Yellow Coffee

Masks! I tried to make one today. It's drying right now. I'm pretty sure it will take a couple days for it to dry completely so I can paint it. It turned out pretty big! Here, let me show you a picture of it.



This new paper mache clay material is very interesting to work with. I messed up the recipe a little bit, so there are all of these really big yellow and orange dots in the clay, but I'm planning to paint it all yellow anyways, so it's not a problem. I hope it sands down smooth enough, because even in its 'smooth' state it looks pretty rough. The ears look like they're going to be too heavy for the dried clay to hold... I just went back to add some more support to the base of the ears (Which has also made their shape a bit nicer), but I worry that won't be enough. And resting the ears on bowls like that is causing some major indents to show up on their backs. I'm thinking that once everything is completely dry, I will flip it over and work more on the ears. And then wait another day or two for it all to dry. And then finish it. And then maybe do something productive for once.

If this material isn't to my liking, then I want to try plaster strips. It will be very interesting. But I like how I don't have to worry about little bumps or wrinkles in my mask form, or if I decide that the shape just isn't up to snuff, I can change it right then and there. So long as it isn't too dramatic of a change.

Whee! I hope this mask turns out well.

In Agreement

I'm making an entry because I know nobody is watching. I think that entitles me to say whatever I want about whomever I want. But then, I've always been able to do that. It is my own blog, after all. So I'll just go ahead and talk about myself and ignore everyone else.

I don't feel like talking about you. I feel like talking about me.

It must be summer because I want to make masks again. I found this exciting recipe for what is essentially a paper mache clay. I've never really put effort into making something out of clay, but I don't think I'm very good at working with it. But it has got to be easier to deal with than ripping paper into strips and smoothing it and watching it dry for hours before adding more of it... Yes. I am excited to try this cheap clay made out of paper. I am also able to sand this paper down once it has dried, which makes me really excited. I really hated the ridges caused by the edges of paper strips, but there was no way to deal with them. Now I'll at least be able to sand down any small globs or bits that I don't like on the mask.

Anyways, to get me into the mood (and because I am overly excited to get started again on this) I made another mask base. It's a lot like the mask base I made last summer that I still actually have, except better. It starts with one of those white masks from JoAnn's, but this time I used masking tape instead of paper mache to cover up all of the features on the face. This is an obviously better idea. I don't have to deal with drying and waiting and fussing about moisture. I can also pick it up and add more tape to it whenever I please. I'm not afraid to poke holes in it or modify it or ruin it. It's just a pile of tape on top of a plastic mask. I could make another one in less than an hour, if I needed, and I'll bet the next one would be better.

When I don't feel like I am shirking off a bunch of responsibilities, I am going to make my first batch of that clay and my first mask out of the new materials. I'm excited for it, but I really feel like I should wait. I'm supposed to get a job this summer, but I haven't been trying very hard. (I'm so nervous about applying for jobs it isn't even funny.) I'm trying to remain productive during the day and not just lie around all the time to make up for my lack of a job. Maybe I should set a goal for myself--No hobbies until I have done so many hours of productive things in the day. To maintain a balance.

I suppose that means I should stop cuddling the cat and writing Ubiquity entries, and start cleaning my room.

Lotion

I have to make a bunch of graphs for this science paper I am writing (as we speak!), and I think this one is my favorite. It's so clear, obvious, and redundant. It just screams "Average Temperature Over Time!" It is even very literal; the points of average temperature are actually over the time line! How cool is that?!

On a more serious note, I've locked myself in my room all day to write this paper and I may be going a bit odd. Also, why does the temperature go up so steadily? That is really weird. Maybe that's why the experiment failed every single week, the temperature couldn't even remain constant.

Anyways, I am really angry at the world right now, including this assignment, so I think I will go and be angry somewhere else.

Absorb and Abort

Ugh, I just spent like 30 minutes trying to stop a nosebleed. Today has not been a good day for my health.

