woah…so yeah, i’m not dead. merely bizzy.

so much has happened since my last entry! spring break was great…i had someone special come and visit me, so i got to see parts of philadelphia that i don’t usually bother to see. we made trips to the mutter museum, the pennsylvania ballet’s production of “carmina burana” (excellent!), and the academy of natural science’s butterfly exhibit. it had snowed (er…sleet?) the friday night that i had gone to the ballet, so that was fun to slip around and play in as well. snow on spring break…pennsylvania weather is so weird, i love it. it was only 75F a couple of days before!

pretty butterflies at the academy of natural sciences exhibit:

i’m a butterfly freak. i work with them all summer long, so i’ve come to form a deep bond with all lepidopterans.

school started off with a fun week. lots of work, but good work that i feel confident about. lemme just give you a little tour of what i’ve been working on lately:

there you have it…an ever-so-brief preview of foundation, semester 2. fun.

high points of my past couple of weeks:
–wednesday of last week, it was free water ice day at rita’s. you know…rita’s water ice. WELL. uarts has the distinct privelege of being placed exactly 1.5 blocks east of a really nice rita’s location, so when i had finished my self portrait early, i was given permission to bounce and go get some freeta’s! it was the supreme highlight of the week. not only do i love rita’s, but i love free things. mint chocolate chip cream ice!! that’s the beshtest flavor.
–thursday marked the first day of plaster casting in 3d class. instead of doing cubes and stuff, we actually did our faces and hands! i was the eejit who decided to volunteer for the demo casting, which meant that i had to put on an old tshirt and a shower cap, lie on my back on the table, put vaseline on my eyebrows and eyelashes, place a plastic sheet around the sides of my face, shove straws up my nose, and just close my eyes while my professor and fellow students poured alginate (that white jelly stuff they use at the dentist to make molds of your mouth) all over my face. it was cold and worryingly close to being suffocating, as it took about 6 mins to set. after that, they made a mother mold over the alginate, dipping strips of cloth into plaster, and placing them all over my face, giving that another 10-15 mins to set itself. so all together, i had about 20-25 mins of wondering whether or not i’d be dying in the name of 3d class. it was really difficult, but really rewarding. how weird it is to have a plaster cast of my face!

–thursday night itself was fun. i had folks over, and we did a dressy pizza party featuring karaoke on demand. ohh, the good times that were had.

(can you spot the hidden freshman journaler?)

other than school and various fun, i’ve been busying myself with trying to get an apartment for next year. i have some really interesting leads, so keep your fingers crossed for me. s’good that we’re starting right now, as opposed to waiting until july. *sigh*

oh, and before i go to class…the big shot was today! you know those uarts posters featuring all of the students being crazy with their signs and everything? well yeah…we went to that this morning, and it was a good time. free hot dogs! (again…free food and i. a match made in heaven. :P)

until next time!

but it’s just not getting it done. for a couple of days there, we had such beautiful spring weather (especially when compared to the frigidity of february). alas, winter’s back this week…but i don’t quite mind it. i lurve me some winter…i just wish that it would snow properly, instead of these hollywood snow squalls that get your hopes up and turn into slush the next morning. observe:

it looked like dickens’ village for a little while, and the flakes were comically large. right after taking those photos, a van on the street swirved and flipped around, which you can see in the last photo. poor guy.

when i wasn’t being chilly, i was baking! pillsbury funfetti cake mix is an art school cure-all. feeling stressed out? want a break from bones and peppers and skulls and color systems? bake yourself some cuppycakes, and life is instantly better! i made some very special ones for the night of the oscars, which i enjoyed thoroughly. ellen degeneres was a good host, and i wasn’t too disappointed with the complete list of winners. best of all, i had an excuse to pipe little gold statues onto cupcakes. do they look oscarly?

i also had another excuse to whip up the funfetti on march 1st, my roommate’s birthday. i decided to switch things up and go for strawberry icing, so i had an orange and pink color scheme on the double-layered cake. it was fun to make and it continues to be yummy. hooray for having an in-room kitchen that allows me to bake!

other than baking and shtuff, i suppose i’ve been a bit consumed by schoolwork. this week is the mid-semester review, so things are just sort of rounding off. looking back, i’ve done A LOT this semester. gahhh. yes.
3d has been the most surprisingly interesting. we’re actually starting to sculpt things (additive stuff with water-based clay and plasteline) like hands and skulls. our studio looks like a borderline freak show…s’nice.

*the sound of distant screams*
it’s fun, really. i won’t be done with that skull until this week, and it was surprisingly fun doing my hand. it’s not perfect, but it’s a close likeness. i’m especially glad just to be finished with the wire sculptures.

up next…spring break! i’m having someone visit, so that’ll be fun, and it’ll be wonderful to be without work for a week. breaks and vacations seem to be so few and far-between, i cherish them like nothing else. seeyoulaterguuuyyyyssss!