Despite · Life

I somehow managed to lose track of time (and my cell phone was out of batteries) and stayed at the studio until 12:30 AM painting today!  7 hours, man.  Anyway, I got a lot done.  I am working on three pieces that should be done for my midyear senior show (Opening Reception Tuesday  December 9 at 5PM I think, in the Dreitzer Gallery), and if Fenreisa smiles on me I can crank out a fourth too.  I painted a silver hand and some mutilated pears.  I'm beginning to think I'm a pretty decent artist.  Please come see my show!

Progress elsewhere is slow.  Grant Proposal is still a maybe.  I emailed the lady in charge with some questions.  Once those are answered and I figure out a budget I think I can make this happen.  I have not gotten any reading done for classes at all this weekend, but on the plus side I've managed to do a lot of pleasure reading instead:  Surfacing by Margaret Atwood.  It is very good.  I don't have either of the books I need for class, so I have to go to the library to get anything done.  Oh well!

Oh, hello.  My senior year at Brandeis has just begun.  How is it going, you ask.  It is looking up.  It looks like I might still be able to work at Lemberg about once or twice a week (~10 hours?).  So much for needing to have work study!  I guess when you make a good impression and get yourself into the system, formality doesn't matter so much.  In any case, I've learned that once I've started spending a lot of time around kids I just miss them a whole lot the rest of the time, so I'm really happy to stay on.

My most significant class will be, of course my Clinical Psychology Practicum.  I'll be spending about 8 hours a week doing volunteer work, and countless more keeping a journal of my experiences, as well as keeping up with the volumes of reading (textbook, novels and other writings) required for the course.  It's kind of a big deal.  Fortunately, my professor seems to be on board with me working at a program called BRIK (Building Resiliency In Kids) that works with school-age kids in Lowell developing communication skills and other stuff, and happens to be run by Tai's mom.  Also, I'd very likely be able to put into practice some Art Therapy sorts of techniques.  Very Exciting.

Speaking of art, my other Huge Class this semester is Senior Studio.  This means that I am going to be spending Mondays and Wednesdays and plenty more time I'm sure sequestered in the Prospect Street Studios in Waltham with the rest of the senior painting class (and the Post-Bac students).  I'll be working on some Big Picture art stuff, hopefully taking my work in a more focused direction than just "paint whatever."  I think I am going to be exploring fairy tales and how they relate to the passing of information and morals between generations.  Sounds like a Literature thesis more than a Painting thesis, right?  We'll see what happens.  Ah, and by thesis I mean I might be taking Honors.  Apparently I have this semester to sign up for pre-honors or whatever and find out how the department feels about me.

My other classes are Advanced Drawing, which is also happening in the Prospect Street Studios, Beginning Social Dance, and hopefully Reading, Writing, and Teaching Across Cultures.  The last one is a bit iffy.  I was taking a different Writing Intensive course, but it got cancelled, so I did a quick scramble and e-mailed the professor from Teaching Across Cultures.  It's a Comparative Literature course, which I've never taken before, but the professor said it's mainly a combination of social science and literature, and should be fine for someone like me who's interested in child psychology and possibly education.  So, it's full, but she said some people haven't showed up and if I catch up with the work I think she'll let me in.  All in all, I am incredibly excited.  It's going to be an amazing semester.

Hey everyone, I still exist! I have been home for like two weeks I guess; it's pretty crazy. I haven't updated since I got home. Here is what I have been doing:

Reading.
I decided to start On the Road again from the beginning, since I got bogged down with stuff like halfway through it last time and forgot the first part, as if there's really anything to remember. What I'm trying to say is that nothing happens in this book. It's still good, though. I also am reading Dissension, which is about demons and other stuff from magic cards. A little less sophisticated, but fun. And I just finished volume three of Legal Drug today. Very cute.

Working on my Campaign.
Man, it is a lot of work coming up with like 100 different characters whose entire lives you have to know along with making up a city and figuring out what kinds of things everyone is going to be doing all the time. It will be worth it though. There will be adventures. Also, in a fit of creativity I am writing up more official and comprehensive backstories on my older characters, and they feel so much more real now. I don't know what I was doing before! How I can I pretend to be someone more interesting than myself if I don't know why he likes whores so much? Moving on...

Playing video games.
Almost done with Silent Hill 4 now. Also started playing Secret of Mana again sometimes. Secret of Mana is the best game ever. I would ask for recommendations but I don't really want any. Video games are a waste of time.

Watching Anime.
This has been a successful venture. I am up to episode 7 of FMA, and episode 4 of Lain, and I have watched My Neighbor Totoro and Cat Soup (Perfect Blue is on "long wait"...). All the above anime is good things, I enjoyed them. Also rented non-anime movies; Munich and Crash. They were both very good, and you should watch them with your eyes.

Not Having a Job.
Well, this is sort of true. I am working at the eyeglass store that is in Wellesley, but it's not a real job. Because I have a real job, and it is at the Banana Republic in the Natick Mall. This is very exciting news, as I'm sure you know. This means I get to professionally tell people how to look good. I have orientation next Friday. I will tell you how much better my job is than yours once I start. Also I am going to be volunteering in the hospital again, which won't be "fun" per se, but it should be interesting as always.

That's what I have been doing. I hope you feel informed. Special news: it is my livejournal's 2nd birthday on Wednesday, and I want to do something special. I said I was going to last year, but that didn't happen. I am wondering what to do, so tell me what you think would be a good idea. If there are any questions you want me to answer or anything, ask them now and I will do my best to give you an honest answer.

Uh! Cycles! Thank you for the response to that entry, by the way, it was nice. Life is tiring me out. I hope Rocky Horror will not be offended, but I am not going to see him because I am too damn exhausted. I feel like sitting on my bed, listening to mellow rock all night, getting stuff done that I've had too much energy to bother with lately. The most tiring aspect of it all is the knowledge that I'll be doing it all day tomorrow too. But right now that feels about right. When I was talking about cycles the other day, I thought, "Wait, what do productive cycles feel like again? I can't recall the feeling of wanting to get work done." But now I realize that it's not so much that as not feeling like doing anything that requires movement, and having the presence of mind to realize there are things to get done that don't. I painted today. I will scan it in when I feel like it, which might be soon because hey that's what I'm doing this weekend: things. Also I might read more than I have to tonight, because reading only requires the movement of a few small voluntary muscles. So much better than this blasted typing. I feel like counting up all the muscles in my fingers, just so I can tell you how much effort I'm wasting on you.