Soccer Photos

My entire body aches from yesterday's game. But at least we won. ^_^



I'm behind the camera. =)

More photos -->>

Football

Sunday evening I played soccer at the park with a bunch of friends. I haven't physically exerted myself that much in a very long time. After running half way down the field, I was gasping for breath and my chest was burning something quite painful. I imagine it's what a heavy smoker feels like. Honestly, I though I was going to pass out. After a while, though, the drama passed and I was able to focus on the game. My team won, 4-0.

Actually, they started out playing ultimate frisbee, but I just sat on the bench and watched. I didn't play because I have a maimed finger from a scissor accident I had in the darkroom of the photo lab yesterday (You should always remember to cut away from yourself, preferably not in the dark). But after they switched to soccer, I decided to play because it doesn't require the use of your hands. I'll post pics later today.

Not by Chance

With so many things that can go wrong during a pregnancy, I can really appreciate how precarious it is to bring life into the world.

Baby Improving After Extra Head Removed.

Brief Relief

Well, I got my assignment done for Digital Graphic Design. I hated it though, and really didn't feel like finishing it. But then I realized that as a Graphic Designer, I'm going to do projects and have to complete them whether I like it or not, because it's my job. As long as it doesn't violate my principals I just have to suck it up. My classmates liked it a lot though, and so did the instructor. The main reason I was so adverse to doing the assignment was I didn't do the idea that I had initially, which seemed much cooler than the one I ended up producing. Looking at it now, I guess it doesn't look so bad; I just had a few typography issues mainly.

I purchased the new Keane CD on a whim today. It's pretty good. If you like mellow, sappy love songs with a catchy beat, somewhat a cross between Coldplay and Jimmy Eat World (the lead singer's voice reminds me of them), you might want to have a listen.

. . .

Ok, so maybe that wasn't the best description. . .but Keane rocks, nonetheless. ^_^

-edit-
You can leave a comment on my blog now. Just click on the date at the end of this entry and then click on the "Post Comment" link, when the page comes up.

Awesomeness

Last Thursday I had my first critique in Graphic design one, and it went much better than I hoped. The Tuesday before class was due, Kyeong, my instructor, told me to bring along my concept sketches and everything to show during my project presentation. So I did. He loved my final design a lot, which made me very proud because he's such an awesome artist and designer. He attended Temple University, which I've learned is one of the top art schools in the country, so having his approval means a lot. Everyone (save for one) else in the class had pretty nice designs as well, so it was nice seeing what everyone came up with.

I have another project due in my Digital Graphic Design class tomorrow that isn't nearly finished, though. I've procrastinated famously on this assignment, and I really don't feel like doing it, but I must. I already bombed my pinhole camera assignment in Photo, so I need to get back on the ball with keeping a calendar and such. I've also got to finish writing my feature article for my Writing for Mass Media Course. That's not so much work though, since I've got it written; it just needs a lot of editing.

Gosh. . .School is so much work, it's really tiring just thinking about it. Even so, I always seem to find time to waste surfing dA and reading CSI fan fiction. I'm such a nerd.

I've been so stressed lately that I've had to resort to impulsive consumption to keep me grounded. While at movie gallery returning a tardy rental, I came upon a great deal: buy 2 get 2 free on select DVDs. So I got some pretty good titles (pictured above).

My current DVD collection:
Barbershop 2
Bend it Like Beckham
Big Fish
From Justin to Kelly
Girl with a Pearl Earring
In America
LadyHawke
Legend of Johnny Lingo, The
Pieces of April
School of Rock
Swiss Family Robinson
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Whale Rider

I had my first project for my Digital Graphic Design class due this past Wednesday. I hadn't had to time to go to the computer lab, so I had to finish it at the last minute. I had to design two postage stamps that would be part of a series, so they had to be similar in imagery, style, color, or whatever. You just had to be able to tell the two went together. I had an idea to do one on purple triangles, the symbol that Jehovah's Witnesses were forced to wear in concentration camps during the Holocaust (like the Jews had to wear the yellow Star-of-David). The other stamp was Jewish themed. The JW one didn't turn out as well as I'd like, because I ran out of time. I'll post the designs soon, though.

