two consecutive days of workshop

I read my horoscope on facebook today, it said "you were supposed to do an important thing but you totally forgot. do it quickly before everyone finds out." so I stood up, and quickly zipped up my pants! Now that that's out of the way, lets get to updating my blog!

I had one of the busiest weekends. I was drawing for 12 hours! But that's still not enough. And I could have drawn more. what was really tiring was waking up that early and commuting to the Royal Ontario Museum, and back. Saturday was the first time I saw the museum. Its totally unbelievable. I think I like the museum the best of all the places I've visited in Canada so far. I even got a membership, that was just about 40 dollars, now I can go there as many times as I want. And I am sure I will take a camera to that place someday and take pictures of all the beautiful things there! There were a lot of gift item with pictures of the ROM on them, but it all seemed overpriced. Anyways, here are few images from the internet.


We drew birds and animals with gerard, and then went down to B2 to see the japanese art exhibit. These works were copyrighted, and we weren't allowed to draw or take photographs of them, but still, Cameron thought he was being really sneaky and took some pictures of some Hokusai prints. The security guards obviously noticed this, and were looking at us with suspicion... But luckily, we didn't get kicked out or anything. With Vince, we drew the busts and figures in the Greek exhibit, and then went down to the european section to draw drapery from statues. I was kinda happy with how some of my drawings turned out, but then, I was totally tired. So tired that I totally forgot about the simpsons movie. I just went back home.

This was the first time we were gonna have class on Sunday too. Even yesterday, a bunch of people didn't show up, and I figured we'd have much less today. juan was literally sleeping in the museum yesterday itself! There was no way he was gonna show up today! We drew the rooms in the European exhibits, and then we went down to the Chinese and Korean exhibits, and drew characters from the artifacts there. I also drew a bunch of funky samurai helmets. They may come in handy some day when I'm drawing a samurai character. They had a lot of chinese coins on display in a box, and I was really awed by them. I wanted to grab 'em all! (By the way, I collect coins)

We walked to pizza pizza further down the street for lunch, and me and Seniya went to check out the new part of the museum. The dianosaur exhibit was closed down for renovation. We walked around the 'discovery gallery' section, and we saw bones of dianosaurs that were put under sand and we could use brushes to excavate the 'fossils'. It was really fun. Then there was the chain mail that they used in the moghul empire in India. And I was telling about that to seniya, and the curator there was really amazed. He went over, looked at the description, and said, "hey, I heard you say this is from moghul India, and it actually is!" I said "yeah, I'm from India, we learned this in history." Then there were some Hindu gods and goddess idols there and I could recognize them all(surprise surprise!)

Later, with gerard, we did box drawings of birds and leopard, cheetah etc... And when I was sitting there, listening to what gerard had to say, (something about all the people of different race/ethnicity should have sex and make babies which are not a pure race but are 'diluted' or mixed... this way, we would avoid racism... like say, a white muslim or an american muslim...hey, I'm drifting away from the point here...) A little girl came to me and saw my drawings said I draw really well, I asked her if she likes to draw, she said she draws very well, and she drew a little bear on my sketchbook. It was such a unique experience... her dad even took a picture of her drawing on my sketchbook. I will scan or take a picture of it and upload it on flickr soon. I showed that to gerard and said "look what I drew" and gerard goes "WE NEED TO TALK YASH!" LOL.

If I had my life to live over again

If I had my life to live over again, I would have done the following things differently... or better... or maybe not done them at all. If you just feel like responding, I would Love to know what you would have done differently.

I would have continued going outside and mingling with my school friends instead of staying in front of the telly at home or using the computer at my dad's office. I really don't know when this phase began. All I can remember is, one day I'm playing cricket with arpit and his bros, hanging at rohin's place, having rahul over at my house,letting rohit use my computer and basically just having fun. But the next day I feel kinda awkward talking to arpit, feeling sorry for breaking rohin's glasses, thinking I don't need rahul's phone number anymore because I will go make more friends in pune...

I would have stayed away from sandeep and tushar and buddies in fergusson,Or I would have stood up to their bullying and put an end to it... I don't know how, but I would have tried to...

