Break Mode

I've officially been on winter break since last Friday, and I already feel like a lazy bum. You always feel like you should be doing something after you've been doing non-stop college work for a few months!

Already, Takeshi's had to go into work on his days off a hell of a lot more than wanted. But on the sunny side (which he pointed out to me), he is getting overtime for it. Personally, I'd rather have him instead of the money. But since we're trying to save up, I guess every little bit helps, for now.

Some of my class grades are still coming in on the college's website, but so far, I've done pretty well this semester - mostly As with a couple B's. Right before we left for break, my Senior Design Studio class picked from a hat, our fictitious company to work on for our senior thesis for the spring semester. We have a little bit of work to think about over break, for that project. I'm also participating in a small gallery show at the college - students are creating pieces for the show with the theme "blurring the lines between art and design". I'll probably do something on canvas, which I still need to go buy. But I didn't have any oil/acrylic paints to my name, so I've already bought a limited palette of oil paints to use.

Ummmm....what else. (my winter-break brain no doubt)

We got a pretty good snow over this past weekend! Wow - about 14-18 inches all told. Snow that actually sticks around for a bit! Hehe. Takeshi and I kept marveling at all of it, when we went out for chores. We haven't experienced a good snowfall in about 2 years.





A little treat - tapioca pearls from the nearby Vietnamese store

Some water biscuits I baked the other day

Kenyan Chai tea - a present from mum!

なにすぎ？

おはよございます。
いま、コーヒをのみます。

I come into class this morning and the guy who sits next to me comes in after me, and scoots his chair way, way far away. For those of you who haven't heard the scoop - it's this guy who has been asking me multiple questions every class, about information the professor JUST told us. Stuff that he should have been paying attention to, since it's y'know - like - COLLEGE. He was frankly, pissing me off and getting on my nerves. I mean - can't you think for yourself? Sheesh. Anyway, I don't give a crap if he's giving me cold-shoulder treatment, since that means he'll stop asking me questions 4 times a day now. Hopefully.

We received our first snowfall of the season this past weekend. It didn't stick at all and most of it's gone by now. It was so distracting that day! I love watching snow fall.

I put together my own Christmas card design over the weekend. It's very cute I think, and I'm very pleased with how it came out! Just have to print them out. I hope to not only send a card to my husband's family, but send cards to some of Takeshi's good friends as well. I'll have to ask him if he could get their addresses.

Next week is our last week before winter break. I'm not feeling the crunch so much right now, with getting projects done and all - let's hope I don't to that point of panic! Haha.

Another downer - my 2 new pairs of shoes that my mum bought for me, which are the EasySpirit brand, are cutting into my ankle ONLY on my right foot. Argh. I think it's the type of shoe design that's doing it - they had no laces, kind of slip-ons. The opening where you put your foot through - it's slightly curved in (to help it stay on your foot I believe). So the curved in part at my ankle sits wrong on my foot, and cut into my ankle the other day. By the time I made it to college, I KNEW my ankle was rubbed raw. Ouch.

So I'm waiting for it to heal up. I went out and bought some "inner shoe-padding sticky-foam strip" things. I attached some strips to the inside of both right feet, but I can't truly test them out, until my foot heals. Everything rubs against it now, and it hurts. Bleh. I really like these shoes and would like to wear them without tearing myself up. So let's hope this helps, in the end.

Back from Break

ひさしぶりえです！

So, I'm back from break now, sitting in my morning class. Thanksgiving this year was very good, since my parents came up from Belize to visit the States; they'll be here for a bit of a long stretch, so we'll probably see them for Christmas as well. I got all of my Christmas gifts early while they were here - mostly new clothes and shoes, and some books as well. Also got to trade in my old, dinosaur iPod for a new one - even though they only gave me about $25 bucks for it. But it didn't surprise me any.

Takeshi's birthday is tomorrow! He'll be 23 - but I guess my FIL forgot, and sent Takeshi an email that added in a, "happy 24th birthday." Oops. I gave Takeshi his presents early this time, but they were a little....lame. So I'm glad that my parents were generous enough to get him some things as well - they can afford to get him really nice stuff, compared to me! And he's so hard to shop for! Men. I hope to go out for dinner somewhere on his days off this week.

I wonder what the family is up to over in Suzuka. Probably the same old thing - FIL is going to work at the Honda plant, getting back at about 7pm - MIL is probably spending some time sewing up all kinds of things - GIL is staying at home doing the household chores and watching immense amounts of TV - and SIL is working somewhere teaching English, perhaps still in Nagoya. It's probably getting cold there in Mie-ken, with blustery winds. Mister Donut probably has some new fall/winter/holiday donuts coming out.

Gah. I'm homesick now. Can I visit one of you ladies in Japan? I'd FedEx myself to you. Haha. ;)

We've only got 3 more weeks of the semester's classes before winter break. All the profs are gearing up for final projects and such. I've got to assemble and turn in my portfolio by the 14th for review. I've got most of the pages designed and laid out so I just need to print them at the college.

Yesterday, Monday, was the first day back at classes - my morning (and only) class didn't last long at all, so I left and went to the print shop on the 2nd floor to work on my monotype prints due on Wednesday. I got all of them done - they only bad part was that I was doing Xerox transfers - which includes using lacquer thinner. You usually don't want to inhale that chemical at all. I tried to go quickly as possible. The process goes as such: you print out an image from a Xerox printer - you put it face down on another piece of paper - you rub the lacquer thinner (with gloves on) on the paper = you transfer the image onto the paper.

I don't get into the Christmas spirit too much usually - not one of those people who decorate everything they own or whatnot. If I ever get into the holiday spirit a little, it's usually half-way through December. I wish the holidays this year weren't spent in Lancaster, PA AGAIN. Hard to get into to the spirit when it's a small, backwater town! Or maybe I'm being too much of a scrooge. I can definitely say that by next Christmas, we'll be somewhere else. That's something to look forward to.