Silly Penguin

I drew this over X-Mas to amuse my cousins, draw non-humans, and draw a comic without the use of photoshop. I like it better on paper.

| 1 Comment

2009 Redux

Did I accomplish my goals in any way, shape, or form?

1. Write down every book or article I read.
   FAIL – Not even close.  I gave up in January, actually.
2. Write 100 or so nabµfs.
   FAIL – Not even close.  Maybe 10
3. Write a novel
   FAIL – I don’t know why I even assigned it.  I knew I was going to fail.
4. Date someone worthwhile
   FTW.  Only I didn’t realize it until it was too late.
5. Move somewhere cheaper, closer OR get a roommate.
   FTW –  I had a roommate and moved somewhere closer.  I guess I did it well.
6. Get all A’s
   FTW – I guess that’s not that impressive where I am, but it’s better than the alternative.
7. Transition my life from ‘drama’ to ‘comedy’ without passing ‘tragedy’ or ‘mockumentary’
   FAIL –  I bring drama and tragedy with me wherever I go.
8. Get a paper accepted at a conference or (cross my fingers) for publication.
   FAIL –  I found out this week.  *sigh*  Next time I won’t put all my eggs in one basket.
9. Write something in philosophy of biology.
   FTW –  I wrote two things in my field!
10. Ride my bike regularly.
    Unsure.  I did a bunch, but also didn’t… a bunch.
11. Send something out to a literary agent/publisher.
    FAIL – I keep my writing on the backburner too much.  Oh, well.
12. Work on updating the site.
    FAIL – That’s not going to happen, I suppose.
13. Upload everything I worked on from high school onward.
    FAIL  – This… this will probably not happen this year either.
14. Create that ’six-words’ group blog at constrainedwriting.com and see it take off.
    FTW!  –  www.constrainedwriting.com You should join!
15. Not lose more than $200 unnecessarily
    FTW – I was down $200 after I bought my laptop, but got it all back when I convinced the car dealership to charge me less than half of what the repairs cost.
16. Plan ahead, stop being late
    Unsure.  No idea how to measure this.
17. Get a new camera, stylus, or laptop.
    FTW – I got a new laptop.  I love it!
18. Tell people they matter to you whenever you leave a room.
    FAIL – Luckily, I haven’t had to regret it this year.

Total:  7 out of 18.  Actually, 7 out of 17.  If I change the header on this blog tonight, It’ll be half.

| No Comments

2009 Off Paper

Back in 2005, I wrote a post I still think about called “remember when…” in which I recalled the mini-adventures that may or may not have made it onto the blog, but still reminded me of very cool events.

So here are some disparate memories.  Some of these might mean something or make sense to you, but most won’t even be complete sentences.  I’m Sor—

