Wednesday, July 19th

nostalgia.

Classical @ 07:00 pm CST

uggh... so much emo, guys.

i have only been home from new york for a couple of hours, and i already miss the city terribly. it was one crazy-ass whirlwind trip and during some of the hottest temperatures the area has ever experienced, but goddamnit... i loved it.

saturday: my sister and i joined my mother on long island after the most obnoxious flight i have ever taken. goddamn children... there was this lady whose kid screamed the WHOLE DAMN TIME and she just...tuned it out. did nothing about the kid and just let the thing scream, thouroughly pissing everyone off.
once we got there, we just settled in... ordered room service (best caramel-apple pie EVER) and watched one of those pay-per-view movies that aren't even released yet... v for vendetta. :DD

sunday: got up freakishly early to drop some of my mother's friends at the airport and then travel inner city. we were in a hotel that was on 8th and 42nd... and if you know new york, that's one block from both times square and broadway. had the most fabulous view from the 22nd floor, where our room was.
and then we explored a little. all my mother seemed to be interested in was the goddamn tourist traps, so we dragged us to the rockfieller building to climb to the top to see the city and whatnot. aside from the damn lines and the stupid photo booth we just had to go through, the view was pretty cool. tried to sketch some, but i got bitched at for being too close to the windows. whatevs. on the way out, we popped into this interesting little japanese bookstore on the corner. though i couldn't read half of the stuff in the books, it was cool to look at.
thennnn we had to go get dolled up for wicked. :D which was super-fabulous. elphaba and glinda were well-portrayed and had good voices. and it had some amazing costumes, which i could see so well from the second row, hahah. i picked up a hoodie (though over-priced).
afterward, we ate and then mother insisted on dragging us down to the dumb ferry that loops around staten island. i didn't bother getting up to see the statue of liberty or anything; i was content drawing some people around me. i LOVED riding the subway there, though, for some reason... it was a good place to people-watch and do gesture drawings. much, much fun.
took a cab back to the hotel because my mother was paranoid about riding the subway after eight, wtf. then shower, crash, burn.

monday: college visit daaaaay. we inhaled some food at this cute cafe right next to the hotel, then rode the subway up to the school of visual arts. took a short tour, listened to them talk in absolutely no air-conditioning, etc. there were about eight other groups there, all female, and most of them were there for advertising and graphic design. so i was majorly out-of-place.

school of visual arts
pros: i liked the area a lot; it was located in east village.
the faculity are an interesting sort, since they are all part-time professionals and teachers. so they have fresh experience and connections. it was enticing.
cons: their illustration and comic art (or as they call it there "cartooning," ugh) departments were really disappointing. what work i got to see from them was really, really lame. a lot of it really cliched stuff. the unoriginality was stifling.
it is also very difficult to get around. they have about ten different buildings and they're located all over the place in this large twenty-by-twenty block grid. if i were attending there, i probably wouldn't visit most of the buildings regularily, anyway... but you have to walk to each building. there's no forms of transportation (unless you want to pay for a bus or cab) otherwise.

needless to say, SVA isn't very high on my list anymore.
after that, i found an art supply store, hehe. so i had to stopped and i picked up some liquid inks that i can use safely in my brushpens!
then we popped back to the hotel for lunch and a break, because the heat was really starting to get bad. then my mother dragged my sister and i to columbia university for a boring lecture about the same stuff and a tour in which i sweated my ass off on.

columbia university
pros: well, umm, it's an ivy league school. with the right stuff, the minute you get out of that college, you're pretty much assured a job.
it is also a reeeeally nice area. like they put it, it's like living in a university town in the middle of the biggest urban area in the us. everything's super-ritzy and very accessable.
cons: i will definitely not be attending. they don't even have a major in visual arts there. in order to get a 'concentration' in the visual arts, you'd have to major in art history in connection with bernard university that is down a couple of blocks from columbia. i looked at the requirements for it and it was like... ehhh... i only take five classes, most of which are just on color theory and stuff? no fucking way.
the people i met there were also incredibly boring. the guides had like, no personality. the people i was touring with were so dull. the school is all about "conformity," which makes it sound closer to a military academy than it really should've.

