shattered…

…as in dreams. Well, that’s a little to melodramatic. But basically, I was very nicely told that the CMU HCI program probably wouldn’t be the right thing for me. Basically, my work experience has given me a lot of the material that they would be teaching. Ugg… I have no idea what I’m going to do. Thankfully I have a 5 hour drive to think about it.

In Pittsburgh

I’m alive! Sorry to my oh so loyal readers for the lack of postings this week. Things have been pretty crazy here. I’m typing this blog from Di’s computer at CMU’s Graduate Interaction Design Studio. In a little bit I’ll be off to talk with the head of the HCI Institute here about my application. After that it’s lunch and then I head back home for bea-utiful rah-cha-cha and shakin’ my bootie at a superduty DJ gig.

I had wanted to stay another night here but I need to be in town Saturda morning and I have no desire to start driving at 5.00am tomorrow to make it back in time. That’s all for now…

sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes the bar…

First of all I have no makeovers for today. So it that’s what you’re coming for, yer outta luck. So you can keep reading my ramblings or check out some of the great blogs I link to in the side column. Ok now that that’s over with, on to today’s subject: relationship angst.

Actually there’s not too much to write about. Just like my current love life. *rim shot* (Thank you, thank you very much, there’s tons more where that came from) Di and I are still on great terms, just not “seeing” each other. In fact, I’ll be crashing at her place next week when I go down to talk to the good folks at CMU’s HCI Institute. Any hoo, last night I thought I’d take full advantage of my singleness and hit the bar scene. Big mistake. All I succeeded in doing was reminding myself why I spend very little time in bars. I quickly made the decision, that unlike the majority of guys out last night, getting blasted and pawing women who are clearly not interested in you just isn’t for me. Plus you get the added benefit of smelling like smoke for no extra charge.

Part of my problem is I have no desire to invest the time to get the most out of the bar scene. I can’t imagine spending so much time in one that the bartenders and all the regulars know who you are. It just seem that there are better uses of time, money, and brain cells than sitting in a bar on a regular basis, for hours at a time, paying $3.50 a beer. Guess I’m just not cut out for Cheers. Or I could just be getting older.

Any way, it’s been my experience that you really can’t “force” meeting people. It just happens, when you least expect it. And the universe has this obnoxious habit of making sure it doesn’t happen if you are specifically intending it to. Or maybe that only happens in my case. Any way this blog can be summed up in one formula: Bar scene = bad (or at least for me)

grumble grumble

I’m in a crappy mood so rather than curmudgeon a lot about life and my bleh outlook today I’ll just get to the good stuff, namely the latest two submissions:

I dig those crazy shades

This one is from Kim. Here’s the fun fact about this one: Kim did this over at iVillage’s site. They apparently have an online makeover tool there. Unfortunately, all that’s in the tool are women’s hair and glasses styles. So that’s a woman’s do I’m sporting. Bottomline: I make on heck of a butch chick. Thanks for not trying lipstick on me Kim!

I don’t know if I could ever look that serious.

This one definitely counts as the submission that came from the farthest away. Direct from the land of the rising sun, here are Jai’s comments: After scouring the latest collections from Gucci and Prada (can we say “Darth Vader”? No references to “Princess Leiah Bernius” from the peanut gallery, please), I feel like this winter is a very “Polo” season for you. (Forget about coture until summer–we’ll work on that later). This winter’s Polo gear has a comfortable, easy east to wear, and easy to match feel about it. The look is Lord-Byron-meets-theater-guy, and is comfortable enough for your active lifestyle plus has a very strongly individual feel, set off by sparing use of primary colors. I don’t think ultra-chic charcoal suits are the way to go, at least not yet–you’re far too busy to wear anything that requires so much maintenance. The hair is a little bit of a return to retro-Matt, but suits your style and will help to cultivate the artist look. Note that I’m recommending you go the route of an overall, unhilighted color without extensive use of styling products (think leave-in conditioner instead of styling stick). Yes, I know the 4th horseman started saddling up as soon as he heard these blashpemies, but I think this season is all about natural for you. This is also the perfect grad school transitional look–add elbow patches and you’re in the PhD program.

