Starting semester of community college!

SO, I have signed up and paid for all of my classes this semester and purchased my books! This is an exciting thing, because this semester will mark the end of my time at the local community college. I'll be able to graduate with an Associate's degree. After that I can move on and take art classes for two years to get my Bachelor's degree in Fine Art. I am looking forward to that very much-- all the art classes without having to suffer through the more difficult classes such as math and science. Because this semester I am taking my last science class-- zoology. It has a lab that I'm NOT looking forward to taking, but it's only for one semester right? This too shall pass.

I also need to find a part time job and hopefully get insurance. Also, finally get my driver's license. :-( What a hassle.

School starts August 17th. So little summer left. Where did it go?!

Ohh, sandwich cookies!

So, I made wonderful cookies today that are really out of this world. I used a simple butter cookie recipe, halfed the butter and substituted margarine for some of it, and then added two tablespoons of lemon juice. I wish I'd put in at least one more tablespoon since the lemon flavor got a little lost. I also put raw sugar on top of the half of the cookies, sandwiched them between faux oreo filling from Secret Recipes, and ATE SOME COOKIES! They were so awesomely lovely, the oreo filling squishing in a delightful way between the cookies as I bit into them. I'm pretty sure it will harden as the cookies sit. Anyway, sixteen of the cookies are going to be gifts for people; I put them in handmade origami boxes, so hopefully they'll appreciate it. One is for a lady who has been taking me to choir practice and is a neighbor of ours; the other is for a guy who's hosting a party tomorrow afternoon. He said we didn't need to bring anything but I figure a gift for the host will be a tasteful gesture. (Maybe literally? I'll have to see if he likes the cookies, first, though.)

so yum, cookies. *drools*

WEIRD dream

So, I totally had this kind of awesome dream where I was in Japan, with my Dad (don't know where the rest of the family was) but it involved Time Travel, ultra secret computers and stolen technology, little sprites (think HP pixies, only about the size of a fly), a movie theater that I was visiting with a new friend, but turned out to be completely in Japanese with no subtitles and I was bummed about paying so much for a useless ticket, and the fate of the universe as I knew it was in my hands. Do you know, it's weird for me to have a dream where I'M the main character. I think it's because I know I'm not adventure type material, even in the back of my own brain.

Also, another portion of my dream involved this guy who was definitely some kind of sadist-assassin, who was ruining my friend's life, whose assistant transferred brains of people and left them in new bodies totally unaware of what was going on so that he could control them to do his bidding. And it involved this really whacky semi-hidden jumpdrive like object with a hose that was attached to the chest.

I'm going to have to do something with this. Once it is modified, because obviously things don't make sense once out of dreamstate. Like the brain controlling thing. Or Time Travel to the 1940's. Or the sprites, in the grand scheme of things. *sigh.*

I'm alone this week and next for the better part of the morning, due to family visiting other family and most everyone working. So I take care of the dogs and the house, and bake food and stuff. I'm going to look for a banana bread recipe since we have three very ripe bananas and they aren't good for anything else in that state.

Sick is bad

I woke up yesterday with a sore throat. Not too bad, so I took some medicine and tried to forget about it, although it kept getting worse as the day wore on. I was NOT very happy, since I had the ACT to retake the next morning from where it had been rescheduled (due to a power outage at the college). However everything would have been okay-- I went to bed at 10:00, feeling more drained than ever, but ALSO my nose started to run. My ears tend to plug up when I am sick and I spent about two hours listening to the sound of my heartbeat echo in my eardrum. Also my mouth kept filling with saliva which made it very difficult to swallow with a sore throat, and my ears feeling like they would burst every time I swallowed, too. NOT FUN. At all. I don't recommend getting sick the day before a test when you are already tired and worried about it.

So I still planned to go to the ACT when I woke up, but I was feeling so rotten my Mom basically suggested skipping it and setting up another test date. That makes it twice I've been ready to take the test but haven't gotten the chance to do so. So I slept in instead, for a good four hours more than I would have done otherwise, I feel a little better, but still rotten, and VBS is coming up next week too. I'd better not get sick for that, since I am working there.

Oh by the way, at least our train mural is done. I can't wait to see it up on the stage. I painted four hours worth of it Thursday, alone, while listening to Newsboys and Caedman's Call.

VBS Mural

I've been roped into helping design the VBS mural for the sanctuary, which is a train. (I'm doomed from now on if this turns out to look good, and I know it; everyone will be wanting my help with this kind of stuff. *sigh*) I used a projector and traced the main engine, but I came up with a passenger train and caboose design for the other parts of it. That was all done last night and I will be helping paint it this evening.

Also I will be making a jelly roll cake for desert this evening, with raspberries on top and a cream cheese and whipped cream and sugar mixture that is luscious. It is my one exception to my rule of NOT LIKING cream cheese frosting which in my opinion is too heavy and tastes funky and sour. This stuff is so light and fluffy it is a DREAM. I'd never go back to the normal cream cheese frosting ever again if I had the choice, and I'd love to see this on top of a carrot cake. I might even change my mind about the things if such a recipe were plausible. :-)

On top of that I have a new art project going on (well several at the same time) including two still lifes, one of which involves cherries and is simple, and the other which is more complicated and has a variety of textures and shiny surfaces. I've got a glass bottle, a clay vase with a dark brown stain, and a harmonica, which has lots of shiny metal parts. This should be interesting and a stretch of artistic ability, which I have been striving towards these last few weeks. I'm building up my portfolio for when I transfer and I'll have to have it ready by next semester probably around the middle. I'm not entirely sure; we shall see.

