Art Class Photo-Progression

One of my early sketches

 When I walked into the first art class at Tucson Parks and Rec, I wasn't sure what to expect. I wasn't expecting the teacher to tell me to "just draw" for three hours with the still-lifes she had set up. But that's what I did for the first two weeks. I think I expected her to give some sort of mini-lecture and then give us the opportunity to practice it. Instead, she wandered around the room, commenting on people's drawings or works in progress that they'd brought. When she got to my table, she said, "Oh you're a very good drawer..." and meandered away, leaving my alone for the rest of the class. 

Language Goals: Mini-Modules

I'll confess that after I finished writing my French love letters for Jake I slowed down a bit on the French practice. Okay, I slowed down a lot. All of a sudden I had no tangible goal to reach for. The letters gave me a reason to keep practicing and learning new words and sentence structures. But oncee that goal was accomplished, what was I supposed to do next?

I tried setting goals like, "have actual conversations with French people" or "watch/understand a movie in French sans English subtitles" but these seemed so distant from my current level. Then I read a few articles online and between this super cool article about realistic language goals and this article about language learning frustration I was able to refine some of my own goals for both the long-term and the short-term.

Emotionally Compromised

A couple months ago, Mom, Cameron and I were all sitting on the couch, absorbed in our own little worlds when I announced, "I'm foreshadowing!!" with a devious little laugh. My mom asks me what exactly is being foreshadowed.

In a fit of giggles, I explain. I'd sent Jake a letter earlier that week, and I wasn't going to tell him about it so it was a surprise in his mailbox. Like, "Oh look! Misha sent me a letter!" But he was having a bad day and he told me, "I could probably use some of those cookies you made." So I replied, "Well, I can't teleport my cookies to you, but would a letter do? It should be there tomorrow or friday." And he replied (of course) saying I was "so so so sweet!" ^-^ But I was still in the middle of the foreshadowing part saying, "I wanted to keep it a secret, but I'm so bad at keeping these things a secret!"

The funny part? Spending the last seven months learning French so I could write a series of letters for him in French and keeping the whole thing....a secret!!! Admittedly, I almost gave the secret away on more than one occasion. I thought this whole scenario was so funny, I started laughing so hard I was crying. "It's the best thing ever!" I squeaked.

Next thing I knew, I was sobbing my guts out for no reason! (#girlproblems) How does this happen? Why does this happen? Honestly, I don't know. And this is not the first time either. Similar instances have also occurred while on the phone with Jake, at the close of Gyver's Shack, and right before Jake left for Spain.

Cameron was like, "I can't even tell if you're laughing or crying!"
Me: #both!
I honestly think he didn't know what to do with the situation except try to diffuse it with lackluster humor. "Stop looking at me!" I told him as I rubbed my eyes. (#regrettingthatmascara) Can you say emotionally compromised? It's true; learning a new language has been a highly emotional journey, if only for the reasons (and the person!) behind it!

Project: Yard Work

While Mom and Dad are away, I haven't had much to do, but I didn't want to go back to bed after feeding Pat in the mornings. So I used the valuable (and cool) time to work in the yard....

building a flower bed! Out of cinder blocks!!

I forgot to take a true "before" picture, but this is what it looked like before I started work on day 2:

After a little more weeding...

It was time to lay down my cinder blocks! As you can see, I was short some blocks, but that's okay! I'll get more after my parents get home.

I haven't decided what to plant in it yet and for the moment, I think it's too hot for any plants to survive (or it will be too hot very soon) but towards the end of summer, maybe even in the fall, maybe we'll plant some veggies or flowers. I'd also like to put some herbs in all the little holes. We'll see what Mom and Dad say when they come back. 

This Week in Photos

Not all of these photos are for the May Photo Challenge, partly because I got behind and partly because other things besides photo-challenges actually happen. Weird, right?

 Day 1: Chives

 Day 2: Sky, and little brother's first high school dance

 Dad took me out in the backyard for a lesson in night photography after our run. We don't have the right lens for it, but some of our pictures still turned out pretty good.

 Day 3: An Animal.
Believe it or not, there is a rabbit in this picture if you look at the center. It is running away from me. Almost all of my rabbit-hunting pictures look like this, some blurrier.

Day 4: Fruit. Blended in a cup after a Sunday morning run.

Day 5: Time. This is the whimsical clock that Grandma Ingrid gave us. It doesn't work anymore, but we've become quite fond of it.

 Day 7: Books


I missed day 6 (family) but as you can see, I have definitely been flexing my photography muscles and loving it every step of the way! More to come!