so, yeah, i'm not going there.
back to the hotel again to clean up and make ourselves look really nice, because we were off to phantom of the opera that night. i ate the most expensive steak i have ever had before, but it was amazingly delicious. the meat practically melted in your mouth, haha. then we walked the one block to the theatre and was there. :D
so i've already seen phantom on stage, but it was nice a second time. since it was the non-tour one, the visuals were so much better than what i saw here locally. the costumes were gorgeous, the lighting effects and everything were so awesome. however, i despised the actresses who played christine and her little friend...meg, that's it. UGH, meg had absolutely no singing talent whatsoever. her voice was so damn nasally. i did love raoul's voice and the phantom was pretty good, too, so that's all fine and dandy.
then we went back to the hotel, showered, lather, rinse, repeat.

tuesday: we were up before the sun was at five-thirty, so we could get on a seven o'clock train out to rhode island. it was so neat to see the city so sleepy in the morning (just as i was, haha) and all at peace.
anyway, the train was three hours, so i mostly tried to sleep during the time. i really enjoyed the train ride, though. it is totally unnerving, knowing how much i hate to fly. very comfortable. anyway, we got off in providence, rhode island to see brown university (to, again, please my mother) and rhode island school of design.

brown university
pros: the guide was neat. he focused on the campus life and all the unconventional fun that they have. and it's appealing. it sounds like a great place to just...have fun, y'know. it's an old school with a lot of history, myths, and traditions.
it was a huge campus, but it was easy to get around and stuff.
and, y'know, ivy league. i really liked how they do their programs... there is none of that 'core' bullshit, so you can really focus on a field of study. it's the right thing for someone like me, who is very sure at least the field she wants to major in.
cons: can't major in visual arts, because they don't even have a visual arts department. the only way i could do something like that is by taking classes at risd for a minor, but what the hell is the point of that. i might as well just enroll at risd instead.
they also lack a lot of the creative types. it was a real academic atmosphere, which it should be, really, but they have very little culture. i was talking to a guy who was a theatre major there and he was thining about changing schools, just because there is so little culture there for him, even though the people there are just...different.
the first impression i got of the people there is that they are snobs. there was this woman, who apparently was a dean of students or something of that sort, who referred to me as a "child" and told me to not sit on the floor while waiting for the tour, even though there weren't any chairs left to sit on. that irked me, immensely. :|

by the end of the tour, we were just...dying. it was the hottest day of the year, breaking records for temperature and... yeah. we had a quick lunch to get some air-conditioning blasted on us, and then we trekked back up that goddamn hill the colleges are on for risd.

rhode island school of design
pros: their illustration department is really strong. very appealing.
the tour guides talked about a lot of the stuff they did in the classes, as they were rising juniors themselves. all the different experimentations with some unconventional mediums drew me in.
they are also extremely well-equipped when it comes to resources. the nature lab they had was super-cool. lots of stuffed animals and bugs in glasses and skeletons (and pieces of skeletons!) to study from.
cons: as alexa told me, they're a bit snobbish. as soon as i mentioned that i was interested in "comic art," i immediately got the impression the lady thought i was an idiot japanophile who wanted to make manga and whatevers. she assumed a lot about me just because i said that and treated me like i didn't know what i was doing, even though i knew a LOT more than the four other college-seekers there. kinda tried to hold my hand through everything she talked about. it really...pissed me off.
while i am a strong believer in lots of experimentation, i don't like the idea of not being able to even touch my own interests in my major until late in the second year. they reminded me of columbia in the way that they try to "bring everyone up to an acceptable level" before allowing us to even show interest in a major. conformity and all that. 'doing a bit of everything' is not always the best way to create a successful portfolio, honestly... after doing this stuff for a year and a half, that gives you less time to focus on what you're aiming for in life and build a portfolio specifically for it.