not to much to say toda…

…probably because the day has just begun. Last night’s Kung Fu work out was a good one; I’ve got lots of sore muscles. I have two more submissions to share. After that I’m out for the moment :-(. So if you’re working on something please get it in soon, otherwise I’m really going to have to come up with things to write about!

today’s first entry is from Abby: For Matt’s new look, he should wear dark solid color sweaters and knits that are close to the body. This will emphasize all the grueling work-outs he endures. Also I think black frame rectangular glasses would look great on him. The beard I added, just because I think beards are sexy. He would look great clean-shaven as well. The hair is really funky…I think he might have to dye his hair dark and then braid it to achieve this look. Kinda grunge meets prep style.

I’m not sure if I could ever grow that beard

the second entry is from Squibnocket (who’s page I finally added to my links section): i had a little fun today. dickens of a time finding a head-on shot, but this one just struck me as SO completely not you. and yet i forged on… i personally recommend the GQ look below. go shorter. but if you wanted to know how you’d look as fabio, here you go!

wow… I khan’t bee-leave eets nhat budd-ahh (note to reader: that was my bad fabio impression) … (note to Jenny: see I managed to tell a butter joke without mentioning you :-P).

you know it’s a good party when you dance so hard you burn holes in your pants

This past Saturday was the kodak.com holiday party that we (Jenny, Tina, Jo, Sarah, Abby, and I) have been working on for quite a while. It was a success; a great time was had by all. You can check out some funky pictures from it over on Jenny’s Blog. Holding a lens from a cheap plastic kaleidoscope over the lens of a D4800 Digital Camera we were able to crease some really cool effects (for the record: my hand was not clamped over my mouth in the picture of me because I was going to get sick ;-P). I got to play “prom photographer” at the dance, taking pictures of all the couples as they came in. At least I know I have a career to fall back on.

As for my pants, yes I actually did burn holes in them by dancing too hard. As it turns out they were 100% polyester (I think or some other plastic fiber). As the evening progressed we all got a little goofy with out dancing and in trying to top Aaron’s “jazz hands” I got the great idea to do a knee slide across the floor (ok… actually several knee slides across the floor… what can I say, I’m a ham). When I got home and looked at the knees of my pants, I realized that the material around both knees had fused and one knee had a small hole in it. Apparently the friction from the slides (or my fly dancin’ in general) had been too much for the pants to take. Good thing I didn’t keep it up or they might have spontaneously combusted. Just call me hot legs I guess. In any case I’m happy I didn’t get that pair of pants too near any of the lit candles there as I imagine that wouldn’t have been a good experience either. The lesson to be learned, carefully check what your clothes are made of before you decide to undertake extreme activities.

more matt

The submissions for my new look keep coming in. Over the weekend I got four new ones. I’ll put up two today and two tomorrow to space them out. Today’s are another round from Joel. He writes: “Inspired by Jenny’s and Cindy’s contributions, I decided to be more serious and productive in my contributions.” Let’s see what he has in store for me…

And I thought my hair was too long right now.

The hottest male model in the world, twenty-three year old Matt-Damien was raised in a rural community in South Africa, far removed from the fashion centers of Europe and America. The stunning 6’2″ Matt-Damien is extremely impressive in real life, and has been the biggest star of the runway for the past few seasons. Female bookers at Next say that, despite the fact that they are used to seeing gorgous men all the time, Matt-Damien really stands out: you can’t help but look at him; sighs can be heard when he walks in a room.

I don’t think the world is ready for me in those shorts

Matt-Ingo is the king of the Paris runway. His height of almost 6’3″ and his very unusual look definitely set him apart among the other male models in the collections. But all this success as a model has definitely not gone to his head. His daily life is very low key and unassuming. Matt-Ingo is based in Germany and actually lives in a small town outside Hamburg, where he works with troubled children and teenagers. Not only gorgeous, but a genuinely good guy.

Please keep ‘em coming!