Vacation

This is the first Spring Break I've had in a while and it was pretty magical. I hopped on a train down to see two of my favorite people and relax. I realize that most people don't go to Los Angeles to sit in their pajamas, read, draw and go to comic book stores, but I don't think I need to mention that I'm not like most people.

Meltdown Comics

Boo-boo Monsters and...

$5 Mystery Grab Bags!

Who doesn't love comics about monsters?

I finally got to play with my chalk pastels.

I also finally caught up on my reading, i.e. finishing the Song of Ice and Fire series. Now I can begin the Dance with Dragons! I am so excited. It took my waaay too long to finish this last one partly because of school and partly because it was reeeeally slow. 

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic vacation. Originally I was torn between travelling or staying home and doing nothing, but it turns out that I can do both! Plus I got to see one of my best friends who, in a cruel twist of fate, moved to Los Angeles a couple months after I left. I try not to think about all the fun we would be having had I stayed here. 

My only regret was not going to the Grove, where apparently there were dinosaur shaped donuts. 

Next time.

Oh Universe...

Sometimes the universe has different plans than you do.

For instance, when I moved back from Los Angeles, I had a very specific plan to finish up classes at the Junior College and be on my way to SF State within a year. Last week I got an email from Admissions informing me that I am not eligible for transfer due to my GPA not being at least a 3.3. I calculated it and it will take six consecutive A's for me to raise my GPA that high. Or, in other terms, another year.

I don't think that I need to say that I was a little disheartened.

So when in doubt (about life stuff) I did what makes sense to me.

 I baked some cookies.

Raspberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies!

The past week has been full of random outburst of frustration and self reflection. So far, I haven't come to any sort of conclusion. I am trying not to let my discouragement get the best of me. The emergence of Spring helps quite a bit. It's difficult to be downhearted when everything around me looks so beautiful.

 

Mustard flowers bloom painting the field yellow.

So I am going to escape to Culver City for Spring Break. I think a change of scenery will help clear my head. I can't wait for friendly faces and sunshine. Only one more week to go!

But to leave on a positive note, I did get an A- on my first English paper! Woo! 

Magical Weekends

Every once in a while, there is that amazing weekend that makes you appreciate life, the universe and everything. They come by surprise and are never long enough. And then sometimes, for unexplained reasons, you have two of those weekends in a row. I think it was all a ploy to get me to stop hating the month of February.

This month had a wedding, kites at the beach AND a trip to the Zoo.

An interesting thing has happened over the last couple years, I have slowly lost my hatred for weddings. Ever since I was nine and thoroughly traumatized at one (the incident involved mean kids and a bullfrog) they left a sour taste in my mouth. Then I got bored with all the monotony of them (white dress, white cake, bad music, etc.). 

Now I rather enjoy weddings, which may have something to do with the free booze or the fact that people are starting to get more creative with them. This last one had a cake that looked like a beach and a photo booth.

 

 I also had a date for the first time.

 It's finally warm enough to go to the beach! The afternoon after the wedding, be dragged our hungover selves out of bed and hopped in the car. We took the back roads around the hills and picked up a fancy kite at this place: 

And salt water taffies, of course. 

 Look at our sweet bat kite! 

Overall, it was a pretty amazing weekend. I thought that was as good as it got, but then the next weekend we went with Lily to the San Francisco Zoo!

Lily makes friends wherever she goes.

I always love seeing animals and we got the rare treat of watching a young  gorilla play with his parents. It was painfully adorable and we stayed at their enclosure for quite a while. Unfortunately, by that time Lily had passed out in her stroller, so she slept through the whole thing. 

It has almost been a year since I made the decision to move back home from sunny Los Angeles. I remember I worried about boredom (among other things) after having lived in such an exciting city. However, I found that my time is filled with school and my tutor job, which has made me appreciate down time.

I do miss it though...

Writing Left-Handed

The things that are assigned for Creative Writing classes never cease to surprise me. Writing a prose poem with my non-dominant hand took quite a bit of concentration; more than I had anticipated. The interesting part of the whole process was how much thought went into each line, yet at the same time they were incredibly simple. It was sort of like turning off the part of my brain that criticizes as I write. I think the end result was rather beautiful.

Since you probably cannot read the scribbles:

Salty dragon waves. Crashing against the shore. Breathing foam and steam. Roaring with the wind. We watched the kite ripple in the sky. Tugging against the thin string that anchored it to my hand. Tugging futilely. We wore matching hats. That day before our lives crashed together. Before the universe put us to the test. On that perfectly windy day. Our mouths sticky sweet. Our skin smelled of earth and salt. The kite's sails flickered with chaotic rhythm. We had to shout to hear each others words over the waves.

I think I will try this left-handed writing more often.

Shifting from mostly Art classes to all English classes has been a struggle. As much as I love writing, I am definitely out of practice. I either over think simple assignments or just stare blankly at the computer waiting for ideas. It is a little frustrating.

