Okay. So, I’m not the brightest person ever. I’m kind of dumb sometimes. Really. Anyway, last night I had one of my dumb Michee moments. I was sitting there, thinking, “Wow, Magic Tape isn’t so magic. I know! Let’s try hot glue like Ms. Johnson did with her corrugated cardboard models! FYI, I was NOT using corrugated cardboard. Instead, I was using poster board. (Insert LOL here.) So I get up and go over to my backpack (which earlier this week was flooded with POWERade due to another one of my dumb Michee moments) and take out my hot glue gun. I unravel the cord and hold it out so I can see its entire length. “Okay, not going to be able to even TOUCH my drafting table,” I said as I looked at both the plug head and the outlet.

“I will go to the outlet.” I sat down on the floor and plugged in my gun. I let it rest on its metal “stand” and I got up to draw another board real fast. I came back and sat down with a template, already cut out. I was successfully able to glue together two sides and was working on my third. Upon reaching the fourth side to glue, something went terribly wrong and I was in sudden pain. Apparently, I had tipped the deltahedra the wrong way and some of the hot glue I had just applied dripped off of the side and fell through the other side that had not yet been sealed. Where did the glue land? Not on my hand, that’s for sure. No. Silly me was working on the deltahedra on top of my lap, and when the glue fell, the model was hovering above my left leg. The glue had dripped in two separate places, and when I was not screaming at the top of my lungs inside of my head, I quickly ripped the glue off. By then it had hardened a bit, and due to that, my skin came off with it. Of course, I’m making this sound worse than it really is, but I have some pictures!

I‘m not that bad with a glue gun, I swear! I mean, I’m not my friend Kelsie! lol

Okay, so did anyone go to any of the Philly Fringe events? I did. Not by choice, though. My writing teacher, Durso (AKA The “Ummm” Guru), said we were required to go to a Fringe event, whether it’d be a gallery or a show, a performance, or…whatever else that thing has. Of course, being the crafty commuter that I am, tried to get my best friend and myself out of it. Or at least the confining part which is the Fringe… Only because while looking up the events, I noticed that most, if not all of them were at night around 8, and if they weren’t at night, they were on Saturday, which is bad because I work. Well, don’t you know. I end up going to the last night of GROVE which happened to be on Saturday, in the evening. D:

So I leave work (not on time, as always) and go home. I had lugged in two bags of ten bottles of POWERade (haha, I love typing that) and was all panicked because the event started at five and here I am at 5:30 and not even ready to go. So I run upstairs, find some clothes in my basket o’ clothes, and hop in the shower. (Not literally, but I wish I could!) I get dressed, brush my dripping wet hair (no matter how many times I squeeze it with the towel, it still somehow manages to drip endlessly), and decide to call Jamie to see if she’s ready to go. I call her only to find out that she, too, just got home from work and was rushing to get ready. So we set a time and when that time drew close, I grabbed a POWERade, my camera, a notebook, and my purse. (Not to mention my wallet which has my driver’s license in it… Wouldn’t be caught on the road without it!) So I give Jamie a ring and dash to her house (on wheels!) to pick her up.

When we arrived at the PATCO (that’s Port Authority Transit Company, fyi, not to be confused with the Delaware Port Authority OR the NJ Transit people…although they do share things in common), there was this beautiful sunset. So, naturally I had to snap it. I also took pictures of clouds and whatnot, but they’re not as important. Looking up at the platform from the lot, we noticed that there was a train sitting there and so we figured that we’d better haul butt portions if we want to catch it.

It wouldn’t have mattered if we had taken our time. The train was going to be there a while. So we found nice seats and sat. And sat. No ring yet, so we wait. Chatting on the phone was a young lady and during her conversation (we weren’t eavesdropping long, I swear), she mentioned how the train was taking three years just to depart. Still after, we sat. And sat. We didn’t leave until a half an hour later or so. =\ Ah well, stuff happens.

Upon arriving at 8th & Market, we meet up with April (after being near this really random, scary, oddly-spoken man) and head on down to 4th St.

