arkratirma: (Default)
- of keeping silent when I'm home.

I've been home for three weeks; I fly back to Oregon on Saturday. I wish I could have another week off before starting class, but why bother? - I graduate in June.

I'm excited and horrified. I feel under-prepared.

Spent my first week home screwing up my sleep schedule. I'd go to bed at 5:00 AM and wake up anywhere between 12:30 and 2:30 PM. I was a slug, but a CREATIVE slug!

I began the revision process on Brainsick, and I am having a ton of fun with it. I must thank The Elements of Style and The First Five Pages for this endeavor, as well as multiple suggestions and critiques - old and new - from friends.

Yes, most writers revise AFTER their manuscripts are finished, but it can't hurt to start fresh with stronger ideas and plot form.

Rant's background is much more plausible; I can't wait to share this with my friends and readers (freaders?). Chestan and Fieran's situation is going to be more difficult, but more realistic. They NEED more realism.

I turn 23 next Thursday. 0_______0

Tiny update is tiny.
arkratirma: (Default)
We've hit an unexpected "cold snap," as the news puts it. This is the coldest weather for this time of the year Oregon has experienced in twenty-five years.

Sunday, I celebrated an early Thanksgiving dinner with my family; I got to see Jessi, Mitch, Maddie, and Katie's new home for the first time. Dinner was PHENOMENAL and was topped off with three kinds of pie (I had tiny slivers of chocolate and Oreo) and watching Toy Story 3 in their cozy bonus room.

ALSO, Kat called! <333 I had to tell her the bad / annoying news that I'd sent the wrong fly-home and fly-back dates to Mom and Dad (they'd been a week early). My plane tickets have been changed, but now Kat can't come to SMF to pick me up and drive me to GV. That would have been fun. BUT! we will still have lots of fun! Need to call up Elsa, Katlin, Brandon, Jason and Terra, Brenna (if you're home?)... depending on who's around.

Alex and Kile! <333 If you two happen to be in GV at any point for the holidays, let me know. I'd love to see you guys again!

It's odd sometimes thinking about how infrequently I talk with some of my friends from high school, yet every once in a while, we can get talking again and it's like nothing ever changed. It's a nice feeling. <3

Lack of sleep, good work on Production Team, and insane snow driving. )

Aunt Pam started chemotherapy on Friday. She’d had 38 lymph nodes removed from her right breast and the surrounding area; the chemo is a precaution to make sure any remaining cancer is killed. She’s going to be dealing with chemo for a solid sixteen weeks. I’ll be around to help her out, though. She felt so bad about asking me to do simple things for her, like grabbing a couple pillows to put under her arms – she’s used to doing things for herself. I can see some of Dad in her in that respect. But I want to make sure she’s comfortable, so I kept repeating that I didn’t mind her asking me to get things for her.

Going to the Chinese Garden tomorrow (today, ha) with Laryssa for our (godawful boring) Chinese Cultural History class. It’ll be nice to hang out with her, though; I miss hanging with her and Brit. The kids and I aim to see Tangled tomorrow as well, weather permitting, which should be a lot of fun. Looking forward to it!

OH AND BY THE WAY, it's now 16 degrees outside. Dayum.
arkratirma: (bollocks)
I hadn't been able to access the Self Service portion of AIPD's website (which includes grades, my audit, and other very important things) through Google Chrome, so I used Internet Explorer and lo and behold, I can see my grades now. (Need to edit Chrome's pop-up restrictions to allow them for the college site.)

Intermediate 2D Animation: B
Motion & Broadcast Graphics: A-
Intro to Audio: B+
Astronomy: C+

I got an A- in Motion Broadcast Graphics? The one class that caused me more stress than practically ANY OTHER CLASS I've EVER TAKEN at AIPD?

HOT DAMN I'M AWESOME.

My hard work paid off. I could have put more effort into Astronomy, and should have, but... that class was so godawful boring. Excuses excuses. And no, I did not write that five-page research paper after all. I did, however, feel good about the final. In fact, after I finished, Camille and I went to the docks to celebrate. Watched the Steel Bridge go up for a barge and then had a bit of food at McDonald's off 82nd.

ELLIE! <3 Your mentioning Sock Dreams reminds me of how much I want to go there still! :3 I passed by it with a couple friends a few weeks ago when we got sidetracked driving.

Speaking of driving, I drove into downtown Portland a grand total of four times spring term. FOUR. The first time(s) I'd driven into Portland since fall 2007.

I feel accomplished.

Saturday night, after Cammy and I walked to the post boxes, Kat picked me up and we hung out at Cafe Mekka for two hours, catching up and laughing and just sharing our lives as they are currently. I had a Vietnamese Coffee (which includes sweetened condensed milk and a shot of espresso - yummy!) and Kat had a Fairy Tea (also delicious). We shared a ton of little snack bars her mom had given us, too.

On Sunday, Mom, Dad, Cammy and I met Kat at Sierra Cinemas and saw Toy Story 3.

I WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN.

Fantastic humor, animation, and story. That's all I'll say for now. Just... a wonderful way to wrap up Pixar's legacy-initiator. I really want to watch Toy Story and Toy Story 2 again.

Yesterday, I went shopping with Mom. Picked out a swimsuit at Target and nabbed the special edition of My Neighbor Totoro, which I'm very eager to see. Said hi to Jason; I may get to visit him and Terra tomorrow.

Today, I had my consultation for my wisdom tooth extraction. Surgery on Friday. My right upper wisdom tooth is growing parallel to my bite line and faces backward, the freaky little bastard.

Coolest bit about consultation? Had to get updated x-rays, so I got to see my skull in 3D and see each of my wisdom teeth rotated in 3D. It was like being inside an episode of House.
arkratirma: (bollocks)
Posts are once again few and far between, but I've had my reasons for not posting.

This term, I have been at school six out of seven days of the week, for at least 6-8 hours per day. I've had several 12-14 hour days as well, including last Thursday. Typical arrival time at home has been anywhere between 9:00 PM and 1:30 AM. I have Wednesdays and Fridays off, but I have been using them to get work done at school. Every week.

Motion Broadcast Graphics is the main reason I've been half-living at the college. Here's an idea of what the class is like: on the first day, our teacher told us that this class is extremely work intensive; After Effects (one of the Adobe suite programs and an industry standard for film and television) has a high learning curve; and expect to devote at least fifteen hours a week to our assignments. We've had an assignment due every week since the start of the term. The current assignment, 3D Space (also Parallax Camera - due Tuesday) is the last piece of crap we have to deal with before we finally dive into the final.

Oh, about the final for this class: it's due a week early, week 10 rather than 11. Teacher's reasoning is that there's not enough time to show everyone's projects in a two-hour finals schedule, so she cuts the last week off entirely. Good news for my three other classes, I suppose, but a soul-sucking black hole of time, as Jacob warned me and Grace last term when he took the class.

HOWEVER, I am far less stressed now than I was at the beginning of the term. I'm getting through pretty well.

