So, 2011 is ending.

If we follow our local Mayans, we could possibly interpret some of the things they've written down as that this is the last full year ever.  Fuckin' awesome.

That's probably a load of crap though, so time to review what's been happening lately. Since...I guess this is just a normal blog now. If you define normal as someone drawing and talking to himself. Which, in blog language, is pretty normal. 


Anywho, new year, comes with new problems. Sort of.

As most know, this blog came from my stay at Southern. Now, I want out. Like, super-badly. I'll take another semester commuting and no more...I think. However, this brings me to finding a new place to go.

UConn is an extremely appealing choice to me, but then something dawned on me after trying to find more information. I'll need a portfolio to transfer from Studio Art at Southern to Communications Design at UConn.
With a portfolio.
By Feburary 1st.

Southern hasn't even put me in an art class yet! Even when I get in, I have a week or two to have that help a portfolio for a major I don't even fully understand.

Now, why would I be in a major I don't fully comprehend? I'll get back to you. Which is also why I'm considering changing my major before I'm in over my head.

Of course, the logical manner is to simply design things beforehand, and pray they like it.
Or, play it safe and change my major. Which is more "avoiding rejection" than "safe".

Either way, it's going to require a lot of thought. Which isn't coming to me.

It's bad.

I think this blog is turning me into a 13 year old girl (or a perfectly respectable blogger), because this is pretty soothing. Also, people like reading me talking to myself. It's also keeping me drawing, even if it's low-quality doodles of myself.

So, major decision crisis, lack of productivity, and lack of caring. I should probably do something about that.

Perhaps a New Years Resolution is in order?
Nah, fuck it. It's not like I keep my own promises.

I'm going to go take a shower. I smell.

The Last Assessment

So....it's over. Forever.
I'd like to thank the academy-
Wait.

Wait, no it's not. Shit.

As the self-assessment is necessary, I guess I must pick apart my college experience so far. What have I learned? Well, truth be told I am not productive, and have taken little to no initiative to be a part of my community. My work process involves procrastinating through the last half of the semester, and this probably affected my grades at the end.

My biggest challenge involves getting up the morning. Not in a depressing sort of manner, but just for the fact that commuting is awful. Some mornings I just don't want to go in. I'd prefer to be waking up, and walking somewhere with much less effort than I put into my current mornings. I get up at 6 to get to reach classes at 8. I'll be doing that all next semester, and that's going to be worse than just a M-W-F schedule. Unfortunately, I can't just sleep in through all my classes, so I just get up. That's how I deal with it.

The one thing I can be proud of this semester is...well, probably this blog. Along with the efforts I've put into my English 112 essays. These are the two moments where I am using all my creative magic powers to do work that I am satisfied with. I have yet to find work that has been at a college-level of effort, but these make me feel like I'm working slightly harder than high school. Though, my grades aren't all straight A's, I'll admit that. This may be due to the fact that I haven't taken this work as seriously as I should have.

Through all of this must come change, yes? Well, probably. I need to make sure I don't go down a slippery slope here. As the next semester starts, I must learn to utilize time management skills that I'm pretty sure I learned once in this class to ensure I get work done on time. I'll also be more excited to do the work, as I have classes I got to sign up for. Except...maybe two English classes isn't a good idea. I'll work it out. Trust me.

What have I learned this semester? Probably information that I'll have to recite one day in some conversation about anthropology. Or remember Algebra all over again. Truth be told, I haven't learned a lot that I'm interested in, but I have re-learned more old information as opposed to learning more than I have previously. Granted, it's my first semester, but a lot of this is forgettable.

I don't know what else to truly say about this first semester of college. I'm keeping the blog after all of this, if that interests you at all. The time I've spent so far has been uneventful, granted, but I've learned a lot outside the classes that taught me a bit about life. It's not about these grades, but more along the content that you choose to produce. This blog is a pretty good example of that. Though I'll admit I am more than likely recycling phrases I've already said to fill out the word count requirements, but that's okay. For me, anyway.

After using a word count tool, I've gotten towards 531 words, so that's starting to sound like it's time for this lovely farewell to come to an end. It's been interesting, writing for particular topics, but now I'll handle this from here. Good luck with the rest of the semester, and if anyone else makes a blog with pictures I will fight them.

THE VIDEO...AGAIN.

REDONE. PARTIALLY. With hopefully more clarification.

WOAH-HO, A VIDEO

It's done.

