We started the semester on Monday, and I finally was able to register for my French course. I had had problems in the spring because the spaces were locked for potential freshmen, and then there was a glitch with the system so it couldn't read my placement test score. I managed to get an override in the afternoon and then register. I need two full semesters for my BA and this was my last chance of getting around to it. It's a little different being an immersion course, so I'm having a little trouble, but enjoying it.
I'm taking three philosophy classes this semester- Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Religion, and Philosophy of Mind. The irony of it is that Philosophy of Science in held in the school chapel, and Philosophy of Religion is held in the biology building. Unfortunately the heat is really wearing me down and makes it hard to sleep at night, so I ended up oversleeping and missing my first class yesterday (Ooops!), I have the same professor twice in the day too, so it was only somewhat awkward. The downfall of having the same professor twice is that you can't skive off only one class, the Prof will know.
I had an interview with the library today. I think it went well and hopefully I can start working next week.
We had our first research meeting today. Prof H is conducting studies on butterflies. He discussed the semester's research goal and started us out today by having us hand feed the butterflies. I was a bit skittish in grabbing my butterfly from the cage. Unfortunately the problem was more that the butterfly I was aiming for was on a leaf, and I'm not the most comfortable with plants. Butterflies? OK. Plants and flowers... ehhh. I will have to get over this ASAP Dr. H says though, as jerking away will cause more damage then grabbing them incorrectly. I suppose that he thinks that I'm more skittish of the bugs, which most people would be, I suppose. I call them Dr. H's Little Lovelies. Perhaps I'll take photos and such next time I'm in the lab.
I called Kindle customer service yesterday, the first chance I've had all week, because I've been having freezing and restarting issues with my Kindle. After a few false starts, some phone static and lots of repeating on the representative's part, they determined that my screen had gone defective or there was something wrong with the motherboard. Thus a replacement is on its way, and I will need to send back the defective unit. I wish that we could have resolved the issue via a software update or something, alas, if it's something they can't fix over the phone, then they don't question anymore into it I suppose.
I've already got a lot of work to do and many things to read. For now- Salut!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Flashback, flashforwards
First a flashback-
This is a short film that I and some other students set up during my freshman year of college. Now entering my (hopefully) last year of college, I feel so much older, and disillusioned from myself back then. Now is more then ever the time to ask what the heck I'm going to do with my life.
The simple answer would be that I haven't a clue.
Perhaps I will expand on that later.
This is a short film that I and some other students set up during my freshman year of college. Now entering my (hopefully) last year of college, I feel so much older, and disillusioned from myself back then. Now is more then ever the time to ask what the heck I'm going to do with my life.
The simple answer would be that I haven't a clue.
Perhaps I will expand on that later.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
More writings, and Che
I'm a horrid updater. Just uploading some stuff I did last week.
Teddy bear in progress
Admittedly these are not very good, mostly because I haven't gotten very much practice in. Also because I'm working on a 3"x4" Sketchpad. SMALL.
I also made Che last week! For those that don't know Che is the vietnamese word for dessert type dishes, and alot of them look like cold sweet soups. This one is made with a layer of mung bean on the bottom, colored tapioca (traditionally it's red when you get it in shops, but I made it green because I don't have any red food coloring, but I did have some pandan ;). ), and thin strips of agar agar-jello on top. Usually it's topped off with some simple syrup and coconut milk, but I topped it off with some non-fat milk and some (self!-)sweetened coconut milk. The result is not nearly as sweet as in the stores, but it's sweet enough for me, and really refreshing on a summer day. I've been eating it for breakfast though. ;D
Teddy bear in progress
Silly Masha is such a sleepy head
Admittedly these are not very good, mostly because I haven't gotten very much practice in. Also because I'm working on a 3"x4" Sketchpad. SMALL.
I also made Che last week! For those that don't know Che is the vietnamese word for dessert type dishes, and alot of them look like cold sweet soups. This one is made with a layer of mung bean on the bottom, colored tapioca (traditionally it's red when you get it in shops, but I made it green because I don't have any red food coloring, but I did have some pandan ;). ), and thin strips of agar agar-jello on top. Usually it's topped off with some simple syrup and coconut milk, but I topped it off with some non-fat milk and some (self!-)sweetened coconut milk. The result is not nearly as sweet as in the stores, but it's sweet enough for me, and really refreshing on a summer day. I've been eating it for breakfast though. ;D
That's all for now...
