So Very Dark

This blog has very little to do with either Exploding Snap or the Harry Potter universe…I simply lacked proper titular inspiration and am currently reading a Draco/Ginny fanfic in which the game was mentioned, and once I decided not to bother having a title that has anything to do with what I’m here to write about, well…it was the first thing that popped into my mind.

I wish we had wizard games to play.

Honestly, I’d forgo the games if I could have the magic.  And McGonnegal as a teacher.  And maybe Molly as a mum.

…moving on.

I’m back in school–despite the foot-dragging and pouting I did, the universe did not decide to extend break by another couple weeks.  *sigh* Usually by the end of a three-week break, I’m eager to return and have more knowledge shoved in my thought-hole, but this past break was a bit too full of stress to reach a point of longing for school.  Also I realized that I’m at a point in my curricular path at which I’m fairly well done with fun classes like drawing and illustration and painting, and into learning that stuff I will need to know for my exciting career in Graphic Design, which, though necessary, is occasionally less fun.  *sigh*

The guy in front of me is watching cartoons on his laptop without headphones on and it is mucho distracting, and making it difficult to write.  I put some Bach on my iPod to drown out the chatter, but I don’t know if it will be enough.  So annoying.  If my level of writing skill deteriorates drastically, I apologize.

Anyway, my return to school has brought a few pleasant surprises.  The first is, I am Student of the Quarter.  Yay, resume material!  Speaking of resumes, as soon as I get on top of writing mine up and turning it in to Ms. Yee (the dean of the G.D. department) she’s going to start looking for internships for me for next quarter.  Very exciting.  I think that was pleasant surprise one and a half, maybe?  Not really a surprise as both times I have spoken to her in the past she told me how she had heard of me and to come see her when I wanted an internship.  Anyway, pleasant surprise number two is that one of my classes — Real and Imagined Creatures in Art (doesn’t that class just SOUND awesome?) actually IS awesome.  The teacher is fantastic and I love her and the subject matter is very fun.  I’m only sad I took the class on the shortest quarter of the year.

Other than that, school is school…I have two classes in advertising — my Art Direction class, in which we are learning to make advertising campaigns, and my online class, called Advertising Design — obviously, doing about the same thing.  Then I have a psych class that I was sort of excited about, but as my teacher is somewhat of a Freud-loving flake…well…we’ll see.

Outside of school….we got a car!  Woo-hoo!  A very nice young man at the Greensburg Toyota found us a 2005 Prius and sold it to us for a price that was not only below the listed dealership price, but also below the Bluebook price, so…yay!  (I need to bake him cookies.  Cereal.)  Our fuel costs are projected to go down a bit as a result of it being…well, a PRIUS.  Also it’s got all kinds of neat goodies, like Sat-Nav, and Bluetooth and some other stuff.  And WE HAVE A  CAR, which is the very important part of this paragraph.

Briggs and I have been watching Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara…I’ve been watching 3rd Rock from the Sun, Private Practice and season 8 of Smallville, and I finally read ‘A Child Called It’.  It wasn’t nearly as good as I had heard…I mean, yes, it’s horrifying what that kid went through, but the book was very…though the subject matter was very different, it was intended for the same demographic that Chicken Soup for the Soul is, and Reader’s Digest.  I was intrigued enough to finish it quickly, but in the same way that I’m intrigued enough to crane my head as we pass an accident on the highway, or to skim all the tabloid headlines at the supermarket.

I finally got to go swimming.  Not in a river or lake, as I long to (though Briggs and I may have found a place…by the time we got there it was getting dark and a thunderstorm was flashing, but we are hoping to make a group trip back…maybe this weekend?) but in a pool — I checked into the YMCA downtown and discovered that their rates are not that bad, and they have a POOL.  So, after I got out of class on Tuesday, I headed over and signed up, then swam as many laps as I could (which was not as many as I had intended to) and discovered that I should probably try to pick up some goggles* at some point.  When I left I looked like I’d been in a hippie’s van for a good couple hours.  But, I swam, and have enough time between classes to do so again today.  Hurrah! Oh, and I guess they have some other amenities for exercise as well, or something, that I should probably check out at some point or whatever.  ^_^

Not a lot else is going on out in the boonies…I went to game on Tuesday, which I feel a bit of a cad for doing, as Briggs was stuck at work during that time, but it was very fun…though I managed to pick up a bounty hunter and almost get everyone in the party killed…a couple times.  I have discovered that my character is vengeful (or…”Justice-minded”…yes, that sounds better…) and likely to try to pin stuff on innocent bystanders to avoid persecution by the mob.

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is currently playing…you know, the creepy one?

I’m drinking coffee with Irish Cream flavoring.

I should probably end this before I begin describing the temperature of the room and texture of the carpeting….

*update:  will have to acquire goggles before using the pool again…after swimming laps today, my eyes were bright red, stripped of their protective outer layer (I’m pretty sure) and burned LIKE FIRE.  Hours later they are still sore as mad, so…no more swimming in the heavily chlorinated pool until I have proper eye protection.  Oh well — I really should check out the rest of the facilities anyway.