Saturday, May 30, 2009
Long time no see.
I really have been meaning to write here more often. I keep meaning to write an apology and an explanation for my lack of activity here and then try to get back into the habit of writing regularly, but so much has happened over the past several months that when I start to think about it all, I get so overwhelmed that I just can't write it down.
My first year at VCU ended earlier this month, and I'm now officially a fashion design major. I still can't really believe that it's already over because it went by so quickly, but at the same time I had so many experiences and spent so much time there that it almost feels like that part of my life is the only life I can remember living. In a way, I feel like that part is true; I've never really had friends or a real social life before I came to VCU.
Unfortunately, I still don't have much of a life back in my hometown, and sometimes when I'm here I almost can't believe that it all really happened to me. It feels like a dream, and although I met many wonderful people and experienced some wonderful things, I sometimes wake up in the morning wishing that it had only been a dream.
Since I've left Richmond, I've been trying to get back into some of my old hobbies. I went on a shoujo anime binge right after I came home and watched Shoujo Kakumei Utena and Sailor Moon S again for about the millionth time.
I also played some videogames; I finally actually played and beat Clock Tower 3 and I nearly beat Space Channel 5.
Clock Tower 3 was really fun because it'd been such a long time since I'd played a videogame at all, and it had been even longer since I'd played a scary one. However, about halfway through the game it went from being legitimately scary to a bad fantasy-horror kind of scary. The first boss was terrifying, and the second one was still scary; the third one was ridiculous, but he was actually kind of attractive in a comic book super villain way, so I didn't have that much of a problem with him. The game just stopped being scary after he showed up, though. It was a pretty fun game overall, but I'm a little dissatisfied with it the same way I'd be dissatisfied with a B movie.
I got so close to beating Space Channel 5, too! I just can't get past that last boss, and when you have to play through the whole stage just to fight it, it's just too frustrating to try more than once in a while.
Another successful method of alleviating boredom I've tried over the past few weeks is listening to random Jrock bands: either ones that I've heard of and haven't actually listened to yet, or ones that have funny names like SHAKALABBITS and Convenience Store. Here are a few that I've really started to like:
Luna Sea is one of those legendary Jrock bands; most Jrock fans know (or should know) who they are, but I wasn't familiar with their music at all until recently. I really wish I had realized that they were awesome when I first heard of them, but for some reason I never really gave them a chance. I don't know why.
I had to listen to SHAKALABBITS just because they just have an awesome band name. It's fun to say. I'm not even sure I'm pronouncing it correctly, but it's fun to tell people I'm listening to a band called SHAKALABBITS. It turned out that they were really good, too!
I tried CHERRYBLOSSOM's music on a whim, and I'm glad I did. It's really catchy. They kind of sound like a combination of Naomi Tamura, Lee Jung Hyun, and the China Dolls.
EAT YOU ALIVE was another band that I tried because I thought their name was just too amusing to resist, but I was surprised when I actually heard them. They have such a refined sound, especially for an indie band. ;O I hope to hear more from them in the future.
I've actually listened to a little bit of An Cafe's stuff before, but not enough to actually consider myself a fan. That changed when I listened to this song. I don't know exactly why I like this song so much, but it's just so sweet and catchy.
Within the past few days I've also been getting into manga again. After I finished watching Utena again, I decided that I really wanted to see if I could find the manga online. I did find some scanlations of it, but unfortunately the group that was translating it dropped the project, and I was unable to find the rest of the translations. However, when I gave up on Utena, I stumbled upon Angel Sanctuary, which is a series that I'd been meaning to check out for a long time. The art style has always appealed to me, but the manga is very long, complicated, and kind of confusing, especially because a lot of the characters seem very similar in appearance at first. However, I think I'm following the plot so far and I'm starting to recognize the characters enough to pick them apart from each other. I'm not quite halfway through it yet, but I'm hoping to finish it sometime next week.
Anyway, I'm afraid that's all for now. Next time I'll write about my awesome new laptop. :3
My first year at VCU ended earlier this month, and I'm now officially a fashion design major. I still can't really believe that it's already over because it went by so quickly, but at the same time I had so many experiences and spent so much time there that it almost feels like that part of my life is the only life I can remember living. In a way, I feel like that part is true; I've never really had friends or a real social life before I came to VCU.
