roboppy.net

I went to the MOCCA Art Festival yesterday and went on a irrational buying spree (not that buying sprees are every rational). I left Poughkeepsie with four people and another person from Vassar met up with us when we got to the festival. I met up with Diana and Amy, a friend from my Japanese class. When I walked into the building my first impression was "HOLY CRAP, so much stuff SO MUCH STUFF!" This place was pretty huge, with three rooms bursting at the seems with indie comic goodness. I was just filled with happiness being in a place with other people who liked to draw fun stuff and and and...yeah. Cartoonists are very friendly, it seems. Maybe it's because they're a happy population? ;D I bought a lot of random stuff, mainly from Top Shelf. Cute indie comics provide a burst of happiness, for me at least. One of the coolest things about the festival was getting to see the artists behind the comics and getting people to sign their stuff. ;D Todd Webb and Jeffrey Brown drew some cool stuff in my books.

After going to the festival all I want to do is draw comics. ...stupidly I haven't really drawn any more today. I should make it my goal to draw every day though and maybe, just may, learn how to draw A HUMAN. I can't draw humans. I mean, I can hardly draw anything besides the characters in Poofyville, and even then they come out pretty bad. If I could do Poofy related stuff for the rest of my life, I would be oh-so happy.

My Vassar friends and I went to Rice to Riches, a glorious shop that only sells rice pudding. I'm not a big rice pudding person but I haven't had it in ages and for some reason I really craved it, enough so that I would screw my raw food diet for a bit. I've done that before but never to eat a grain product or any kind of conventional dessert. Anyhoo, all the websites I went to said that the pudding was in the $4-$5 range when it's really $6 for a single serving that is really a double serving. So! I shared a pudding with Jeremy, opting for cinnamon and rocky road. The price of the pudding reflects what are hopefully good ingredients, clean facilities, and a really nicely designed interior, along with the utensils (cool shaped bowl and spoons). The idea of a rice pudding show sounds so funny, but it's like any ice cream shop...but with pudding instead of ice cream. Why didn't anyone think of it before? I like pudding more than ice cream. Pudding is always pudding when you are eating it. Ice cream turns into super sweet ice cream puddle while you are eating it.

We went back to the festival to pick up Diana, who was waiting in line to have Craig Thompson sign her new hardcover version fo Blankets. Oooh! Check out some photos she took here. Blankets made me feel nice n fuzzy inside. Kinda. Actually I just like the word "blanket" a lot. Soft, warm security. Mmm.

I wanted to stop by Toy Tokyo so the whole lot of us, seven people, headed to one of my favorite places...the East Village! Wee. I see it as a foodie haven. The store felt like it came straight out of Japan, with toys neatly lined up on the walls and glass cases with more toys inside. I would have liked to get something just as a souvenir but I figured any little plastic toy I bought would break pretty easily. Doh. Jeremy bought a cute little Yoshi wind-up toy. :) There was a section of robots and some Kubricks (nothing I really liked though) and just...lots of random stuff. A candy store of cute little Japanese toys. It reminded me of Akihabara.

Diana and I split from the rest of the group at this point to eat dinner at Quintessence. I ordered a raw hawaiian pizza (toppings: pine nuts, pineapple, and avocado) and Diana had burritos (with huge lettuce leaves replacing the bread). It was really good, but as I ate the ENTIRE THING, I felt like expoding/puking afterwards. Oops. Despite Diana and I feeling sufficiently blimpy, we also got desserts. ;D Humans are silly like that.

We went to Etherea after that with the intention of getting a little exercise and instead I ended up buying some stuff (Syrofoam album and a Markant record) along with picking up some free promo posters from their pile of stuff (Sondre Lerche and Mum).

By this time I realized...crap, I don't have much time to get to the station. I called Jeremy and found out they were quite a distance away from a subway, like me. I semi panicked when I couldn't find the uptown 6 train when I got to Lafayette, and then again when I got on the 6 train and it was being pokey. Then when I got to Grand Central and didn't see any of my friends, I figured they all got on the train. Lovely...but where is the train? AHH DAMMIT! I couldn't find gate 30 and ran around like a chicken without a head. My backpack's zipper started opening at some point and all my stuff fell out of my bag. When I say "all" I mean...lots of stuff. Jeremy's Yoshi toy fell out and I hadn't noticed, but while i was running around a lady picked it up and gave it back to me! Damn, lucky for Jeremy. I would've felt horrible if I lost it. By the time I ran down to the train, legs turning into jello-like substance, I dropped my crap AGAIN and literally tossed it onto the train, feeling very bad for the conductor in the front. But I made it to the 7:04 train with all my body parts intact, except for my stomach which felt like it was gonna blow at any second (keep in mind that I was doing a lot of running and I'm not fit to do so!).

I found a three seater and laid down on it, reeking of sweat and feeling pukey. But. I made it! Commence frantic calling to friends.

...they didn't make the train. Crap! No biggie, I'd just wait for them when I got to the station. They had trouble finding the right subway station too. I really wish I had known because then I wouldn't have gone so goddamn crazy trying to get on the train! I think my lungs were going to explode. And that I'd die. DIE. Death. But I'm glad they all made it at least. Maybe I shouldn't have left them in the city without a map. :\

Good day. Fun times. Stuffed myself with food. Tomorrow starts the 5 day fast and herbal cleanse. The last part! Ah!

Oh yes, you gotta see the photos. I actually put them all up for once!