Sharpie Chronicles

head's up

2011-06-29T10:05:00.003-05:00

Oh. Hi there.

Yeah, I'm still alive, why do you ask? How long has it been?

Oh. March. Okay.

Well, I'm going to pick up this blogging thing again, but I'm switching to tumblr. The Blogger atmosphere is just stifling my creativity, you know? Just kidding, it's not really, but I want a switch. So I present to you:

hello, starchild.

See ya around.

lists of things

2011-03-21T21:38:00.002-05:00

I'm not particularly good at remembering things.

I especially hate it when I'll think of something I really need to tell someone, or go do, and the person or the thing that needs to be done is right in the other room, and I go to say/do it and forget within five seconds of the thought. Four hours later, usually in a car by myself where I can't do anything, I will remember, and I will remember how quickly I forgot. And that's just if I have to do one thing. More than one? Forget it.

Um, literally, I guess.

In the past several months or so, but especially recently, I've realized that if I number the things I need to do, I have a better chance of remembering. If I know that when I wake up in the morning, I need to do four things before I leave the house, I can be like, "Oh hey, I have this vague recollection of the number Four. It could possibly be a reference to that book I just finished reading or more probably is a clue to an internal list." Apparently it's easier for me to remember numbers than a list of activities.

So it's great: I rub the sleep out of my eyes and say, "Yes! Four things I have to do before I leave the house; I've got this. First thing was get the Kindle off the charger and into my backpack. Second thing was copy physics homework - no wait, that was the third thing. What was the second thing?" Pause. Long pause. "Okay, fourth thing... Find my water bottle. What was the second thing?"

Yes, it's important that these things are in order. You can have haphazard lists with things jumping all out of their assigned space and still expect to remember things.

Actually, I can't expect to remember things no matter what.

At least I know I'm forgetting something, I tell myself, as if that helps anything at all. Yeah, sure, at least now I'm going to freak out about everything and just go ahead take everything in my room with me just in case it was that thing I was forgetting. But it gets even worse when my mind starts being all, Oh, the second thing was definitely to remember your lunch bag. I think. I mean, if that didn't make it to the list, it should have been on there, right? Wait wait, no, the second thing was to not forget your driver license, I'm pretty sure that's what it was. Yeah.

So then I think I know what the second thing on my internal list was, but I have this nagging fear in the back of my mind that I really did completely forget it and I've replaced something intrinsically and absolutely important with something of extreme insignificance.

All that was to explain to you that I forgot my math homework at home this morning, the math homework for which I sacrificed hours of sleep.

I should go. I have three things I need to do before I go to sleep tonight.

not interesting vs interesting

2011-03-17T01:59:00.002-05:00

I'm leaving for a three-day excursion to Oklahoma tomorrow morning (in about four hours, actually). Liss over at Daydream Lily (a much cooler blogger than I, for certain), is going on a trip as well, though not to Oklahoma. Her packing post inspired me to do one of my own - especially since I haven't posted in ages.

Firstly, let me introduce to you my most recent piece of clothing DIY. I'd like to boast that it concerns sewing and immense creativity, but honestly, all I did was take two pairs: a pair of scissors to a pair of socks. I had these giant-footed, super-tall socks, see, and I didn't know what to do with them. They looked silly because my feet were way too small for them, and I'm too short and/or don't wear short enough skirts to make it not look like thick, awkward leggings.

So I snipped off the feet.

You can see the feet in the background (and ignore the cords and mess by my desk). And there you go, improv leg warmers. I am, after all, an 80s child.

You don't need a description of this. Just know that the blue hat is completely unnecessary and completely awesome.

This photo is more interesting because it isn't about clothes. Kindle (funny thing about the screensaver is that I just got Mark Twain's autobiography to read on the trip), my notebook, math homework (ick), scientific calculator (for physics homework, hiding beneath the math), great green sweater, my mom's ipod, and pen-pencil-eraser-usb-chapstick-shuffle.

Not shown: about three billion cords.

I come back on a plane.

The end.

how to tell if your brothers were the last ones to take a bath

2011-03-04T20:14:00.001-06:00

After a brief ninja-pose routine in front of the bathroom mirror (no, you cannot has pictures), I decided now would be a good time to update you Sharpies on, y'know, stuff.

