Daniellephant Chronicles 1: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! Today is a new day, and I have decided that I want to be the best elephant I can be!

In 2011, I want to do awesome things like…

I hope you all enjoy this new and glorious year!

Best,
Daniellephant

Falling up!

Have you ever blinked bravely up into a wet sky, and felt the drops soar past your face or graze your cheek? Did you ever feel like you were the one falling, dropping down from the ground into the clouds? Did you ever wonder why something Falling Down could make you Look Up?

Today is the First Really Rainy Day of the season! This is a momentous day for us P. Northwesterners, folks! Even if you’re shaking your fist at the clouds, shaking your head in despair, or shaking the raindrops off your jacket, this is our beautiful lot for the rest of the winter!

Today, I like the rain.

I think the people of Whatcom County end up being as bipolar as their weather sometimes; somedays we love the grey, others we simply can’t get out of bed when it’s pitch black at 6:30 in the morning, when all you can see is the menacing obsidian pools rippling and swaying and threatening to devour all semblance of joy in your life. Other days, we decide that it’s a ‘perk’ of Northwest living and decide that tea never tasted better than on a rainy morning.

(By the way, tea does taste the best on a rainy morning.)

I confess I’ll probably commence moaning and groaning when we’ve had two relentless months of it.

But not today!

Today I am Falling Up!

palindrome!

Today is Palindromic Number Day! (Woohoo I just made that up…) The date is 10-20-2010! :D

10202010…okay, not TOTALLY a palindrome, but…whatever. I was excited until logic kicked in.

8(

I think I should change the name of this blog to Palindromic Pachyderm. Or perhaps Palindromic Pachyderm Paraphernalia.

Mm.

when your heart is spirited away

Every time I watch Spirited Away I feel like the world weighs ten times as heavy on my heart and mind–Miyazaki so pain-stakingly captures details in his masterpieces that it’s almost a burden to take it all in. Almost as if he, through the film, calls you to a life of closer appreciation.

I forgot how busy college is! This is the first time in my life that sociability might actually affect my grade; therefore I hardly have enough time to satisfactorily complete assignments, much less blog posts. :P

Here are some themes I’m going to ponder these coming months:

• To the end of October: Fall(ing)
• First half of November: Sustenance
• Second half of November: Gratitude vs. Gratification
• First half of December: Returning
• Second half of December: Death
• First half of January: Rebirth
• Second half of January: Understanding

When I say ponder, I mean that I really really really want to interact in some creative way with these topics, but don’t know if I’ll have any time in which to do so! We’ll see!

I think the person I want to most meet in the whole world is Miyazaki. He’s such an enigmatic, powerful creator.

Five Things to Listen to When Drawing

I am a veritable fount of mucous right now, on account of being sick. My apologies for the excessive report, but I am exuding grumpiness towards every living thing as well as the Internet.

So instead of reading Walter Ong’s Orality & Literacy, which is good stuff but about as dense as a 50-pound Persian feline that doesn’t want to be cuddled, I am blogging to the unfortunate readers of this unfortunate post.

Woe…

Five Things That I Enjoy Listening To Whilst Drawing

1. 
   Due to my barbaric upbringing by wolves in a cave south of Basque Country, I didn’t watch Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame until quite late in life. (17 years of age!) That being said, I would’ve listened to this surprisingly poignant and enjoyable sampling much more often. (Poignant, of course, in relation to Disney’s prior fare–not in comparison to Hugo’s actual novel.) From the pacific Latin harmonies, to the mischevious festival music, to Quasimodo’s tremulous freedom song to Frollo’s unfortunately AWESOME rave/rant, this soundtrack is remarkable in its variety as much as in its cohesiveness.

   It’s just too much fun to belt “HELLFIRE” at the top of your lungs. Especially when your pencil tears through the paper.

2. 
   A primary staple of my pop-culture diet is Switchfoot. You could probably read that sentence as, “The only normal thing I listen to is Switchfoot.” I really enjoy all of their albums (except for Nothing is Sound), but sometimes Oh!Gravity keeps me awake and drawing longer than say, New Way to Be Human or The Beautiful Letdown.

   Plus, you can spend HOURS looking at the super-trippy album cover! I think I have, before! :D

3. 
   (As a disclaimer, I’ve never looked up the English lyrics to these songs and have no idea of their literal content. They’re just pretty.)
   This is a delightfully French/beatnik/romantic album that inspires the urge to dine on coffee and crossaints all day. The gently gritty percussion blends well with the suave vocals and sax, and one is left craving those buttery pastries, chocolatey brews, and cafe-friend conversations for hours afterward…
4. 
   Feeling particularly tempestuous, Gothic, or desirous of some powerful male vocals? Let James Barbour sweep you away in his cranky but oh-so-marvelous Rochester in Jane Eyre, the musical! Let the gypsy mystify you with her glimpses of the future! Feel as Jane feels, fight for you freedom! Weep with Helen as she bears all things! Mock Blanche, the ditzy diva as she deals with her entitlement issues!

