I did that again... sorry about that, Russian spambots (they do seem to be the only people who read this, after all. XD)
Anyway... last week-and-a-half has been a combination of super stressful (earlier on, up until last Saturday) and some of the best days I've had in a while (last Saturday and parts of various days here and there since then.) Mostly my problem was that I was being slowly crushed to death under the weight of a mountain of homework, but now that I've finished my Stage 6 Burijeoo prints and my 2D Design project and the second draft of my senior paper, it's gotten a lot better. I still need to get the final draft done at some point, but I'm not really concerning myself with that much at the moment (since I want to get my second draft graded and handed back to me before I change much for the final one--I can put in my works cited and add a few things here and there without it, but before I do any major changes I'd definitely want to get the second draft back.) I have a few minor assignments in other classes due right after the break, but none of them seem like they'll be too horribly time-consuming; I could probably just do them Friday and Saturday (in the case of my printmaking assignment) or early next week (presentation for 2D Design and Information Literacy assignment.) And the 2D Design project isn't due until December 3rd, so I have plenty of time to work on that once the senior paper and other due-very-soon (or late already) things are dealt with.
As for the good parts not related to homework--well, Friday I ended up randomly watching The Nightmare Before Christmas with Ruth and some other friends, and noticed for the first time that the undead band's accordion is actually a fish accordion (seriously, it has a tail fin and a fish head on it! somehow I never noticed that before.) Saturday I finished my paper's second draft and then was insanely relieved by the fact that I didn't have to worry about that anymore... and then went to the Fading Point/Elephant Shortcut concert the school was having (which also had a dance afterward.) This went pretty well--got a seat next to someone I kind of knew so I wasn't freaking out due to crowdedness, and the concert itself was good too. The dance was a lot of fun--ended up dancing with six girls and talking to a bunch of people throughout it, even though they ended up stopping it an hour short (around 10:00 instead of 11:00) because people were already leaving earlier than they had originally planned on ending it. Still went really well though, and I actually ended up being able to use some of my actual-dancing stuff I had learned in dance club--I taught one girl how to waltz, and also did some spins and dips here and there with others.
Yesterday also turned out pretty good--for the FHE activity that the Mormons in my ward group were doing, they watched The Sandlot and had pizza. I ended up freaking out a little due to the crowdedness of the movie-watching room, but it turned out okay--a couple of the girls moved to another room with me and we talked for a while, then went back in and watched what was left of the movie when the crowds had thinned out a little bit later on in the movie. Also, free pizza, which is always good. XD
And then today ALSO turned out good! I got to say goodbye to several people before they left for Thanksgiving break, which led to a lot of goofiness (especially when Michelle, Ruth, and Clarissa were all gathered up around the car they were using to get to Michelle's place for the break--she had a giant stuffed tiger and some peanut butter+jelly stuff called "Goober," Ruth had her cat hat, and all three of them were goofing off and I got some pictures of it. XD) I also got one of the best hugs I have had in a long time when saying goodbye to Ruth... seriously, if I had not known a hug was coming she might have knocked me over! Later today there was a dance club meeting, which turned out really well for once--though it took a while for me to really get started, once I did I never ended up in the "sitting around kinda depressed and lonely on the sidelines" mode again the whole time. And I also was told a couple times that I'm apparently really good at leading in dances (especially country swing), which I was not expecting at all... it's not really the sort of thing I'd think I'd be good at, since I'm normally not good at things like initiating stuff, showing people how to do stuff, etc... and yet somehow multiple people all agree that I'm good at it. Weird.
I also finally learned how to continue doing steps while spinning a girl today, which is something that I never quite "got" until today (and I was kind of stunned when I finally found myself getting it--it just kind of happened unconsciously one time and after that I was able to do it pretty much every time for that dance!) Now I can actually do that for both country swing and waltz, which still amazes me even after I've done it many times in both dances... that was one of those things I thought I'd never quite get, and then right here at the last dance club meeting we'll have before the break, I just did.
Overall it's been a good weekend (and start of another week.) Not a bad start to Thanksgiving break, I'd say... now let's hope the break turns out good and not too boring toward the end.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Two non-boring Saturdays in a row!? When's the last time THAT happened??
Yep... today managed to turn out pretty well, despite it being one of those two days stuck in at the end of the week that always start with an "S" and usually end with boredom.
