GJ Willis' Art Notes

morrisday, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This a picture I took during Morris Day's set. The fuzzy man to the right in the blue suit is Morris Day. The woman whose back of the head you can see is the one who almost came too blows with a pushy teenage girl during the end of the Boys II Men concert.

I did nothing today. I was laying low trying to recover from last night. All day my ears were ringing and I heard a slight feedback sound whenever I talked. The last time this happened was when I went to see U2 a couple of years ago. I guess they must have had the sound up way too loud last night.

QUICK REVIEW:

MORRIS DAY AND THE TIME
They were simply outstanding! Jerome really worked the audience. Morris Day looked the same. One would have thought that every night he wraps himself in saran wrap. The man is ageless and timeless. I took a photo of them when they were onstage. The funniest unintentional thing I saw was when Morris Day took off this white coat he had around his shoulders for the Gigolo’s Get Lonely Too set. The funny thing was that his back side was drenched in sweat. One of the up front regulars said, “Damn! Even his butt is sweating!” Morris Day and Jerome still have it! I suppose this is the closest I will ever come to meeting his purpleness, Prince.

BOYS II MEN
They were ok. I noticed that they were short a member. I’m not entirely sure if they were lip sinking. I think I might be prejudiced in thinking they were lip sinking because they did not have a live band backing them up. They also were wearing these mikes and were able to control sound levels with these small boxes that they had attached to their pants. I know that they are talented and all that but still I’m not 100% sure if it was live or Memorex.

Also a fight almost broke out at the end of the Boys II Men concert between this very pushy teenage girl and this older woman. The older woman was one of the early chair cult regulars. The near fight was caused because the girl almost knocked the woman out of her chair. The girl also almost pushed me out of my chair as well. In the end only words were exchanged.

artscapechairs, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a picture I took of the chairs and people who were out at 4:00pm at Artscape's Sun stage. My chair was at the very far end behind the woman with the umbrella. The man you see in the background with the white t-shirt is the one that comes every year with the two little girls. Unfortunately, the umbrella was so big that it blocked the chair in this picture.

DAILY COMMUTE:
This morning I began my day by catching the #20 bus. The female driver had a flip hairdo. The bus whose number was #9431 was air conditioned.

Next at 5:07am I got on the #8 bus marked Loveton. The bus whose number was #9926 was air conditioned.

Like the majority of buses now days it announced warnings to passengers to be aware of suspicious packages. This announcement reminds of the ones that you hear throughout airports. The warnings first went off at 6:02am in front of Towson University.

With hearing all these warnings every day on a daily basis is it no that I’ve been feeling skittish lately about my safety. All in all I feel good about the measures I have taken. I know that there is nothing I can do to prevent a terrorist bombing on a bus that I’m on. However, I can prevent my apartment from being broken in when I’m away. Next I have to prevent myself from becoming a mugging victim. The best way I think to prevent this would be to learn martial arts....

ON THE WAY TO ARTSCAPE.....

For some unexplained reason my job allowed us to wear shorts this Friday. We were’nt doing anything special like a cookout or an ice cream social. It was very weird and out of the blue. I didn’t wear shorts to work because I found the whole thing bizarre. I mean why allow us to wear shorts if we aren’t going to be doing anything special. Was it all just, “Baby, show us your sexy legs day!” ?

Anyway, in anticipation of the start up of Artscape today I unintentionally got up an hour earlier than usual. I ended up getting into work at 6:10am. The reason this happened is that almost all the clocks in my apartment are set an hour or so ahead of time. So thus, I left out the house with my turqouise blue foldable chair at four in the morning. I guess you could say I was really excited about seeing Boys II Men and Morris Day.

If I have’nt already said it before I like going to Artscape on the very first day it opens. I like to take my chair with me to work then plant it outside in front of the stage so that I can be in the front row. It’s almost like a yearly ritual.

As luck would have it I ended up leaving out from work later than usual. At the very last minute extra work was piled on me.

Anyway, while waiting for the shuttle bus to take me downtown to Artscape I became afraid to get on the bus. The reason was that I saw an older man wearing a turban get on it. I know that statistically speaking a terrorist would most likely be young not old. However, the fact that he was wearing a turban and seemed to be talking rather cryptically on his cell phone frightened me. It made me wonder who is talking to? Was he planning to do something?

