Jacob Fleming's Blog

October

2010-10-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

don't be a bitch.

May BE IT'S SUMMER

2010-05-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

Woah nelly its been a long time. I've missed you, truly. Come sit down by the fire and let me tell you a story. The end.

I've been as busy as winnie the pooh looking for honey in all of those pots. I nearly broke my foot and have been hobbling all over chicago. I'm burnt to a crisp from partying in Wisconsin with Rach's folks and I'm tired as hell from work, school, and all of the extracurricular activities. Corey got married, signed, and recorded. I borrowed, played, and beat assassin's creed 2. I waited for, watched, and hated the finale of lost. Rachel caught a fish, a frog, and some tadpoles--And I've eaten a shitload of Cheez-It party pix (aka snack mix). Haven't really gotten to pick up a camera in a while. I've been sitting back while Rachel's been learning to use hers. She's been making some awesome necklaces and is selling them at her etsy store so go buy one. I've been designing a lot and actually picked up a company called Big Lobby as a new client. Not really much I can say right now, but here's a sneak peak at what I've been doing for them.

Have a great memorial day. Don't forget to have plenty of memories of stuff. "One love" as Bono would say.
I'll be spending it with friends and the most adorable girl on the planet.

March 9

2010-03-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

Rachel and I celebrated our 1st year together on the 22nd of February. It was great! We made dinner and drank some wine. I found an antique photo album in the store below my apartment and filled it with a bunch of photos we took over the past year. She made me an Oreo cake! Unlike my birthday, this time i got to eat more than one piece...! Other things have happened as well between now and the last time I posted, but I don't think anyone cares that's reading this--If anyone is even reading this besides Rachel. ha ha

I know the pictures aren't perfectly aligned (its bugging me) but whatever.

I decided to start a comic strip with a few friends and have been doodling around in illustrator and photoshop. We're currently writing it and once its done we'll have it up somewhere. I'll post it on here for sure.

I must have been feeling violent this day.

February 7

2010-02-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

I can't sleep. I've been so busy lately, and I'm so tired, but I just can't fall asleep so I figured I would talk to myself on the internet.

Rachel and I are getting ready to celebrate our year on the 22nd. I'm so excited. I'll never get tired of looking at this face everyday.

I just hope she doesn't get tired of this one...

I recently won a design contest on Crowdspring.com! $375! Thanks Grant!

Rachel and I are finally starting to sell some shirts on etsy.com. Head over there and check them out. We'll be adding more very soon.

Things have been crazy here. Rach and I went to the Art Institute Museum with Corey and Mallory on Friday, and to her friend Jake's show at the Metro with his band The Hudson Branch last Saturday. Oh, and the Friday before last I came home to a lesbian dance party in the loft...ha ha. Zoe recently moved out and we gained a new roommate from Paris named Annatole ( I think thats spelled right.) Anyway, what do you care? I'm flippin' tired.

PS: stumbleupon is awesome.

January 2

2010-01-02T22:26:00.000-08:00

Today I woke up to a gelfling in my bed. It was nice.

I left her there to go to work and found out we were closed today...so I came back to bed.

Rach and I headed back to Crystal Lake and spent most of the day in various pet stores trying to decide what to put in her new 10 gallon tank she bought for her African Clawed Frogs. We ate at Outback Steakhouse (thanks Becqui) and went to another pet store. There was an Old English Sheep dog puppy that we played with. Not as cool as Boozer, but still awesome. I pried Rachel away and ended up buying a new rock for Toast. Now that Rach got a new tank she's passing along her octagonal (or hexagonal i cant remember) to me!

New years eve was great. We spent the evening on the second floor of my building with some of my loft mates and Corey and Mallory. It was a blast. Listening to the Live band and dancing around with Rachel was the perfect way to begin the new year.

Oh, here are a few things I illustrated for Christmas as gifts.

These are two characters of a children's book I wrote and illustrated for my Niece and Nephew.

