knowledge comes with death's release

Well, sorry my friends, for being so absent these past couple of weeks. I wish I could say it was just because I was being so busy and popular, but my instant queue history will tell you otherwise.

I didn't update the monday after thanksgiving because I was busy working on my 2D design project, which, by the way, I did NOT stay up all night to finish. It was as done as it was going to get. (By the way, Thanksgiving was awesome. Too awesome, I think, I was depressed and had terrible anxiety my first night back. Ugh, coming back from Winter break is going to be murder.)

I didn't get the greatest critique on my painting (my 2D project), which I guess I was okay with. I wasn't completely satisfied with it. I think what we all agreed on was the craftsmanship wasn't the problem, the composition was wrong. Which I didn't feel good about in the first place, because I felt like my teacher made me do something I didn't really like that much, but she didn't really like the final project anyway. So I've reworked it for the final, because it's the sameexact project, we just have to do it using color harmonies.

It's supposed to be an abstract of a fruit or vegetable form, and mine was a squash. Which you can't really tell. It looks more like Watermelon, or like a Pepper or something. The composition for this project is better, at least I hope so.

Other than all that stuffs, not much else is new. I had a good weekend last weekend; I baked cookies with my floor (a.k.a., the, like, 7 people who showed up. But that just meant I got more for myself.) And then we went to Applebee's because it was my RA's birthday, and my neighbor Beth's as well. After that, Beth, Krista, Tegan, and I went to the Econo Lodge and paid them 4 dollars to let us use their pool and hot tub. Then we came back and watched Up, and I finished off the night with some Mighty Boosh.

This weekend I mostly stayed up late, and slept a bunch, and ate a lot of food, and watched the entire first season of 30 Rock on instant stream on saturday. That was productive. But I did get some good work on my drawing project done while watching Goblet of Fire. That is what we call multi-tasking.

I'm really only posting because I'm procrastinating writing my persuasive speech right now. My speech on the Office went pretty well. I don't know if I mentioned that at all. I didn't get to make my character map like I wanted to. But the topic I chose for my persuasive was recycling. I've been itching to give this speech for a while....I just haven't gotten around to writing it yet. And I have to give it tomorrow. But I have good ideas, and I already have info that I used for my design book. I'm thinking of doing some demonstrations, as well. I can't tell you how many people I've seen throw away plastic bottles in that room. I'd better not see anyone do it after my speech tomorrow.

And BY THE WAY, just incase people aren't aware, I got a snow day last wednesday. Holla! The last time I had a snow day was in elementary school. Although, I think that was considered a "cold day".

Have they been in love before?

New Poll!

Rhythm Mastrs

I'll keep this brief, because believe it or not, folks, I'm going to bed at 9:30!! It's only because I fell asleep at my desk watching Office UK on my laptop. Roommate and I decided it would be best if I called it a day.

Weekend was good, Friday night was the Gay 90's. Mia, Marty and I drove down at around 9, had a lot of fun, saw the drag show, I met up with Krista and met her gays, and we all danced till about 1:30, and we got back here to Stout at around 3:00. Marty and I both got McDonald's and we parked and ate it. Then, as I was sleeping over in Mia's room, we went back there, and we had had plans to make brownies, so we did that, but since they were the Ghirardelli, they took an hour to make. So I sat by the TV in the basement, and I kept falling asleep. But then they were done, and we both had literally one bite, and we went to sleep at 5:00.

That made my sleep schedule all wonkish for the next night. I stayed up until 5:00 then too. I was all disoriented. I also took a nap that evening at around 6- on and off until-8, so I ate at 10, and missed SNL, because midnight was feeling like 8 at night for me.

So then I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I stayed up until 3 doing homework, and finally went to bed, woke up at seven, and THAT is probably why I fell asleep at my desk watching UK Office at 8:30 on a monday evening.

Are you afraid of the dark?????? episode of the WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

I loved this one, but I think we can all agree that Johnny needs a haircut.

Good Day, Sunshine.

This is a long entry with little pay-off. Make use of that precursor as you will.

