Never drive 800+ miles in three days if you can avoid it.

Grandfather's funeral was... nice. My dad put it together, so it was less a standard religious thing and more just everyone telling funny stories about the guy. I liked it. I think it was the best funeral I've ever been too, since it was more the celebration of life then mourning of death.

My sister found her old copy of the soundtrack for Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and gave it to me. We listened to it in the car, and I've got to say, it is one of the most intense and metal soundtracks I've ever heard. Also, slowly but surely, I'm gaining more and more old BB swag for cheap.

Sink's leaking in my dorm faucet pretty bad, I'm thinking of calling maintenance to come and check it out on monday.

Since the first time since the second week of school, I finally feel like I'm not drowning in homework. It's... a really, really nice feeling.

So, like I said, I went back to CO over the weekend. It was... a lot of driving. And I mean a lot. But, it was also fun. I got to hang out with a friend of mine, and give my kitties hugs. I found out a friend of mine is going to be the Queen of Hearts for Halloween, which is an awesome coincidence, since I'm going to be the Mad Hatter. Too bad we'll be 450 miles apart :/ Maybe we can talk our friend in Chicago to be the White Rabbit and we can all be Alice in Wonderland characters together... while apart. I missed getting to hang out with another friend, who turned 21 today, whose birthday I was going to help celebrate early, but I couldn't get a hold of them at all. Which sucks.

I have kind of missed CO. The seasons actually flow right there! I've been so confused about what month it really is down here, because it feels like it's still August. Back home, it was chilly, the first snow of the year had already happened, and most of the trees had lost all their leaves. That, to me, is a normal October. Only last week did the trees down here start to change color, and it's still getting into the 80s some days. THIS IS NOT RIGHT. Though, it did rain today. That's... fall-like, I guess.

I also got my hands on a few comics these past weeks, which I'll probably talk about soon. I've also been working on my SEEKRIT PROJECT. Design phase is almost done, and I'll probably start the actual thing sometime this week. I'm working really hard on it, and it should be really interesting, so keep an eye out for updates.

Trying to stay calm about housing/parking permit stuff going on. Now, instead of being able to get on the parking permit store and then being told I'm not an on-campus student, I can't even reach the site, so I'm thinking it's a problem with the website itself, rather then the housing dept.

Anyways, trying to stay calm and positive. I bought some dorm stuff today, which actually is a really good way to calm down. Normally I hate shopping (especially for clothes, because, to quote my sister, '[I] shop just like a guy, go in, get a pair of pants, try them on, and pay for them in all of 15 minutes'), but for some reason I really enjoy shopping for house stuff. I remember going with my sister when she was trying to buy a cast iron skillet, and just be enchanted by all the neat kitchen gadgets at the store we were at. I also just love buying interior design stuff, probably because the room I live in now, and the one I lived in before that, were original my sister's, and I was just given all her old stuff while she got new stuff. So actually getting some space of my own to decorate is really fun.

I've even bought a lot of stuff based on color, to match my quilt (bright blue, with light blue and lime green), which has been really great. Going around to different stores and trying to find things that match is so much fun for me. Like, I found a $5 lamp that's in the exact same lime green as the green on my quilt, and blue portable drawers that match the blue, and on and on. I also found the most adorable toothbrush holder (my room has a sink in it, so I though having my toothbrush in my room was convenient) that is in the shape of a little green dinosaur popping out of an egg. The egg opens up and you put the top of your brush in it, then you close it, and the back has suction cups to stick to the mirror. It's just so sweet and cute.

Ah, anyways. I'm a loser, I know. But I just find decorating a lot of fun - I love decorating the house for christmas each year, and I wish they we had decorations around for halloween.