In photography class, I made two pinhole cameras—I'm quite proud of them—so I'll be shooting with those this weekend.

So. . .because, it's a scientific fact that stress does in fact kill, I must remember to "never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own badness." (Matthew 6:34)

It's all about retention

Your Intellectual Type is Word Warrior. This means you have exceptional verbal skills. You can easily make sense of complex issues and take an unusually creative approach to solving problems. Your strengths also make you a visionary. Even without trying you're able to come up with lots of new and creative ideas. And that's just a small part of what we know about you from your test results.

I guess reading all those books when I was younger really paid off, because I have hardly any time to read as much now. I'd really like to start reading novels again. There are many that I started but never finished, like The Chosen and My name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok; or Bandits By Elmore Leonard. (He also wrote Get Shorty, which was made into a movie starring John Travolta and René Russo.) The last novels that I read were the Pendragon series. It's geared towards pre-teens and young adults, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

My point is, reading is fundamental. ;)

Slide

I just got this new shirt, with lyrics from a song by Rachael Yamamgata, called "Would You Please", from her EP. The full lyrics are, "Would you please let me slide a few words under your door / The first three say I love you / The last five / but I can't no more."

Yeah.

School is back in for the Spring. I have to make a serious effort to be organized, because I have a lot of work to do in all of my classes—Writing for Mass Media, Digital Graphic Design, Intermediate Photography I, and Graphic Design I. So, that will mean that I'll have even less time to draw recreationally, but I'll be posting more stuff related to photography and graphic design.

When I got my fin-aid funds, I took the opportunity to buy a few new CDs. Actually, they were free, I just paid shipping and handling (BMG Music is great for that).

What I got:
—Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin ****
—Three Days Grace - self titled ***
—Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue ***
—Alicia Keys - The Diary of Alicia Keys ****
—JoJo - self-titled **

And while I'm rating entertainment I'll go ahead and give some movie recommedations. I just saw Coach Carter twice this weekend. It was that good. The story was engaging, even though I don't know how much it was actually factual. It had nice character development, and it wasn't all about the basketball, which I really appreciated. What I appreciated more what that Ashanti could actually act. My only crit would be that Ashanti has a distinctive Philly accent, and the character she was playing was from Cali. Other than that, she was great. Rob Brown has grown up nicely since Finding Forrester. He's so natural. But one performance that stood out to me in particular was that of Rick Gonzalez, as the conflicted character of Timo Cruz. I've had my eye on him ever since I first saw him in The Rookie, but that was just because I thought he was cute (He's got a purty mouth). But now it's refreshing to see that he's actually a pretty good actor. Even so, the other supporting actors were good in their respctive roles as well. I'm not gonna go spoiling the movie plot, so I don't want to say anthing else about the movie other than it was really good, and I went away quite entertained and satisfied both times I left the theatre.

I'll conclude with a photo I neglected to post on my last entry. I found this bottle of lotion on my dresser in my room. I don't know who it belongs to, but I found the packaging and product name amusing enough to share.


The label reads:
Enriched with Natural Canabis
Sativa hemp seed extract
THC Drug Free

Overrun

I've got some photos from the last two months that I've been wanting to post. We have way too many dogs at my house right now, the current count being six, not including the puppies.


Ana is my sister Nicole's puppy. I think they look alike.

Ana sleeping in the car.

Jaime, with his intense ice-blue eyes, is the mastermind of the litter. Every time the puppies escaped from the backyard, he was the ringleader. The day this pic was taken, he had gotten out of the fence yet again, and my sis decided to bring him with her to pick me up from school.

