In for the night

That's one thing I love about the winter. It's always cozy to be home for the night, knowing I don't have to go anywhere and can don comfy pjs. But, it's even better when it's cold outside. It makes me even more thankful for having a roof over my head, a good job, senior status at a kick-ass college, learning more about the things I love to do.

The end of the semester is always stressful, but *knock on wood* this one isn't quite as insane as the others have been. My tech writing class has been done for almost two weeks now, and that has taken a lot of the load off of the end-of-semester rush. I handed in my last Portrait Photo assignment on Thursday, and now I have just the open-note final next Thursday. Due to a ton of extra credit, I'm not even remotely concerned about how I do on it. Of course, I will try my best because that's what nerds do, but if I get my usual grade somewhere in the 80s, it won't make a bit of difference. Even though it's open-notes, it's still a difficult exam because it is True/False, and those SUCK. That is why I made sure I had plenty of extra credit to make up for it.

Other than the final exam for photo class, I have to finish my final project for Digital File Prep. It's going to be time-consuming, and I'm aiming to have it done by tomorrow so that I can get it printed on Monday and not have to worry if it will be done in time for the presentations on Thursday.

After that, I'm DONE!!! Another semester down, and only a few to go. That is, as long as I can work out an internship that works with my full-time, 8:00-4:30 Monday through Friday work schedule. That's going to prove to be a challenge. And here I thought that, once I got through speech class, it'd be smooth-sailing. Not so, I guess.

Anyway, back to the original intent of this post. In for the night. Ahhhhhhh. Listening to tunes, contemplating buying the Amazon mp3 deal of the day, working on pics I took for my bro and my final project, doing laundry because I'm down to the "desperate" towels, and just plain chilling out.

Hope everyone else has a nice Saturday night planned! Later, taters.

Just had to share.

Nothing Productive.

That's exactly what I'm doing tonight. I'm listening to some tuneage, looking through the archives of my photos to try to put some together for the show I have to put up for Portrait Photo. Okay, so maybe that's a little productive. Let's just say I'm not busting my arse to get it done tonight. This week has probably cost me about a year from the end of my life.

In happier news, I finally ordered the new album from The Alternate Routes in a package along with their Live in Seattle CD. Speaking of which, there should be a download link in my email inbox. I also downloaded Amazon's Deal of the Day from yesterday, I believe, which was from Superchunk. I'm not sure how I feel about giving up my $3.99 for it. I liked it when I listened to the samples, but I'm not sure how I feel about it now. Ah well, I'll listen to it more. I'm now contemplating some Joe Bonamassa. His song, "Tea for One," kicks rear. I am trying to find it used, but the least expensive copy is $7 plus shipping. I wonder how much it is at Best Buy.

OH, hi. You're still reading. Apologies for the conversation with myself. But, isn't that what this is, anyway? Never mind.

It smells really good in here. My mom's making gravy (sauce, for the non-Italians) and sausage and stuff because she invited some people over on Sunday. Not sure if I'll be here to join in the festivities, but I'm thinking not because it's supposed to be really nice out, and I get nervous when there are that many people in my house.

Tomorrow, hopefully somewhat early, I'm planning to head over to the PSU campus to shoot what's left of the fall colors. I'm hoping the rain spared some of the color and gives me one more chance to capture it.

I think that's it for now. I'm just enjoying not having something extremely pressing to do right now. So here are a few random shots from this week, or some time in the recent past.





PSU Homecoming Queen and King


Brad!!


Crimson and Gold Dancers and the Spirit Squad


Letter C, trying to get votes


Homecoming


Another shot from Homecoming


Da Moon


Another of da moon


This leaf was on the roof of my car when I left work


Waiting for Applebee's-To-Go


Another of The Leaf

Eye Twitches...

...are a pretty good indication that the night should end right now.

I've been working on my part of the group project for Tech Writing and my direct mail piece for Digital File Prep for just about six hours now. It's just about ready for critique; I just have a few more tweaks and I'm thinking about changing the color on one of them. We'll see. Not sure how it'll work.

BUT, as I said, my eye is twitching now, and I'm taking that as a sign to GO TO BED.

It's been a busy day. I got up at the rear crack and headed to Firestone to get the oil changed and the wheels aligned and the tires balanced and rotated on the CR-V. I chilled out at the 'bux while I waited, and, two and a half hours later, I decided to head back over to Firestone to see if they were done. There was also a whiny little girl who kept whining the same thing over and over. I took THAT as my cue to leave.