I got a mouse for my laptop today. It's an adorable little thing called an Arc mouse. It folds up, which turns off the power and saves the wireless battery, and also creates a little pocket to hold the USB transceiver. It works really well, and since it folds up, it's pretty compact. Sorry to sound like a commercial, but I really like it :3

Frustration at the school continues. Earlier today I got online to order a parking permit. Everything worked, but I didn't have time to place the order, so I logged out of the site and decided to do it later. I tried a few minutes ago, and the site is telling me that I'm not an on-campus student and that I need to apply for housing. FFFFFFFFFFFFFAUGH What's even more annoying is that it's a friday, so I won't be able to call housing and fix this until monday. I'm going to try again tomorrow evening, though, and hope it's just a one-time glitch. :/ Hopefully it is. I hate playing phone tag with the college offices.

My dad's been watching the HBO vampire series 'True Blood' lately. It's got a sort of interesting premise, it that everyone knows that their are vampires around and they more or less accept them. That's not something I've seen in vampire fiction before. However, there are some issues with it. As my dad said, the vampires talk like a bad dub of a Chinese movie. All their dialogue is just stilted, formal, and unnatural. I can understand trying to make the vamps seem older and more refined, but... if a hundreds year old norse vampire can learn to talk in a Texan accent, he can learn to talk not talk like a robot. Also, there's the issue I have with all HBO and Shotime series, in which every episode just sort of has a graphic sex scene shoehorned in. Most of the time it has no bearing on the plot, and reeks of the director saying 'Well, we're allowed to do sex here, so let's make a porno!' Interestingly enough, the only show that doesn't have gratuitous sex all the time is Dexter, which does have a few sex scenes, but most are short and fade to black quickly, and most are done for the sake of character development. OF COURSE, THE SHOW ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER IS THE MOST TASTEFUL SEX-WISE.

Also: fuck you, Watchmen. I get the director's cut, open up the box, aaand... there's a flyer for the 4 hour FINAL CUT. akfjdkakfldjs BAIT AND SWITCH And of course, I'm going to have to buy it when it comes out in december.

Hm. This post has kind of just been all over the place. Ah well.

So, driving test? I failed it because I went over the speed limit.

I retook it today. I failed because a guy illegally pulled out in front of me and the test taker slammed on their brake, meaning insta-fail for me.

NNGGH NNGGH NNGGH

Retaking it in July.

I've also been having some insomnia lately, which is... odd. I usually sleep best in the summer, but lately I've only gotten about 3-4 hours of sleep a night.

So I opened up my first checking account, and I'm going to be getting my first debit card soon. College orientation is on June 23rd, and school starts August 14th.

I keep getting hit with these moments of 'Holy shit. I'm an adult now.'



...and then I find myself standing in line at Target looking at Pokemon cards and seriously considering rebuilding a deck, just because the pack has a buneary on it. Pfft, adulthood.

I'm home! And let me tell you, it feels good to back in Colorado. DC/Virginia is pretty and all, but it's humid there and the restaurants still have smoking sections. Also, hotel beds are uncomfortable, and Virginia drivers seem intent on plowing down pedestrians whether they have the right of way or not. And everyone there goes crazy when it snows, oh my god.

But, I'm back, in the thin air and dry conditions and with my kitties. I'll probably post some of the photos I took tomorrow, though that may wait until Tuesday. My sister's coming into town tomorrow, and we're going to see Watchmen together, so I may be busy tomorrow. She's the one who first got me into the comic, and we promised not to see it without each other.

Also, if you're wondering about that image up at the top of the post? That's a painting by Alex Ross, a FANTASTIC comic artist, who's made some awesome political shirts. I have that on a shirt, which I bought at a tiny comic book store in DC. I think it rocks.

Ha ha, today was a long day.

See, my dad is a renewable energy research chemist. He works with a big renewable energy company that's funded by the government. And in our state, they put on a 'Science Bowl' for high schoolers. Basically, high schools put together teams of 4-5 kids and come be a part of a little competition with... buzzers and chemistry/math/astronomy questions and stuff. Ever since I was 8 or so, I've been a 'runner' for them. Basically, between rounds of questions, I go around and collect the scores and take them back to the people keeping track of who's in the lead and whatnot. Today was this year's competition, and the last year I'll be a runner. So, today involved a lot of walking around and cutting through crowds of high schoolers that DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BLOCK HALLWAYS JESUS CHRIST* and talking to science-y types and stuff.