So, I went to take a shower, right, because that's what I do, and lo and behold: a ring 'round the tub. Unlike the Cat in the Hat's bathtub ring (which was pink), this one was a nice, inch-wide ring of grime. Definitely boys. Nothing a good rinse wouldn't wash away.

I've been writing, lately. Nothing concrete, no finished product I could show you, but bits here and there: sentences, miniature stories.

One question I've been asking people is this: If you had to pick one moment of your life, a story of you that encapsulates who you are and defines you now, what story would you tell?

It's a hard question.

I don't think I have such a story. Or, if I do, I can't recall it well enough to tell, or I won't confront it to know. Besides, I'm perfectly content with telling other people's stories.

Do you have a defining life story? Maybe nothing big and fancy, maybe no top-of-Mt.-Everest epiphany moment, maybe just a short scene in which you thought, "Yep, that's my life."

You know what you should do? Email me. Or formspring, if you want to be anonymous. (Links in the sidebar to the left.) Or leave a comment.

reading: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green; To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

loving: the feed your soul art project by indie fixx. I've already printed out several of my favorites, and plan to go to the thrift store tomorrow for some cheap frames.

listening: Daft Punk's album Discovery

resolving: to work out next week, at least once.

playing: Words with Friends (my handle is d3lv, if you're up for a game)

sleeping: Ha, very funny. (Not very much, that's for sure.)

Sweet, my Droid just updated!

long nights

2011-02-24T01:02:00.001-06:00

Let's just say that sleep hasn't exactly been a priority lately. And Tesla (who is a Grown and Dignified Cat now, but will still go for a belly rub when at all possible) has chewed my new headphones. This is the blog of one sad, music-less girl.

My goal for tonight is in bed before 2am, which will be a great improvement on last night's (this morning?) 5:30am bedtime. Actually doing my homework (as opposed to cell phone blogging) might facilitate that endeavor.

Until... later!

so, January.

2011-02-04T16:03:00.004-06:00

So far this year....

On my nightstand:

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I haven't read it yet, but it's next on the list. My Kindle, which holds the book I'm reading now, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

Want to read:

Once I finish the two books mentioned above, the third book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series. Then Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Will Grayson, Will Grayson and while we're at it, An Abundance of Katherines.

T.V. show worth watching:

Ha, very funny.

Movie I've seen (in or out of theater):

Haven't yet.

In my ears:

The trailer theme for the video game Deus Ex: The Human Revolution (the song's called "Icarus," look it up).

Items of note:

Here, let me show you.

Tesla prefers drinking out of my cups instead of the ample water supply he has next to his food bowl. Notice the piles of books and papers around me - I spent the weeks before the semester started grading school papers and recording those grades.

Melody had a birthday party; she turned eight on December 29th, but with the baby arriving only two days before, celebrations were pushed into January.

Speaking of baby... he's growing and still pretty much just eating and sleeping at this point. He seems completely uninterested in playing Wii, too, and I can't figure out why.

Grandpa Joe and Grandma Sharon came for a few days. The kids all enjoyed seeing them again.

All of Houston panicked, because the weatherman announced a "wintry mix" to be expected Thursday and Friday. To us southerners who shiver and crank up the heat at 60 F, those two words were synonymous with "ice age" and "we're probably going to be snowed in." Classes at my university shut down for Thursday afternoon and Friday. Sadly, we got no snow. None. On the bright side, I slept in til 9 today.

What I'm looking forward to this month:

My first physics and calculus test of the semester. Sounds weird, right? But it'll be nice to see where I stand in both classes and figure out if I need to change my approach any. Possible sunshine and warmth dispelling the freezing cold. Adventure, perhaps.

("what I'm into this month" from sortacrunchy.)

three very important pictures

2010-12-30T05:27:00.003-06:00

Have I told you about Tesla the cat? I'm not sure. I adopted him back in the beginning of December. He's cute, spoiled, and wants all doors open and people to be nearby. He really likes my siblings.

So, pictures of the newest brother, as promised: Jacob, born December 27th, here with Josiah.

And with all the siblings crowding around (Jeremiah's leg is in the top right corner - that counts, right?).

I have a list of goals that I want to have accomplished by the end of winter break. Halfway through: am I halfway through the goals? Ehm. No. Oops. Have I been taking pictures regularly? Nope. Sewing? Art-ing? Nah. Guess I should get on that.

