Final post of 2010

2011, 2011, 2011, 2011... I'm practicing. My fingers have learned how to hit the two, then zero, then back to the one, then the zero again. It's a nice dance back and forth across the top of the keyboard. 2011 is heavily laden on the port side.

Avast, Mateys!

I haven't posted much recently. Why I can not fathom. I enjoy writing for this blog. Sometimes my thoughts run toward blog posts, sometimes they wander aimlessly.

I went on a date last night... with a girl! OK, it's not that spectacular. Last night I met a friend of mine from school, a young lady the same age as Light, at the restaurant where she works. She got off work at 9:00. I got there early to have a baked potato. That restaurant makes the best potatoes! Neither of us knows how they manage to make an ordinary Idaho spud taste so special. Anyhoo, after work we dropped in on a mutual friend who didn't happen to be at home at the time, but his den was full of iniquity in the form of half a dozen late-teen-early-20s ruffians playing a video game. They seem to be nice enough young people, though from the 45 minutes we were there it's hard to judge their collective character. There may or may not have been

some prophylactic glaucoma treatment involved. I was merely a witness to what may or may not have happened. The video game was intriguing. It involved a motorcycle driving up impossibly steep ramps made of various materials including but not limited to diamond plate, wood planking, and concrete.

Then she and I went to the movies. I finally saw "Tangled". Me likey. She and I have been talking about going together to see this movie since it first came out, before the end of last semester. It was good to finally get together with her, and to see the movie.

In other news, I ordered my textbooks online. Big news, I know. But that's not the point of the story. One of the books is for the Senior Seminar course required of all potential graduates in the psychology program. It's title is Finding Jobs with a Psychology Bachelor's Degree. I received email notice today that my order has shipped. In the order description this book is shown as "Finding Jobs With a Psycho."

I haven't posted since before Christmas. Here's the update: Christmas happened. There's not much more to say. My mother gave me a picture frame made with elephant poop. That got a good laugh from the assembly. Looking at the elephant poop website linked above, I see that they also make social stationery. Be the first on your block to write your holiday thank-you notes on elephant poop stationery.

Light made beef stew for Christmas dinner. It was good. I made yeast rolls. They were good too. There was some other stuff, but I can't remember what. Other stuff happened on Christmas day, too, I'm sure, but I can't remember what.

Superman has been on vacation from work since before Christmas. The 19th was the last day he worked. He'll be back at work next Wednesday, the 5th of January, 2011. (more practice) I get so spoiled having him at home with me like this. After all these years, we are still eager to spend time with each other. Warm fuzzies abound.

He had a dream last night about the two of us going to IHOP for breakfast. We're about to make his dream come true. He said it was a nice dream, though I haven't heard any details. Speaking of IHOP, did I tell you about the location in Gastonia, NC? One of the major thoroughfares in Gastonia is Cox Road. At the Cox Road exit from I-85 there is an IHOP. I've heard they answer their phone "IHOP on Cox." Say that out loud, a couple of times if necessary.

Alright, enough of this foolishness. I'm going out to breakfast now. Ya'll have a good day and a happy New Year.

P.S. Remind me to tell you the latest on Diva.

Update:

I took a picture of my pancakes at IHOP.

They have a new menu item. It's the love child of a cinnamon roll and a pancake. There's cinnamon filling goop between each layer and the whole thing is dribbled with a cream cheese frosting, then of course topped with whipped cream. As soon as the waitress walked away I said to Superman that it looks like the pancakes have been covered with jizz. He laughed and suggested they'd been given a facial. The whipped cream is, what, a celebration of the affair? It tasted good.

Platypus in Art

This is the platypus I worked on for so long. I finished him before I started on the narrative about which I posted Sunday night. I took these pictures the same day I took the others, so the time stamp is screwy. I've sense turned off the time stamp feature on my camera. It's annoying!

Looking head-on at the platypus

Platypus, port side, with seaweed under his tail

Seaweed and platypus with log and rocks and more seaweed

Detail of seaweed, back side of platypus, the other end of the log, and some rocks. And turtles.

