Extended Minor Qualms

Why the frigggggg am I studying French?! I asked myself this over and over as I sat in class not understanding a word, grinding my teeth, shuffling through papers and feeling very small and overwhelmed. Its such a terrible feeling when not only are you behind on all your work... but honestly, you just don't understand it. Not at all. Not even a little bit! And explanations in french only confuse you further. It is a helpless feeling. BUT I have learned bit by bit that it is not completely hopeless. Although right now I want to rip up everything, stop wearing my retainer as I study because it prevents me from grinding my teeth in frustration, be able express myself in my mother language and not fear going to class. All is not lost, I am listening to 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' from the Remember the Titans soundtrack, so if that doesn't help I really don't know where to turn.

I forgot to wear my retainer in Jamaica and its being a little bitch now. It hurts so bad!

Someday soon I will post Jamaica pictures. Here is a little teaser. Also, it honestly just feels like a dream that I had and not a week spent. It went by so fast and here I am back in the land of falling leaves and impending winter and heaps of schoolwork and bulky scarves... I forget that just a few days ago I was doing this:

The only proof I have is photos and slightly bronzed skin.

I have a cute, slightly drugged looking boyfriend to vent to. He listens to alll ma problems and then hugs me.

Okay. Back to studying 'L'opposition et la concession' for my Advanced French Composition class. Killlll meeeee...

What twenty hours of work looks like.

Why hello there!

This was my first assignment for my painting and drawing class and boy was it a doozie. (The next one is a two-pronged self portrait assignment doomed to fail (My self portraits always do. I'd rather write a paper on the emotional roller coaster of never quite achieving the result your looking for in one. No, I wouldn't. That's a lie.)) Here is a little bit of the process. I was working in the back room of Atangard which meant a friggin' sore back and cold hands, with the upside being frequent input from good ol' Len (Hotel Manager), being able to listen to music as loud as I want and staying set up for a good couple days without being in anyones way. The assignment was to divide a 3' by 3' piece of MDF into 9 squares and paint each group in contrasting values (either dark, light, or only black and white). We had to choose a celebrity and I chose Roald Dahl. Next time though, next time I'll do Quentin Blake (who illustrated most of Roald Dahl's books). The photos are rather dark. I'm sorry. It was rather dark back there.

This last photo is from one of the technical assignments we had to do. It is a copy of one of Albrecht Durer's etchings done with ink pen, presented in an interesting way. Voila!

Now I am going to go watch a movie and eat popcorn with Markie Mark and enjoy the fact that I handed this all in ONE WEEK EARLY. Huzzah!