One day, for whatever reason, Max decided to break a board out of the fence, and hop through the resulting hole. He chain wasn't long enough and he couldn't get back through. My dad found him like this the next morning. He was lucky that he didn't hang himself. The pups we have right now are Max's grandchildren. They get their blue eyes from him.

This one has ice blue eyes as well. He was the quiet loner. We gave him to a friend of my little sister.

The puppies play around Nicole's legs.

A Personal Problem

Ok, here’s a hypothetical (possibly could have happened to me) situation.

Let’s say, for example, that I’ve been occasionally talking to a certain male on the phone. The last time I talk to them, they end the conversation prematurely and say that they’ll call me back. So, the next day, I call him back to see how he’s doing, but he doesn’t answer his phone. Then less than a minute later, I get a call back, and there’s a young lady on the phone who asked me if I dialed the number I just dialed. So I say yes. Then the young lady asks me who I’m calling for. Duh! I’m calling the person who the cell phone belongs to, I say to myself. But I tell her the guy’s name. And she’s like, “He’s busy. Can I take a message?” So I say just to tell him that I called.

Say, I don’t really trust the sound of the young lady’s voice, or that she’ll give the guy my message, so I call back a couple of hours later and he answers the phone. I ask him if he got my message and if he’s busy. He says yeah. I ask him what he’s doing, and he says he’s “visiting with some friends.” Hmm. Okay. So I ask him if he’ll call me back later, and he’s all vague. Whatever.

Let’s say, just for kicks, that a young lady calls back a few minutes later—the same one who answered the phone before—and tells me her name, and then asks me if the guy told me that he had a girlfriend. I say no. (I’d actually met her a few days before and he introduced her to me as his “friend.” And she didn’t seem to have a problem with it then. But she doesn’t know that I am same person that had called.) Then she says that she doesn’t like other girls/women calling her man. So what? I’m thinking, Sounds like a personal problem to me, I think. But I say, “Ok, thanks. Bye.”

That was me being nice. Hypothetically, I could have told the young lady that all out of all the conversations that the gentleman and I had, he never once mentioned his girlfriend, and actually gave the impression that he was single. And when a friend of mine asked him about his girlfriend, he got all indignant and didn’t want to talk about it. That should have let me know right there, but I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, because I hadn’t known him long enough and didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I wasn’t even trying to go with the guy. But seriously, he's trying to hide the girl to the end. I ask him what he's doing and he says, "I'm visiting with some friends," rather than, "I'm visiting my girlfriend in another state, and I'm with her right now, so please stop calling me because she suspects my fidelity and is jealous, so stop calling me."

So, the point of this possible situation is just to say that if your significant other is ashamed to mention you for whatever reason—and you conveniently happen to live in another state—don’t get mad at the person who has been calling them. That person needs to ask why their boyfriend/girlfriend has been trying to hide their existence, and probably going around flirting with other people. That’s just really immature and crazy.

I am too old to have to be dealing with this kind of mess.

But I am reminded:

"Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely if anyone has a cause for complaint against another.Even as Jehovah freely forgave you, so do you also." —Colossians 10:13

Spoiled

I just got back from taking my little sister and her friend to a high school basketball tournament that was 30 miles away in the middle of nowhere. What fun. Alabama is great for that. Not to mention the horribly inaccurate directions my mom gave me from yahoo!. Driving down and dark, sinuous highway when you don't know where you're going isn't the best way to spend a Saturday night. It's a good thing her school won, otherwise. . .

The team is rather good, though. They're currently undefeated I actually enjoy watching basketball very much. I guess I like the physicality of the game the most, how the players are aggressive, yet graceful, all at the same time. My dad always says, "Basketball is a contact sport." And I believe that's true in a sense. (I'm in no way referring to the brawl that broke out between those players and fans that has created so much controversy recently.)

