Memories

I was cleaning out my closet the other day when I came across a box full of all of these great photos of myself in high school. It sure is crazy to see what I looked like then in comparison to what I look like now. What I don't understand is that crazy little white bar at the bottom... We didn't even HAVE the internet back when all of these photos of me were taken. Let alone URL's for that matter!!

Ho,ho,ho. And, for the sake of blogging and preserving the obvious nostalgia of this situation, I scanned all of those photos onto this here compyewtur for your viewing pleasure. You know, seeing as I'm sixteen and all and now planning my funeral and whatnot and dustin' off my AARP membership card, I figures I should have something for my grand kids to remember me by.

Oh man, just look at me in this one. I sure was a smooth operator back in my day. I made mom jeans and floral couches look so good.

Looky here! It's me and the ol' chess club! Dominating state champs of '73! Kenneth, Barb, and Steve sure knew how to checkmate. I remember that after this photo was taken, we all got into this crazy-intense chess match, which ended in Barb's arm amputation. Steve ended up as a John Stamos impersonator in Modesto, last I heard. Kenneth is a hair bleach salesman. Man, my bangs looked great in this picture.

This is me back in my olde athletic participant days. When I was younger and more spry {as pictured} I had a patterned baldness disorder in which my hair grew naturally from the scalp, balded just below, and started growing again in a fringe that covered the eyebrows and had a different hair color and texture than the hair growing on my scalp. This photo was taken shortly after I was diagnosed with Male Patterned baldness disorder for females {MPBfF} but later became less noticeable as I experimented with different hair styles.

Me and Jimmy Howell were lab partners that whole year... I remember it well. At first, he made fun of me for my MPBfF disorder, but we later became good chums as we tried to invent a cure for my disorder.

Oh! Yes! I was voted Best Country Line Dancer by my fellow classmates!! I sure knew how to shimmy-n-shake on the dance floor.

This photo was taken during a stage of puberty in which my head became ultimately too large for my face.

I will never forget that afro. Cindy, Janice and Hazel. Four part harmony. Four ukuleles. 20 minute harmonica solos. It was a good life.

I was thrilled when I got these glasses. Truly thrilled.

Ah! Me and the boys at the photography club! We switched over when the chess club became way too mainstream. I had the hots for Davy in the middle there. We held hands during the homecoming football game. Under the bleachers. In the moonlight. We would have kissed, but he had headgear that he was supposed to wear when he wasn't shooting of getting photographed, so I restrained.

Oh, those were the days.

-Lex

Social....eliteness? {An illustrated guide}

Yesterday I dweebishly finished reading...um...er...Watchmen.... as in..the nerdy superhero graphic novel... And while I was lying in bed last night, I realized just how much of a nerd I have really become, whether or not I actually like to admit it. You see, here's how my brain works.. You see, I'm sitting there in all of my nerdiness, reading none other than...Watchmen.... thinking about watching Muppet Treasure Island and having a Diablo 2 and Doctor Who marathon with my cousin the next day. My brain sees absolutely nothing wrong with this. My brain is drinking a Dr. Pepper while thinking of news items to add to her "The Killers" shrine. There's nothing wrong with that, right?
WRONG. There's a knock on the door. And that knock belongs to coolness. Then my brain goes into hyper-drive. I quickly try to cleanse the nerd. Hide the nerd. PURGE THE NERD!! Because, in all actuality, I'm not even cool enough to be accepted by cool people, and I'm not nerdy enough to be accepted by nerds.

I think the technical term for that is POSER. Which, I admit I am. {And no, not to worry, I wouldn't actually RIP a Doctor Who poster. sheesh. I have respect. }

So, now the nerd is concealed. Sure, my nerdiness has built up gradually over time, but I believe it is only peaking now. If you would have asked me a year ago if I would even come remotely close to reading a graphic novel, you would have been met with the reply "Heavens, no. Do you honestly think I would stoop to that in my fine and cool glory?" Well, kids. Here I am. Reaching new depths of self pity.

Then coolness arrives and I am expected to be cool. People think I'm cool, people expect me to be cool because I'm an "art kid" or whatever. But, honestly, I'm not cool. I'm a nerd that isn't nerdy enough to be accepted by nerds so I try and cover that up to seem cool. Yes, I own the entire series of Invader Zim on dvd and yes I have watched it so many times that I can quote it. precisely. So, when put in a situation where I have to seem socially elite and not like I am interested in uncool things, I stumble. Or just remain really,really quiet and try to put in my two cents like I know what I'm doing. {PS: I don't.}

Naturally, I attempt to hide my nerdy side of the brain that is not really nerdy from the cool side. I try to justify it by telling myself it's okay to read graphic novels and watch muppet treasure island. But NO! IT IS NOT JUSTIFIABLE.

I promise I didn't use to be this way. What have I become?

-Lexi

Church Doodlin's: Messy bun gal.