More detail: seaweed, turtles, rocks

Fish in the seaweed and the back of the platypus

This piece looks better in person. Most of my stuff is difficult to photograph. The fact that I'm a poor photographer doesn't help. And I think the lighting on this backdrop is messed up. We're supposed to take photos of everything we do, using a backdrop for some official art reason of which I'm unaware. The professor insists, and I haven't asked too many questions about that. (I'm too busy asking questions about lots of other stuff.)

Did I tell you I'm taking sculpture in the spring? I know I didn't tell you I'm also taking another ceramics class, because I just found out about that a few days ago. Only problem is that I'm majoring in psychology, and I have a handful of psych classes to take in order to graduate at the end of spring semester. Adding the ceramics class will knock me into overtime, i.e. I'll be taking more credit hours than are officially allowed. I can get an override to do this, and I plan to. Ceramics is that important to me. I'm not sure how important psychology is. It is, really, I just don't know how much. Because I'm good at it. And I'm good at art. So what's a girl to do?

Also, happy winter solstice. And Yule.

checking in

I'm not dead yet. Tired, yes, but not dead.

Finished my last class of the semester yesterday. Next week is final exams. I should be sleeping right now, but I really want to touch base here. I miss my blog peeps.

Clay in my veins. Art animates me. Psychology tickles a different part of my brain/body/soul. My attentions are divided.

Don't want to celebrate Christmas this year. Did I say that last year? It's too late, I'm too tired to check the archives. I don't want to celebrate Christmas this year. Twitch asked me today what I want for Christmas. Nothing. Honestly. I've already gotten his gifts. Bought my Mama's gifts, had them wrapped and shipped by amazon.com. Did that shopping while I was on the phone with her when she told me what she wanted. L-O-V-E the internet.

Don't know what we're going to do with/about Diva at Christmas. NOT going to bring her home! Don't really want to visit her, either, but probably will.

OK, really, now is a bad time to think about all these things I should/want to/don't want to do. I'm too tired and stressed, which means I don't want to do anything. Maybe by next weekend I'll be more inclined to try to give a shit.

I'm at the ceramics studio right now. Recently put my mud away. Have been working here often, many projects due by the final exam time next Wednesday morning. It's 1:30 a.m. and I'm still in the ceramics studio. Going to shut down the 'puter now, go home, shower some of the stink and mud off of me, and go to sleep!

The title of this post

There is a point in the metaphysical universe where what we know as reality ceases to exist and all that's left is Blogdom. Or, more generally, the Interwebz. Alas, I have been absent from Blogdom of late.

School started. I went to class. Life goes on. The beginning of a new semester, new classes, new instructors bring new perspective. To wit, I have a physical education lecture course, required for graduation, called Fitness and Wellness. This class will force me to face some facts about myself and my life that I do not want to admit. I'm squirming, feeling panicked. Reactions of this nature seem to indicate deep-seated emotional disturbances. So far I have been challenged to live "a special lifestyle that promotes a full, productive, and enjoyable life." I am not on board with that statement of purpose. The problems begin with the idea of living.

For balance, I have a course in Death and Dying. I'm quite excited about this one. It's a topic that has interested me for a very long time. In my first college experience a hundred years ago this course was offered, but I never had the opportunity to enroll. I'm glad to be in this class now. I am the oldest person in the class, including the professor. He's 35 or 36. He's the fellow who taught my Research Methods class last semester. Most of the rest of the students are 20 years old, give or take a year. There may be a few who are in their late twenties or thirties, I'm not sure. But I am definitely the oldest. I'll hazard a guess that I have contemplated the subject of death more than most anyone else in the class with the exception of the prof. I think (I mean to ask him) he's done some research on the topic.

I'm taking The Really Hard Research Course, Part II. It's being taught by a different professor, not the fella' we all got used to last semester. This prof is a woman, but I'll try not to hold that against her. She allegedly knows her stuff. I also have her for another class this semester, a general Social Psychology course. So far it's not very inspiring. Updates as warranted. (I love that phrase.)

