For Jenn for Christmas, I made her a completely hand made box. How hand made? Like hand tools, like carved the wood with a scalpal not even a saw. The only power tool I used was an air powered nail gun to hold it together. I wanted to make her a chest to be used as a jewelry box or a memory box or whatever, but I wanted it to be symbolic of everythign that is us. I think it came out well, the plan was to build a box out of masonite, then frame it with carved balsa wood which I'd stain and finish to harden. The inside was felted with velvet and the bottom has a blue felt so it won't scratch the ground. I used brass fittings for the hinges and latch. I didn't take a lot of in progress pictures, so check out what I did do. It took a LONG time, and the carving was so much mess and work all over my parent's house. I first lightly drew on the balsa, then carved out the big chunks, then shaved to give it perspective. This is an awesome showcase of my woodworking skillz, and I think I've showcased both my artistic and my electronic skills, I proved my metal skills on the supercomputer, and my acrylic skills on the cube. I'm a penta-threat. Biotch.

I carved all the balsa wood with a scalpal, formed it to fit exactly around the hard masonite box. One of the things Jenn and I love is bowling, so I made one of the sides of the lid about bowling. How's it look?

We do puzzles a lot, so the other side of the lid is puzzle pieces. I like that I left a few cut out, makes it more authentic. Carving out the whole inside to make it just less deep as the border was a pain, but it is worth it.

The felted inside of the top, with the balsa showing through on the bottom. I basically felted the pieces with a 1/4 inch border with no felt before I assembled them, so it'd all go together with glue and nails.

Another angle of the lid, I think the felt looks really professional.

The inside of the main box, you can see framing with the balsa on the sides.

The front, JL for Jennifer Landers, and a pumpkin since her nickname is punkin. The jagged thing at the top is for the latch to connect to. Does that look like a pretty realistic pumpkin?

The camping scene, this was the first one I did, I think it's one of the neater ones.

This inscription on the back took an hour and a half to do. Just to show you how long this process is.

"Merry Christmas, With Love, Joe, 12-25-2005"

This was by far the hardest and most intricate one. TV, movies, and video games, it's what we're all about. But it took so long and I had to repair those little pieces so many times!

The top of the box, I had to cut angles into strips of balsa to make it founded like that, then used the scalpal to smooth the corners.

So, I finished it and stained it and gave it to Jenn, and Jenn took these finished pics. Front, side, with latch on. Notice the felt on the bottom.

Side, back, with hinges. I slopped the finish and stain on to make it seem like an ancient pirate chest or something, I think it looks pretty authentic.

Other side and hinges.

And again.

And again.

I rock the freakin hizzouse.

Things got to the point where they just weren't working out, I went through a period where I didn't think I wanted to do student affairs anymore (still not completely sold), I went through a period where I wanted to leave Tallahassee immediately, went through a period where I didn't want to be alive. And almost wasn't. But now is a time for permanant changes, which will subtly be announced here. Needless to say, I am described as having mild to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety, with possible future looking into ADHD. For all the undergraduate time I spent studying where drugs can go wrong, I'm now one of those people on meds. I don't know where they'll take me, hopefully it'll be somewhere else, but the most important thing is not succuming to the wants, desires, or expectations of others. For now, I feel very sedated and drowsy, and kind of agitated. Coming back from a great weekend at the mouse land right back into my pit of despair hit me harder than it needed to, especially with the anxiety of taking my first pill the night we got home. One day, maybe I'll have my shit together, but I could talk for hours about my problems and all I'd do is come off as more self centered than I already am, which you'd find is an impressive feat to the people around me.

Phat Pillz

New Pictures

So, I hit a wall. Long story short, I'm in psych counseling trying to get stuff back in order, and I'm moving, somewhere between 3 weeks ago and 3 weeks from now. Not much to say, but there is good news, they fixrd the hole in the wall of the kitchen!

Phat Hole

Well, here's the solution. Fuck the old apartment, the guys were nice but that's not enough to keep me in that shithole, victim to a rent increase and a severely tiring and inconvenient weekend, I moved into a new apartment. Here's some images.

Walking into the apartment, you can see the living room. People live there.

This is the first part of the living room, you can see the couches (not infected/ripped up/nonexistant). You can see some of the table action, and that's the door to Rachel's room.

The welcoming living room, with the door to the patio. You can see the table and the armchair, and some of teh Baron's new location. The drafting table is back there too.

This is the next part of the room where you get to see the entertainment center. It's neat. You can see the Baron and the window he gets to look out of. He's happy.

The entertainment center I bought, 150 bucks, and the 27 inch TV, 20 bucks. Plus, Rachel and I have a few thousand DVD's so now we can display them prettily.

What's that, the door and nook to Joe's room? right next to the front door? More to come.

Half one of the kitchen. It's near my room, you'll see.

Half two of the kitchen. BWOOP.

Well, I'm kind of tired of writing captions, so they're getting shorter. Nook in front of my door, guitars, blah.

Enter my room, see pretty color, wow, bed, lamp, part of desk, and little nightstand.

Bed, Desk, SUperstructure, Dresser with TV on it, notice the nice framed pictures.

Moving around, see the closet, and more of the dresser with the YV on it.

Closet open side 1.

Closet open side 2.

Matrix poster and bathroom door on the same side as the entry door.

Moof.

Bathroom picture 1.

Bathroom picture 2.