Then there's school. Sigh. I'm so ready for it to be over. I'm on break right now, so I've been taking it easy. I still have a lot of art work from Figure Drawing that I need to upload. I'm finally done with that class (I had to have three), but Claire (my instructor), said that I could come back anytime to the class and draw, so hopefully I'll have time between my two intensive graphic design classes and photography to do it. I shudder just thinking of all the lab hours I'm going to spend on campus next semester.

We'll see how often I get to update then.

Something Old, Something New

The photos are up>> Club Underpants

Today is the last day of classes for the semester and I'm currently skipping two of them. Such a great idea right before the final, right? I still have so much reading to catch up on in World Lit, it's quite sad.

On a personal note, my fiancé and I are no longer together, so Sharon (me) has been sad panda recently. But, I believe that it's for the best, for both of us. It seems we're doing more growth apart than we were doing together, so that's positive. Still, being with someone for so long (two years) you get used to certain things, like them always being there, or always being able to call them. However, this caused me to have a lack of friends outside of that relationship, so now I'm able to branch out and meet more people, i.e, the attendance of Club Underpants.

Now my sister Nicole is talking about wanting to go to Italy next summer. I'm supposed to be going with her, so we'll see how it goes.

checking in

I went to an awesome party Saturday night in Pensacola, FL (about 45 minutes from Mobile). It was hosted by a very cool guy we met last weekend named Jarad. I've got lots of pics that I'll be posting soon, so stay tuned.

Last weekend my sister Nicole and I went to Pensacola to volunteer with the Jehovah's Witness Relief effort that was going on there, to help repair the damage done to people's homes by Hurricane Ivan. We had an awesome time, we stayed for two days and didn't have to spend any money hardly, because we were fed breakfast, lunch (which as brought to us on the work site), and dinner. Now I can put roof-stripping (there's a whole inside joke around that phrase) experience on my resumé. It was a very worthwhile and spiritually-upbuilding experience.

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.

It's been a week since I got my ears pierced. Much thanx to Jessica:





Nicole got her ears done the next day as planned:



Of course, she had to get the slightly larger,
more expensive studs. But that's just her style.


The rest of Spring Break was pretty uneventful until the weekend, when I attended a religious convention. That was cool. My sisters' have their break next week, so we'll probably go to the beach then.

And I guess you guys would like to see some new artwork. . .so I'll have to remember to put some up.

Yeah, so I didn't make my appointment at David's Bridal, because I had other engagements, which I ended up not going to either. However, I'll reschedule that soon. I'm really bad w/ remembering appointments, though. Tomorrow I've got one at the optometrist, but I programmed my cell phone to remind me.

I did so something absolutely spontaneous today though:





I'm 21 years old and never had my ears pierced. My parents never got me or my sisters's ear's pierced because they wanted it to be our decision when we were old enough (18). Ironically, Jamaal was the one that suggested I get it done, as we were passing by Claire's Boutique. Every other time I had mentioned it, he said he wouldn't like it. But he had a change of heart, and I was still unsure if I really wanted to get it done, since it's kinda superficial. . .but then so many things are.

Another plus is that I pierced my ears before my sister Nicole, who turns 18 tomorrow and had been counting the days until she could get it done. She wanted me to get mine done with her, but I wasn't completely sure I would do it. I wasn't willing to go through discomfort and potential health risks of the procedure (it didn't hurt at all).

When I got home I did't say anything about my ears, and just waited for her to notice. The look on her face was golden. That alone made the whole thing worth it.

Spring Break '04

. . .and I've got no plans.

I don't know why we have it so early. It's barely warm now, but it's least it's not still freezing like last year. I really need this break though. This past week was so hectic, because I had two projects due in graphic design classes (in both instances, the instuctor's were like, "oh, let's make this due on Monday." Someone interjects, "Monday is Spring Break." "Oh, well, sorry, it's due Friday."), and Tuesday I totally bombed my art history test. In my desktop publishing class, however, I did do this collage that I'm pretty proud of, so I'll post that, and some other stuff later today.