But the really BIG school-related news: I'm taking an art class! I know! It's an advanced sculpture class, and our first assignment is to make a display box with legs. It is much more complicated, but that's the gist of it. This is going to be so cathartic for me. My box base is a wall mounted medicine cabinet with a mirrored door. The theme explores aging, body image, cultural standards of beauty, and not wanting to look at myself too closely.

The art class is my motivation. It is my love. I wonder why in the hell I'm majoring in psychology when there's ART!! OK, money might have something to do with it. Also, I seem to have a gift for relating to people, particularly people who are hurting. Thistle says I am good at loving broken people. Perhaps through psychology I can refine that gift and make a living using it. Oh, but ART!! Art feeds my soul. I don't feed my own soul very often.

I've been putting some brain energy into the gender identity question. I remembered today that when I was a yout' my mother allowed me to pick out a new bed for myself. I chose the bed designed for boys (wood that looked like wood) over the girls bed (painted white with "gold" accents). When the truck came to deliver my bed, they had the wrong one. They brought the girls bed. I told Mama to just leave it. It didn't matter. So I had that white bed frame, but I felt like an impostor using it. Well, when I bothered to think about it, which wasn't often. I chose a gender-neutral bedspread for it. That helped.

I like wearing skirts or dresses. They are more comfortable to me than pants. I'm glad I'm a woman so that I can wear skirts without causing a social ruckus. I'm glad I'm a woman because I really like guys. It's easier for me to be het. On the down side, I don't trust women. It's hard being friends with straight guys because of the sexual tension. Watch When Harry Met Sally. Harry is right. It's hard for me to form friendships with women because they are women. There are exceptions. I like some people who happen to be women. Generally, though, women drive me crazy. I'm sort of embarrassed to be a woman.

Enough for tonight. It's very late. Again. I miss you when I don't post, and it's been nearly a week since my last post. Hopefully I'll use my time wisely this week and be able to post more frequently. It's all about using my time wisely. I flunked "uses time wisely" in elementary school. I did pass penmanship, just barely.

On the agenda for Saturday

I have been either studying or pretending to study since mid-morning. As I type this the time is 10:44 p.m. To help keep myself on track I made a prioritized list of subjects to study and assignments to complete. So far I've completed an assignment in one subject and studied for a test in another. 

I have three tests this week; a psych 101 exam on Monday at 8:00 a.m., the first exam in counseling on Tuesday, and our second exam in developmental psych on Wednesday. I'm really glad they aren't on the same day. I feel almost ready for the psych 101 exam. It covers 2 chapters, and I've been cramming the info from the second chapter into my head most of the afternoon. I had a very firm grasp on the Chapter 1 info a week or two ago, but I need to refresh my memory. I'll do that tomorrow. I've had enough of that one today. 

The counseling class, however, isn't so firmly ensconced in my brain. Not the raw facts I need in order to pass the test, anyway. I haven't even finished reading all the chapters that the test covers. That one is now high on my priority list. But right now I'm writing. This is my reward for finishing the other stuff today. 

But I wanted to share something interesting I found in my psych 101 book. It's about aggression. Psychologists have developed a frustration-aggression hypothesis. It states that frustration produces aggression. duh (See? College isn't so hard) But that's just the framework for what I want to show you. "People often become aggressive when they are in pain or are exposed to loud noise or foul odors. Extreme heat has also been linked to aggression in several studies."(Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2007)* That explains my story right there. Of course "extreme" is a subjective concept. In my condition anything over 80F (27C) accompanied by humidity above 50% is extreme. Oh, and check this out: Berkowitz (no, not that Berkowitz) has used these findings to propose an idea he calls the cognitive-neoassociationistic model. WTF? Can you say that three times, really fast? According to my textbook, he "suggested that anger and aggression result from aversive events and from unpleasant emotional states, such as sadness, grief, and depression." (Wood et al., 2007)* Well gosh, it's a wonder I'm not a whole lot more aggressive than I am. 

Although there is much more reading and thought organization waiting on me, I plan to go to bed now. A good night's sleep is critical to proper brain function. I know that's in the literature somewhere, but I'm too tired and I can't think clearly enough to find it. 

*Wood, S. E., Wood, E. G., Boyd, D. (2007). The world of psychology, portable edition (Vol. 6). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon. p. 817.