The Boring Adventures of Dinosaur Construction Part Dos

This is Alfonso.

He is a vegetarian horse/rhinoceros mix.

he is not quite my height, but close enough.

After several revisions, a pulled muscle in my right hand and hours and hours of cutting, taping, and wiring things together, he has been assembled, and taken apart into pieces to be reassembled in class tomorrow, in under 3 minutes. ain't gonna happen. but i think he will be able to stand up the full three hours. that's what she said. heehee.

now me and karen are watching new moon and having celebratory ice cream.

Hooray it's Spring Break!

So it's Spring Break! I'm out of class until the 15th and am in New Jersey. Though I'm not in class it doesn't mean that I don't have lots to do. For a couple days, however, I'm just trying to chill out, and I'm pacing myself for all the things I must get accomplished, such as:

1) Writing my 6 page magazine anaylsis (No biggie)

2) Create a replica of my dino skeleton that is MY HEIGHT: (5'4" ish) out of cardboard, string, wire and tape, and it must fit in an 18X24X16 box, and it must be reassembled in class in under 3 minutes and it must stand for 3 hours. BIGGIE. I have no freaking clue how I'm going to accomplish this.

3) Also, I have various yearly doctors appointments that I must go to, and get poked and prodded in many lovely places,

4) As well as cleaning out an ENTIRE room of various knick knacks and pieces of crap that I've collected throughout my life.

5) Also, I am going to try to work out/do yoga most days, if not every day. I don't know how feasible/realistic this is

6) I also want to finish reading the Wild Things

And through all this, I must also make time for some activities! Just writing this has exhausted me. I think I'll make myself some tea.

Ps. It's getting prettier outside!

PPs. I'm sorry I don't remember where I found this picture. But it's really lovely.

Creative Writing

I am soooo much more comfortable with poetry writing than I am with short stories. I often write poetry, and very rarely do I work on short stories. I also just feel like I know a whole lot more about poetry. Anyway, I have a short story due tomorrow for my creative writing class and it has been quite the struggle. I am used to being able to write things that are up for interpretation with metaphors, symbols, etc. With a story, however, there needs to be a real plot, and though I am excellent at bullshitting analytical essays, I've struggled quite a bit trying to get a beginning, middle, and end that are clear.

The results are not something I am very proud of. 10 pages of really depressing stuff. I don't really know what inspired me to write something that's such a downer because I am a very happy person most of the time. Anyway, it needs A LOT of work and I am nervous for the grade I'm going to get and also I'm pretty sure my classmates will think I'm insane.

All I knew was that I wanted to write about a house that has only one door, and I sort of went off from there. At least it's (somewhat) finished?

My To Do List

So I have about a million things to get done and very little time to do them.

I shouldn't even be blogging right now, but I thought if I could write out the list, post it for others to see, and post it for myself to see, I would be more apt to do them quickly.

After all, I look at this blog frequently, it makes me happy.

So this entry is pretty much for me.

To tell myself, stop blogging and DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!

Things to do:

1. Finish your cultural commentary. For tomorrow.

2. Pick 10 Drawings for your midterm assment, and clean them up. For Thursday night.

3. Start/ finish your short story for next Tuesday (March 2nd).

4. Start/finish your paper on 18th Century Children's stories (4 pages). Due March 4th..

5. Start/finish your magazine analysis paper (6 pages) on Shape Magazine. Due March 3rd 17th yayyyyy extension!

6. For the love of God, buy print cartridges! TODAY.

7. Also, invest in some nyquil, because you're getting a cold, and cream for your coffee.

Because right now you're very tired and can't have any coffee. And you're pissed.

Can't wait for Spring break. Gahhhhhhhh

(image via weheartit.com)

Homework Season

Well, the time has come yet again to start doing homework.

My schedule this semester is quite unique, so I expect to work hard but also have fun!

Here's what I am taking:

Women, Race, and Gender in the Media: The title is pretty self explanatory. It has a similar format to an English class but it seems much more casual in the whole atmosphere of discussion. The class is all women, so we can pretty much talk about whatever we want! In the first day, we already talked about waxing. There seems to be a hell of a lot of room for creativity in the assignments, which I'm pretty excited about.

The American Revolution and Its Afterlives: This is a senior seminar, and fulfilling my last English requirement. The material is not the most current or exciting, but my professor seems very clear on that and he has already shown us some very humorous, yet relevant contemporary connections to the material. All in all, I was a bit worried I wasn't going to like it, but it actually looks like its going to be a class I look forward to going to!