Allyson and I have been spoiling our friends with rides home. Grace has spoiled us with free Subway sandwiches two Fridays in a row now. And in the past couple of weeks, we've enjoyed four Late Night TBRs - Taco Bell Runs. What is a LNTBR like? Allyson driving her car with me, Jacob, Aurora, Grace, and Camille all stuffed in with her. Good times, good food, good memories.

I've also had three EPIC CONVERSATIONS recently with Kat! We had tried planning on having her visit after her graduation (ONE MORE WEEK TO GO, KAT! ROCK FACE!), but it's best that she conserves her money for the time being. We'll see each other when I'm home for summer.

Flying home on Saturday, June 19. I really look forward to being home for three weeks. More time to dumb down, rather than being flung right into spring term after only a week off.

I'm registered for summer term and look forward to it. Eager for this term to be over, though it has been a much, MUCH better term than winter was.
arkratirma: (bollocks)
Quick pointless geekery: a few days ago, I got back into the groove of Final Fantasy X. (Besides its heavily male-pleasing sequel, FFX is the only FF game I've played.) Like, WAY back into the groove, where I may play for up to two or so hours at a time. I'm simply adding to a game I began as... a sophomore in high school, if I'm not mistaken. 154 hours, baby!

I tried dodging lightning bolts to attain items for Lulu's ultimate weapon. I was caffeinated on a Starbucks Mocha Espresso Double Shot (what a mouthful) and felt ready to conquer this damn side-mission once and for all. (Hung out with Alex and Kile yesterday! Will update more soooon.)

After about twenty minutes, I GOT STRUCK. I cursed and hoped that somehow I'd made it to 200 consecutive dodges.

I checked the log book at the Thunder Plains Travel Agency (this sounds so real, yes?) and it read 136 bolts.

WHYYYY?!

I gave up playing for the night.

I've taken notes on all that I've done over my break, and will eventually update with a MASSIVE TL;DR post under a cut. Whee!

Hey ya'll!

Dec. 22nd, 2009 10:55 pm
arkratirma: (m16)
Quick update (quicker than usual): I'm home for the holidays!

Flew south on Saturday (probably the least stressful flight I've ever had, which was awesome), saw James Cameron's Avatar at the Esquire IMAX with Mom, Dad, and Cammy on Sunday, and hung out a bit with Katlin today. I'll be seeing her again tomorrow and will also be able to visit with Mindy.

Avatar is the most technically and visually sumptuous film I've seen to date, and it has a pretty damn good story to boot. I want to see it again - perhaps with Kat if she doesn't see it with her dad. <3 Will gush more about it later.

Got a new 500 GB Seagate external drive because I thought my WD drive was dying (thankfully, it wasn't, and I now have two backup drives for over 37,000 files) and VNV Nation's new album, Of Faith, Power and Glory, which is lovely. "Ghost" is now one of my top-favorite songs from those guys.

I fly back to Oregon on January 9th. I'm going to start calling friends up soon, probably right after Christmas or on Christmas Eve to make plans.

Love to you all!
arkratirma: (bollocks)
Super-quick post.

For the past five days or so, the daily high temperatures have been under freezing. The highs tend to hover around 23-29 degrees. (Note that these temperatures deal mostly with Beavercreek, which can be anywhere from 8-10 degrees cooler than Portland.)

Yesterday morning, I got up at 4:45 to give myself plenty of time to layer my clothes, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and warm up my car.

When I was ready to head out, my car's thermometer read 12 degrees.

A few times, however, while driving to the Clackamas Town Center, the temperature dropped to 8 degrees.

I was prepared: I wore a t-shirt under my red hooded zipper-front jacket under my heavy-duty rust-and-gray jacket; the lovely super-soft scarf Mom got me earlier this year; my pajama pants layered under the black hand-me-down pants I got from Jessi; knee-high wool socks with a pair of Gold Toe socks over them for extra warmth; my kickass winter-ready black boot-type shoes; AND my thick Thinsulate gloves (I could have even layered my old gloves under them, because my fingers were still damn cold.)

Clackamas warmed to 14 degrees, which is still bitterly cold.

But you know, at least it kept me awake during the drive! I actually felt good yesterday morning despite having to get up so early. Had a couple cups of coffee, too.

I've noticed that caffeine is not having the desired effect on me anymore. TOO MUCH COFFEE. Hell, I downed an entire 12-oz. Monster Monday night and it never really perked me up.

It's around 27 degrees outside right now.

I may still see The Princess and the Frog tomorrow after getting out of Acting Fundamentals with Aurora, Grace, Henry, and Robin, and I think Camille might make it, too. Jacob is probably going to be too busy (or we may guilt him into joining us, like we did yesterday for lunch at The Roxy, lol). Of course, we're supposed to get freezing rain later tomorrow night, so I may have to bypass the movie until after finals. It'd be the smarter choice, but... 2D ANIMATION HOLY CRAP YES.

Going to head all the way to Gateway tomorrow (first time since late September!) to get Aunt Pam and Uncle Larry on a red line MAX to PDX. They're flying to southern California tomorrow to pack up a bunch of Grandma and Grandpa's belongings and U-Haul them back up here. They'll make a pit stop at Mom and Dad's on the way north. They'll be home on Tuesday, so I'll be home alone for five days... and busy as hell.

Grandma and Grandpa sold their house for the amount they wanted, and they'll be moving in late this month, I believe. It will be wonderful to have them around. Grandpa's bent on paying to have the Buick repainted for me. He's so funny. :)
arkratirma: (m16)
I feel I've deserved to finally update this thing: I spent seven hours updating my PDF for Conceptual Design via InDesign. HOLY SHIT I LOVE INDESIGN AGAIN. It had been ages since I'd used it regularly - Fall 2007, to be exact - but it's a snap to get back into with a little refreshing. SO much more efficient than composing pages in Photoshop and having to individually import them into a PDF with Acrobat. No wonder Lee hates Acrobat. Since I couldn't get into creating my roughs for Background Design & Layout (which were due on Wednesday, augh), I decided to get the most tedious task ahead of me out of the way. And I must say it's a damn nice-looking file now, ready to be exported.

I had a random bout of astronomy geekage last night. It was perfectly clear out, and very cold: fantastic star-gazing conditions. I headed down the driveway (sans flashlight!) to look at Orion and other constellations above the neighbors' property and the butte. I spotted a small, hazy cloud which appeared to be a nebula to the far upper-right of Orion - then I thought, Wait, are those the Pleiades? Heading back inside, I fired up the desktop, searched star maps, and sure enough, the Pleiades they were. They're also called the Seven Sisters, after characters from Greek mythology. Most easily visible star cluster in the night sky, and very beautiful.

Fun trivia: the Japanese name for the Pleiades is Subaru. That's right - the car company. They once had a model called the Alcyone (al 'SY uh NEE), derived from the Greek character.

Yaaay GEEKING OUT. I love astronomy and etymology 'n' such.

Having a blast at the Rock Bottom Brewery! )

Whee, typing! I NEED TO GO TO BED SOON but I want to update a bit moooore.

THAT DAMN AVATAR AD AT THE TOP OF THE PREVIEW PAGE REMINDS ME OF HOW BADLY I WANT TO SEE IT. Fantasy sci-fi aliens and OMG I CANNOT WAIT.