P.S. Anyone remember, back in April sometime, I bought myself a couple of pretty flowers and pots and tried to keep them alive? I had four or five. Three or four died, but my succulent cactus thingy is still growing healthily (except it's kinda leggy right now from the cold). I'm proud. Right now, it's leaning to one side to reach the sunlight better, so I'll probably spin the pot around so it can straighten itself out.

appreciate... games?

2010-12-29T20:50:00.002-06:00

I haven't been around for a while. This is because 1) I've completed several video games in the past two weeks, and 2) we have a new addition to the family, a little brother named Jacob. Photos sure to come later, possibly even later tonight. But now is a Reverb10 post. I'll do these 'til I finish them (at least the ones I'm going to do, several of them I have kept my responses in my own personal journal).

Here we go.

Appreciate. What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

Hm. I think now is a good time to point out how difficult that is. A year is so long, and my priorities and perspectives have changed several times in that time period. I started out teaching, I'm not too sure what happened to my summer, and before fall had truly started, I was at university. Earlier this year, I most appreciated family. I connected with them and did everything with them, something I hadn't really done since I had started working and going to school at the end of 2007. (So long ago?! I'm so old!) Later, starting late summer and continuing on through the year, I find I appreciated solitude and silence most, something that's fairly hard to get around my house. And on campus. I show gratitude for that by staying up late, absorbing as much solitude and silence as I can manage before falling asleep. :D

And playing video games.

action!

2010-12-22T11:23:00.000-06:00

action.

When it comes to aspirations, it's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen. What's the next step?

How apt: my last post was about the changes I want to see, things I want out of my life and new things I want in. The next step?

I know. Something novel. I'll stop blogging right now, and instead of writing all about what I could do... I'm going to clean my room. Right now.

11 things

2010-12-21T20:09:00.003-06:00

what are eleven things your life doesn't need in 2011? how will you go about eliminating them, and how will getting rid of those things change your life?

clutter. I admit: I'm not the neatest, most organized person in the world. I tend to be caught up in whatever thoughts are running through my head at the time, and I often just set things down, anywhere, and they stay there. On a good day, my room is full of little piles of half-sorted things: textbooks here, books I'm reading there, stack of random papers I'm not really sure what to do with, clothes I need to hang. On a bad day... there are no stacks. It can get pretty bad. I can eliminate clutter by 1) being more mindful of my surroundings (I usually don't even notice that things are messy), 2) having few things - giving away the things I don't use or are in excess, and 3) setting aside a bit of time each day to just clean up. I think it would lead to a better state of mind, since I'm in my room a lot, and the motivation to do other things - it's impossible to paint or be creative on a messy desk, with supplies in unknown locations.
not-natural beauty products. Sounds a bit specific, but I've been slowly trying to weed out the artificial and chemical products from my daily use. So far I've switched face wash and some of my makeup, and I want to continue to basically get rid of everything that isn't natural. This may seem extreme, but I really just don't want the chemicals on my face and body.
unhealthy foods. Goes along with the previous one - and this will be hard. I'm definitely one for cookies, snacks, and processed foods (yum). By choosing healthier options - fruit instead of sweets, water instead of soda, for example - hopefully I can slowly get myself into the habit of eating right.
stress. Don't need it. Most of the stress in my life is my own fault - I'm worried about an assignment because I didn't start it days ago, when I should have. I'm late to a class because I stayed up too long playing games. My actions (or inactions) or thoughtlessness causes familial strife. Those kinds of things, I just need to stop it. Or start it. Which leads me to...
procrastination. Ah, yeah. If there's anything I need less of, it's this. How do I eliminate procrastination? Other than just doing it? Any suggestions?
more craft supplies. :D But, the paper is just so pretty! And look at that drawing pen... I must hold myself back. By just not going into Hobby Lobby!
Stumbleupon. Okay, I won't say I'm going to cut out SU completely, because it's awesome. Just not as much. Maybe I can set myself a time limit of when I can use it, after I finish my stuff for the night. Goodbye, procrastination.

