It's still cold...

Hello, internet.

I've decided to pick up blogging again. It was fun and I think if I keep at it, someone might actually read it. So, here I go. Again.

What's new with me? Not much that's important. Classes start in two days and I'm moving back to the dorms tonight. My cousin Andrew's daughter was born last night/this morning and I'm going to visit her at some point today (I'll give her her own mini-post later when I have pictures).

I started picking up shifts at the coffeehouse, which was strangely comfortable after a year away. The night before I went to work, I had a nightmare about forgetting peoples drinks, being mocked by the new employees and just fucking things up in general. When I got behind the counter, I was immediately making drinks without thinking and getting my shots perfect. The layout, computer system, and customers haven't changed a bit, save that the latter tip less than I remember. But it was nice going back and seeing all the old faces again.

In the last month I've attended more social events (parties, concerts, open mics, etc.) but other than events have been fairly anti-social. Funny how that works, eh?

Not much else to post today but I will update in the next few days, promise. I'm very excited for classes to start up again. I have a GPA that needs fixin' and a thirst to prove myself in my Japanese classes.

Amanda and Kim and the amazing art-music

My favourite musician/artist/sexy lady Amanda Fucking Palmer has been blogging recently about her new method of collecting money to eat, live and produce music. Her words are too amazing for me to summarize with my own. Please read her myspace blog:
Why I am not afraid to take your money, by Amanda Fucking Palmer.
Virtual Crowdsurfing


Kim Boekbinder, one half of the amazing sister act Vermillion Lies, is taking donations to fund her solo record. If she doesn't receive enough donations, she will not make the record. Everyone who donates at least five dollars gets a digital copy of the album once it's finished. The more you pledge, the more "goodies" you will receive. You can even have a song written about you and be added to the liner notes! I think this is an amazing new way to make the fans feel that they are really contributing to their favourite artists. I love it. Please consider chipping in as well (every bit helps!):

Wetdryvac

This amazing artist liked my profile picture and asked if he could paint me. The result was beastly amazing awesomeness. I had to share it with you all.
The original picture:























His result:


This makes me happy.

His website: wetdryvac.net. It is unclear whether he is mailing me the original or not. I told him he could do whatever he wanted with it.

Whoa.

I just read about the Uberman Sleep Schedule and I'm very tempted to try it. With my schedule this semester I think I could pull it off - if this is for real, that is. But I might do four 45 minute sections instead of 6 thirty minute sections. I dunno.

This could be potentially dangerous, so if I do it I might only do it for a year, or even just this semester. But it could also be amazing.

Your thoughts please? :3

Ukrainian Sand Artist Kseniya Simonova

Amanda Palmer posted this on her blog a few weeks ago and I felt the need to spread it around as well. Wait until the whole video loads and watch it in one run, without background noise. It's moving and beautiful and wonderful and breathtaking and heartbreaking and all kinds of things.



The Guardian explains it much better in their article:

"Ukraine's Got Talent? This much we already knew...We can now add Kseniya Simonova to that list who has won the Ukrainian version of Britain's Got Talent with sand animation. Yes, you heard right. She tells stories through sand...
Here, she recounts Germany conquering Ukraine in the second world war. She brings calm, then conflict. A couple on a bench become a woman's face; a peaceful walkway becomes a conflagration; a weeping widow morphs into an obelisk for an unknown soldier. Simonova looks like some vengeful Old Testament deity as she destroys then recreates her scenes - with deft strokes, sprinkles and sweeps she keeps the narrative going. She moves the judges to tears as she subtitles the final scene "you are always near"."

Dream

I had a dream last night that I was walking Belle and Buffy. As I was walking them through the woods where the wild things are, we were joined by an upright platypus. He introduced himself as Peter and expressed his wish to join us. I tied a leash around his smooth white neck and he waddled along with us, asking me about college and my plans for the future. Belle and Buffy soon tired of our company and, after giving me kisses goodbye, retired to the hammock outside our house. Peter and I walked on until we reached the hill outside the student recreational center. I recognized two girls from Lathrop and wanted to say hello, so I put Peter in a large paper bag and carried him in my arms. Mariah and Leah were in the middle of coordinating their baby showers. I wished them both the best of luck with their pregnancies and we all giggled over our matching orphan-made purses. Before I left, I introduced them to my boyfriend, Peter the platypus. They were very excited to meet him, but he found their tastes in music too unrefined for his liking, so we accepted invitations to their parties and went on our way. The end.

THE WEEK FROM HELL

We had Monday off from classes, but I was really sick. I spent most of the day hanging out with my new friends and worrying about whether I'd be kicked out of Japanese 201 or not.
Oh, did I tell you about that?
Yes, apparently JPN 201 was full with a 5 person waiting list. So to cull the herd, so to speak, the higher ups demanded that poor Mrs. Izaki throw out everyone who didn't technically have the prerequisites for the course. Which meant about 3 people including me. She gave us a test on the second day of school and the few of us who were at risk had to get a 70% or better. Half the class failed, including me. Soooo hello, my name is Kylie and I am a Japanese major not currently taking a Japanese language class.
It took from Tuesday afternoon until about two hours ago to get a working schedule together (time was of the essence, since tomorrow is the last day to pay for classes) but this is how it goes:

English 211x correspondence
Classic Japanese Literature
Costume design/construction
and Modern World History

Only four classes and one is correspondence...this is going to be a strange semester indeed.

In lighter news, I made friends with the president of GSA and yesterday she gave me three unpened boxes of cookies and an unopened triple chocolate cake :D She just happened to run into me coming out of the commons and had a ton of leftovers from a party. Wow.


Oh! There was a toga party on Friday and I went with Christine, Alex, and Megan. It was a lot of fun. We also went to Denny's afterward (at about 2 am) and some cute guy gave us his number. We might go on a group date with him sometime just because approaching four made-up girls, three of which are wearing sexy togas and have their hair done and ALL of which were smokin' hot is pretty brave.

I also joined a rather amazing collaboration project thanks to my new good friend Erin aka Rin, but it deserves its own blog post so I'll discuss it later. This one's getting kind of long anyway. Let's just say it involves this:


That should be all for now...I will update again soon. Promise.





Current song: This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race by Fall Out Boy (never thought I'd like them!)

Current youtube video: Outer Space (a Lady Gaga parody)