Hi y'all. Sitting in a coffee shop (Fremont Coffee Company) attempting to be cool by sipping a cappuccino and eating single origin artisan chocolate, no big.
BUT what is more artistically relevant was this morning's Image and Narration class. Not only did I take on the fun in-class assignment of drawing Lady Gaga in various states of abstraction, but my classmates and I also shared 3 of our favorite influences. Not just for art, but for life in general. Here were mine:
Harry.
Disney.
Bowie.
I could go on and on about my influences and why I love them, and what they have done to personally impact me and the world but I won't. Maybe later. What was more interesting were some of the influences that my classmates presented. Particularly this artistic process video...it positively gives me chills:
-3 page paper
-Take home final
-In class final
-Still life
-Improve upon every single piece in Oil Painting for a better grade.
Step one: Clean. Your. Room.
Step two: Prepare tea, dinner, a good spot to sit, and an appropriate (Christmas) music mix.
Step three: Get the most out of your $28,000.
Furnature moved, many items are in place, and I am winding down to cookies and cocoa. Memories of Mexico and friends brought to me by Arrested Development on Netflix. Here's to a good ending to a junky day.
Today I must clean and pack up everything in my apartment, so I can move up two floors by tomorrow afternoon. I will be live blogging this not at all exciting event as the day progresses. Dang it. Whatever happened to this being an art blog? Bad Heaven.
12:23 pm / Current Song: Lovegame by Lady Gaga
I'm taking down all of my wall decorations. Photos, polaroids, frames and posters must all come down. Here are a couple of my favorite corners:
2:32 / Current Song: Whatcha Waiting For by Gwen Stefani
I love this song. Smart people know that Gwen Stefani is my default choice of music on my iPod. Anyway, after taking down all of my wall adornments (which took quite a while), and packing away some of my dishes, I decided to pack up my shoes. I decided to throw away my trusty navy Keds, which are very worn.
Bye, Keds. :-(
4:25 / Current Song: None, I turned off Pandora and turned on Jersey Shore. Don't hate.
I've been floating through states of tiredness and motivation. Lunch consisted of saltine crackers + peanut butter & jelly, and soymilk. It provided a temporary energy boost, but I have to admit, I've been checking facebook chat entirely too often.
View from my spot on the couch.
One thing I definitely accomplished is emptying out my bookshelf. I have loved occupying this bookshelf! All of my books, DVDs, and art supplies fit perfectly, plus some picture frames on top.
There is too much going on, and not enough time to do it all. The thing is, every task that I have to complete is important! I can't just "get rid" of the stress in my life, it is necessary that I do it all! Here is what I have been trying to accomplish:
Work at Cost Plus World Market: When I came back from California, my work scheduled me for a 24 hour week (which is great in terms of money) but not great in terms of adjusting to a new quarter. I had to work all of those shifts, take on 4 new classes, and adjust to being away from my family (which was very difficult). For this week, I worked 8 hour shifts on Monday, Friday and Saturday, and a 5 hour shift on Sunday, and am gearing up for another 5 hour shift today.
Craigslist online job: I have barely been able to do postings for the past 5 days, and have been fitting in small sessions of posting whenever I can. I do about 2 1/2 hours worth of postings every 48 hours. So, add about 10 hours of internet work on top of my work at Cost Plus, and you have about 34 hours worth of work, give or take 4 hours.
SPU: I have class on Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 11:00-12:20. On Tuesday/Thursday I have classes from 10:30-11:50, 2-4:20, and 5-7:20.
Homework: Project due Thursday, logic activities due tomorrow, 35 Biblical observations due Wednesday, illustration process due tomorrow.
Life: My room is a mess, I've needed to do laundry for about a week now, and I need to file my taxes.
I barely have time to eat, or see friends (which I'm finding is a daily necessity for personal sanity).
It's just too much.
edit: today I managed to complete 1 load of laundry, do the illustration process homework, go to class and work. Now, sleep.
School! I banish thee to the nether-regions of Seattle. To the gutters of 3rd and Pine, or better yet, 3rd and Virginia. But still you follow me home. Registration difficulties, emails from teachers, grades! Stop it!
Is it horrible that I seriously do. not. care. about grades this quarter? Yes, it is. But, one thing that the difficulties of this quarter has taught me is that when it comes to choosing a better grade versus personal wellness, I choose personal wellness. 9 times out of 10. (ignoring the whole staying up until 5:30 am thing, that was a fluke). But honestly, I am just the type that sees more value in drinking a cup of calm tea before bed than spending those 10 minutes erasing pencil marks. And this quarter has been nothing short of hellish, I really don't expect very good grades at all. So why stress over it? What's done is done, and considering my state of mine, I've fared quite well, thank you very much.
That said, I really do hope to get a good schedule going for Spring quarter. And I hope to come back with a vengance. Take that, art department. Boo yeah.
In other news, I LOVE TARGET. I have gone to two different Target stores in the past two days, and it has been heavenly. The Targets in Seattle, I swear, are SUCKY. And far away. (1 hour by bus, no thanks). This is hard on a girl who relied on Target as her "go to store." I could get anything there. Greeting cards? Target. Cheap, adorable clothes? Target, please. Toiletries and the occasional magazine? Lets go to Target!
So far, I've purchased black tights, a flowery skirt, some glittering nail polish, and a makeup brush.
Sunday:
On Sunday I worked an 8 hour shift at work, got off late, missed my bus, and missed a study group. I decided to go to the art center and gesso my last wood panel, since my 5 pigeon paintings were due the next day. I gessoed away, with much of it ending up on my peacoat :(. Then, I came back to my apartment, and began to finish 5 paintings. My only break was when Joshua drove me to The Grinder for a latte (dark chocolate raspberry, mmm).