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
When journals become public
Admittedly I've always struggled with the concept of blogs, as the world knows them now. When I was first introduced to blogs, in the early 2000s, the concept of a blog was explained to be not unlike an online journal, abet a very public online journal. It was also a social playground ripe for gossip and cyber-bullying. You could write anything, but if someone found that post, and received it the wrong way, or even the right way... Nothing is personal in a journal when that journal is on the internet.
I don't know when blogs as I know them now came to be the norm. Perhaps it was always as such, although being stuck in the realms of Xanga and Livejournal might have retarded my internet growth rate. I'm certainly used to something far different than what I've been seeing.
At the moment I need to stop and reevaluating what is going on, and where I want to go with it. Having three, or four online journals is silly, and more than a little bit erring on the dangerous side of life, in my opinion. At the same time, I feel that having many blogs, each dedicated to solely one aspect of my life can easily become overwhelming as well as confusing.
I am under no illusion that a true blog is alot of work. But for the most part, I do not think that I intend this to be a true blog. This is a project more as an outlet for confusion, creativity, and general kookiness. Hopefully I can keep it lighthearted and uplifting. It is also a chronicle, so I may look back and see what I was, and how I was, today or tomorrow.
I don't know when blogs as I know them now came to be the norm. Perhaps it was always as such, although being stuck in the realms of Xanga and Livejournal might have retarded my internet growth rate. I'm certainly used to something far different than what I've been seeing.
At the moment I need to stop and reevaluating what is going on, and where I want to go with it. Having three, or four online journals is silly, and more than a little bit erring on the dangerous side of life, in my opinion. At the same time, I feel that having many blogs, each dedicated to solely one aspect of my life can easily become overwhelming as well as confusing.
I am under no illusion that a true blog is alot of work. But for the most part, I do not think that I intend this to be a true blog. This is a project more as an outlet for confusion, creativity, and general kookiness. Hopefully I can keep it lighthearted and uplifting. It is also a chronicle, so I may look back and see what I was, and how I was, today or tomorrow.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Handwriting: a work in progress
I've been working on my handwriting this summer in my spare time, and thought I'd do a chronicle on how it's going so far. I can't say that it's the best in the world... here's what I've got so far... BEFORE samples and AFTER samples! The pictures are pretty dark, but I haven't discovered yet how to photo-edit on my mac without actually moving them ON to my hard drive (I would rather keep them on the SD card. :). )
OLD PRINT
OLD PRINT
OLD CURSIVE
when I first started trying to 'improve' my cursive, using the Ames Guide to Self-Instruction (to practical and artistic penmenship) on IAMPETH, which has scans of instruction books on various styles. It's inconsistent between my old style and the style I was trying to take on, and messy!
Writing sample from earlier today (err, Sunday, because it's the middle of the night now... ^_^) while I was writing to write an essay...
Ahh.... As I said, it's a work in progress! Not the best at all. Unfortunately, at times I myself have trouble reading my own handwriting in the new cursive because I'm not used to the slant and the loopiness of it. In the middle, I accidentily lost where I was at, and then somehow started practicing the Palmer method of Business writing (which is totally different!!), so I had a setback a while ago. I'm currently practicing the 'practical side' of the Ames hand, which is a lot like the Palmer business writing in the beginning (which is how I got confused!). I hope to go on later to Ornamental writing as well, partially because it's so pretty!!)
I'm currently taking a break (I know, I just barely started!) from calligraphy because I have to return the library books soon, and I'm taking a reading/thinking-intensive class (Moral Problems) and have less time for it. Calligraphy practice takes more time than handwriting practice! Unless, of course, I start trying to writing my essays and reading prompts in a calligraphic hand, but that would be 1) slow, 2) ink consuming!
