There's a sky that's changing

Finished this piece to blow off steam last night after finishing the acrylic painting commission. I'm really sick for the third day in a row, but at least art is something I can do from home.

Current new laptop dilemma: I can't find the driver installation CD for my tablet...No digital editing 'til I either dig it up out of nowhere or can convince tech to send me a new one.

I've got no reason for the state I'm in

Posting this from my new laptop, woohoo! Set up all the basic settings + internet today, hope to get through installing my software and transferring all of my files over this weekend. Usually my dad does this for me and lets me watch, but while he's in the hospital I might as well implement what I've learned. Let's hope I don't fuck up too badly :P

I finished putting together a story proposal earlier this week. It feels great to clear that off the table for a while. On my plate now: 15-page comic commission, acrylic portrait, 5-page anthology story. It never ends, and I wouldn't want it to~

Under the heat of the southwest sun

It's on it's way! My new laptop will be here in early September!

You guys. I am so excited. I love my Dell Inspiron 600m, but it's 4 years old and technology has progressed in leaps and bounds over that time (not to mention between its invention and me purchasing it). Some upgrades I'm particularly excited for:

1.4GHz processor, 1MB cache ---> 2.4GHz processor, 3 MB cache
700MB RAM ---> 4GB RAM
30GB 5400RPM hard drive ---> 500GB 7200RPM hard drive
ATi Mobility RADEON 9000 32MB ---> ATI Mobility RADEON M96XT 1GB

Guuuughslkdfcmd. My time in Photoshop will be so much more pleasant~~~! (*u*) I spend so much time making a command and then getting up from my computer while it processes it...it takes my computer 5-10 minutes to download my e-mail every morning. I hope the XPS16 meets my expectations.

There are many ways to act, and there's many shades of black

Finished the thumbnails and the character piece I showed you yesterday. Whoo! I finally have a minute to breathe, so I'm taking the afternoon to talk new laptops with my dad. He offered to buy me one for Christmas, but I really like mine, and wanted to wait as long as possible before making the switch. Also, I want to do it right, since this next one will have to last a long time, and I want it to be pretty much perfect.

I'm starting to think about the coming school year. I move back to Eugene September 15, and school starts on the 29th. But first...Pi Phi's "work week" starts on the 20th. You guys. It is literally 8 hours for 9 days in a row of practicing for recruitment. Shoot me. From the summer letter:

"Everyday your hair must be done and worn down. If you don’t usually do your hair or wear it down, ask a sister for help."
"NO hair in your face! It can be very distracting!"
"Everyone should wear make-up."
"Plain studs, small necklaces and bracelets are fine, but nothing big, trendy, or flashy. NO brand names i.e. Chanel C’s, and please no religious jewelry."
"...if you wear peep toed shoes you must have your nails done."

*Projectile vomits* I love Pi Phi...but this week is a living hell for me. After 4 years, I just can't muster up the enthusiasm required to enjoy it. We're well-rounded, good people, but recruitment makes us look and act like clones (as if anyone wants to join a sorority like that!! We would be so much better off acting genuine! Then we would get, I don't know, genuine women wanting to join our house). Maybe I'll get an ovarian cyst the day before it starts.

My class schedule looks good--my regular courses are all between 12:00 and 3:00. I'm taking 400 level reading/writing Japanese, which will be very hard but good for me, an honors college elective called "Little Magazines", about the history of small press (sooo stoked!! And it's with a great professor!), and a class preparing me for the senior thesis.

I am also taking 4 art workshops!

1. Fundamentals of Color
2. Children's Book Storyboards
3. Keeping a Visual Journal
4. Watercolor Illustration

Sooo excited. :> It looks like there will be lots of time for art in the morning and evenings, and no awkward lunch hour classes or anything making me sprint back home to eat.

Listening to live Radiohead tracks. They're surprisingly good! I guess it's not a let-down to hear the songs unedited because they don't edit Thom much to begin with. :P

Back to a normal level of dysfunction

Hmmm...well, the laptop is "fixed", but there are still a lot of strange problems. It turns on now, which is good, the CPU usage is down to normal, and Antivirus is gone...but there are a lot of files deleted or in the wrong place. Even though my dad and I ended up going with a system restore, the only program that is completely working with no oddities is Firefox, which I reinstalled after the restore. :(
No Photoshop, Comicworks, or Paint Shop, until I can solve the errors or reinstall the programs. I might try toning Out of Place on the library computers, which have Photoshop, since I probably won't be able to on my computer until winter break.

In happy news, I'm taking my freshman interest group to see Happy-Go-Lucky at the local indie movie theater on Friday! I'm so excited. I heard it was right up my alley. Also, the honors college arts journal team meets on Thursday, and I'm excited to see what our editor in chief Amelie has planned. I want to see what it's like designing a book, working with a team to establish a selection of works, and putting them into a meaningful order. Amelie wants someone to submit LOLcats-inspired art to the journal, and I think it'd be a riot to caption Facebook photos, so I'm down to try.

I'm taking an honors college elective on Virginia Woolf, and the professor is letting me make a short comic for the final project! How cool is that? I'm very grateful, given the mountain of writing and group projects my other professors want out of me. The story will be a derivative of A Room of One's Own, the way that The Hours is a derivative of Mrs. Dalloway. I'm setting it in the present day, where two women (who are both reading AROO) discuss the choices, needs, and responsibilities that female creatives have today. I'm really hoping to finish it without rushing, so I can use it as a portfolio piece after the class, but it will be a crunch to finish in time.

Art next time, I promise. I am drawing, but not having image editing on my computer is throwing me off.