Jacob has joined us girls at The Roxy for the past few Wednesdays. Nice to get guy friends involved for hanging out during lunch.

Okay, yeah, NEED to wrap this up. Must be productive tomorrow (TODAY). Shit-tons to get done.

TIME TO JUMP TO THE FOLLOWING: I watched Treasure Planet for the first time last month. Saw parts of it - including the ending - in Za's class several weeks ago: she showed the clips to give us an idea of what we needed to accomplish in our final assignment, in which we are to demonstrate an understanding of weight.

I'd wanted to see it when it was out in theatres - November 2002, for crap's sake! - but I remember Dad telling me "Oh, that's kid's stuff; you don't want to watch that." NOW LOOKIT ME: I'M A FRIGGIN' ANIMATOR. I devour animation like candy. Go figure.

BUT to cut to the point: HOLY FUCK I LOVE. THAT. MOVIE. Not the strongest of Disney's films in terms of plot, perhaps, but GORGEOUS animation, phenomenal voice acting, and inspiring design, backgrounds, cinematography... just DROOOOOL. And hey, there's some really nice character development, too!

JOHN SILVER IS AMAZING. :D

Commence instantaneous rabid fantarding NOW. I also adore Captain Amelia. Just... all the characters are so much fun and so distinct. I personally think (this manifestation of) John Silver is one of the most fascinating characters to come from the Disney company EVER. I mean, he's a fat Irish catish-doggish-bearish alien fucking CYBORG PIRATE. Sweet Jesus yes. Brian Murray's voice acting is TO-DIE-FOR good.

You can tell I'm caffeinated right now, yes? This is what happens when you get a headache and consume large quantities of chai tea late at night.

ANYWAY, I let Jacob borrow Treasure Planet on Friday; he hadn't seen it in several years and showed interest in watching it again on Monday. I've watched the film twice now and this keeps me from watching it AGAIN, because I can assure you I would have. *purrs at Silver* Will write about some other fun days later.

BED TIME NOOOOW.

OH, one more thing: I am quite fond of Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You album. Aurora introduced me to her music. She'd warned that the album is pretty sexual at points, but ppphht, plenty of the artists I love get all shenanigansy in that respect here and there.

OH LORD my head!
arkratirma: (m16)
Kat and Brenna, just wanted to let you know I still plan on replying to the wonderful comments you left on my asexuality / relationships ramble made a few weeks past. <333

Good news about Grandpa: he will now be able to drive until 2014! He got his license back - his doctor took pity on him, because he was worried about how he'd get Grandma to her appointments and family - and he's going to get some new glasses. Happy news.

Friday was a ton of fun: after Acting Fundamentals, I was going to head straight home; I heard Nick's voice and went to the Commons to find him, Grace, Jacob, and Camille hanging out. I joined them and we ended up passing our sketchbooks around and drawing tons of weird things as a sort of sketchbook tradeoff mini-party (Nick called it a "sketchbook orgy," haha). SO MUCH FUN. Jacob walked with Grace and me to our MAX stop, and we each hugged him goodbye. I was going to drive Grace home, but she said Brandon was waiting for her in the food court at the Clackamas Town Center. He'd called three times while we were heading in, heh.

Saturday, I completed ALL of my Conceptual Design creature thumbnails. Going to get some finished sketches done today and get my thumbnails scanned. Alyson had lent me Paprika on Friday, so I felt I'd earned the right to watch a [relatively short] movie after getting a large chunk of homework taken care of.

WOW. Just wow. Where do I begin in describing Paprika? Absolutely gorgeous film. Complicated plot, but not entirely overdone. I watched the film with subtitles and was completely engrossed - I never checked to see what the time was. I couldn't pull myself away for even a second (of course, trying to pay attention to subtitles does that anyway). As Alyson had predicted, I was enthralled with the opening credits. That entire sequence is a work of art in and of itself.

Dr. Tokita is precious. You know, of all the remarkable scenes in this film... the one that struck me most is that in which Atsuko has just pulled the massive Tokita out of the elevator he was stuck in (best character introduction EVER), admonishing him for being fat, slow, and a slob, but all the while pulling herself close to him and telling him "You're so much fun." CHRIST THAT WAS ADORABLE. Fucking hell! Pardon the language, but it was an incredibly touching scene. So unconventional, those two. INSERT MORE ADJECTIVES OF ADORATION HERE.

Again, walking contradiction speaking. I like unconventional relationships, damn it.

LOVE the sphinx scene, too, in which Paprika jumps into a Gustave Moreau painting (Oedipus and the Sphinx, to be precise). Delicious. I want to draw a Paprika-sphinx.

I got the soundtrack. "Parade" is ridiculously catchy. Soothingly quirky.

I didn't get any work done on Sunday, unfortunately. I'd gone to bed around 2:00 in the morning and woke up at 6:30 with a pretty strong pain in my guts. Not excruciating, but very bothersome. I couldn't get comfortable on my back, stomach, or either side. I got up and soaked in the tub for a while (the pain was worse standing), then tried going back to bed. Got up at 11:something - Aunt Pam said "She's alive, she's alive!" to which I replied "She hurts!" I explained my pain to her and Uncle Larry; I didn't feel nauseous at all, and I knew it wasn't food poisoning. Aunt Pam quipped that I just needed to poop... which was true. Bad constipation is all I was suffering from, but I spent most of the day either on the toilet or napping with a heated lavender-filled pack on my lower stomach. Grrrr.

Ended up watching Paprika again that night, but in English. Bleh. Distracted from the story. But I was able to pay more attention to the animation itself, which was nice.

Returned Paprika to Alyson on Monday - we ended up watching it in the Commons before class! Three watchings in three days, baby. I am 100% sold on Satoshi Kon's work now. I'd like to see Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers.

Watched Perfect Blue a second time Monday night. Even knowing how the film turns out does not dilute how freakishly disturbing it is. Masterpiece thriller.

Yesterday was awesome. Proud of the work I turned in for Background Design & Layout. Had lunch at The Roxy with Grace, Aurora, Camille, Alyson, Laryssa, and Britannia. EPIC. We'd invited Jacob and Nick, but they were busy with homework.

Grace, Camille and I followed Aurora to her apartment so I could pick up books 7-9 of The Demonata. We snuggled kittens, then we visitors headed back to the school and hung out with Jacob, Nick, and Danny. Drew hung out for a while before heading back to his class. David showed up for a short time, too.

There was a celebration for the veterans at the school, so our mini-posse headed down to the Open Space to pick up free treats. Mmmmmmm. Jacob slipped up and called me Phil by accident (Jill and Phil rhyme... and Phil as in Phil Blume, one of our teachers) as we were heading back upstairs; I said "I'm not tall enough to be Phil" and Jacob joked, "Yeah, and Phil's prettier." LOL, quite unexpected from Jacob. XD I shot him a mock sad / shocked face.

Kinda-quick update. Things are going well.

Love to you all, my friends!
arkratirma: (bonnet)
Before Kat calls around 12:00, I'm (possibly) going to head into town with Mom and get my hair trimmed. I do so love shorter hair.

