Some writer's block. And other things.

On Tuesday I have to have a draft of my paper for my senior show done. It is 10:17 pm on Sunday night and I currently just have the outline of the paper typed up. And when I say "outline of the paper", I mean the one she gave me that is basically just a list of all the things I need to have in the paper. I am stuck on the Artist Statement part. Which is the first part. So, to fix my problem, I'm doing something we would do in my high school college prep English class when we didn't know what to write about. JSherm's freewriting exercise. Where we write about whatever happens to come to our minds. Just so you know, when I was a freshman in college, I had to write an artist statement and I didn't know what to write about then earlier. So I did the freewriting business and thought something up. So, apparently it works. This will probably be a boring post, and I apologize. But, I need to get something done and this seemed like the best thing. I knew I started this blog for something...

I'm not really sure what the heck they want in this here artist statement. I'm guessing it has to do with a reason as to why I am an artist or why I chose to go into fibers specifically. To tell you the truth, I don't really know why I chose to be an artist. It was just something I did. I was a kid who liked to color and draw a lot. And I still am. I just liked to be creative, and was happy when I had something to show for my hard work other than a grade on a piece of paper. I liked working with my hands and seeing things come together. I enjoy taking the time to make things pretty. I know some/most artists have a big reason for making a piece, but my main reason for doing something the way I do it is because I thought it looks nicer that way. But, they don't necessarily want to hear that....

Why I chose fibers is an easier question to answer. It is simple really. Fiber art was just something I had never done before, and I was interested in it. I mean, I had sewed clothing before in 4H, but making quilts and wallhangings was new to me. I had made paintings and I had worked with ceramics and sculpture things. But making art out of fibers was something I wasn't familiar with, so I thought I would try it out and see what came of it. I ended up really liking the techniques, so I stuck with it. And here I am. Three years later. Creating a show and trying to come up with a paper to go with it.

I was talking to Momma about my writer's block just now, and she asked me if there were any artists that made me interested in becoming an artist. I felt weird when I said no. In high school we had no art history. At all. It was something the teacher would threaten us with if we were bad in class. (Side note: Since I have been to college and have had education classes, this is not something I plan to do...) I didn't have my first real art history lesson until I was in college. I mean, I knew some artists obviously, but I didn't really know much and none really had any effect on me or my art. I find that sad now.

Alright, I know it might not seem like it, but this was rather helpful. At least I have somewhat of a start on what to write about. Tomorrow I will probably look at it and change the whole thing anyways.

Also, I am currently on my second Harry Potter movie for the night. Started out with some Sorceror's Stone and now I've moved on to Chamber of Secrets. I'm not really watching, just having it on for some background noise. It is my research and preparation for Talk Like the British Day on Friday. Apparently it is a facebook event. One that I am excited about and def participating in.

Also also, I swiped my momma's computer for the week. My uncle thinks mine has a virus on it, so he is taking it into work to have people there look at it and hopefully fix it. So now I'm on mom's since she has a fancy Mac laptop that she brings home from work to use. And I have already made this computer my own for the week. If you look at the web history, you see this site, facebook, Letters to Twilight, Average Wizard, and Texts from Last Night. And to make myself feel better about not having my computer and having to write a paper, I changed the background to a Vanity Fair Rob picture. Cause he was the Hotness in that photoshoot.

Alright, I commend you if you read through this entire post. You are officially my friend.

Harry Potter and the Twilight Saga. (Part 1)

(JK Rowling's next novel...)

Eventually I want to make this HP and the TS series more of a discussion between the two. I feel like they get compared a lot and people from the HP fandom don't like Twilight, and vice versa. But for now, I'll take it easy.

I'm going to start this out by talking about the trivia night I went to this past week. It was Harry Potter and Twilight themed. Just my thing, right? Well, it was. For their trivia nights, you are on a team and answer a series of questions as a team. I went there without a team, just wanting to see how it was. Well, I was standing in the back of the room texting Taylor when this girl came up to me and asked if I wanted to be on her team because her other team members weren't showing up. So I sat down beside her and we began talking when other people she knew came in and sat down with us. We had our team. Team Hogforks. We went around the table saying what year we were in college. All the other girls were freshmen. I'm a senior. Yeah. I'm cool.

