thus, school starts again

First day of classes, 3rd semester.

Some teaches faster than others. They teach fast, I mean. My classes are falling into two categories:
1. It's what you make of it.
2. Work hard, follow assignments, do well.

So out of this year, I need to make sure I get the most out of everything. And a sketchbook. I need to draw more.

Orientation Staff, Mingleling, and How I've Improved

The last two weeks have been move-in, preparation for Orientation Week, and the week itself. All of which have left me tired and worn out, to be rejuvenated during the hurricane this weekend. Hurricane Irene.

Over the last week, I was in social skills bootcamp. We practiced answering questions correctly, respectfully, and positively (freshmen have questions). I learned a ton of getting-to-know-you games, name games, and ice-breakers.

I got a lot of practice. When my schedule actually tells me to Mingle with the freshmen, I took initiative and joined conversations, added myself to groups, and tried to talk to new people.

I came to Pratt terrified of this getting to know you bullshit. And now it's just something that clicks me into a mode of "I want to get to know you" rather than "what are you thinking about me? Is it bad?" I think, at this point, I assume that people will either like me and talk to me, or stay clear of me.

I don't want to say 'it was an experience like STAC', because it wasn't- I had less than a week to get to know everybody and lose my shyness, then a week to work as the team we became, and now it's all over until I seen familiar faces next year.

After the whole experience- this is the college life I didn't have last year. I can keep my door open and people will say hi, I can get to know people. Through O-STAFF I met a lot of heads of clubs/associations, the top people of Student Involvement, and may have even found a small job for the year.

So if you can join any kind of student leadership group, go for it.

shoutout from the computer lab

My computer is dead. A summer of being in something close to storage, and the hard drive won't speak to the other parts.

Long live Aldrick, 2007-2011.

packing, it's about time.

I am at ease. A day at home to get everything done. Cooking dinner, visiting grandparents, packing for school. I have bedlinens, cleaning supplies, bathroom/make-up things, towels, and winter clothes done. I'm very excited to be going back to school.

I'm going to miss so much. But I look forward to so much. It's even.

I need to admit something. My music tastes have recently turned to hiphop and rap. I cannot say "I listen to it", because that would mean I know more than a couple of albums. But I enjoy it.

backtoschoolbacktoschool

As the summer comes to an end, an end for the college-bound, I am so glad to get out of this place. I've done my own laundry, other laundry, and a ton of cooking all summer. I still have all my towels, bedsheets, and winter clothes packed. Most of my clothes will be able to fit in a luggage. I have a few bins.

So now all I have to do is finish cleaning out my room, fanticize about grocery shopping and write my initials in the books I'll bring. (There's a lot more work than that but I'm not worried.)

I'll miss being in constant contact with old friends. From school, I became more conscious about my appearance as I met more people and had to make new acquaintances. I became a lot lazier about that as I was home.

So I guess after being so anxious about not doing anything, not doing anything didn't kill me. It's not happening next year.

Fashion. I don't know.

I've been looking up fashion. I'm not... the internet educates. I want to learn where no one can judge me. Isn't that pathetic? That we become creepers on online magazines and blogs, where everyone can read everyone else's opinion? Just to find out what our own opinion? But after everything, fashion is opinion. There are high-ups, who sell t-shirts for $200. I don't research them. I want to know, as a plus-sized young woman, what I can do to just look a little nicer. I'm just trying to explain this to myself. Because I'm still trying to understand plus-size fashion.

I'm trying to understand if it's about complementing and adding to a body or about hiding what you don't want people to see and excentuating the nice bits. It's probably both of them. And it's confidence.

I don't think, at the Macy's level, fashion is specifically about personal expression. There is one plus size section for anyone from 15 to 80, and more often than not, I feel like I'm sorting through clothes to find a blouse that doesn't look like a midlife woman giving up.

Would I feel more confident if I wore clothes that fit well, complimented and excentuated my body? Yes. Could that be as simple as wearing lucky socks? Maybe. It just sounds like there are ever-changing rules in this game of first-impression changing.

Daily Practice discoveries

I'm up to daily self-portrait 85 or so, and I haven't been posting them because I've been home all summer without a scanner. But I wanted to take some pictures and post some of the drawings that are in a style I'm beginning to see more of. It's made of straight lines and curves, and is very very geometric. I want to see how they translate into more three-dimentional drawings, but I like them so far.
#41 Lizy-Doll, #55 Bthing Suit Try-On, #77 Geometry trying to be more interesting, #79 Sitting on my hands, #80 Happy July 4th! (fireworks are scary)

Emotionally, most of these faces are hiding for one reason or another.


 

Vidja games

Here is an official list of things I want to finish*:

Advanced Wars
Fire Emblem
Super Mario Galaxy
Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Maplestory - Aran up to level 120 by school
Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books (3 more left)
Frankenstein
Painting my room

This is easily 100+ hours.



*Finish: Not 100%, but finish enough. If not finish before school, I'll try to bring them to college.