Unfortunately, I still don't have much of a life back in my hometown, and sometimes when I'm here I almost can't believe that it all really happened to me. It feels like a dream, and although I met many wonderful people and experienced some wonderful things, I sometimes wake up in the morning wishing that it had only been a dream.
Since I've left Richmond, I've been trying to get back into some of my old hobbies. I went on a shoujo anime binge right after I came home and watched Shoujo Kakumei Utena and Sailor Moon S again for about the millionth time.
I also played some videogames; I finally actually played and beat Clock Tower 3 and I nearly beat Space Channel 5.
Clock Tower 3 was really fun because it'd been such a long time since I'd played a videogame at all, and it had been even longer since I'd played a scary one. However, about halfway through the game it went from being legitimately scary to a bad fantasy-horror kind of scary. The first boss was terrifying, and the second one was still scary; the third one was ridiculous, but he was actually kind of attractive in a comic book super villain way, so I didn't have that much of a problem with him. The game just stopped being scary after he showed up, though. It was a pretty fun game overall, but I'm a little dissatisfied with it the same way I'd be dissatisfied with a B movie.
I got so close to beating Space Channel 5, too! I just can't get past that last boss, and when you have to play through the whole stage just to fight it, it's just too frustrating to try more than once in a while.
Another successful method of alleviating boredom I've tried over the past few weeks is listening to random Jrock bands: either ones that I've heard of and haven't actually listened to yet, or ones that have funny names like SHAKALABBITS and Convenience Store. Here are a few that I've really started to like:
Luna Sea is one of those legendary Jrock bands; most Jrock fans know (or should know) who they are, but I wasn't familiar with their music at all until recently. I really wish I had realized that they were awesome when I first heard of them, but for some reason I never really gave them a chance. I don't know why.
I had to listen to SHAKALABBITS just because they just have an awesome band name. It's fun to say. I'm not even sure I'm pronouncing it correctly, but it's fun to tell people I'm listening to a band called SHAKALABBITS. It turned out that they were really good, too!
I tried CHERRYBLOSSOM's music on a whim, and I'm glad I did. It's really catchy. They kind of sound like a combination of Naomi Tamura, Lee Jung Hyun, and the China Dolls.
EAT YOU ALIVE was another band that I tried because I thought their name was just too amusing to resist, but I was surprised when I actually heard them. They have such a refined sound, especially for an indie band. ;O I hope to hear more from them in the future.
I've actually listened to a little bit of An Cafe's stuff before, but not enough to actually consider myself a fan. That changed when I listened to this song. I don't know exactly why I like this song so much, but it's just so sweet and catchy.
Within the past few days I've also been getting into manga again. After I finished watching Utena again, I decided that I really wanted to see if I could find the manga online. I did find some scanlations of it, but unfortunately the group that was translating it dropped the project, and I was unable to find the rest of the translations. However, when I gave up on Utena, I stumbled upon Angel Sanctuary, which is a series that I'd been meaning to check out for a long time. The art style has always appealed to me, but the manga is very long, complicated, and kind of confusing, especially because a lot of the characters seem very similar in appearance at first. However, I think I'm following the plot so far and I'm starting to recognize the characters enough to pick them apart from each other. I'm not quite halfway through it yet, but I'm hoping to finish it sometime next week.
Anyway, I'm afraid that's all for now. Next time I'll write about my awesome new laptop. :3
Labels: an cafe, angel sanctuary, anime, cherryblossom, clock tower 3, eat you alive, hobbies, jrock, luna sea, manga, sailor moon, shakalabbits, space channel 5, utena, vcu, videogames
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Orientation and stuff
It's been a while. I probably should have updated this sooner, but I finally caught the summer fever and got lazy about things. I've been stressing about things with VCU and the apartment situation, but I've also been playing a few videogames, which have been taking up most of my free time lately.
My orientation went well, and so did my brother's orientation. However, with him being a freshman and having the two-day orientation rather than the one-day session that I had, I think his orientation was slightly better than mine. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy a few extra benefits by attending his orientation, though. I was able to get two free VCU t-shirts at his orientation (compared to the zero I received at my own), and I was able to attend the bus tour for parents and guests at his orientation, though I personally think that tour would have been more beneficial to the students than the parents. I was also able to walk around the campus and ride around on the shuttle bus to see how I would be getting to all of my classes while my brother was registering for his classes.
