Willo O'Brien

Make sure you go out & vote today!!

grr!!! I’m all aggravated right now.

A couple weeks ago my car stereo got stolen… not to mention about 25 of my favorite CD’s, the case they were in – and some cell phone accessories (hands free, charger, etc). That was shitty in itself because this is probably the 4th car stereo I’ve gotten stolen in this city and if I could get my hands on one of them thieves they would be seriously black and blue.

However, since I can’t – and usually no amount of anger and frustration will make it all any better, I just have to move forward and pick up the pieces. First goal of course being getting a new car stereo. Conveniently enough with my full coverage, AAA has this great service where they can send someone out to me and replace the car stereo. “Nice”, I’m thinkin, “I don’t have to go shopping, I can just tell them what I want, and it’ll all get taken care of for me.”

Well, today they came out to replace it. I had told them everything I wanted and today while leaving the install guy at my car, it crossed my mind that I should look at the stereo he’s about to install – but then I figured, “nah, of course it’s going to be fine – it’s a Kenwood, CD player, plays MP3, detachable face – it’s everything I asked for.”

Well, I forgot to remind myself how *tacky bling bling* they’re making stereos these days, and an hour later I find that he’s installed a CD player – and it all sounds great and has some cool features BUT the stupid thing is really made much for a lowrider gangsta that likes his shit all silver and hoochied out. CRAAAP!!!!!!! It looks sooo tacky and I just hate it!!!

First of all my dash is all black – and it looks so LAME having a silver stereo in there (GAG!). Luckily I can turn off some of the bling bling display – but I hate that it’s a flip down (I SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR FRONT ENTRY PLAYER!!!) ARG!!! And the stupid volume knob looks like it’s supposed to resemble some kind of flashy hubcap. (maybe not that bad, but it’s got studs all around it that light up blue and it’s just soo tacky!! BLAH!!!!!)

I know I’m just being a big baby right now and because it’s not *exactly* what I wanted (poor me) and the fact that I’ve had to deal with this whole mess and now have a stereo that I don’t like and have lost hundreds of dollars in other stuff that’s NOT covered by my insurance and that it’s SILVER and not black and everything is just SUCKY!

I know it’s not that bad, but I just had to get it out cuz now I’m all cranky and feel like any minute I just might get down on the floor and start kicking my feet and banging my fists and having a full force 4 year old temper tantrum.

I want to sell my car more than ever now. hmph :( :(

Tuesday: Decemberists

Thursday: Rogue Wave

Friday: I get to see Dave Attell! WAHOO!!!

There are a TON of great shows right now… this whole summer has been amazing!

Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming to Oakland on 10/17 w/ Flaming Lips opening… but (sadly) I think I’m gonna miss it. $50 is just so much (I’m gettin spoiled on these $10 local venue shows) and I decided I could probably live w/o seeing this show at a huge coliseum, and save that money for our girls trip to LA instead.

I am however SO going to go see The Strokes/Kings of Leon show. They’re still more on the pricey ticket side and still at a larger venue than these great small ones around here, but it’ll be worth it. I’ve been wanting to see both of those bands live – especially The Strokes. I actually just scored the new Strokes album (not even released yet!!) aaawww yaaa!!! I’m psyched to get familiar w/ those songs too, it’ll make the show so rockin!

Next I need to buy my Modest Mouse/Shins tickets – and I need to get tix to Peaches, too. That’s an experience I don’t wanna miss! :)

I have a lot of updating to do on the calendars, but no time today! Ciao!

One of the CD’s Kristin let me borrow is the Pixies. I haven’t listened to the Pixies since I was in High School and I’m thrilled to get some of their stuff again. I put in a whole bunch of CD’s this morning and as I’m sitting here IMing w/ Jane, “Wave of Mutilation” just came on and it is totally TAKING ME BACK!! I was madly in love with Christian Slater and watched the movie Pump Up the Volume over and over and over again with my friend Drew. We were soo close to starting up our own pirate radio station. Wave of Mutilation was on the soundtrack – the whole CD kicked ass.

Damn, those were the days.

Today I’m busy trying to get a little work done, but also doing laundry, going grocery shopping, and cleaning up all in time for a little dinner soiree de chateau willo. I’m looking forward to having the ladies over for some yummy salmon and wine before we all head down to the FRAY day event. Are you going?

I’m excited to finally be going this year. I’ve seen it fly by me the last couple years and have meant to go… this year is extra fun since so many of these peeps are new found friends, too!

Now if it would only warm up outside! Ok, off for a warm cuppa joe and to start my day.

I’m on this list where people post their Friday 5 (“5 things rockin my world this week” type of thing). Well, I had never posted anything, but lately I do have a lot to be happy about – and it’s even apparent in that I’ve noticed I can’t stop saying the phrase, “That’s fantastic!”.

