homework

I would love to blog but I really can't at the moment... I have two papers + a 4-10 page nonfiction piece to write, a design to mock up with cardboard, 3 free color studies and a complementary color assignment to paint, readings for four classes to do, art history stuff for which to study...

so just a few pics will suffice for now :D

^across the street from king library

^ palazzo medici-riccardi. isn't the courtyard pretty?!!

^ some of my favorite pieces we have to study

^ and all the pieces...lol

i have learned more about christianity than i ever wanted to learn from art history alone.

^ my wooden birdie!!!! :D it's a little over a foot tall.

photoshop cs4

I MISSED YOU, PHOTOSHOP!!!!

i finally got the trial version of photoshop to work! i played around with it for a couple of pictures and practiced liquifying. i'm so crude..heh. this one took a few minutes to uglify :D

^ a pleasant picture in itself...

^ oink

i've decided to purchase a new racket. It's time for an upgrade...at long last. Three years with my "beginner's" racket... I believe it shall be demoted to a backup racket. I don't want an Arcsaber; sounds too flashy. I've been looking at an Armortec 900-Technique (great for doubles, light with a weight of 4U, yet powerful) or a Muscle Power 99TH (also great for doubles, all-around great racket). Going to Asby tomorrow with Diane to check them out!

badminton tryouts

Yesterday we had the final hitting tryouts for the badmin kids. It was fuuun. The freshman time slot was at 3-4, sophs from 4-6, and juniors/seniors from 6-7. The freshmen warmed up for a while, and then Alex started evaluating them one by one, with Aaron hitting opposite the freshman. It got to be really late (3:45 and still most of the freshmen hadn't been evaluated yet), so Sarah hit opposite half of the freshmen and I evaluated them. I think our grading was pretty fair because we assigned scores out of 5 (5 is excellent, and 1 is terrible) for clearing, dropping, net dropping, driving, smashing, and rallying each.

As expected, there were some who could only 'dink' the birdie; they received 1's. And then I yelled for Tim Ngo, and he started out with some good clears. I marked down a 5, thinking, "Hmm, his clears are good." Then I yelled for him to drop, and he did well. I put down a 4. And then when I yelled for him to smash, he was KILLING THE BIRD LIKE A FREAKING MONSTER. I put down a 6... LOL. And then when he and Sarah started rallying, he immediately smashed the birdie really hard and hit her. Geez. I was like, "OKAY alright already, you're done!! Go home!" lol. Crazy kid. Alex yelled, "We're cutting you! You're too good!" I heard later that he's a Bintang elite player and he's not allowed to go to Smash City.

Later, as Kimmy was putting together the list of freshmen who scored the highest, I noticed that some cool freshmen were cut... some of them because of MY evaluations :( Ah well...all's fair.

Then the sophomores came in, and they did their court challenges and stuff. We just meandered around and pigged out while we waited for them to finish their matches. lol. Sarah and I wandered outside of the gym into the little lobby area and saw all the juniors and seniors assembled there, waiting for 6pm to roll around. I walked outside to look at the rainbow, and CHRIS LOCKED ME OUT. grrr. So I made them open the door for me and I stole somebody's racket in retaliation. Turned out it was Samuel's, so he then retaliated by shoving me into the boys' bathroom. -___- I'VE BEEN INSIDE THERE WAY TOO MANY TIMES BEFORE! T__T (the first time was last year when Yuchii pushed me in and made me smell the nastiness and gunk of the guys bathroom...) I was pleasantly surprised by the clean and freshly-remodeled bathroom. The urinals had like little pink/red pillow things. Anyway, I was kind of grossed out, so Samuel and I both pushed against the door to get out, but someone was leaning against the outside. lol. STUPID.

But yeah... I don't think I mind their bathroom as much anymore. It's clean, no poop piles in the corner, the urinals are pretty, etc..

So then the juniors and seniors played their matches. Near the end, Vinh and Michelle challenged me and Alex to a game, so we played them. My hair was flopping all over the place because I'd forgotten a hair tie >_> Then Clinton and Kevin played us. GEEZ, they're insane. They both kept dropping and I kept missing them. lol. gahh. I was pleasantly surprised by how many smashes I could return, though... I think I just might have to thank Trevor for his help last semester. Alex and I lost 16-17... but we'll get them next time D:

It is SO sad cutting people :( You get used to seeing people around and assuming they'll be on the team, and suddenly they're not there anymore. I think a few exceptions have to be made for some people, however. We absolutely need them.

Individual interviews tomorrow with them; that shall be fun :)

second impressions

EDIT

I miss Thannie very, very, very much :(



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I have so many things to blog about; they've all been piling up in my head. I've begun transferring some thoughts to a scrap piece of binder paper floating around in my bag. Maybe I should start carrying around a little notebook or something.

I think creative writing is really inspiring little phrases to pop into my head at random moments. haha. That class has taught me that I've really been overwriting ALL the time. like, in fanfics. I would go into way too much detail, tacking on adverbs/adjectives to every single verb/noun. From Monday's session, I learned that that's tactical writing, like giving a play-by-play of everything. You just wanna make the important bits stand out, not describe the whole thing down to every single grain, "like an instruction manual." I think most beginning writers (myself included) make their writing too flowery, like putting in all these adjectives and big words and tons of metaphors and everything. It just feels too written. I'm glad I'm taking this class. yeah, the class sessions can be boring, but they're very informative and I can correct my writing mistakes now.

3D concepts is fun :D I guess I had a really bad first impression. It's easier to talk to the people in the class now, and the instructor is super nice and friendly. I unexpectedly made friends with someone, which is cool. And today I used the panel saw!!!! It's this big old saw thing that's taller than people. Like this one..

It's scary because it makes such a loud noise! The instructor assured me that it was the safest piece of equipment in the shop, though. Go figure.

I think I blogged before about this really mean student assistant at the woodshop. Anyway, she was there today, watching me and this girl cut a huge piece of wood. She started a conversation with us about the class and everything...turns out she's pretty nice. So much for first impressions.

So i went to Michael's today and got more things...lol. I think I've spent about $250 for my art supplies for Color Theory. Well, luckily I can use these things for future art classes...OH! I bought more fake flowers too! This time for the bathroom. I love fake flowers. I would have bought more, but I can't carry them all because I take the bus. lol. I think next time I'm gonna go back for the cherry blossom stems.

and now for a whole slew of pics

^ San Jose Athletic Club

^ MLK library at night

^ my drawing pads

^ color spectrum hw