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I had to go to Crystal City because I was meeting with someone who was staying at one of the area hotels regarding a possible work opportunity, which I’m not going to go into here. I went out despite the fact that I was still struggling with that chest cold I caught the day after going to the Capital Pride Festival. I took a bunch of cold medicines before I left so I wouldn’t go off on a coughing fit while I was talking with that person. I haven’t been to Crystal City since I made my one and only visit to the now-defunct TechShop makerspace back in 2016.
So I walked through the Crystal City Underground, where I was reminded at how the walking tunnels looked so white and sterile.
I eventually reached the area near where the ill-fated TechShop was located and I saw that someone attempted to add some color to those dull white walls. The pole on the right reads “Art Underground.”
There were some colorful tables and chairs along with various framed art pieces on the wall. At least this area broke up the monotony of those white walls.
The one thing I haven’t seen on previous visits is that there is now a public library located underground called Connection Crystal City.
You can tell I shot this next photo during Pride Month because of the rainbow flag that’s draped in the background.
There’s even an art gallery known as Gallery Underground. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to look inside because I needed to arrive at my appointment in time.
I walked past a gift shop that was selling what I think is the tackiest, ugliest souvenir featuring President Donald Trump that I’ve ever seen. In a way, that coffee mug and card deck matches perfectly with the boorish tacking behavior of Donald Trump and his administration. (There has been so much drama going on in DC that I would have to write several separate blog posts detailing everything. Just looking at Donald Trump’s Twitter feed provides a glimpse as to the insanity that has been going on in DC ever since he moved into the White House.)
Even though I did the bulk of the walk underground, every now and then there were skylights that provided a window on the outdoor sky.
I walked the length of the Crystal City Underground until I reached the end and I had to walk the rest of the way outdoors. I passed a bunch of late spring flowers in full bloom.
As I was walking outside I realized that soon the landscape of the Crystal City area will change because Amazon is building its new HQ2. It’ll be interesting to see what this area will look like once that new HQ2 is built.
My meeting was held in the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel. There was a conference going on called the M-Enabling Summit, which was about improving technology for people with disabilities.
I saw some of the booths both before and after my meeting but I was too sick with that chest cold to spend much time looking at everything. After the meeting I rested in the lobby where I saw this really cool wooden chess set that the hotel made available to its visitors.
I ended up taking the hotel shuttle back to the Crystal City Metro station. I had to go to the underground mall next door so I could go to the bathroom before I boarded the subway train. On the way to the Metro I saw that the Schakolad Chocolate Factory had this large inflatable Uncle Sam outside its door in preparation for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.
On that day I was traveling with a friend to Virginia because we were both currently helping an elderly woman with self-publishing her memoirs for her children and grandchildren and it was a chance for the two of us to earn some extra money.
Once we arrived in Virginia we had some time to kill before our appointment with the woman so we decided to kill some time at the Arlington Public Library. Since that day was also the Star Wars-themed May the Fourth, I saw this display featuring various Star Wars videos and books that was shaped like R2-D2.
One unique thing about this library that I haven’t seen in other libraries elsewhere is that you can borrow American Girl dolls for one week. Seriously, you can walk in and check out a doll for one week. The good news is that you can save $115 on the retail price of a new American Girl doll. The bad news is that you can only keep her for one week. But a cash-strapped person can at least get a taste of what it’s like to live with an American Girl doll even if it’s only for one week.
Most of the American Girl dolls I saw available for borrowing were all from the historical BeForever line. (There’s no Girl of the Year or Truly Me dolls available.) But that’s fine because a child could borrow a doll and start envisioning the times in which this doll lived while checking out the vintage period clothes that she comes dressed in.
The upper level of the library had this makerspace that it recently opened. Anyone with an Arlington Public Library card can access the equipment and make stuff. That library had some pretty nice equipment, including 3D printers, a vinyl cutter, and sewing machines. I also saw some 3D prints resembling Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
In recent years I’ve been seeing stuff on the Internet about people equating May 4 with Star Wars while using as a pun. (“May the Fourth be with you.”) I’ve seen most of the Star Wars movies (including the mediocre prequels and that godawful Star Wars Holiday Special, which I wrote about in this blog years ago). I’ve enjoyed most of the movies but I’ve never really paid much mind to May 4.