we ducked out when i spotted the risd art store (!!), mostly because we didn't want to trek up that goddamn hill for a second time in the heat and the train station was at the bottom of the hill. i managed to pick up some pencils and markers for the cheapest prices i have ever seen them at. <333
so, at that time, we had to kill two hours before the train came. if it wasn't so goddamn hot out, we would've stayed to wander the local shops and maybe even venture into that five-story shopping mall brown bragged about, but no one had the energy for it. all i wanted to do at that point was sit on an air-conditioned train for three hours and SLEEP.
my mother then arranged for us to get on an earlier train. which gave us an idea... we were to get back in time to go see one more broadway show. we were able to pick up tickets for spamalot, and i was much happy at that point. once we were back in manhattan, we were supposed to have an hour to run back to the hotel, clean up, change, and go out again.
however, the train took much longer than it was supposed to. we got in TWO HOURS LATE. i mean, i would understand a half an hour delay, maybe forty-five minutes, but two whole goddamn hours?! we pulled into the station, ran for a taxi, and just went straight to the theatre. we had already missed most of the first act. that was super frustrating...
however, the ticket people were really understanding and let us in. and i didn't miss my favorite parts of the movie, so it turned out to be very worthwile, even from my crappy last-minute seat. saw the french taunter, the bright side of life song, the black knight, the knights who say ni, and so on, and so forth. it was lots of fun and a very good show. :D i will have to see it again if/when it comes through minneapolis, so i can see the first act in full. bought a shirt with cows on it. "fetchez la vache!" XD
when we got out, it was POURING. the cold front that we all wanted so badly was rolling in on our last night and we had to run back to the hotel in the rain. since the weather sucked, we were forced to order over-priced room service instead of going out for that sushi i had been wanting the whole trip... though i did get calamari instead.

wednesday: nothing here. we got up, packed things up, ate breakfast, and then got a lift to the airport. suck, suck, suck. bumpiest airplane ride ever; i was panicking the whole way.

and thus, it was the most amazing trip ever. and i will miss that city immensely. i haven't gotten so attached to a place since i visited maui... and this attachment outshadows that one completely.
when i walked into the city, i immediately felt at home. (it took a bit to get used to the smell of melting trash on the streets the first day, though. XD) my favorite part was simply just...walking around the city, getting losts in mobs of people, and absorbing the culture. i loved riding the subways... had i the option to, i would've ridden the thing for a couple of hours and just sketched people as they came and went.
my mother complained about all the people. but that was my favorite part! not only because of the diversity, but because i could feel totally independent among millions of people. it's not like i had to make conversation with all these people regularily; i could still keep my distance and be within all the busy the city offered me. plus the city lives on my own hours, haha. late nights, early mornings. everything. the constant change, flow, and commotion of the city... i could never get bored of it.
and there was just so much i didn't get to see that i wanted to see.

god, i loved it.

and now that i've taken too long to write this XD, i am feeling less emo about leaving... but i know i will want to return really soon for a much longer stay. fuck, i would even love to live there.
the big apple isn't for everyone, but i think it's for me.

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Monday, July 10th

con report!

Classical @ 10:25 am CST

so i'm back from CONvergence, liek whoa!
this was my third year going there, and was probably the most disappointing of them all. but i still did have fun.

as per normal, we started our journey with the dealer's room and the art show. the russian lady with all the cool stuff was back this year (she was there the first year, but not last year), so i made sure to pick up the 'mclenin's' t-shirt that i had missed out on the first year. and that was it, beside some more buttons. :B
i wish i had picked up this one artist's business card or something at the art show, because i fell in love with their works.

and then... we didn't do too much. the cinema and the anime room were not playing very good films or anime this year. we watched azumanga daioh for about two hours. my brain started leaking out of my ears after an hour, though. XD that is such a...mind-numbing show. i can't watch it for more than a little while without feeling my brain cells dying.