I would have not let (the one) stupid prank hurt me so much. And I would have mustered up the courage to ask (a someone) to be my friend.

I would have tried harder to get access to a good computer so that I could keep practicing my skills on digital art. 2d, 3d, images and video (animation). I would have never stopped drawing, painting and sculpting. I still remember these amazing drawings I did as a kid, and nice coloured renderings I did, and the nice modeling clay sculptures I built. I really regret neglecting traditional art.

I wouldn't have thrown all those tantrums about not wanting to drink milk. I would have been a good boy and finished my glass of milk real quick. These days, I am consuming more milk than I ever was, and I really like it.

Maybe I would have worked harder for getting into sheridan, maybe I would have asked aniruddh bhaiya to find out about it, and applied for art fundies sooner....

Actually, no! I Wouldn't do anything that could interfere with me getting into creative I college. There, I'd have Worked harder on my assignments. Plus, I'd have made more of an effort to interact with my other classmates, who make me happier. Because now, I have realized that more people cared about me than I thought. Even if they don't care as much, they do acknowledge me, talk to me, seek my word on something, and that is an amazing feeling.

I'll end this for now, because the list can keep going on and on. I would like to read what you have to say before I continue. And if I don't get enough response, I'll know you don't care for it.

Very un-typical day

Okay, stupid corel painter X. Damn thing won't work on my OS X 10.4! I practically wasted the whole day yesterday trying to get it to work. I have even lost count of how many times I've uninstalled and reinstalled it. I only wanted to do some painting for my assignment. Yeah, painting on the computer is supposed to be less messy and fun, plus a lot faster, easier, simpler...But it wasn't fast or easy or simple, because damn software refuses to work! Hate it!

Atleast my illustrator is working fine. Computers have a tendency to just drop dead the minute you need 'em the most. But this is a mac, and I consider myself lucky. In class, I worked on both my 2d design assignments, but didn't end up finishing either. In painting, something seemed to click, and again, this week, I think this one's my best painting so far. I hope the pattern continues the next three weeks. I am actually starting to like it, and I think I will take painting next sem, even if I'm not 'REQUIRED' to.

Watched 'Are we there yet' and 'Norbit' both half decent movies. Killed some time. Oh..I don't even want to talk about the barbecue disaster today! But I still ended up having myself a decent meal. Vironica brought a whole bunch of mint. I am definitely gonna make some chutney tomorrow! Can't wait!

Idiot had his cellphone turned off!

I couldn't sleep very well. I was really uncomfortable, and then I started having bad dreams that made me really sweaty. Still, I somehow woke up at 7:00 am and got ready, vironica was up too, I had to stop at the college first, I wanted to get another newsprint pad out from the locker. She talked to me about how I slept, and I told her about the nightmares, funny thing to discuss... these dreams. I was reminded of the times I talked to abhinav about my silly dreams. Anyways, we got to the go station a little early, so Vironica took me to tim hortons and bought sandwich, doughnut, coffee AND timbits! wow! That was really nice of her. I was really happy.

But sitting in the go train, I got really emotional, I started remembering events from India, from my childhood... Specifically the time when we were in mumbai,('bombay' back then) we went on the local train... tears rolled down my eyes. By the way, I'd definitely say mom and dad are much better parents now than they were 7 or 8 years ago. I remember how they would humiliate/embarrass me in front of my friends and so I would be really scared to bring friends over. Anyways, moving on...

I would call up pranav almost every saturday while I am going to portfolio workshop class. I was walking from st claire station to the hungarian cultural center again today as they still hadn't finished the construction at the subway station. I tried calling him a couple times but I kept getting the message that his cellphone was turned off. I was so friggin pissed at him. I had so many things to tell him. I even tried during the break and after the class was over, but got the same response. He is gonna get  serious yelling for this.

