback, I give it to you, and you tell me it's stupid. You make me feel like a student caught vandalizing something. He said he feels I'm kind of the "pulse" of everyone there. Well... it would be horribly unprofessional of me to tell you the real problems, and you'd dismiss me as whiny if I did. He was clearly panicking. I found out later that the third in command is looking at leaving too. So that makes... 16 people if they actually go. Ten minutes after this, they had a shot making competition and all was sunny and light. Throw in my project manager cracking constant ma$turbation and porn jokes, being a sexist douche, and being one of the worst PMs I've ever worked with, and the clients being terrible and... well, at least they're not making me feel bad about leaving. I am honestly terrified to have the talk with them. I am afraid they will sabotage me some way.

RIP Oderus

The deal is, I don't know Buffalo, so d4rk's in charge. My/our wishlist, as I think was stated above; Pets allowed (we have one cat). Second story would be a plus, our furry idiot pi$$e$ all over the place if he so much as sees or smells another feline. I can handle it if we can't pull that. Decent area. This is most important to me. I've lived in downtown Rochester and been assaulted a couple times and broken into, and that was in a "nice" area (NOTA). I've been grabbed living in the suburbs too, so I realize it's not something I can totally plan for, but the less iffy the better. On site or in apt laundry. I don't wanna deal with laundromats. Green area- Currently have a lot of paths in the apt complex. It's a luxury, I realize. 2 bedrooms. As I have no clue who in the blessed city will take me, I don't know what I can afford. I'm guessing about 500 each a month is our limit, however. If I end up halving my current salary because my luck sucks, I won't be able to do that. I don't want roommates. I need my space. I'm done with roommates. Besides d4rk, of course. Lofts are fine, style doesn't matter too much to me, I do love windows/openness but of course, I can ignore all these things if it's temporary before we move or buy a house or something. A balcony would be amazing. I honestly don't want to think about it for about 3 weeks. I need to focus on not killing myself over portfolios, applications, cover letters and rejection right now. d4rk is heading this ship, I'll probably be happy with just about anything. I just don't know the city, I don't know the roadways, I don't know really anything about any of it. And I have no clue if I can find a job, and if I can, where it will be.

Last weekend d4rk and I camped at Hamlin Beach. We went out to do some fishing around 730-8 am and were met with a completely still, glass surfaced lake, with no discernable horizon. A haze left it peaceful and eerie, only broken by waterbirds. I've never seen a lake that calm before. iPhone camera doesn't do it justice.

Texting. All those kids, snapchattin' and yik yakkin' and dick pic'in... I guess it's an addition to the "LOL" style lexicon.

OHHH I get it. It's a visual. The 0 is the head, 7 is the arm up in a salute position. 007 would be a good doubleheader!

The one that's starting to get on my nerves.... Slay. As in, SLAY QUEEN, SLAAAAYYYY. As in, you are a fierce woman, knock 'em dead with your awesomeness. Often found with anything related to Queen Bey (Beyonce), who I also don't really understand, but that's another thing entirely. Unless it is in this context. Another that I used to use but am now tiring of is Yaaaaas. As in yes. Often found in conjunction with SLAY QUEEN SLAAAYYYY. It was kinda cute and silly here.. now overused.

Woo! I started a new series of art stuff this week to bolster my portfolio before I go after jobs. It's rust belt themed, and people reaaallllly seem to dig it so far. My profile is my first one, good ol' Buffalo. Rochester, Toledo, Detroit and Cleveland are next. aaand d4rk and I are going camping this weekend. Do a lot of nothing, fishing, and nothing. It'll be nice.

This is amazing. Good luck!

Aw honey, here ya go

The expression my cat makes when a huge thundercloud booms right overhead. His eyeballs get so big. It's hilarious. However, his claws digging into my flesh- not so awesome. Also, I wish I'd had this video in my life when I went pantsuit shopping ;)

I never could quite get that angle. That portrait is the story I tell my students that sometimes, an angle/composition just fights you, and it's ok. I really do plan to paint you a better one someday. It's been like... 4 years since I painted that one, I've improved a lot since then.

Dang. I wanna paint that. With some like water nymph or something.

We've got a mule at the rescue. Someone named her Jolene, so now i have to sing Dolly Parton songs around her. She is MASSIVE. And very very sweet. Saved her from the kill pen- she's in rough shape. Probably needs to put on another 400 pounds. But here she is eating a tree... Those skinny tiny horse legs behind her belong to a normal sized mare we saved along with her. I love draft sized animals. Gentle giants.

I've been wanting to play Overwatch for a while now, and now one of my friends keeps sending me screenshots of this guy: Lucio has two hockey skins. :)

haha you're all very sweet. Sorry to put you in an awkward situation. I guess it's worth the realization that a lot of people out there (not just girls) feel that way all the time, and we suck at taking compliments. Believe it or not, I've come a LooOOooOoong way. Figuring out why I became this way has helped. d4rk listening to me instead of just going "Oh shut up, you're fine, I'm sick of it" was what I needed. Though that's necessary from time to time as well! I used to starve myself and all kinds of stupid counterproductive stuff. Landed in the hospital a couple times, helped contribute to a heart attack at 15. Now i just whine and vent and complain at strangers and acquaintances on the internet. :P Back to your regularly scheduled athletic thread: People, be sure you're drinking enough water. It is effing humid out there. No, beer doesn't count! Sincerely, someone who doesn't drink enough h2o while exercising and is learning the effects....

That sounds good. It's going to be 90 and I have to work outside. I better come home to a cold six pack of those :P

I had Ducks v Caps final. Ugh.