It looks like that day is really getting mainstream acceptance outside of the Internet geekdom. On May 4 I was traveling with a friend to Virginia because we were both currently helping an elderly woman with self-publishing her memoirs for her children and grandchildren and it was a chance for the two of us to earn some extra money. While my friend was driving on the I-495 Capital Beltway in Maryland I saw this highway sign that invoked May the Fourth, complete with the sign written in the way that Yoda usually speaks.
Once we arrived in Virginia we had some time to kill before our appointment with the woman so we decided to kill some time at the Arlington Public Library, where I saw this display done up like R2-D2 and it featured Star Wars books and videos.
By the way the Wikipedia has an interesting article on the origins of May the Fourth and it apparently originated with the day that Margaret Thatcher took office as the UK Prime Minister.
Today’s prompt word for Inktober is “guarded.” I struggled with this prompt word a lot until I thought of the people who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery so I did this drawing.
I went to Arlington National Cemetery a few times with my family when I was growing up outside of Baltimore. Usually we were accompanying some out-of-town relatives whenever we went on those trips. I still remember seeing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and sticking around to see the changing of the guard. Even though I now live closer to Washington, DC and I could take the Blue Line Metro to Arlington National Cemetery, I haven’t been there since I was in middle school. (As you can guess, I based my photo on a photo that I downloaded off of the Internet.) Maybe I should visit there at least once in my adult life while I am still healthy since I live relatively close to that place.
Last year I attended a networking event at TechShop, a giant makerspace located in Crystal City, Virginia.
This place was literally a makerspace on steroids. It was very large and it was filled with the latest top-of-the-line equipment that members could use, such as this machine.
TechShop definitely had more resources than the local makerspace in my own neighborhood (which is run as a non-profit on a very shoestring budget). The only reason why I never joined TechShop is because its monthly member fees were very expensive. (I don’t remember the exact fees but I think they cost at least $150-200 per month.) Had the fees been more affordable, I definitely would’ve joined and tried going there at least twice a month.
Today I learned that TechShop has abruptly filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its locations nationwide. It’s too bad that this happened because it was an amazing place to see in person. I still remember the member who was building his own personal airplane and that plane was on display as a work-in-progress in the middle of TechShop.
I only hope that this member managed to finish his plane before TechShop closed for good. (From what I’ve read online, it looks like TechShop didn’t even provide any advance notice to its members before it closed down.) You can check out more photos I took during my one and only visit to TechShop right here.
One evening I decided to attend a networking event on the emerging Creative Class that was held at the large makerspace known as TechShop in the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia. While I was riding the Metro to the Crystal City stop, I noticed these dramatic clouds forming over the Potomac River so I took this next shot. The window was dirty, which I couldn’t do anything about, but this next photo shows the 14th Street Bridge along with the Washington Monument located at the far right. The dome structure next to the Washington Monument is the Jefferson Memorial.
There was a reason for al those storm clouds: It started to rain after sunset. Between being on the Metro and being in Crystal City, I was underground through most of it so I didn’t have to use my umbrella until after I arrived in the parking lot of the Greenbelt Metro station as I was returning home.
I got off at the Crystal City Metro station and I immediately went inside the adjacent shopping mall known as the Crystal City Underground, which is named because of its subterranean location. The Crystal City area was once envisioned as a place where one could live, work, and shop without ever having to go above ground. The theory was that anyone living in one of the nearby apartments could just take the elevator to one of the underground tunnels and walk to one of the other buildings to work then walk to the underground to eat at a restaurant or shop either after work or on the weekends. I haven’t been in this area since the 2012 Artomatic, which was held in one of the nearby buildings. There are a few nice stores but most of the merchandise is pretty expensive, which is why I normally don’t shop there. The underground architecture is pretty interesting.