But yes! - going to make an epic journey up to Chico tomorrow with Kat as my guide. <333 I'm spending the weekend there with her at her apartment, then heading home early Monday morning. Got a cleaning appointment at Dr. Molina's office at 1:30 in the afternoon.

WE SHALL GO SWIMMING AND TUBING AT THE SACRAMENTO RIVERRRR. I haven't been swimming since the first week of summer term. We shall also have EPIC CONVERSATIONS and swap music and such, but it'll be fun and new going so far away from home with Kat.

Suffering from a one-two punch art/writing block. This always happens during break. :| Tried drawing my fantasy beasts and Finch to no avail, though I did make a couple nifty ATCs. I'll share them once they're scanned. One is a lion done in acrylics via an impasto technique.

When I flew home on Saturday the 19th, Mom, Dad and I stopped at Target and I saw Jason. I hung out with him and Terra Sunday evening and got Jason caught up on Brainsick, and also read a wonderful short piece from his creative writing class. Made my way home with the TomTom.

Been spending good time with Draco and Gimpy. <3 I took Draco down to the creek again today and had fun watching him swim and scamper over the rocks through shallow water. Draco actually swims very well; he puffs himself up by swallowing air and uses his tail as a powerful rudder. IT'S SO CUTE. Gimpy was affectionate this morning and curled up on my lap as I was watching an episode of The X-Files, "Our Town" (which, believe it or not, I hadn't seen before). Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with Chaco Chicken and cannibals!

The only bummer about heading up to Chico with Kat is that we'll be my ol' ghetto van. The air conditioner stops whenever you accelerate. Hurm. Ah well.

The weekend shall be epic nonetheless!
arkratirma: (m16)
SO. As Alex pointed out to me, I have not posted in a while. I got home just forty or so minutes ago after having an epically fun night with Grace, Aurora, and Henry (and kittens!). <3

There's a lot to catch up on: my wonderful trip up the Columbia River Gorge (I'd spelled Columbia as Colombia in my last post.... OH SHIT THAT'S THE COUNTRY LOLOLOLOL); my crazy-artists-hanging-out-together visit to Melissa's house in Longview; Grace's visit here when we photographed the animals; my second-ever trip to the OMSI [Oregon Museum of Science and Industry]to see Adrenaline Rush at its IMAX theatre, and lunch afterward at the Old Spaghetti Factory.... Tons! But each story shall have its time. (Quick note: I hadn't been to OMSI since I was twelve. Sheesh!)

Yesterday was a great day. I got up at 12:30 after nearly ten hours of sleep. I hung out with Melissa, Jacob, and Grace for lunch, and met Laryssa's girlfriend - whose name I never caught. D: But she's a very friendly person and even gave me a buck for a snack, since I hadn't packed lunch and suggested we all go out to eat. Grace and I had all of our Biomechanics handouts at hand to study from, but talking with friends and with new faces is distracting, ha. I saw Laryssa very briefly when she came back to gather her sweetie - first time I'd seen her at all this term - and she was shocked by my shorter hair. I gave her a hug before Grace and I followed Melissa down to a computer lab to see her adorable in-progress Flash animation of her character Lexon (as a puppy!) singing a Romanian song. SO CUTE. Said hi to MJ as she was working on an assignment in that lab.

Back in the Commons, Grace and I attempted to study more, but quickly decided that a trip for food was a good idea; we settled on Baja Fresh. Laryssa and her girlfriend had left, and Melissa had to head to the train station. Jacob followed Grace and I to BF and we drew on our receipts as we waited for our orders (carbon paper + fingernails = fun). Jacob drew Kitty Loaf on mine. XD Kitty Loaf is a nickname for a cat owned by one of his friends at home. I drew the Massive Tool face (Jacob saw it coming) and Grace scribbled. Once we had our food, we returned to the school. Jacob mock-complained offhand to Grace about my naturally speedy gait, lol.

We enjoyed our food at the same tables we'd claimed previously, and talked with a new student, Kelly, and a newish student, Drew (who's in my Storyboarding class). Kelly is very talkative and was excited to geek out about WALL-E with me. *grin* Drew is nuts and has consistently patted my head nearly every Wednesday night during class, typically when I poke fun at myself for being short. He's not creepy, just goofy. He has an inappropriate-minded sense of humor, but what college student doesn't?

...No, I don't exclude myself from that characteristic. OH NOES. :|

BUT STILL NO SEXYTIMES FOR ME. YOU GO FUCK OFF NOW. FUCK OFF OR I'LL FIND AN ELEVATOR SHAFT MARKED WITH YOUR NAME.

Anyway.

Grace and I said goodbye to Jacob once we were ready to head to class. Our midterm actually wasn't terrible, but it was entirely composed of written-answer questions. No T/F or multiple choice. Sadness. I finished around 8:30 and quietly let Grace know I'd wait for her in the Commons. I bought a Three Musketeers bar and split it in half to share with her. She came around 9:00, I called Aurora, and we headed to The Roxy to meet up with her and Henry. Had a BLAST finally hanging out with them again; it had been two weeks or so since we'd all seen each other at once. Aurora has all morning classes this term, my exact opposite.

After our Roxy shenanigans, Grace and I followed Aurora and Henry to their apartment. THEY HAVE KITTENS NOW. OH MY GOD THOSE KITTENS. They're so precious! We stayed for around an hour then headed off for the MAX. I drew drunk hummingbirds in my sketchbook a la Grace's suggestion. :D I dropped her off, then continued home. I was excited to notice that it was 58 degrees outside.

See, we FINALLY left that godawful heatwave behind - even got a bit of rain - but another heatwave is supposed to come next week. ARGH. Portland had experienced TEN DAYS of 90+-degree weather a week and a half ago, an all-time record for the area. One day during that heatwave got up to 108 F, but there were others that reached and surpassed 100.

I hate extreme heat. BRING ON THE COLD. I'M STILL WEARING MY SHORTS AND T-SHIRTS.

It's 56 out right now. *joy*

Well, I think this will suffice for now. Michael and I are heading to the beach house for the weekend to visit with Grandma and Grandpa again before they head home. I'm bringing my homework with me, but it's not too much to stress out about. All manageable. Score!

Love to you all, my friends! <333
arkratirma: (rorschach)
Rorschach icon 'cause I feel like it.

Yesterday wasn't bad at all. I left at 1:00 because I felt antsy, eager to see my friends again. I took my portfolio of large college artworks and personal artworks to scan on one of the AMAZING Epson GT 15000 scanners at AIPD. (They're flatbeds with a 12" x 11" scanning surface. WANT.) Briefly saw Aurora pass by to her classroom, noted which one it was, then also noticed that Melissa was in the same class.

Headed to Everyday Music to see if they carried VNV Nation's newest, Of Faith, Power, and Glory. They did not have it. :| I picked up Peter Murphy's 1987 album, Love Hysteria, for six bucks. Mmmm, Peter Murphy. <3

I returned to the Student Commons to see if any friends had shown up, then decided to head to Powell's. I spotted Melissa by the graphic novels and we hung out before heading to our respective night classes. Aurora called me back and I decided to head to her place after class to return Vampire Mountain and Trials of Death to her.