Special request from my Sister-in-law Jenni.

Robot hugging an octopus...:-)

December 29

2009-12-29T21:38:00.001-08:00

So, Christmas was awesome. Rachel came over Christmas Eve day before I went home to see my family. I got her a Nikon D60 body and gave her one of my lenses. I'm so happy she loves it, and I can't wait to see what she can do with it. She's better than I am already. I also carved her a little wooden elephant that she can tie into a necklace!

Rachel made me this awesome gray and blue scarf! It's so warm and so long. I can rap it around my face infinite times. It must have taken her a whole 24 hours to make. She also bought me some new headphones because my other ones suck really bad. Candy, Rachel Brownies, and a Coca-Cola(I'm addicted) glass were also part of my gift.

After Rach and I exchanged gifts, we loaded up my rental car with my bags to go home. What should have taken 5 hours took more like 7 or even close to 8 because of the weather and traffic. I swear it took me an hour just to get on 55.

We made it there and back though. Bruiser had fun seeing his long lost friend Luther (my grandparents' poodle) even though he can be a little crazy.

I'm happy to be back in Chicago. I wish I could bring my friends and family with me. Being away from them for so long really made me appreciate this Christmas. I'm so thankful for my family, friends, and Rachel. They all helped make this Christmas the best ever. (despite the shitty weather driving there and back!)

December 16

2009-12-15T22:45:00.001-08:00

Rachel and I went sledding Sunday on an awesome hill near her house. We managed to dodge all of the kamikaze children when we got to the bottom. We went down about 6 times and went and got some hot chocolate to add to our bellies full of tacos.

On my way home tonight from school I decided to get off a stop early and catch the bus since it went straight to my block...that didn't work out. I ended up waiting for a non-existent bus for about 20 minutes while talking to a homeless guy who (so he says) had just gotten stitches on his leg. He was limping around and looked really hopeless so I believed him. I felt really bad for him so I got him on the L Train with my U-pass. That was the best I could do. I hope he gets his shit together. I felt good after that, so I treated myself to Burger King...ha ha. Then walked home in the 7 degree weather. It was, if nothing else, an interesting trip home.

Thank god my apartment is always hot as hell.

December 12

2009-12-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

Went home for thanksgiving. It was an ok trip. I didn't get to eat enough turkey. I stayed with my brother and played the new call of duty...It's awesome!...i mean...I don't play video games. He gave it to me as an early Christmas gift. It was great staying with him and Jenni and seeing my friends and family. See you all again Christmas!!!

I'll miss ping the most! She's the cuddliest cat on earth.

I was looking through photos tonight and ran across this one of Rachel. We were painting in my room one day (in the era of red-haired rachel). It made me smile, so I thought I'd share it. :-)

I designed a logo for a bowling alley. Not sure if they're going to use it, but I'm happy with the results.

I had a lot of time on my hands one day, and this is what emerged from it.

Don't have spare time anymore! I'm so busy, but that's ok. Rachel and I went to my roommate Zoe's opening at the marwen gallery last night and had a blast. The show is called The book as its own addendum. Go check it out! There was an after party at our loft and it was so much fun.

November 15

2009-11-15T19:05:00.000-08:00

Rachel turned 20 on Friday the 13th.

Nothing spooky happened, other than the fact that her mom asked me to stay the night...It was great. I took the bus to the train carrying a huge garbage bag with Rachel's gift inside. I made her a couple of things and bought her a cool coffee device.

After I had been given a ride from the train station by someone's mom...I met up with Rachel and she opened her gifts. We went to a movie and got dinner and then I tagged along on a shopping spree Saturday.

She said it was her best birthday.

Mission accomplished.

November 4

2009-11-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

Had the best Halloween ever with Rachel.

Saturday night the loft above mine threw a huge party with a band, full bar, and crazy homemade costumes. It was awesome! Rachel and I went as a creepy guy in a robe/pedophile and a puppet. Corey and Mallory came and hung out and were dressed like zombies. They looked great. I wish i had pictures, but I forgot about my camera after drinking a little wine. You'll just have to take my word that the party ruled.