I can't really think of anything else I don't need. So let me finish the list with things I do need.

reflection. More time set aside to reflection and prayer. Often I procrastinate, rush to finish assignments, and go to bed late. No time for meditation. Giving myself time to unwind and reflect will keep me in a better, more peaceful state of mind.
spontaneity. I like doing random things. But sometimes, being busy or tired makes me want to shun anything that deviates from a schedule I have in my head. Things like impromptu air soft wars with my siblings, going out barefoot, dressing like a gypsy, getting a picnic together for lunch one day - I can do that.
creativity. Like reflection, I need to set aside time each week (more realistic than each day, during the school year) to be creative. I miss not letting ideas flow where they will.
cake! Didn't I just say I needed to eat more healthily? Well yeah, but cake... cake is healthy. And I haven't been making homemade cakes in, man, five months? Way too long. Let the cake making continue.

if you read it to the end of this wall of text... good job. You get an imaginary cake.

make.

2010-12-20T21:18:00.002-06:00

make.

what was the last thing you made? what materials did you use? is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

I like making things. I make things all the time; to ask "what was the last thing I made" is really super broad and vague. I made a quesadilla earlier this afternoon, I made my sister a cup of tea for her sore throat a few minutes ago. Last week I painted a version of my atom painting. I've been, in an ongoing sort of way, making a mess of my room for the past several weeks. As for the materials, most of those are pretty obvious - you don't need me to tell you that I used hot water and a tea bag for tea, do you?

There are a lot of things I want to make. I want to finish my quilt, for starters. I want to embroider a sequence, for the fun of it. I want to make a red dress. I want to make a mark on the world - but who has the time for bold endeavors and earth-shaking actions?

I also want to make a cake and some other decadent dessert. I'm pretty sure that an awesome cake could change the world.

i wonder.

2010-12-17T11:26:00.002-06:00

Yesterday marked the end of my fall semester.

I'm still waiting for some of the final grades to be posted, but it looks like I did as good (or better) than I planned. Apparently, my body actually listened to me a couple of weeks ago. See, right before the third set of midterms, I felt like I was starting to get sick. "Don't get sick, tiph," I said, "because I have these midterms. And after that I have finals. You're not allowed to get sick until after finals. Then you can get sick all you want." I got home from my last final and fell asleep. Today, all I've really wanted to do is sleep (and eat, I'm also exceptionally hungry).

Today, I should have written out my short-term winter-break goals, but I kindasortamaybeplayedBraidalldayinstead. It's an addictive puzzle game I picked up from the Humble Indie Bundle (round two). There's something like three days left for that, so I urge you to support your indie devs and charities. I actually already owned Machinarium and have played through it several times, and I would actually recommend the bundle for that game alone (it's great: beautiful artwork, awesome puzzles), but yeah. I personally wish I could afford to give more (initiatives like these are definitely on my Support List), but hey, give what you can and have fun with the games.

So, I'm still doing Reverb10's month of reflection, though as I mentioned in the first post, it'll be more like a "month-ish of reflection-y posts basically whenever I feel like posting them." My problem is, I get so wordy. Maybe if I start using a really tiny font, it won't look like so much text and no one will care.

Also, I will be skipping a couple of days of reflection on things that I would rather keep in my own private journal. Some things I'm just not going to put online.

wonder.

how did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

In the beginning of the year, I took pictures. I tried to find magic in things I saw and capture that. I sewed and painted and drew things. I visited museums and parks regularly with my siblings. I read good books. Later in the year, I took up mountain biking and yoga. In the fall, when I began a semester at a university, life created wonder for me, and I didn't really have to do much to find it. I met people without trying to, people who became important in my life, did random things and sometimes (once) I dressed up as a gypsy. I think that "cultivating wonder" is one of those things that became habit for me when I was a little girl, taking forever to wash dishes because I was imagining stories in the soap bubbles. Thankfully, I've never quite been able to drop that habit, even though I have tried once or twice (silly me).

Oh, the most recent thing I've done to cultivate wonder? Get a kitten. That's pretty wondrous.

writing

2010-12-07T23:59:00.001-06:00

Starting earlier today, I'm participating in Reverb 10's month of reflection.

writing. what do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing, and can you eliminate it?

Eesh. I do so many things every day that don't contribute to my writing - in the past four months, my writing has slowly and surely shut down to nothingness. I haven't sat down to write a piece of fiction in possibly over a year, with maybe one exception that I just now thought of. I love writing, I really do. But for me, when I write fiction, it takes all of me, and that means I'm mentally separate from other things that I should probably think about (like, in the past several months, classes). Of course, I have tried to keep up my blog as an exercise for me and as an incentive to keep me writing something, anything. Has it worked? Sorta. I also started and completed one journal for the summer/beginning of fall, and since then my journaling has gone way down the tube even though I have lots of fascinating things that not only do I want to remember, but I want to write them down just for the sake of writing them down.