Also I noticed that an elderly also held back from getting on that bus. We both waited and got on the next shuttle bus that came. Again, I feel really horrible for feeling this way. I never used to be afraid of Middle Easterners....

When I finally got to Artscape it was 3:53pm. As I put down my seat in the small line of chairs that made up the first row I noticed a lot of familiar faces. I saw the man last year who came with these two girls who looked eerily like younger versions of my nieces. I also saw the big mamma’s boy looking man who seems to come with his mother. I suppose we form a pseudo cult of sorts. The cult of people who set out chairs for Artscape at an insanely early hour. The big shows of the day traditionally start at 7:00. I wonder if I’ll see them again next year? Also I wonder if I’ll ever beat them and be the very first person to put out a chair next year?

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a denim jumper and a striped shirt underneath.

redtieman, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is another painting I'm working on. I'm not entirely happy with the shading on one of the hands. Also I'd like to work on the tie a little more. It looks a little flat. I suppose I could add both a little more shading and perhaps highlights.

My security alarm unexpectantly went off this morning. I think it may have done this because the remote may have accidently been pushed when the handbag I keep it in fell down. I paid the fallen handbag no heed as I gathered together trash bags for trash day. The alarm went off at around 5:15, the time I like to leave out the building.

After feeling jittery with the alarm unexpectantly going off I disarmed it then re-armed it when I left the building. I looked back at the building to see if the strange man was messing about. He was no where to be seen. Then as I looked back at the building as I noticed that the third floor light was on. I decided not to go back to the apartment to see if the alarm had gone off again. For all I know the upstairs neighbors probably always turn on their lights at the hour.

MORNING COMMUTE:
At 6:23 I caught the #1 bus. The number on the bus was #9433. I t was not air conditioned

At 5:39 I got on the light rail train. There were five passengers aboard. The number on the car I was on was #5029

At 6:50 the C shuttle bus arrived. It was being driven by the man who looks like a pudgy version of Grady from Sanford and Son. It was air conditioned and it’s number was #8816.

Going home I took the #8 bus. The number on the inside of the bus was #04026. It was one of those German buses that I hate. It was airconditioned which is great in this weather.

Next transferred to the C shuttle bus. I got on the bus at 5:33pm. The bus was air conditioned, tey some of the windows were open. The number on the inside of the bus was #7045.

Finally I made it downtown to the light rail. I noticed that there was a cop stationed at the stop. I got on the train at 6:11pm. The number on the inside of the car was #5045.CONCERN OF THE DAY: Josh Spiegel
Yesterdays, OTL show was riveting radio. Newsman, Josh Spiegel threatened to quit if they played a recorded conversation he had with Chad and Oscar during a commercial break. I don’t see why he went all psycho over it. All it did was reiterate that he did not like them to go into his personal life on the show and that he did not want them to hire a private investigator to find out what he does after work. Even I could tell that they were doing a bit and were not serious about following through on hiring an investigator. How come he couldn’t tell that they were just....joshing him?

The fact that he went nuts over this makes me wonder even more what he does when he’s off work. Is he a Russian spy? Does he keep women chained to the walls of his basement? Is he a part of an elite alien race waiting to take over mother Earth? Maybe he’s running a brothel?

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a dark blue company polo shirt and stone washed capri pants.

DAILY COMMUTE:

This morning I got on the #2 bus. The serial number on the bus was #9953. It again was a NABI and it was air conditioned!

At about 5:43 the light rail train arrived. I got on the very first car as usual. The car was marked #5046. There were just four people aboard not counting me. Also the woman I like to call the make up monster was aboard. I like to call her this because she wears lot and lots of makeup and is always applying it to herself while on the train.

At 5:51 the C light rail shuttle bus arrived. The serial number on the bus was #8816. The one thing I noticed was that there was a clear plastic bag over the fare box. Apparently, the fare box was broken. So our regular bus driver who looks like a pudgy version of Grady from Sanford and Son just waved us all onboard. While on board I noticed the bus was comfortably air conditioned. Another interesting thing I noticed was that the bus made this high pitched screech sound when it hit the highway.