So, I was the best member of our team. Not that I'm bragging or anything. But it's true. The first round was all about Harry Potter. The first question: What kind of car does Mr Weasley have? Well, duh. It is obviously the Ford Anglia. Everyone else was so amazed that I knew this answer. I mean, I did happen to see it and all....

The rest of the HP questions were quite hard. Seriously. I don't know Nearly Headless Nick's last name. Or what vault the Sorceror's Stone is in. But, I did know that Dumbledore taught Transfiguration. Everyone else thought DaDA. Please. We managed to get 14/20 questions right.

I'm not even going to talk about Round 2. It was random trivia. And was hard as all get out.

Round 3: Twilight. I'm not going to lie. I was a little upset when I knew more Twilight questions than I did Harry Potter. But we'll get to that at a later time. The Twilight questions were eaaaaaasy. Since I was writing our answers down, a lot of the time I wouldn't even converse with the other members of my group. I would just go ahead and answer. We got a total of 18/20 right here. We didn't know how old Carlisle is (300 and something apparently) and we didn't know what Bella was surprised to see in the Cullen house (A wooden cross. We guessed a kitchen. Makes sense right?)

They went ahead and asked a tie-breaker question in case it was needed. What was the question? Name all of the Horcruxes. I had this in the bag. I can tell you not only what all the Horcruxes are, but who destroyed them and how. It didn't occur to me until I was talking to Erin about it later that I ended up writing them down in the order in which they were destroyed. I am awesome.

In the end, we got technically got 4th. There was a tie for second place, and then us. But, we were only 4 questions behind the 1st place winners, so it was pretty close.

By the way, I am currently still computerless. I checked this computer out from campus. I want mine back. I checked out a computer last weekend as well. And I may or may not have (but definitely did) save a picture of R. Pattinson on the desktop and forgot to delete it before I turned it in. Awesome.

MTV.

MTV kind of went downhill.
Remember TRL?
Yeah, me too.
I remember coming home after school and watching it to see if the latest Backstreet Boys song made the number one video of the day.
And now MTV, Music Television, is no longer playing any music.
But, they do have quite the range of scripted shows.
Is Next still on?
Or Parental Control?

Well, as I was flipping through the channels the other night, I found this new show on MTV that made me actually watch the channel that I hadn't watched in a long time.
It's called The Buried Life.
And I love the idea of the show.
These four boys are going across the US and completing things on their Life Lists.
And for everything they do on their list, they help someone else complete something on theirs.
The episode I watched the other day happened to be the Pilot episode.
But the thing they wanted to do was attend a party at the Playboy mansion.
Two of the boys dressed up like Oompa Loompas (don't ask questions...) and hid in a large cake that they actually got into the mansion by saying that it was a prop for the party.
The other two tried to get in by acting like some celebrity. They however did not get in.
After the Oompa Loompa dudes came out of the cake, they totally partied and nobody even noticed.
To help someone else, the boys raised money and bought a new computer for a school.

After seeing the first episode of this show, I might actually watch MTV again.
I think this is a really cool idea.
Lots of people, myself included, make life lists.
But how many people actually go out and do anything to achieve those goals?
The fact that these boys are making sure to achieve their goals and help others achieve their goals as well is really sweet.

Way to go MTV.

My computer.

My computer is broken.

As in it doesn't work.
After you turn it on, it automatically freezes.
No good.
So I took it to the tech people on campus yesterday so they could look at it and hopefully fix it.
Turns out, they don't really know what's wrong with it either.
After two people looking at it, we came to the conclusion that I would bring it back next week so I could check it in to them and they could look at it for a longer time.
So, how am I typing this to you right now?
Well, I checked out a computer from the tech people for the weekend.
I don't like it.
I want my computer back that has all of my stuff on it.
I miss my iTunes library.


On another note...Did you watch the Hope for Haiti telethon?
I only caught the end of it cause I was out with my sister and cousin.
I did, however, catch some of the performances online.
Hello, Grizzly Adams Rob.
I do very much like the beard.

Also, Justin Timberlake. I love you. And your amazing song.

The weather.