But that's not answering the question; the question was what keeps me from writing. Well, you know, life. I go to school, I commute (which takes about 3 hours each day), I have homework and sleep and, probably the only thing I can cut out, really, is the internet. At the same time, in order to write anything proper, I need to be in my own atmosphere, my own zone that I haven't been in for a while just because of the demands of school and life in general. I don't know how long it will take me to find, all over again, that place where my characters live. Can I do it? Yeah. The question, really, is will I keep myself away from the quick-and-easy instant gratification of the internet and let myself just be, just think and explore.

Sounds like a good New Year's Resolution to me.

one word

2010-12-06T20:24:00.000-06:00

Starting today, I'm going to participate in Reverb 10's month of reflection over the past year. It's an online initiative and annual event that includes daily writing prompts to get you to think about the past year and set preliminary goals for the new one. It began on December 1st, but I'm going to catch up and/or go over. Check out the site, and leave me a link to your blog if you decide to participate.

one word. Encapsulate 2010 in one word.

Only one? Not even a sentence, a compound, pregnant sentence with semi-colons and an avalanche of commas? No. Okay.

oriented.

Odd word to pick - I mean, I could have easily chosen joy or contentment or newness.

Google says oriented means "adjusted or located in relation to surroundings or circumstances." Which feels right: my year has been spent orienting and reorienting myself around new circumstances, sometimes huge and life-changing (like at the beginning of the year, when my mom underwent surgery to donate one of her kidneys to my brother Joshua, who had had both of his nonfunctional kidneys removed the month prior). Some things were not so big, like learning how to homeschool two middle-schoolers from my own curriculum and overseeing two other children in elementary school with a preset curriculum. Most recently has been my shift back into school, and getting used to an actual university and all that it implies. Shifting degrees slightly, adding a few more fields of study: I have declared my major in Mechanical Engineering Technology (a mech tech!) and minors in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Business Spanish.

This past summer I relearned how to ride a bike, a few days ago I adopted a kitten we named Tesla.

The past year has felt like a fluid motion of shifting, changing, working with new things and new people and - I think most importantly - staying content throughout. Because life is beautiful.

The second part of the prompt asks what word I would like to capture 2011 if I were to do this a year from now. Probably "stable." As much as I love new and exciting things (and this next semester will likely prove to be both really exciting and super busy), I'd like everything to maintain a certain level of stability, to know - at least in the limited way that life allows - what to expect. How much do I really believe that 2011 will be stable? Not much at all.

And here's a picture of Tesla.

Admit it, he's way adorable.

night kite

2010-11-24T23:58:00.000-06:00

A lot of my days have looked like this lately. I spent large amounts of hours on chemistry exam studying, which is just ridiculous. I came out of it with a nice B, so go me?

My first day of Thanksgiving break was today, and I celebrated by sleeping in til 9, not doing anything most of the day, and not even thinking about homework (except for a little bit). I also went to the park with the kids (to fly kites, but we got there about ten minutes before sundown... what's with the 5:20 lights-out these days?) Besides that? Not much. I actually planned to use my camera today, but alas, my phone was more handy. And that app, well... I'm a sucker for the polaroid feature. You know this already, I'm sure.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? So far, two of my desserts are completed for Turkey Day... I'm sure I'll be running around like a freak tomorrow, hands (and possibly face) covered in flour. At least I have pie. I hope you guys all have pie, too.

queen of clumsy

2010-11-18T12:53:00.003-06:00

It's my lunch-and-homework time. I finished lunch a while ago, but the homework part is far from complete.

But, I admit it. I wanted a tiny break (just a teeny tiny one) and opened the StumbleUpon toolbar (since I'm on Chrome, it's more like an add-on), and clicked. Apparently, even SU thinks I shouldn't be messing around, because this website came up.

Good job, Internet.

Math and lots of math. The most frustrating part of midterms is the fact that in addition to studying for those tests, I have all of my other responsibilities as well. There is no homework break for the test. I still have 60 calculus problems due on the day of my chem exam. I happen to have two midterms on Thanksgiving week.

