(Photo version!)
Saturday-no pictures to share–too tired!

Sunday–
Went to the park with the gramps and parents

{Gramps + Me}
It’s so beautiful in Cali!  They actually have color changes…in Florida, the places I’ve seen anyways pretty much go from greenery to death.  The yellow and red hues are not seen as frequently.

Visited Gracie @ USC

{Me, Gracie, Tina, Michelle}

Made Chocolate Souffle

{Michael J., Gracie}

{Yum-o! Chocolate souffle…didn’t quite turn out the way we expected.  P.S. Anyone have any idea what the term “ribbons” might refer to when making souffles?}

Monday–
Dim Sum @ Rosemead (New Capital, across from Hawaii)

{Cool little cart to keep the food warm!}

{Grace Roland; Tina, Me}

Tuesday–

{It was freezing…we cooked over a fire; there’s a piece of ‘gimpy corn’ next to regular types of corn.}

{Michelle, Michael, Me, Angela, Austin–the Fangs! + SNOW!!!}

Wednesday–

{Michael, Me, Angela; Sunrise}

{I climbed to the top of the rock overlooking our campsite}

{Michael, Roland, Tina, Me, Angela, Gracie, Michelle, Michael J.; on top of a giant rock that took ages to scale, except by Roland who was super fast with climbing O_O!}

More later :]

If there was anything my room was blessed with (besides me having awesome roomies), it would be the view of the sky.  I love just watching out my window–there’s all sorts of weather out there, and I just love clouds.  I used to imagine bouncing in clouds, like Care-Bears or just flying around in general. 

(n_n) [Not to mention there is a tennis court, and some people have really funny form!  Not that I play well, but I know how it should generally look.  Heh.  I was half-joking that my tennis-karma would be reaching untouchable levels since I've laughed at so many people from the safety of my room.  How pathetic, right? lolz.  Next time I even try playing, I'll probably get my lame-ass beaten up; then maybe someone else will be laughing at me .]

When the clouds looked like this (above), it reminded me of a few things:
1) The sky in Kansas when I was leaving in 2003.  That was one of the best summers of my life thus far.
2) How awesome it might be to paint something like this with a nice flat brush (the streaks of light).
3) The Little Mermaid and the light rays in the water (which, by the way, was one of my favorite Disney movies, though now that I’m older I like the ideas behind Beauty & the Beast a lot more–& the dandelions in the opening scene!):

Sometimes watching sunsets reminds me of the Little Prince & how he would watch them when sad.  Then I either become reflective of the sad recent occurrences, or I become happy because I am crazy for colors and sunsets are spectacular like that.

It is too bad the tennis lights bleached out the colors in the one below:

So, as I said I would, here is Part II of my ceramics work! I really wish I had time to glaze or stain them, but alas, time did not permit.

First, here is my Pre-Columbian inspired work:

It’s weird how all the imperfections got baked right on, and stuck.

Here it is from another angle:

To make it, I made the base from slab, made coils, then connected a LARGE pinch-pot to the coils. I made this one in a rush, since I had a deadline to meet–I was really surprised that the coils did not collapse, since I had them going outwards.

This is my WHALE! Completed this time! I am incredibly proud of this whale. =) It was constructed through sculpting. To lighten it and speed up drying, the innards were removed (hence the decapitated image in the last series).

Again:

Again! =)

This is the last piece I made:

Again:

Final:

Actually, I made one more thing..I made it before I made this one–it was a tile-press mold (so basically, I created a tile from clay, then poured plaster of Paris on it, waited for it to settle/harden, and then removed the clay. Then, I can make as many tiles that look exactly the same by rolling clay over the mold!).  Perhaps I’ll post a sample tile some time.  =)

It’s been a while, again, since I’ve updated. Last time I wrote I was still 17. I am 18 now. I am old! How dreadful. And yet–I can do more things–more liberty–an adult? How interesting. I haven’t really thought of it until now.

So, I have to dual enroll next semester. At the present, Brittany and I are signing up [hopefully] for Living with the Environment and Ceramics. I’m pretty pumped about that, I’m just worried about the work load. But Ceramics! Art! At last! It has been a while since I’ve been able have an art class. I love thinking creatively. I love Photoshop and such. I just hope the teacher is good, and won’t be forcing us to create and follow certain molds and get angry if we don’t.