May Photo Challenge

Dad threw down the gauntlet by posting this on my Facebook wall yesterday. It was funny, because I had just been thinking that I wanted to improve my skills by taking more photos. And I've got nothing better to do right? At the end of this month, Jake will be off gallivanting in France without me... So I need something to do with my time! The only sad thing about this challenge is that the last day is "Love" and Jake won't be here to take a picture with me! Doesn't that make you want to cry? Yeah, me too. I may have to just skip that day and take a picture with him when he comes back. I probably won't clog up the blog with photos every day, because I think that's obnoxious and un-aesthetically pleasing, but expect to see a couple of "This week in photos!" posts over the next month!

The Home Stretch

Stats:

thesis: 100% complete!
pages: 64
words: 15,000
autobiography: 5,500 words
posts on my blog: 100!
mood: elated
reading: fluffy fiction!
highlights: soccer, THESIS, celebratory treats!

Weekly Update:

This morning, I turned in my thesis project that I've been working so hard on all semester!! I am so pleased with the overall result. It feels so good! The triumph is exhilarating. I celebrated with some good ole' Jamba Juice and a bagel. I still have a few assignments to finish in other classes before I can apply for graduation, but I am in the HOME STRETCH!!! I'm starting to feel really really excited, but I'll be so glad when it's all over.
(Coincidentally, this is also my 100th post on this blog! Does the excitement ever end???)

I love my job

I don't normally talk about my work, and I have reasons for that, but I think it'll be alright to forego that rule this once. One of the best tasks I get to do for work is search for images for use in course materials (think background slides, etc.) Sometimes, (on days like today) I feel like I am getting paid to fuel my wanderlust. Today I was introduced to several new websites for finding free stock-images! There were so many beautiful visuals. My favorite so far is called UnSplash and it is a serious load of eye candy (and not like attractive men or anything like that) for an artist/dreamer/creator like me.  

Survey Says!

Stats:

days until my birthday: 1
thesis: 58% complete
survey responses: 3
screen time: @_@
reading: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi 
learning: to embrace the unknown future
mood: girly
looking forward to: birthday chillin'
highlights: spring weather, finding cool stuff on the web, and conducting leadership webinar last night

Weekly Update:

Some days, I feel like that scene in Tangled where Rapunzel goes from "I'm a despicable human being" to "This is the best day of my life!!" Not that I believe I'm a despicable human being or anything, but from time to time, I experience severe mood swings in a single day--usually relating to perceived success or failure.

This week, it was my thesis project. After sending out a volley of emails Tuesday with minimal leads, I began Wednesday discouraged and a little despairing. My predicament appeared so bad that I was depending on my dad to fill out my little survey so I could at least have something.  I spent all day on an internet campaign, stalking potential participants through independent book-sellers, tracking down their contact information, and emailing them to participate in my survey. I was so desperate, I didn't expect anything to come of it. But lo and behold, by afternoon, two people had responded and a third committed to filling it out over the weekend! And because of those two people, I found the hope and the determination not to give up!! (Although, thinking of a big fat F also does the trick, but that's not quite as positive.)

I still have a little ways to go though, so if you know anyone who has written, or is writing, their autobiography (does not have to be published) could you please direct them to my questionnaire (linked below)? I would be much appreciative.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GX-yc4nVkWR5gaKQTR6f9-PnTqeFD93TT9en4gS7ujk/viewform

My Thesis: Autobiography

In a time when the world is flooded with information, what's the point of adding one more story to the mix? One more story that is not likely to get noticed? Yet the autobiography genre is still thriving with people from all different backgrounds penning their stories. Why?

My project seeks to study this phenomenon asking the question, "How does the process of writing one's autobiography impact the way one views oneself and one's life-story?" My sub-questions will follow the writing process first analyzing what motivates people to write about themselves, studying the steps required to write an autobiography, and finally examining what authors learn about themselves through and after the writing process. The study will culminate in an autobiographical piece written by none other than myself! I have a few hypotheses about the answers I find and I think they will have something to do with identity and self-perception, but we'll see!

Because this is my thesis project (and not a research paper) I will be doing all the primary research, not culling it from other sources. In addition to my own writing project, I plan to send out a questionnaire to a panel of autobiographical authors. I'm hoping to develop a sample group which consists of authors at different stages in the autobiography process (already published, still writing, editing etc.). Then I'll collect the responses, organize them, and incorporate them into my material.