Also, I am the queen of clumsy. Not only did I manage to smash my thumb yesterday (ow, still hurts, don't wanna bend it, etc), I also found the the time to fall over in class. With my desk. Onto someone else. I'm not sure how I do these things, really. It's a desk. You sit in it, and it doesn't do anything unexpected - and I fell over in it. Sigh.

Chemistry awaits.

But wait, Hyperbole and a Half has a hilarious new post up about her silly dogs. It has pictures. It is hilarious. Hilariously hilarious.

queen of fake polaroid

2010-11-16T10:57:00.002-06:00

I'm cold.

I shouldn't be cold, because I'm sitting in a building, but apparently everyone at this university thinks students need to be kept chilled at or below 60 F. Like we're fruit that might spoil in the heat or something. Or maybe it's a conspiracy to keep us all as uncomfortable as possible. It isn't working; a guy at the table across from me is asleep on his backpack.

In other, more awesome news, I downloaded a couple of camera apps for my phone, which basically does a bunch of ridiculously awesome vintage shots. Yes, I'll admit it - I have fallen and continue to fall for the awesomeness of the vintage toy camera look. In my defense, the pictures from my phone look kinda bad anyway, so why not just make it awesome by adding warm tones and soft focus? Yeah? Yeah. So, Internet - you might get pictures from me, but they're gonna be cliche and pretty.

You will be glad to know that I followed through (so far) on my own advice and have stayed away from StumbleUpon and other internety ways. I may or may not have fallen asleep at 9 last night, which kinda kept me from being on the computer at all anyway, but hey. It counts. It totally counts.

I woke up to this. Yes, those are my chemistry books. They keep me from feeling lonely on these cold, dark wintry nights. That and I just fell asleep unexpectedly. Books are not good bedmates. They have sharp corners. (That turtle is real.)

I smell the smell of sodium-filled lunches all around me being unwrapped and reheated. I have grapes, goldfish, and an oatmeal creme pie for lunch, so I'm not one to talk.

this post has pictures, isn't that novel?

2010-11-14T19:55:00.004-06:00

I'm just going to stop announcing updates, because they never happen. Except for when they do, which is rare, so it's sorta a moot point, right?

It's hard for me to believe that I haven't really updated my Flickr since August. The beginning of August. This is largely due to this awesome thing called Studying, and Life In General. But either way, I really, really miss taking pictures. I really, really miss blogging. I really, really miss being able to sit at home and do nothing but drink tea and embroider tongue-in-cheek little thingies. And painting. And drawing in my sketchbook. I would say, "I know, I'll totally start doing all of those things," but I know that I won't. Do you know why I will not? Because right now, I have 60 Calculus 2 problems waiting for me in the folder next to my wrist. On Tuesday I have a humanities essay due. On Wednesday, a chemistry quiz. In a week, midterms; a week and a half after that, finals.

(most days, i just want to do this when i get home.)

Still, a girl has to have some down time, and I'm going to try to translate that into actual creativity and not just mindless web surfing as much as possible. Clicking the "Stumble!" button when tired is so much easier than thinking about what sort of monster would look cute as a project. I miss my monster projects.

I also miss trips to the park.

Now that the silly daylight savings has ruined the evening's light (why would I want the sun to come up before 7, anyway? Sheesh), making it anywhere while it's still daylight after I come home from school is nigh impossible. Once I get home, I want to eat, sleep, and be Mary*. With the sun setting at a whopping 5:27 (that was today's sunset, and it isn't getting any better), park evenings just aren't feasible.

(this is what i see all the time now. All. The. Time.)

Sadly, the semester is coming to a close within the next couple of weeks. Happily, the semester is coming to a close within the next couple of weeks. Scarily, I will have a month off and then an entire NEW semester and such to get used to. Change can be fun, but it can also be annoying. Once I've fallen into a routine, the year is like Hahahaha, time to do something different now!! Isn't that a funny trick?

No. No it is not.

See you guys around. I think.

*Yeah, I don't know either.

short and sweet

2010-11-01T23:50:00.004-05:00

I've not had time for much of anything.

Life is good.

I am now 21.

I have successfully completed Round 2 of midterms.

Please enjoy the quick digital drawing. How I love my tablet.

