Hello,

Love burns like a candle or a house fire.

A couple years ago, I met a cute guy on the subway late at night and we traded iPods for the ride home. We didn’t even really talk, but his tunes sang to my twee phase, so I gave him my number. This was the song he played me:

We went on a date later that week at a restaurant I couldn’t afford in Boston’s South End. After about 20 minutes of listening to him gloat about his chef job and other superficial BS I couldn’t converse with, it was clear that his good looks and our musical compatibility was not going to be enough to get us through this dinner.

So instead of smiling and nodding through a free dinner, I did what most people would not; I started telling him all kinds of extremely personal stories.

I found it entertaining to watch someone get so uncomfortable with me talking about the most emotionally real moments in my life. I pried inside his Mr. cool-guy walls too and along with some nervous laughter I was able to get some semi-sentimental, stammering explanations out of him. I hope there to be a real person hiding inside of every douche bag. We cleaned our plates, split the check (dammit), shook hands, and said goodnight. I was certain from the 20 minute mark that this would be the last time I ever saw him, so whether I left him completely freaked out or a little more introspective, at least something real had happened.

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This story reminds me of part of a conversation I documented on an airplane (around the same time as the date) with a kid from Tennessee I also never saw again. My question was basically whether it was reckless to burden a specific uncomfortable situation with honest feelings or to just play it cool. I’ve thought of this thing he said so many times and never called him to say so. I’ll leave the digits in the doodle in case anybody wants to call and say hi. Let me know if it’s still in service.

Art walk party downtown last night. Me rockin' Rancid hoody. Will rockin' panda.

For a while after high school, I was too big of an 31337ist to admit that Rancid is my all time favorite band. I fell in love with their music and a dreamy skater boy named David in middle school, and 13 years later when I listen to their songs I still can’t get enough of what they’re doing.

Funny enough, David is also still one of my favorite friends.

When I was 14 and “Out Come The Wolves” came out, I listened to it so much that my older sister wouldn’t come in my room unless I changed it. Last year in San Francisco, I dusted off my pit moves when she told me she’d like nothing more than to see them with me in the Tenderloin, Tenderloin, Tenderloin (in San Francisco).

The show in the TL was was rivaled only by the awesomeness of their Boston show (at the now defunct Avalon Ballroom) with my long time Rancid-loving cohort, Demetri, in 2006. Here we are resting after starting an EPIC circle pit.

Everyone loves a good circle pit. Seeing Rancid always makes me feel like I’m 14 again.

Bathroom wall at Gilman St. Berkley, CA

They sing songs about stuff I’ve come to know in my own life, especially since moving to California. I find myself in locations that I’ve sang along to in their songs when I had no idea what I was even singing about. Yesterday, Rancid put out their final farewell album, “Let The Dominoes Fall.” I downloaded it (because I’m a jerk) and I’ve only heard a few of the cuts— but they’ve still got it. This song almost brings a little tear to my eye. I’ll love them forever. Nuff respect.

Going to China tomorrow for 2 weeks! I sure am gonna miss my little Ruby SoHo.

Some drawings about:
Biking / bikinis / burritos / caring / deliveries / Doritos / driving / effort / friendship / The Game / German / Giselle / Gothic lettering / hand-drawn type / ice cream / margaritas / morale / muses / parallel parking / pigs / portraiture / PreshReb / productivity / punk rock / ist nicht tot / Summer ’08 / shopping / smoking / Spinal Tap / steak / text messages / typography / womanhood ///////

I’m drawn to people who have an easy, confident & curious gaze.

Time lapse video of my work day today.

Heck yes!

I got a root canal today. It was actually sort of awesome. I got to see my open decayed tooth and my little yellow pulpy roots (gross?). Best part is that I’m bartering services with my dentist for design work. It feels a little like the old days. We shake hands and look each other in the eye.

This weekend I got myself some new plants and a beaver for my dog, Ruby at Ikea. My venus fly trap is a month old and and it has doubled in size! It’s so cool feeding it bugs I catch.