We might be a little drunk here...

Yesterday we realized that we forgot to make the cookies we planned on making Halloween weekend, so we made them. They're f-ing tasty. YAY!

I dethpwetly need youuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaahhhhhh!

Later Tuesday night Rachel had me sit in a lawn chair while she gave the star of my show the time of his life.

October 27

2009-10-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

Business cards came today!

I visited Rachel in Crystal Lake. We watched Bruno and ate two slices of pizza the size of the upper halves of our bodies.

It was a good day.

October 25

2009-10-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I went to the pumpkin patch the other day.

We started our pumpkin picking adventure by putting a couple quarters in the feed machine and feeding a few goats.

We then set off to conquer the corn maze.

We conquered it!

...I think.

Rachel is great with directions...cough...cough

To our amazement, the pumpkin patch had giraffes! It was awesome! We saw a little girl get licked in the face by a big blue giraffe tongue.

Trying not to seem too interested, I gave the giraffe the cold shoulder and showed him who was really in charge.

After exciting the giraffes, we set off to find our favorite pumpkins!

These are NOT our favorite pumpkins.

THESE are...

Rachel said she wanted to do a traditional pumpkin. Mine started out to be a bear, and slowly morphed into a scary corpse face. It is gradually decomposing on the steps outside of her house. DON'T smash it!

After all of our fun of picking pumpkins, watching the pumpkin dinosaur eat pumpkins, eating apple cider doughnuts, drinking hot chocolate, corn maze conquering, giraffe petting, goat feeding, and Rachel's favorite playlist of Loney, Dear and Owl City, we had to take our captured fish Bean Bag and let him go. It was sad, but he was kind of a dickhead. Rachel, if you didn't know, loves fish and frogs and birds and any retarded animal she can find. So we found another one, a frog named Soupy AKA Popcorn Tits. Pictures yet to come!

Here are some random pictures taken of Rachel's animals.

SPANKS!

PANCAKE! (flaccid penis)

BUSTER!

JESSE!

Corey and I went to see The Get Up Kids last Wednesday. It was a lot of fun. I had never seen that band live and they've always been one of my favorites. Their new songs kind of blow...but that's ok. Long live Something To Write Home About!

Go check out Corey's band The Graduate. They're great.

October 5

2009-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

I recently got a raise at my job!

Halloween is coming up and Rachel and I are going to go to the pumpkin patch soon.

Rachel's birthday is coming up and I got her something awesome...!

And then Thanksgiving dinner!

The next couple of months are going to be good ones i think.

Bruiser feels a little differently i think since Zoe has bestowed a fluffy pink lei around his neck.

He's either pissed about that, or the fact that Toast has been getting all of my attention lately.

October 4

2009-10-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

Rachel came and visited me and we picked out a fish at PetCo. She named him "Toast" and we made an enchilada casserole. We watched a retarded stephen king movie (Cat's Eye) and then watched the wizard of oz.

PS: When the lion jumps out and starts growling, he totally says butthole.

We didn't laugh for about an hour at that.

September 28

2009-09-28T00:20:00.000-07:00

I visited home Saturday for my niece Olivia's birthday. It was great seeing everyone again. After being away for 3 months it was weird being back and driving a car again. You wouldn't think after only 3 months of not driving that a car would feel so foreign...but it does. I got the hang of it after backing out of the amtrak station and driving home with my grandparents. The birthday party was moved from the park to my grandparents because of rain, but once everyone showed up, the sun came out and it stopped raining. Until everyone left of course. Then it started raining again.

Olivia got tons of stuff at her party. It was a little ridiculous.

I made her a card and a shirt. And I missed Sam's birthday so I made him one to go along with Olivia's.

After the party I got to go hang out with a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in a while. Frank and I met up with Mike and we all went to the Alton block party where we got to hang out with a bunch of people we never wanted to see again after high school. It was fantastic. I had fun I guess.

