These are O.R. scrubs. Oh, ARE they?

So, as I mentioned, my life has been swamped this week with art related homework and projects. As you saw, I got covered head to toe with Char-Kole. Wednesday was just the busiest day I could imagine. First of all, I had an Art History Midterm, which I can safely say I passed with flying colors. I got 20/20 on the online portion, which isn't necessarily an easy 20 points. Just sayin....I wrote really long detailed answers for everything, and I was the last person in the classroom because I took so long writing all of my answers and such. I know that I mixed up some of the periods, and dates, and rarely did I know an artist, but I gave really good historical and cultural contexts for everything, and I got all of the extra credit points for sure. Hopefully this will pay off, and I'm not just giving myself false hope. That test, by normal standards, is a hard test. My studying just payed off.

Then I had to come back to my dorm to write my Self-Informative speech that I had to give on thursday (don't ask me, I can write speeches, but I sure can't deliver them; or make adequate note cards.) Once that was done, I had to start working on my 2d design project, which, YES, for all you people wondering out there, I HAD started on it before the night before it was due, but I just had the majority of the hard work to do. The project was a ink text self portrait, and I hadn't done any of the text, just the gridding and outlining. So after I was finished skyping with Jessica helping her memorize the Jimmy John's menu for her interview the next day, and my roommate was ready to go to sleep, I gathered my things and moved to the lounge, where I was shortly joined by Krista once again, and my RA, Sara, who had a paper to do. Although, I don't think she ever finished it, she kept falling asleep. Krista and I were kind of in the same boat, we weren't very far yet on either of our projects. So we listened to music, and talked. At one point we put Mamma Mia on in the background, which made the time more enjoyable. We made a pact however that we would both start on this next project sooner so we didn't end up working until the very end. But we're already planning on there being another all-nighter, so we don't expect much of ourselves. It turned out to be alright looking. I thought it looked pretty good, until I got to class, and I was so horribly embarassed, I thought mine looked awful next to everyone else's, but I got a really positive critique, and my teacher said she loved how I did the shirt in my picture. Holla! She also is giving us a chance to take our drawings home and work on them over the weekend to make improvements without being downgraded if we were prepared for class on Thursday.

The original picture, which was cropped.

The sketch, which I think looked more like me than the final product.

And the aforementioned, final product. I don't think it looks like me, and I need to add more shade in the face and fix the awkward neck, and the hair a little bit, too. But I agree with my teacher, I think the shirt turned out really well. Which makes me happy, because I really like that shirt in real life.

I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science

This week the art department got together and decided how they could ruin my life.

I spent a good solid 5 hours on my drawing project last night, and got extremely messy in the process. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product of all my drawings, but they weren't that great. I have a tendency to wipe them out with paper towel too many times, and draw with my erasers.

It got quite a bit worse than this. I made my roommate take this picture when she was on a break from making fun of me.

I've also decided it's a good thing I'm not a studio art major, because I don't have a natural talent for drawing. Design is what I am much better suited towards.

It would, of course, have to look like an accident.

This weekend was pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, I was not as productive as I could have been on certain school work, I deserved a break, I've been working hard. (For TRUE.)

My roommate was home this weekend, so I mostly watched videos on YouTube, episodes of Top Chef I have in my Amazon library, caught up on the Office, watched friends...ate a lot of food. On saturday afternoon I met my friend Pang at Acoustic Cafe for late lunch, and I found out they have delicious pita sandwiches. We talked for a couple of hours about how we hate being in the minority of liberals here at Stout. She's from Menomonie, too, so she's always had this problem. Then we went to the consignment store, and I bought some shoes and a jacket. Then we went to Mabel Tainter because she has fall season tickets. It wasn't exactly a work of art: The Missoula Children's Theater was touring and they cast local kids in their production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Cute, but I think we all would have preferred a real play....Plus we were the only college students there- mostly parents and their wee ones.

And how cool am I? On a saturday night, when there was a Halloween party going on in the student center, mind you, I turned in at a tremendous 8:30, and ate dinner consisting of cup of noodles, pizza rolls, diet coke, betty crocker warm delight, and chai tea. Then I polished off a disc of Friends. All the caffeine however, kept me up until 4 am. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Speaking of Friends, my roommate and I are currently obsessed. She just bought season 8, so we've been staying up much later than we should watching episode after episode. We are now talking about setting a bedtime for ourselves.

Aaaand, as promised: the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode of the week:

This one was always a stellar episode. I think I used to have a crush on the kid who plays Marshall. Bad taste, right? I think it must have been his profuse yelling of Olly Olly Oxen Free that stole my heart.

We live in the city of dreams

I can't say that this week was all that busy, but it flew by really quick. I didn't have classes two days in a row, so that was probably what did it. In contrast, I'm about to have practically my whole life worth's of assignments due next week. That should be fun.