Illustration is going to be a wonderful class. The first week is always slow - introductions, lectures - but I know I am going to love this class. David Hohn is a fun teacher and shares his studio with Lee White.

TRADITIONAL ART SUPPLIES FOR THE WIN. I already have all the supplies listed for the class.

David let us out about a half hour early. I thought about staying for a while to show him the artwork I brought, but shied out of it. I went to Aurora's by MAX and stayed with her and Henry for a while: I ate the soup I'd brought as well as a small piece of beef Aurora offered. Aurora is catsitting MJ's cat, Poe - he's a beautiful boy. Pretty markings.

Got home at 12:00, went to bed at 3:00. XD

See, there are advantages to having all night classes. One, I can go an entire term without having to wake to an alarm. Two, because ALL of my classes are night classes, it establishes consistency that helped me get the grades I got last term. Three, traffic late at night is usually smooth and quick.

Coming home last night, I was giddy with the realization that I could get used to this easily.

This morning, I got up at 11:00. Showered, ate brunch, packed my duffel bag back into my closet, washed my car, brushed my teeth, and headed off at 2:00. Traffic was a little bit heavier than it was leaving at 1:00, but certainly not terrible.

Eventually met up with Grace, Jacob, and Nick. Nick left to meet up with Danny, so Grace and Jacob and I hung out until we had to head off for class, making a stop at Whole Foods first. Grace has Lighting & Texture I with me, taught by Phil. Lots of lecture, of course, but Phil let us out an hour early.

Grace and I walked to the Yamhill MAX station and arrived just as a blue line to Gresham pulled up. I got to a ticket machine to find a guy hanging around asking for ticket money. I said "Sorry, none on me" (my usual answer) and he basically said, "Oh, no problem" as I pulled my plastic.

THEN, he said, "I find it funny that people use the excuse of not giving money out because of their cards." As I got on the train, I replied, "And college." I realize this was rather snobbish, but it's goddamn true.

I'm pretty sure he called me a dick. I could have called him a vagina, but I have more tact than that. Next time I'll just say, "Sorry, but I'm $80,000 in debt."

Grace and I discussed lots of things on the way to Gateway, and once we reached Oregon City, she directed me to her boyfriend's house. It was slightly daunting late at night, but Grace explained to me how to return: "Left, right, right." Turned out to be a snap. Stopped by Freddie's, asked if they carried full-body car covers (Grandpa has been pestering Aunt Pam to get a car port for the Buick, which is silly, or to park it in the shop, which is not a garage), and picked up another Utility sketchbook. 288 pages of value!

Tomorrow, the Oregon City bypass on 213 is going to be closed, so Aunt Pam had me review the original way she and Uncle Larry took - and all other drivers took - through Oregon City before the bypass was constructed, using Google Earth. I LOVE GOOGLE EARTH. I know what route to take to get around the night work.

Of course, if the bypass is ENTIRELY closed - if I can't get off at Exit 10 and get to Washington St. - I'll have to go another route. Aunt Pam showed me lots of different routes. I'll see tomorrow night what's going on. I may have to continue down 205 for a way to get turned around. I'm charging my GPS right now.

Just a happy, cumulative post. I know summer session is going to be a great term. I will make it so!
arkratirma: (m16)
And by the 60s, I mean cool, overcast Oregon weather. <3 It's supposed to be up in the 80s tomorrow, but today's storm front is purely gorgeous.

It had begun to cool off at Mom and Dad's during my last week and a half home: the 80s were a welcome relief from the high 90s to low 100s we'd had earlier. I flew home to Aunt Pam and Uncle Larry's yesterday and was greeted by slate gray clouds, intermittent sunshine, and a slight breeze. LOVE. I felt joyous coming home with them. I feel good about summer session and am going to do the best that I can with my assignments.

Yesterday, I enjoyed being lazy and getting my stuff reorganized for the new term. I did a bit of cursive writing with my Hunt Crow Quill dip pen, bummed around the 'net, listened to music, and downloaded Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 onto my desktop.

This copy of Office had been sitting in my room, unseen, in Mom and Dad's old TV stand. I found it while cleaning up several days ago and thought, I wonder if this has any activations left on it? I packed it in my duffel bag to take with me. Sure enough, Office can be activated up to three times with one disc, and I was geeking out over having it on my desktop. Now I can edit my writings on this machine and on my laptop.

I left my laptop with Mom and Dad yesterday at SMF so I could get through security more quickly. We were late, and once I got to my gate I learned I was THE last person on Flight 409. An older couple asked if I wanted a seat, so finding one wasn't stressful. I'd been in the A boarding group too, haha. Grandma and Grandpa are going to bring my laptop along with some other supplies when they drive up here in about a week from tomorrow.

After a nap, I took a bike ride up to Beeson, stretched, and tried to do artsy things. Today, I painted four sweet peas that I picked from the bunch growing by the gate. I'll post them here when my laptop is back; I don't feel like moving my printer to the desktop at the moment.

I tested the pepper gas Mom gave me outside a few hours ago. I'm going to carry it on me while walking home all this term as a precaution, though on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll have Grace to walk with. As I've told myself before, I'll go Rorschach on anyone who tries to harm my friends or me.

Aunt Pam and Uncle Larry are in the shop fashioning fir boughs into handsome walking sticks with their Dremmel drill. They suggested I could make one for myself if I have time, which I'd love to do. I'll see how my free time works out.

Just a cheerful post. I need to finish Trials of Death (fourth book in Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series, on loan from Aurora) and start The Vampire Prince. This series is SO much fun.

ALSO: angry Walter makes me happy!

Photobucket

Snatched from none other than jeh_fans.

WATCHMEN DIRECTOR'S CUT GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

*facepalm*
arkratirma: (m16)
It's been a while since I last posted, so I felt I should update quickly before diving into my Creative Writing revisions for my chapbook (which is due on Tuesday).

I'm registered for my classes - finally. Thankfully, none of them was completely full, so I got all the classes I wanted. Here's the thing: each of them is a night class. Four night classes, four days: Monday through Thursday. It's going to be expensive on gas again, but I think I'll enjoy my classes. They are Illustration on Monday; Lighting & Texture I on Tuesday, with Grace; Storyboard on Wednesday; and Biomechanics on Thursday, also with Grace. Each class runs from 6:00-9:45 PM.

After class yesterday, I came home, got Draco's heat lamp set up for him, took a shower, fed Draco some dandelion leaves, and then took him to The UPS Store in Oregon City, by the Fred Meyer I frequently shop at. He was completely calm on the ride there in his little plastic storage container; Uncle Larry had drilled holes in the lid for ventilation. Draco took it all in stride and simply looked around at things from inside his box. I'd lined it with a towel to make it soft and more comfortable for him.

