the much dreaded, stereo-typical new years eve post...

ok, so last year i wasn't all into this whole, making resolutions crap as you can plainly see here.

however, this year is different. why? i don't know, it just is! so bear with me as i put this all out on the table and sort through it publicly.

My New Years Resolutions

1. to freaking complete my damned associates degree by the end of the year, as well as figure out where i'm going from there! this should be completely attainable, regardless of how many of you don't believe i can take on 16 hours this semester! :P

2. lose 10-15 pounds in the next six months. again, completely attainable, but would you all please stop telling me i don't need to? really? i think i know what's best for my body ;)

3. to pay off my credit card and keep it that way. it's not really that bad, but it does tend to stress me out a bit.

4. to decorate and organize our new place over the next year, and have everything unpacked by the beginning of fall semester! i like this place, and i don't really want to move again til we buy a house somewhere.

5. to be more cooperative in therapy. i mean, hell, i pay for it, i might as well get something out of it!

6. to focus more on my art, and stop letting logic get in the way of it. it's the only way it will ever be worth anything, and i don't mean monetarily.

ok...i think that's enough resolutions. i think they are all very reasonable...now it's just a test of my will.

as for the rest of my life, everything is going well. rob and i got back from our trip on thursday, and while we had a wonderful time, we were both very ready to be home. the weather was gorgeous most of the trip, with only one night of rain and snow! i would have liked to have seen more snow, but i was glad to not have to drive in it honestly. the kitties were very glad to have us back, and they both have been very needy.
as for christmas, it was awesome all the way around. i was really glad to get to spend time with rob's family again. they are all such wonderful people! they make me feel so welcome and they even call me aunt to the kiddos. speaking of which, rob's youngest nephew, noah, has grown so much, and is now walking everywhere and jabbering up a storm! he's so adorable!
anyway. there is much more to post about on the trip however, i think i'm ready for some wine and quality time with my baby. hope everyone has a safe and wonderful new years eve and day! don't drink too much!

much love,

=e

you can't see the forest for the trees...

i had to go up to the lab today to do some printing for an exhibition i'm in come january. i had done some test prints last week to pick out the images i was going to use and see if there were any real problems with the negatives and what not. now i have the task of printing them full size, about 9" x 12", on fiber-based paper with no dust spots, scratches, or most importantly, printing errors. i don't do digital prints, this is all wet-lab printing mind you.
well, all fine and dandy and what not. but i was getting frustrated today because i really just wasn't motivated to print and felt a bit rushed, for no other reason than my own really, and things just weren't clicking as usual. however, the straw that broke the camels back was when i went and showed a test page to kelley and des to just vent about the problems i was running into. so i'm explaining to them how it's too light and whatnot, and i grab the test print i had done last week to kind of use as an example, but made sure to point out that the test print itself was not printed well (thus not being the purpose of a test print) and was too dark. however, they both immediately start exclaiming how they love the test print and how cool it looks and stuff. i tried to explain that it's not a good print and it's not right, but they both were relentless in their efforts to tell me that i should still print it that way, and as one of them stated, "since you know it's wrong, you can do it purposefully because that's artistic freedom."
i was infuriated.
i still am infuriated.
not at them, just at that concept.
doing something wrong is *not* artistic freedom no matter if you meant to do it or not. plain and simple, it's just wrong! there are techniques and skills that one can use to create effects in a technically correct way that should by all means be considered 'artistic freedom'. however, printing something too dark is not one of them! that's just bad printing!!!
now, a lot of people wouldn't think that this was something to get so upset about, however there is a professor at the school where i attend and work that pushes this whole 'as long as you meant to do it, it's artistic expression/freedom' bullshit! all of her classes are based around 'concept' and 'imagery' and 'expression', yet it comes to no suprise to me when none of her students can print worth a damn by the end of the semester. perhaps if she spent more time teaching the technical aspects of photography and printing, her students 'artistic expressions' wouldn't look like something my cats puked up on a bad day.
i was fortunate enough to have taken a professor that gets and respects and understands the need for technical education. with photography, or any art for that matter, everything comes second to the technique used to create it. a strong concept can fall flat if it looks like shit. poor printing and technique detracts so much from a picture or any art for that matter. anyone with any kind of knowledge will immediately start picking apart all of the mistakes and short comings of a piece if you leave them out there for the world to see. i just can't comprehend how anyone could see poor technique as 'artistic freedom'. it boggles my mind.

ok. the soap box is put away. i'll be fine. just needed to vent.

in other news, half of my christmas is already over. i had my family get together saturday and my friend's get together sunday and both were a blast. the family was interesting as always, but that was to be expected. having all of my friends over was absolutely awesome though! rob and i made tons of food and snacks and des, kelley and jamie came over and we all just hung out and chatted and did the gift thing! i hope you all had a good time! and thank you for everything! :D
alrighty, well i've worn myself out today so i'm going to head to bed methinks. i've gotta get up early tomorrow and go to the lab for a full day of printing! catch y'all later!