So if you are wondering if I am writing this post in procrastination of homework, the answer is yes, yes I am. Don't worry, I still have a whole day.

This is the first time I've been in a Creative Writing class of any kind in three years. I haven't written much poetry since high school (which was so full of angst it was painful to read). Let's hope that my peers are  kind during the critiques. Maybe it will force me to grow a thicker skin when it comes to sharing my writing.

Luckily, whenever I have a especially difficult day, it only takes little things to lift my mood. For instance, the zombie themed magnet poem that Dominic had made waiting for me when I got home from work.

Or listening to this song:

See? Little things are always the best. 

Lost in Books

This is my last day of Winter break and I managed to spend four hours of it reorganizing (and purging) the kitchen. Since the holiday we have been living in more clutter than usual. I really didn't plan to spend the day cleaning, I only wanted to find somewhere to put all the candy we've accumulated over the past two weeks. It always starts small...

To be honest, I'm not looking forward to having to wear real pants after today. Or having to wake up before ten. I'm really going to miss vacation. I suppose one can only sleep in, catch up on reading and play video games for so long. (Who am I kidding?)

I did quite a bit of reading over the break. I'm between series right now, as per usual.  I started A Feast for Crows, the fourth in the Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) series the other day.

Some days I wonder why I read it, since more than once I've had to put one of the books down and walk away in despair. This happened at least three times in Storm of Swords alone. In fact, after I finished the book, I ran around shouting for an hour. Judging from the title of this particular book, I will probably become despondent as I watch all my favorite character die. This series has taken over my life. My new favorite thing to say is, "You know nothing, Jon Snow" (especially to Johnny).

On New Years I spent my evening watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World and putting together my Monster Hunters Lego sets. I also found the Scott Pilgrim box set on Amazon for a ridiculous $47 (normally retailing at $72). Yesterday it arrived early and I've been immersed in all its comic wonderfulness ever since.

 

Best splurge ever. 

 

It even came with a poster!

 Last, but certainly not least, I finished the latest volume in the Locke & Key series. 

Oh man, this series is intense. I'm glad there is some time between volumes, because I definitely need it to recover. Again, I highly recommend these graphic novels if you are into horror. This one (Clockworks) goes into the disturbing back story of the house and the magical keys. The double page spreads are especially beautiful to boot.

I'm going to be rather sad when all my free time is sucked up by school and work again. At least my schedule won't be as crazy as last semester. I plan to update more regularly, but we all know that ongoing battle. 

So I leave with an awesome band I found last week:

Surviving the Holiday

Now that the semester (and Christmas) is over, I finally have some time to myself. Due to my busy schedule, my sister had to take over much of the annual cookie frenzy. In fact, I only made two batches this year (which she make the dough for). Since I only contributed a little, I had to really make them count.

 I think they came out much better than last year. The ninja cookies are adorable, but such a pain to frost (and package). Oh man, I think I will just stick to round cookies next year. I suppose I could stick to your standard Christmas cookie shape, but where is the fun in that?

 

Who wants trees or candy-canes when you can have ghost skulls?!

I really can't tell you how much I am enjoying the break away from school/work. I forgot how nice it is to sleep in and have nothing to do all day. Some sort of celebration is in order because I managed to get a 4.0 GPA for this semester! Woo! Hopefully it will finally raise my cumulative up to a 3.0.

  **happy dance**

So despite this month being especially stressful, I think it went well. I sort of got all my gifts together in time and I conquered my finals. Like a champ. And as much as I dislike Christmas (I'm thinking of replacing the idea of Santa with a dragon), seeing my little niece's face light up was totally worth all the trouble.

 I'm sure she smiled at some point...

December Already?

It's December.

It's almost finals.

I haven't started making anyone's Christmas presents.

And my brain has decided to go on vacation.

So instead of being productive and starting any of my various projects due in the next two weeks, I am writing this blog post and obsessing over this self portrait for my Into to Art class.

I really need to stop trying to "fix" it.

It is probably the only thing I've created in that class that I like. Usually I just do the minimum required to turn  in an assignment. I know that sounds terrible, but I have struggled creatively in that class from day one. Something about the environment is uninspiring; it could be the teacher. It's amazing the difference it makes in your performance when you like/dislike a teacher.

Anyway, I rather like this piece and my mom has already claimed it for her collection. I haven't a clue where she is going to find space for it.

Hopefully the next two weeks will go smoothly. I need my brain to start working again; there is a 5-page essay and two final art projects that are due at the end of next week.

Maybe I fried it during NaNoWriMo. Even the measly 14,075 words I squeezed out were fairly tiresome. So I guess three is not my lucky number after all. I'm thinking I will try one of the summer writing sessions; November is always a busy month. July would be much less stressful to attempt a novel.

This comic adequately sums up the experience:

http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/1301

On a lighter note, it is almost cookie frenzy! I can't wait to make my gingerdead men again.

This year they will be even better.