I felt like I really had some kinda breakthrough in life drawing today. Most remarkable was, gerard finally explained what he meant by 'don't draw those little circles'. I thought I ended up with a lot of good drawings that I can keep. I also saw gerard picking out good drawings from rolls and rolls of newsprint that soniya and Fez had brought. I figured even I should start keeping the newsprints from now on.... In Vince's class, we were shown a storyboard from silence of the lambs, and then we watched the scene from the dvd on his laptop. Later, we drew storyboard sketches from a scene in monsters inc. That was really fun. I say I could keep doing that all the time. Finally, we made our own storyboard from a script that Vince gave us. I was really keen on getting a lot of feedback from vince on this exercise because I also wanted to make a storyboard  of my own script that I wrote for my character.

Getting back home was a pain again, the go train got delayed because some kid pressed the yellow strip and they wouldn't leave until they made sure everything was alright. Thus, I missed the bus, and would have to wait for another hour for the next bus! My cellphone's battery was dead by now, and I don't have Vironica's number memorized so I couldn't even call her. Damn! All because I kept trying to call pranav! And now even if vironica was trying to call me, she couldn't reach me. I got back at almost 9 pm and she wasn't home either. I would have to go shopping tomorrow now. So got to quickly go to bed before I get hungry.

Sacche jhoothe khwaab

translation: Real Unreal Dreams

maybe its true/false dreams

Before I go and sleep, and see another dream/nightmare that I would want to write about, lets flash back to what I saw last night... I was with suraj and mihir. I guess that makes sense since I was recently talking to mihir about suraj. We really wanted to go to this waterpark or something similar...maybe a amusement park or beach... We were really excited, but when we asked suraj's dad, he said no. That's something that always happened. Mamaji Never let us do anything fun! LOL. And we were pretty damn pissed about that. 

Now we wanted to find a way to get back at the grownups and still sneak and go to the water park. I am unclear on the details from here on, but I bet it was action packed and exciting. Maybe a little too much. It could have been like one of the over exaggerated hindi movie types... Yeah, it was definitely a hindi movie... because I remember waking up with 'dil to pagal hai' in my head... It obviously played a part in my dream... haha... 

Well, That's it for tonight. A really short post.