=e

after the flood all the colors came out...

have i mentioned how much i love u2? cause it's a lot.
so last night was...well...i'm gonna have to go with just weird. i dunno. luckily i was on darvocet so i'm a bit foggy on the details, and i'm thinking that's probably best. i just have that overcast feeling today. ya know, when you feel like you've got this huge cloud of regret and confusion hanging over you? yeah. just kinda heavy.

uh, so yeah, anyway. i have a busy day ahead of me and i guess i should stop trying to avoid it now. so shower time it is followed by going to the lab to print, then staying there to work, then home to change, and off to a company christmas party. oh joy. alright. later.

=e

always remember...

wow, i've been busy lately. with the semester coming to an end, school and work have been extremely hectic, not to mention all the things i'm having to do outside of work and school. crazy crazy craziness. but it's all good.

as far as christmas shopping goes, i think i'm pretty much done. we have a couple of random things to go get for rob's nephews and such, but other than that i'm personally done. now i've just got the daunting task ahead of me of wrapping everything! actually, it's more like getting rob to wrap everything...he does such a nice job! and then i'll decorate the packages and i'm making name tags/cards for them because that's just me and my crafty self. the christmas friend get-together got postponed til the 17th, which actually works out well since jamie will be able to come and i don't have to rush on cleaning, unpacking and finishing the painting i'm giving to kelley. speaking of which, i actually found all my paints today and set up my art table and easel and started working on her painting again. w00t. i'm productive! :)

so currently the menu for the get together is as follows:
chicken tenders
apple fritters
soft gingerbread cookies
pumpkin pie
small things like cheese and crackers
queso dip and chips
and then i figure if we want real food we can just order pizza or something.
and yes, i'm cooking all of that! i'm so excited, i love to cook and have people over!!! we just haven't done it in so long, so i'm going all out! so none of y'all better cancel on me dagnabit!!! :P

i'm wasting time currently while paint dries on kelley's painting so i can go put a wash on it and see whether or not i'm going to call it done. knowing me i probably won't, but we'll see! so in the meantime, hmm...what else is going on...uhm...yeah, not a lot. we have rob's company christmas party this friday, christmas with my family on saturday, and christmas with my friends on sunday...busy weekend! on top of that i have two finals this week and therapy on wednesday. and then next week starts wintermester which i have to pay for by wednesday. wow, december has just been a very busy and expensive month i'm coming to realize. however, i've been in such a good mood lately, that i can hardly complain about anything. i haven't felt real great physically, but emotionally and mentally i've felt fantastic! i've been very productive and high spirited, which is pretty out of the ordinary for me. it's like i go the opposite of the rest of the world. most everyone else i know gets all mopey and depressed around the holidays...holiday blues if you will, and i go the other way, where i'm usually fairly up and motivated. if nothing else it will make for an interesting session on wednesday. i've decided i'm just going to put together a photo album and take it with me to therapy and we'll go through that so she has a face to put with names or something.
anyway. enough jibber jabbering, i've gotta go do that wash on the painting so i'll catch y'all later!
much love everyone!

=e

shhhh...be vewy vewy quiet...i'm huntin' wabbits...

so, it's been a few days. not much to talk about really. this week has been a bit hectic, but not too terribly bad or anything. i just finished up my second paper for my bcis class which i have to go to a little later, and then come home and write a paper for none other than my racquetball class. that shouldn't be too hard though. the bcis papers weren't hard either, i just didn't really want to do them.
des had knee surgery on monday. she's doing well, but is in some pain, which is completely understandable and expected. i went over to see her yesterday and hung out for awhile. i felt bad leaving because she was in so much pain because the pain killers had worn off, and i know how much that totally blows dogs for quarters. she called a little later once i was home and we chatted for a bit. i had told her i would set aside my hatred for talking on the phone just for her because she was in so much pain, and then i missed her call because i was in the bath, and i had to call her back.
so i just realized that this post has turned into a bit of rambling. so let's continue... :D
i'm almost all done with christmas shopping...finally!!!! i was so sure i would have it all done by now, but i ran into a couple of road-blocks. however, i now have those figured out, and it's just a matter of getting the time to finish all this stuff and be done with it. we're having christmas with my mom and family on the 16th since we'll be in indiana with rob's family on christmas day. i was really glad it worked out so that my family could all get together early. i need to figure out when we all (my friends, or those of you that read this) can all get together and have our christmas. kelley and i were talking yesterday about it, and figured the 12th might be good, however i realized last nite that jamie will have class that nite and probably wouldn't be able to come, and that's just no good. but i just don't know of another time to do it, so we'll see. i'm planning on making a bunch of food and being unpacked by that time, so hopefully it will all work out.
okie dokie, well i need to go eat and shower before class. catch you homies later!

=e

just because it's cool...

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 80% Spider-Man 80% Batman 70% The Flash 60% Green Lantern 60% Robin 57% Hulk 55% Supergirl 52% Iron Man 45% Wonder Woman 37% Catwoman 35%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...