some of you diligent readers might have noticed the 'my life is average' link at the end of my blog. i'd forgotten about it until today, and just wanted to share some of my favorite entries i just read. i know...this does not excuse me from writing the posts scribed on my 'to post' list. i'm still getting there.
the first one is for you, brooke::
Today I was riding the train to school and a large man in his late twenties walked on carrying the third Twilight book. About three people snickered as he sat down and started reading so he looked up and said "I'm only reading this so that my sister will read Harry Potter. We made a bet." I applaud his sacrifice.
This morning I called Pizza Hut and asked if they recommended Papa Johns. They said Papa Johns was excellent and gave me their number. MLIA.
Today I slipped on a banana peel in the middle of the hallway and did a classic cartoon fall. I heard someone laughing and looked up to see my principal. He filmed it on his camera phone and it's already posted on youtube. I got up and gave him the most epic high five ever. MLIA
Today, I finally decided to returning pokes I'd gotten months ago from friends. Why? Because I recently set my Facebook to pirate, and it no longer says "Poke back", but "Fire Away!". Somehow, that's infinitely more exciting. MLIA
Today, I read an MLIA about putting two marshmellows in your mouth, and it being a choking hazard. Naturally I tried it out. With mini-marshmellows. I felt like I was beating the system. MLIA
Today, I applied a PUSH BUTTON TO REBOOT UNIVERSE sticker to a crosswalk button. Then I spent an inordinate amount of time observing people hesitate before they pushed the button. An afternoon well spent. MLIA
being average is so entertaining sometimes. what are your favorites?
forgive my lack of posting; it's been a ridiculously busy month. on the upcoming 'to-post' list: tally hall, fall '09 classes, winter/spring '08 classes (wow, i'm behind), holidays, other such fun stuff
watch for 'em [hopefully...relatively] soon!
...but for now, i'll just let you know that Christmas was amazing. i hope you are all enjoying the holidays. for those of us who celebrated Christmas, let's remember the reason we have it, eh?
{these photos are brought to you by my camera and my mother's lovely house.}
...but still so far to go. finals have been extremely difficult this round. BUT i am NOT sick! i think because i got so sick so much this semester, my body [gratefully] skipped my annual finals-sickness. really, almost every finals week for the last two years [maybe longer?] i've gotten very physically ill. not this time! for now. [i'm thinking of getting a doctor's note exempting me from finals the next time due to my apparent allergy to them....]
since last thursday, i've
gone to bed at 4am (twice) gotten little sleep the other nights taken my guitar final (so. easy! and i got my last 2 performances in the two days preceding that) finished 3 paintings sketchbooked (but not enough) started and finished another painting...with really cool textures!
[this one:] ...and i still have to
sketchbook (more) get figure drawing portfolio together figure out the t-shirt contest stuff write a paper on a problem in the illustration industry and how to resolve it (ideas? anyone? anyone?) get gesture drawing portfolio together finish another 2 paintings start and finish another painting (this one HAS to be good...dangit...) and paint two portraits
by thursday.
(sadly, our model for this one
didn't show up for the last 2 [of the 3 total] times she modeled for us. and i can't find the photo i took of her to finish it. i really hope i can find it...soon.)
[note: i had an amazing tally hall friday, and full documentation will follow. however, i just realized how much i need to get done in the next two weeks, so much that i'm not even going to work--i talked to my supervisor and boss today--and with lots of hard work, prayers and sadly little sleep i'll get it all done. note that on my to-do list up top, everything under illustration 2 are oil paintings. (read: panic.) thus, the tally hall post will have to wait. but it'll be worth it...promise.]
yesterday brought with it a stressful morning, and i got to my gesture drawing class late because of the snow. in being late, i missed my quiz (on this amazing book)and sat there while they discussed the answers (i knew most of them, which was frustrating) with no way to make it up. ironically, it was already a 'make-up quiz'. i needed it because i missed one day of class (due to me getting sick FIVE times this semester...yes, five). on the ONE day that i missed this class, our teacher hadn't been there the last week so he gave two quizzes. therefore, i missed both and need both make-up quizzes (there are only two allowed total), and yesterday i missed the first one. injustice! it's been a hard couple of days (weeks...) and that just kind of stomped on my optimism for a good start to the week. instead of sitting in the middle of the chatty group with friends where i usually do, i chose to sloop off into the corner, sit down with my drawing board and plug my ears up with my trusty earbuds, thereby dead to the world (i promise, this isn't typical of me).