I got a commission that I'm working on, so I'm documenting it as a work in progress, so I can eventually post it here as a kind of tutorial for anyone who's wondering how I do my photorealism pieces. Hopefully I'll get it done by the end of this week. I'm really trying to start procrastinating. I do good for a while then I fall back into a rut.

Today I've got an appointment at David's Bridal to try to pick out a wedding dress and related things. So now I guess I can officially start my wedding blog. Yay me! ^_^

The Silk Road

The Silk Road is this relatively new store in the mall where lots of cool Chinese merchandise is sold, such as dresses, tea sets, jade jewelry, weapons. It's has a really nice atmosphere, so Jamaal, Nicole, Laura and I like to stop by whenever we go to the mall. The store is run by a mother (June) and daughter (Qiao). Qiao (pronounced "Chow") is really nice and adorable. Her name means "smile", which really fits her personality.

Nicole bought a dress from them a few months ago. The didn't have one in the store that was her size (she's 5'10 and a healthy girl), so June took Nicole's measurements and ordered the dress from China. How cool is that? The dress was a little too big when it came in, So June altered it for free! I'm thinking about getting a dress made for me to wear to my wedding reception.

Here are a couple of pics from when Nicole went to pick up her dress after it was altered.








Jamaal bought me this bag as a suprise.
A lot of people at school have told me it was cool—even a guy. ^_^

Hey. . .

Long time no see. I've been really busy w/ school work and such, getting the oracle magazine ready and stuff. Sorry for the lack of updates. I'll try to put some new art up this weekend, things I've done in my design classes.

The day before yesterday it had been raining all day, and that night it finally hailed. We don't get much frozed precipitation 'round these here parts, so I took some pics. =)

Hey guys, I set up an artgyrl.com online store. So go check it out. I'll be putting up more merchandise in the coming days.

Noooo. . .

Dudes. . . I really need to get more organized with my schedule.

I say this because today I missed an Oracle meeting because I was hanging out with Jamaal, trying to make him feel better because he's sick. The kicker is that last night I stayed late at the computer lab at school trying to get stuff done to present at the meeting. . .Then when I finally remembered the meeting it was almost 9 pm (meeting was at 5:45).

::sigh::

I also had an art history test today that I barely studied for. And it wasn't like I didn't have time to. I just kept putting it off to do other things, like surfing the 'net, reading fanfiction and going to the library checking out a graphic novel to read instead of my text book. But I think I actually may have passed the test.

And then I still have to find a place to have my wedding. So I have to get stuff together soon.

time capsule

My parents were going throught boxes of old papers and things, and came across my notebook from my Art I class in high school. Seeing old drawing of mine dated '98 made me feel so old. Has it really been almost three years since I graduated from high school?

It's a cool coincidence, though, because I was just thinking about my old artwork not too long ago, and making a new gallery for it here. So now I have something to put in it. We did a lot of drawing exercises in that class. My teacher, Mrs. Holman, focused on teaching us how to draw accurately and training our perceptive powers to observe the details of the world around us. It's gonna take me a while to scan all the stuff, but I'll try to have it up in not too long.

Lates. =P

en retard

Today I woke up at 10:20 a.m.

My first class starts at 10:10.



So. . .yeah. I was late.

But I wasn't the latest person. Has it ever happened where you really late for something, but if someone else comes in after you, you still feel a little better about being late. Because then you know you weren't the the latest. And it seems that everytime I've come in late, the teacher is in the middle of lecturing, which makes it more obvious that I'm late. But two other people came arrived after I did. But they didn't come in while the instructor was talking, so my arrival still seems to have made more of an intrusion, because of the circumstances.

I think too much. . .definitely.

It never fails. . .

I forgot to mention that I was going to dye my hair dark amethyst. It didn't turn out like I thought it would, but it looks ok. It's something new. I used to dye my hair chocolate cherry.