The next photo shows one of the many mall entrances that leads to a set of steps for the visitor to walk down.
I focused mostly on this chocolate shop I don’t recall seeing before known as Schakolad Chocolate Factory. This stores sells all kinds of handcrafted chocolates in a variety of shapes.
I purchased this chocolate five dollar bill there. It was made from dark chocolate and it tasted very good. I ate it along with a light dinner I purchased from one of the fast food places. (The event I went to served food so I didn’t eat a large dinner that night.)
The one other place I found interesting was this bar and restaurant known as King Street Blues, which seems to have a New Orleans-themed decor. I didn’t have much time to take too many pictures because of the event I was going to plus the place was crowded with people who stopped by after work. If I’m ever in the area again I’m definitely going to make this place one of my destinations.
I finally arrived at TechShop. I had heard about this place from people who’ve been there for the last few years and I have to admit that it’s very impressive and very big with some nice decorative touches.
The event itself was held in a side room. There were a series of three panel discussions plus there were networking opportunities between the panel discussions. The next photo shows one of them.
There were also opportunities to tour the facility between panels, which I took advantage of. TechShop is a makerspace that’s filled with the latest equipment for anyone who wants to make anything as long as he/she pays a monthly fee to use the facilities. There are all kinds of machines for all kinds of making ranging from welding to fashion design to woodworking to making musical instruments.
Someone is currently working on his own personal airplane to fly in and the body of the plane (sans wings) was on display as a work in progress.
If I ever have an idea for something that needs to be mass-produced, I definitely will go to TechShop to work on the prototype for my idea after I use Kickstarter or IndieGoGo to raise the needed funds for both the monthly fee and any needed supplies.
UPDATE (November 15, 2017): Sixteen months after I made my first and only visit to the Crystal City location, TechShop abruptly filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors at all of its locations across the country.
I need to find a different title than “daily sketches” because I have completely thrown by the wayside my New Year’s resolution that I would create one new sketch each day. I quickly learned that working on daily sketches each day takes time from other arts and crafts projects that I’m working on as well as other things that I should be doing (such as cleaning the house). My “daily sketchbook” effort really became pathetic when I made only one new sketch in the entire month of June—and that one was in response to the horrible shootings at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
This past month I managed to churn out three sketches, starting with this one. I was inspired to create this sketch after hearing the news about a bullfighter matador in Spain named Victor Barrio who was recently gored to death by his bull opponent in the ring. His death was shown live on Spanish television and he is known to have been the first matador killed during a bullfight in over 30 years.
I feel bad for the bullfighter’s family because I know that dealing with a loved one’s sudden and unexpected death is such a shock. But I have zero sympathy for the late bullfighter himself because he was participating in a so-called “sport” whose advocates call it “sheer beauty and artistry” when all it really entails is some man slowly torturing a bull to death with spears while waving a red cape and shouting “¡Olé!” I’ve never understood what was so great about bullfighting, especially when I took Spanish in college and one of the chapters in the class textbook dealt with words and phrases related to bullfighting. I remember the instructor in that class admitted that she personally didn’t like bullfighting either. (She originally came from Cuba, a nation with no bullfighting tradition.) That bullfighter would still be alive had he picked a different occupation that’s less dangerous and deadly. Bullfighting is one so-called “tradition” that needs to go away along with other so-called “traditions” like female genital mutilation and slavery.
Later in the month I did this drawing full of gears of many colors. I had gone to an event at this makerspace located in Crystal City, Virginia known as TechShop and its logo has the letter “o” shaped like a gear. I just took that gear idea and elaborated it further with a bunch of interconnected gears. It was something I did really quick and it shows. (If I was doing a professional drawing, I would’ve done it using a 2H pencil first while erasing and refining it until I got it just right. Then I would’ve traced over it with ink.)
For the last drawing I did in the month of June, I went back to Rory’s Story Cubes. I mixed the Prehistoria and Enchanted sets together and this drawing was the result.