the first thing to pop up on my ipod was tally hall. though i love tally hall, i honestly wasn't in the mood for 'happy'. but i couldn't deny the hall on my pod...the songs were just sitting there, staring at me. so, i scrolled down to the more solemn "just apathy" and listened while i started to draw. as the timid piano clinked in my ears, followed by the sad violin and finally rob cantor's somewhat disheartened voice, i felt i'd found an appropriate song for my melancholy mood as i paused to glance at the snowy blur outside. it was good to hear. however, i didn't stop the playlist when it continued with more cheery tally hall songs. surprisingly, i started to pull off some pretty decent drawings as i listened.
at the end of the 3-hour class, i'd listened to the entire tally hall album three times. and was substantially happier.
point being, though i am stressed beyond all reason by school, responsibilities, work, family stuff, relationships, hard decisions, and finals, i've pretty much hit my limit. however, sometimes i'm just reminded of little blessings that keep me going. i just have to remember to open my eyes and accept them for what they are.
for one thing, the back of my van has never looked better, thanks to jeff (you can ignore the dirt):
and yesterday at lunch, i was given a brownie by a random friend. brownies. are. my favorite.
-she couldn't stop smiling; neither could we -it was fun to be with zach at his first concert -regina: "you guys are sorta the best part of my day!" -played lots of my favorites, plus new stuff -variety: she played a beautiful piano, a keyboard, just sang while others accompanied, and played a sweet blue guitar (however, that guitar was stained with not-so-great songs later...boo.) -she had the band who opened for her play with her as well for the first and last parts of the concert. it consisted of a violinist, cellist, and drummer. i LOVE those instruments along the piano that she played. beautiful.
*i apologize for the shaky videos and quality. it really was so packed in there. hope you can enjoy them anyway!
downsides:(sorry, i've gotta stick 'em in this time) -in the venue was super dooper crowded, so it was hard to see -my camera wasn't cooperating, so i didn't get great pictures/videos -i had a pretty bad headache (on top of the cold that i hadn't gotten over) -she liked to swear....like...a lot. not just swear, but she used the 'f' word frequently. i was pretty disappointed about this. i can tell she's a very sweet, very genuine person, and she seemed genuinely happy we were all there to support her. her other favorite phrase was "thank you so, SO much!". however, i couldn't ignore the fact that somewhere down the road she's traveled, that language has crept into her vocabulary that she would say it so often. it saddened me, because some of the lyrics she's sung have been my favorites in all...lyricdom. like, ever. but other songs were just spattered with that word, and it was quite sad to see the difference.i still love regina as a musician and think she's a charming person, but i didn't enjoy being there when she started frequently doing that. one of my favorite regina lyrics----
no, this is how it works: you peer inside yourself you take the things youlike and try to love the things you took and then you take that love you made and stick it into some -- someone else's heart pumping someone else's blood andwalkingarmin arm you hope it don't get harmed --but even if it does, you'll justdo it all again. {from "on the radio"}
but boy, can that girl sing. i absolutely love her voice. love love. it was angelic to hear. really.
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we didn't stay long after, though, because then we were off to see they might be giants!
it was my first 21+ concert. i felt so grown-up (go ahead and laugh now. nogo on. i'll wait). and it was at the depot, only a few minutes away from in the venue where the regina concert was. luckily, by this point, my headache was mostly gone, although my sickness had started to make itself known again.
we got there just in time for them to sing cowtown! i LOVE that song!!! it was way fun. we saw jeff right in front, along with mark and tim, and other fabulous people i don't know super well (but still fabulous, i could tell). and we were right next to the stage. like, 2nd row (if there were chairs).
jeff was already dancing and it was contagious. we joined.
we'd missed half the concert already, but the last part was still totally worth it. (to read a good detailed post about the whole concert, visit jeff's post!) good music, good friends, super tons of energy from the band. it wasn't so crowded, which was nice, so we could dance and actually breathe!
turns out that tmbg recorded their 'flood' album 20 years ago from that date: nov. 7. so, they performed the entire album! i sang along with the songs i knew, followed along with the catchy ones, and just smiled and bounced with those i didn't know. jeff knew just about all the songs, and everyone else just enjoyed the atmosphere.
{to see more concert videos, click the videos after they're done so that they go to the viddler link. it'll show all the ones i've uploaded. more to come!}
the music was obviously very different from regina, but i like them both all the same in their own ways. they're more tally hall-queen-esque. tons o' energy, and not as much super technical stuff. so it was a good balance of concerts for one night.
this picture was taken after the concert, and i'm intentionally trying to smile big and wide but you can't really tell from that angle. so it just looks weird. :]
...did you know that tally hall is coming THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4th?! ...just thought i'd throw that out there.
