I can't think of an art store near me that's not a massive chain. Same with bookstores. I'd love to exercise the option. But the franchises are run by individuals--I've worked at one, and it was still a small business within a big business. There were individuals there too.

Oh! I have all these new pens to play with. At least I was able to hold off buying new paper. My craving for new paper is shameful. I blame my mother. She used to have a three foot wide roll of paper in her bathroom cupboard for us to peel off of, and it just fueled my expectation of paper on tap.

Why the fuck did she have that? Cool idea, though.

I used to get endrolls from the local newspaper printer for cheap.

My mother was kinda disdainful of the visual arts. She wanted us to be musical or sporty. She never encouraged me in drawing until I was in university--and then she overdid it. So she went from throwing away every drawing I gave her (no scratchings on our fridge door, nosirree) to framing shit on our walls that I really really want down. I now officially hate every drawing I've ever given them but one, but I can't convince her not to put it where people can see it. I'm horrified every visitor looks at them. Why'd she have to change?

I have one independent bookstore in walking distance and several more in biking (all mainly used, but carrying some new). I have one independent art supply in walking distance. I guess hosting a granola college trumps being a small hick town.

Yeah, I can't think of one, either, ita. Even in Berkeley we no longer had an independent art supply. It's all either Blick or Utrecht. Down here we lost PAS Graphics back in the early '90s, I think.

We've got some butcher paper here and it's what I'm using for my morning exercises.

It's a little work, but for cool paper for collage and sculptural stuff, you can soak a milk carton in water and peel off the thin plastic on either side. You get thick nubby paper. I used it as material for making a headdress for H'ween once.

Damn, I have no idea where I'm going to be able to go to get my costuming on this H'ween. *pout*

Last night's discussion prompted me to look for a watercolor of the Arlington veranda I painted in HS, which would fit well with the print and poster I already have hanging on the north wall of my living room and would allow me to finally have artwork of mine hanging in every room. No sign of it, though I turned up stuff I don't even remember creating and a bunch of posters belonging to a former roommate.

I hope it wasn't destroyed at some point. I think Mom would have it on display if it were still at my parents' house, and I know I didn't give it away to anyone else.

I think there's an independent secondhand bookstore near the Blick I just fell in love with (and there's a Utrecht near that--and an Aaron's near work, but that's mostly a framing store--the art supply section's not great), but it's pretty small. Honestly, other than Vroman's (did I finally remember the name of the store?) I can't think of a competitive LA independent bookstore. I've got more than one Borders and B&N near me, so I'm all booked up.

Most of my doodling is on printouts for work. Every print job is separated by a blank sheet, so we get a lot of blank paper lying around. I grab that. It's going to be tossed anyway--I tried feeding it back through the printed and it just jammed the feed, so no go on that.

I'm much more secure about my photography than my drawing. That I have up everywhere in my apartment. Well, not in my bedroom. For some reason, I'm hesitant about hanging stuff in my bedroom. All I have up on the walls there is the Surrender The Booty flag Allyson gave me.

My parents have up a self-portrait and a portrait of my sister that I'd rather just burn. The portrait of Arthur Ashe I still actually like, and they can keep that.

Nothing will make me a football fan, but I'm listening to my sister yelling at the TV watching the Iowa vs Iowa State game. She went to both.

Apparently the Iowa State team decided to play as the Cyclowns today. They got a 15 yard penalty because one player ran out of his shoe.

Went to the toy store and bought a 64 crayon Crayola box. Coulda gotten it a buck cheaper at Rite Aid, but I'd rather support an indie business. Did my meeting. Picked up a 3 drawer plastic organizer thingie for $10 and because I was riding my Xtracycle, could actually take it home with me. Answered questions about the Xtracycle from a man and his sons. Lunch. Now I'm tempted to nap but I should swim while it's still warm enough for the water to not be freezing.

You've got an Xtracycle, Spidra? How do you like it?