so more wandering-around happened. we picked up dinner at the tgi friday's across the parking lot so we could eat it in line for the masquerade. which was fabulous and totally worth waiting for two hours in line for to get a good seat. <3 waiting wasn't much of an issue, anyway... i savored ze cajin shimp and chicken pasta i got and then did some sketches of some of the congoers.
ANYWAY. omg, the enteries were so awesome this year. there was this really great lady in a jellyfish costume that was so expertly put together. it was beautiful. and then... there was the insanely awesome doctor who/rocky horror crossover with a bit of 'pimp my ride u.k. style' mixed in to make me oh-so happy. we were time warping in our seats, so much fun.
some other great enteries was a skit from 'alice in wonderland'... it was entered in the 'novice' catergory, but the costumes were so damn original and creative and well-put together that i don't think they were really such novices. XD and then, of course, a great jack sparrow costume, a dance from hello kitty (when klingons go corporate), and 'llamatron 2000.'
the professional skits from soylent theatre were really good, too, even though i didn't understand a couple of the references they made. otherwise, yay!

and then came toast (this year was vanilla pudding with cinnamon and sprinkles) and the midnight movie. which was...TERRIBLE. lifeforce is like watching soft-core space vampire cable porn. it was totally made just for the sake of seeing this naked woman walk around on screen for an hour. and though i am very numb when it comes to blood and gore, there was this one scene that made my stomach turn a little and i actually had to look away.
besides that, the acting was terrible and the plot had more holes than you could shake a stick at. i made several trips to the bathroom so i wouldn't have to watch all of it. (i passed the main area a few times; there was like...this rave going on or something. XD y'know how hotels always smell like chlorine? the smell of booze completely overpowered that right there.) i was so tempted to leave after that because of my dissapointment, but i stuck around with alexa and her friend from MCAD, tyler, for the fifth element.

and that totally made up for it. XD
slightly cyber-punk movies made me happy inside. i loved that movie to pieces.

after that, i was so wired from all the caffiene and the complete mood turn-around that i stayed up 'til six-thirty with alexa and tyler and some of his friends, sitting in front of the coffee shop and laughing at the strangest things. we counted drunk people, told stories, and laughed at the strangest things. i spotted my 'eye candy for the con,' who was this guy that i think i've seen there before, but in any case, he looked exactly like keanu reeves.
anyway, we were all lying on the couches and unable to get up by then, but i dragged my ass to bed for four hours so i wouldn't be totally dead the next day.
though it didn't help much. :P

i left pretty much right away so i could get some shopping done. which was a dumb idea, but i had to try. the trip to the mall was rather unsuccessful, though i did pick up this awesome striped zipper hoodie.

so, in all, the lack of good movies and anime was pretty dissapointing, because that's what we usually spend our time doing there. but the masquerade, the fifth element, and my t-shirt pretty much made up for it not being a total dissapointment.
i just hope next year's better. :D we will all be eighteen then and not needing parential guidance. i think we will try to bring more people then, along with costumes and staying there the whole three days next time.

[link]

whoooooa~ busy!

Classical @ 08:49 am CST

arrrg, i am already so so so bored. i can feel it seeping in through my ears like a diseeeease.

so it's the day before the fourth. no one is in the office today, especially not the people who give me anything to do. thus, i am pretty much left to fend for myself until either the 'phone starts ringing or something...happens.

yawn. :|

what a waste of a day, really.
i could be at home right now, getting things done that i have to get done. this week's agenda consists of getting ready for CONvergence this weekend (which i am so frekaing excited for; apparently lots of people are coming with us this year) that involves me making my not-so-secret-anymore cosplay thing still, running a few shopping errands with my mother before she leaves for new york ahead of my sister and i next week, and putting my room back together.