I ended up staying awake until 5:30 am. If you know me, you know that this is virtually impossible for me to do. I cannot stay up late. I typically start to get sick and achy around 1 am. I have no idea where my energy and stamina came from, but I think it was a combination of constant Lady Gaga music, the latte, and an act of God.
Monday:
My paintings did get finished, I got 4 hours of sleep after that, and my final went very well. I got some good feedback and lots of nods of approval! Soon I will post a picture of the set. The whole class did excellently, and it helped that Gala brought us all coffees and pastries from Tully's. I set off for my day feeling accomplished, slightly loopy, and feeling like a true college student.
Then, as I rode the bus to work (another 8 hour shift that got cut into 4, thanks to someone willing to cover for me), I began to feel sick. Soon, I had a migrane pounding my head, I felt like simultaneously throwing up and crying for the rest of the day. I finally got off work and headed home so I could take a 1 or 2 hour nap before studying for my other 3 finals. But, as much as I wanted to, I couldn't sleep. How frustrating is that? I tried all sorts of relaxation techniques, but no go. I crawled over to Bethany's apartment and pleaded that she would play mom to me, and make me soup. That angel happily obliged and with two bowls of soup, bread, tea, and water in my stomach, I went to bed at 11:00. So, it is confirmed. Heaven cannot do all nighters. That day was awful.
Tuesday:
So, as you can imagine, I got absolutely no studying finished on Tuesday. Absolutely none. I went into all three of my finals utterly unprepared, and still feeling the aftermath of yesterday's sickness. I think that my art history final went okay, which is amazing, seeing that I am not the hugest fan of that class. My perspective final is incomplete, and I hope to finish it today. And, my history class final was basically a bust.
But, I'm done. And alive.
Did I mention that right now I am finishing up a series of paintings about pigeons? The 5 pieces are done on panels, and I have about 3 almost done so far. The series is called "Pigeons are Heroes." because, they are. This series is for my Painting Studio class, which is taught by the amazing Gala Bent, and it is such a fun class. Once a week, about 6 students gather, discuss art and each others' series, and paint. We often listen to KEXP, which is quickly becoming my favorite radio station. One time, we went to Ambach and Rice in Ballard, which was the most enchanting field trip that I have ever taken. Such a laid back class, full of support and creative people, I am going to miss it.
I also have a project in Perspective drawing class that will be due next week. My job is to design my dream studio's exterior, placing trees and architectural details in perfect two-point perspective. Yipes. It is a challenging class, but also fun, since my teacher, Laura Lasworth is a riot! An amazing riot. And a great teacher, I have learned a lot about perspective, which is a drawing subject that I have gone through great lengths to avoid until recently. This project is even enjoyable, since I have the liberty to customize every and any part of my dream studio building. My current rough draft has several happy chickens pecking in the yard, as well as a window box full of flowers.
In addition to these projects, I also have a 3 page book report on Witness by Whittaker Chambers due soon, an essay question final in my West and the World class, and a final in Western Tradition II (AKA Art History II).
And thus ends the most challenging season of my life, Winter quarter. I have two days of finals next week, and then I am through. Wish me luck!
Oh yeah, P.S.
These are the only things I have been listening to. Pretty much, Debbie by Architecture in Helsinki is the only "neutral" song out there that brings purely positive memories, not to mention it makes me want to actually get out of bed! success. And yeah I know these songs are really old hat, but they still charm me!
If you want the "real" video then go look it up on YouTube yourself, because it is more like a video chopped up with a sketch comedy piece, and defeats the purpose of the song.
Now that I have Tiffany the Great's mini computer, I have been finally catching up on my friends vlogs.
Honestly, when I noticed that my friends were starting to post blogs, I was skeptical. "Those are going to be awkward to watch," I thought. I felt like watching my friends chat into a camera would be as awkward as video chatting, or video skype (something I have not done and am very wary of).
But, after watching Vanessa's first vlog, I realized that it was not awkward at all. In fact, I really enjoyed watching it! Seeing my friend and hearing her voice was really comforting, and fun.
That was a few weeks ago, and today I spent my morning consuming large amounts of chocolate and catching up on both Vanessa and Shelly's vlogs. It was fun, and still allowed me to interact with people, but remain in my pajamas.
I am now excited to have a more YouTube involved life. No longer will I be the last person to see Pants on the Ground, or David Hasselhoff's European music videos!
So anyway, in related news, I attended the kspu Covers Convert with Elyse. It...was...amazing. We have so many musically talented people at SPU, and they did some great covers (Hall and Oates' "You Make my Dreams Come True," Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," not to mention "Supernova Girl" from Zenon, Girl from the 21st Century.) When I get some pictures and links to the recordings I'll post more about it.
Amazing rendition of "Eye to Eye" from A Goofy Movie performed by Gabe Martinez at the 2010 talent show...seriously impressive. Photo credit to Perry Azevedo.
Anyway, Elyse mentioned that the videos (all 5 of them) from the SPU talent show is on YouTube! Uh...COOL. SPU's talent show happened about a month ago, and it was "off the chain." Again, we have so many talented people at my school! STUB, this student events group on campus created a video that played between the talent show's acts, and it was hillarious. I don't know if it was one of those "you have to be there/have to go to school there" types of humor, but it really cracked me up!
Here's a link to the videos, in case you'd like to take a looksie: SPU Talent Show 2010