One Saturday I went to two events in one day. I just wanted to have some light-hearted fun in the wake of my recent appearance in divorce court just three days earlier so I packed my Canon Digital Rebel DSLR camera and rode on the Metro. There are a few photos I posted that are definitely not safe for work but they are placed towards the end of this entry. (The rest of the photos are all-ages friendly.)
First, I attended the annual Sakura Matsuri street festival in Washington, DC. Sakura Matsuri is the event that formally closes the weeks-long National Cherry Blossom Festival. You know that you are at a Metro stop that’s closest to the festival because you’ll see people in costume like the ones in the next two photos.
The Sakura Matsuri is usually very crowded and 2013 was no exception. I arrived late in the afternoon (just a couple of hours before it closed) and there were still plenty of people around. The weather was a warm sunny day as people walked around the festival just a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol.
The next photo show the official art for this year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, which was available for sale on posters and t-shirts.
The cherry blossom trees in the Baltimore-Washington region were past their blooming peak on the day of the Sakura Matsuri but the street festival had plenty of cherry blossom flowers made from glass, paper, and other artificial materials.
There were some special guests at the Sakura Matsuri, such as NASCAR driver Akinori Ogata and his racing car.
There was plenty of live entertainment provided by performers from Japan.
There was a variety of things to do or experience, such as live entertainment and hands-on demonstrations of video games like Dance Dance Revolution.
The crowdest booths were the ones serving food and drink. (Naturally.) The next two photos are of the non-food booths that were the most crowded. One was devoted to providing free hair styling for men while the other was a McDonald’s booth that was giving away free tote bags.
There were all kinds of Japanese imported products that one could purchase including candy, snacks, plushies, kitchen gadgets, dolls, action figures, and clothes. Some products were based on traditional crafts and images while others were based on characters in anime, manga, video games, and even Disney movies. In short, there was a little something for everyone.
Like previous years, the highlight of the Sakura Matsuri are the numerous cosplayers at the event. Many of them created their own costumes from scratch. The hard work and creativity involved in making these costumes are astounding.
When the festival began to show signs of closing down, I hopped back on the Metro to the Rosslyn Metro station. I decided to check out another special event that was being held. The Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia was the venue for a special party to celebrate Yuri’s Night. When I first learned about it, I thought about my ex-husband because he works at NASA and it was through him that I first learned about the existence of Yuri’s Night
I also had to make a difficult decision for the evening of April 13. Someone from my support group for people who are separated or divorced was throwing a party at her home complete with a bonfire and I got this notice about the Yuri’s Night event. I ultimately decided to go to the Yuri’s Night event because the e-mail I received sounded really promising. There would be a bunch of people dressed as robots. There would be a burlesque performance. There would be a couple of dances. There would be a robot-themed art exhibit. There would be a special sale of smaller science fiction-themed works of art done by local artists that one can buy that night and carry home. There would be continuous showings of cheesy science fiction movies from the 1950’s and 1960’s. I got seduced by the promised glitz and I decided to go there instead of the other party.
In retrospect I have to admit that there are times when I wished I had gone to the other party instead. That’s because I didn’t know anyone at the Yuri’s Night event while many of the other attendees went with their friends and socialized at times. While the shows and bands were pretty awesome, I felt lonely in a crowd. So my big lesson in my still relatively new foray into the single life is that it’s better to go to a less-splashy event where I knew people than to go to a splashy event like Yuri’s Night where I didn’t know anyone. From now on, if there are any scheduling conflicts between a splashy event and a less-splashy event where I know my friends would be there, I’ll pick the latter. (The only exception to that rule will be if I know in advance that my ex-husband and his girlfriend are going to the same party where I know my friends would be there.)
At least the Yuri’s Night event at the Artisphere wasn’t a total bust for me. There were plenty of interesting stuff for me to photograph, starting with the skyline of late afternoon Arlington.
There were plenty of signs pointing to the venue of Yuri’s Night.
There were also plenty of tulips and other spring flowers already in bloom.