we ventured to the land of the swedes yesterday (more formally known as IKEA) and bought a bit of new furniture for all the bedrooms. since my parents have some extra monies to spare at the moment because we just sold our cabin, we're using those funds to fix up our home.
my parents say the plan is to increase the property value as much as possible through renovations before the new highway gets put in two years from now, when it will be a good time for my parents to sell our home and move elsewhere like they plan on. since i-312 will allow traffic to come from downtown minneapolis straight to chaska without hitting a stoplight and it goes right past my neighborhood, it's going to increase everyone's property values right there because they'll be so accessable for the upper-class businesspeople who would be able to afford these houses.

of course, i'll be long gone by then, so what do i care. :B

anyway, i have this cabinet/tv stand coming on wednesday that goes with the two tall bookcases i brought home last night, plus a nightstand and a new chair for my room that DOESN'T SQUEAK. <3 seriously, i was getting so sick of the damn chair making so much noise.
though i know where it came from. i happen to be sitting on the same model of chair right now at work. >_>

i will also, at long last, upgrading my bed from a twin to a full. i have wanted a larger bed for so long, you have no idea. however, with my wee living spaces, it really wasn't possible until i got rid of all the stuff i have over the years.
i have very little clutter these days... i mean, i just threw out three garbage bags full of trash from my room, plus filled up a large bucket full of stuff for charity. i have a bit more to sort through, but that was all the stuff i have stored in the boxes under my bed, in my closet, and in the dresser that i am now getting rid of because it is empty.

we got this giantantic dumpster, by the way. it's sitting in our driveway and we've filled up like, a third of it with CRAP. i got to help fling this lighty reindeer we have for christmas into there, which made a table leg bounce out and set off my car's alarm. XD everyone is tossing clutter, which is nice, but we're having the worst time getting my brother to give up stuff. he is so goddamn clingy that he'll throw FITS if we try to throw away like, mcdonald's toys or whatever.
but you have no idea how much fun it is throwing shit into a dumpster.

anyway, all i have left is a couple of small flats under my bed with stuff in them, and a bucket in the closet full of my stuffed animals. then i have my whole craft--whoa, i just had to totally save this halfway and log off, because the lady i share this computer with came in an insisted that she checked her e-mail NOW--bin and whatever the hell is on my desk. but most of that's art supplies and stuff. important. stuff i use regularily.

THUS, i don't have a lot of stuff, and because i don't, i can get a bigger bed, whoo. XD we'll have to travel a bit to get the matress from the good place back by where i used to live, and then make a trip back to IKEA for the bed frame and new sheets. and hopefully a rug.
we saw this rug on display and it is so PERFECT, you have no idea. since all the wood in my bedroom is cherry-stained, it has a reddish tint alongside the muted green paint and everything in my room. so they had this shag rug that was mostly green, but has dark red accents. SO PERFECT. but we get downstairs and we can't find it, because guess what! they sold out.
so we have our name down, first on a list, to be contacted once they rotate that display out later this week. i hope i get it. it was just...so right. T^T

however, my room is...trashed right now. XD i won't be able to find anything for a few days, because all the stuff that was on my desk and stuff is now in assorted piles on my bedroom floor.
but i just don't think i'll get to cleaning a lot of it before CONvergence, honestly. i will have to put together all the furniture i get before my mother leaves so we can make sure things look right, but even before that, i need to get my cosplay thing done. i'll probably be working on that into the night tonight and tomorrow and assembling furniture on wednesday night and into thursday, plus packing for CONvergence and getting clothes for new york with my mother and everything.
waaaaah.
but the coat and my room will both be most awesome once i do get them done. it might just be into next week.

oh wells!
apparently i have some work to do... involves me looking through boring magazines to find ads and press releases for the clients this company has, which is about as interesting as watching soup cool down.
so i guess i'm off.

[link]

new layout~

to-do.

nostalgia.

con report!

guys, i'm scared.

water wooooooes.

ARRRRGH

whoooooa~ busy!