There's gone for good, and there's good and gone; And there's gone with a long before it. There's gone for for the day and there's gone for the night. And Gone for the rest of your doggone life. Is it whiskey night, or just couple beers? I mean; What kind of gone are we talking about here?
-Chris Cagle
(or his lyricist!)

So I have been gone for a bit from here. I mean, well, I have had and entire semester of college, and only have a month left in the current one and haven't posted anything in that time. So I feel like I owe something to deviant. Even if it is just another rambling verbal explosion.

I have been crazy busy with ceramics. We have a new prof in charge because Dan left and now Zoe is here and I like her to the extent that I am learning more professionally useful things, but I miss Dan because I had the creative freedom to actually create proficient work that was also aesthetically pleasing, if not utilitarian. This semester just seems like waste, I have not created anything I think is worth submitting for the student show. Just modulars and tri-axial blends so far.

Today for the first time I cleaned out and fired up the Bluebird mixer in the basement and now have a lovely 130 lb box of Val cushing's porcelain raku body waiting for my hands to make it into something. We'll see. i'm thinking vessels with wiggle wire textural patterns, in the style of Eva Zeisel and the Bauhaus. And yes I realize they are semi-unrelated. But I love them both so they influence me.

I have also been thirsting for a good read (unfortunately, textbooks only masquerade as literature) and saw one of my friends posted on FB about his novel he's working on right now. I really like it so far, only made it through the first chapter before I had to read AbPsych for tomorrow's lecture, but I will probably go read some more after I post this. It's about a guy and his friends in a band and their interaction with a rival band...or at least that is what I read somewhere and one of his pages. It's engaging and highly entertaining.

I am in a slight panic about all the papers I am going to have to write in the next week. i need to do research for my paper about OCPD in the morning...Van Denburg seems chill enough that he may not care that I didn't turn in the optional rough draft of the paper, but I still feel crazily guilty about skipping out on it. Granted, It was because I had a topic proposal and glazeware and clay body tests due around the same time, all mandatory. But I do need to actually do research.

I am going to California in May for ten days as part of a philosophy course on the American Dream. so reading list includes Gulliver's travels, and films include Boyz N da Hood, and Sunset Boulevard (lovelovelove!) etc. And I will turn 21 in LA because of this...fun times! Best birthday ever? Hope so. Plus one of my best friends here, jessie (and future roomie for next year) will be on this trip with me! Yay! We are super-excited to go, neither of us have been to California, so it will be a grand adventure for both of us. Five days in LA and then taking a train down the [WEST!] coast to San Francisco. We will probably be exhausted when we get back, but right now I can't wait!

My mom's friend Rebecca baked the most amazing bread! My mom ate a couple of slices and then decided that my roomates and I would appreciate it, and seriously, it is incredible. Just plain bread has never tasted so good. I need the recipe, and to play twice as much Wii fit bicycling to make up for all the bread I will eat! haha.

I think that's about all I can pour out for now, so I am going to read some more and I will talk to you later!

love,
   Penguin.