Expect a more update-y post later this week.

c-c-c-combo breaker

2010-10-07T00:42:00.003-05:00

I'm going to make this quick, because it's almost 1am on a Wednesday night, and everyone knows that the Thursday monster gets an early start to its chaos and stupidness. Thursdays and I used to be best buds, but it went and conspired with Physics to make my day really awful. In addition to that, on Thursdays everyone tries to go to work earlier, and this messes with my morning trek to university and I have to sit in traffic.

I've left a few projects unfinished, like my Super Awesome Fantastic quilt that is pretty much finished except for the parts that aren't finished, and also my room is not exactly the model of neatness at the moment. Some weekend when I have hours of nothing to do, I'll probably think about doing one of those two things and then take a nap instead. Just sayin'.

Recently I've done something that I thought I would never ever do: get into the college spirit. Everyone's doing it, I would think. Therefore I should not do it. But it's a little infectious.

In other news, it's time for me to go to bed. I know, I know, I neglect this space so much - well, I'll be back. Now that I have a bit of a routine I have things to blog about, and I'm sure you guys are dying to hear about trigonometric substitution and integral curves. No? Your loss.

p.s. I'm not exactly sure which combo the title is breaking.

breaking things

2010-09-14T20:37:00.004-05:00

I think this is the third week of the school. Maybe the fourth - I'm not really sure (it kinda all blurs together). Unfortunately, the classes I have are really uninteresting to relate. There's only so much one can talk about the derivative of hyperbolic sine, ya know?

Luckily for all of you people, however, I broke my hands yesterday! Yes, I did just say hands, and no, it was not a typo. Though it could have been. I mean, my hands are broken. I'm not entirely a typing champion at the moment. But, in my glory days.....

Anyway.

Hands. When used to fend off blows and deliver punches, hands - especially if they're mine - tend to break. Now I'm sporting a fracture in my right hand (on the bone that corresponds to my ring finger), a formerly dislocated left ring and pinkie fingers, and quite possibly a fractured knuckle around there too. Of course I didn't go to the doctor, don't be ridiculous. Yes, I put a splint/brace on my hands... a day later. Hey, when the adrenaline's pumping, pain doesn't exist.

I'll take two Adrenalines now, please.

I need to do my calculus before I fall asleep. And typing is getting tedious.

Until next time (and hopefully a new-injury-free post).

p.s. I didn't say this specifically, but to clarify: I was sparring on campus Monday. The only thing I hurt was my hands.

so that's where you've been

2010-08-31T11:37:00.004-05:00

It's been a while. It feels like it's been even longer because this past week has been completely insane. Why, might you ask? Because this week was the first week of classes, very important classes like Calculus and chemistry and Physics. (Please take note that while Calculus and Physics are capitalized, chemistry is not. This is because chemistry isn't important, and the other too are. As a matter of fact, chemistry is stupid and not fun at all. Just sayin'.)

Right now I'm sitting outside the main part of the campus, looking around while typing these very words. I have a huge list of things that need to be done within the next two days, along with a very, very ugly picture. The list is boring and you can't see the picture.

My schedule is busy and interesting and this silly bee won't leave me alone.

I feel like I'm moving into that part of life that is really hard to blog about. I mean, I can talk about natural logarithms and how I always mix up tangents and secants, or I could talk about the strange sights I see while sitting on a sidewalk bench, or I could even tell you about how the university's wireless network is unreliable and I wore rainboots today. But I can only tell all of that once, and then it's back to the small things that I find super interesting but are hard to relate. You know.

So if my blogging because scarcely more than nonexistent, please remember that I am taking 18 hours of coursework this semester and the number of Calculus assignments is beyond ridiculous.

My poor, poor camera. She feels so abandoned.
Even my journal has been left blank as of late. No time, and no news. Nothing I can quantify. There will be more, though. Well, maybe not more time, but I'm assuming that life will bring new things. For now, physics calls!

i am the girl without hands

2010-08-21T23:11:00.005-05:00

My sister and I have this saying we use whenever things aren't looking too hot and life could clearly be going a little better: "It all works out when you get your hands chopped off."

We've derived this line from the Grimm's fairy tale of The Girl Without Hands. (It's not very long - you should read it.) In the story, the girl of the title gets her hands chopped off by her father, and a long string of alternate good and bad fortune befall her until, finally, it all works out. We don't do with cliched phrases around here. We make up our own.