Her shoulders are supposed to give her "attitude", and asymmetrical composition FOR THE WIN. I don't draw girls that aren't myself very often, and this one was inspired by a lovely gal in my ward who happens to be a model going to FIDM next year. {Soooo Jealous.... curse lack of scholarships and out-of-state tuition...dfsjkghajkhrejwh} I debated whether or not to give her glasses, but I think I like her how she is. Despite her crooked eyes which bug. But the hair is satisfactory!

er...now I'm just rambling. Sorry, guys and gals. Probably mostly gals.

-Lex

PS: I HAVE TO DRIVE TOMORROW WITH THE SCARY INSTRUCTOR-MAN. PRAY FOR ME.

The opportunity train is at the station...

And I don't think I want to jump on it now. I'm tired and confused and the leap seems wrong. The conductor is waving and tipping his little cap, but I shake my head and hesistantly fumble for my ticket. I waited for a very long time for the opportunity train, but I wonder if I should just take the bus instead.

I worked hard for that ticket. I denied the ticket. Somehow, the ticket was all I thought it would amount to.

I forgot about the train, and now it is here.

What do I do?

I'm afraid.

-Lex

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulian

I first saw Amelie [edited, of course.] about a month ago at Erin and Maddie's home {see sidebar for bloggery-action} and it has quickly made it into my top 5 favorite movies of ALL TIME. It's about time I wrote a response to it. If you aren't in the mood for a hearty serving of rant-stew, you'd best not read this post ...

Not very often to you hear music that feels so familiar yet so new. It rings in your ears and reaches down into your soul, re-awakening emotions you perhaps had forgotten existed within you and making every minute occurrence in your life seem spectacular, even extraordinary. This self-awareness is not a supplement for lost childhood memories or a cure for the common cold, but rather an almost euphoric state of mind, filled with the bitterness and melancholy truth which we all must face eventually.

Life is never what one expects it to be, but we must appreciate the triumphs as well as the pitfalls, and reconnect with an almost child-like fascination of the world. A fascination that makes the fog on a windowpane a canvas and every being an artist in their own right .It never limits a person.

We must regain that awe in everything, including human betterment and relations with others. This film has made me appreciate things more, and the music combines pure joy with haunting reality. The world is exciting, mysterious, and an adventure! We are the only thing holding ourselves back. Timidly we approach everything, but what for?

Listen for yourself. Heck, listen to the whole soundtrack! It'll change your life!

"without you, today's emotion would be the scurf of yesterday's."

-Lex

{PS to Erin and Maddie. Sorry I've been borrowing it for so long. I'm trying to figure out how to burn it so I can watch it daily because that's what I've been doing anyways.}

I think I'm done

with posts oriented around stupid things, which in all actuality whittles all of my actually good posts to under 10. Blogging has become sort of a chore, and instead of it being just a past time, I think I'm ready to convert Vivienne and Company {and by company I mean me} to a complete arts-oriented blog used solely for artistic exposure via the worldwide blogosphere. {Check out Stacie's blog in the sidebar. You'll see what I mean. And Pasto's. And Jo's. And Jessica's. And Mike's. And Shannon's...}

Yup.
-Lex

Thursday inspiro

Usually these posts are on Sunday, but I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF. Queue the bulleted list? I do say!

• Today I was listening to Pandora and I came across a little glimpse of my odd little sixth grade past. That is, I listened to "Young folks" by Peter, Bjorn and John again for the first time in four years. I was immediately flooded with the first time I saw this music video, Corn and I sitting watching cable T.V. talking about Bat for Lashes and my upcoming sixth grade play. I miss it so! Thanks, Pandora. Yer priddycool. And you made it onto my Thursday inspiro list.
  
  
  I would do ANYTHING to live in this creepy animated world full of simplistic color palettes and 70's tree curtains. {Pretty much, all of my problems would be solved if I could could look that great in pink pastels.} This makes me want to watch the Brady Bunch. Ya dig?
  

• I want to spend the rest of my life doing gesture drawings of Beck moonwalking.


• Photography blogs that freak out my brain with their TOTAL BRILLLL. {y'all know who you are.}


• My new sketchbook which I made in art cloughb. I did an acetone transfer of one of my favorite drawings that I have ever created {record player head man} and then mod-podged holocaust photographs, a guy wearing a gas mask, the gestapo and also British officials and a random cowboy guy to the front. If you can find little Elie Weisel, I will give you a gold star.

I'm a firm believer in the philosophy that states that your sketchbook should be just as inspirational on the outside as what you put into it. I'm pretty darn pleased with the outcome, and I can't wait to fill it. Muaha! Also, do you enjoy my crappy photography skills? Oh yeah. I'm a fan of that too.

• T.S. Elliot poetry. I've always been fond of him, but Matthew Gray Gubler on Criminal Minds keeps quoting him and reminding me of the splendor!!


• Oh. Matthew Gray Gubler. {Laugh it up, Corn. Laugh it up.} His cheekbones were carved by angels. Angels wearing Marc Jacobs.


• Surrealistic French films. Just kidding. Because I almost fell asleep while watching this one with my mum last Saturday. But the cover art is stellar. I couldn't resist it while browsing the public library shelves for some good feelms to watch.

Now I'm just rambling.

Hopefully I'll get the new header up during Christmas break. No complaints though, right?

xo-Lexi Vivienne