chat with abhinav rao

abhirao2001: hey dude am reading your article
abhirao2001: you fell from the jeep?
abhirao2001: :o
yash_unique: oh yeah, its almost fit to be the script for the movie we are supposed to make for art of cinema class
abhirao2001: how many of you fell?
yash_unique: I was writing that in the break, sitting in the canteen, and I realized It was almost class time, but I still didn't stop. I finished the whole blog post and ran to the class
yash_unique: I am not sure. the dreams are always little hazy, but I think 3 of us
abhirao2001: interesting dreams
abhirao2001: was it first person or third person btw
abhirao2001: hehe
abhirao2001: while falling
yash_unique: aren't all dreams in the third person? I mean you can see things happening to urself right?
abhirao2001: sometimes in First person sometimes third eprson for me
yash_unique: I can't remember any first person dreams... maybe in ur case because u've played more fps games than me...
abhirao2001: :o
abhirao2001: lol
abhirao2001: not related to fps though
abhirao2001: though once I did have this dream
abhirao2001: all of us were having weapons
abhirao2001: from Unreal Tournament
abhirao2001: and the announcer speaks "Are you ready for the tournament?"
abhirao2001: Everyone shouts: YEAAAHHHH!"
abhirao2001: Let's go!
yash_unique: wow
abhirao2001: lol
yash_unique: do u remember more of the fight?
abhirao2001: then I see my self fraggin people
abhirao2001: yeah
abhirao2001: yeah plasma gun
abhirao2001: shock rifle
abhirao2001: me getting fragged lol
abhirao2001: was fun
abhirao2001: this was back then when i was sick
yash_unique: shock rifle was in UT 2k3 right?
abhirao2001: its in all games
abhirao2001: but yes that one in my dream was from 2k3
abhirao2001: back then
abhirao2001: I had got Ut 2k3 original
yash_unique: I only remember the classical rifle in UT
abhirao2001: but it wouldn't play on my old PC
yash_unique: aww
abhirao2001: hehe
abhirao2001: but the dream was awesome
abhirao2001: then suddenly
abhirao2001: I see this girl
abhirao2001: she tells me to put down my weapon
yash_unique: we've all had that kinda experience with pcs.. fuckin 5 year old tin can
abhirao2001: lol
yash_unique: oooh, was she hot?
abhirao2001: yes
abhirao2001: we became good friends
abhirao2001: we even held hands while walking
abhirao2001: lol
yash_unique: wow
yash_unique: girl of ur dreams eh
abhirao2001: in the dream the environments weren't from the game
abhirao2001: different ones rendered by my brain lol
abhirao2001: but it was a cool dream
abhirao2001: i wish we could watch some great dreams again
yash_unique: what's the oldest dream u remember?
abhirao2001: oldest
abhirao2001: hmm
abhirao2001: let me think
yash_unique: and not just falling
yash_unique: lol
abhirao2001: hmm
abhirao2001: can't remember oldest
abhirao2001: lol
abhirao2001: but I do remember some
abhirao2001: maybe I was in 3rd std that time
yash_unique: what happened?
abhirao2001: hmm back then lol
abhirao2001: superman heman
abhirao2001: turtles
abhirao2001: lol
abhirao2001: there was one in which I was heman
yash_unique: wow
abhirao2001: lol
abhirao2001: but it was more of a video game
abhirao2001: something like that
abhirao2001: can't remember exact details
abhirao2001: lol
abhirao2001: btw you liked my UT 2k3 dream? :D
yash_unique: did you ever play with g i joe action figures?
abhirao2001: YES!!!
abhirao2001: YO JOE!!
abhirao2001: lol
yash_unique: yeah, ur dream...its facinating
abhirao2001: tell me any interesting dreams you've had ;)
yash_unique: and did you ever play g i joe with friends?
abhirao2001: YES
abhirao2001: :D
abhirao2001: Gung Ho SNake eyes!
abhirao2001: lo
abhirao2001: hehe
abhirao2001: good times
abhirao2001: Heman action figures
yash_unique: gung ho was my first action figure
abhirao2001: :D
yash_unique: okay, we used to play g i joe, me and my cousins, we'd make up missions and we'd have to go through a set course that would involve jumping from here to there, and climbing walls or if we were outdoors, swinging on anything we could find etc...
yash_unique: or we'd just play follow the leader and go around doing 'dangerous' things...
abhirao2001: wow awesome :D
abhirao2001: I can't remember any of my stories though
abhirao2001: lol
yash_unique: once, we were playing g i joe around the house, and my cousin who was shorted than me, jumped from the couch to the dining table, I was to follow him, and I jumped, but hit my head on the beam that was protruding down from the ceiling and fell down!
