Massacusetts

Woohoo! Here I am in the Stockbridge Library, alive and well. Things are going great. I really love my job so far, and the people I work with are all really cool, I'm so busy that I hardly even notice my lack of internet...

Well, that's not exactly true. Yesterday, we managed to get dial-up in the prop shop for research, and I was able to check my email for the first time in a few days. After I was finished, I walked outside. My boss noticed me, made a strange face, and said "You look like you just had sex! You're SICK!"

Okay okay, so maybe I am a bit addicted to the internet, but I'm sure I'll get over it. Some highlights from the past week.

- I drove up here with Jeff, and for the whole 900 miles of the drive, his cat, Pollock, rode on my lap. My first impression at Berkshire was me covered in cat fur, but I didn't mind so much.

- It was cold here the first couple of days. The other day, I spilled a bowl of hot soup on my leg, and my first reaction was "Mmm, that feels really good..."

- While prop hunting yesterday, I came across a shop called "Needful Things." Is that not a little creepy? In New England no less! I was almost sure that if I went in, I would be able to locate the more difficult props (like a 1930's payphone), but that I'd have to sell my soul in return. I passed the shop quietly.

- There's a glass gallery here! Right here in little 'ole Stockbridge! I peeked in the window today, and they have Lino Tagliapietra stuff and Chihuly stuff and Billy Morris stuff! I'm going to have to go in there on Sunday and gawk and drool.

- So far, this is like summer camp for grown ups. However, you should take that with a grain of salt, as I've never been to summer camp before. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to update this journal every week or so (though, I'm afraid chances of getting my website updated look grim).

I hope everyone is doing well! Keep me informed of adventures on your end!

The End!

Whoosh! I let a lot happen with no entries. Here we go...

Finals went well. Senior week was relatively good (a lot of packing and playing of video games). A lot of bonding happened. Jeff taught me to drive a stick (which is good, since I'll be helping with the driving to Massachusetts, it'll be good to know how x_x). For the first time since high school, we broke out the old Magic cards (D Flo and , after killing me and Brendan off, spent like 2 more hours trying to kill each other).

While Wednesday and Thursday were full of cheer and play and video games, Friday was a bit intense in the wrong way. The night was highlighted by the completion of our year long proclamation of "Dude! We should hook up two x-boxes!" I totally won. Anyway, that was the fun part. The un-fun part was that every sliver of residual drama leftover and building up throughout the entire year EXPLODED. Drama here, drama there, venting here, crying there, misery and ranting and purging, you know...it probably would have been less dramatic if not for the addition of alcohol to the whole formula. Feh, no good.

Saturday, I frantically gathered the last of my belongings, went home, spent like 3 collective hours with my family, came back to school, took one more "confidence drive" on the stick shift, bought a cake, sat down to spend some time with my friends before they graduate...and realized it was frickin midnight! Tomorrow will be madness, with graduation (I have to be a Junior Marshall, which, unfortunately, does not involve guns, a star, not even a cowboy hat). Jeff wants to leave for Massachusetts right after commencement, so no summer break for Lisa.

Long story short, I'll be noticeably absent from the internet for the summer. If anyone's trying to email me at my aol address, I've blocked it from email (to cut back on the spam for the summer), so mail me instead at my wertle.com address. I was intent on doing one more website update before I left, but that didn't happen. Alas! Well, there will always be the library. I imagine it will be slightly difficult to cram all of my normal internet chores into 15 minutes, but I'll manage. I'll at the very least try and update this one.

I hope everyone has a lovely summer! I'd like to reflect on the year, what I've learned, experiences that have been important to me, life lessons and all that, but I don't have time. Never enough time!!!!!!!!

David Flora--musical genius (part III)

Another theme based on one of his classmates..

Dilengaire

He's got that whole "capture personality with music" bit down pretty good.

David Flora--musical genius (part 2)

The Centre composers put a show together awhile back, and I fetched up a recording of it so I could show off D Flo's music again.

These pieces (I'll post one now and one later) had to be played off the composition software, because our dear Flora writes music that is TOO COMPLEX FOR HUMAN HANDS. The midi piano sounds really good, though.

This is a theme based on one of his classmates:
Grace Period

Enjoy!

Hello Moon

The Matrix Reloaded has become a new and easy way to pick out exactly who speaks French among a group of people gathered in a movie theater.

I watched the eclipse tonight, it was nice and clear (save a few wandering clouds), and it was fun to rouse up others in the vacinity to go and watch. It started out as a large group of students and professors lounging on the side of the road to watch. As the eclipse lingered in totality for a bit, people wandered back in to study for their respective exams, or get sleep or some such.

I chilled out a bit longer outside, watching the moon with Sheldon's cat, and took Inky's departure to go do kittie night time things as a signal to head on in. By in, of course, I mean Rodes. Brendan, D Flo, and Alison left long ago to do a scene rehearsal, and have not been back. I fear Grant has eaten them. I hope they got to see the eclipse also.