But then I came across other flower patches that surrounded tree trunks that were covered in colorful crocheted pieces.
I began to notice that there were tree trunks covered in these crocheted pieces.
As I walked around the area, I found crocheted pieces hung and strung everywhere.
I walked around until I came to this giant metal sculpture that’s in the middle of a median strip where I found the culprits responsible for hanging the crocheted pieces everywhere. A group of people were busy trying to cover both the sculpture and the surrounding garden with as many crocheted pieces as possible before sunset.
I walked around the streets of Arlington to kill some time before the start of Yuri’s Night at the Artisphere. I arrived at the event just in time for the start. The Atomic Mosquitos played a set while scenes from cheesy 1950’s era science fiction movies played in the background.
Once the performance ended we were ushered out into a general area where we had a choice of either socializing or checking out the activities that were going on.
There was this trivia contest that used Rock Em Sock Em Robots. Basically someone would ask prospective contests a single trivia question related to science, space, science fiction, Yuri Gagarin, or similar topics. The first two people to get the right answer would then battle each other using Rock Em Sock Em Robots. It was a delightfully silly contest that was also broadcast on a wall so people wouldn’t have to crowd around the Rock Em Sock Em Robots to see the entire action.
In the Artisphere’s WIP Gallery there was a show featuring robot art called Voltron’s Corpse that will be on display through May 4. This particular exhibit has gotten the attention of Wired magazine.
There were vendor tables set up that sold smaller space-themed arts and crafts that people could purchase and carry home with them.
There was an I Dream of Jeannie-themed kissing booth.
Even though the event was opened only to adults over 21, there was a Moon Bounce House that anyone could use. (I saw people go in and out of it.)
There were all kinds of eye candy at the Artisphere that night, which included not only funky decorations but also people who arrived in robot costumes.
At one point there was another live performance by the band Dance for the Dying.
There was also a burlesque show called "The Search for Drinkbot." That show was the most packed with standing room only crowds (which was exacerbated by the fact that there weren’t any chairs in the room where the show was held). It was a challenge to take pictures over people’s shoulders at times. There was a thin science-fiction plot but one didn’t need to follow that story to enjoy the entertainment. Some of the photos I took at that show are definitely NSFW.
There was more to Yuri’s Night including another set by Dance for the Dying, the second part of "The Search for Drinkbot" burlesque show, continuous showings of various science fiction movies, a Celestial Costume Contest, another round of the Rock Em Sock Em Trivial Tournament, and a Lunar Dance Party. I ended up leaving at the relatively early time of 10 p.m. mainly because I was tired from going to the earlier Sakura Matsuri street festival and standing on my feet for the first part of the burlesque show. I also grew frustrated at seeing people socializing with each other and I felt left out because I didn’t know anyone at that event. (Which really made me regret not going to the other party with my friends from my weekly support group for people who are separated or divorced.) At least Yuri’s Night provided lots of eye candy and I got some pretty decent photos from that event.
Yesterday I spent what would’ve been my wedding anniversary (had my husband not suddenly run away from home three days after Christmas last year and has avoided me and most of our friends since) at Artomatic. I signed up as a volunteer for the five-hour Friday afternoon shift. I had hoped to serve on a floor I hadn’t visited yet so I could see the art while walking around making sure that the visitors adhered to the rules and behaved themselves in general. However other people had their hands up before I had the chance to spring for what I wanted. I ended up being placed on trash duty where I would be assigned with a partner to go on all the floors and empty out any overflowing trash.
Except my original partner balked at doing that duty because she said she had allergies. Another person walked into the Artomatic office on the third floor and she ended up being partnered with me on the trash duty. Ironically my original partner would’ve had nothing to worry about because there wasn’t any overflowing garbage that had to be emptied the entire afternoon. In fact, my partner and I ended up doing little more than to make sure the trash bags were over the rims of the garbage because there weren’t a lot of visitors.