I spent a lot of the day working on homework, some from both Printmaking and 2D Design; managed to get more than enough of the yellow background prints for my Stage 6 Burijeoo project finished, and got my sketch for the 2D Design project put onto the good paper, though unfortunately I haven't actually gotten around to painting it just yet. Apparently lots of people decided today was a good day for doing homework in the art building, because a whole bunch of people I knew just happened to turn up while I was over there. So I actually had people to talk to occasionally while I was working on stuff, instead of just being over there alone, which is always good.
And of course, later on I ended up going to Subway with Ruth. Yep, I actually managed to ask her on a date for the first time since last year... kind of... I didn't actually mention the D-word, so I'm not entirely sure she saw it as a "date" or not, but we did go out to get food together (and I paid for her food, though I used a coupon to get my sub free, heh) and talk and such, and it was planned out ahead of time rather than just randomly decided on right before it happened... which is pretty much what a date usually is, right?
I had hoped we'd be able to sit and talk a little longer after eating, but unfortunately her roommate's phone charger had died and she needed a ride to Wal-Mart to get another one (so pretty much an emergency, since the phone was near death and that's the only way she has any contact with her family all the way across the country)... so we ended up being there less than an hour. Still got some talking and goofiness in (and a couple of hugs, of course! XD) and I got to eat some good food with one of my favorite people rather than being alone for once, so it turned out good regardless of the slight rushed-ness of it (and of whether it technically counted as a date or not.)
And after that... more homework. I actually didn't do much of anything for 2D Design until later, spent most of the afternoon doing Printmaking stuff instead (and since I have the yellow images printed, all I need to do now is get the black ones down and I'll be finished with that whole project.) Didn't really get too much done with the "letters on a line-covered background" project, but I do have the outlines of the letters/lines/etc. traced onto the expensive paper now, so all I need to do is paint them (...which will probably take forever, and I don't think he's really given us that much time... I'm not sure if they're due Monday or Thursday, though, so if it's Thursday I might get them done on time.)
Oh yeah, I almost posted without talking about other stuff going on recently besides Saturday's stuff. The rest of the later part of this week wasn't too bad either. On Friday, I actually danced at the dance club meeting (only a couple times, but still... I did dance, and I managed to remember some of the stuff I haven't had much practice with AND managed to leave before it got depressing), and then Elle randomly showed up at my house and cooked lentil soup! (Okay, technically it wasn't random since she let me know she was coming ahead of time and asked if it was okay to borrow my kitchen... but still.) I didn't actually get to eat any of the soup since I had already eaten some of my own food by the time it was done, but she put a bunch of stuff in there that smelled really good while it was cooking (onions, cumin, curry powder) so I was actually thinking about trying a bit of it (despite the fact that I'm not much of a soup person and I also didn't like beans the last time I tried any)... until I realized I was already full. Oh well. That just means she has more Tupperwares full of the stuff to take home and eat (or feed to her roommates) later, heh.
I spent a lot of the day working on homework, some from both Printmaking and 2D Design; managed to get more than enough of the yellow background prints for my Stage 6 Burijeoo project finished, and got my sketch for the 2D Design project put onto the good paper, though unfortunately I haven't actually gotten around to painting it just yet. Apparently lots of people decided today was a good day for doing homework in the art building, because a whole bunch of people I knew just happened to turn up while I was over there. So I actually had people to talk to occasionally while I was working on stuff, instead of just being over there alone, which is always good.
And of course, later on I ended up going to Subway with Ruth. Yep, I actually managed to ask her on a date for the first time since last year... kind of... I didn't actually mention the D-word, so I'm not entirely sure she saw it as a "date" or not, but we did go out to get food together (and I paid for her food, though I used a coupon to get my sub free, heh) and talk and such, and it was planned out ahead of time rather than just randomly decided on right before it happened... which is pretty much what a date usually is, right?
I had hoped we'd be able to sit and talk a little longer after eating, but unfortunately her roommate's phone charger had died and she needed a ride to Wal-Mart to get another one (so pretty much an emergency, since the phone was near death and that's the only way she has any contact with her family all the way across the country)... so we ended up being there less than an hour. Still got some talking and goofiness in (and a couple of hugs, of course! XD) and I got to eat some good food with one of my favorite people rather than being alone for once, so it turned out good regardless of the slight rushed-ness of it (and of whether it technically counted as a date or not.)