We took some spur of the moment pictures for Kiss Kiss Cobra at my brother's house after the party. They turned out pretty well for being in my brother's apartment.

Frank was tuckered out. I miss Nate, Mike, and Frank and I hope they all can visit soon.

I miss you too, Ping!

September 9

2009-09-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Rachel bought me a lion blanket, milk duds, and gummie bears to cheer me up.

It worked!

Buster needed some cheering up too. He's got a poop problem.

I found two jobs and am in the midst of acquiring a third. I can't wait to ditch one of them!

Rachel and I picked up my brand new (not brand new) bike from a guy who lives a couple streets over. I found it on craig's list and bought it for 45 bucks! It was all rusty, but we got all of it off. It's awesome and now I don't have to walk/take a train everywhere.

I hope it doesn't fall apart!

August 10

2009-08-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Unurth street art has posted the pictures I took of Zoe on their website. Look at them here.

Rachel is visiting me tomorrow. We're going to have a relaxing day of junk food, drawing, painting, and video games.

I can't wait.

I've been trying to design more and really build up my portfolio through trying my luck at crowd sourcing. Grant turned me onto a site called Crowdspring. It's given me chance to compete and better my design/illustration skills. Here's my most recent design for a company called BuckNaked.

Augst 6

2009-08-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

I went and saw Rachel yesterday. We went to the blood drive at her work and Rachel's blood flowed like a river into the little blood baggy.

Mine?

Mine slowly crawled its way out from under my skin through the little tube and filled up a whopping 36cc's. After we took advantage of all the free snacks and the free viewing of transformers, we rode our bikes to a non-existent dollar video and rented "watchmen" from the RedBox. It was weird. I wasn't paying attention...it was weird. eh, Dr. Manhattan is blue. So is his wiener. So are his balls...

Today, Zoe invited me to tag along to the aoMUSe tent at lollapalooza. We helped the owner set it up and did a couple illustrations for her to go on posters as guidelines for kids to paint on. It was great.

After our day in Grant park, Zoe and I walked from our loft a few blocks and I watched as she wheat pasted "lorem ipsum" onto the side of an abandoned house. Zoe decided that she wanted a piece that said nothing at all, and I think she achieved it. Look up Lorem Ipsum on google and you'll get it.

August 5

2009-08-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I had an eventful weekend...

I had two job interviews and was offered both of the jobs! I turned the lesser of the two down...
and two days later (the day i'm supposed to start) I get a phone call saying,

"One of the employees changed their mind and isn't going to leave anymore. I'm sorry. You are completely fucked again. My name is Niko and I'm an asshole."

then i went fishing...Rachel caught 4 fish!!!

I caught zero...

Good news is, I got an interview tomorrow with the homemade pizza co.

and I drew this

added it to the portfolio!

I think I'm donating blood tomorrow. Wish me luck!

July 30

2009-07-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

The 24th of July Rachel came to see me and accompany me to Grant's installation at Flourish Studios.

Zoe juggled some potatoes and Bruiser watched in amazement.

Rachel proved her strength...

We headed to grant's show "Connections"

It was a really great time, and everyone loved the installation. The turnout was also really great. You can read more about his installation on his website.

Rachel drank wine and looked adorable all night like always...

minus the wine part.

July 22

2009-07-22T00:46:00.000-07:00

Today, Rachel and I have been together for...
wait for it...

5,

count them,

5 months!

On the 18th, we held an event at the loft. It was intense. I didn't know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun and I can't wait until the next one.

Rachel had a lot of fun too. Ha ha! Here are some photos of the artists who performed Saturday.

Head over to our loft's site for more information about what exactly went on!

www.loft3a.com

Zoe's parents brought her home a hammock and they hung it in the corner of the loft. It's so comfy. Bruiser likes it too and he loves grant!

