Saturday, November 21, 2009

Let the games begin!

Ah! The calm before the storm! haha. Monday marks start of the crazy period: the end of the semester. Papers, finals, presentations, paintings, critiques, and stress! YAY. I'm pumped! (sarcasm) It's crazy. This semester has gone by so quickly, but I can't wait for it to be over. haha.

The last 4 weeks have been pretty nice. I've enjoyed having the extra time (from not working)to catch up on things. I've been watching a lot of Netflick movies. Some good, a lot of mediocre, and some bad. But still, I do love movies. What gets me is that I still seem to not have enough time in the day (maybe there would be more time if I stopped watching so many movies, eh?)! haha. There's really no excuse for not getting things done because... well, I don't have a job! (The photolab job doesn't count because its only 6 hours a week.) Although I haven't gotten much checked of my numerous lists, I have been having some good times and spending some quality time with Stephen <3!

Last Saturday was the opening the France exhibit at school. It was really nice to see everyone again and reacquaint. The professors that led the class created a really great video for all of us. It has the best shots from all the students on it, the prints shown in the gallery (they only chose the 20 best images), candid shots, video of the Rouen light show, video of the Mozart concert I saw inside the Notre Dame cathedral, and some other random video clips captured by Frank (one of the professors). We haven't gotten the final DVD yet (Frank had some final touches to add), but I'm excited for it! I'm hoping Frank might let me borrow a disc to bring home on Thanksgiving break to show my family.

Tuesday of this week was an exciting day! It was filled to the brim with fun. haha. It started off bright and early at 7:15 am when i had to get ready for my Animal Biology class. I got on the road to pick up a classmate at 7:45 am and we headed to the Metro Farmpark in Kirtland. It was a pretty interesting place! I had been there once before with Steve during the summer for a craft festival that they have every year, but this time it was all in the name of animals! haah.



The first stop we made was the dairy section, were we saw 4 cows and a baby calf. The calf was sooooo cute. I was petting her when she thought that I had some food, so she started nibbling and sucking on my arm. It was the most awkward feeling! Cows only have teeth on the bottom, but because the calf was only a month old, it didn't even have those developed. So it was like having a slimy-wet, gummy, mush sucking on my arm. It was gross. I laughed pretty hard though. The older cows were cute. They were mainly concerned with eating hay and drinking their water. We then learned how to make cheese from milk. We weren't allowed to taste it, as Ohio has laws against consuming products that aren't pasteurized/homogenized, but it was still an interesting process to watch nonetheless. Next we saw some pigs, sheep, goats (baby goats too!), llamas, alpacas, chickens, horses, turkey, and rabbits. I also saw this cute little cat that was basking in the sun. She loved getting petted. Then Rachel (a classmate) and I went to Chipotle for some lunch. It was deeeeelicious.

Later I met up with Nikki (another classmate) and her boyfriend Dean to go up to the Cleveland Art Museum. We went to see the Gauguin exhibit that is there. It was pretty sweet. I had two favorite parts: the contemporary gallery anddddddd (drumroll please.....) the Childrens area! haha. The Childrens area was awesome because it had mini stations with activities. There was a station with a special molding clay that never dries out, which allows you to constantly change the form and mold it into something new. There were others with colored paper and like 20 different stamps of miniature Gauguin paintings. It was cool. :) I definitely want to go back before the exhibit closes because we went a little later in the day and didn't have a whole lot of time to spend with the work. Hopefully next time I'll get there earlier and have more time to spend gazing at the work. It was pretty awesome. I remember seeing some of the paintings in France... but by that point I was like 'yeah, yeah. Museums and paintings, museums and paintings.' Then I would actually visit the place in the painting and I just didn't correlate the two together. Seeing them again really allowed me to have that 'AH HA!' moment where it finally clicked. It was a really cool experience.

This week should be pretty exciting too! TURKEY TIMEEEEE! haah. Man, I love homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. Mm, mm, mm. :) I get to drive back home and see my family and eat my mom's cooking. Oh buoy! It'll be cool to see my brother too. :) Then Steve and I will come back home and visit his family. Probably play some games, have some laughs. Ah. Family. :)

I also start my new job at the World Market in Mayfield. That'll be fun. I hear its pretty dirty and the people aren't helpful as they should be... so all in all should be a good time! haha. I'm hoping that it won't be as bad as what people have told me, but I can't wait for the income! Whoohoo! haah.

OH! I almost forgot! (I know I can go back and edit, but that's no fun. haha) I got 3 shots into the France exhibit at school. I also finished a painting that I could like! haha. It's a painting of an old worn jean shirt. My professor has a thing for jean shirts, and just can bear the thought of throwing away a perfectly good jean shirt. He's a funny character. Makes me giggle. :) I think I may take his other painting class next semester. :) Currently I'm working on a few paintings... ones with multiple purses in different angles and hands reaching for them, another is a warm, fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookie being separated down the middle (you'll be able to smell it when I'm done), and the last one is a mermaid in the ocean with seaweed. The colors of the mermaid painting are going to replicate the ones used in some fauvist paintings. I'm excited to see them all finished.

After painting today, Irene and I went out for a late linner (the lunch that's really close to dinnertime) and then went shopping at a party supply store, target, and pat catan's. We even went sniffing around Ulta for some appealing scents. I was sniffing around for some ideas for xmas colognes for Stevie and to see if I remembered which perfume I liked correctly. haha.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Wonder

Have you ever wondered what things would be like if you didn't exist? How do YOU make a difference in this vast world. What about if you were gone tomorrow?

I know this may seem strange, but lately I've been wondering about it. I'm curious to know how peoples' lives would (or wouldn't) change without my existence. Would people be happy or sad? Would they feel like something was missing? Or would it just be something that they couldn't place. I mean, after all. They would have never met me, known about me, and I'm pretty sure their lives wouldn't be affected.

But what about right now? If I were to disappear, who would truly care? (Besides the obvious) Sometimes it seems as if I'm invisible to people, or that no one would even notice if I were gone. Such as working in the photo lab. I know it's just a job, but people don't even say hello! They walk in and out, right beside me, and not even acknowledge my presence. Even when I say hello to them, they don't respond. It's much like the customers walking through the doors of World Market... And you know that they hear you, they just for whatever reason (may it be them being in their own world, they just didn't hear you, or them just being a jackass) they chose not to respond.

Oh well. Who knows. Who cares, right? (I do...)