And after that... more homework. I actually didn't do much of anything for 2D Design until later, spent most of the afternoon doing Printmaking stuff instead (and since I have the yellow images printed, all I need to do now is get the black ones down and I'll be finished with that whole project.) Didn't really get too much done with the "letters on a line-covered background" project, but I do have the outlines of the letters/lines/etc. traced onto the expensive paper now, so all I need to do is paint them (...which will probably take forever, and I don't think he's really given us that much time... I'm not sure if they're due Monday or Thursday, though, so if it's Thursday I might get them done on time.)
Oh yeah, I almost posted without talking about other stuff going on recently besides Saturday's stuff. The rest of the later part of this week wasn't too bad either. On Friday, I actually danced at the dance club meeting (only a couple times, but still... I did dance, and I managed to remember some of the stuff I haven't had much practice with AND managed to leave before it got depressing), and then Elle randomly showed up at my house and cooked lentil soup! (Okay, technically it wasn't random since she let me know she was coming ahead of time and asked if it was okay to borrow my kitchen... but still.) I didn't actually get to eat any of the soup since I had already eaten some of my own food by the time it was done, but she put a bunch of stuff in there that smelled really good while it was cooking (onions, cumin, curry powder) so I was actually thinking about trying a bit of it (despite the fact that I'm not much of a soup person and I also didn't like beans the last time I tried any)... until I realized I was already full. Oh well. That just means she has more Tupperwares full of the stuff to take home and eat (or feed to her roommates) later, heh.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Random bits of nonsense (because there's not much more than homework in my daily life recently...)
I've recently learned that Cracklin' Oat Bran is a really good cereal. Why did I never try it until now? I know I've seen it in the stores for years and years, ever since I was a little kid...
I've also found out that you actually get more food from Subway's Spicy Italian sub than you do from the Italian BMT. Seriously--with the BMT you get one layer of pepperoni, one of salami, and one of ham... with the Spicy Italian you get a double-layer of both salami and pepperoni. That's four layers of meat vs. three... on the cheaper of the two subs! Especially this month when the Spicy Italian's a five-dollar footlong, making it a full dollar cheaper than the BMT. I guess the ham is just that much more expensive than the Italian meats are, or something.
Also, I've put up a poll on my Facebook account asking about Kirber from The K'hyurbhi Lands. More specifically, should he get a name change like Kirb (now Kurb) and his entire species (formerly "Kirbys," now K'hyurbhis) before him? Answer the poll here (or leave a comment, if you can't answer the Facebook poll for whatever reason): http://apps.facebook.com/my-polls/zy8mfb
I've also found out that you actually get more food from Subway's Spicy Italian sub than you do from the Italian BMT. Seriously--with the BMT you get one layer of pepperoni, one of salami, and one of ham... with the Spicy Italian you get a double-layer of both salami and pepperoni. That's four layers of meat vs. three... on the cheaper of the two subs! Especially this month when the Spicy Italian's a five-dollar footlong, making it a full dollar cheaper than the BMT. I guess the ham is just that much more expensive than the Italian meats are, or something.
Also, I've put up a poll on my Facebook account asking about Kirber from The K'hyurbhi Lands. More specifically, should he get a name change like Kirb (now Kurb) and his entire species (formerly "Kirbys," now K'hyurbhis) before him? Answer the poll here (or leave a comment, if you can't answer the Facebook poll for whatever reason): http://apps.facebook.com/my-polls/zy8mfb
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Holy crap!
Yep... it turned out that the dance yesterday turned out WAY better than I could have ever expected it to! They had the VMI jazz band come in and play for us live (and the dance was in Chandler Hall, where they usually have plays and concerts and such, so they were up on a stage instead of taking up dance-floor space), which meant there were very few "random wiggle-dancing" songs involved... so there weren't very many times when I ended up just standing off to the side with nothing to do. And the few times that did happen, I usually took the opportunity to take pictures of other people dancing and such. Like this one:
Look at that face! I don't know how I managed to catch this one at the exact moment I did, but it came out so funny-looking. XD
But anyway, the dance turned out really good. Started off a little slow for me since I didn't know exactly what was going on dancing-wise (I need some idea of actual steps before I can dance, so if I see a bunch of people doing stuff I don't recognize I get confused and if I have no idea what I'm supposed to do it's impossible for me to do much of anything), but after a couple of the girls explained what kind of thing was going on, I caught on to it pretty fast and was able to actually dance. And even more amazingly, actually ask girls to dance, which normally I am terrible at (most of the time at dances, it ends up taking so long for me that the song is halfway over before I actually manage to ask... and that's when I do actually manage to ask, instead of just freezing up.)
