Back from NY, Part 1.

It's been a little less than a week, and I've finally gotten around to uploading these New York pictures.

New York City was a blast! I'm a small-town hombre and I never thought I'd like big cities. I could only see the large masses of people moving down the sidewalks, cars honking incessantly, and pick-pocketers running off with my wallet.

Such was not the case in NYC. I've never been in such awe of a city before. I was overwhelmed by the large skyscrapers and innumerous glass windows, the smell of fried dough wafting from the street vendors, and the stores crammed as much as possible into one block. I even liked Queens, which apparently is saying something, because it had personality. The first time I walked down into my first dank, dirty subway of New York, I felt right at home. I loved this city already.

To best sum up this trip, I'll provide some photos I took.


This was my hotel room in Hotel 30 30. For being named after its location, it was incredibly difficult to find. It didn't stick out at all, no one knew where it was, and only one of the streets was actually 30th. It was in between Madison and Park Avenues. As you can see, my hotel room was very tiny. Not that I mind, but it's definitely the smallest room I've ever slept in.

This was my friend Elena at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. It was an overpriced tourist trap, but we definitely had fun. This was an exhibit that talked about a man who was born without a lower torso. Next to his wax model was a photo op set-up where a mirrored box gave the illusion that you had no legs.
This was some sort of Oriental ship made entirely out of jade. (according to the sign)


The skeleton of a six-legged calf.

The skeleton of a wooly mammoth. I mostly took this picture for bone reference.
First photo of Times Square. I actually didn't like Times Square at all. It was way too glitzy and electric for me. Too much "Hey! Notice me! Buy things! You're in Times Square!" Probably my least favorite place in NY.
Inside Chris Duffy's office. He had a lot of upcoming comics posted on his wall. It's nice to know that, even though the magazine was for kids, the art was great and I had to laugh at the jokes.
View from the conference room in Nickelodeon Magazine.
Our professor/chaperone John Lowe talking with Cliff Chiang. I was amazed that Cliff (and the artists we would later visit) had amazingly clean work spaces. It's amazing how much more professional you look when you have a clean workspace.
More from the streets of NY.Inside the DC Comics waiting room. There was a sample of "kryptonite" in the room.
Here's Superman, who stopped by briefly to talk with us SCAD kids.
On the 3rd floor of DC Comics' building, there was good ol' MAD. Here are some of the original covers posted on the wall.

More pics later.

New Movies and New Job

My summer job at the Catherine-Ward House Inn is great! It's run by people who go out of their way to put the customer first. I have never worked at a place that's so personal with its clients. On my first day, I was paid to go on an Old Savannah Tour to get some town info.

Here's some new tips I heard from our guide, who was really nice and kept promoting his daughter, who is a waitress at Six Pence Pub (an excellent place to dine in Savannah):
1. The tombstones within the Colonial Cemetery cannot be trusted to mark who lies where. During General Sherman's stay in Savannah, some of the Union soldiers set up quarters in the graveyard. At some point, they would get rowdy and drunk (the average age for a soldier was sixteen) and would destroy or misplace gravestones. So to this day no one knows exactly who's buried where, but apparently there are a lot more bodies in the ground than there are tombstones.
2. The Kehoe House was bought by Joe Namath in 1980 and he was planning on turning it into a bachelor pad/disco. Well, knowing the Historical Society of Savannah, and just any of the well-to-do citizens in Savannah, that was not going to fly. I'm guessing they protested enough to disallow him from turning a historic landmark into a disco, but what I thought was neat was the scrolling on the exterior of the house looks like painted wood, but is in fact steel.
3. This isn't really a historical fact as so much it is just plain creepy. The Mulberry Inn on the corner of Bay and Houston St used to be an old horse stable. At some point, it caught fire and killed the horses inside. On certain nights, guests and employees alike have attested to hearing the neighing of frightened horses. Now if that ain't creepy, I don't know what is.

But going back to the job, it's very relaxing as I'm doing a lot of manual labor like gardening. I haven't had much experience in it, but I loved digging through the dirt and finding earthworms and pillbugs. The owners kept coming outside and checking up on me, as it was pretty hot out, but I loved sitting in the garden bed.

I saw a ton of movies this week! Iron Man, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones 4, not to mention the old ones for nostalgia's sake. I also bought Big Trouble in Little China and one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time, John Carpenter's The Thing!


Unfortunately, it's late, and I have no recent drawings to post here, so for now, here's some pics of me and the family, along with my beautiful fiancee, Nikki.


[from top, clockwise: me, Nikki, Kelli (my sister), Lisa (my mom)][from top, clockwise: Kent (my dad), me, Nikki, Kelli]

First Day of Summer!

Ah, my first taste of summer! I have to say, it's dangerously relaxing not having to worry about homework or upcoming projects. But that shall not stop me from drawing! Here's a sample from today's sketchpad that I colored.


Graduation was very long and I don't think anyone came out of the Civic Center (where our ceremony was being held) without nodding off at some point. And to make matters worse, they said my name was "Sarah Ross Williams!" D'oh! Oh well. I can do nothing but laugh about it now, knowing that I will forever remember graduation day.

I obtained a summer job at a local bed & breakfast which is quite a nice place and the owner is very sweet and charismatic. And it's the best paying job I've had so far! Still, I'll be looking for a secondary job if I ever want to help my dad purchase a car for me.

I got so many checks from relatives and I can't thank them enough for their support. The money will really help with my NY trip and living in Savannah this summer. I have to check out restaurants and tours in Savannah so I can recommend places for customers. I look at this as an opportunity to start on my pet project, a Savannah sketch journal.

Let's see where this goes!