Never again will I walk down there in the pitch dark. It was creepy, even with three of us. I clutched onto the mace I had attached to my university ID and prayed that the boogieman wouldn’t come out and have wild sex with us. (LOL Another reference, cookies to the winner.) Regardless, we made it there, each of us still intact. We walk into this building named MBN Studios. There’s a small, computer-printed sign that reads “Either the lady was watching or she just has a sixth sense. She came out of the curtain just as we walked up to it and got real excited when we told her we were students. Exciting, isn’t it?

As exciting as it may be, I will continue this story later with a score update for Commuters vs. Dormers. My eyes are closing on me and I can’t fall asleep at the laptop. I just can’t. Actually, I’m typing with my eyes closed now because that’s how tired I am. I’m glad I know where all of the keys on the keyboard are. Well at least a standard one anyway. :3 Okee, good night.

“Ohhhhh,” I said as I looked up the word fleshing. It means, in the art world, to give detail to. Haha… Yeah, so I guess I’ll be able to finish my homework for 2-D after all. Things like this happen all of the time — not just to nooby high school freshmen. It happens to us nooby college freshmen, too. LOL Won’t Prof. Shaver be happy that I took it upon myself to look up a word he used. :P

I still can’t believe I’m in college. It still feels like I’m in high school, but with a zillion people and more freedom. :) I like it. And did I mention that I love the location? There are the most random things I have ever seen on Broad St. Some include the “hippo truck,” the tortoise and the hare trucks (the rabbit’s in front, usually; sometimes you’ll see the tortoise truck by itself), and the ever infamous Red Bull car and pick-up truck set. See what college does for you? :3

So, as far as graded things go, I’m having my ups and downs — more ups, though, thank God. I got an A- on my first graded homework assignment in 2-D (:3 yay), a 5/5 on my first art history quiz (the second one wasn’t so hot… :O… I think I have a 3/5… lol), and..uh. That’s all for now? I don’t know. See, teachers don’t find it necessary to, y’know, grade everything on the physical project… Well, except for my 2-D teacher. lol But that’s okay. I like seeing things and reading comments. :3

Okay, I need to get back to my 2-D homework. (How many times have I mentioned that class? Can you tell it’s my favorite?)

Never did I realize how many commuters there are at UArts. I’m assuming that the kids who went to the commuter meeting during orientation were only freshmen/NSTs, which means there a lot more… Including my friend/coworker’s boyfriend Jake. Anyway, while riding the PATCO tonight, coming home from one of the Philly Fringe events (Jamie, April and I went to see “GROVE”), Jamie and I noticed a kid with a UArts bag sitting in front of us. Actually, it was more that I noticed he had a UArts bag, but Jamie was the one who suggested we say something to him. So being the mouthy lady that I sometimes am, I shouted, “Hey kid, nice bag!” He turns around and goes, “Oh…” Of course there was that odd breath thing that people do when they laugh and talk at the same time. (Not like what Durso does, oh definitely not!!) Then he asked if I was a grad student. Um. Do I look that old? D: I said, “No, under.” He didn’t get it so I had to say the whole thing — “Undergrad.” Yeah… So then I spilled the beans about being a freshman and hey! It turns out he is too.

How many people can say they’ve had lunch with their cousin on the off campus? Not many! I had the luxury of meeting up with my wonderful cousin at Market East (inside of The Gallery) and showing her around the area, including Broad St. (UArts campus, baby). Not only was she thrilled, I believe she was awed. No, she’s not from Jersey like I am, rather she’s from the outskirts of the city. She, like me, commutes to and from home. She attends St. Joseph’s University (a Jesuit school for those curious minds out there) and contently takes the R5 to and from school. She also hopped on the regional rail to get to Market East. I, on the other hand, have only taken the regional rail once. I’ve only been on a SEPTA bus twice, too. Okay, well four times, but you get it.

Anyway, I really enjoyed being a tour guide. She loved seeing the Kimmel Center in person and it just really amazed her. She kept reminding me of how she’s never driven through “this part of Philadelphia.” To be honest, before I met my friend Lauren, I’ve never been through this part of Philadelphia. It’s always been Chinatown, but from the other side, and NE Phila, and outside regions like Ambler, Lansdale, and KoP. (Mall, anyone?)