So, with that I give you… my virgin Friday 5 list:

1. My kick ass new music friends Rick & Jem – yay for finally finding peeps that are as PSYCHED as I am to go see new/live music (several times a week) hell yaaaa!!!!! Kristin K. definitely gets honorable mention here too :)

2. The Stills, The Kills and The Thrills (The Stills were GREAT lastnight at 330 Rich’s popscene!)

3. Heavy compilations

If you all don’t know about Heavy, you’ve been missin out. I’ve been subscribed to heavy since the beginning – a couple years now – and it’s excellent and only getting better!! For only $40/year they send you so much kick ass shwag every month (cds & now free XLR8R mag for a couple months too) One of my favorite CD’s right now is their hvy.sumosonic.15 compilation (track list)

4. Soy lattes – I’ve never had a foofie drink in the coffee dept till recently and I’m hooked

5. The electric blanket my mom sent me a year ago (forgetting I don’t live in colorado anymore) that I wasn’t into using and has been sitting in my closet… but now that it’s been so damn cold I finally broke it out & it’s DREAMY! going to take a nap now to prepare for show tonite: Film School/Thee More Shallows/Citizens Here and Abroad

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update: the show tonite was good – Film School/Thee More Shallows/Citizens Here and Abroad/(we didn’t stay for Cordero)

Our friend Chris is in Citizens Here and Abroad & being the avid lover of the drums that I am, I was psyched to finally get out & see him play. He also plays in Dealership. He’s extremely talented – and a happy drummer at that… it’s like a dance and he’s just enjoying the heck out of it all… so cool.

(p.s. I cheated again cuz I wanted this to post as a Friday post. I really wrote this at 1:15am)

Night!

Some fun news to kick off October, is that lil’ ol’ me is in the Spotlight this month on FlashGoddess.com! wahoo!

It was great to talk about how I work with Macromedia Flash for my illustration and animation projects. And to finally talk about the big Flash animated cartoon project, Ridiculous Julia, I’ve been working on over this last year! I’ve kept it kinda hush for the most part… but now you can get the full scoop!

Having the spotlight go live makes me wish my site was more up to date, but as you’ll read in the spotlight interview my plate is (wonderfully) full right now. Among other things, I’ve been on a major deadline with a large redesign project – so there was no way I was going to have time to do any updates. I don’t even have the information about Ridiculous Julia on my site yet! (besides mentioning it in a post back in August)

I have a number of other things I need to update, too. Like, I just launched DavePaula.com, a wedding site for friends of mine, getting married in Kauai!. Plus, I have new illustrations that need to be put up – and a link to my corporate portfolio (that I’ve never posted openly until right this second)! See all these secrety things going on!? :)

A big thank you to Ann-Marie for selecting me as the FlashGoddess to be in the spotlight this month… I’m thrilled. And also, thanks to Jane for interviewing me, and helping make sense of it all. That woman is a whiz with words!

I promise I’ll do a big site update soon. Get on the list & I’ll be sure to let you know when it happens. Also, I love feedback, so feel free to email me and say hello!

sneakyvonsneakster: I try to post daily – but sometimes I don’t post till I get home from being out so I sneak it in by making it 11:59… ok, here we go…

Today was a great day! I got up and headed downtown – something I haven’t done in a long time! I had to go pick up some photos for a web project (actually mentoring a high school student, whose a BAM member and aspiring web designer). After finishing that up I headed over to see the wall painting in a children’s store in the Embarcadero. (It’s owned by the same people I spoke to on Saturday about doing a wall painting at their new store opening in Marin.) It was cool to see how this one was done – it’s a totally different style, but the application of it was a clever idea I might try.

Then while downtown I headed over to visit my friend David, who works at Military.com a couple days a week. I got the full tour of the .com (one of the last around, AND they make money! whoa!). It was fun to see an office that still had it good like the ol’ days. Slats of all different kinds of pop & juice – free food – and stuff everywhere like they’re just so damn busy they haven’t had time to organize it all better.

After pickin up a kickin burrito at El Faro for lunch, I finally came back home to chat w/ a few clients and take care of some business. Oh – and Matt came over to see Kazoobie too! Kazoo was psyched cuz ‘dad’ brought him some yuuuummy treats, a new mouse and kitty grass! wahoo! (or should I say, purrr)

Tonite Rick & I hit The Raveonettes show. Kittens for Christian opened – and Stellastar played between the two (whom we agreed probably took the cake out of the night actually). Raveonettes were good – didn’t rock our socks off, just ok.. but good (not sure I’d need to see them live again anytime soon, but it was entertaining.) Stellastar’s lead had a cool voice (almost Robert Smith meets David Byrne) – and they had a cool sound… total rockstar drummer that was actually pretty hot with his slick boy bare chest and sunglasses on. Very fun.

p.s. my cat just did the most hilarious thing: rarely do I see him use his litter box, since it’s in the bathroom behind the door (and actually this calls for a little more set up, so I’ll tell you it’s not only behind the door, but it’s squeezed in this convenient little space between the wall & my clawfoot tub) so tonite a little after I got home I had to pee really bad… well, apparently he did too cuz he came trotting in behind me and stepped into his litterbox. then – the funniest thing… after he was done peeing, he climbs out of the litterbox the other way, and crawls under the tub (clawfoot, remember) to come out the front again & then goes back to cover it up. quite the system he’s got!