I don't know what the Hell is wrong with me today. I seriously woke up to blood all over my face, because my nose decided it had too much blood in it and thought it would let it all out. I got up to fix it and more or less fell over because of a splitting pain in my head. I really hope the headache and nosebleed aren't connected. After 15 minutes of stopping the nosebleed (longer than normal, but fairly effortless), I take some Tylenol for the head ache, but it doesn't help at all. The aching persists, but now my head is all stuffy from the medicine.

I ate breakfast and got nauseous. So on top of it all, my stomach hurt, too. I skipped my first class to sit on my floor and make 'euuugh'' and bluuaarhgble' sounds and drink some mint tea for my stomach. I was feeling better after the tea and funny sound making, so I went to the rest of my classes for the day.

But then my stomach started doing that thing again where it hurts wicked bad when I stand, medium bad when I sit, and perfectly fine when I lie down. I have no idea what caused it last time, and I still don't know about it this time. I can't even symptom check that one on WebMD because you can't select the area that hurts on their checker thinger.

The rest of the day went by and I more or less started to feel better. I drank a lot of tea and water and pretty much took it easy.

Then, not even five minutes after I lie down to sleep for the night, I notice a warm dripping/trickling in the back of my throat. I get up to see and yep! My nose is bleeding. And it doesn't stop with my normal means. It takes me a good half hour to get to a point where I don't need to hold a tissue to my face. I got blood all over the floor and I freaked out a girl in the bathroom pretty bad when I went to swap tissues above the sink. Everything's all cleaned up now, but holy cow that was a ton of blood.

I'm a bit dizzy now, but I'm not too worried since I'll be going to bed soon. I don't have anything to eat other than candy in the room, so I don't really know what do to restore my iron or whatever. Maybe I'll just go ahead and eat sugar. And drink water. Gotta be better than nothing right now.

I also shouldn't lie down so soon after a bad nosebleed, but I am really tired and I have an exam tomorrow. So I'm gonna risk it. Wish me luck.

Evil Clowns

I got my braces off yesterday! It was such a momentous occasion. I took a bunch of pictures of myself eating foods that I haven't been able to eat in forever. It was pretty great. I have been eating so many things these past couple of days that I'm pretty sure I will pop in my sleep tonight. I'm not completely done with dental appliances, though. They glued this small wire onto the backs of my two front teeth because they started to split apart a bit at the very end. It's really frustrating that those two teeth were having absolutely no problems keeping together until the very end. So now I'm stuck with this wire for forever, they said. I'm not okay with that, though, because I technically still have the same limitations on the foods I can bite down on with this thing, and it's really cutting up my tongue and it's giving me a lisp. They said they can tke it off in a year if I really hate it, and I think I will take them up on that offer. I haven't had an appliance-free mouth with all of its teeth since like, third grade, and I would really like to get back to that point soon.

I also have my invisalign retainer. It's a bit of a pain and I lisp really bad with it, but it's not so bad. I hate the way it feels, and it's a lot more intrusive than that little wire, but it doesn't annoy me so much for some reason. Probably because I can take it out whenever I want.

It's my spring break! Whee. I'm at home for a week, and I have very few plans to do anything. So I'm doing a lot of vegging out and lazing about. I have a few things that I need to get done this week, but I kinda doubt that I will have the will to do any of it. I'm excited for the few plans I have, and I guess I enjoy the fact that I don't have to fuss with homework or exams. But I left all of my entertainment things in Montana, so there isn't anything fun to do. Just some knitting and a couple boring books for class. At least I have my piano for a week, I can try to learn that one song I've been wanting to learn for forever. Too bad this week is already like, half over. Eugh.

I ate a lot and now I am feeling lazy. I guess I will go to bed now.

Stratigraphy

Yikes, I have an exam in a few hours. I don't feel all that ready for it. I don't want to go you can't make me go!

I get back the exam I took on Friday. I think I did pretty well on it, so I'm not so worried to see my grade. But there's still that niggling feeling that I might have completely bombed and just not realized it. That has happened to me so many times before, but usually only in math classes.