I'm tired of winter.
I'm tired of having to wear my boots everyday.
Last week, I didn't wear my boots two days because I was tired of wearing them.
Then I fell both of those two days, so now I'm back to wearing the boots.

I'm tired of wearing jeans.
Sometimes I think that pants are overrated.
I want to wear dresses and skirts and tights.
And not be confined in these jeans.

I lost my black leggings.
I think I left them back home.
I want them back so I can wear them, if the weather ever cooperates.

I was going to wear a dress today.
With a pair of tights.
But then I woke up to it thundering and raining/freezing rain outside.
So I had to go back to wearing jeans and boots.

I miss the sun.
I haven't seen it for a long time.
Please come out soon.


(Wow. Sorry for such a depressing post. I realize there are more pressing problems in the world than the fact that it was freezing rain in Missouri. Like the situation in Haiti. And the fact that they had yet another earthquake this morning.)

Beginning of the semester.

The first week of my last semester of an undergrad ends tomorrow.

I will now provide you with a list of thoughts/happenings of this first week:

1) I am stressed already.
Senior show, 20 to 30 page paper that goes with the senior show, other papers for other classes. Poop. Don't expect to see me that much.

2) I have 2 classes that I am really super excited for.
First, there's my Children's Literature class. I get to look at and talk about children's book illustrations, which will be fun times. But I can't read Harry Potter. She said we had to branch out and read things we haven't read before. You think I could lie and still read it??
Second, I have my American Cultural History class that Erin found for me. I'm pretty sure it was made for me. Today we talked about manhood in American and how it has changed. Cool.

3) My Economics and Geography classes will suck.
Taylor had to take Economics for his business degree (obviously) and when I asked him to tell me that it doesn't suck, he told me "yeah, it pretty much sucks". Thanks darling.
But my geography professor has awesome fashion sense. When I was describing him to Kaitlin I told her that "he dresses like RPatz on a bad day".
Truth number 1.

4) I went to the rec yesterday.
I hardly ever go there. But after class yesterday, I made the walk there. Worked on the exercise bike a little bit. Fun times. Will prolly go back tomorrow.

5) My Tuesday/Thursdays will be long.
I have class from 10:30 until 6. Two 3 hour studio classes (sculpture and fibers) and then my hour and a half long history class. They are longgggggg.

6) I busted my bum today and didn't break anything.

Yesterday, it was warm so some of the snow melted.
Last night it was cold, so it froze again.
Today Whitney walked on it, so she fell.
When I went down, I thought of Bella Swan.
Then I thought of how I think too much about Twilight.
("Ice doesn't help the uncoordinated." Truth number 2)

So there you go. A little break down of my first week back.
I'm gonna watch some of The Office on my computer here.
Peace.

Photog

I loved the Creative Photography class I took last semester.

It cost a lot of money, but was so much fun.
After I finished taking all of the pictures I needed for my project, I had some film and paper left over. So, I drove around town taking pictures of fun things I found. Or, I looked back over my contact sheets from my project and printed some that I liked that didn't really fit with my project concept.
Here are a few of those fun images.


I plan on going to the Salvation Army soon to see if they have cheap frames that I could paint and fix up to frame some of my pictures.
Also, I plan on posting my pictures I turned in for my final.
I took about 20 minutes today scanning and cropping all 15 of them.
So, expect fun posts soon. I will break it up and not post all 15 at once.

That would be crazy.

(insert catchy title here)

This post is about two different things.

Sorry for the randomness.
Although, I enjoy it a lot.



Sooooo, I finished Catching Fire.

It only took me 2 days.
Now I have to wait until August (I believe..) for the next and final book.
I've never had to wait for the next book of a series before.
I waited to read Harry Potter until they were all out.
And when I finally gave in and read Twilight, they were all out too.
So this is a new experience for me.
Can't say I like it.

Anyways, I "officially" added Peeta Mellark to my list of fictional boyfriends.
I am in love.
And then I realized who I was picturing as Peeta Mellark.
This cat:
But with blond hair.
Cause Peeta has blond hair.
And if you didn't know, this is Paul Wesley.
Who plays Stefan Salvatore, another one of my fictional boyfriends.