But yeah... I ended up doing so much more actual dancing at this dance than I have at any of the others this year. Definitely the most fun I've had at a dance in a while (probably the only other one similar was the Honor Ball last year, which also had the live band and no random wiggle-dancing.) In case you couldn't tell, this was one of those fancy dances where everyone had to dress up, which meant the guys had suits and ties and the girls had dresses. Like these:
That's me on the right in the first picture, by the way. Probably only the third time in my entire life that I've actually had to wear a tie, and I still have no idea how to put one on (thankfully one of my housemates was able to help me out with that before I went off to the dance.)
And after the dance was over, I hung around for a little while talking to people and helping move the chairs back down into the room while other people cleaned things up and moved stuff back to where it came from. Here's a couple of pictures from then:
Yeah, there were random fall leaves, hay, pumpkins/gourds, and stuff like that as decorations here and there. It is November, after all. And speaking of gourds...
...what the heck is that giant gourd doing there!?
But anyway, the dance turned out really good. Started off a little slow for me since I didn't know exactly what was going on dancing-wise (I need some idea of actual steps before I can dance, so if I see a bunch of people doing stuff I don't recognize I get confused and if I have no idea what I'm supposed to do it's impossible for me to do much of anything), but after a couple of the girls explained what kind of thing was going on, I caught on to it pretty fast and was able to actually dance. And even more amazingly, actually ask girls to dance, which normally I am terrible at (most of the time at dances, it ends up taking so long for me that the song is halfway over before I actually manage to ask... and that's when I do actually manage to ask, instead of just freezing up.)
But yeah... I ended up doing so much more actual dancing at this dance than I have at any of the others this year. Definitely the most fun I've had at a dance in a while (probably the only other one similar was the Honor Ball last year, which also had the live band and no random wiggle-dancing.) In case you couldn't tell, this was one of those fancy dances where everyone had to dress up, which meant the guys had suits and ties and the girls had dresses. Like these:
And after the dance was over, I hung around for a little while talking to people and helping move the chairs back down into the room while other people cleaned things up and moved stuff back to where it came from. Here's a couple of pictures from then:
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Basket auction turned out great this year!
Well, it turned out great for me anyway... turnout was kind of small compared to last year's, since only five girls made baskets and maybe four guys actually showed up to bid on them, and since there weren't that many guys there only one of the baskets' bids actually got into the double-digits. Just like last year, I was the winning bidder on two baskets. Unlike last year, I actually got to go on both of the dates that came with the baskets, because neither of the girls involved this time were that weird type of Mormon who absolutely refuses to even so much as go on a date with someone who doesn't share their religious beliefs. Yeah... I'm still a little annoyed about that happening last year. Funnily enough, the teacher who helps run the basket auction didn't react well to finding out that had happened either; when I just happened to mention it (to someone else!) while she was within hearing range, she decided to give me a refund of the $5.00 I had spent on that basket last year. Was not expecting that.
But anyway... the basket-auction dates. Which actually turned out to pretty much be one date with two girls at the same time, since they both had stuff that probably should've been eaten right away before it got gross and they decided to combine the two baskets together into one giant feast for all three of us. XD
One of the girls was someone I had never met before yesterday when this thing happened, while the other was someone I met for the first time earlier this semester and had already gotten to know fairly well before the basket auction even happened (and I actually knew which basket was hers, since she just happened to come over to my house to cook some of the food beforehand... heh.) Tons of food in those baskets--a full loaf of French bread, shells-and-cheese pasta (with homemade cheese sauce!), Twix bars and random Milk Duds, grape juice, popcorn, cookies, and finally the huge pan of strawberry cobbler that I (and my kitchen) had actually helped make. The bready stuff hadn't quite covered the strawberries the way it was supposed to, since there were just so many strawberries in there, but it was still really good despite being a little funny-looking. Also a lot of talking, and a lot of general goofing off (at one point we kept joking about how "someone was naked nearby"... because we could hear some guy taking a shower somewhere else in the house. XD) One of the girls had to leave part of the way through because she had left some things at a friend's house and needed to go get them, but it continued with just the two of us who were left, until eventually she decided she should probably go start on some homework. I walked her to her car and of course there was even more talking there... and a hug. I like hugs. XD And then she randomly decided to give me a ride back home, which I hadn't been expecting. Of course, that meant we ended up talking outside the house in her car for another hour or so afterward, so by the time I finally managed to get out of the car and go back home, it had been three hours!
