So a good day for me today, but not so good for the blog readers (because I was actually accomplishing stuff for once!)... Peter was kind enough to leave his mac at home for me today (thank you!!!) So I could finally feed my craving for some Creative Suite (yes, I know, its pathetic!)

I went down to the cafe on the corner (I'm going to bankrupt myself on going out to work in coffee shops, why do I have to be soooo much more efficient when I'm out? It's not cheap!) Anyway, I went to the Decadence Cafe (or Decadent Cafe, or something like that), which was very nice, and even had a nice long, empty counter to spread out on so I could keep the drink faaaar away from the not mine computer :)

I started my entry for that digital art competition, and managed to make the 'graph' for the host, which should be the most complicated one because she has interactions with just about every person each time the food is served. For the other people, however, they just need to comment once, and so will only interact with her during the food portion (I'm not going to 'mark' conversations in that area, or it will get waaaaaay too complicated!!!)

I'm pretty happy with the way it's looking so far - I drew from the Bahamian logo (still my all time favourite!) as the inspiration for the type of colours I'm using - drawing heavily from the 'jewel tones' colour palatte. Since I've made up mini personalities for each person, their colour draws on the type of person I see them being, but all of the tones have the same general feeling. I also had my most success ever with that pesky pen tool today, so all in all, fairly successful start to the project!

Came back home, and worked on nikkitate online for awhile, which is coming along - I've had to 're make' a little bit of it, because a key file didn't transfer over onto my ipod, so while I have the files to a point, I basically just need to drag and drop images and text into a new webpage. Luckily, iweb is super easy to use, so it's not taking too long.... I also set up the official Nikki Tate Online shop today at amazon... They're pretty organized with this stuff over there!

Speaking of Mom, talked to her today and got filled in on the winter which has hit Victoria and the lower mainland with a vengeance! Stories of cars in ditches, cats up to their chins in snow (they're inside now!), pigs grunting under straw and sleeping bags, horses with icicles on their butts... All very dramatic! They just got their power back, but have no internet, and were boiling water over the fire for tea - how back to the turn of the century!

When Mom was coming home from Vancouver on the weekend (luckily in the truck), she waited for hours at the ferry terminal as they could only load one car at a time up the ramp - too many were getting stuck and sliding backwards! They had to hand pick the big vehicles like hers to get up there....Very exciting! Check into her blog in a few days, as snow pictures are sure to be posted when they get their internet back!

Peter was out at a dinner thing tonight, so I just made myself some food (scrambled eggs with onions, tomatoes and Havarti cheese, with fries), and watched one of my TED talks podcasts... It was by the author of Freakenomics, and discussed how gangs are similar to McDonalds in their 'corporate structure', and also how crappy a job it is to 'work' in a gang... If you are in a gang for 4 years in Chicago, you have a 25% chance of dying. The death rates in the gang they studied are twice those of the soldiers in Iraq right now... Interesting stuff! (if a bit shocking)

Hmmm...what else? Started the next book on my pile - The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which is good so far, only about 50 pages in so far though... Peter just got home, so since I won't be able to work anymore tonight, I'll probably read a bit more...

As for the rest of the week, Peter and Hitomi are going to U2 tomorrow night, so I might go check out the Pecha Kucha night at super-deluxe... Thursday night I have a Pilates class with the Tokyo Gaijins, so Friday I won't be able to move, and then the weekend, but I don't want to post all the interesting stuff now and not have you come back for the full report!

If anyone wants to see any of this party thing, which I know I'm not describing well, leave a comment and I can email it to you - I'm not allowed to post it, even on my blog, as per the rules of the competition it needs to be 'unpublished work'...

D