Wednesday night, my family and I trekked up to San Antonio to go on our last summer vacation before school starts up again. That night, I realized that I had forgotten my phone charger (me: let's go baaaaaaack). Never to fear, though, because Thursday, while partaking of Fun and Amusement at an amusement park, my wallet and phone was quietly stolen from our vehicle.

It solved the problem of not being able to charge my phone quite nicely.

My wallet contained my drivers license, my student ID, a Starbucks gift card, and a credit card. Oh, and school starts Monday. No drivers license and no student ID on the first day of school? Awesome. Most upsetting - except for the loss of my phone, I mean - was the loss of the wallet itself, a vintage, purple-and-white checkered Vans number that used to be my mom's.

Dear Thieves:
You may keep my Starbucks gift card. You may sell my phone. You may have both of my IDs and my credit card, even though they are useless to you now and just an inconvenience for me. But please? Could I have my wallet back?

Thanks,
tiph.

Fast forward a few days, and it's Saturday. I won't get my phone before Monday evening and I get to wait in line at the DMV for an indefinite period of time to get my license again.
But I have insurance on my (now gone) phone and I was running out of space anyway. I bought a freakishly cool, retro wallet AND the thieves were nice enough to not steal my purse (I like my purse). Shopping for a wallet at Whole Earth Provisions also earned me a hat. I don't know what kind of hat, but it is a hat. Generally speaking, one wears it on one's head.

And regardless of whether or not my stuff was stolen, university starts this Monday (so stoked) and my computer is still in my possession. The truck wasn't harmed in any way in the taking of this wallet and I have a really cool shirt to wear Monday. See? It all works out when you get your hands chopped off.

P.S. Apologies to those of you whose grammatical sensibilities have been offended by my slang on this post. Generally speaking, I try to keep my slang to a minimum bordering on the "a little much" side, and my words as nationally neutral as possible, but I did no such thing on this post. That's just what happens when you spend four days in San Antonio. (Not really.)

gibberish, maps, and the french.

2010-08-16T22:44:00.003-05:00

A couple of people took the bait from last post and commented.

One such comment, from a certain James, says,

"ror sen pude sonehat raridatoso wipec meyuni vat mam vetel tira webe datag soneke widoh sesecat tetuceter detirewad dal fedirefo dalel soder hel cadifas mar tuwerom raveye seseto wesen tew sanurum noda yetadeyofe kerafer rihe sarew hirawahete secono mibu"

Well, James, I tend to agree with the general sentiment, but I certainly can't commend you on your grammar or punctuation.

Someone Else says,

"Ah, that was refreshing."

But was it a frozen-lemonade refreshing, or a I-just-remembered-something refreshing? All these questions!

After spending much of the day with an awesome friend, I am now memorizing the bus routes that go throughout my university. By "memorizing" I mean "becoming frustrated at the lack of map-making skill of these bus route map-makers." I figure that if I want to go somewhere on campus, I can 1) walk, or 2) find a shuttle station and wait for a bus to come. The buses all go in circles anyway. When I was a kid, maps were drawn to scale. Hmph.

Tomorrow is a Wake Up Early For Fun day, so that means tonight is a Go To Sleep Before Midnight day. Ridiculous? I know! But it's true. With my parking permit purchased and all business concluded, I bid thee adieu.

Unless you don't like the French, and then just bye, okay.

what's the opposite of an infomercial?

2010-08-14T21:25:00.002-05:00

Dear Sharpies,

Would you like an explanation as to why I have not posted in exactly 14 days?
Would you like proof that I have done something productive with my life recently?
Are you dying of Photo Starvation?
Is your brain withering from lack of Tiph Sarcasm?
Are we finished asking questions yet?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, have I got a product for you! Act now to receive a free (FREE!) blog post from tiph of Sharpie Chronicles! Simply write intelligible nonsense in the comment box below, hit submit, and you will get your very own Sharpie Chronicles blogpost*!

But hurry, this offer will only last for the next ten days!
As an added bonus, tiph will even post a sketchbook page (just pay shipping & handling!)

* Blog posts not available in all states. Void where prohibited. Limit one blog post per day. No comment necessary to be receive a blog post. Commenting does not increase your chances of receiving a blog post. Retail value of blog post: $0.00. Chances of receiving blog post: one in five kabillion.