The first day of no classes was advising day. I did have to get up earlier for my art department meeting at 8:30 than I would have for actual class, but it was alright, because it's not like I had to do anything. Then I had another first year multimedia design meeting with out advisor. So then I started thinking about my classes for next semester. There are too many classes that I want to take, I may have to do WinTerm at some point. But NOT this year. So I gotta register on December 2nd. I better start planning out what exactly I want. Then meetings were over and I had to take a Psychology exam in the student psych center because I was gonna have to miss it the next day in class. So I was proud of myself for finding the place to go, and taking the test, and everything. Then I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince cause it was showing in Applied Arts 210!!!! Holla!

Wednesday was kind of a magnificent day. I had a field trip to Minneapolis for drawing class. Oh me, oh my. We took a coach bus to the cities, and I slept for about 45 minutes on the way there. I can't describe the happiness when I woke up and looked out the window to be greeted by the skyline of downtown St. Paul. We went to MCAD first, but we were running late, so we didn't get to see a whole lot of anything. Then we just went over to the MIA. Ah, how I love the MIA. It's just such a classic establishment in my life. So I walked around there with Maddi from my drawing class, and we get along really well, and she's so into fashion and art. Oh, culture. Then we took our bus to Nicollet Mall for lunch. Nicollet Mall! Could my professor not have picked a better place for me? That's my old hood! I went to Jimmy Johns for lunch with Maddi, and then we went to Barnes and Noble where she spent 60$ on magazines. I thought I was bad. Then we just sat in the little Barnes and Noble cafe, and I saw my old boss Mike run across the street. If I weren't inside, I would have called out to him. It was weird, I haven't seen him probably since my last day of work at Piper Jaffray. Ah, it was just so comforting to be there, and it was so gloomy out too. My perfect Minneapolis. Then we went to the Walker, and I was hoping I would see cousin Owen working. But I guess he wasn't. Then we had to go back at 4....It was sad coming back. But I wish I could take more little one day field trips to Minneapolis like that more often. It would really tide me over, and help me stay here for longer periods of time. Then coming back, Out@Stout meeting and Women's Bible study were really awesome too. I just was euphoric after my little trip.

New thing I did yesterday at college:

Did my Laundry in my dorm.

You're probably thinking to yourself: seriously? What is it, October 23rd, and she hasn't done her laundry yet? But other's will not be phased by this. 3 loads is pretty standard for me. Plus, I brought my laundry home with me, so it hasn't been this ENTIRE time, but let's be honest, I was out of practically everything until yesterday. I didn't have to re-wear anything ever, but I figure at this point....It's gotta get done.

So light is her footfall

Apparently the universe wants me to look like an absolute dork today, so I fell up the stairs THREE times today. This morning coming back from drawing, I was walking up the stairs outside to get into my building, and I was concentrating on not dropping my drawing board, which I never ever do anyway, and then I caught my toes and fell really hard on my knee in front of people. How cool did I look? I tried to play it off, but my goodness, it still hurts 12 hours later. And then I was running late to English so I booked it up the stairs and then I caught my toes two times in a row. Ugh...awesome...

On a different note, I have been planning on doing this "segment" for awhile, but I feel like starting it today.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode of the week!!!!!

Remember, kids, this is in 3 parts, so don't forget to keep going. You'll wanna see what kind of shenanigans Melissa Joan Hart gets into.

This is for me, yes?

Did you guys know that there are ACTUALLY 32 calories in Diet Coke?! That's ALL I drink. I found this out today during speech class while we were talking about the ethics of statistics and misrepresentation. I am so. disheartened. Apparently they'd make more money stating on their cans that there are 0 calories and pay the fine for misrepresentation than putting the 32 calories on the can and selling fewer cans because it's not as appealing. I feel so used..

Goodbye Love

I'm currently listening to: Caroline's New Wave mix. Track of note: "Oh! You Pretty Things"- David Bowie

So, it's my birthday! For those of you keeping score at home, that would also mean it's 365's birthday too. I wish I could post today and say something like "whew, that year of things was really great and I learned a lot, and had a ton of fun!" but, since I chose to fail at my project, I can't. Someday, someday.