Fun picture: while I was wandering around downtown with my sisters last week, we saw a guy literally come and plomp down his piano and started playing! People with instruments are a common sight in the area, but this is the first time I've seen a person bring an outright piano! And he was pretty good! Hooray for the people we find in SF!
comment!!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Reviving creme eye liner
Yesterday when I reached for my ELF creme eye liner in metallic olive, I was dismayed to hear a rattling sound from it's container, and sure enough, when I upended it, the eyeliner simply fell out of it's packaging. What's curious though is that for the most part, the liner was not dried out, and I could still use it. Since I was short on time I used it, and resolved to come back later to find out how to fix it.
I have several of ELF's creme eye liners from the studio line. My black and midnight (blue) colors I've had close to a year now, and gunmetal and metallic olive I've had for about three months. I distinctly remember though, that upon receiving all of the liners, all of them were at least a little bit pulled away from the jar (plastic) already. Only the blue and the olive seem to have changed in pulling more away from the sides of the jar though, although there was already space all around the liner in the first place, I suppose it was only a matter or time..
Now, having heard and read of numerous horror stories of how gel and cream eyeliners and shadows have the tendency to dry out, I felt like I should do something, even though for the most part, the liners felt and acted, more or less the same as when I first received them. A larger contributing factor though, was that knowing that with more surface area exposed to the air in the jar, no matter how tightly it is sealed each time, the more likely they are to dry out. Every time the jar is sealed, the amount of moisture in the air in the jar, and with the product exposed will attempt to reach equilibrium. So say you live in a dry climate, you would be releasing moisture every time you open your jar, and your product would dry out even faster. With one of the liners so separated from the jar that it fell out, it was time to do something.
Basically what I did for the olive, was first take the piece of eyeliner out. I then took my hairdryer and set it on HIGH, and heated up the plastic jar. When the plastic was adequately warm (hot, but not burning, not so hot as the liner starts to melt), I took the liner, and pressed it into the small remnants of eyeliner in the warm jar. I then took up the hair dryer again, and pointed it towards the top and the sides of the open jar, with the liner inside. The point of this was to warm up the liner and the jar. Then using my ring finger. I pressed out and down from the middle of the liner, until most of the space between the liner and the jar was sealed. This is the only one of the liners, that kept most of the shape that it was originally in, but at least most of the air surrounding the liner was sealed, and I could see the color pressed up from the outside of the plastic.
The process with the other three colors was a variant of the same procedure. The difference mainly being that these liners had not yet fallen completely out of their containers. Heat was applied to the bottom, and the sides of the jar, and then the top. The blue and black liners, being older, were understandably harder where they had been separated from the jar. For those two I took a clean toothpick and broke up the creme, and mixed it with more application of heat until the product was smooth, although still not melted. I then gave it a few hard taps on the countertop until I was reasonably sure I had forced out a majority of the air bubbles, at least those that I could see. The tapping was applied to all of the liners, but the black and blue were the only ones I felt I had to mix, the reason being that only heat and pressure was not enough for force the liner back to the sides of the jar.
For now, they are cooling in their pots, with the lids on. I will test them tomorrow to see how well the products fared, but for now, I am hopeful and reasonably sure, that they will work as they should.
I have several of ELF's creme eye liners from the studio line. My black and midnight (blue) colors I've had close to a year now, and gunmetal and metallic olive I've had for about three months. I distinctly remember though, that upon receiving all of the liners, all of them were at least a little bit pulled away from the jar (plastic) already. Only the blue and the olive seem to have changed in pulling more away from the sides of the jar though, although there was already space all around the liner in the first place, I suppose it was only a matter or time..
Now, having heard and read of numerous horror stories of how gel and cream eyeliners and shadows have the tendency to dry out, I felt like I should do something, even though for the most part, the liners felt and acted, more or less the same as when I first received them. A larger contributing factor though, was that knowing that with more surface area exposed to the air in the jar, no matter how tightly it is sealed each time, the more likely they are to dry out. Every time the jar is sealed, the amount of moisture in the air in the jar, and with the product exposed will attempt to reach equilibrium. So say you live in a dry climate, you would be releasing moisture every time you open your jar, and your product would dry out even faster. With one of the liners so separated from the jar that it fell out, it was time to do something.