The final blog will be done after my math final tomorrow. Which I'LL TOTALLY ACE...

Now I should probably go study.

Group Time is Best Time

While that title may not be grammatically correct, this sentence rings true in regards to this learning community of ours.

You want to know what I'll miss most about seeing these people every day?

Seeing these people. That's it, plain and simple.

The learning group is one thing that I think Southern has done right by me. Putting a group of kids together and having them go through the same classes is a wonderful idea. I found people to find out about homework, and general conversation.

Admittedly, these are the only people I have socialized with. Honestly. I think I had a countable amount of conversations outside of class in clubs, etc. You shouldn't be able to count your social interactions after roughly three months.

However, seeing these people everyday gave me a social life! Call it what you will, but I've enjoyed being torn apart slowly by our well known class beforehand. It's anthropology, in case you didn't catch that. That was an awful learning experience. It's nice to have bonded through hating a class though. People relate more through empathy, and oh dear god, did we have enough empathy to go around.

I got to find out work that I missed, learned to strategically 'cut corners' around certain things that I may or may not have read or done. Of course I helped do the same, since we were all in it together. It's good to make the best of it, instead of crying and never doing work. Though I do not admit to being consistent with my work in any classes. Doing this for legal purposes. Or to make myself feel better.

I've made friends through this. This whole experience has been what kept me going throughout the weeks. I looked forward to hearing whatever nonsense I had to come back with a horrid amount of sarcasm.

Also sometimes being an asshole. I don't mean it. All the time, anyway.


When the time comes to end this semester, I'll be sad to know that I'm leaving a lovely Tuesday and Thursday schedule. Now I'll be waking up at 6am every morning and going through the days without having to hear about Margaret Mead ever again.

So, cheers, learning community.

...AFTER college? There's such a thing?

Well, when asked "What is my ideal life?" in general, that question is fucking mind-boggling.

By this time, I've lost most of my hair due to the
boggled mind issue.

Day by day, month by month, things change. The people we love talking to, our hobbies, and hell our entire outlook on life can be twisted or altered! Through all these changes, my ideal life's little details are altered.

What I'd love to have is a job, preferably freelance graphic design. Have my old code-monkey buddies start up a business with me, and make a silly amount of money out of it. This is all ideal. For now. Then again, this brings into the question if ideal has to mean that 'everything is really well off and you have perfection'. One day I could wake up, and want nothing more but to work some job that pays the bills, and want to live out my life with someone I love. This throws two entirely different scenarios and interests into the fray.

Now, who is to say you can't combine them? Me, that's who. My ideal cannot be perfect. Oddly enough, I don't think I can live in perfection where I have everything I wanted.

In the first scenario, I'd have to have the one who got away. The one who started and sparked my inspiration, and now for whatever reason isn't in my perfect picture. Maybe they are there on the sidelines, or maybe they died in a horrific crash, adding a back-story to my character's reason to keep going.

...did I just try and turn my ideal life into a story? Well, I'm not surprised.

In the second one, of course love would keep me company, but at what cost? Surely something or someone must have had to be left behind in order to keep this, right?


I guess my more realistic and happier scenario would involve making a small business with old friends of mine. It could be making games, websites, or maybe even become famous for creating art using poker chips. (It can happen.)

The people I have met already in my life already astound me, though I'm sure I'm bound to meet more unique characters to twist my ideal life.


Now I'm almost fully aware this isn't exactly what the guidelines wanted this blog post to be about, but choosing one exact answer for an ideal life after college is almost impossible for me. Part of me wants to run away, live with someone who I've developed an indescribable, yet confusing relationship with. Another bit wants to stay nestled in good old Connecticut, and make everyone come back to work with me. Or, maybe I'll take a stab at stand-up comedian. I'm supposedly funny. Worth a shot, right?



Aren't they all worth a shot?

Writing Is Hard, and Shouldn't Be Done Twice. (#13)

So, for ENG 112, one of my last assignments was to revise my previous three essays. The requirements that followed it involved adding a page of content, and adding in a source for each one.

I have never revised an essay in my life.

I needed help.

So, I found the local writing center in Southern, and demanded (politely asked) that they help me make my essays the best revisions that ever existed. They sat me down, and we talked. I explained my situation, and they were happy to help!

I was skeptical of getting writing advice from others, but it was surprisingly helpful. What areas could use a little more content in it, where a new paragraph should be put in, all that junk. I took it all home, and made it all come together.

I really hope my essays get a decent grade.