It’s not like life has been that fantastic anyways. It’s not horrible, but it could be a lot better. I feel a little distressed in a lot of classes. In several anyways. So normally I feel motivated to do my work because it interests me, not for grades. But lately, I feel like I’m doing a lot of busy work, and the busy work must be done only for the grades, and I hate being driven by these numbers. I like to do my best, but why are we being subjected to busy work as seniors?

Haha, Mom’s grumbling because dad just bought a white toilet instead of an almond colored one, and she seems pretty exasperated about it. Now she is lecturing him about not noticing and not fulfilling the requirements she set for buying a new toilet. How strange. My parents can be really funny sometimes . The other day, Mom got a Facebook, and insisted that I get a (fluff)friend so she could pet it and earn “munny”, so after a few lectures and begging I got a (fluff)friend (and so I waste all my spare time petting pets to earn money…wait, what spare time?). Well, so my mom is an obsessive birder. Well, dad was watching the television, and he saw a bird he deemed extraordinary and was like “Sunnie! Come see this bird!”..well, mom said, “NO! I’m petting my (fluff)friend right now!”. I guess even aggressive birders have limits.

 

Jason’s in Marietta–3 hours closer than normal..still 6 hours away–for Science Bowl.

I miss all my TiP friends. It has been a long time since I’ve talked to most of them. And I miss a few of my SSTP chums too. =( I feel kind of lonely in Ocala. People here don’t seem to know me. And I felt especially sorry when I realized, I’ve been in the same school for four years, and most of my peers hardly know me. I’ve been told that people adore me and I’m so cute, but what do they know? And do they even care? No, not really. And I can sense that. A lot of people don’t even listen to what I say. I end up talking, trailing off, and no one notices…that’s why at SSTP I was surprised when people actually would go back to what I was talking about if they interrupted me while I was talking, or when I trailed off like that. Here, no one seems to notice or care. And I wonder if I’ll even miss this place and the people when I leave, because I feel so isolated and like an outsider. I want to talk to people, but when I hover near them, I can’t think of a thing to say. Or they would rather listen to someone else. I hover near groups and listen and laugh, but before long, everyone ditches me, and I’m stuck by myself or something. What a loser. So instead I become lost in some thoughts or start to observe people and wonder why everyone else can get along with others and such. How do those people do it–they’re smart, talented, pretty, social/in touch with the modern world, and everyone likes them/talks to them/laughs with them? I constantly feel like the odd one out. I don’t even like parties..everytime I go, I hope “this one will be better! I will hang out and have fun“. I mean the parties look nice, and seem nice for everyone else–I feel happy since I know others can atleast enjoy themselves. I’m glad others can be happy. I just wish I could feel naturally comfortable with more people. =. What can I do to fit in better? I feel so socially awkward all the times, nowadays. I didn’t use to?

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I’m so happy about reading Cyrano, in English! What a dork! But the play is just so funny and interesting. [The nose scene! It is brilliant]. But perhaps this is why no one wants to talk to me!! All I do is talk of school. But it’s practically my life though! I’m not doing much outside of school other than school work..? That is pathetic. Oh, and clubs, but that is part of school too, isn’t it?

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Today I dropped my brother off at Dr. N.H, Jones Elementary School’s Fall Festival, and walked around for a bit there. That’s where I went for elementary. I saw my fifth grade teacher Ms. Dickey, and she announced my presence to other teachers (who probably have forgotten my name of face since..) who also greeted me warmly. I do miss that school–a time when life was natural–we could explore, play games, work in gardens, build toad abodes, chase butterflies, read books together, we could learn, we could imagine, we could sing, we could be in plays, & everything. Life was so pleasant then. Where was the stress? What stress? The only stress then was forgetting homework at home or emotional stress from a [lame] crush or something. Other than that, life was happy and every moment worth living for. Now? Not as much. Things seem less ideal. I’m not cynical, but I have seen reality, and I can see that what is ideal to me is not applicable to everyone. I wonder if ignorance really is bliss–then my cat must have the best life in the world (as SMART as he is…good thing he is cute–he’s not very friendly, so who would want him? Just kidding).

(  ~  <o)))><  ~   )
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                         =^..^= ^meow!

^{Here are some pictures I took at the Ocala National Forest (area) a few months ago!}

Jason might like this web..

Not a good place to sit..

 
I love the color gradient of the berries here =)

Yes, these pictures are belated, but I thought they were worthy enough for posting.

 

More late! Hope you like them, for anyone who might see this.