Well it’s been a while since the last newsletter. As far as the website goes, I’ve upgraded the software I use to run it, and after working out a bug where all of the titles vanished, it seems to be quite stable. I’ve added a few features. One is a copy&paste bit at the bottom of each article on the off chance anyone wanted to link to it. Another is an additional search box at the top of most article pages. I’m attempting to implement a rating system so that I can have a list of “most popular” articles, but it’s not working yet. I’m working with the developer of that plugin and hope to get it working soon.
I’ve also added some Amazon widgets in a few articles. Movie trailers, MP3 clips, etc. I even have a music playlist page where you can listen to music I think is cool if you’ve got nothing to listen to at the time, or are just curious.
I’m in the process of updating my shop as well. I’m primarily adding black shirts, but it’s a slow process. So far only the I Love Bubblewrap store has them, but I’m working on adding more.
On my personal front, Fall semester online went great. I got an A in all of my classes (Geology, Statistics, Philosophy, US History) despite taking 3 of the finals in one day after being awake for something like 60 hours. That was fun. The people at the testing center kept giving me chocolate to stay awake. I posted a few of my philosophy essays in the Essays section of the site. I learned that Statistics is hard but I’m not a total math retard after all. I learned that Geology isn’t as boring as I thought it would be. I learned whole lot more about the Civil War, which was fascinating, and I had to write a paper about my own family’s history, going back to pre-Civil-War times. That was really interesting as it made me do research and learn things about my family that I never knew. My ancestors were socially well-placed, back in the day. One of them married Marshall Field, Jr and gave birth to Marshall Field III, for example. A few others ended up marrying nobility in Europe.
This spring was my first semester at Cleveland State University. I took an art history class, Painting III, Sculpture I, and a class called “Intro to Urban Studies” that was exactly as boring as it sounds (but it filled a graduation requirement) but was fortunately an online course and very easy. I did a heck of a lot of painting, which is all posted in the gallery in the painting album and several sculptures, which are in the sculpture album. I learned a lot this semester and am quite excited about the fall.
My petition for in-state residency status was denied because my online classes last fall were paid for by financial aid from Georgia, which disqualifies me. I may appeal, but it looks like I will have to do one more semester paying out of state tuition. My mom paid for the spring and is going to help out for the fall. I don’t know if we could make it work otherwise, since loans + grants is still not even enough for tuition, let alone leaving anything for living expenses.
I was awarded an art merit scholarship based on my work, which will defray some of the costs. I was also in two art shows this spring, though I don’t have any photos posted yet.
In April Dan went on his first externship. He spent the entire month in Tucson, Arizona working at the VA hospital there. He stayed with my mom while he was there, which went very well. He drove, and so he was also able to ferry out some last remaining boxes that I’d been storing for her from my grandparents, and he was able to bring back some of my stuff that’s been taking up space at her house.
He is back now and working at a local hospital here in Cleveland for the next two months. Dominic will be spending part of the summer in DC with his dad, and part in New Hampshire with my mom. I’m not sure what my plans are aside from trying to organize the basement (still haven’t unpacked everything) and trying to do some more paintings.
I found out yesterday that my 18 year old cat, Ding, has lung cancer, but she isn’t showing symptoms so we’re just going to keep her as comfortable as we can for as long as she seems to be enjoying a decent quality of life. She’s been such a trooper this last year with a bad paw injury (self-inflicted—she is a neurotic weirdo and always has been) and so she seems to be trooping right along with this, too. The long term prognosis is not good, but I’ve been preparing for the reality that my cat isn’t’ going to be the Miracle Cat that Lives Forever for quite a while. I just hope that when her time comes she is in peace.
So as not to end a newsletter on such a bummer of a note, this weekend I had a bunch of people from my art classes over for a party and we had a great time. I took a few pictures during the “sitting around inside chatting and listening to music” stage, but didn’t get any pics of the outdoor stuff (light-up bo staff spinning that many guests tried out, and fire juggling and fire poi that Dan and I did) nor did I get any photos from the several hours of Rock Band that were played with much enthusiasm and hilarity later in the night. The party wound down with a couple of episodes of South Park and finally the last farewells to guests was about 4:30am. Hopefully we can get together again during the summer, but if not I’m sure that once the new semester starts we can throw another get-together together.
I’m sure I’ve left a TON of stuff out, but that’s why there are always future newsletters. You can also visit my journal if you want more frequent updates. Thanks again for reading, and remember you can unsubscribe any time by going to the bottom of this page.
— 02:10:21 AM
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