Okay, I’m still keeping track of points here. So far, it’s 4-1, commuters winning. Maybe I should add a point for seeing random fellow UArts students, but heck, I’m sure dormers see them in weird spots, too. Anywhoo… Commuters get another point for sight-seeing. Sure, as a dormer, you get to explore the city whenever you want, but as a commuter from Jersey… Dude, we get to see Campbell’s Field from an aerial view! Of course our camera shots will be a tad blurry, but who really cares? We also get to see marinas on the Jersey side and sky scrapers next to the water on the Philly side. Sure… You could WALK there, but why walk when you can, y’know, take the PATCO? :3 So that makes the score 5-1. :3 Go commuters! *Waves pennant in the air*

Yikes — I have a buttload of work to do. :3 Oh well, that’s part of being a college student. :D

It’s funny how orientation ended so quickly. I made a few friends and met some really cool people. One of them is Kelly, an acting major. Because she’s in CPA (College of Performing Arts), I rarely see her on campus. One day I will call her to see if she would like to have lunch. This week isn’t a good week though; I have plans. :)

So today was one of THOSE days. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about — you think you do something smart and then it comes back to bite your butt. Okay, so it wasn’t that bad, but it was sort of sour. Kind of like milk that’s starting to go bad. Anyway, this morning I get up, brush my teeth, brush my hair, change my clothes, etc. etc. Right. So then I go to get my things for school, remembering that I wanted to bring in a piece from my senior year that I wanted to show Professor Shaver. Okay. I look at the portfolio bag from the school sitting against my coffee table. (Yes, I have a coffee table in my room. It serves as my desk, my cutting station, and laptop plug-in stage.) “It’s too small,” i mumble so I pull out my backup — a slightly larger canvas tote I ordered over the summer from Daniel Smith. All’s fine and dandy — I slip in the piece, I transfer my large drawing pad, and some odd things from my backpack and I was set. And then I looked at the backpack. “Well… I don’t need to carry THAT, do I?” So I run downstairs and grab the (free!) messenger bag I got from school.

Again I think, “This’ll work.” I put my laptop in there and some miscellaneous things — my wallet (money and PATCO ticket), deodorant and splash from VS (it’s a girl thing), and a pen. I stare at my stuff for a while… “I don’t need my laptop…”

Of course ten minutes later it dawns on me — my writing homework’s on that laptop… So I repack it. And a hoodie because my dad mentioned rain. Now — my bag was light at that point, regardless of the laptop being in there.

Fast forward to later — Walking up to the Lindenwold station’s doors, rain shoots down like water pellets. “Ugh. It was a good idea at the time; I wish this thing had a zipper,” I said to my best friend Jamie. Now. Considering it rained on and off… I got rained on twice. With my portfolio. Open. No zipper. D: Okay, now. Add THAT to the messenger bag avec laptop and add on my art bin. (Which is pretty big.) :( From there, factor in a ten-minute travel time from 3rd (really, it’s 4th because of the Mezzanine) floor in Anderson to 12th floor Terra. If I hadn’t had everything I had, I would have made it there in a breeze. But because I was weighed down and 12 flights of stairs is a lot to run up when you’ve got half the world in your bag, I was forced to wait in the obnoxiously spaced line for the elevators.

Let me explain — Terra is a wonderful building, but there are a few inconveniences: Much like the Arts Bank, Terra is segregated from the cluster of UArts buildings. Anderson and Hamilton are cross-street neighbors, Gershman is right next to Starbucks, which is next to the parking garage, which is next to Anderson. Merriam Theater is a couple hundred feet down the street from Hamilton, and uh, that funny church is near Anderson. So anyway, about the elevators: from my understanding, there are SIX elevators. One of them is off limits because it is a service elevator. (They’re making some new thing in the building, so…) Okay, so you’d think, five elevators? Why are you complaining?

Shut up and let me finish. These elevators are horrendous. Because so many try to squeeze into them (3000 pound capacity), it literally stops on every floor. And because people are waiting for the elevators, they DEFINITELY stop on every floor. Plus, for some reason, they are REALLY slow.

My point is… Trying to lug my stuff from point A (Anderson) to point B (Terra) then hauling ass to point X (Gershman… It would have gone back to point A, but… Professor Shaver’s room was getting a new sink installed) was horrible. I was late eight minutes to Durso’s class. (Not that he’s not late getting his cup o’ Joe.) And I was, like, “five seconds late,” according to my friend Kaitlin, to Professor Shaver’s class. (Only the best class in the world. =O )

I can see why everyone can point out a freshman.