While I was getting my most recent pair of disposable cameras developed, I walked around the neighborhood for an hour to get a grasp of what was surrounding me. Many small deli's and fruit stands, a lot of banks, a lot of cellphone stores. Moderately crowded streets around 6:15 PM. Several dogs being walked between business folk and students. The sun was still beating down as it was heading west, but the shadows of buildings stood long and thick across the sidewalks.
I meandered around for about an hour until I found a grocery store near-by. At that point I still had about 25 minutes to kill, so I grazed the shopping aisles very slowly, trying to determine what I could easily carry back to the apartment with me, and what wouldn't melt. I savored fruit, particularly peaches, but the peaches the grocery store had were too small, so I opted for cheap canned peaches instead. Not the same, I know, but canned peaches can be somewhat romantic for a broke graduate straight out of college, right? I picked up my photos, head back to the roof of the apartment, and forked slices of syrupy peaches while flipping through my print outs.
It was a nostalgic dual set of photos from the last half of senior week. Mostly photos of my house and living room, and the good folks getting sauced here and there. Duane Reade will put white borders around your print outs for free, which left the oddly focused disposable camera shots somewhat artsy, if you can believe it. I'm happy with what I paid for, and tossed around the idea of only using disposable cameras from now one. But in the long run it'd be much cheaper to get a digital camera again. I'll have to do some thinking.
Later in the night I started After Dark, ate more peaches, met another person who lives in the building. Wrote up my very first Beta-Tester report for a friend's game and tried with all of my might to beat Gamma Bros, but still couldn't get passed the third level. It's a deliciously fun game though, so try it if you get a chance!
I have to admit, I've been a little sluggish getting back into the swing of doing anything productive since graduation. While the internet used to resonate as a guilty pleasure for procrastination amidst my school work, it has to some degree lost its addictive magnetism now that I only have to do what I want to do. But I do want to post on Vox, so never fear. I'll be here.
Chico's been busy working as a production assistant for the Fi Fi awards, a three day gig that he has to work from 5pm and 5am. Meanwhile, the house cat Kitten keeps me company, and I've managed to make my way out to the world on my own now that I have my own set of apartment keys. Last night I attended a preview screening of a documentary about Blipfest with my friend Analog Pigin, followed with a tasty dinner at La Esquina and a few beers at a bar where I coincidentally ran into four Vassar friends. Ian gave me two graduation gifts; Haruki Murakami's new book After Dark, and the Pupshaw and Pushpaw Vinyl figurines that I've been longing to own for a year or so now ever since I read The Frank Book.
Today? Some reading, catching up on internets. Archiving animated .gif's I've started to collect. Cleaning. Maybe groceries. Beta testing a super secret game! Toys 'r' Us is only a few blocks away and I'm tempted to walk on by and pick myself up a new DS game. Any suggestions? Pokemon perhaps?
In 5 words or less, who are you?
Submitted by dejablu503.
...a vassar college alumna.
(Well yes, I am an alumna since a few weeks ago, but the grass walking officially takes place on sunday. Today I took my very last final of college. There are no words. No words. They should have sent a poet.)
The following video is a piece constructed by Prof. Eric Faden from Bucknell using a mashup of thousands of Disney Movie clips in a 10 minute educational presentation about copyright.
To finalize our careers as art majors at my college, the handful of art majors rented a space downtown to display all of our work. The space is somewhat haphazard, an entire floor with various open spaces and tiny rooms with windows in which the majors distrubted and hung their art. Since my project could only be viewed in the tiny sketchbooks I rendered my drawings in, I only needed a single room with a very simple display. A few of the collages I did last minute are taped to the wall, and a tiny pedastle holds two of my sketchbooks.
The opening was this afternoon starting at 2pm, but since I've become out of the loop I didn't know until I headed over at 3:30 with my two friends Sarah and Meggie. When I got there, it felt like a real opening. There were some refreshments at the front, but the entire space was filled with students who excitedly went from room to room to look at the various art being displayed. Most of the other majors had ambitious paintings and sculptures to enjoy and I felt that my work was somewhat meek and overlooked in comparison. Thankfully, I began to notice people heading into my room, crowding around the books and looking on collectively. I got a lot of compliments, but I'm awkward about compliments, so I tried to be anti-social and sort of fluttered around the viewers.
All in all it was a fun experience. I'm very proud of the other majors, and it was nice to sort of celebrate our coming together in this final display. After we hung around for a while, Sarah, Meggie, and I went to Soul Dog for a mid afternoon treat. Organic chicken-dog with vegetarian chili and some chilled gazpacho. Yum.
a few things to mention!
1. At the start of my final crit with the art deparment earlier this week, one of my professors proclaimed that he had a conversation with his wife about me earlier that morning, and that he had finally figured out that I was a 'conceptual artist'. I didn't even know that, but it made me somewhat gleeful to have something to tell hip people at all those swanky artist bars I'll go to after I graduate.
2. When straightening my hair last week, I touched the straightening iron to the edge of my ear and burned it a little bit. For a few days it looked like my ear was turning into a zombie. Thankfully, it healed.
3. Speaking of zombies, I found out a great way to pretend like I got some sleep! Fix up a fancy outfit, apply a little eyeliner. Wear a gem on my ring that'll keep people's eyes away from the dark circles. And a large cup of joe. Cheers!
*sings*
...and I pro-cras-ti-nate!
Woke up this afternoon to a tumultuous scattered storm. Played God of War 2 on Titan Mode (Chico finished it on normal on the eve of my senior project presentation). Cleaned my room. Tonight? The paper, and a trip to the art studio to clear it out before the professors check them @9. Good thing its warm outside.
Also, photoshopped a pointless myspace profile pic. I'm not hiding from him. But if I see him, I'll definitely kick his ass for the sixth time. Ya heard, E-WEAPON? Anyway, I've got to go try kicking Theseus' butt butt. I hate those minotaurs.
yesterday morning at 10:40 am I had my final critique with the art department. a solo, one vs. five affair that lasted a clean 20 minutes. they had no band things to say about my senior project (yes!) and were captivated by these tiny collages I made in addition to my cnn drawings (swell!). that is all taken care of. one paper and one final left until freedom (so close).
the rest of the day was spent waiting in a stand-still line for 3 hours to get tickets for the various events during senior week and catching up on lost sleep from the night before. There was a heady heat outside of AC territory, and at times it felt like northern new york had suddenly become kansas.
Our school has this tradition called 'Primal Scream' that happens at midnight the night before finals start. It happens both semesters; students collect around the central quad between all of the dorms, and when midnight strikes everyone explodes in a collective, cathartic scream. If you came upon the scene with no understanding of what was going on, it would probably appear to resemble a campus-wide sacrifice. Not to mention, following all the screaming a herd of naked seniors come running around the dorms. A good handful of my friends decided last minute to participate in the nekkid bits, but I decided to keep it on the down low and just watched them run around instead.
It was a surreal night, followed by a heavy, solid, duration of sleep. I'll be done in a week. Is that scary or what?
(i'll be working on my thesis until it is due at 10 am. chico's been playing GOW2 nonstop since 12-hours ago, and he finally dealt with all of those damned fates.)
Oh internets! How you bring me joy in so many ways!
