braids & n ails

I've got cornrows and my nails painted—two things I haven't done in a very long time. Laura did them and they look really cute, but they're itching like crazy. . .the braids I mean. I'll take them down tomorrow so my hair will be crinkley.

Things haven't changed much. I still need to be more studious in school. I made an 76 on my last English test. I'm pretty sure I can pull out with a B, but an A could still be possible if I make good on my final paper. I really dislike essay tests, but I seem to be pretty good at them, so I guess it's good that I don't hate them because I'm always failing them. It turns out that my English professor knows my granddfather. In fact, the interviewed him as part of his doctorate dissertation. Pretty interesting. Too bad that didn't help me out on the test. . .

j/k. ;)

Slacking

Lately I've been slacking so much at everything it's really pathetic. Apparently I'm not doing that bad in school, though, because I got invited to join a national honour society. Still, I think I totally bombed my World Lit test that I took on Tuesday. I'm so behind on the reading in that class, and I still have to memorize some poem for recitation today.

I have been somewhat productive though. I'd been working on a logo design for a local pediatrician who is about to open up her own practice. She loved what I came up with and now I've been tapped to design her opening announcement post cards. It's good to actually be putting my design skills to work after two semesters off from it.

This past weekend I went to the Mobile Arts & Crafts Fair. There were significantly fewer artists in attendance, I wonder if it has anything to do with the aftermath of hurricane Ivan, or what. We tend to forget that people are still recovering from the damage. But while I was there, I took pictures of the Azalea Trail Maids. It's a local thing, where high school girls dress up in brighly colored ante bellum type dresses and attend local events acting as ambassadors for the city of Mobile. They each get their dress custom made, and it's not cheap either. But I guess it's a cool thing to do if you have a lot of free time and a couple of thousand dollars just lying around.





Monday, I was sitting in the car, parked behind a florist shop, waiting for my sister to pick up her sewing maching that she was having fixed, and this man who workd at the florist brought us out two vases with two roses each for both of us. How randomly cool is that. My roses have since bloomed, and they look so beautiful. ^_^





I saw Ray this weekend. Jaime Fox's performance was definitely Oscar-buzz worthy. The supporting cast was really great as well.

Bayfest 2004

Lots of pics as promised. Two weekends ago my sister Nicole and I attended Bayfest, a local music festival. We got to see Three Days Grace and Seether. They both rocked. Breaking Benjamin (only caught the end of their performance) and Collective Soul also performed. We had this really booty experience I'll only mildly refer to as the Back-Stage-Pass Fiasco. Other than that it was pretty cool. What was uncool was people throwing bottles across the crowd.

Also, there are before and after photos of Licorice. Two of the black puppies have died since then. =(

Life Cycle

At home. . .
Three days ago my dog, Licorice, gave birth to a litter of six. Yesterday, the runt died, and I had to bury it. My sister Nicole is terribly squeamish about such things. However, all the rest of the puppies seem pretty healthy. We plan on taking them to the vet when they're a bit older just to make sure. The last litter of puppies we had were infested with worms, which caused the death of three out of eight, so that is still a potential hazard.

Hopefully, everything will go well. The last litter also had to be bottle fed for some weeks because their mother developed mastitis, which is an infection of the mammary gland.

At school. . .
I'm so terrible with my World Literature class. I had mostly been caught up by all the reading by the first test, which was last Thursday. (I think I did pretty well on it.) And now I'm behind again, with the Song of Roland. And, instead of reading it now, I'm hopelessly typing away in the University Library.

In entertainment. . .
Jamaal has got me hooked on the Sims2. It's an awesome game. I just created sims from my characters and put them in a little neighborhood. What I hate, though, is that you have to do everything for them, including making them go to the bathroom.

If you like smart romantic comedies based on Shakespeare, rent Deliver Us from Eva

Well, now I'm off to waste more time surfing deviantART

breaking the habit

I've got a World Lit test at 11:00, and I have less than an hour left to study. I should have done it last night, but decided instead to work on my business card for another class. Then I remembered that I only have that class once a week. (It's supposed to be on Tuesday and Thursday.)

Wish me luck. :/

Last week I had my first test in Sociology. I missed two days of class including the review before the test. The test had been pushed back to last Thursday because of the hurricane, but I forgot. So I walk in class and everyone looks to be studying. Shoot. So I quickly glance over my notes. I hadn't bought a text book because it's rediculously overpriced, and I'm only taking this class to fill space. So I was going to see how I did on the first test and then decide whether or not I need to buy the book. I made an 88 on the test, so no book for me. It missed making an A by one question. So it seems that had I not missed those two days of class, I would have made that A.

8 AM

The only reason I'm up this early is because I had to get up to take Jamaal to his postal examination, which began at 7:30. Today is the first day of school since the hurricane so traffic was a bit much. My sister told me I look like a soccer mom with the hat on. I've had it over a year, but I'm not a hat person, so this is my first time wearing it.