Basically what I did for the olive, was first take the piece of eyeliner out. I then took my hairdryer and set it on HIGH, and heated up the plastic jar. When the plastic was adequately warm (hot, but not burning, not so hot as the liner starts to melt), I took the liner, and pressed it into the small remnants of eyeliner in the warm jar. I then took up the hair dryer again, and pointed it towards the top and the sides of the open jar, with the liner inside. The point of this was to warm up the liner and the jar. Then using my ring finger. I pressed out and down from the middle of the liner, until most of the space between the liner and the jar was sealed. This is the only one of the liners, that kept most of the shape that it was originally in, but at least most of the air surrounding the liner was sealed, and I could see the color pressed up from the outside of the plastic.
The process with the other three colors was a variant of the same procedure. The difference mainly being that these liners had not yet fallen completely out of their containers. Heat was applied to the bottom, and the sides of the jar, and then the top. The blue and black liners, being older, were understandably harder where they had been separated from the jar. For those two I took a clean toothpick and broke up the creme, and mixed it with more application of heat until the product was smooth, although still not melted. I then gave it a few hard taps on the countertop until I was reasonably sure I had forced out a majority of the air bubbles, at least those that I could see. The tapping was applied to all of the liners, but the black and blue were the only ones I felt I had to mix, the reason being that only heat and pressure was not enough for force the liner back to the sides of the jar.
For now, they are cooling in their pots, with the lids on. I will test them tomorrow to see how well the products fared, but for now, I am hopeful and reasonably sure, that they will work as they should.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
My new pens came in!
The Noodler's Flex Pens I ordered last week from the Goulet Pen Company arrived yesterday, and I went to go get them at the post office this morning. I got Cardinal Darkness and Vulcan's coral. I thought I would like the Vulcan's coral better, but I'm actually quite fond of the Cardinal Darkness. It's lovely. I'll admit that the Vulcan's Coral is easier on the eyes though. The Cardinal Darkness is a cardinal (bird) red with black swirls throughout the resin. The Vulcan's Coral is not coral like I know it. Rather it's something between magenta and burgundy colors with white swirls. The tines spread out to about 1.5 to 2mm. I'm looking forward to giving these a test run. Now to decide which one to ink up first. =D
This is by sutro baths. I sat and watched the fog roll in gradually while eating lunch and reading homework.
What also arrived with the flex pens was my new Lamy Safari. *Squeal* Haha. I wanted to experience the awesomeness of Safari, but I wasn't really drawn to any of the colors I saw on Amazon. Aquamarine is the limited edition color for 2011. The cheapest Safari on Amazon goes for about $25 for the color Charcoal. Lately I've had a weakness for nice bright colors. It also helps me find things in my black bag. What drew me to ordering one from this company is specially that they aren't raising the price of the pen just because the color is limited edition. I got this for $30, which is the same that they charge for all the Safari pens from their site. Lamy USA sells Safari pens for $35, which is the pen's retail price for all colors, but it only comes in fine, medium, and broad. The Goulets kindly let us pick which nib to buy with the pen, as certain nibs only come with certain pens, or sold separately (about $10 and up). Instead of getting the regular Fine nib that would have come if I ordered from Lamy or Amazon, I got to choose a italic 1.1mm stub, at no extra cost. This exciting purchase is going to allow me to experience both italic stubs and flex pens at the same time! I already have some Pilot Parallel Pens, in all the sizes, but I've found that while they're a little too big for everyday writing/note taking.
After getting the pens from the post office, I found that my regular hair cut place is closed on Tuesdays, so I couldn't get a haircut. So I bought a order of porridge from a little store on Clement st. and then made my way to the ocean.
This is by sutro baths. I sat and watched the fog roll in gradually while eating lunch and reading homework.
At this point all I've had today was porridge, and later a Icee from Burger King. But since I've walked maybe 15 miles today. It's probably time for a nap. Or maybe more homework.
(I am not affiliated with the Goulet Pen Company, but I do think that they're awesome! =D)
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