Sleep Comes For None

Didn't sleep very well last night.

Photoshop seems to be a little buggy on the PC's in this lab. It crashed again in the middle of a drawing. Nothing fancy, just five layers and some blends-- but I guess it was enough to give the program a heart attack.

Today's drawing is about the feeling I get when I can't sleep at night. It's about being restless and irritated. And thoughts of the future pressing down. In the small hours of the morning I watch my shadow fill the ceiling in the glare of the alarm clock. I remember when we were kids; how we would use a flash light in the dark to make our silhouettes look like giants reaching down to crush the room.

Clever Blog Title

Today was my first day back to school after a juicy extended Memorial Day weekend. (God bless all our veterans!)

Rain threatened this morning, as I hiked across vast swaths of parking lot to my first class. To change up my morning routine, I stopped in to Cup o' Joe's and bought a coffee which, after five minutes of walking, had managed to spill all over my hand. It tasted awesome though, so no harm done. I usually tend to spill things when I walk anyway.

I got to Spanish a few minutes later and tried to recall what exactly we had been doing on Friday in class. Everyone else was equally lost. Thankfully, our teacher Aida eased us back into the land of 'hablon espanol' with a mother's care, and we were soon back on track.

An hour later I sat in math recitation trying to puzzle out the homework from over the weekend: simplfying and solving rational expressions-- long and difficult math problems that tend to fill up entire pages of my notebook with desperate chicken scratches and arrows. For problems that I don't understand how to do, I'll actually add boxes of text that explains my reasoning for why something should work. It tends to be helpful for when I'm going back through them later on.

Went swimming after class. Good to be back in a pool. I only wish my goggles didn't always fog up.

But Maybe I Should Sit Down First

Internet at home is working again.



Rarrrgh.



My Brain.

Rawr.
Maybe I should have a sit down and we'll try this again tomorrow.

And The Fridays Have It!

I chose to sit down and eat my lunch out on the college oval today, on my usual bench, and under my usual shade tree. By happenstance there was a dance class that was having its session outside since the weather was nice. After watching them hop and twirl around for 5 minutes I made up my mind that I absolutely had to sketch them.

'An artist without a sketchpad is a sorry sight indeed', I thought to myself as I flipped through my math notebook. With a clean sheet of college rule and mechanical pencil, I knocked out some rudimentary sketches of these dancers in motion. Their deliberate weight-shifting and movement was something that has always interested me, and here was as good an opportunity as any.

I talked to the dance instructor afterward to see if I could sit in on future classes to get a more dedicated drawing time in, and she was happy to assist. Maybe I'll be a medical anatomy illustrator, something that would combine art with biology and medicine.

Anyway, have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Scribbles to Feed Your Belly

I feel like someone threw a switch this week that made everyone in my Spanish class become good friends. Three of us realized we have all at one time or another in ancient history played Magic: The Gathering, which immediately bound us together like blood brothers.

My family is getting together for more festivities this Memorial Day weekend. We may opt out though, since the drive down eats up a large portion of the day and leaves us exhausted by the time we get back to the city. Esther's hitting the road for her cousin's wedding in a couple of weeks anyway, so I reckon she deserves at least one weekend off from taking a trip.

Last night's bible study was entirely dedicated to our friend Holly giving a presentation about her proposed mission trip to parts of Asia. It was an informative evening but I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get down to having any real theological discussions. I need to know more about this Jesus fellow: What's he want with us? What's his plan? Why does the mere mention of his name evoke so much negative emotion from some people while others drive around with "WWJD?" bumper stickers on their cars? Do my friends, family, and colleagues think I'm lame for reading the Bible? Does Jesus think I'm lame for playing Warhammer 40k? Does he have a blog?

Here is Jesus.

Here is Christ.

Here is Sam.

Disruptor Beam

My back and appendages are thanking me this week because I stopped wearing my backpack around campus. I noticed immediate improvements to my health: I had a lot more energy once I got home yesterday and my muscles weren't in agony. Huzzah!

The trade-off is that I can't work on my homework between classes. Thank God for khaki shorts though: I've got six big pockets on these things and each one is filled with wallet, water bottle, mechanical pencil, car keys, cell phone, pop-tarts, and all the other classroom debris that tends to accumulate in my backpack. I also carry a notebook around just in case an instructor says something noteworthy.

After math recitation today I'm going home to hit the books. Math homework tends to bury me if I don't keep at it. I'm doing pretty slick in that class though. Color me surprised, but I got a 100% on last week's midterm. I probably haven't received a perfect score on a math test in over 15 years, so this is cause for me to dance in celebration.

On a side note, last night was grand: we got food from one of our favorite restaurants, Tai Thai, which is only two blocks down, and then vedged out on the couch for a nostalgic evening watching Star Trek. Evenings like that remind me that we don't need much to be content in our lives; good food and good company are always welcome.

Too Nice a Day to Blog

I've wrestled control of the system away from the evil spirits long enough to make a final blog post for the week. Frankly, I'm keeping it short because it's too nice outside and I don't want to miss a minute of this weather. As you may well have assumed, the Eater is powered by photons. (yay, Biology!)

Right now I am incredibly content with life. I love my friends, my family, my wife. You guys are awesome. I only wish we had more time to hang out.

Have a great weekend. Get yourself some photons.