abhirao2001: :(
yash_unique: ok, yeah, the dream...
yash_unique: I had a dream I was fighting an alien (or earth made) enemy robot..
abhirao2001: wow
yash_unique: We used up all our gun power and missiles on it and nothing happened. it was immune to it all!
abhirao2001: gosh
yash_unique: you know the one g i joe who knew martial arts and used samurai swords and nanchuks and no guns..?
abhirao2001: hey do you feel sometimes when you used to have a great time as a kid ( Gi joe etc) you wish you were back in that phase to live it again?
abhirao2001: yeah
abhirao2001: Quick Kick
abhirao2001: or was it Kwik kick
abhirao2001: I had him
abhirao2001: :)
yash_unique: yeah yeah, quick kick!
abhirao2001: :D
abhirao2001: ah good times
yash_unique: he was my fave!!!
abhirao2001: one of my friends had a Robocop Gi joe action figure
yash_unique: uh huh...
abhirao2001: some gi joes were really muscle men
yash_unique: I really got into the g i joe phase pretty late... I'd say
abhirao2001: that's ok
abhirao2001: like Sgt. Smasher
abhirao2001: muscles good
abhirao2001: lol
yash_unique: and so, I still remember it like it was yesterday
abhirao2001: :D
yash_unique: yeah, I remember sgt smasher
abhirao2001: :D
yash_unique: I think one of my cousins had it
abhirao2001: I used to first think he was Wild Bill
abhirao2001: that pilot
yash_unique: were there lots of weapons/accessories that came with it?
abhirao2001: who used to "Yo'd yo" instead of Yo joe
abhirao2001: don't remember
abhirao2001: I wonder where those toys went
abhirao2001: the magic seems lost now
yash_unique: I still have a few,
yash_unique: others, broke...
abhirao2001: yeah lol
yash_unique: some I gave to my younger cousins
abhirao2001: some of my joes had like only one leg
abhirao2001: LOL
yash_unique: yeah...
abhirao2001: one broke a thumb
abhirao2001: LOL
abhirao2001: Lady jay had only one leg
abhirao2001: lol
abhirao2001: btw hey do you remember?
yash_unique: It took me a while to figure out what that hole in their foot/shoe was for
abhirao2001: They used to give free gijoes with Horlicks?
yash_unique: no... I didn't drink horlicks
abhirao2001: I remember a little of the TV commercial
yash_unique: still don't like horlicks LOL
abhirao2001: hehe
yash_unique: my quick kick's foot(the toes part) broke off, because it was soo thin
abhirao2001: aww
abhirao2001: also the knees would get loose
yash_unique: yeah
abhirao2001: ah good times
yash_unique: still, they were awesome made toys for that time
abhirao2001: yeah
yash_unique: my parents thought they were too expensive
abhirao2001: today I don't think kids have many toys to enjoy like we used to back then
yash_unique: and they were just 40 or 50 bucks right?
abhirao2001: since video gaming has evloved
abhirao2001: :o
abhirao2001: I don't think so re
abhirao2001: my grandpa got me a TMNT action figure of Raphael
abhirao2001: that was 350/-
abhirao2001: that's all I remember
yash_unique: wow!
abhirao2001: oh man I remembered one more thing
abhirao2001: I used to go with my grandpa
abhirao2001: visit many shops
abhirao2001: look at the gorgeous Heman toys
abhirao2001: ah lovely days
abhirao2001: you ever smelt your toys? lol
abhirao2001: sniffed*
abhirao2001: used to like the smell
yash_unique: no.. I don't think so...
abhirao2001: TMNT toys had toothpaste smell for their teeth
abhirao2001: I wonder how they did that
yash_unique: me and my cousin suraj would go into this toy shop every day while returning from the basketball camp during the summers
abhirao2001: :)
yash_unique: and look at all the amazing g i joe toys there...
abhirao2001: :D
yash_unique: hey, the dream, the story isn't finished yet...
yash_unique: I used to like quick kick a lot yeah,
abhirao2001: which
yash_unique: so I saw myself as quick kick in the dream. and after everyone's ammo had run out,
abhirao2001: wow
yash_unique: I run to the alien robot, and give it one kick,
abhirao2001: Wow!
abhirao2001: :D
yash_unique: JUST ONE KICK IN THE FACE
abhirao2001: :D
yash_unique: and it falls!
abhirao2001: I can imagine how exciting it must have been :D
yash_unique: I still remember how it looked
yash_unique: ...the dream
abhirao2001: :D
yash_unique: it was soo cool!
abhirao2001: would like to watch your dream
yash_unique: didn't we already have this conversation of dream recorder?
abhirao2001: I used to get many dreams of being Sipderman too swingin wall climbing all crazy stunts all in first person lol
abhirao2001: yes we did :D
yash_unique: wow. 