I've got a lot of stuff to do to day so I guess it's good that I'm up early. I've got to finish my homework for figure drawing, redesign my business card for professional practices, and finish reading Ovid's Metarmorphoses for tomorrow. I also have to study with Jamaal, and ink my Dyanna & Neera drawing.

::Nicole just walked in, harassing me::

I guess I'll go now.

Oh. . . If you haven't seen it already, rent Mean Girls. It's not a chick flick. It's a really smart comedy.

Ivan Survivor

So I made it through my first hurricane. Now I have one more story to bore my kids with in the future.

For a while, it looked like the eye of Hurricane Ivan was going to hit Mobile. But it veered off at the last moment and completely trashed Pensacola, FL. I think people are just starting to be able to go back home in that area. I was very fortunate in particular. My family had a generator going through the whole ordeal (with the power going out at around 9:30 PM Wednesday), and only had to go without power for a day and a half. There are still people having to stand in line to get clean water, and searching for reasonably priced generators to buy, because they're still without electricity.


a tree fallen through a garage, with the car inside. =(

For a few days there was a dusk til dawn curfew to keep the homes of evacuees from being looted. It was very eerie driving around at night to approach intersections that were completely dark. No flashing caution lights or anything. Three traffic lights on University Boulevard were blown to pieces, literally, and the sign at the Shell gas station across the street was totaled. My university was quick to get things back up and running. Classes resumed today. Public schools, however, are out indefinitely, or until, next Monday at least. On the down side, I didn't get any reading done for my World Lit class, so I'll have to cram it all in tonight. Things are definitely getting back to normal.

Storm Watch

Looks like Hurricane Ivan is headed my way. My hometown (Mobile, AL) is right in the projected path of the storm. The last category 5 hurricane to hit my area was Fredrick in 1979, three years before I was born. My dad said that after the storm he saw rows of pine trees that were snapped off at the top. That's some pretty strong stuff. People are stocking up on supplies at Wal-Mart now, and the storm is expected to hit sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I don't have to worry about flooding in my part of town, but some trees might fall over. On a positive note, I won't have to go to school for two days.

The last hurricane I can remember actually making it to Mobile was hurricane Danny a few years ago. I think I was in high school then. The funny thing is that the storm didn't come on land. It just stopped in the bay, and kept sucking all the water out, pouring all this rain onto the city for like three days straight. That was pretty weird.

Justin & Jonathan

I got some new pets.

Their names were inspired by the movie The Secret of NIMH. They're brothers. Jonathan is the dominant one, but he's more afraid of people than Justin.

It looks like all our hard work paid off:

"Oracle has won the University and College Designers Association Award of Excellence and the latest issue will be exhibited in the UCDA 34th Annual Design Competition Show."

So, that's something more to put on my resumé. Amanda, the design editor, really deserves props for getting everything organized at such short notice. Still, they're calling for editors and design staff, so I guess I'll join up once again. And I still have time to produce some decent artwork in time to submit to the issue.

But procrastination still seems very likely. . .

Fall Semester '04 & pics

So I'm back in school for the fall. I've got four classes this semester, and I think I'll be a senior in the Spring. . . finally. I'm so ready to be done with school.

I have new pics that I should have uploaded weeks ago. But better late. . .




Jamaal totalled his car =(


Two weeks ago I have a very eventful weekend. I attended a baby shower for the first time, went to Florida with Jamaal, where I got a nifty new cell phone. ^_^ The next day he totalled his car. His airbag didn't go off, but he's ok.

summer class '04 finale; The Village, Bourne Supremacy

School is finally over for the summer, so I get a month break, right?

Wrong.

This morning I get a call from my good friend Nestor, asking me to take him to get car and then follow him to the auto repair place so he'd have a ride back home. Actually, he called Jamaal, but I had his phone. I also had Jamaal's car, so he couldn't take him. And all this transpires before 7:30 a.m.

Well, at least I got free breakfast out of it.

.

I saw The Village last night. It was good. Typical M. Night Shyamalan surprise-ending, but the story was very engaging as well, with a very character-driven plot. I'm not gonna give anything away, but the music really made the movie. I mean, they're be all this scary, moody music, and then nothing would happen, which lulls the into a false sense of security, then BAM! something happens. The suspense was great.

Last weekend I saw The Bourne Supremacy. It had an awesome car-chase scene at the end, but the plot wasn't quite fulfilling just, but more so than the first. I anticipate a third installment of the film some time soon.