On the way home I got on a B Shuttle bus. It was air conditioned and it was being driven by this Muslim woman who wore a blue head scarf. I feel horrible for writing this but I didn’t feel afraid to get on her bus because she was an African American Muslim. If she were a Muslim from the Middle East I would have felt a bit more apprehensive. I hate feeling this way..

I suppose it’s the current world situation that makes me feel a bit apprehensive towards people who look as though they might hail from the Middle East.

The light rail train I took home at 6:55PM, was marked Cromwell. The car I got on was #5015.

WORK NEWS:
On the up side, we got risers for our cubicle!!! We are sitting at Fisher Price desks no more! So I have no idea what my co-workers are doing in there cubicles. Everything is back to normal. I felt uncomfortable when we didn’t have the risers because it made me acutely aware of some of my co-workers odd habits.

On the bad side they recently painted the corridors to our building. Instead of the light nondescript tan/beige colour they are now an oppressive dark grey and nondescript tan/beige colour.

The new colour scheme reminds me of a prison. I wish that they would have kept the nondescript beige/tan colour or maybe have used the nice bright blue colour of our company logo. I suppose there must have been a discount on prison grey paint....

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on the dark blue jumper dress that has an orange cross design on it. Underneath the jumper I have on a yellow ochre top.

MORNING COMMUTE:

I thought it would be interesting to see if I could do a more detailed morning commute run down. So here goes:

This morning I got on the #2 bus. It was made by my all time favorite bus manufacturers, NABI. The serial number on the bus was #0062. The bus was driven by a pleasant grey haired lady who had a young face. Young in the sense that she wasn’t very wrinkled. I guess she’s one of those people who has premature grey hair.

Next I got on a Northbound light rail train marked North Avenue. The car I got on was marked #5006. There were just three other passengers aboard train.

My regular light rail shuttle bus was late. So I had to take the B Shuttle bus instead. The B Shuttle was #7006. Not all the windows would open up and there was no air conditioning. I got on the shuttle bus at 6:03. I usually get on my regular shuttle bus at 5:50.

Since I took the B Shuttle bus I had to transfer to another bus at the Lutherville stop. I ended up getting on the C Shuttle bus with my regular driver. The C Shuttle bus was #8816 It was air conditioned.

On the way home I got on the #8 bus. It was one of those short buses that are made by this German bus company. I so loathe the design of those buses.

Finally I transferred at the Lutherville stop to catch the shuttle bus. The bus I ended up catching was the B Shuttle bus. The driver of this bus bored a striking resemblence to dancer/actor Jeffrey Holder. The bus # was 8909. There were just seven passengers aboard the bus.

INTERESTING THING I HEARD ON THE RADIO:Yesterday, it was nice to hear on the radio that Mike O’Meara from the Don and Mike Show had attended a Unitarian Church on Sunday. I just found that kind of neat because I attend a Unitarian Church.

This morning my security alarm went off as I was trying to set it. This will be the longest that I’ve been away from the building while the alarm is armed. I felt extremely nervous as I left the building.

As I crossed the street I noticed that the third floor lights were on. I immediately became frightened that I had set up the alarm improperly and it was blaring unmercifully throughout the building. Then again for all I know they regularly have there lights on at that hour. I became torn as to what to do. My bus arrived I got on it.

I again felt a pang of fear. I had to know for sure if the alarm had been triggered. I rode the bus for two blocks then got off and went back to my apartment. When I got back I noticed that the lights were off and that all their cars were still parked out front. So that would indicate that none of the neighbors left out for work. There was one thing left for me to do. I nervously opened the door to the apartment building and heard blissful silence. Apparently, I became terrified over nothing. In the end I was 8 minutes late for work. I believe this is the first time that I’ve been late in ages.

All in all I feel good about returning. It rested my nerves at work. Also after I got home I set up my security camera. I have it set up where it will email me whenever it detects motion in my apartment. If all goes well then all I will have would be a series of pictures of me entering and exiting my apartment.

Hopefully in the end I will have a more peaceful mindset knowing that my apartment is secure. Next I suppose I should focus on personal safety. You know buy pepper spray and maybe learn some martial arts.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on an olive green short sleeve blouse and a very coloful shear skirt. I have on three pairs of under slips because I’m that nervous about the skirt. It’s a very pretty pattern but the material is very shear . It was made in India. You’d think that they would be make things more modest.