That was from... oh, 7am to 4pm. And then I got home and remembered, oh, I was invited to go laser tagging for a friends birthday at 5:30! Of course... said friend didn't tell anyone where we were laser tagging. Aaaand other friends could not get a hold of birthday friend. Eventually we got the address, but... it seemed wrong. But, we decide to meet birthday friend anyways. And while we're car-pooling there, we get a phone call - birthday friend was totally wrong about address of laser tag place! It's really all the way across town, in the 'burbs! So, we were already downtown. So we just got pizza at an awesome pizza place/goth bar, poked around a Hot Topic to make fun of goth kids (and my friends tried to get me to try on some leather pants - not gonna happen) and then poke around a book store some. Then I got home around 8:45.

So. Long day. And next weekend will be long too, as I'm doing some band stuff all day on Friday and Saturday. Also, I turn 18 on the 5th! I'm going to take people out bowling. While wearing funny hats. Yeah. Fun times!

Time to pass out now.



*By the way, might as well explain why this pisses me off so much. I have Enochlophobia, the fear of crowds. Being surrounded by more then 8 people can upset me, and group hugs honestly scare me. If I'm stuck in a big crowd too long, I start to panic, hyperventilate, and, on one occasion, have an anxiety attack and need to be taken to the nurse's office. So, I hate when people stand in the middle of halls/block doorways/etc. It really bothers me. Interestingly enough, I don't have Claustrophobia or Agoraphobia at all.

Happy New Year, everyone! (Though, at the time of writing this, it's only 11:30 in CO, but whatever.)

Once again, I did nothing to celebrate. Well, except for getting beat up at Tai Chi, eating tamales and drinking mexican hot chocolate (omnomnon), and watching movies with my dad. We watched Hairspray, which was wonderful. (I love musicals. I'm not ashamed to admit it. My favorite is Little Shop of Horrors.) We also watched Beneath the Planet of the Apes, which was one of the most ridiculously horrible movies I've ever seen - though I hear the rest of the series is even worse. Honestly, I think it might top Zardoz in my list of terrible B movies.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a good new year! 2009... I'll be graduating high school this year, and then starting college. I really hope that goes well.

Things to do:

- fill out CU application
- write CU essays
- finish FL application
- write FL essay
- mail UNM scholarship stuff
- post in T9 (as Terry) (as z5)
- write more in Paper Bird part 2
- get new sketchbook
- color FR pokemon picture
- find holiday peeps
- work on painting for sister
- buy santa hat
- find tiny screwdriver for saxaphone parts to loosen that damn screw
- pick up class ring

Urgle. Still busy as hell. Should be finished soon, though - college apps due this weekend, ACT this saturday. Theeen the hell that is christmas.

So, hey, that writing contest I entered Paper Bird in? I won first place. :B I feel a small, awesome sense of accomplishment.

All my college apps are in except one, which is pretty great. Still need to send some scholarship stuff in. And I'm going to a parade Saturday night with some close friends, so that'll be fun.

Going out of town for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'm going to visit my sister, and the family will eat in her apartment. This... is going to be nuts, I just know it. Dad will be stressed from doing to drive across the state. Mom will be stressed from cooking with a crappy electric stove. Sis will be stressed from buying all the food with the money she really needs to pay rent. I'll be stressed from not being able to get away from the crazy in the smallish apartment.

fakdhfjdd JOY.

Well, I'll still have pecan pie and turkey! :D

I got trendy new glasses. I really like the way they look, but they have no-line bifocal, which is new and weird to me. It makes me feel weird going down stairs. My friend Twiggy's reaction to seeing my new glasses (and slightly changed hair style) was that I now look like one of those girly j-pop boys. And my friend D told me that I could now do good cosplay of Urataros from Kamen Rider Den-O. :B I think of it like this:
Player AMRED acquired item new glasses
+5 androgyny
+2 charisma
EQUIP Y/N?