All of that aside, I'm having a really great birthday. I was super bummed out when I figured out it would be on a tuesday, and I wouldn't be able to be home for it. I mean, I was home this weekend, but it's not the same. But then Tianna informs me that she and Lizzie and Jessica were going to come visit me today at school, and I was SUPER excited, because they've never been here before, and I didn't get to see any of them when I was home this weekend. So already, I was gonna have a great birthday. And then I woke up to find an awesome card on my desk from my two floormates Raelene and Sarah. And then when I went to shower I saw that Mia had made a birthday collage for me and the card from the girls on my floor. And then there were just birthday wishes all day. Mia and I also went to Legacy Chocolates over by Penco to get my FREE birthday truffle which is always exciting to get free things on your birthday. But then I texted Tianna and Jessica (texting Lizzie is always a lost cause) to see when they were coming, and Tianna responded by saying that Lizzie was sick and she didn't they were going to be able to come..So then I really pissed off, and really disappointed, too. Mia was hanging out in my room because she was helping me crush my cans and was just like "How sick can Lizzie be?? I mean, I can't believe they said they were going to come and get my hopes up, and then not show up!" So then Mia said that we could just go to dinner together, and I was like, alright....

So then we walk downstairs and as soon as I walked out the door to outside I see the three of them strolling up with an ice cream cake and a card, and I was so surprised, because I was seriously believing that they weren't going to come. And it's a good thing we had perfect timing because I would have walked to the commons and probably gotten dinner, and then there visit would have been ruined. So then Mia went off to have dinner (I felt bad, she could have eaten with us, but she had a thing pretty soon after that) and I showed the posse up to my cozy little room, which they all agreed they liked a lot, and then we headed off to Perkins for dinner. Exotic, I know. So then we just came back and hung out in my room, and my roommate wasn't there so we just loud and obnoxious and we laughed a lot. It was awesome. Totally the best birthday surprise evs. Way better than the "surprise" party they threw me freshman year in high school. So, all in all, a good day. I don't think I could ever get sick of hanging out with them. It'll make me sad next year if Jessica ends up going to St. Kate's and they can all hang out together all the time, and I won't hardly ever get to see them. I guess that just makes me awesomer?

All you gotta do is watch me

Spoilers.

Not only was this weeks Office spectacular because it was the Jim and Pam wedding episode, it was so completely funny. It hasn't been this good for awhile. Like, the silliness of it all was just reminiscent of season 2, which in my opinion is the best season ever and will never be topped. I love how they did the "Forever" wedding dance down the aisle as well, because I actually always really liked that video. The whole last 5 minutes were really great. And then the fact that yes, it was finally Jim and Pam's wedding, which I kind of always had mixed feelings about, but now I'm satisfied with how it worked out. I figured they could never get together, certainly never get engaged, god forbid they have a baby, and of course never get married. But I suppose you can't really go 6 seasons and play off their flirty relationship.

I think I'll go home and lie very still

Well my lack of posting this week has been due to the fact that literally every waking hour this week (apart from eating and class) has been devoted to working on my 2D Design project. It was due today; so thankful that it's finally done. Which segues nicely into my new thing that I did yesterday/last night/today:

I pulled an all-nighter to finish a project.

Some of you will probably be angry about this, because all-nighters usually means you didn't spend enough time on the project to begin with (we call this procrastination, folks). But I hope that some people with be proud of me because of my fortitude. I mean I stayed up all night. Working on a project, no less! Two things I am not often known to do. There was so much cutting involved, and the use of my amazing utility knife.... I also sorely regret not investing in a hole punch for one component, though...

I don't know if people really now what my project was, but I had to literally construct a book on the principles of design. Like cut the covers, and cover them with paper and bind the book (which I screwed up, broke my needle and everything) and cut the pages and all sorts of stuff. It's probably the most involved project I have ever had to do for school. But just one sappy side note: It made me realize how happy I am that I'm an art student. The process of creating something that I know I couldn't have created before, and the fact that I can craft something that is comparable to something store-bought makes me feel so accomplished. Not to mention that Penco has become my sanctuary. But anyways, I digress.

So I've been working on this all week. On Monday night I spent hours (not sure how many, I measured it by one disc of 21 Jumpstreet) cutting out segments from close to 30 Diet Coke cans, and then cutting my coverboard. And then Tuesday I spent cutting my pages and inside covers. And then last night I had to do everything else. That means cutting paper for every single page, mounting text, gluing materials really cleanly (which...didn't always turn out so clean. Dang contact cement). I spent so many hours on it, and I could have spent 10 more hours on it and it still wouldn't have been perfect. I was working in the lounge most of the night, along with my next door neighbor Krista who had 2D this morning at 8. Poor child. I wasn't finished at 6:45, but went back into my room right when my roommate's alarm went off. So I took a shower and went to breakfast. Then I crashed on the futon, and woke up to finish my book. Still wasn't as great as I hoped it would be, but it's better than I thought it would be.

Front Cover:

Inside Cover w/Table of Contents:

My page on Economy and my elaboration. The text boxes are so wonky because they were too long, and I decided it looked like a recycling symbol this way anyway. But I got a little beat up for it.

My page on balance. I used plastic bags to extend the image in the elaboration.

Variety page. Those battery shapes were a pain to cut.