I also noticed that my site has reached the 9000 hits mark. That's so cool.

milestones

::gaming::
So, some cool things have been going on that I haven't really mentioned. Last week I bought my first ever PS2 game: Beyond Good & Evil. I read about it in Jamaal's Playstation Magazine, and it got 4 stars. So when I saw it in the Game Stop for only twenty bucks, I decided to get it.

::entertainment::
The Osar nominations came out this week. I was glad to hear that Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for her performance in Whale Rider. If you haven't seen this movie yet and are up to feel all gushy and cry, then I suggest you go rent it.

Johnny Depp was also nominated for his performance in POTC, which is really cool. I'm not sure if he has a good chance of winning, but he's such a great and unconventional actor that I think he just deserves to have an Oscar even if his performance in POTC wasn't his best ever.

::music::
The Maroon5 album—Songs About Jane—has been on constant repeat on my computer for the past week. If like their single, "harder to breathe", then you'll like the rest of the album. I also liked the second single, but I didn't know if I'd end up getting the album only to hate the rest of the songs because it sounded nothing like the singles. But that's not the case, and I love it. Stevie Wonder is a big influence in their sound, but the lead singer's voice reminds me of Jamiroquai.

::school::
I'm way behind on my desktop publishing project. We've got to do this logo design for Vanity Day Spa. We were supposed to have out fonts picked out today, but I'm not even through going through all of them on the ATM (Adobe Type Manager), which means that I'll have to go up to the computer lab this weekend to work on it.

::movies::
My little sister wants me to take her and her best friend to see You You Got Served tonight. This is one of those movies that I kinda wanna see, but don't want to pay for it or admit that I actually kinda liked it in the end. I do want to see the dancing sequencing, cuz I like that kind of stuff, but the plot is probably gonna be pretty sophmoric, and really appeal to my sister, cuz she's 15. But then there's the slim chance that it'll be like Drumline and actually have a decent plot.

I think I pretty much covered everything. But, undoubtedly, once I post this I think of something else I wanted to mention.

updates

In case you haven't noticed, I've got some new artwork up. Lately I've been posting most of my new stuff at DA, because it's easier. But I finally got around to updating this site, which is in need of a redesign sometime soon.

I'm going to be starting a new blog dealing w/ my wedding plans. It's sad that Jamaal and I had been engaged for almost a year and I'm just started to really plan the wedding. Saturday I went and bought the fabric to make my bridesmaids' dresses. I'll scan the swatches and post them in the new blog when I get it set up.

Jamaal is also going to have a blog and I'm going to design his site for him. It's going to be focusing mainly on anime.

I've also got a lot of stuff to do graphic design wise. People are starting to spread my name around school, suggesting me to draw various things for different organizations. It's weird but cool at the same time. Even if I don't get paid, at least I get the experience and exposure, so it's all good. :P

virtual fix

Ever had one of those days when you feel like taking up smoking?

You look at the smokers, standing outside, hanging out. They take deep drags on their cancer sticks, inhaling death and exhaling poison to those around them. But they seem so relaxed—the non-feenin' ones at least. But the rhythm of smokers resembles to me the breathing exercises that are supposed to relax oneself. . .to relieve all the stress of the day.

Today was one of those days for me.

Spring Semester '04 gripes

Sorry I haven't been updating lately. I started working on a piece using my new Wacom tablet, and I had planned to finish this weekend, but Jamaal came to visit and I didn't get any drawing done. We spent most of our time riding around and hanging out.

School started last week and I guess it's back to normal. I'm taking four classes, which is the lightest course load I've had since I started college, but I couldn't get into the other classes I wanted, like Photography. Hopefully I'll be able to get in over the summer. I did, however, manage to get into the much-in-demand Graphic Design Production class this semester, but the situation is rather dire. There are fifteen working computers and eighteen people in the class. . .So, somebody's got to get together and complain the the right people cuz that just isn't right. And you can't make people drop the class because a lot of people have waited a long time to get into the class. It's really frustrating. The entire art department is lacking financially, and it's really not fair because there are a lot of excellent professors, but they can't do their jobs fully because they don't have the money to get the supplies that we need. Makes you wonder where your tuition money is actually going. . .But I hope everything will work out.