Went to drawing club tonight with Missi and drew my family.

For more new math go to morenewmath.com

Whenever someone needs to write down my name, I always spell it for them and then watch them write an E after I’m done saying L. Sometimes I bother to say, “There’s actually no E at the end there,” but when it doesn’t make a difference at all, I just say my name is Jane.

I should buy janellef.com so they can read this too.

I’d known Kelly since 2nd grade when she was secretly my creative rival in art class. Come 3rd grade, we got close when we were seated at the same desk pod with 2 other boys. We had these fantastic slumber parties at each others’ house. We used to make friendship bracelets that went all the way up our arms. She had embroidery floss in a special little case in every color you can imagine. I was bummed when Fall soccer started and I had to cut them all off. My whole forearm was bare and noticeably less tan than the rest of me.

We started writing a lot of notes to each other during class and the boys were always sneaking glances at what we were writing. I had a big crush on one of the boys for years through grade school, and it was crucial he not see what the notes said. So Kelly and I invented a secret code and wrote all our notes in it. I can still write in it fluently, and I’ll bet that she can too.

In September of 2007, I was Googling people I knew in elementary school and learned that Kelly also went on to do graphic designer. Neat.

I got this idea:

I made the font in Illustrator… and that was all. It turned out so Soviet. I always remember her birthday is Groundhog’s day, so this year when it rolled around, I lurked her again and found her mailing address. I sent her this.

She loved it. Now we’re friends on Facebook. Neat!

Ya know when you mindlessly learn all the words to a song and then years later actually listen to what the words are saying? That just happened to me three times this week:

Is “Better Off Dead” by Bad Religion about an abortion, or am I taking this too far?

How are you? Sorry I’ve been so self absorbed lately. I made you this because I knew you’d be happy to see I’m painting still/again. It’s a painting of myself. [Get it?]

Love,
Nellie

Found my first grey hair. I pulled it out and taped it in my sketchbook.

A friend of a friend recently hooked me up with this catering gig at Oakland Arena for WWE’s Monday Night Raw. It was my first event in both catering and wrestling. I left with 2 free, delicious cakes and the understanding that wrestling fans are what make the sport so totally awesome.

On the way home I was so excited about loving wrestling. Then, #54 (see above) and I met a guy who didn’t love it as much as everyone else on the train. I wrote this poem about my interaction with him.

Hot Chip has some wrestle-wisdom as well. They are tight.

I think you can tell a good album by it’s bikeability.

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My top pick:

Darkest Hour – The Mark of the Judas

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Suggestions, please. :]

Here are a few drawings from my Moleskine from November and December.

HAHAHAHAHA I HAVE A BILLBOARD. It’s behind the warehouse that I live in SoMa (the red one) and you can see it as you drive up the Highway 280 South on-ramp. Extreme times call for shameless self-promotion.

Made some good progress on a painting I’m working on for a friend. I started adding color to it tonight and I was so excited by those jelly hues I got by mixing gloss medium and dust from these chalk pastels my sister Jaleen gave me that she had been toting around for a decade. I feel good when I’m zoning out and being productive. It’s almost done, I think.

OK. Time to recharge my circuits.

Tonight I made a flyer for my friend Garrett’s dance party and then went to an opening at Million Fishes and saw some of Ryan De La Hoz’s new work. Saw some of my old roommates and it’s always so rad there. Here is what the show and Garrett’s flyer looked like:

Garrett says “Avant Garde” is club kid slang for a fitted fashionable dress code. He’s 17 so I believe whatever he says. I made this logo in about 60 seconds for his new party-hosting endeavors in the OC. Gotta have branding!

Last, I think Lil Wayne’s new rock single is a complete joke– the lyrics, the auto-tune, the ending, the everything. The more I listen to it, the more I’m convinced. Weezy no fool; best rapper alive.

Listen to it here:

Amazing Love Joke

Look who’s blogging now!