Chinese Lanterns Charcoal

Mr. Leopall, I am posting this for you so you get a preview of the image. If it is not up to your standards, or you don't want me to use your photograph as reference, please note me back and I will not post it to DA.

Sort of a Creole Stir Fry

So I like to cook. I also like to invent new things; so here is a recipe I came up with that is totally easy and tastes AWESOME, and is ready in under ten minutes.


1 zucchini, chopped up into chunks
1/2 cup shelled edamame (soy beans)
6-8 thawed, pre-cooked shrimp, de-tailed
1 T olive oil
Creole seasoning to taste
fresh ground pepper (also to taste.)

Dump the zucchini, olive oil, pepper and seasoning into a stovetop pan. Cook for about seven minutes, add frozen edamame until they heat up. Add shrimp last; cook until zucchini are slightly browned or shrimp seem hot.

This is a delicious meal when paired with a potato (I microwaved mine in the oven while cooking the zucchini). Also, I think couscous would work or even rice. If I had had some black beans I might have added them into the stir fry, or peppers, or even some carrots. This can be made to taste. But it was a good use for a zucchini when I do not like them that much and a pretty dish!

books read so far in 2009

Books read 2009

The Runner -Voight
Homecoming -voight
Dicey's Song -voight
Solitary Blue -voight
Songs from Afar -voight
*
Come a Stranger -voight
Batgirl year 1
Have Spacesuit Will Travel -heinlein
Beyond the Shadows -brent weeks
Cromartie High School vol 1
*
The Cat Who Walked Through Walls -heinlein
Job: Comedy of Justice -heinlein
Western Garden Annual
Guide to Knitting
One Jump Ahead -mark van name
*
Good Husband of Zebra Drive -a. smith
Miracle at Speedy Motors -a. smith
Green Hills of Earth -heinlein
Uncle Tungsten -o. sacks
Harry Potter Sorcerer's Stone -rowling
*
My Family and Other Animals -g. durrell
Emily of New Moon -montgomery
The Giver -lowry
Double Star -heinlein
The Gate of Ivory- d. egan
*
Two-Bit Heroes -d. egan
Guilt-Edged Ivory -d. egan
The Ogre Downstairs -d. Jones
My Side of the Mountain -c. George
Farnham's Freehold -heinlein
*
Seventeen Against the Dealer -voight
Digger book 3 -u. vernan
Tunnel in the Sky -heinlein
King Lear -shakespeare

33 Books
1 Manga

34 novels

Not a very long list so far. Last year I read 161 books though! I'll get more time during the summer. I've got at least two authors with over fifty books each to read and I've got eight more I need to finish reading right now. Yes, I am bibliophile. I read just as much if not more online right now as well that I don't even factor in to my reading list. By the way, not all of these are new books either. Some of them are re-reads, but I count them anyway.

Twilight Imperium 3 (I WON IT! First time)

By the way, not my image of TI3. That's from Boardgamegeek.com. :-D

DUUUDE! I just won Twilight Imperium 3 for the first time since we got it a couple of months ago! I am so happy. It is a tough game for someone who is not really that aggressive most of the time. Generally I have to work up to being able to play it especially since TI3 is also a very long game, although it is not so bad when the players know what they are doing. Also my brother, sister and I are the only ones in our family who play it.

So to give an overview of this board game, if you don't already know about it; there's a board made of hexes with different planets that are set out into a galaxy map. There are eight player mats to choose from with different races. Each race has a different ability, which is determined by military strengths and weaknesses and technological advances. Yes, that's right! There's a tech tree like in the computer Civilization games, and it is awesome. Also there are different roles that each player chooses for that round. Players can build ships and expand out into the galaxy step by step, until they expand too far. Then of course they may have to declare war on another player. Wars are handled much in the same way as wargames; dice are won for different kinds of ships and ground troops. Last but not least, there is a political system and a resource structure used to vote and buy things respectively. At the center of the galaxy is the capital (think Coruscant from Star Wars) that is the political center and gives the most overall votes to the player who controls it.

So-- to break down how I won the game after being behind and at 4 victory points total out of ten (when at most a player might be able to get 3 points per round) I got my secret objective card worth 2 points, got 9 technologies for another 2 points, and I also had a strategy role card that allowed me to get yet another 2 points. YAY! It was AWESOME! I had it all planned out, although I was worried that my brother, who was sitting decked out in full battle array, would attack me with his warsun (death star), destroyers, 15 ground troops and 6 fighters. I would have been toast.

However he didn't, and I managed to win for the first time. Hoorah! Huzzah! And all that jazz.

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Now playing: Yo-Yo Ma - Bach: Cello Suite #1 In G, BWV 1007 - 1. Prelude
via FoxyTunes