It's only the second week and I'm already behind on work. I've got to get some thumbnails sketches done for my production class. We're supposed to be creating a logo for a company letterhead, business card, and envelope. I'm going to use my friends indy record company and make just redesign their logo. Hopefully it'll turn out well.

My new wacom tablet

Graphire3 4x5

I got it through ebay from onlinsales.com.

ATL

January 7, 2003:

6:45 a.m. sunrise


the Atlanta cityscape


7:30 a.m.: my dad and sister waiting for the visa dept. to open at 8:45.

another year

Today I went to Atlanta with my dad and older sister so she could get her student visa to go to Paris as an intern. Atlanta has the most serious traffic I have ever seen, but the good thing is that the people there actually know how to drive, so things moved along pretty quickly. We left my my uncle's house at 6:30 a.m. to get the the French consulate, and traffic was shocking. But we got there and back in one piece, so I'm thankful for that.

School starts back for me this coming Monday and I'm a little less that psyched. I'm looking forward to having money again, though. I haven't gotten as much done in the art dept. as I'd hoped. Hopefully I can squeeze out some pages before classes start back up.

Niceville, Chris portrait

Wednesday I went with Jamaal to Niceville, FL. He had to go to Eglin AFB to check in to prove that he didn't go more than half way across the country for his leave. While there, our friend Chris chauffered us around. He wanted to stop at this store that we passed by called the Philippine Market, he being filipino and all. So we went there and picked up various forms of Asian food, mostly snacks. Chris rented a couple of filipino movies. The people there were so nice that when we were about to leave, the offered to let us sit down and have a share in their shrimp dinner. We declined the offer, but Jamaal got some shrimp for the road.

Friday, Jamaal and I went to a store called the Asian Market here in Mobile. We wanted to get some more Pocky, which is this japanese snack consisting of this thin pretzel like stick dipped in chocolate. The didn't have the Pocky, but they did have this stuff called Yan Yan which is pretty similar, but the sticks and the dip are separated, and were in strawberry and vanilla flavor. I also bought an Asian pear. When I was in high school, my 11th grade PACE teacher brought some for the class one day. They're really juicy and to me are like what would happend if a pear and an apple had a baby. I also got these little cake things that tasted like funnel cakes without the powdered sugar, but with sesame seeds on top. I didn't find out what they were called, but I'm definitely going back to get more of those.

Oh, and I also drew a portrait of Chris, but I don't have it w/ me now. So I'll scan it and post it probably before the day is over.

JV love

Almost a week ago I told Jamaal that I had this interesting pic that I took that I wanted to post. He came to town because he got leave for the holidays, and I had still not gotten around to posting the thing. And he's all anxious wondering what could this pic possibly be. When he sees it he's gonna be so through with me it's hilarious.

So anyway, here it is:


I was at the high school where my mom works, waiting for her to get off. My sister and I had gone to the gym to watch the JV basketball team practice. After the practice was over, they all gathered around in this huddle. I was really taken by how everyone had their arms around each other, cuz you often don't see guys showing that type of affection, even if it's not seriously heartfelt. Anyway, I thought it was cute. ^_^

My confession

My name is Sharon. . .



. . .and I'm addicted to Radio Free Roscoe.



Darn those clever Canadians. . .

I OWN!!!

::final grades:

History of Graphic Design.....B
Figure Drawing I..................A
Intro to Graphic Design........A
Typography..........................A
Introdcutory Spanish I.........A

Too bad I'm not taking Spanish next semester. I want to, but I don't have to take a foreign language at all for my major. I just took it this semester to learn the basics. I was going to take it again, but I needed other classes more. Oh well. At least it helped to boost my GPA.