I also wanted to note that I have made 2 Harry Potter references when reading these books.
1) When it comes down to it and either Harry or Voldemort has to kill each other.
"Neither can life while the other survives".
Totally thought that the entire time I read.

2) How Harry and Cedric feel about the Triwizard Tournament is like how some tributes feel about the Hunger Games.
Because, some of the tributes have been preparing for this and see it as an honor, while others see it as a death sentence.
Like how Cedric finds it an honor to be a Triwizard champion, but Harry is not so much.

_______________________________________________________

Next order of business:
I made Taylor's nephew a Harry Potter shirt for Christmas.
At his grandma's, they all draw names.
And since I've been around forevers, I get to get in on the action.
Every year I pray for a child, cause they are fun and easy to buy for.
And every year, I pretty much get one.
This year, I got his nephew.
Now, Taylor is just now getting into Harry Potter. The rest of the family, not so much.
I took it upon myself to introduce his one year old nephew to HP greatness.
By making him this:


The parents thought it was cute.
Success.

New year goals.

In my last post, I talked about things that happened this past year.
And I said I was going to talk about what I want to do this new year, but kinda didn't really get to it.
Whoops.
So that's what I'm doing now.


1) Start eating healthier.
I eat out way too much.
I love my McDonald's food.
But, I am going to slow down with that.
I've decided to only get fast food on Sundays after church.

2) Lessen the soda intake.
Dr Pepper and I are also friends.
And I drink a lot of it when I am at school.
So instead of drinking soda, I'm switching to water.

3) Visit the rec a little bit.
In the four years that I have attended this university, I can count on one hand the number of times I have been to the Rec Center.
And at least one of those times was when they gave the tour freshman year.
I mean, I'm paying for it, might as well use it.

4) Do better spiritually.
I go to church every week.
It is how I like to start the week off.
However, I feel I do very little during the week to keep up with that.
And I want to do better.
I want to set aside time during the day everyday to read the Bible and pray.
I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say to me,
"Oh, you're Catholic. That means you don't have to read the Bible."
I'm tired of hearing it, so I'm gonna change it.

So those are my goals for the year.
I'll keep you updated.

Happy 2010.

Happy new year all!
I hope it was spent doing fun things.
Mine was spent playing cards with Taylor's family.
And then heading back to his house to play some Mario on Wii.
We love that game.

Anyways, I thought I would look over some schtuff I did this year.
And make plans for the future year.
Maybe.

So here is a list of some fun things things that I did this year.
And blogged about.
Well, since March.
Cause that's when this blog was started.

1) I watched Rupert and Rob movies.
And told my thoughts on them.

2) I bought Twilight.
And the awesomeness it contained.

3) I talked about Mr Robert Pattinson and Miss Kristen Stewart.
And how I really do like both of them.

4) I pondered what Taylor was getting me for my birthday.
When you say something is "better than Rob", you have to wonder.

5) My sister revealed she is Team Jacob.
Whatever.

6) My cousin may or may not have seen Rob Pattinson.
I am still shocked by this.
Even if it wasn't him, I pretend that it was.

7) I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
And all of the amazing awesomeness it contained.

8) I ventured to Chicago.
On one of the best trips ever.
With some of my favorite people ever.

9) I got Taylor into Harry Potter.
Yep. I am awesome like that.
He thinks the movies are better than the books, but whatever.

10) I talked about my younger days on my grandpa's farm.
One of my favorite places to be.

11) I got scared by my senior show.
Which I still am.
That happens this semester!

12) Rob and Kristen got engaged.
And I laughed.

13) I became a fan of vampires.
And not of spiders.

14) Erin "taught" me guitar.
I mean, I still can't play....

15) I created an awesome playlist.
Seriously. It is sweet.

16) Erin and I built a fort.

17) I had an awesome Halloween.
With some awesome costumes.
Seriously.

18) I made fun things for my friends.
She still loves me...

19) Saw New Moon.
And cried.
Seriously.

20) Started a TLight blog with Erin.
Have you checked it?

21) Read The Hunger Games.
And fell for Peeta Mellark.


There you go. Some fun things that happened in 2009.
2010 starts some new things.
I graduate in May. Start grad school in August
It's going to be happening.

This quote just came to my head:
"1999. The year of Joey."