Life drawing and stuff

This past Tuesday, I went to a life drawing class. Yes, really. I walked in and there was a naked girl posing on an armchair. Once I got over the initial shock of it, I went to work. I drew her in a few different poses. An hour later, I walked out, ecstatic.

Why am I telling you this? It's a bit of a bizarre subject, I know, but I think it's a great example of one of the many opportunities I have here at college. I love the fact that I can pursue art in different ways. Art is so important to me. I don't talk about it a lot to people, because it's a very personal subject to me. If you tell people that you like to draw or paint, they immediately want to see your work. I'm too shy to show people my work, though. I'm afraid I'll be judged negatively for it.

But anyway, I actually showed my life drawing sketches to a couple of people. I must have been feeling particularly confident. I was surprised when they told me my sketches were really good. Mind you, these are two people that are really honest, because they make art themselves. I showed it to them because I knew they would give me their honest opinions.

I don't seek attention. I didn't show them the sketches with the expectation that I would receive compliments about them. I was just really excited after that class because of how great of an opportunity it was and I wanted to share it with someone. You ever get that feeling? When something is so great and exciting and worthwhile that you just can't keep it to yourself?

Autumn in Ithaca is stunning

There's this guy that lives on my floor. He's a sophomore. He's wonderful. I'll leave it at that.

I'm also developing a strange interest in medieval culture. I listen to medieval music on Youtube and went to the library to check out the Lord of the Rings books (not medieval, but they always remind me of medieval culture). I read about medieval history. I play medieval games online (that part is particularly nerdy and embarrassing). I read medieval literature. I blame it on my King Arthur literature class. I adore King Arthur legends. Since I was a kid, they've fascinated me.

I stayed up till 2 AM Thursday night talking to people in my dorm's "library". (It's called a library because it has books but it's way too social to be considered a library.) We talked about religion and our theories of the universe and whether we have souls and all of this fascinating late-night discussion. I don't know why it was so memorable, but that night was so stressful that staying up late just having some interesting conversations was really what I imagined college would be like.

I'm rambled out. Maybe if I'm feeling brave one night, I'll upload some of my drawings on here.

The only living boy in New York

(The title's a reference to one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, Simon and Garfunkel. Check 'em out, yo.)

GR GIANT SQUID OF FRUSTRATION IS RAGING OVER MY CONSTANT ROMANTICISM AND FANTASIES WHY WHY.

*ahem* I like Cornell a lot. It's a wonderful campus. It's large enough so that I don't feel stifled, and there's plenty to do. I'm already getting involved in a lot of fun activities. I joined a film club guys! I'm already in charge of cinematography. You don't even know how exciting that is.

My film class is also going well. My only complaint with it is that we don't get to do enough camera work, and that most of the upperclassmen like to take charge when we do assignments, thinking they know more because they're older. Like a few days ago, we were working on a film assignment, and I was behind the camera. I set up the shot, and it looked pretty great, if I do say so myself. I was excited to shoot it. Then one of the seemingly shy girls became extremely bossy and kicked me off the camera and sent me to be the "slate girl". The slate is that thing you see on movie sets (see below.)

How embarrassing.

And then she changes my shot, defying the rules of composition in the process! How dare she! I'm making it a goal to be more assertive in my film class. Freshman or not, I know what I'm doing and I'm not letting some pesky junior get in my way.

Classes are rough, man. They're eating me up. French and International Relations in particular. So much work! I'm being optimistic, though. I've been working harder the past week or two, so let's see how it goes. I have a French exam on Thursday, so we'll put my knowledge to the test.

I'm also thinking about visiting my close friend in New York City one of these weekends. She's having so much fun at NYU, and it always makes me smile in a sad way when she sends me a picture of something she knows I'd like in the City. Like last week, there was a lecture on Kerouac, and she showed me a picture of it. Then she told me about some of her experiences in Central Park, like listening to someone play music from Amelie on the accordion. She knows I adore that movie. It's always nice to know your friends know what you like, you know? (Haha, 3 uses of 'know' in one sentence.)

I sometimes wonder if maybe I should have gone to New York. I fantasize too much. Just a little thought.

The problem with reading

Don't worry, this post won't be complaining about reading. I could never do that! Reading is too dear to all of us.

There are two groups of reading: leisure reading and required reading. Leisure reading is of course the better of the two. It is pleasant and a great way to spend some (or all) of your free time. If I could only have one of the two groups, I would have leisure reading.

Required reading is the opposite. It's like eating your vegetables as a kid: you don't want to, but you have to. The problem is that unlike vegetables, who openly share the plate with chicken, required reading likes to monopolize. Once it has control, it won't let you read any other way. It's like a horrible parasite that you can't get rid of. And if, perchance, you decide to cheat just a little bit and do some leisure reading, required reading comes back in your mind and reminds you of your priorities.

This is my current dilemma. Wanting desperately to read The Lord of the Rings, but being chastised by the horrible 30-page "Reductionist and Systemic Theories". If you think it sounds dry, you've only reached the beginning.

Okay, maybe I did complain about reading. 

Just a thought

I shouldn't be blogging right now. I really shouldn't be blogging right now. I have so much work to do that if you put it all on top of my head, I'd break my neck.

I'm falling behind on the reading in one of my courses. I also have a terrible cold. The king of colds. The cold to end all colds. I also have a French test tomorrow. I haven't prepared. It's 10:23 PM as I'm writing this. My class is at 12:20 PM tomorrow. That's not much time.

I signed up to write for the Cornell Sun, the daily school newspaper. I'm currently a compet. That means that for 8 weeks, I'll be considered a writer-in-training and I'll have to write at least 4 articles to contribute. After that, the editors determine if I make the staff. *cue panic* I probably shouldn't be worrying, because they said that most people make it, but what if I don't? I will forever be ashamed of myself.

Can you believe there's a kind of cold that can't be fixed with tea? Since when does tea make a sore throat even more sore?

Anyway, here's the thought that motivated this jumbled blog post: how dare they remove the old Blogger interface! I don't know about you guys, but I still use the old one. I've tried to get used to the new one, but I just can't. It's ugly and confusing. This old one is much more comfortable to use.

Okay, back to work. I love you all and I promise I'll catch up on blogging (and vlogging, because my fellow Lightning Scars probably hate me) soon!