My Last Summer

Hello all! I've finished a couple new songs, Crazy Baby and Detachment, which you can check out above or by clicking the links. Check them out!

Another semester done and I begin possibly my last summer as a college student. I know I'll miss it when it's done, it's been literally a life changing experience. There is the Freshman 15 I've packed on, for starters. I thought I was a little old for that but apparently it doesn't care how old you are. But it will be good to get back out into the work force and start making money again. Then we can start those repairs on the house and maybe I can start visiting people again!

Anyway, the stand out class for me this semester was Painting 2, where I really got to explore my love of street art, using stencils and spraypaint and odd found objects to paint on instead of canvas. And who doesn't love the pretty colors and swirly lights you see in your head after you've breathed in enough spraypaint fumes? It's ok, I added enough new braincells in my other classes to make up for the ones I killed. I even got to work on some really big pieces like a seven foot high piece of pressboard which I think used to be used as a door. That one proved to be a little bit of a logistic challenge and is still sitting at school until I can figure out how I'm getting it home. You can see the new work on the painting page of my site. I also really loved the Figure Drawing class, probably because of how  
                                           naughty it seemed to be drawing naked people on a Catholic college campus. I couldn't help looking over my shoulder to see if I was being followed right before I stepped into the secret Nekkid Room. Those nuns can be stealthy. I kid the nuns. They're actually a very progressive group of ladies, so big ups to the Sisters! We did have to say goodbye to Ryan, the printmaking and figure drawing instructor who is currently planning to leave Wichita. Ryan's the one who got me into printmaking and is an all around great guy and a friend. Good luck in Lawrence, my friend, we'll miss you!

Another class I enjoyed which surprised the hell out of me was Chemistry. First off, all humanities majors get steered towards a different apparently easier class which filled up before I could register, so I was a little nervous about venturing into unknown territory. All of the other students were nursing or premed, which made me something of an anomaly. But as it turned out, I totally kicked atomic behind! Those chemicals didn't know what hit them! Take that HCL and NaOH and you too CH3CO2H! I know this sounds like bragging, but yeah I'm kicking pH and taking names! But seriously, I'm kind of in disbelief, honestly. I got 100's on all the exams and, according to the professor, I'm the first student she's had to completely ace a final. Can you believe it? Me either! Ok, enough of me bragging even though I totally rocked those covalent bonds. I'm just sayin.


Sue isn't teaching any classes this summer, so she should have some time to relax and garden and do some other fun things. She managed to get away last weekend with my Mom and a friend of theirs to go to a gardening/music type festival at this farm in Missouri. There she learned many things about the evils of corn and how everything is Genetically Modified and we're all doomed. Maybe that last part was just me, but since we added another raised bed to the backyard, we'll hopefully be growing more of our own food! Sue is also getting to see her Dad and Scott over the Fourth of July weekend in Cali. They have plans to go camping, which sounds awesome. For me, it should be pretty busy. I'm taking two classes, a capstone class called Faith and Society which everyone takes before they graduate, and Oral Communication which I have put off as long as possible.

I'll still be working on campus in the graphic design job but I may also take on a second internship if at all possible and I have an interview with someone next week. Plus I'll be trying to meet with Pamela, the graphic design instructor at Newman, to get a jump start on my portfolio so I won't have to get too much done at the last minute before graduation.

Well, besides all that, things have been pretty run of the mill here. As you can see, we've started letting the cats and pigs interact a little more and they seem to be fine with each other. The pigs don't seem all that scared of the cats, and as a result the cats don't feel the need to chase and bat at them. They have come to an understanding. And the cats, for their part, have come to the understanding that Sue and I should never sleep past 7am ever again. Between Toots' early morning howling and Scratch's I'm going to walk all over you until you get up, we've been a little sleepy in the afternoons. But how can you be mad them? Look at that face.

Oh, one other bit of excitement. As some of you may have heard, we had a tornado scare here in April. A pretty big one moved through the south part of town, about five miles from us. Luckily, the Weather Service did such an amazing job that we were warned about it three days in advance and remarkably, last I heard no one was killed. It was the first time Sue and I fled for the basement though and luckily we didn't lose power like most everyone else in east Wichita, which would have made it a bit scarier. Yes, that's Sue in the pic wearing a bike helmet.

Let me close by wishing all the mothers a happy Mothers Day! Do something nice for them to make up for what a bad kid you were. See you soon!