Summer has begun! And it feels like it, too - the rain is finally over. For now, at least.

I'm drawing chipmunks a lot these days. All part of my plot to draw/write a story. You'll be seeing some of them, methinks.

Not much else to say - life these days is all about relaxing, drawing, writing, and working.

The journey towards self-reliance has continued, however. I've started taking more responsibility for my life choices, which seems to be an essential process of the journey into maturity. As a result, life grows busier. It's tough to retain inner peace. It seems the moment you start trying to keep it, it goes away!

We have a new dog! So perhaps dog drawings will start showing up. I also finished the spring painting a few weeks ago, so you'll see that soon, once I get out the camera and orchestrate good lighting. A new landscape is in the works, too!

I'm trying to get better at Japanese. Mebbe some calligraphy? Hmmm...

Art History is the bomb. Learning about the Renaissance right now. Michelangelo was a cranky fellow. I particularly enjoyed his cranky poem about how much he despised painting the Sistine Chapel.
Also, I just finished draft one of my resume! Life goes well tonight!
Still missing art class - I painted a landscape a week ago, but it is at a particularly blotchy stage right now, so I don't think I'll post it yet.
Spring term is revving up.
That quote up there is from a Reduced Shakespeare Company Macbeth skit. Check their stuff out, you won't regret it.
Finally saw Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. Black and white movies are way fun. This movie was interesting, if a little slow paced. It is a good movie to watch when you're chilled out, ready to sit and listen well for 2.5 hrs, and don't mind how he cut out so much of the play to suit his interpretation. I also watched Onegin. It was not quite as good as I'd hoped it would be, but the set and costume design was fabulous. Most movies make the nobility look too clean, but this movie kept them looking a little more realistic in their finery. I would say it is worth seeing for the pretty set and clothing, but it did feel a tad hollow on the inside. Many critics say that the whole thing was empty. However, I thought there were a few emotionally vested moments.
Habitat for Humanity build is happening this weekend!!!
I'm going to start a springtime landscape soon, methinks. Well, not start working on it, but start scouting locations for it, anyway.
I have some gesture drawings done, but I'm not sure if they're really post-worthy material. Perhaps as scraps?
I'm feeling rather interested in learning these days! Classes are interesting, full of new material. Today, the world is full of crazy cool things waiting to be noticed!

So...finals. Soon. My final project is done! I had to hand it in, but I can take photos of some of it soon! I like where it went. Mebbe tonight I'll wander over with my camera. Do I even have batteries for that thing anymore?!

In life news, still running in too many directions at once. Do I want to research medicine and live my dream? Do I want to live on a tropical island and do art and live my dream? Do I want to make solar arrays and clean up the environment and live my dream? Do I want to move to the rolling midwest and let the horizon swallow me whole? Do I want to go north, be a hermit, and write literature? Which dream, which place?

The stressed science/math haze continues. Too much thought of the future. Gotta get back to the present. Also, I NEED to stop taking classes with the INSANELY INTENSE PRE-MEDS. Why are they even in introductory classes at my level? Some don't even sleep more than a few hours a night. If that. I went to this college to get away from this kind of thinking before I fall into its hole and not come out again until mid-life crisis time. A balanced, scientific life exists, and is achievable.

Art is finished for the term. I'll miss it.

Christmas is coming! I love Christmas lights. I need to buy some for the room.

I need to do some system maintenance on my present moment. I need to get this sh** in order. I also need to wash dishes.

The Quakers are cool. My dad's been going to meetings. I think I may join him at least once, check it out. They actually do community service, regularly. I still can't decide what branch of Christianity to follow.

Ok. Breath in. Breath out. Breath Chemistry, baby.

Hope y'all are having a lovely, cozy holiday season.

This discovery of Hanson occurred last night, as I procrastinated. Perhaps I am jumping the gun in saying they have joined the ranks of musicians whose work I take the trouble to research and follow, but I don't think so.

I was never into Hanson when I was younger, though my cousins were. I figured they were like Backstreet Boys and N'Sync (whose songs I could never keep straight), a product of the times, a fad that would soon pass, with some nice sounds and little substance.

But then, I checked out their new album (well, not really new, it came out in 2007). Some of the music there is SO FUN. And it is fun with meaning. And I am getting tired of overwrought, interpretation heavy lyrics at the moment. I've been listening to too much Radiohead and Nirvana and a mixed bag of 90s alt rock and it is time to take off the flannel, wash off the grit, and bring in some sunny harmonies to get me through the winter. And then I was obsessed with classical music, namely Rachmaninoff's piano concerto, which, while ultimately uplifting, is also very brooding.

But now, the skies have cleared, and it's Hanson time! I never thought I would become a fan of a boy band, even though they are no longer a boy band, but independent musicians who are trying to make a difference in the world. They have talent and substance and people need to recognize them as the musicians they are constantly struggling to become.

So then I went back in time to 1997 and am starting to follow their musical path that I missed when it actually occurred, and have now got Mmmbop stuck in my head. And This Time Around. And that other one. And Running Man, too. I was dancing to mmmbop on my way to Calculus and that song is so uplifting. It is like the sunshine in sound. Sure, some of their body of work is serious, some of it is sad, but it almost always has a breathless, effervescent rush of life in its beat . Which gets harder to maintain, I find, as the years accumulate. Of course, not everything is perfect all the time, but whose music is?

In other news, I am working on my final project. When I am finished with it, sometime around Christmas, I will post the pieces here. They're going well at the moment. I am truly enjoying ink wash, which is what my focus is. Other people seem to like it too, so hopefully I'm not deluding myself when I think I've made something acceptable and solid and perhaps even worth consideration for more than a few minutes.

EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING SO FAST!

So, I arrived at college the 25th, and BAM things are happening here, happening there, and I just finished getting my comp connected online today (I freaked out a bit cuz there was some trouble, but, all done now!).

In TWO DAYS, I must register for classes. Hopefully I will get into Drawing 1, and thus have time to create some lovely artwork. Now that I have a lovely comp lab to do quality image scanning and editing!

I am a stranger in a strange land here. But it is a beautiful place, and there are some awesome people. Many awesome people.

Just gotta live in the moment, cuz looking too far ahead at a time like this, when everything is up in the air, is a recipe for disaster. And I must remember not to worry about things beyond my control.

So, I think I shall write some story soon, now that I am back in the work mode.

In a week, things will be much more settled, methinks. Then the good work will begin. And maybe something will be...updated?!