   Adventure, romance, and James Barbour await you in this masterful classic!

5. 
   And last but not least, we have Gaelic Storm! It’s like Celtic Women, only not Celtic, and without the Women! And it’s not slow, or syrupy, or particularly balladic…

   Okay! It’s not like Celtic Woman at all! :D

   Gaelic Storm is probably one of the only groups that has ever made drinking excessive amounts of alcohol look attractive to me. Seriously. Amid the ever-so-sweet nostalgia and celebratory Irishness, there is a CONSTANT (and I mean, constant!) flow of moonshine from knee-slappin’ ditty to knee-slappin’ ditty.

   BUT it’s rhythmic, and folksy, and catchy, and oddly reflective, and sweet, and Irish! Their previous album, Bring Yer Wellies, is my particular favorite, but the cover for Cabbage  is hilarious. (Bring Yer Wellies’ “Kiss Me I’m Irish” manages to bring new affection to the old cliche. It’s really fun)

So that is that, my friends!

Now I must read about the beautiful dystopia that is Japan.

Love,
DEP

first day of school!

yes, it was!

hello, WWU!

pt. whitehorn

Pt. Whitehorn

The beautiful dichotomy

Of sky and earth, earth and sea,

Tree and ground and ground and me

Furling, furious ferns collide

And lichen stands its ground.

Each fighting for its life and pride

As silent battles sound

Have you pride? Have you life?

The root is ever pulled

Ever thinned

How much more shallow

Does life seem

When drowned in silver

Lost the means

Can’t find it on your TV screen.

What forces have you, deep unseen?

Since when were you so Angry, green?

Since when did the forest, not of peace

But chaos, tumult, craze release?

Earth meets soil meets sky meets tree

Meets brown meets green meets autumn leaf

And the stones cry out along the shore

Stop, please stop, we can take no more.

Erosion is not for only us

We understand its ways.

What about you? Leaf and tree?

Your life is fleeting

And perhaps that is an excuse.

Do not regret the passing days

Your death

Will sink to the floor

Of the forest

Of the universe

And we too

We will drown to the bottom of the ocean

And find the reason for our days.

Our salty, weathered days.

fickle…

likely to change, esp. due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable

Yah! From the Old English ficol to our present near-homonym of a fermented cucumber, this catchy word is brought to you today by all the aforementioned; caprice, irresolution AND instability! :D

Lame.

So sorry for the non-existent posting this week–I figure it wouldn’t matter so much except that I said I would, and that’s the worst part! :( Apologies for the fickleness!

Anyways, I don’t want to make this post any duller by continuing to bemoan my own flaws!

Lately I’ve been feeling quite the drifter! Detached, unanchored, floating along in the pleasant but somewhat lonely escapades of all the lovely and great people I’ve met here in Washington.

One of the best things that moving has settled in my heart is that Earth is certainly not my home. And I suppose that is the only sense of ‘settledness’ I should need. (Esp. since it’s not simply a sense, but a truth as well!)

Hey, if that isn’t a good excuse for fickleness I don’t know what is! :)

Thanks for your patience, friends!

See ya’ll on Monday!

~DEP

P.S. After next week, the blog will continue to update, but probably only on Fridays. Just so you know!

erm

Today is really scatterbrained and unproductive feeling…

In honor of that, and because I want to do a good job, I’ll be posting today’s post tomorrow! :P :) Sorry about that!

Enjoy todaaay! :D
~DEP

ahhh today is so laaazy!

I can’t wait for school to start! I am unabashedly green with envy at all you university-goers who start in AUGUST.

D:

Well, I don’t know.

Today is an art day, right?

Clicking on pictures make them bigger, so you can see all of my lazy mistakes.

Sorry for the bad handwriting. (It’s not supposed to make any sense, anyways. :P :)

Consider yourself–FORESHORTENED! (A note about drawing that particular hand pose: It is difficult to look at your own hand like that without a mirror. I would suggest asking someone else to do it for you, or at least make sure you are alone in the room when you start twisting your arm in order to see it…)

So, I think it was good for me to try and post three times a week–not sure it’s the best schedule for when school starts, but it’s fun for now.
OH OH OH MONDAY IS GOING TO BE VERY EXCITING.

I can’t wait! :D

In other news, permit was got this week–haven’t crashed into anything yet, and most of the potential roadkill has graciously scampered on surfaces elsewhere than in  front of my vehicle. *_*

Have a great weekend, everybody!
~DEP