Well, I guess I've written enough about his orientation, but I haven't really said anything about my own orientation. To be honest, I think one of the most exciting parts of my orientation was getting to walk by myself from the art foundation building to one of the dining centers on campus. Of course, it wasn't my first time walking across the campus, but it was the first time I'd done so by myself, and it was pretty exciting to be able to figure out where to go by myself without having the help of another person or a group of people who already know where they're going.
It was also pretty exciting to finally register for my classes; it really started to give me a sense of being an actual student of VCU and not just an applicant. However, it wasn't a very organized process; I was expecting a one-on-one session with an advisor who would tell me what classes to take, but instead we got a computer lab full of students and maybe five advisors who didn't all exactly know what we should have been taking. I'm also a little concerned because one of the credits that should have transferred to VCU didn't transfer, and I don't exactly know why. However, the advisors recommended that I skip that requirement in case it transfers later.
I was impressed that my drawing classes at my community college both transferred, though. They transferred as credits for VCU's drawing studio and project classes, but I'm taking the drawing and project classes at VCU anyway because they'll help me keep full-time status and because I want them. My community college drawing classes were great, but since they were at a community college and not a full-blown art school, there weren't a lot of resources for models and other things like that (even though their new easels are quite nice :3), so I think that I would benefit from a drawing class at VCU.
After my orientation we drove around the neighborhoods where the apartments I was interested in were located, and surprisingly most of them weren't in such great neighborhoods. We ended up eliminating all of the apartments that I hadn't been able to make appointments to see prior to the day of my orientation, plus two of the four appointments I had already made.
The two apartments that we actually looked at were okay, but in the end I decided that the best choice overall would be to get the dorm. A lot of factors went into my decision, but in the end I think the two biggest things it came down to were the question of whether my boyfriend could keep up with his half of the rent without a secure job yet or any backup money, and the fact that I probably wouldn't be happy living in either of the apartments for the whole 3-4 years I'd be at VCU. The apartments only offered 12-month leases, and it would have been either very difficult or very expensive for me to try to find a better apartment later.
So I'm going to be in a dorm for my first year at VCU, and I'm going to look into getting an apartment in the spring so that I'll be able to grab one right as graduating or transferring students move out. If for some reason that isn't possible, I might try to get into one of the apartment-style dorms for upperclassmen for the next school year.
As far as other things in my life go, I'm really behind on updating my website, and I haven't really drawn anything since my last CafePress design. I just haven't felt like it, but it probably isn't such a bad thing. I'll be in artist boot camp starting on August 21st, so it's probably not such a bad idea to take a break so that I'll feel rested and ready to work when classes start. If I feel like it, I might draw my characters a bit before the fall semester starts because I'm not going to let myself draw them at all during the semester, but I'm not going to pressure myself to keep drawing just to stay busy. However, I will try to update my website to add my latest drawings sometime this week.
Oh, I mentioned that I've been playing videogames, right? Well, I put Silent Hill Origins on hold because I started itching to play Final Fantasy X-2 again. I started a New Game Plus, but I kind of rushed through it because I really just wanted to finish getting 100% (I had 99% previously) so that I could get the good ending, but for some reason I didn't get it. I got pissed off about that and started playing Final Fantasy X instead. I started getting really excited about totally owning Yunalesca this time around because she gave me so much trouble in my first game, and I beat her last night. Now I'm at the point of the game where all of the sidequests are available with the airship, but I'm already getting bored with it and I want to play something different. It's frustrating because I really wanted to get that AP trick so that I can over-level Yuna and make her hit harder than Auron, but I'm also impatient about getting the items that allow me to do that trick. I think I'll take a break and play something different and maybe come back to FFX when I'm ready to do that.
Well, that's about all I wanted to write today. I'll try to start updating more regularly. :3
My orientation went well, and so did my brother's orientation. However, with him being a freshman and having the two-day orientation rather than the one-day session that I had, I think his orientation was slightly better than mine. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy a few extra benefits by attending his orientation, though. I was able to get two free VCU t-shirts at his orientation (compared to the zero I received at my own), and I was able to attend the bus tour for parents and guests at his orientation, though I personally think that tour would have been more beneficial to the students than the parents. I was also able to walk around the campus and ride around on the shuttle bus to see how I would be getting to all of my classes while my brother was registering for his classes.
