Unknown Soldier

I love playing around with the effects on photoshop, and my arlington pictures.

Water Problems

First... the Town of Murfreesboro has a problem with their water, and we are under "Boil Water Advisory". Meaning, we can't drink the water from the tap, and if we have to, then we have to boil the water first.

Then... we find out that the water is polluted with something, so we're not really supposed to use the water at all. An email was sent out to all students that it is encouraged to go home, but campus will remain open for those students who choose to remain on campus. And, class is cancelled on Monday (WOOHOOO!!!!) Well... fifteen minutes later, my friend Haley and I decide that we're gonna go to her house so that we can eat good food since the cafeteria food, which is already not great, will be even worse. YAY!!! home-cooking. Or actually, eating at all the places that are east coast only chains and that I haven't even heard of being from California.

So three hours later, after getting slightly lost on the way to her house, we arrive in Beaufort, NC. Five minutes away from the water front :)

Now, after more emails, no class Tuesday, with updates to follow regarding the rest of the week.

Yay!

ARLINGTON

I was trying to fulfill my career as a future graphic designer by playing around on photoshop with one of my pictures that I took while at Arlington National Cemetery. I was able to create two different layers, on one, I erased the headstone and kept the background, and posterized it. On the other layer, I erased the background, but kept the headstone normal. Combining the layers, to create the dazzling image before you:

Fallen- Arlington Naitonal Cemetery

This past Saturday, I got to take a trip to Washington DC with the Visual Art Department. I rode the metro out to Arlington National Cemetery, and took some pretty cool photos. You can sheck them out by following the link: Arlington

Self-Portrait

 As much as drawing people, let alone myself, is extremely difficult for me, I was forced to for my third drawing project. We drew ourselves on dark gray paper, so we had to use white charcoal to shade in the highlights on our face rather than the usual technique which would be to draw the shadows in the face in with dark charcoal. The project itself was kind of time consuming because we had to do practice draws on another subject. First, a profile, then a full or 3/4 view. Then, we finally graduated, and drew ourselves!! Let me know what you think :)

 CLOSE UP  LARGE VIEW

Feet Squishy in My Shoes

This week, the rain has been absolutely horrible!!! It has basically poured since Monday. There isn't an item of clothing that I've worn that hasn't gotten wet. I have gone through every single pair of shoes that I have because they're still not dry from walking in the rain. But... Not only is it raining harder than I've ever seen, the drainage at Chowan stinks. Everywhere you go, you must avoid puddles, some of which are at least ankle deep. There's almost no point to wearing shoes, except that I don't want to get sick. I'm almost jealous of the California heat that all my friends' Facebook statuses have been talking about. If I can't handle rain, I'm really scared about having to weather the snow that might be coming. Oh well. At least the contents of my backpack have finally dried after being damaged by the water that my backpack decided to trap while walking in the rain.

Sleep!!!

No eight o'clock class this week. We turned in our first paper, so my composition teacher only requires us to come to a 15 min conference to talk about the edits and it counts as our attendence for the whole week. I'm just excited about not having class til 9 every day this week. Maybe I'll actually get up, and go to breakfast in the cafeteria-which I've only done once so far this year. Surprisingly, its the best meal the cafeteria has to offer, to it'd be smart to go get a good breakfast before class. I'm getting excited as I complete, and start new projects in design and drawing. I got a near perfect grade on my banana line drawing. (see above) We were supposed to use line width to illustrate depth and the perception that parts of the bananas were in the foreground, and others were in the background. It was the first project of the year, and now I'm working on the second which is five drawings, each with a different medium, of a single object. My inspiration is a tootsie-pop, which my best friend sent me to test the "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie-pop" theory. I haven't tried it yet, but now that I need it to draw off of, it's been put on hold for two weeks. I'll let you know the results after I finish my drawing project :)

Creative Writing

As per my high school extracurriculars, it would make sense that'd I'd try to find clubs in college that are along similar guidelines. Well, the first meeting of Chowan's Creative Writing Club was today at 5:30, and by 5:45, I had been, nominated and selected Vice President and representative for Student Government Associaition meetings. I'm really excited about this club because I've wanted to keep up my writing. YAY!

The Fine Art of Essay Writing

Who knew that after fifteen years of writing, and collaborating my ideas, I would actually sit down and plan my first college essay. I tried to get it over with by simply writing whatever came to mind, but the same stinking thing kept coming to mind. So, after I wasted two hours of trying to avoid writing, I sat, pulled out my handy-dandy notebook and actually planned. Now, I can successfully organize my thoughts into those magical little things called paragraphs, which magically turn into well-thought out essays. WOOHOO!!!!  Time to start typing my thoughts away.

Sunday Adventure

Well, I managed to actually get up out of bed this morning and got myself to a church service. I was a little nervous knowing that I'd have to go way outside of my comfort zone and actually put thought into what I'd wear to church. I've been so blessed to have been able to go to CA where all you have to do is show up. But, it was really nice to have a different experience. My roommate, Michelle, and I went to Murfreesboro Baptist Church, and the church I think was smaller than my house, but it was a really nice service. The congregation was extremely hospitable, and welcomed us very warmly. I'm not sure if next week we'll return to the same church, or if we'll try to go experience some different churches. School week two, starts tomorrow, at nine with drawing, a class that I'm really excited to be taking.