My hectic week got a little less hectic. My 2D design project that was supposed to be due tomorrow, is now not due until december 1st. She had been talking about maybe making it due this tuesday, the 24th, which I would have been fine with, but let's be honest, hearing that yesterday, and knowing that I had a full two weeks to work on it, and not just two days, made me considerably less stressed out. And as soon as I knew it wasn't due thursday, I wondered how I would have ever gotten it done. Before that I was confident that I could make it work, but in all honesty, I would have had so much work to do still. I guess I instill a certain confidence in myself when I know that I have to get it done within such a short period of time. I guess this means I get a lot more time to work on my speech, which is good because for informative you have to have sources and visual aids. If my speech ends up going anywhere near as good as I imagine it will in my head, I'll do great. My speech is on The Office, so let's hope.

I stayed up until a little after 2:30 last night working on my Drawing project that was due today. And then I took a shower. It was a very wise choice, I felt so much better afterwards. (And I tried out the No More Tangles- still can't say whether the scent is the same) But then I got up into bed, and I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time, for some reason. So I'm running on little sleep right now, but at least I don't have to pull and all-nighter again tonight, so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour. The project turned out okay. If I had been willing to stay up all night for it, I would have, and it probably would have been quite satisfactory. I don't know what it is, but I'm not willing to stay up all night for that class. I was just so sick of working on it. I had to do two 20x22 drawings, and two 10x9 drawings, and the two bigger ones had to be identical to the smaller ones, so there were two sets. My first set I had to draw a painted striped flag of sorts, and a box in the background, and a cylinder in the foreground. Then for the second one we just had to do 4-6 objects. I (stupidly) chose to use the inclass still-life of the large cardboard animals. So I was doing the large cardboard horse, the snail and the cats legs. Even though I've done the horse a million times, I still had trouble with it, and I think it ended up looking really bad. We had to use our Sumi brush, Reed pens, and ink washes to do it, so a lot of it all bled together, and got really water-logged. Again, if I would have stayed up all night, I could have made it look a lot better.

Man I was mean but I'm changing my scene.

I'm so so so so so excited for Thanksgiving. Like for the break, and the day. I can't wait to just be able to be home for more than a weekend, and if I think about it this way, I only have like 2 weeks of classes after that, and then finals week (for which I have to stay the whole week. ugh.) Then I get to come home for a month! It will literally be the worlds greatest.

Much like a couple of weeks ago, I have a lot of things going on this week. Pretty much the exact same. Drawing project due wednesday, 2D Design project due thursday, Speech thursday. I am really determined not to pull an all-nighter. Krista predicts that she won't have to, so it would be a lonely all-nighter if I did end up doing that again, too. Let's just hope that I can budget my time wisely.

I found No More Tangles at the store today!! I was so excited. I was talking about it, and how I loved using it as a child, and how I've been looking for it for a long time, and I literally turnedaround and there it was. Cosmic, and stellar, yes.

It doesn't look like this anymore. They literally just changed their packaging, apparently. I can't tell you guys how excited I am to shower tomorrow morning.

Are you afraid of the dark?????? episode of the week!!!!!!!!:

I LOVE this episode. Such a classic.

I just want to walk away

Edit!

I checked, and Stout takes their garbage to a composting facility. You're safe this time, Stout. You're safe this time.

Citing artistic differences the band broke up in May, and in June re-formed without me

I wish Stout would read this article.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/compostable-and-biodegradable-plastics-false-security.php

I was at the Pawn last night, and Mia got a bag for all of her things. I was offended that she got a plastic bag, but she needed it to carry everything. I said "well at least it's biodegradable." Then the guy behind the counter started to say stuff like "oh yeah, well all of our cups and utensils and stuff is biodegradable, too, so it's great, and you have nothing to worry about." I didn't want to get into a whole thing, because I really wanted to get my pint of Ben and Jerry's home and eat it, but doesn't he realize that effectively Stout's "green" initiatives aren't really doing anything at least in the dorms? I mean sure, they encourage people to use less energy, and turn off the lights and stuff, but when it comes down to it, they haven't made things like composting campus wide. If they're gonna be all into composting, they could at least do it right. If they were smart, they'd get a compost pile, and provide the dorms with biodegradable bags.

And then I woke up.

I got an A+ on my Art History Midterm! Holla! I was worried that I had gotten too cocky, and didn't do as well as I assumed I did. 103%, that's the highest score I've probably ever gotten on anything, and good thing I put it towards good use. People fail Art History all the time.

I don't usually brag, but this is epic.