When I brought Draco inside the store and said I needed to have a pet mailed, a young girl - probably around Maddie's age or slightly older - saw him and said, "Whoooooa!" Two sisters working at the store were stunned with his size and kept complimenting how beautiful he is. An older woman, whom I'd spoken with over the phone last week, was also impressed with Draco. She called her uppers to confirm that they could mail Draco; small reptiles are really the only pets that can be mailed via UPS. Draco was just as calm in the store and I kept stroking his head and back and offered to let the sisters pet him, too. Their brother recently got a baby bearded dragon, and I had fun answering all of their questions about Draco.

Draco's clear box was set inside a slightly larger cardboard box filled with packing peanuts (they're breathable) and punched with holes. The total cost was... a lot: $115. This is due mostly to Draco's Saturday delivery to Mom and Dad's. The price I had initially been told was $65; Dad had been told $40. Whenever I mail Draco back up here (I may have him stay with Mom and Dad for my summer term, but I'm not certain yet), I'm going to mail him on a weekday.

But hey, it's my money and Draco is worth it. <3

Dad got a new, used terrarium for Draco and filled it with red Calci-Sand. Beardies test their surroundings by licking: this sand will supplement his calcium intake. Dad also got a giant hissing cockroach for Draco to eat; at the pet store he went to, an employee told him that they're highly nutritious for beardies. Draco chomped its rear off and then finished it off with huge bites. Mom and Dad watched him and Dad was yelling delightedly as Mom gagged. XD

I talked for a while with Grandma and Grandpa yesterday. I let them know that I'm taking good care of the Park Avenue. Grandpa is so funny: he still wants to take the Park Avenue back and give me the 2008 Buick Lucerne. Aunt Pam said "[That car] is too sporty for old people." The back window is difficult to see out of.

I love my Park Avenue. I thanked them again for the car.

Grandma and Grandpa are going to visit during the last week I'm home, and then they're going to come up to Oregon to see Katelynn. I can't wait to see them again!

Well, enough is enough. I'll try to get photos up of recent artwork when I'm off.

Also, I have decided that I am going to keep all of my Brainsick work OFF of deviantART. I may even keep my art off, period (or just post school work?), but stay to keep in touch with friends. After reading about a friend's wrongful banning from the site (even though she was going to leave anyway) and the "artwork" she found, I feel all the more disgusted with that site. It's been going downhill for a long time. I admit it would be hard for me to leave entirely, simply because I do have several friends I want to keep talking with there.

It's not just what happened to my friend on dA that makes me want to keep Brainsick (at the very least) off of dA; Lee began Quick Sketch on Thursday with a fantastic discussion on copyright laws, including the infamous Orphan Works Act. If passed, this bill would allow any company to use an artist's artwork if they could not locate the original owner of the work they wanted to use. Bascially, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you publish on the Internet is in danger of this bill.

This article describes the Orphan Works Act in a nutshell.

Besides, with Dad's friend, Erik Petersen, building me a professional website while I'm home, dA is going to fall into periphery. Mr. Petersen can encrypt my work, disallowing anyone to copy it. If saved, the artwork would show up as a pixel. ...That doesn't stop people from using Print Screen, but I could also watermark my work.

Maybe I'll leave Elfwood, too. Hell, my art has been on that site since I was in seventh grade!

Lee also told us about Photoshop's tagging ability, which allows an artist to add descriptive tags to his or her work, identifying it as copyrighted to that artist.

...Okay, NOW enough is enough.

I hope you're all doing well! I look forward to seeing lots of friends when I come home! :D

BRENNA, IF YOU SEE THE END OF THIS POST, GET THIS: NEW VNV NATION ALBUM ON TUESDAY THE 23RD! <333

Instant edit: I deleted my Elfwood account. It was a fun site, but I rarely used it anymore. My last post, besides one recent post a few months ago, was in 2005.
arkratirma: (anton)
Saturday, I woke up to Aunt Pam telling me that Uncle Larry and Michael were going on a hike. I opted to go with them. We went up the Molalla River for miles, along narrow, unpaved roads, and the Astro ended up getting a flat tire. After Uncle Larry and Michael got the spare on (I watched them to help get a sense for what putting a spare on is like), we drove back down the road a bit and stopped by a campsite and hung out for a couple hours. I took lots of photos, examined river rocks, played with Honey, and had a good time hanging out with my family.

At home, I called Mom and Dad and talked with them for nineteen minutes (exactly!), then called Aurora to let her know I was still headed up to her place. Aurora had me read her revised assignment for Creative Writing, which was a huge improvement over the e-mail copy she'd sent. :) Grace arrived later with shortbread cookies (I brought Syder's of Hanover BBQ Buffalo Wing Nibblers, and when Whitney returned to the apartment, we piled into her car and headed to Freddie's. I got a Monster M-80 to keep me up, and we didn't head to bed until around 5:00 AM.

Today, at school, Aurora, Grace, and Whitney waited in line to register at the 10:00 mark, and I kept returning to Liz's office just to try to set up an appointment. When I finally got a hold of her, she asked if I could return at 2:30; I agreed. Long wait, but what can you do?

Afterward, Whitney drove us to the Lloyd Center and Pioneer Courthouse Square malls. I got a Subway sandwich at the latter and Grace waited with me as I ate it. Grace left for her bus stop after we'd all met up again, and Whitney gave me a ride back to AIPD, which I greatly appreciated.

Worked on my Quick Sketch homework a bit and talked with Laryssa, which was fun. Left to meet up with Liz and was balked by Ryan. He's not a bad kid, as Aurora has figured out, but a bit of a jokester: he asked who I'd come to see, and told me there was a line - "unless you have an appointment," which I did. I peeked into Liz's office to let her know I was present for our appointment as she was working with another student. Liz said all my class choices were good after I explained that I want to take a more illustration-oriented root, using Lee's suggestions as reference.

From Gateway, I stopped by Jiffy Lube again to get my lug nuts retorqued. The friendly fellow 21-year-old greeted me with a smile again, and I was in and out of the place in about five minutes. I called Kat to see what she was up to, and she was busy with finals work, but we'll figure out a time to have another EPIC CONVERSATION (again, that phrase has to be capitalized). :D

The money-related depression stems from my FAFSA hold, which disallowed me to register today. Aurora had had a hold on her account as well, which came as a disappointing surprise, and she got it worked out with Scott James, who had helped me get my FAFSA in last year. She told me that when he heard me at the front desk asking about temporarily waiving my hold just so I could register, he mocked me. What an unprofessional bastard. Yes, I should have turned in the stupid FAFSA on time, even if I get NOTHING out of it (because it's a goddamned requirement to register at AIPD), but despite all my reminders to myself to get it done, I was too busy with schoolwork and was dealing with family issues (Uncle Larry's kidney stones) to worry about the damn FAFSA.

Anyway, relatively quick post. The unhappiness will probably be gone tomorrow, when I meet up with Julia for my Creative Writing conference.

IAMX's new album is also released tomorrow, so I may pick it up from Everyday Music. I need happy things right now. That's my excuse.