I'm a little behind compared to my first semester here (where I went on a date at the start of October... then two more throughout October... and then the basket auction), but still... I'm glad I can finally say I've had my first date-type thing of the whole semester, and that it turned out so well! Oddly enough, it was apparently the first date-type thing of one of the girls' life, not counting things like going to a dance with someone in high school (which apparently she wasn't counting, so...)
And it turned out really good overall, or at least I thought so (I figure it probably turned out pretty good for the girls also, since we did end up talking for over an hour... or two... or three, heh. But then again, I'm not a mind-reader, so it's hard to tell sometimes.) I really was worried I'd run into the same problem I had with my second basket last year (the one who pulled the "members only" crap on me), but thankfully that definitely didn't happen this time.
Now... let's hope this dance that I'm going to in an hour or so turns out okay too. I don't have quite as high expectations for that as I did for the basket auction, since the dances have been pretty crappy this semester (with the exception of Homecoming so far)... but who knows? Maybe this one won't suck.
But anyway... the basket-auction dates. Which actually turned out to pretty much be one date with two girls at the same time, since they both had stuff that probably should've been eaten right away before it got gross and they decided to combine the two baskets together into one giant feast for all three of us. XD
One of the girls was someone I had never met before yesterday when this thing happened, while the other was someone I met for the first time earlier this semester and had already gotten to know fairly well before the basket auction even happened (and I actually knew which basket was hers, since she just happened to come over to my house to cook some of the food beforehand... heh.) Tons of food in those baskets--a full loaf of French bread, shells-and-cheese pasta (with homemade cheese sauce!), Twix bars and random Milk Duds, grape juice, popcorn, cookies, and finally the huge pan of strawberry cobbler that I (and my kitchen) had actually helped make. The bready stuff hadn't quite covered the strawberries the way it was supposed to, since there were just so many strawberries in there, but it was still really good despite being a little funny-looking. Also a lot of talking, and a lot of general goofing off (at one point we kept joking about how "someone was naked nearby"... because we could hear some guy taking a shower somewhere else in the house. XD) One of the girls had to leave part of the way through because she had left some things at a friend's house and needed to go get them, but it continued with just the two of us who were left, until eventually she decided she should probably go start on some homework. I walked her to her car and of course there was even more talking there... and a hug. I like hugs. XD And then she randomly decided to give me a ride back home, which I hadn't been expecting. Of course, that meant we ended up talking outside the house in her car for another hour or so afterward, so by the time I finally managed to get out of the car and go back home, it had been three hours!
I'm a little behind compared to my first semester here (where I went on a date at the start of October... then two more throughout October... and then the basket auction), but still... I'm glad I can finally say I've had my first date-type thing of the whole semester, and that it turned out so well! Oddly enough, it was apparently the first date-type thing of one of the girls' life, not counting things like going to a dance with someone in high school (which apparently she wasn't counting, so...)
And it turned out really good overall, or at least I thought so (I figure it probably turned out pretty good for the girls also, since we did end up talking for over an hour... or two... or three, heh. But then again, I'm not a mind-reader, so it's hard to tell sometimes.) I really was worried I'd run into the same problem I had with my second basket last year (the one who pulled the "members only" crap on me), but thankfully that definitely didn't happen this time.
Now... let's hope this dance that I'm going to in an hour or so turns out okay too. I don't have quite as high expectations for that as I did for the basket auction, since the dances have been pretty crappy this semester (with the exception of Homecoming so far)... but who knows? Maybe this one won't suck.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)