So that's like 70 credit hours down and 58 more to go.

Sleeping in=good

Yay! It's the first Monday in a very long time that I haven't had to get up early and go to class. Last week even though classes were technically over, I still had to get up to go to my Spanish final. So I'm glad all that's over.

If the site looks weird it's because I'm doing stuff to it, so it should be fixed in a little bit. : )

new banners, winter break '03

Well, I'm pretty much better now but the rest of my family has gotten sick in the meantime—and they're all blaming me.

I did a little fixing up of the site. I added a new gallery for my design stuff. I think I may need to reorganize my categories because some things don't really fit. If you browse the galleries you may see a few new thumbnails around, and a lit bit more organization.

I made two new banners:



I think that's all the site stuff. . .

School is finally over and doesn't start back til January 12th. I'm so glad. While I'm not going to get all A's like I could have. I do believe I'll have mostly A's. I know I have an A's in Figure Drawing and Intro to Graphic Gesign. I'm pretty sure I have an A in Typography. . . I might have an A in Spanish, but I kinda slacked off during the end so I'm probably down to a B. I'll probably—hopefully—make a low B in Art History. So, If I make what I think my GPA will finally be above 3.5, which is cool.

Whoohooh! I'm gonna be a junior next semester!

Ugh. . .

Well, I didn't go see Honey because I've gotten sick again all of a sudden. This time I've got a cough and fever and my body aches. Sounds pleasant, right? I took some aspirin to bring my fever down, as a result I was practically freezing. So now I'm sitting in front of my lovely space heater. . .::mmm. . .warm::.

Hopefully I'll get over this soon. : /

Last Day of Classes

But It's not the end of the work. I've still got stuff to do. I've got one design project out of the way. I have to go to the computer lab to finish my typography final, then I've got an exam in that class on top of that. But it shouldn't be that difficult since it's basically going to be a compilation of all of our previous tests.

I still have to write two huge essays for art history. I'm glad that my professor threw in a 10 point bonus question. If I get all of those points and make an A on this final, then I can have an A for the course. But it's probably not going to happen.

I'm supposed to go see Honey with my sister this evening. I'd rather wait til it comes to video and go see The Last Samurai instead, but I promised. I've resigned to try and see only action movies at the theater, because they look the best on the big screen, and i wanted to save the dramas for at home viewing. Oh well, there's always the exception. I thin Honey is going to be at least decent. I know the plot not going to be oscar-worthy or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'll be entertained for an hour and a half at least.

LOTR on the Brain, legal ages

I've never drawn anything quite this ugly—at least on purpose anyway. But I'm glad it turned out pretty good on the first try. I think it helped that I watched a whole documentary on the making of Gollum's character on the appendix DVD. The LOTR movie are so much better w/ the extended scenes. righteous. . . righteous. . .! Sorry, had a Finding Nemo flashback there. . .

Anyway. I had a fun weekend. I broke down and participated a little in the seemingly compulsary end-of-the-year bolster of the U.S. economy. But I got a really hot looking lawyer-esque suit out of the deal. It's cool to have a fiancé who buys things for you because he thinks you look good in it. Actually, the suit is quite conservative, but it's made really well, and I look all professional and mature. It's a nice change of pace, since I turned 21 Sunday.

I don't do birthday celebrations, but these last couple of years have been these stages leading up to legal adulthood:

18 - voting rights, no longer a minor
19 - can buy cigarettes (in Alabama)
20 - no longer a teenager, but not yet legal
21 - officially and adult, can legally drink away my sorrows

No wonder so many young people are depressed. . . I feel so old now.

The end of the semester is winding down. This is the last week. Next week is finals, but I only have to worry about two exams. Then there's two design projects and one last take-home test for art history. ::sigh:: After that's done I've got a month and a half to relax before the Spring Semester. Plus, I'll attempt to get my comic underway, but don't hold your breath on that. :P