Introduction to Drawing: Another hilarious professor who said on the first day, "We aren't going to get stoned, look at naked people, and have a bunch of feelings." It seems like its going to be very rigorous- 6 hours a week of line drawing and at least 3 outside of class, but he guaranteed that we will all be better drawers once we leave. I'm excited to work hard on something that I find enjoyable.

Creative Writing: I haven't been in this class yet, but we already have an assignment to write a few poems for the first day of class. I really look forward to having a reason/opportunity to write creatively. I used to write things all the time, but then I ran out of time, since my classes have consistently demanded me to churn out paper after paper each semester of literary analysis. It fries the brain. I'm actually a little nervous, because I have been writing essays for so long I hope I can break out of that pattern to do something more interesting.

Anyway, you'll definitely hear more about this. And when I have some interesting drawings/ writing to show you I will post it and you can all witness my progress. However, if I keep sleeping in this late I'm never gonna do well! I don't EVER sleep till noon so I don't even know what to do with myself. Do I eat breakfast?

A Little Holiday Update

"I'm coming home from my hardest year, I'm making plans not to make plans while I'm here."

This week has still been crazy, albeit for different reasons.
I came down to New Jersey on Sunday, went back up on Wednesday, had Thanksgiving up there on Thursday, and then drove back down here yesterday morning, and then I'll be driving back up to Boston on Monday.
Though the point of it has been to get home more to relax, it's been relatively contradictory.
I absolutely love it here, but sometimes it feels different than others.
Other than completing some assignments, including the one I just remembered that was due on Tuesday ( I usually never forget!), I am going to take it easy.
It's gotten to the point where I find many of my assignments, and the process of doing homework, to be pretty therapeutic. That is, if I invest an interest in what I am doing, be it a Flash project or a research paper.

I didn't have my computer with me when I was in Boston for the holiday, but here's a little list of things I am thankful for the make up for it:

1. My mind- Though I've always known how to use it, I love noticing how my articulation changes and my growing ability to form solid opinions on so many things. I am amazed every day by the mind's capabilities. Learning keeps me sane.

2. My body- I am healthy (knock on wood), I can run, I can jump, I can walk. I'm breathing. I have all my hair, fingers, toes, and appendages. That's something people take for granted all too often. People forget how lucky they are not to be limited by their own bodies, and how amazing it is to simply be alive.

3. My family- We drive each other crazy, but we could be a lot worse off. Some people don't even talk to their family members, some people don't have any family members. I do, and I'm very thankful for that.


I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

(photo via tumblr)

Monday Evening Stress

This time of the year is always so crazy.
I am going to be nonstop writing English papers until December 19th, my last day of finals for the semester, along with various other assignments.
And I just finished midterms last week.
The work is seriously never-ending, and I'm dying for Christmas break, but I am trying to make the best of things. It helps to have something like Christmas break to look forward to, even though this year I'll be spending a good part of it finishing up my applications for grad school.
It's so nerve-wracking not knowing what my future holds. Being in Boston has been my life for the past 4 years, and those 4 years have flown by faster than you can even imagine.

Though I don't have a solid thesis for this post like I usually do, I still felt the need to write.
Tonight I traded in my usual Gossip Girl time slot for Intervention, probably in light of all the social work applications I've been working on the past couple weeks. I am really excited for that and I hope at least one school will accept me. I'm pretty nervous though, and I am so excited to move back to the tri-state area, eventually NYC, and of course eventually California.
I have not given up on that yet, and I don't think I ever will. It's been a dream of mine for at least ten years now, I think about how much I love it there every day. It's been too long since I've visited, I should probably make a trip soon, so I don't forget how much I love it. I think part of the reason I am such a big fan of Jack's Mannequin's "Everything in Transit" is because it has such a California vibe to it, but in a different way than I've ever felt it.

Sorry for rambling. My brain kinda feels like jello right now.

also, I've been listening to soooo much music lately its ridiculous, and I'm loving every minute of it. I'll have to do an entirely separate music post for you guys sometime this week.

Things I'm looking forward to this weekend

The weekend got here so quickly.
I don't have much going on, so it looks like it's going to be a good one!
Things I'm looking forward to:

-trying out my new sneakers at the gym

-finally getting around to grocery shopping and having real food in the house

-going to see A Christmas Carol in 3D on Sunday with my little sib, Makayla

- finally getting down to business with my poetry paper due Tuesday

- diving into these Social Work Grad School apps

-celebrating Kelly's birthday tonight

-having time to really clean my room/apartment

-watching "Dear Jack" at least five more times before Tuesday

-hopefully picking up my guitar at some point

-perhaps going out for a delicious dinner in the South End on Saturday

-and sleeping sleeping sleeping.