Porcupine Tree, by the way, is a wonderful band. I spent some time last weekend organizing a bunch of their music that I'd swapped from Cammy's library, and their sound is growing on me quickly. Psychedelic rock, very similar to Pink Floyd. I also organized all the De/Vision that Dana had linked me to from her personal collection a few years ago. :)
arkratirma: (m16)
I got a pleasant surprise in 19th & 20th Century Art today: I scored 99% on my midterm! I did the extra credit, which helped make up for some of the main questions I missed. I flailed in class when I saw my grade.

There was an unscheduled evacuation today; I'm still not sure why. The third floor apparently wasn't notified, is what I heard... which would be horrific if we'd truly had an emergency.

Lots of fun with Grace and Melissa today. Hung out with them before class and after class (during which time Jacob joined us).

I'd e-mailed Liz, my department director, last night about setting up an appointment for registration; my message was returned to me. I went to her office today to attempt an impromptu appointment, but there was a note on her door explaining that she was out sick. I'm just going to meet her in person on Monday.

See, there's a new rule in registration at AIPD: you can only register online if you apply for 15 credits. If you apply for 12 (which is still full-time) or less, you have to stand in line and wait at the college.

It's fucking ridiculous, but it's given Aurora an excuse to host a "registration sleepover" on Sunday. :D Grace, Whit and I will be there. I'll be sure to bring some snacks and perhaps a movie.

This past week was really nice. On Wednesday, Noodles & Company gave out free noodles to AIPD students, teachers, and faculty. I got my order to go, then met Melissa as she was leaving the college; we went back to Noodles, she got her lunch, and we hung out and drew silly things in our sketchbooks based on quotes from Old Greg.

After class, I gave Grace a ride to her bus stop in Oregon City (we got some groceries at the Freddie's at Gateway). I hesitated in the left-turn lane and this asshole behind me sped into the opposite lane and turned into Freddie's as I was trying to turn. GAH.

After I dropped Grace off, I took the Buick to Jiffy Lube for some needed services. I got an oil change, a 3-minute oil system clean (to help sweep out dirt and particles from the filter), a new air filter, transmission service, a tire rotation, and a fuel filter upgrade. It cost more than a pretty penny, but I feel damn good about continuing Grandpa's legacy of immaculate car care! I was at Jiffy Lube for about an hour and a half, so I called Mom and Dad and talked with them for a bit.

One of the guys working on my car (I forget his name, gah), kept popping his head inside the waiting room, mentioning the magazines, because I looked bored. He was a nice kid and asked if I was going to college; I said yes, and he asked my age. He's also twenty-one, but he thought I was a lot younger because he had to scrunch up into the car to move it for the tire rotation, ha.

Yesterday, after Quick Sketch, Aurora, Grace, Whit and I went to The Roxy for dinner. We sketched, geeked out, flailed, and had fun as always. Chris was working there and we got to talking about music (Grace mentioned picking three songs from the jukebox); I mentioned "classic alternative" and he really loved the term. He told me a bit about Danny Elfman's performance art group, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (which understandably later developed into Oingo Boingo), and that he heard Elfman's rendition of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" on Amazon. Awesome.

Well, that's enough blabbing. I really look forward to Sunday and I hope I can get my needed classes... even if EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM is going to be a night class. AUGH.

Time to watch Kung Fu Panda again! :D IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG SINCE I LAST WATCHED IT.
arkratirma: (m16)
The first week of this term had left me stressing about my workload.

This stress was rather unwarranted, because I am doing very well so far.

All As on my Creative Writing assignments; a 100%, 98%, and 83% on my first three Intermediate Modeling assignments; a current 94.5% in Quick Sketch (which I know I can raise); and a 15/15, 8/10, and 10/10 on my museum paper and first two quizzes in 19th & 20th Century Art (I feel pretty good about my midterm, too).

Classes will get more intense from this point on, but I am going to make this term a good term.

Julia gave us a break in CW: we're turning in our assignments in class on Tuesday. We usually turn them in on Thursdays before 5:00. Also, Lee gave us a huge break by assigning no new homework for this week ("the calm before the storm," as he said). We spent Thursday sketching in the Portland Art Museum, which was fun, but tiring. I'd walked to the museum with Grace and Jacob (Jacob was flabbergasted when he realized we could have taken the streetcar to Jefferson, heh), and then ate dinner with Aurora and Whitney at the Rock Bottom Brewery on 2nd and Morrison. They had me try a sip of Whitney's porter to see if I liked it: it was bitter as hell and made me react as I had when I mistook a beer for apple juice on the beach when I was little.

I delivered our leftover nachos to Grace, who had to head back to AIPD when she realized she'd forgotten her Astronomy study packet. Wonderful day, Thursday.

Friday, I grabbed the CD mix Kat had made me for my 19th birthday and played it in the car. I printed three copies of my study packet and vocab list for me, Grace, and Melissa, and brought biscottis for us to share. Melissa brought The Golden Compass and was watching that when I arrived at the Commons. Grace came shortly afterward and we had a blast trying to study while rooting for Iorek as he battled (and PWNED) Ragnar.

Our midterm wasn't terrible, and we learned that Kate is actually a pretty easy grader. She let us out once we'd finished our tests, then Grace, Melissa and I eventually went to Noodles for lunch. Laryssa and her mom joined us later. GREAT time laughing and sharing stories and eating good food!

At home, I got Draco situated in his big cage, then set about washing the Buick. I cleaned it with TurtleWax polish, and LORD does that car SHINE. It had been incredibly dusty and was covered in a film of pollen before the wash. I also removed the floor mats and washed them with L.A. Awesome cleaner, but unintentionally left new stains because the concentration was too strong. Damn. But the Buick is shiny and beautiful and clean, and I will likely take it to Jiffy Lube to get it checked out tomorrow or Monday.

Watched The Dark Crystal last night. Hadn't watched it in AGES. Fun to watch, but DAMN is it slow. XD

Is it just me, or are the Skeksis strangely sexy?

...Yeah, I guess it's just me. [/lolwhut]

Uncle Larry called during the movie to let me know that Jessi was moving right along in her labor, which had to be induced with drugs as she was a week overdue. My brand new baby cousin, Katelynn Abby Lawson, was born at 12:30 this morning. Aunt Pam called me past 1:00 after I'd gone to bed to deliver the news.

She, Uncle Larry and I went up to Washington today to see the baby, Jessi, Maddie, Mitch, and the family. Jessi gave birth at the hospital she works at: Southern Washington Medical Center, which happens to be one of the top ten hospitals in the nation.

Katelynn is a gorgeous little baby, and I held her a few times and stroked her cheeks, which are as soft as barn owl feathers. Aunt Pam had suggested I bring my laptop so Mom, Dad, and Cammy could see her via my webcam, and the video call worked like a dream. Jessi gets to take the summer off to be with Katelynn, Maddie, and Mitch. Katelynn is going to love Maddie SO much.

Oh, and to wrap this entry up, Dad let me in on a wonderful surprise last night when I called: his good online friend, Eric Peterson (whom he was met with in person a couple times), is going to build a professional website for my artwork! He can also get me set up with a PayPal account. This is so exciting; I've always yearned for my own website, and now I can focus on it for my break in addition to being with my family and friends.