Starbucks has a friggin' awesome breakfast sandwich. It's some kind of ham, of which I'm not normally a fan, cheese, what looks like egg whites, and frittata. What the heck is a frittata? Whatever it was, it kicked bootay. I washed it down with a grande iced peppermint white mocha. Ahhhhh, 'tis the season.

On the way home, I stopped by Schifferdecker Park and parked in front of the museum because there were two trees that had really pretty fall colors, and I snapped some pics of those, which I'll post here in a mo'. Then I decided that I should head home because I had a lunch date with Mom, and then I knew I was in for a fun-filled afternoon/evening of working on my projects.

OK, didn't I say it was time for bed?



Fourth and Rouse


Self-Explanatory


Pretty Pine and Yellow-Orange-type Leaves


More Pretty Fall Colors. And Pine.


A Very Strange-Looking Sculpture(?)


In front of the Joplin Museum place thingie


Piiiiiiine


Prettiness


High-Contrast Fall Colors


YELLOW!! And Orange.


More.


Some place that looked like a metal cemetery


Driving west on 4th Street outside of Joplin

'Nuff said.

Kentucky Visit

As mentioned in an earlier post, I wish I could have stayed on Fall Break forever. Or, at least for a little while longer. I had a fantastic time hanging out with my sis and the girls.

Here are some pics from our excursions:


Liv holding a baby chick


Gi wanting to pet the turkey but not wanting to pet the turkey


Gi found one!


Riss braving the CREEPY spider


The pumpkin-headed scarecrow guy thing and me


Riss on the search


When Liv met Bob


The girls scoping out the scene


Liv and Gi at Barnes and Noble reading their books to me at the same time


Enjoying some B&N Cafe time


More quality time


After bath craziness


Gi gettin' down to the keyboard music


A very small and very fuzzy telephone


Gi preparing her s'mores


Gi (in selective color) enjoying my crayons


Another of Gi enjoying my crayons

Fall Breakage

Ahhhh, Fall Break, typing on very small keyboards on very small laptops, and the procrastination of finalizing my tech writing paper. My sis's extremely cozy couch and huge TV are far too inviting.

I just have to wonder, though--why isn't Fall break as long as Spring break?

Regardless, it's great to get to spend time with my sister and nieces. I wish my closest loved ones were closer to me physically. Life is short, and we need to spend as much time as possible with those closest to us. That's my wise word for the day.

I'm excited to take the girls the pumpkin patch tomorrow. I have to wonder if I have more fun than they do. Either way, it's a gorgeous time of year, and the leaves are really turning around here; even more so than in Pitt.

Well, I'm going to give up typing on this thing. I'm pecking the keys like a non-typist.

Oh, the humanity!

Yeah, it's going to be a whiney one. You've been forewarned.

Further to my Facebook status, I feel like I've been trying to force square pegs into round holes lately. I'm trying to make something come from nothing. I am uninspired and exhausted.

Oh, wait, that's normal for a college senior who's been in school since August 2006?? Jesus, I must have been out of my mind when I signed up for this. No, not really. It's just one of those days.

It was a really full weekend, and I am spent. It was absolutely wonderful, but I think I'm getting too old for these run-til-you-drop weekends. I know, say it isn't so! Well, we do what we have to do until we don't have to anymore.

Still with me?

On the up side, I shot a bunch of photos with my new Canon Powershot, and they are absolute magic. I'll post a few here in a few minutes, after my rambling, of course.

Further to the lack of inspiration, I just can't seem to get any momentum going when it comes to creating. I blame this on the plethora of "photographers" out there making everything creative seem like it's a dime a dozen. Therefore, I will have to dig deeper to find something that hasn't been done. Or, at least done eighteen bazillion times.

I think that's enough whining for now. I have to post those pics I promised you, and I have to write a synopsis of the symposium I attended for class on Friday. Good times.

I'll leave you with a song, as well. One EskimO's "Amazing." It's the one that pulls at my heartstrings at the moment. I'll try to find a stream of it for ya. Oh, and here's a link of just that:

"Amazing" by One eskimO (scroll down to Track 11)


The Rearview Mirror. Sounds like some spooky book, but it's not. It's just a photo.


Table Rock. GET IT?? Table? Rock? Never mind.


A stone tied to a branch


The beautiful Jenn


B-b-b-b-b-braum's, Durant style. Not that you'd be able to tell if it was not in Durant but in some other town and I was just deceiving you.


Jenn at the Waffle something-or-other


Hot Shots Coffee, Durant, OK


Another shot of Hot Shots. Get it??


An intersection in Downtown Durant