I helped Grant calibrate some program he is going to be using for his show yesterday. I'm looking forward to the reception on the 24th at Flourish. Make sure you check out his website!

www.originallgb.com

Don't forget to check out my new website too!

www.jcbflmng.com

July 16

2009-07-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday yesterday!

Rachel made me a giant oreo cake!!!

It was the best cake I have ever eaten in my life. I'm not kidding...
She also bought me a George Foreman grill so I can make myself cheezburgers whenever I want!

Not only can she cook, but she is really attractive...SEE!

We went thrifting but didn't buy anything. It was my first birthday with Rachel and my first birthday in Chicago. Rachel and I went with Grant and Zoe to a Mexican place here called La Nueva Mexicana...I think. It was really good and I have left overs. I'm going to get fat, but I'll walk it off here I think.

It was the best birthday.

I have a website now featuring my latest work.

www.jcbflmng.com

July 15

2009-07-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

Rachel called and woke me up at 12:00 AM

It's my birthday today and I can't wait for the giant oreo cake she made me. I made her keep my birthday presents a secret even though she is horrible at keeping them. I do know what one gift is...WHALE PANTS! They are green and have...whales all over them! Ha ha. She made them herself and I already tried them on. I'll probably wear them every day all day.

It was Zoe's birthday on the 13th and Rachel brought over some cupcake stuff and I "helped" her make them. They turned out amazing and were scarfed down immediately. I think a couple survived into Tuesday morning but were gobbled up in the afternoon.

The roommates and I all went to a bar called Danny's and I watched everyone get really drunk...

It was a good day. Today is going to be even better.

July 12

2009-07-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

I went to see Rachel on Friday.

We went thrifting and Rachel found a great grizzly bear sweatshirt.
I'm a little jealous...

We took the train back to my apartment and walked bruiser to a Mexican restaurant where we ate chicken tacos!
They were good. I'm still getting used to the area and the idea that this is where I live now. Job search is back on tomorrow!

Here's our penis cactus we found at IKEA.
You know you want it.

July 9

2009-07-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

Went on a job search today. It's going to take me a while to get used to not having a car. I walked for a really long time and talked to a lot of people at counters all day...

I'm exhausted.

Not much got accomplished...

But I'm here! And I love it. My roommates are great. The loft is amazing. The neighborhood couldn't be nicer.

Grant set up his projector on the ceiling last night to test something out for his upcoming show on the 18th. I'm excited to see his work in the gallery. It's really great. Check his work out! We watched American Psycho on the wall with Grant's projector. I think I was the only one who didn't fall asleep. Ha

I get to see Rachel tomorrow. It still seems like we're 5 and a half hours apart...

Only one hour now! I can't wait to see her.

July 8

2009-07-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

I moved in monday. My brother drove out with me and Bruiser. It was a long drive and getting all of my stuff up the stairs was horrible, but it's over now.

Rachel made chilli and cookies!!!

Bruiser seems to be right at home. All the roomies love him. He likes sniffing trees and peeing on things.

Here are a couple pictures of the room I will be living in.

July 2

2009-07-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

Excited to move monday.

Frank and I went up to the practice space in Stl. last night with Mike and Matt. We packed everything up and moved out. Hopefully the band keeps writing even though i'll be in chicago. I'm going to miss them. Bringing the old matchless with me!

Frank had a show with Dr. Manhattan tonight. I hope it went well. I'm kind of upset I couldn't make it.

June 30

2009-06-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

Frank and I went across the river yesterday. The water had receded down the bank so we were able to walk along the river among the dead fish and trash...

It was fun.

I'm going to miss frank.

alot.

June 29

2009-06-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

The past three weeks have been great. I've visited the chicago area with Rachel in search of an apartment for three weekends in a row. It's been really stressful but all of our hard work is paying off. Things are coming together and I've never been happier.

Did I mention I found an apartment?

I'll post a few pictures next week when I move in.

Here are some photos of the last few weeks that i've spent with Rachel.