It was pretty quiet all afternoon. We decided to start on the 11th floor and work our way down as we toured the garbage. It turned out that my partner hadn’t been back at Artomatic since the installation of her own work so everything was new to her. By that point I had toured all except for the 1st, 2nd, and 6th floors so I ended up waiting for my partner while she was seeing the art. In the meantime I spent some time taking a few photos of Crystal City as seen from the windows of the upper floors at Artomatic.
The only really exciting thing happened on the 9th floor when I saw a bird suddenly fly from out of nowhere. At first I thought I was hallucinating until I got to the direction where the bird flew and saw it fly again. The bird somehow got inside the building. How it got in was a total mystery because the building is one of those modern office building where the windows can’t be opened and I don’t recall seeing any gaping holes in the walls or ceiling. When my partner called the office about that bird later on, we learned that apparently a family of birds had settled in the Artomatic building. We decided to let the birds be and continuted on our quest for any overflowing garbage.
Eventually my partner got a call on her cell from the office. Another volunteer was joining us (she had arrived late because she got on the wrong Metrobus) so my partner had to tell the office where we were currently located. (I think we were on the 8th or 7th floors, I don’t remember exactly.) Once the third person joined us we continued our tour of the Artomatic building while looking at the art.
In our quest for overflowing garbage, we eventually managed to reach the 6th floor. Here are a few words about both the 5th and 6th floors. Originally Artomatic was supposed to have all 11 floors of the former Department of Defense-owned building in Crystal City to be filled with art. During the site selection phase back in April, we were told that the 5th and 6th floors were being temporarily closed off and they were going to be used as overflow for any late-registering artists later on. Well, apparently Artomatic didn’t get as many artists as they hoped so the organizers decided to close off the 5th floor entirely. Anyone who tries to enter the 5th floor either by elevator or by stairs would be greeted with something like this.
For the 6th floor the organizers decided to try something experimental. It would be known as the “Art Reactor” floor and the general public would be invited to draw or paint on any of the walls on that floor. People could bring their own art supplies from home or purchase them from the Artomatic store. The only medium that was prohibited was spray paint. Otherwise, it was anything goes. I hadn’t seen that floor yet and my other two partners hadn’t either so we eventually made our way to the 6th floor. Imagine our surprise when we reached the 6th floor and found this sign.
The one lone volunteer who was assigned to make sure people stayed away from the 6th floor said that she heard that the organizers had shut down the entire floor last week because of problems with vandalism and people hiding on that floor past closing time. She even pointed out one such example of the vandalism—someone tried to pull the wallpaper away from the wall.
It’s too bad that a few assholes had to ruin it for everyone else because people did produce some tremendous work while it was still opened.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the organizers never attempted anything like this at any future Artomatics.
So we went down to the 4th floor in an effort to find any overflowing garbage that didn’t exist. One of my partners got a call on her cell phone from the office. We were instructed to go back to the top floors, take any chairs currently in the hallway by the elevators and put them in the areas where there is a stage or a lounge. So we did that and we spent the last hour and a half of the afternoon shift doing that until 5 p.m.
With that shift, I have now completed my minimum required three five-hour shifts for Artomatic 2012. I decided to celebrate by walking over to the nearby Sbarro’s for a quick slice of pizza. I decided to kill some time by seeing the art on the 2nd floor since I hadn’t been there yet and my partners and I never reached that floor during our shift. I was only able to see part of the floor because I decided to check out a workshop at 7 p.m. and I was already pretty tired from doing all that walking during my volunteer shift.
At 7 p.m. I headed back to the Utrecht Art Room on the 8th floor where there was a free workshop on making your own stencils. We had the choice of either making one free-form or we could use one of the sample drawings available. I decided on the latter because my mind was too tired to be totally creative by that point. I picked a hummingbird and here’s the result that I shot with my smartphone camera after I got home. This is the actual stencil itself.
This is my first attempt at using my new stencil with acrylic paint.
It looks pretty decent. In fact I’m thinking about buying a blank t-shirt from one of the arts and crafts stores in the future and make myself a hummingbird t-shirt using that stencil and fabric paint. But that’s going to have to wait until after Artomatic is over.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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