Discrete Math exam tomorrow, then I'm clear until Monday. Although I feared the speed with which the year was ending, I forgot how everything seems to sloooooooooow down during finals week. It's a good thing.

CD Player Woes

My CD player is shot, which I discovered late last night after tearing apart my entire room to figure out what that obnoxious buzzing noise was.

I got my first portable CD player for my birthday when I was in the 6th grade. It was a Sony, and it lasted me until my sophomore year in college. I think that...(does some finger-toe math)..8 years is quite a respectable lifespan for a cd player. Granted, by that time it was a clunky old warhorse, had to be held closed with a rubberband, and needed extra encouragement to get the buttons to work, but it still did its job.

Sophomore year of college, after Christmas and before my England trip, I decided to treat myself to a new cd player, and retire the warhorse. The wretched new thing barely lasted 6 months before it broke. I tried going up on price a bit with the next one, an Aiwa that was working wonderfully until last night. I had so much faith in it!

Now, I do put my cd players through some abuse. I fall asleep on them, drop them, smash them in my backpack, expose them to dangerous chemicals (oil paints), and the like. I might need to break down and buy a "really nice" one next. I don't know if I can find one that I can squeeze another 8 years out of, but one that would last at *least* a year would be nice.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Last Day

Today was awfully busy for being the last day of classes, especially since I only had one class! I was running all around to go to meetings and picnics and blowslots and stuff. The last glass slot of the year is always a bit bittersweet...good because by this point I'm exhausted of the studio in general, bad because I know it won't be until the fall until I get back in the hot shop. I bought my closers some cookies tonight, because they've done such a good job helping me close all year. Last time to close the studio, my hands are free of art barn responsibilities! (Except for finishing my final project, of course).

So, technically, I suppose I should be out frolicking since there are no classes tomorrow, but I'm terribly tired from the day. Plus, everyone seems a bit busy tonight, too busy for fun. I did get on my universal AIM settings today for the first time in like FOREVER. It was nice to have some time to just sit and chat.

I don't know when I intend on getting out of bed tomorrow. I considered setting the whole day aside for rest, since my first final isn't until Friday, but I think I have too much work to do. I have a lot of coldworking to do in the studio, and I need to get my materials from classes all organized in preparation for studying. I also need to start packing things...things to go home and things to go to Massachusetts with me this summer. I suppose tomorrow (well...today, technically) will be a work day, and Thursday will be reserved for such fun things as the Matrix and lunar eclipses.

Ramble

I tend to think about a lot of things under the delirium of being sick. I got a nasty cold-thing earlier in the week, and I'm just starting to get better. However, under my icky daze, I found time to ponder great questions in life. Who am I? What am I going to do with my future? Why do I have "4 dimensional Mandelbrot set" written on my hand? Being sick induces strange things.

I think I may have found a solution to my art focus problem. On a glass trip to Louisville the other day, I saw some work by Lisabeth Sterling, and was absolutely astounded. She does very detailed and elaborate engravings on glass, and it struck me that if I should try this, it may very well be the perfect combination of 2D and 3D that I've been looking for. I'm going to give some engravings a shot for my final project this year, and see how I feel about it.

Needless to say, that is a big relief to me. Consequently, it made room for some other worrisome bits. May is flying out from underneath me, my last classes are this week, and before I know it, graduation will fling my friends out into the real world and punt me into Massachusetts for the summer. I get really clingy at this time of year. My very close friends are going away, and I would like nothing more than to spend time with them before they vanish. However, this time of year is so very busy, it's hard to do. Excessive clinginess, therefore, is frowned upon.

I spend too much time at Rodes. Brendan assures me otherwise, but would he really come out and tell me if he thought I did? Becoming a near default regular at the place does have its comforts and advantages, but it also means I'm not a guest anymore, so no one's really obligated to treat me like one. It's very understandable, everyone is so busy. I feel invasive and in the way a lot of times, but every time I resolve to stay away and in my own space, I have the need to not be alone. I do need to round up all my things from there at some point, and pack them to be sent home. Bleh, I don't like the end of the year, it's too exhausting and heavy.

Honors

I got to have an extremely brief visit with and yesterday as I ventured to UK to see their Beowulf Cluster for a presentation. I was sad that the stay was so short, but I had to get back to Centre for the Honors Convocation, because I'd received a cryptic note in campus mail informing me that I would receive an honor.

I also learned an important lesson about Centre's Honors Convocation. It is very different from the honors assemblies in high school. The college superiors must have done research into how little one really cares about a fancy certificate that you'll just throw in a box as soon as you return home, and decided to give students something worthwhile for their honors.

Now, we all know that there are two fundamental worthwhile prizes: food and money. Having missed dinner, I would have been thrilled to receive a cookie for my outstanding achievement in art, but when I discovered that the little envelope I got did NOT contain a dinky certificate, but a check, I was equally enthusiastic.

If they'd given us money in high school honors assemblies, I would have been much more spirited about going! So that was my pleasant surprise for the week, I'll use it to buy art supplies...or maybe a playstation 2 ¬_¬