I should take some pictures and post 'em.

Aaaand getting back to the point of this post, I'll be out of town without internet until the 30th. 29th at the earliest.

Oh, and I finally started working on the 4th pokemon trainer/team picture. I got a new plasma monitor, though, and it's brighter then my old one. The colors look a bit harsher too. So I'm messing around with the image a lot, trying to get good colors.

Oof. Life is out to get me this month. Busy like whoa. Here's basically how my next few weeks will play out:
Monday: school from 7:30 to 3:30
Tuesday: school (same times), kung fu from 5:30 to 7:30 if I feel like it (which I rarely do on tuesday)
Wednesday: school from 7:30 to 12, tai chi from 5:30 to 7:30
Thursday: school (normal time), ride two buses and a train from 3:40 to 5, math tutoring from 5:30 to 8:30
Friday: school
Saturday: kung fu from 10:30 to 12:30
Sunday: math tutoring from 10:30 to 12:30

And any free time is for filling out college apps, scholarship apps, and a bit of TV and rping. aldfgjkg

Ack, busy busy busy. Life's gonna get complicated for me very soon. And that is becaaause:
1. I'm doing an independent research paper for my astronomy class. It's giving me college credit, which ROCKS OUT LOUD, but I've never written a scientific paper before. I am lit person, not a science person. I chose a pretty easy subject (effect of meteors on people, Ann Hodges style), but I have NO idea how to write this paper, and I need more resources. And this is due the first week of november. Sheeeet...
2. Visiting UNM next week, and missing hallowe'en. D:
3. COLLEGES. BITCH TITS. MUST APPLY. MUST GET SCHOLARSHIPS. BEFORE THANKSGIVING FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK

I'm trying my damn hardest NOT to go insane. God damn cut is STILL not healed, but getting there. I've had serious artist's block. I should do my work instead of watching X-men Evolution online.

In less... frantic news, my friend X turns 20 today. And I got myself a little buneary figurine.

Nyyyeeeer gotta stay calm.

I hate web design with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. If I ever go into computers as a career, it'll be programming robots. And I'll either make Johnny 5, or an army of Terminators. I'll either have fun robot adventures or kill everything. It would be fun either way.

In other news, this week has been crazy and busy. Awesome in some parts, like getting to watch Rear Window in Lit. Depressing in some, because of George. Painful in others, because of running two miles for gym class. But I get the weekend free, so I'm going to take some time to really relax and get some art done.

Huh. Wow, I haven't posted in a while. And I haven't really had time to do the arts stuff. But, um, rambling time?

This week has been a pretty fantastic week. It was spirit week at school, and we had some pretty interesting themes. Lets see, they were: 50s day, Superhero day, Disney day, Rave day, and School Color day. I've never done spirit week before, but this time I did, and it was a lot of fun! Monday I dressed up like James Dean, Tuesday I made myself a Batman Beyond shirt, Wednesday I was Disney's Mulan (complete with Little Dragon as Mushu :3) Thursday I got to wear my old parachute-type pants, and today my hair is purple. Fun times!

My weekend is going to be crazy busy, though, because I'm going to Nan Desu Kan. I'll be there this evening, most of the day on Saturday, and probably Sunday morning. Saturday is also my school's homecoming parade, and I'm going to be riding the band/choir float dressed in a marching band uniform and carrying my saxaphone. So... busy, but a fun kind of busy.

Also, today is my dad's 54th birthday. He's spending it off in the mountains, fishing by himself, as he has for the past few years. He's one of the coolest people I know, and I hope he'll live another 54 years. (I'm sure he will, he's really healthy)

Oh, and as for T9 - I'll still have access to a computer, so I should be able to post their at least a few times over the weekend. And the hotel the con is at has wifi, so I'm going to take my DS and finally get to do some online pokemon playin'!