Summer semester is winding down, this being the last week of classes and all. Photography is still quite expensive, but I really like it. Hopefully I'll have the photography page up by the end of next week. I still have to shoot my final photography project, which consists of five images with a uniting them, and we have to shoot five rolls of film for the project. That's the only drawback. So, it's gonna be a busy weekend. I'll have to shoot two rolls of film today and develop it tonight so I can turn in my contact sheets for review tomorrow. The lab opens at 5:00 p.m., which doesn't leave me much time.
 
The lab is going to be a madhouse this weekend, with everyone trying to get their stuff done. And I've still got to buy matte board because out final prints have to be matted. The good thing is that we've got a matte-cutting machine, which we didn't have in my graphic design classes. I still get shivers thinking about all the mattes I had to cut, and all the ones I'll have to cut in the future.
 
Speaking of graphic design, I still can't get into those classes I really need, so I've resorted to taking classes I don't really need just so I can get all my financial aid for the fall. I was planning on graduating by next December, but now I'm not so sure. That really puts a damper on things. I wanted to take intermediate photography, but that's not offered until the spring, so once again I have to wait. However, I can still use the photo lab as long as I pay the lab fee, which is a nice concession.
 
Hopefully it'll all work out.

It totally sucks that I missed the first two days of web registration and now the two classes that I really need to take this fall are closed. Maybe somebody will drop and I'll be able to get in. . . not very likely, though.
 
What sucks even more is that the lower level Graphic Design courses are still open, but I've already taken all of them, and then I've taken all my other basic requirement courses, so all that's left for me to take are upper-level courses. : (

Beau Rivage and other pics

I finally got my new site design up. It's so overdue. Hopefully you guys feel it's worth the wait. AG was getting hot in that winter gear, it being July and all.

Well, all I've got right now are some new pics that I've taken while I've been away.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so make up your own story about what's going on in the poolside pic. It was taken from my hotel window at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi. I think it had something to do with the guys yellow speedo being a little too revealing. . .

inner child quiz

My inner child is sixteen years old!

Life's not fair! It's never been fair, but while
adults might just accept that, I know
something's gotta change. And it's gonna
change, just as soon as I become an adult and
get some power of my own.


How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

My site is finally back up. Sorry about all the down time. Hopefully that won't happen again.

School
I'm back in school again for the summer. This semester I'm taking Photography I and Aerobics. Photography, as it turns out, is a very expensive class, so I'm gonna have to start taking commissions or something just to afford the film. We're shooting in black & white only, and I think it's a bit more expensive then color film since the demand is lower. But we have a photolab at the university, and we have to develop all our own film anyway. I developed my first role yesterday and the pictures came out pretty good I guess. I hadn't taken the whole roll (only about 24/36), and then the film ripped when it was being wound, but I didn't lose anything important.

Art
Since my site has been down, I've posted all my new art over at my DA account. So head on over there and take a looksee.

Life
Jamaal and I changed the wedding to December, so you'll have to listen to my sappy love stories a bit longer. I started another blog to chronicle the days up til the "big day." But nothing is there yet, so I'll put up a link once I get the page done.

Site
I'll try to have a new design up in two weeks at most. I wanted to have it up for the 10,000 hits mark, but I guess I can still do something special for that. I'm so behind. . .it's almost summer and AG is still wearing her fall gear. Just bear with my guys. . .^_^

10,000 hits

Hey guys. I finally made it to 10,000 hits. That's so awesome! I would have hoped to have a new lay out up by now. But, once again, I must apologize for the lack of updates. It's not at that I haven't been drawing anything as much as I haven't gotten around to scanning stuff that I've done. School is winding down, and I don't want to spend time I should be sleeping studying doing things of secondary importance. I've got final projects due next week.

As a result, my site is long overdue for a new layout (notice that AG is still wearing a scar). So I'm going to have something Spring-themed. But until then, you can check the few new pieces that I have managed to get online at my deviantART gallery.

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New Artwork ----------------------------------->>

Wednesday the Oracle (USA's literary & fine arts magazine) came out!





The magazine looks so good, and my drawing, fatigue is featured on the back cover. That's so cool. This is the first time my art work has been published since high school, and then, still, it was in my school's literary & fine arts magazine?4The Orange Peel.

I'm really pleased with how everything turned out. There are a few mistakes that I noticed, but we were working on a seriously unrealistic deadline, so it's a wonder that we got finished in time. Amanda, the productions design editor, did such a great job.

Well. . . I am so lazy. I've been kinda busy w/ school work as well. I've got some big projects in two of my classes, but hopefully I'll be more industrious and studious and not wait til the last minute to complete them this time.

The Graphic Design Association is having it's first graphic design competition and gallery showing, so I entered two things. One of them was the t-design for the EWW Fest. They have some cool prizes up for grabs: $100, a 2 day/1 night hotel stay, and a 1 month gallery showing; so it would be really great if I places in the show, though I really don't expect to win anything. Still, it's good exposure.

I'll try to post pics of the event if I can.