Monthly Archives: December 2003

Personal Blog

Must be Gremlins…

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Today I went and used the art supply store gift certificate I got for Christmas. I picked up some colored pencils and some watercolors.

Now, I had purchased a set of watercolors a long time ago, and used them now and again, and then one day found they’d gone missing. Before buying a replacement set, I gave them a year to show up. I looked in every conceivable place, at home and at school, and gave it plenty of time to pull that “Oh, I’m going to show up now that you aren’t actually looking for me” stunt. A year later and still no sign, so I figured it was safe to buy some more.

I’d be willing to bet money that now that I’ve bought a new set, the old one will magically appear in a place I’ve looked a thousand times before.

In other weird news, my parents’ keyboard is acting very strange. Sometimes weird things type out on their own. You know how sometimes you type something and it doesn’t show up right away, then later it all types out at once? Kinda like that. Maybe there’s some ghost trapped in my parents’ computer, trying to contact me with secret messages. Very odd.

Personal Blog

Meeeemorieeeees

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Even though I was a total slug yesterday, I’ve been getting some work accomplished today. I’ve been going through my piles of stored junk and sorting it…stuff to keep, stuff to find a new home for, stuff to throw away, stuff to store…that sort of thing

I’m particularly proud of myself for finally getting my large pile of photos dated and organized into an album and an “extra” box, it took up the bulk of the morning. Dating pictures is one of those things that I hate doing, but know I’ll regret later if I don’t do it. Nice to have that pile finished with.

After sorting together a bunch of random papers and bits of memories–programs, newspaper clippings, notes, etc.–I pondered, “What can I do with all these scraps of things?” Scrapbook, duh >_< So that's another project to contend with, though I think it will be a good one. I love keeping stuff for memories, but have no good way of storing it beyond throwing a bunch of papers in a box; a scrapbook would work nicely. Another big project will be going through my piles of notebooks and school papers. I keep EVERYTHING, right down to high school, because I like to go through my papers and snip out the little doodles I've drawn. My papers have backed up considerably through college, so I'd like to get through them quickly so I can cut out the drawings and doom the piles of paper to recycling. I've already cleared up several storage boxes--only to be refilled with different items, of course, but oh well. Well, back to cleaning, I suppose.

Personal Blog

Loot

Another holiday completed. Christmas this year was very pleasant, in spite of my initial sadness due to lack of Carleton. Crazy family time kept me busy and my mind off it.

I got a few books I’d wanted, some other nice things, and my mom got me yarn (so I can knit her a scarf ¬_¬ ). I enjoyed spending time with family and friends, and spent the evening with some friends from high school I hadn’t seen in awhile.

Now that the holiday is over I am overwhelmed by the fact that I still have a week of break left. I have a feeling I will get little accomplished, as I am very tired.

I am excited about winter term, it should be fun to design props and make puppets and such, and it will be nice to have no evening obligations. However, I feel I’ll spend most of that time sleeping and resting. I suppose there is a possibility I will suddenly become motivated, perhaps work on figuring out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life, and all that. So much to think about, so exhausting.

I suppose I’ll postpone thinking about all those big things a bit longer, and just work on thinking about what I should buy with my gift certificate to the art supply store.

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Christmas

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!

Carleton’s visit was awesome. Granted, most of it was spent playing Final Fantasy X, but all the better to have time to waste playing video games. We did manage to make it out to visit all my friends, and had very tasty meals thrust upon us. Granted, I was sad to see him off this morning, but the fact that it’s Christmas helped to cheer me up.

That, and the fact that I still have the rest of Christmas break left! Woowoo! Maybe I will get that site redesign underway…or at least get some cleaning done.

Stay safe and warm on the holidays, everyone!

Personal Blog

Cake!

One final down, two to go. The OS exam was ultimately cake, and I’m glad I studied the Dining Philosophers problem, it made a would-be tricky problem very easy.

Carleton will be here in 7ish hours. So close, yet so far, ack! I want to finish my art history paper in the meantime, and finish cleaning, and study a bit for Compilers…but I’m so antsy and excited!

The term is certainly winding down nicely.

Personal Blog

Politics?

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For people like me, who often have no idea where to even start thinking about politics, this was a nice little quiz. Nice, at least, to give me an idea of where to start researching (and they have helpful informative links! Woo!). Unfortunately, it says that even if your highest scoring candidate is in the 80’s or below, their actions in office will likely disappoint more often than not. Doh!! >_< My results

Personal Blog

Art Rant

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I am taking an art history class. The course is entitled “Northern Mannerist and Baroque Art.” Now, the casual observer might make the mistake of assuming that in this class one would learn about Northern Mannerist and Baroque art. Perhaps you would talk about Mannerism until the middle of the term, then talk about the Baroque the second half of the term. That seems like a logical assumption, right? Ha! Fools!

We started off the class talking about the Northern Renaissance in the lowlands, because, of course, it is important to know about the Renaissance before talking about Mannerism, so you know where it came from. A few weeks worth of classes, actually, just to be sure. Around midterms, we were finally getting into Mannerism in the lowlands, and as we neared its end, with the Baroque and Peter Paul Rubens right on the horizon, what do we do? We go back to Germany. We go back to *before* the Renaissance in Germany.

Then we get into the Renaissance in Germany, and talk about Albrecht Durer. Now, I’m as big a Durer fan as the next girl, and I know it’s important to talk about him to see where later German mannerism comes from, but we spend class after class after class on Durer. Then we touch on German mannerism. Then student presentations.

Now, in the last week of class, we FINALLY get to Peter Paul Rubens. We have two days to talk about the Baroque. TWO FRICKIN DAYS!!!!!!! AGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Be aware this is no new phenomenon. When I took the second art history survey class, which was to cover Medieval to Modern art, we got stuck in the Renaissance again, and barely scraped Baroque at the end. Look, I like the Renaissance and all, I know it’s important, and I know it’s Dr. Levin’s “thing,” but as a senior art major, I feel *severely* under-educated in the realm of art history. Ask me anything about the Renaissance, Italian or Northern, and I can probably answer, but Romanticism? Impressionism? Modernism? I am utterly clueless.

And it pisses me off.

But, alas, such is one of the disadvantages to going to a teeny tiny liberal arts college. I wish Sheldon could have taught an art history class. Art history with Sheldon would have been an awesome adventure, if museum trips with him is any indication of his presentation of the material.

Bleh

*end rant*