I've never been really satisfied with Face's costume. I think I may have finally found a design I'm happy with, though, and that would be the above. Of course, it would still have a Badass Long Coat over it.

Spent my labor day weekend... doing manual labor. My parents, sister, and myself were painting the exterior of my granddad's house. We got 4 of the 5 sides painted, but ran out of the main color of paint. Next weekend, my aunt and uncle will finish up the main part and start on the trim. We'll go back down in a couple of weeks to do touch ups. Weather was okay for the painting, and over all it went smoothly. Only real problem was that there was a lot of bags of manure in my granddad's garage, which was connected to the house, and right next to the walls we were painting. We had evil blood thirsty flies swarming all over us, biting us, and getting in the paint. I fucking hate bugs.

Whatever it is that's been making me sneeze was even worse at my granddad's house. I was sneezing every couple of minutes down there, and my eyes were really irritated. I took some allergy medicine, and that did help my eyes, but it made it so I couldn't breath through my nose. I'm doing okay now, with just a bit of sneezing.

Got my convention confirmation email today. Now, I need to really get to work on my costume. I still need for it:
- henna tattoo stuff
- urban camo vest
- finish my turtle helmet
- make a pirate flag

Should be able to get it all finished in time.

Painting-doodle of Amred to try and work out some artist's block.

( Rant about my hate for a certain person )

So, it my last post, I sort of mentioned allergies. Well, lately, the burning eyes feeling has gone away. However the sneezing is still there. Today, I must have had at least five sneezing fits.

Also, on Monday, I had a really bad nose bleed. I was walking home, and was about two blocks away, and my nose just started dripping blood. I really couldn't do anything - there was no one around to help, and I didn't have any tissue. So I just sort of stood on the sidewalk, leaned forward a bit, and let it bleed. I was pretty much gushing blood for two minutes, then it slowed down, and I rushed home. I looked like I'd just killed someone, there was that much blood on my hands. And my left nostril oozed blood a bit for about ten minutes after the initial bleed. And since I'm still sneezing like mad, I'm really thinking I should consult a doctor.

Trying to work out how the DEC sleep. They couldn't sleep on their backs, because their tail would get in the way. But they're bipedal, so I don't really see them curling up like an animal. So, I'm thinking they sleep on their stomachs. This particular DEC is Z5. (Who I am trying to app in T9)

There was some angst here, but I deleted it. :B

On a lighter note, my english teacher keeps singing Dr. Horrible songs during class. :D Best teacher I've ever had, I swear.

Also, I think I've developed an allergy to mold. Earlier this year, in late winter, I was sneezing a lot and had dry eyes. Now, I'm also sneezing a lot, and it feels like my eyes aren't even producing tears right. Both times it's been when right after heavy snow/rain. I've never had any sinus allergies before (though, I have a skin allergy to nickel, like most all humans, and I can't do woodshop working with soft woods like mahogany, because it gives me a bad rash) so I'm not sure what to do. If I can avoid taking medication, I will, because I don't really like pills. But, it is kind of annoying.

No art, because I am a lazy fuck who doesn't feel like scanning anything. Instead you get me blabbering about my life.

So. I start school tomorrow. My senior year. The year I'm getting uniforms forced on me. The year I need to apply to colleges. The year I get my driver's license. The year the school is trying to fuck up by giving me four AP classes and no gym or electives. The year I GRADUATE.

....meh. I'm kinda glad to be going back, really. I've been feeling kind of bored and need to get back to interacting with people.

I saw Mamma Mia today.
( Review in short: I like musicals )
One of the previews before the movie was for 'Hamlet 2'. It reminds me so much of my friends attempts at acting, that I just HAVE to see it. That, and for the song 'Rock me sexy Jesus'.

So, for the longest time, I used an uncomfortable wheeled wooden chair at the computer. It finally broke a while ago, and I used a cheap, armless desk chair. I finally replaced it, with a big, padded, comfy office chair. Really, I want to sleep in this chair, that's how nice it is.

Also, I loooove Traaaans Niiiiiiine.