Love to you all!
arkratirma: (memory)
Woke up at 5:something and 7:something this morning before getting up at 9:00. Mr. Gibbs had woken me up at one of the two earlier times, meowing outside my window for food. Pesky, adorable cat, that Mr. Gibbs.

My dream was very vivid, and sad. I don't know what brought it on. I was at a house similar to our old rental in Weimar, looking out my window at the Buick. Three young boys were inside it and around it; I yelled "Hey, you can't do that!" and ran out to confront them. I noticed their eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with tears. One of them told me they'd lost their family. Last thing I remember about the dream is comforting the boys with a hug - big group hug.

Hmmm.

Today was warm and gorgeous (though too warm in Portland by the time class was out). I got Draco out to his big cage and picked some dandelion leaves for him. After rinsing off the Buick's pollen film, I sprayed the area around Draco's cage with the hose to help keep him cool until I got home.

Hung out with Melissa and Jacob before class, trading laughs and sharing sketchbook drawings. Offhand, I mentioned the "MER" dinosaur I'd drawn on the wall; a boy sitting to my right asked me about it, telling me that he'd seen a bunch of students trying to decipher that creepy smile. I told him it has no real significance and is simply meant to be creepy. Commence the Old Greg quotes! XD

Creative Writing was pretty cool. Got some good feedback from my group, and Aurora and I had fun discussing our characters as usual. Josh noted that we speak of them as if they were real people, but that's hard not to do when you're really attached to them. When Julia handed back last week's assignment, she asked me specifically to fill her in on some missing scenes from the story, so she could help me more efficiently with it.

After saying goodbye to Aurora, I went to Everyday Music and picked up Sounds Of The Universe. Hit some rather bad traffic, then tended to Draco once home. Had a big salad of spring greens, feta cheese, Craisins, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Rinsed the Buick off again and brought Draco out to the backyard to soak up the setting sun's rays. Napped with him briefly before getting him back into his terrarium. I love Draco so much. <3

Sounds Of The Universe is quite good. Not Depeche Mode's strongest effort, by any means, but a good listen in my opinion. Its published reviews have mostly been negative, but like I said - new DM grows on me quickly. "Wrong" and "Come Back" are my standouts. I also am quite fond of "Jezebel" - the only song Martin Gore sings on his own.

Going to add a bit more to my Intermediate Modeling homework. Will finish it up tomorrow before class.

Shit, I say "GTFO!" to dA and now I'm a junkie for LJ. That's how it goes, I guess.
arkratirma: (memory)
The second week of spring term 2009 has already come to its end. Today is an Institute day; no school! I spent the night at Aurora's last night so I could head to the Portland Art Museum after waking up (thank you again SO much, Aurora! *flails*). Got my 19th & 20th Century Art assignment pretty much covered - just need to type it up and search Madame Pompadour a bit more.

La Volupté de Gout: French Painting in the Age of Madame Pompadour is a splendid exhibit. Seeing paintings from the Rococo and Enlightenment periods in my textbook is all well and dandy, but seeing paintings from those periods in person is spectacular. My hands-down favorite from the exhibit is Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre's MASSIVE L'Enlèvement d'Europe, or The Abduction of Europa, painted in 1750.

Quick Sketch was a lot of fun yesterday. Lee had us do line and circle exercises to help improve our mark-making skills (he suggested we practice them every day), and then had us sketch in markers and detail our sketches with pen. Fantastic technique, and one I aim to develop more throughout the term. Aurora, Grace and I picked up dinner at Cha! Cha! Cha's! and brought it back to AIPD. After the two of them headed off for their respective classes, I settled down and read my Creative Writing assignment from Writing Fiction, as well as the photocopied excerpts from Ursula K. Le Guin's The Wind's Twelve Quarters. Also read Aurora's CW assignment for the week, which is tremendously adorable.

Woo, pouring rain outside! I feel the need to add to Brainsick....

Quick Sketch homework this week is to produce four pages of animal drawings, much like we did for characters last week. Our in-class exercise for the upcoming week is to redesign animals as weird, wonderful chimeras. Needless to say, I cannot wait for that! I already know what I'd like to draw (if Lee allows us to choose): a mouse-reptile hybrid for Cali, and a turtle-horse that I'd dreamed about several months ago.

Intermediate Modeling is simple: experiment with NURBS. (Once again, I felt like I would fall asleep during class this week, but Aaron Sturgeon is a cool teacher.) I think I'll try my hand at modeling a Prismacolor marker, because I'd be able to use the Revolve Tool to efficiently create the body of the marker.

For Creative Writing, all I need to do now is critique Aurora's and Ben's assignments. Josh may have dropped, and Michael - who joined our group this week - didn't have his assignment in Julia's drop-off box. Hmm.

ALSO: for some quick lulz, check out this Watchmen: The High School Years parody!

IT IS CLASSIC. JUST YOU WAIT FOR RORSCHACH'S AWKWARD SOMERSAULT IN EPISODE 1!

(And Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" for Jon's intrinsic field accident in Episode 2.) :D

Promo, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 under this cut! )

I must say these kids are geniuses, and their vids are f'awesome. I kid you not, their production quality is excellent.

In a moment of pure subconscious geekdom, I inadvertently changed my journal style to what had been the style for jeh_fans.
arkratirma: (m16)
Woo hoo, problem solved! I had actually thought about this before, but kept forgetting to do it: uninstall the Acer's network card! The drivers are automatically reinstalled after restarting the computer. Voila, I'm on the Internet! Dad helped me out with it; just got off the phone with him and Mom.

I'm currently charging my GPS in the Buick. This thing is ridiculously user-friendly. RIDICULOUSLY. User-friendly. It even plays MP3s.

JEH is now confirmed as Freddie Krueger in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Well, shit. Now I HAVE to see it. XP It'll be a blast with friends!

Speaking of friends, I shouldn't stay out much this term. This first week alone has been rather tiring, and my workload for the rest of the term is going to be heavy, to say the least. Also, I'm going to put my dA crap into storage again. Okay, finished with that.

Unless we get together for studying or group work (Melissa, Grace and I have a required museum paper due week 3; next week, we have Friday off), I aim to get home directly after class. Yes, this means I'll deal with 5:00 traffic more often, which sucks, but I want to keep on top of things.

I'll try to set up a schedule and a specific day to check my online stuff.

Today was my morning 19th and 20th Century Art class, with Melissa and Grace, o' course. :) I quite like our teacher, Kate Casprowiak (kas PRO'vee ak). We spent a good two hours introducing ourselves. After class, I went to Whole Foods to pick up some food (broccoli salad, yum) and then went to the WaMu across the street to withdraw some cash to purchase a used art history book. The copy Elsa mailed to me is no longer usable for my art history courses, although this is the final art history course required on my degree audit. Yay!

Ate lunch with Melissa, Grace, and Jacob, then headed home when they had to go to their respective classes. Picked up mealworms for Draco at Animal House, then bought some groceries at Fred Meyer. Ate a bit once home, napped, played with Honey, then talked with Mom and Dad. And here I am.

Time for some Quick Sketchin'!

January 2012

S M T W T F S
12 34567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 7th, 2025 05:27 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios