Grandpa

Ok, this is going to be a depressing post, but I felt the need to pay some tribute to my Grandpa for he was such an interesting part in my life.

Sadly I cannot afford a picture to my readers of him because any that I do have cannot currently get on the computer. But if you would picture him in your mind's eye...He was a tall man who steadily attained a rocking gait as he aged through my life. He walked well though for that was one of his main hobbies. He had pristine blue eyes that weren't bright, but the intelligence and concern were still evident in all of his looks. He always had his characteristic straw hat--always forgotten after a Sunday dinner--and broken-in blue sweatshirt. Humility became his trademark in my later years and he always strove to offend no one. His smile would have been perfect if not for what old age does to teeth.Being a hard worker to the end, evidenced by the sunspots on his head, and I will always have fond memories of him and our tulips. He was truly a paternal figure...of sorts.

He died today. I got the call from my mom some time after church. It's an interesting conflict of emotions. Odd enough I have only seen my mother go through the experience of her parents dying...and I still remember when my Grandma died. Hers was the only funeral I've gone to family-wise...so once again maybe I'll be able to develop some empathy for those who go through these things more often than myself.

Phobia's

In my school's newspaper--that I frequent because it has many sub-sections that amuse me; comics, sudoku, police 'reports', and the classifieds--they have a page dedicated to letters to the editor (surprise). I found myself perusing said section and found one about the ever famous 'One Seat Rule'. I'd give you a link to the article...but it's not online yet, so I will sum-up. It's written by a student who tells us of an imaginary person, People Phobia, who goes from class to class not sitting next to people but instead sits one or two seats away. The student also kindly rants about why sitting one seat away from someone is irrational. This is my testament of why angry people are stupid. I'm of a mind that when something like this annoys me in my classes to think it though as to why people do such things. Like, maybe People is 6 feet tall and needs some leg space, or People just thinks it's odd to cram right next to someone in a large auditorium when there are still available seats elsewhere, OR maybe People takes the effort to be on time to class to show the professor that said class time is valuable! I am sure the person who wrote this is very passionate about sitting right next to strangers, but I've yet to attain enough empathy for them to sit down and write a letter to the editor...hehe.


Well...if People Phobia doesn't like sitting next to someone then I offer some advice, don't go to concerts, LIKE I DID ON FRIDAY!!!

Ah, it was glorious! I went to see 'The Rocket Summer' live. Other bands attending were 'The Morning Glory', 'The Secret Handshake', and 'Phantom Planet'. It was in a little venue that was of the old-building type and I quite enjoyed the set-up. The concert itself was moving, smashing, crowd-surfing-ly, loud, euphoric, and full of jumping/shoving goodness. :D Capital experience if I do say so myself! Maybe I should write a letter about it... ;)

Quixotic

Don Quixote...the Lord of La Mancha...oh how much I admire that man. Ok, so actually I like him in the movie more than I admire him in the book (I'm trudging through the unabridged version right now and let me tell you...it's quite long-winded). But that's probably because it's an amazing adaptation about the life of a ficticious character. I don't ever recal recommending the movie over the book though, and I won't start now ;) It's still worth the read!

So it's been a bit since I've last written, but that's because my life is a little quixotic in and of itself at the moment. School started this past...two weeks ago...and I find it's been almost as time consuming as work. :D My math teacher issued me the challenge of cutting down my hours and if he had any intention of convincing me to do so, he wouldn't have challenged me. So now I'm watching my juggling act between the various aspects of life this week to see if I have the ability to keep up my routine or if I need to squash my pride and make some healthy adjustments. I need to go on a time diet :D Maybe I should see if that's a vocab word for my healthy living course. Tempting.

Satire

I awoke Monday morning-Memorial day as I liked to call it apparently (My sister in Peru even knew it was Labor day *sigh*)-to my loverly roommate making me breakfast. Maple Syrup included *sigh* It was glorious! Anyways, in attendance were old roomies, new ones, and her boyfriend. Can you guess what we were celebrating? Not Memorial day obviously...but her birthday! Happy Birthday again Lisa! Oh...and I'll be getting your present soon *evil laughter* But on Labor Day I finally found my definition of me! Or at least the best one yet. I was called 'most satirical person' ever met! So since I've always be vaguely aware that satire made fun of something I decided to look it up on dictionary.com! It's perfect! Exactly me! Well...maybe burlesque (definition #6) is more appropriate according to the synonymns XD So I thought I'd share my enthusiasm with my fellows as I thought it would interest them! American's are prone to like definitions as it is our quest to define everything ;)

So this post has another purpose and that's to share my Sunday doodles! I would have put these up yesterday...but I was kicked out of the computer lab for using the computer for 'non-academic' reasons... >:( riiiiiight....
Zebra+Horse: I was challenged by a friend to draw this. What? Do you think I don't have imagination enough for this? I even drew it in color for goodness sake! That's right...try me and I will amaze you with 8-legged horse zebras! :D JK, I'm not really offended, it was actually a great idea ;)
2 koalas: but it's been done before! I seem to put the most effort into chimera's that combine two animals of the same kin...who knew? That' a perty tough koala don'tcha think?
Duck+Hippo: This chimera gets a name. His name is Huck and I love him! My only disappointment is that I didn't have orange on my multi-colored pen! :( sad day. But I find the 'ugly' creatures are the ones I tend to like the most...

So I hope you enjoyed them *bows* til next week!

Beyond a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

I have just finished one of the greatest series in cartoon history. Yes I watch cartoons. I love animation and I always will. But so far...Avatar has been my favorite. No, not even the season 1 finale of Pokemon even compares...or the end of the first three seasons of Digimon. Ok...so those were on when I was like 8 and a very long time ago. But I still remember how wonderful and complete I felt after watching a great cartoon episode, or finished an inspiring book, or even finish a great conversation with an old friend. But sad to say...Avatar has topped all of the cartoons I've ever watched.

Not only was the animation glorious in each episode, as some animators are prone to cut out on when a series gets popular enough and kids rarely notice anyways, but the list goes on! The storyline was amazing. The characters were thinking beings that were unique, not repeat characters from storylines before it. Even when they had filler episodes, I didn't finish the episode with a sense of wasted time...beyond being mad that I didn't get to see cool action sequences...but alas you can't have your cake and eat it too...anyways, but when the saturday morning cartoon world has taken a turn for chaotic and retarted, Avatar was more than a breath of fresh air. It also helped that it had japanese anime humour in it even though it was created by an American (according to my knowledge) so it's not even anime!

But I almost didn't watch it. Why, you might ask, when so close to the very end do you decide to stop watching it? It tends to happen more often than not with me if you must know. Just like how I'll usually only leave one bite of food left on my plate no matter how good the meal, I tend to stave off finishing most entertainment related things. For Avatar it was because a new episode hadn't come out in awhile and two weeks ago my brother informed me that the season had ended O.O yes...so it took a bit for me to get a hold of internet that would allow me to watch the episodes (which I have every intention of buying all of them on DVD when they come out in a box set, I just don't do 4 episodes per cd for it's just wrong!). During that down time I told my Dad of my excitement...and he said that I should use my time for better things. I respect my Father's opinion in all things. So I decided to think about it.

I once read up to The Crossroads of Twilight in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and stopped there because I felt the story was getting too...disgusting. I didn't like the way all of the main characters where going...except for Matt whose only problem was cursing in the cursing of his world...language...religious...things...yeah. Read the book. Anyways, there was a reason to stop reading that series. I decided despite the fact that Robert Jordan was the greatest author I've ever read, that I would stop because I did not feel comfortable with the story. But from my Father I felt the only reason to stop watching Avatar was because I should use my time for better things.

I want to seek out better things with my time...but have you ever seen Avatar? I love it sooooooo much! It has such morals in it, transcending a story, that actually inspire me to be a better person. Ridiculous? Go watch a few episodes and then you'll see what I mean. That show is beyond a Saturday morning cartoon. That's what led me to watch it despite my Father's promptings. I knew it was better and I knew I wanted to watch it.

Other awesome cartoons that come with my recommendation are 'The Fairly Odd Parents', 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends', and 'The Muppet's Show'...ok so that last one is old and not really a cartoon per-say but I'm trying to get through season 2 now so that I can start on season 3 :D staring Fozzie Bear on the cover! Waka waka! I'm still trying to find the episode with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker on it...it's not on season one and I haven't seen it in season two yet...>:( hyum...

Sunday Do-dalls

So I had a marvelous time again on Sunday in church. The talks flowed very well into one another and the topics were well versed (the guy talking about prayer knew his stuff!). Ok...they were spiritually uplifting as well. Yes I realize that it is Thursday and that I'm a little tardy in my posting with these doodles. I also want YOU to realize how hard it is to type right now. I am trying to update my life so that I can feel organized for the fall semester next week. Who knew it would involve so much typing! I guess I wouldn't make a good secretary...nah, I could handle it I think :)...I'd complain more if I broke my index finger I think *knocks on wood*...So anyways...doodles...
This week I was contemplating about a class I will be taking in Winter. How do I know I'll be taking it? Because I want it bad enough that I will make sure that I get to take it ;) Anyways, enough veiled threats. I love snow. I can't stand not having it right now XD, jk. I also enjoy the sun, beach, warmth, etc. but snow holds a special place in my heart cause I have always dreamed of going to it all of my life...and never was able to (until last year :D) because I didn't take the time to plan trips and such. So now I have decided to get up the guts to take a skiing class when my friend(s) mention(s/ed) to me that they also offer snowboarding... Now...I want to take skiing because my dad says he is good enough to go professional (or was in his youth) and I believe him. BUT SNOWBOARDING LOOKS SO MUCH COOLER!!! But then again how would I know the difference?
See how cool my drawing looks! Well...my imagination is all I have for right now...but I'm still leaning towards skiing. Yes...I think skiing.

I also have big plans for my free time (which looks like I don't have much of it anyways, but its fun to have goals). I am going to draw this!
Except it will be in black and white and in charcoal :D I learned how to do it in my drawing class and I am so excited that I had to share it! :D

Well...that's about it :) Sorry I didn't draw any chimeras this week, I didn't ask anyone for two animals so I couldn't draw them combined into one...sad day...If you truly miss my chimeras then I'll put up some old ones. :D

Sickly Sweet

Today I had enough Maple Syrup on my leg alone that, if I had enough waffles to go with it, I would have been able to feed a small village. How did this happen you might ask? Well at work we served a large breakfast (which went marvelously) and for clean-up we had to ship all the dishes to the temp dishwasher. In two of our hot keepers (they keep the food...hot...) there were pans of uncovered (>.<) maple syrup and by the end of said trip were no longer in the pans but all over said hot keepers. *sigh* I am sad that I don't have any pictures. Perhaps I should start bringing my camera with me everywhere...actually I'd rather not get maple syrup on my camera...here, I'll describe what it looked like instead . You shall now imagine those modern art pictures where people just throw splatters of paint on the wall and call it art...that was my legs, shoes, and polo shirt. I could have been an exhibit in LACMA...I suppose it was better than taking a bottle of syrup and having it ooze everywhere...or better yet! I could jump into a mollases bucket! XD See...one of my bosses saw me in my sticky situation and he said "I've heard of jumping in a mollases bucket...but just covering yourself in syrup!?" hehe. Man...now I want to try it too :p...but the hot keeper I was cleaning might as well've not been cleaned because no matter what I did it still leaked maple syrup everywhere! Isn't that odd? I'm not too annoyed about getting sticky beyond all reasoning...but I'm upset that I didn't clean something up to par because I couldn't do so without dismantling the thing. >:(

Anyways...the moral of the story is wear an apron :D

Here's a random fact for you too that always makes me giggle :D
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of long words.