She was into the Stones when I was into the Roses

I had a highly productive weekend. In my opinion. Highly productive=watching 6 movies with the aid of Netflix, AND doing all my homework. This unfortunately meant that I had little social life to speak of this weekend, apart from hanging out with Pang at acoustic cafe. Psh, whatevs, I don't even care. It was worth it. Of course, this did entail me staying up until 5 on saturday night/sunday morning. I don't know why I do that to myself. I wish I could afford to do that every weekend. I'm such a homebody when it comes down to it.

Nothing much else of note right now, other than I can't wait to be home for Thanksgiving. I mostly really want to be home for winter break, but I'll settle for Thanksgiving for now. I am so suffocated in Menomonie. It's not a place I can see myself thriving in.

Are you afraid of the dark? episode of the week:

My favorite episode ever.

Everything is Vanity

Oh weekend. You will be far too short, I'm afraid.

Last night was both enjoyable and ridiculously long. Mia wanted to watch Milk, so she came over and we watched in my room with Krista before Project Runway. Then since we all (sans Mia, but plus one other girl) had so much art project stuff we moved down to the basement where we watched in one of the TV rooms. Such comfy chairs down there. But I did have to still work on my homework. We went back upstairs eventually, but then Krista and I moved back down to the basement, because we were cramped in my room, and we worked down there until about 1:30. All the while we watched "Because I Said So" on my laptop. Eh, it was alright, completely predictable, but had attractive faces to look at. I was not aware that Tom Everett Scott was in that movie, so that was a pleasant surprise. Still convinced that Mandy Moore will never be a decent actress. But after getting to bed at 2, I was so tired waking up. I will probably end up going to bed early tonight, like a lame-o, but I'll have nothing else to do. Roommate and roommate's boyfriend will be on the futon, so no staying up late for me.

Spoiler Alert!!

SO glad they finally were able to shake off Christopher last night from Project Runway. He really does suck. I hate to say it, too, because he's from Minnesota, but my goodness, I haven't seen someone cry so much since Ricky from season 4. And I'm glad that Carol Hannah made it through, as well, she's my favorite. Since I can't have Logan anymore as a favorite.

Currently obsessed with Netflix. I must have added like 20 titles to my queue in the past three days. I'm gonna burn through my instant queue this weekend.

I'm curious. I am curious.

Also, Also:

Netflix clearly has my best interests in mind right now. Categories of movies to browse:

-Movies starring Kate Winslet

-Violent Movies to watch instantly

-Visually Striking Thriller movies from the 1980's

-Gory British Movies

It's like....they live in my head.... Well done, Netflix.

Who's the fairest of them all?

Also:

My sister was published in vita.mn today. Check it out.

All you ever wanted was love

Ugh, Yankees.

I'm currently watching Top Chef season 6 online, because I can't watch it on wednesday nights anymore. I almost prefer getting it off of Amazon and watching it at my leisure. I like giving myself something to look forward to. I know this seems like a pretty generic "I'm currently..." but I want to highlight the all-star reunion show that took place last night. If anybody gets the chance to watch this episode who is a fan of the whole series, it's worthwhile. I downloaded it this morning, and of all the all-star/reunion shows, this is one of the best assemblages I've seen yet. Well done, Bravo. No wait! Bravo, Bravo! LAME.

By the way, I didn't do as horribly on my speech as I thought I did- 42/50, and extremely positive written feedback from my professor and "peer evaluators." Surprising? I think that goes without saying.

The long way home

Microwaves are the secret to life. Seriously.

He bet a vulgar quid that we would see the "the ghost in black" and sure enough, we did.

I went home this weekend, and it was delightful. I hung out with Tianna on friday night. We ate dinner at her house and then we watched Away We Go. I was only tentative about that movie because I thought it might be a little too cute and a little to indie. But I loved it, I thought it was so perfect. John Krasinski was absolute perfection.

Then on saturday I went shopping at Southdale with Jessica, where I got a dress for $20 marked down from $130! Holla. It was a great deal. Then I went to the Mall with Caroline later and we went to Chipotle. Biggest mistake ever. Ever. Don't ever go to the Mall on Halloween. Please.

Later on Jessica picked me up and we went to Biga to pick up Lizzie and sleepover at her house. We basically just sat in her backyard around the fire pit and talked. Then we turned in early because we were all tired.

It was just a nice relaxing weekend.

Are you afraid of the dark?????? episode of the week:

This is a pretty classic episode, featuring a one Tatyana Ali. Also fun fact: The main kid, Aaron is the brother of the kid who plays Frank in the Midnight Society. Which is why he may look familiar.

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.