A’ight – gotta hit the hay now – tomorrow’s a big day!! :)

I really wish I had a pop-tart right now. I LOVE pop-tarts. I know that they’re not even food, really – as much as some man-made sugar + perservatives concoction, but damn are they good. And actually the fact that I am so aware they’re so bad is the only reason I don’t have boxes stacked up in my pantry right now. Every time I’m at the store and I see them, I contemplate buying just one box… but the reason I don’t time after time is I just know that buying them means I’ll eat them – and really I don’t need one more thing I can snack on as I sit here on my ass all day. Plus, having a cold lately I’ve been skipping my hikes a bit more often – so adding a couple pop-tarts to that wouldn’t help anything! hahaa

I did this same thing with Fig Newtons. I love Fig Newtons… and honestly I really had myself convinced that they were good for me…. but lately I’ve been starting to admit and accept that they’re just as bad as cookies. Awhile back I bought a little lunch snack pack of them at the store, so I always had some around, could take them on the go and everything. But the snack packs make them come all long, like a two in one bar. Somehow they didn’t taste as good that way. But I think it helped me get over my cravings for them a little bit.

Ya, I hate to say it – but I think I need to go buy myself some pop-tarts.

update: eewww. I just went to go look up pop-tarts online – and there’s a bunch of gross new flavors. For the record, I just one the good ol’ fashioned strawberry frosted ones. not that those aren’t gross to some of you non-pop-tart lovers… but to me they’re sooooooo good. :)

I think I had enough fun last week with my 4 shows in 7 days to last me all weekend. Well, that and I’m still getting over this cold – so I wasn’t up for much but just laying low and getting better. I’m not sure how well that plan has worked though, cuz I still have a sore throat! It’s mild though… the kind that just reminds me I need to be getting to bed at a decent hour. (hech hemm, like now!)

Friday night Jane came over & we watched Bottle Rocket. Damn, I love that movie! I hadn’t seen in about a year – and all day Saturday I kept cracking up thinking about a few parts in the movie… Like when Anthony meets Inez… and how when Anthony was supposed to be taking notes when they’re scouting out the Cold Storage place, but when Dignan asks what he’s working on, he shows him this whole little flip-book animation he’s been drawing… and Dignan is all supportive (not even noticing he hadn’t been taking notes). so funny…

Jane surprised me with a bag full of Drawn & Quarterly’s too! I am so excited (and happily returned the favor by doling out a few of my favorite reads from my bookshelf.)

Since Friday night I’ve already finished 2 of the ones she lent me, and am half way through 2 others. I’m loving them (Adrian Tomine’s work is awesome). They’re such a nice mental escape… they’re quick reads, and the illustrations are wonderful to follow. I love seeing their line style, and how they’ve set the scene. They’re very talented to have the skills to not only draw, but to also write and direct their stories out. I can just imagine it takes loads of time and serious dedication. I need to get myself to the next Comic Book convention… I’ve missed 2 here already this year.

Saturday I went up to Marin & spoke with a store owner about doing a custom wall painting for their new kids clothing store. I also (luckily, since it was Saturday!) got to touch base with the woman at the Daycare I’m scheduled to do a painting for, too – and got to see my friend David & sweet little Marissa & Zach! yay!

Saturday night Jee had us over for an amazing Korean dinner. Her Mom is in town and it was quite a treat to eat authentic home-made Korean food. It was also great to catch up with some of the “full moon girls” and meet Jee’s cutie friends Patrick & Dave.

That leads us up to today. Despite it being Sunday, today was a full force work day for me, complete with going to get my new favorite coffee drink: A double-shot soy latte. YUM! Who knew I’d find a delicious combination that I don’t even need to put cream & sugar in! It’s so perfectly sweet & creamy on it’s own – soo good! :) It’s an extra $1.50 over my normal cup ($1), so I try to only treat myself to it a couple times a week – that way it’s extra special and fun too!

I should go out & move my car right now as they’re starting some horrible construction tomorrow morning and they’ve posted signs saying we need to be moved by 7am (ugg!!) but it’s so late I might just set the alarm early, move it & then come climb back in bed.

Which reminds me I need to get to sleep!! Night!