Well, I guess I've written enough about his orientation, but I haven't really said anything about my own orientation. To be honest, I think one of the most exciting parts of my orientation was getting to walk by myself from the art foundation building to one of the dining centers on campus. Of course, it wasn't my first time walking across the campus, but it was the first time I'd done so by myself, and it was pretty exciting to be able to figure out where to go by myself without having the help of another person or a group of people who already know where they're going.
It was also pretty exciting to finally register for my classes; it really started to give me a sense of being an actual student of VCU and not just an applicant. However, it wasn't a very organized process; I was expecting a one-on-one session with an advisor who would tell me what classes to take, but instead we got a computer lab full of students and maybe five advisors who didn't all exactly know what we should have been taking. I'm also a little concerned because one of the credits that should have transferred to VCU didn't transfer, and I don't exactly know why. However, the advisors recommended that I skip that requirement in case it transfers later.
I was impressed that my drawing classes at my community college both transferred, though. They transferred as credits for VCU's drawing studio and project classes, but I'm taking the drawing and project classes at VCU anyway because they'll help me keep full-time status and because I want them. My community college drawing classes were great, but since they were at a community college and not a full-blown art school, there weren't a lot of resources for models and other things like that (even though their new easels are quite nice :3), so I think that I would benefit from a drawing class at VCU.
After my orientation we drove around the neighborhoods where the apartments I was interested in were located, and surprisingly most of them weren't in such great neighborhoods. We ended up eliminating all of the apartments that I hadn't been able to make appointments to see prior to the day of my orientation, plus two of the four appointments I had already made.
The two apartments that we actually looked at were okay, but in the end I decided that the best choice overall would be to get the dorm. A lot of factors went into my decision, but in the end I think the two biggest things it came down to were the question of whether my boyfriend could keep up with his half of the rent without a secure job yet or any backup money, and the fact that I probably wouldn't be happy living in either of the apartments for the whole 3-4 years I'd be at VCU. The apartments only offered 12-month leases, and it would have been either very difficult or very expensive for me to try to find a better apartment later.
So I'm going to be in a dorm for my first year at VCU, and I'm going to look into getting an apartment in the spring so that I'll be able to grab one right as graduating or transferring students move out. If for some reason that isn't possible, I might try to get into one of the apartment-style dorms for upperclassmen for the next school year.
As far as other things in my life go, I'm really behind on updating my website, and I haven't really drawn anything since my last CafePress design. I just haven't felt like it, but it probably isn't such a bad thing. I'll be in artist boot camp starting on August 21st, so it's probably not such a bad idea to take a break so that I'll feel rested and ready to work when classes start. If I feel like it, I might draw my characters a bit before the fall semester starts because I'm not going to let myself draw them at all during the semester, but I'm not going to pressure myself to keep drawing just to stay busy. However, I will try to update my website to add my latest drawings sometime this week.
Oh, I mentioned that I've been playing videogames, right? Well, I put Silent Hill Origins on hold because I started itching to play Final Fantasy X-2 again. I started a New Game Plus, but I kind of rushed through it because I really just wanted to finish getting 100% (I had 99% previously) so that I could get the good ending, but for some reason I didn't get it. I got pissed off about that and started playing Final Fantasy X instead. I started getting really excited about totally owning Yunalesca this time around because she gave me so much trouble in my first game, and I beat her last night. Now I'm at the point of the game where all of the sidequests are available with the airship, but I'm already getting bored with it and I want to play something different. It's frustrating because I really wanted to get that AP trick so that I can over-level Yuna and make her hit harder than Auron, but I'm also impatient about getting the items that allow me to do that trick. I think I'll take a break and play something different and maybe come back to FFX when I'm ready to do that.
Well, that's about all I wanted to write today. I'll try to start updating more regularly. :3
Labels: apartments, art, dorm, drawing, orientation, vcu, videogames, website
all content and graphics copyright © 2008 Meg Couch. all rights reserved.