Page on Rhythm. The circle were even more of a pain to cut. This is where I wish I would have used a hole punch. But in the end, I like the handmade quality of it.

Page for Repetition. This was my favorite page conceptually. This is the one where I used all of the Diet Coke can cut-outs. The shape worked nicely, and the repetition of the phrase "Please Recycle." This is where the glue tripped me up because I had to use something a little more heavy duty than my gluestick. So contact cement had to do the trick, but it was messy.

Page for Emphasis. This is the elaboration that I was least pleased with, just because it wasn't very creative, and the image wasn't very good to expanding. I wish I could have done something to do with the recycling bins, but nothing jumped out at me.

Credits page. Clearly I didn't branch out a whole lot..

Back inside cover. You can tell that I had some binding tape issues. It was supposed to cover up another mistake I made, but it made it look even crappier.

Back Cover:

eh. I'm satisfied I suppose.

A rhythmic ceremonial ritual

New thing I did today:

Baked a cake in my dorm basement kitchen.

So much more of a challenge than I had anticipated. First of all, because you have to rent everything, like a mixing bowl, and mixing spoon, a pan, a spatula, oven mitts (which we only had one of, it wasn't ideal...). Plus, there were a bunch of yahoos in there, being obnoxious. I mean, I could have only expected as much, it's a sunday afternoon, which is when the basement tends to be most hoppin'. Mia and I made the cake for Liz, who's birthday it was today. And she was totally sassy about it too. Even after all of the love we put into it, and errthing...

Ugh, I'm already so sick of school. I just can't wait for Thanksgiving, I can't wait to go home for more than a weekend. I'm especially excited for Christmas. It's gonna be such a nice looong break..

By the way, the cake didn't work out very well. We had to eat the center ourselves because it didn't bake well.

let's see you dance, sucka, you got nothing on me

the reason i'm still up:

http://mylifeisaverage.com/

i appreciate all the harry potter references

Come, sorrow is so peculiar.

Update! I got a new roommate. She seems quite nice, I think it'll work out. And she has a futon. How I've been wanting a couch. Oh, you don't even know.

I'm currently watching SNL, weekend update to be exact, and I just want to know, why in the world, if they insist on using Darrell Hammond in a ton of segments anyway, don't they just have him still be part of the regular cast? Ugh.... Someday, when I'm running things over there, they won't have such weird willy nilly casting decisions..

Father, my life is over

Still sick. I feel worse. I think it might be a sinus infection. Ew, right? Agreed. It doesn't help that this weather is just the absolute worst. I also spent like over an hour and a half cleaning my room yesterday, so...maybe I wasn't doing myself any favors with my grody living conditions. Trash is out, dishes are done, FLOOR IS VACUUMED (!), recycling is rinsed, and I've been febreezing like a madman. That's probably what's aggravating my sinuses, to be honest...

So, I was super bummed out about the fact that I was not feeling well enough to participate in the 24 hour couch-a-thon for homecoming. It seemed like fun times. But tonight Mia and I helped Marty decorate the float for tomorrow's parade. The theme is "Cirque Du Stout", and we chose our theme to be Britney Spears circus. Pretty much the whole thing is banners, and a big piece of cardboard with a harlequin pattern and a FABULOUS drawing of BS. Mia and I made the banners, and they look pretty smashing. Then we went to El Patio for dinner. Soo delicious. The burritos are insanely huge. Marty and I ate our entire burritos and kept eating chips and salsa, and bean dip a ton afterwards. Mia made us look fat because she eats like a bird. Loser.

Augustine just woke up with a broken heart

I bookmarked this: http://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/

It's another time waster. The game is rewarding, though.

I'm feeling pretty sick right now. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. For the past couple of nights, I've felt feverish, but I've been fine during the daytime. Today, I just started feeling pretty weak during speech class. I ate today, too. Not very much. But a TON of fiber. And I got Orange Juice and Milk at the store, so I'm glad I have something a little healthier to eat. I hate feeling extremely unwell. Which I suppose is more of what I feel like, not so much "sick".

In other news, I got out of drawing early yesterday, and then I decided to take a shower, and then I found out that Psychology was cancelled, so I got to eat an actual lunch (!!) with Mia in the commons, and go to the library. It was a good day to have a 3 hour morning break. And then my Art History quiz was a lot easier than I thought. Even though some trick questions..tricked me. But it's a quiz, so I'm not too concerned. All in all, it ended up being a pretty good day, as we also tracked down a grocery store that's waaaayyyy closer than MarketPlace foods. And cheaper than the co-op, and more selection too. That's not to say I'm finished with the co-op. But it's good to know I can get things like..cereal...or turkey, and not for 5 bucks.

2D Design is planning on consuming my whole weekend (and debit card) and I'm actually okay with it. Maybe not so much when I'm buying materials, actually...but otherwise..