yash_unique: oh thanks a lot

abhirao2001: for what lol

abhirao2001: bringing back memories?

yash_unique: yeah, thanks for everything

abhirao2001: :D

abhirao2001: those times were so good

abhirao2001: how things change in life

Oh the dreams just never stop!

This one's got to win the award for the most detailed, themed, story'd dream ever! I am still amazed at the whole plot of the dream, and the details that I still remember about 5 hours since I actually saw it! It was like I was watching a movie! And even though I woke up once in between, I went back to sleep to try and finish it. But then it was getting late for college...

Allright, it starts out in a school/college campus ground, which is not very big, trees are almost everywhere, so its nice and shady. A lot of benches etc are present for students to sit. I am sitting alone, as usual, and I suddenly get a call. I pick it up, and the 'camera' zooms out, pans to a doorway, and zooms in again on the three girls who are coming out. One of them is wearing a school uniform looking dress, and she's on her cellphone, and talking away really fast, in HINDI! I hear on the other end, 

"अभी शूटिंग के लिए जा राहे हैं. बहार गेट पे मिलो" Meaning "we are going for the shoot NOW! Meet us at the gate" 

"What? who are you? how come u speak hindi?" This surprised reaction from me means I was not in India I guess... And then I look around, and see her, walking out with two other girls I know. She just hangs up her cellphone, doesn't respond to my question.

Next, we cut to a jeep, driving down really fast down a road that is surrounded by really dense trees and foliage. I guess we were in some jungle, and far away from civilization. The driver is going wild. and nobody is wearing the seatbelt. Infact, they are not even sitting.! 

I don't know.. dancing maybe?

And as the jeep takes a sharp turn, me, and few others fall due to the centrifugal force/inertia (whichever applies)... And we roll into the bushes. We stand up, and try to call out, but I guess the driver is too drunk to notice..

Maybe he didn't realize, or he just didn't care. Another mystery.

We start walking, and eventually end up going into a really big building that we spotted. It looks like ruins of an old institute. We walk in, and we are captured by a teacher(?) who is really manic and scary. He puts us in a room with a few other people. We talk to them about where this place is, what's going on, and all we could find out was that there's something worth 'capturing' behind the wall on the right. Now is when I realized I or one of us, had fallen with our camera and we still had it. 

I remember laura talking to me. Even she knew hindi! What? this is really weird! I could never remember when we spoke in a particular language in a dream before! I think she was saying we need to record all this on film, with our camera so that we can show this to someone if we ever get out of here. And that she believed in the thing we had heard about the wall, and what was behind it.

We try to tap on the wall, or communicate, take video of the wall, when we can....when the scary teacher ghost or zombie wasn't around. I guess it didn't take him long to figure out we were up to something. And the next time we were trying to make a hole in the wall or find a way to get through to the other side, something really weird happened!

The wall went all translucent, like it was a cloth, and there was a huge light shining on the other side! We saw a silhouette of the teacher monster, and all of a sudden, he comes into the room, right through the wall, and his face is all bloody! I fall down backwards, and he comes really close to me, gives me a serious stare, and starts laughing evil-ly. I can tell, I was pretty scared.(In the dream) I would imagine he killed or ate whatever there was behind that wall that could have helped us!

Now we had no hope left.

Panicking is one of my bad habits

I am definitely screwed. Royally. I had been putting off painting the self portraits for the whole week, the whole break, and now, I can't get into the college, and I don't have access to my materials and I can't paint. I checked both the A wing doors and B wing door. The AA building is accessible, but it doesn't lead into any other building. I don't know what the heck I'm gonna do! I even want to move some of my stuff from this house to the new place! Its just too much! I'm loosing it! Help!

That was the scenario around 12 p.m.. Since then, a lot has changed. I've finished my first self portrait, and because its just really shitty, I am not gonna be showing it to you guys. I will get around to starting the second one sometime soon and will definitely let you see it if it turns out better. As of now, I'm friggin hungry. The flashback on what really happened earlier, right after these messages from the sponsor...

And we're back! Almost as if I never left. See, these kind of breaks are so less annoying than the ones on television. And we're getting back to the topic even quicker. Just a few seconds after I got all negative and gloomy about me not being able to do my assignment, I got a call from Vironica, and she said she would come to the college to pick me up! I explained my dilemma to her, and as soon as she arrived, like a wo(man) on a mission, she barged towards the doors of the buildings convincing me 'We are gonna get in!' And after going halfway around the whole campus, we found that the right hand side of the main entrance door was open! wow! I could finally get in, get my painting stuff out and go home. The day is saved, thanks to the powerpuff girls! Oh sorry, I kinda drifted away there, thanks vironica. 

Now if only I had calmed down and looked around a little more, a little better, I wouldn't have almost had a heart attack. So I really need to learn to not panic. But I guess it'll take some time. After all, old habits die hard. 

And yeah, its dad's birthday on 2nd june. And its already 2nd june there in India. Happy birthday dad!