The paper is broken up into five chapters: the introduction, an overview of literature, an explication of methodology, the results of study, and a conclusion discussing the results. The course mentor has also been really helpful so far; she makes the whole project feel a lot more manageable and a lot less daunting! Under her guidance, I feel a lot more equipped moving forward. Being so young and tackling such a large project (my undergrad thesis!) sometimes feelings of inadequacy nag at me. What if my project isn't good enough? significant enough? professional enough? or something else? What if it's already been done? I suppose I question the scholarship of my topic. But I'm holding on to the positive feedback I've gotten on it, both from my course mentor as well as from other students in the class and a variety of other people I know in real life. I try to stay positive because I know I am so close to finishing my degree! The end is closer than it appears!

"Diary" by Barnaby, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Jake's Musical: Act II

What is this you ask? These tiny squares lined up on a small table at Starbucks represent the entirety of Act II of Jake's musical. We sat down and planned it out together this week. Jake's been working on this project for a little over a year now. He finished Act II back in September and I helped him plot out the scenes for Act II. I think he had a good idea of what he wanted/needed to happen, but just not the details to get from point A to point B.

The musical is tentatively called, "Being Jack McGarvey" and it is about a boy who is simply misunderstood--a prodigy, an artist, a creative genius, but nobody gets him. Jack strives to make his dreams come true, in spite of oppression on every side. Conceptually, it is similar to Calvin and Hobbes, but with an angel instead.

I am so proud of all the work Jake's put into the project and very excited that I get to be part of the process of its creation. Through this little exercise, I learned that I gain a lot of energy from the brainstorming process. Something about coming up with ideas makes me feel energized and enthusiastic! Jake is hoping to finish the musical over Christmas break, after which, it will go under a workshop review at his college.

Misha's Short Stories

In which Misha talks about two of her short stories, geeks out about narrative theory and unreliable narrators, and says "yay" a few too many times.

Enjoy my third Inksanity video!

5 Quirks of Misha

My first video for Inksanity is live!

Things I learned: 

1. Don't use Windows Movie Maker
2. How to get to and navigate the inner workings of YouTube's movie editor
3. Film all your takes at once (i.e. say stuff a bajillion times the first time so you don't have to refilm)
4. Edit your video all at the same time. (i.e. don't upload half of it and come back to work on it later) 
5. I make some really bizarre faces on freeze-film 
6. I frequently sigh/exhale-heavily at random times when I speak
7. Verbal Crutches: And, So, and But

There are a few instances where you can tell they were separate takes due to lighting, the angle of the screen, and the fact that I am more freshly showered at some parts compared to others. Oh well. Overall, it was a good first experience (even though I'm pretty sure I spent well over 4 total hours editing it together) and I'm happy with the outcome. Enjoy!

The Inksanity Begins!

Every weekend or so, I meet up with a couple of friends at Starbucks to write/study and hang out. We've been writing pretty consistently at the same Starbucks location for about two years now; all the staff know them well and we have our very own table which we have declared expressly "ours." Over time, we've developed into a close-knit group, as writing, though solitary is also a very social activity. We named our little group "Inksanity" (like insanity, with ink), and created a Facebook group to announce weekly write-ins.

And then one of us moved away for college! So to keep up with one another, we decided to do a vlogging project.

Mission TypeWriterEffect, in which six of us keep each other accountable to our writing (or non-writing) goals via video-blogs. We'll take turns filming our videos and if someone doesn't make their goal or doesn't post their video on time, they will get a group-mandated "punishment" or dare that they must complete and film-document.

It's a fun way to stay connected! I foresee our little project becoming less goal-oriented as we start dispersing more and becoming more of a way for us to catch up and be part of one another's lives no matter where we are. My first video will be posted this week!

Summer Rom-Antics

I hardly posted anything to the internet over summer, but I'd still like to share about it.

The majority of it consisted of my budding romance with Jake. He blogs occasionally over at Ask Me if My Name is George, but he is much more prolific on Facebook. Most people that know us, know that we have been friends for a very long time; I have pictures to prove it!

Circa 2008

Because of our rich friendship behind us, we have such a fun story and we had an equally fun summer! Perhaps I will tell the full story another time. But for your viewing pleasure, I created the following presentation:

You can view it by clicking on what interests you, but I think it would be easiest to go through using the two arrows at the bottom.



The presentation is actually a prototype for my top-secret project, which I like to call "Bird's Eye View," or BEV for short. I cannot disclose too many details here, but here is my vision for it: a web-based journal-ing platform centered around a calendar view, a planner for the past. It's a very exciting project, though it is still in it's early stages of development. I will update here if I make any headway on the project. With my fall classes, however, it will be on the backburner for a little while. Enjoy!