I get my braces off in a week! Woohoo! I am so excited. I can hardly wait! I think my braces know it's going to happen, too, because I've like four brackets that have broken off. I don't even know how they came off, I think they just sort of unattached themselves overnight or something. I don't mind very much, since most of them are on my lower jaw, and my lower jaw hasn't had any changes made to it in over half a year. Maybe even closer to an actual year. The only thing I worry about is them moving about while I'm eating and scratching up my teeth. I'll be so angry if my teeth are all scratched up.

Speaking of one week, I am excited to go home for spring break. I'll finally have a chance to go to Seattle for a day, and I plan to buy all the chewy candies in Uwajimaya that I haven't had since my braces got put on. I'm also excited just to have copious amounts of free time that do not involve homework and writing papers and whatnot.

Oh, shoot! I forgot to do my Japanese homework! It's all due tomorrow. What a pain.

Tails

Oh, hey there, Ubiquity. I was actually going to go write my midterm paper for a class that I don't give two shits about--Hm? What's that? You say you miss my entries, and would like me to stay and talk for a while? Well, alright then, Ubiquity, I'll put off this paper for you (and probably stay up all night because of it), because you've been such a good friend.

So I'm in this class, right? It's called CLS. It has no direction and no real curriculum, but it does involve a lot of reading, writing, and really tense discussion. The discussions are tense because we are being graded on them, and it's really important that we all pass this class. It's a US credit (whatever that means), so it's required to graduate, and it can only be taken as a Freshman. Once you're done being a Freshman, I don't really think you can get a US credit anymore. I don't understand why they did that, but whatever.

Okay, so this CLS class. It's a bullshit class, and I'm pretty angry that I have to pay to go to it twice a week. My patience with this class is really beginning to run out. Today I had an interview with the professor of that class, to see what I think of the class and if I have any ideas to improve it. I told him that this class was my lowest priority class, and I am upset with its obvious lack of direction. I tried to avoid the term "Bullshit Class," which was really difficult for me. I tried to tell him that the discussions are too narrow to warrant any real participation, and none of the reading can be connected together without serious stretching. Even if you do find threads to connect them with, none of them tie into what might be the greater theme of the class itself. And then I told him that the reading schedule is whacked out, requiring us to read 111 pages within five days, and then 111 more pages from the same book in only two days. He told me he would look that over and probably adjust the reading schedule for the rest of the semester. So I know at least one complaint I had about the class made it through alright.

Anyways, I have to write a mid-term paper for this class, and the rough draft is due tomorrow. I decided my paper would be on religion, morals, and ethics, because those are the only things that tie all of the readings together except the stupid one about Eureka moments. And I have to make a claim that a reasonable, sane person could argue against. My first claim was, essentially, that separation of church and state is a good thing, but I doubted that many people could argue against that. So now my claim is that separation of church and state is horrible. Any red-blooded American could easily argue against that. And it isn't hard to come up with good ideas for my argument. But it does take some true artistry to find support for it in the reading, especially since the reading better suits the opposing claim. I am pretty much making this more difficult for myself than I need to, but I hate this class enough that I really want to write something outrageous that will make at least one person in the class uncomfortable. Did I mention that I have to give a presentation on my paper? Yeah. I hope the word "intense" pops up again.

On Monday, we were supposed to put some Daphnia in a tank and poison them, right? Well, we all went in there to do just that, but there weren't any Daphnia in the stock tank. Actually, there were maybe five in this one corner, but we needed at least forty. We have no idea why there was a sudden extreme lack of Daphnia in the stock tank, but it kinda threw a wrench in our experiment. So we decided that we would start running the experiment on Wednesday, and cut the length from four days to three. Wednesday happened to be today. We didn't even have the lab in the lab today... Well, no, we had it in a lab. The computer lab. The Lab TA decided to teach us how to use Excel. So we had to go in after our lab to go run our lab. It was pretty ridiculous, and frustrating, and really boring.

Why are all of my classes suddenly stupid?

I am going to flip a coin. Heads, I turn this mid-term paper from an outline into a rough draft before going to sleep. Tails, I go right to bed because it is half-past one in the morning and I am sleepy. Here we go.