• Staying in bed, eating Toblerone
• The drunk lady on the plane that started drooling and babbling next to us.
• The smell of Adrian’s feet when he didn’t have a place to stay and we let him stay with us.
• Waiting Eating gelato in Venice with a cool girl I barely knew
• Nearly missing my flight to Barcelona
• Being in Barcelona and being completely lost
• Discussing love internalism with John on the beach
• The Dali museum
• Walking the streets of Venice at night.
• Dancing jigs in Dublin pubs at night.
• Swearing off American Airlines forever, then signing up for their frequent flier program because they always seemed to have the lowest fares.
• Furtive rendezvous after innocent outings.
• All of the presentations that went perfectly, even when I expected them to end horribly.
• Drawing Hagop for months.
• Prelim celebrations
• April Fools puns.
• When my bio adviser said my idea was “publishable” at the local bar: the Fed
• Making cupcakes for Heather and Russ when they saved me by lending me $500 in April
• Offering my BFF Bre some of those cupcakes as we sat outside Alivia’s, discussing the end of a semester.
• Having to swallow my own words and feeling like a liar as a result of it.  …  ugh. 
• Finally meeting Moof!
• Prospie Games!
• 100 Random things about me.
• My multiple birthdays.
• Collapsing on the ground of my apartment from sheer world-shattering devastation
• Understanding why my mom never stopped crying after her divorce.
• Carving pumpkins with my friends Heather and Russ and Bre and Gordon.
• Hourly Comic Day and 24-hour Comic Day
• Going to basketball games with Jing and John and Dan and Andres
• My brief exploits in philosophy of humor
• Selling my BFF Bre’s books on eBay
• When Lester tried to sell my ipod on eBay.
• Eating lunch with Lester and Leonore.
• LDOC – Ben Folds and making Leonore cry.
• Logic
• Proseminars
• Biology classes and feeling like a fool.
• The summer reading group I had with Dave B. in which we read what I wanted to read and not what he did.
• The drawing I made for Bre for her birthday.
• When Anson nearly died because his girlfriend called him sexist and he over medicated.
• Playing Infamous in AlphaSteve’s house
• The cool party’s at Pommy Steve’s house.
• When his dog peed on my sleeping bag and I had to leave it.
• Asking out my semester-long crush and finding out she’d started seeing someone only three days before.
• Movember
• Dave C.’s birthday party.
• Helping Dave C. get over his heartbreak.
• Reading Dave C.’s abstract before he submitted it for a conference.
• When David B. left without his insulin and scared us all.  Then when he came back and terrified Leonore.
• When Leonore didn’t eat all day and became lethargic and it scared me because it reminded me of my friend Kyle ODing last year.
• Going out for a drink with Jing, finally able to just be friends
• Graduate student campout.  Which was horrible and I blame for ruining my year.
• September, which still stings like a horrible lie.
• The Uni retreat in which I suddenly was responsible for the boredom I was forced to endure last year.
• Rules, rules, rules, and the breaking of rules.
• When Bre brought me a burrito during campout.
• Swimming in the Quarry.
• My birthday, when I accidentally lit my face on fire.
• My birthday, when Bre got me a bookstrap during the one time I didn’t have any books with me because my friend Daniel had told me that I should stop carrying around so many books.
• The blanket she gave me before I left Durham which warmed me to the core.
• Getting back in touch with old TRUpers like Josh, Niki, and Jayna.
• Buying a PS3, a new computer, and a large TV.
• Beating the car dealership with my poorness.
• My birthday, when Heather and Russ gave me coupons for burritos.
• Watching Heather and Russ’ cat while they were away.
• The 7×7 Rubik’s cube Leonore gave me for my birthday.
• All of my other birthday gifts.
• My birthday at the burrito place, then margaritas and movies.
• When Daniel came to visit.  When we hung out on the roof of a former friend’s apartment complex.  And we did rolls and leaps through the fountain at the mall.  And we broke into the Duke Gardens at night and talked for hours.
• When Paige came to visit.  And while the lady is wonderful, my life was much, much worse after each visit.
• Halloween and my awesome stick-figure costume.
• When my brother revealed his deepest, darkest secret to me and I could only laugh on the inside because it reminded me of mine.
• When my brother moved away and didn’t tell me.
• Visiting family and feeling like I would never again do it if I had the choice.
• The Things I wish I could tell people, but can’t list.
• Sneaking Valentine’s Day candies into everyone’s mailbox.
• The annoy-a-tron I planted in the department secretary’s desk as a result.
• His growing incompetence.
• Designing a book cover for my professors.
• Obsession and misery.
• Donating blood.
• Reinventing Facebook.
• Changing everything I can about myself in the hopes that I will never again have to live through another year like 2009.

There’s some order to this list, but not much.  I’d rearrange it chronologically, but that might make things worse.

I’m hoping 2010 will bring me some stability and that it’ll be a happy stability.  I’m not optimistic, but I can still hope.

Last Year: 2008 Redux
| 2 Comments

Bad adjectives to describe a pregnancy

(crossposted at www.constrainedwriting.com)

• Furious
• Uncontrollable
• Jerky
• Infectious
• Antedeluvian
• Boxy
• Morbid
• Green
• Maculate
• Extinct
• Gullible
• Disappointing
• Frightened
• Contaminated
• Frequent
• Wooden
• Adequate
• Fixable

| 3 Comments