Good evening everyone! I’m back after a long absence. I’ve been busy lately, so I guess I should update you guys.

For one, I’m trying to post on here as often as possible, but I got bogged down with a lot of papers for class, but all is well with that spectrum of the universe now. I can finally catch up with all my articles for Demand Studios and for here. Another reason why I haven’t been posting so much is because I got a new job teaching a few Korean computer graphics professors English. They already know English, of course, but they want to learn it better so they can get teaching jobs in the States. I’m excited about this opportunity and it will help me get a job once I graduate with my Master’s degree. Today, I got to help one of my students practice for an interview she has with the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. I’m excited that I got to help with the interview and I wish her luck. To me, working with students is like raising children. You give them wings to fly and once they leave the nest… it’s so sad. One of my coworkers said I should be happy when the students leave because it means they gained confidence in their writing and speaking abilities, but for some reason, I don’t feel that way. A deep sense of sadness overcomes me. I don’t know if I’m suppose to feel that way, but I always do. Maybe someday, I will understand that feeling.

On Monday, someone stole my flashdrive from the computer lab. My resume, art portfolio, Writing Center work, ESL worksheets, and all my thesis work was on it. I posted fliers all over campus pleading with the person who took it to give it back, but no one has integrity anymore. We live in a pathetic world anymore when someone would even steal a flashdrive. All I did was go print a paper and staple it. That’s all it took. Honestly, the person can have the flashdrive, but I would be super happy if they would just send my work to me. My email address is on the flashdrive, afterall.

In other news, I previously mentioned a forum I was part of that discusses the show All My Children. I am now officially an outcast on there because people think I’m a troll. The thing that kills me is that on a forum, we’re all just a bunch of screen names. No one has faces. Some of the people on the forum have been trolls and I’ve been a regular poster during those times. Suddenly, everything turned on me because I reported on a bad day I had and everyone’s like “OH! TROLL!” No one gives anyone the benefit of the doubt; it’s instant paranoia. If you talk to some people more than others, you’re automatically accused of being that person if someone doesn’t like that individual. You can explain everything until you’re blue but they still won’t believe you. People automatically think that they know someone when they really know nothing. Only that person knows who they are, no one else, and I think that’s something a lot of people haven’t learned yet. Everything is so high school still. You defend yourself, call others on their follies, but it’s still never good enough. Unfortunately, it’s not behavior that’s only familiar on forums, but it’s becoming a common problem in society. Sure, it’s been a large problem for years, but it’s only getting worse.

In other news, I finally found time to write. Tala and I are probably going to start working on our manga very soon, and she’s working on a web comic. Alex is also working on his story. As for me, I’m working on a short story for my university’s Stark-Tinkham writing contest. I haven’t any idea as to what I’m going to stick with, but, right now, I’m writing a short story about two girls in Arizona who are sold into sexual slavery; another story about two friends who don’t realize they’re in love with each other until it’s too late; my third idea involves writing about my hometown. There’s always crazy things going on in my town. I turned a short story in for my advanced composition class once that focused on my life in my crazy neighborhood. It was great because my professor knew what I was talking about because she lives in the same city as I do, so we were able to talk in-depth about the crazy happenings of city life. She’s the one who encouraged me to expand on my piece. We’ll see where that takes me.

Technically, I don’t have an art tutorial to post today. Instead, I want to pass on some words of encouragement when it comes to photography. Personally, I’m not that good of a photographer, but I have fun taking pictures nonetheless. A while ago, I had a good camera, but my niece and I broke it running away from the Baptist church in hopes of breaking my “Baptist Curse” (this was 4 years ago, LoL). I have a Kodak camera currently, but it only has 3X zoom and sucks. All the pictures are still pixelly, but what can I do? But I’m getting off track.

There are a lot of people who are afraid of delving into the wonderful world of photography because they’re afraid their pictures will be ugly and blurry. Like I mentioned, I’m an amateur photographer, but I find the art to be very relaxing. A lot of times, I take my camera out and I take pictures of the sky, my dog, or geese (Alex says I have an obsession with geese ). Sometimes, buildings intrigue me or just random things lying around the house. Sometimes, I just feel inspired. Today, Alex and I skipped our Chaucer class because I had a headache and it was the last class before spring break. Our professor for Chaucer doesn’t usually assign work so Alex and I went out to have fun (we have a hilarious story to tell also!). We went to JoAnn Fabrics where I needed to take pictures of topiary things for a tutorial I’m doing for Demand Studios. I found some lovely fabrics to use for a skirt I wanted to make, but that’s besides the point.

Anyway, as we were driving to JoAnn’s, I felt inspired to take pictures as we were driving. So as we were driving, I took pictures of the road, restaurants, and random things along the way. Why? Because everything is aesthetically beautiful to a certain extent. I know a lot of budding photographers get psyched out when they go to professional photography sites and see all these beautiful portraits and say “I can never be like that!” Truth is, with practice, you could be like those photographers. For me, I’m really not interested in becoming a professional photographer, I just like to take pictures for fun. Here’s my advice, start taking pictures for fun with whatever camera you have, especially if you’re like me and you have a piece of crap camera. Take it slow, shoot things that are simple. When you’re ready, begin playing around with various shots at different angles and get creative. With photography, the possibilities are endless! Here are some shots I took from today:

Fireworks store: There

Ortega Supermarket near my campus.

You may see a lake; it's a flooded golf course.

It's me! It was very cold out today.

See, my pictures suck, but with practice, I’m sure I’ll get better over time.

Happy days ahead!

Marisol “Kita”

Tags: All My Children, Art Tutorial, Camera Angles, Chaucer, Comics, Crafts, Creative Writing, Geoffrey Chaucer, JoAnn Fabrics, Kodak Camera Tutorial, manga, Photography, Pilfering, Portraits, Professional Photography, Purdue University, Stark Tinkham, Stolen Goods, Tutorial, Writing