Alleluia!

It's the equivalent of Finals Week for three of my intensive Toy Design classes. My classmates and I were feeling pretty daunted by all the drafting work we had to do before our last class.

But today, a X'mas miracle arrived early. Our technical drawing teacher knocked off a huge portion of our final work, aka "the exploded view," (of dreaded Diego and his rescue helicopter). That is, we no longer have to do the exploded view, at all! Somehow the teacher magically realized that we were all too far behind to complete it.

We all yelped and cried with joy.

So I celebrated with a moment of holiday procrastination:



Designing a tacky X'mas sweater. You can design one too, --with some great X'mas music, to boot. (Found from Gothamist.)

Yeah. Chocolate isn't cutting it.

This Toy Design homework is out of control!!!!
I had a 5-day holiday weekend, and it still wasn't enough time to get me caught up.

I miss my friends. And family. And sleep. And... other things.



(Image from someecards.com)

Recent thoughts

• Hmm. I was going to grab a coffee to stay awake. But a beer might help me relax. And that water would keep me hydrated. I might have to drink them all.


• Is that... a new MUJI store? And only up the street from my apartment!


• Otto Tootsie Plohound, Irregular Choice, Brooklyn Industries and Triple 5 Soul, all on one block of shopping? Yay for Jenn and me!


• I forgot just how much punk rock shows can blow out your ears. Thank you, Luna Lounge, for selling earplugs. And seeing old people mosh is funny.


• For the first time, since I've added the Scrabulous app to my Facebook, I have absolutely no active or inactive games going. So why do I feel relieved?


• Should I be concerned that I just ordered clothes from a website where people less than half my age like to shop? Potentially, I could be walking down the street, and notice a 12-year old in the same outfit. That's okay, right?


• My GOD it is cold! Good thing I broke down and bought that crazy long goosedown coat from Uniqlo.


• I was right! Squirrels are the new monkey.


• Holy sh**, I have too much homework to do. Gotta go, bye!

Happy Thanksgiving to Me

I was a bit cranky yesterday. I think I was allowed, given that I was 5 assignments behind even after only an hour and a half night's rest.

But all this craziness and stress is temporary, and I do realize that I am in a really great place in life. In honor of Thanksgiving, here are a bunch of things I am thankful for this year:

• Having the cutest little nephew ever
• My funny, creative, supportive, loving, adorable, geeky, generous, wonderful, inspiring friends near and far
• My lovely New York cousins who sometimes check in on me and feed me


• My fantastic hottie roommate who fills my sisterly need for soup noodles, dancing, drinks, and gossip
• My ever-surprising classmates who keep me laughing and sane between sleepless nights of insufferable loads of homework
• The magic of Airborne, which has prevented me from catching the proliferating viruses at school


• Kissing cutie-smarty-pants-ivy-leaguer-musicians with nifty creative jobs
• Discovering the fountain of youth. ;)
• Living in Tribeca, near shoe stores, subway stops, chic restaurants, cheap Chinatown food, the giant Pearl art supply store, and Soho shopping


• Grace's gift to me: an extra sewing machine (that helped me get my Halloween costume to finally fit)
• Being able to fit so much crap in my NY apartment and still have room for visitors.
• Easy access to karaoke, Korean fried chicken, soy almond lattes, and Pinkberry.


• Those scrumptious bottled Ito en fruity teas and Hi-Chew candies.
• Uniqlo's free alteration service.
• Laundry machines in my building.


• FreshDirect (the grocery delivery service)
• Fruity beers
• Canned Starbucks doubleshot espressos to get me through my weekly all-nighters


• Having Bravo, MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon again, and watching it as part of "research" for school
• Scrabulous addictions that supposedly prevent me from slipping into Alzheimer's (even though I'm rather irritated that Emotion Eric went from the underdog player to the annoying guy who keeps ruining my game stats)
• Viewing free episodes of Pushing Daisies, 30 Rock, and Dirty Sexy Money online


• And last but not least: my oh-so-comfy bed, which I will go enjoy now.

I hope I get some rest this Thanksgiving break. Unfortunately I will be utilizing it to catch up 5 assignments I haven't completed!! Sniff, sniff.

My sentiments exactly.

To the boys I've kissed in the last year (--who are geeks and yet somehow not geeky enough to find my blog, add me on Flickr, OR check my Facebook profile, maybe because they're old and retarded):


I love a good greeting card.

I'm shifting toward the plan of staying single, happy, and carrying the child of one of my very cute but gay classmates to fulfill any future desire for motherhood.

I shall now return to my technical drawing homework nightmare.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Conversations in Toy Design

This last Monday, a third classmate broke down and cried from the overwhelming work that we have to do. She recovered, but then on Tuesday I think the bulk of the class reached its breaking point. Most students weren't able to turn in completed homework on time. And more students than usual didn't make it to class, just out of exhaustion. The students that showed up, looked like zombies.

I'm very behind, myself, but somehow I'm not freaking out. I guess I'm not so concerned about having top grades, and I will be happy to just make it to the end of the semester. And I'm trying to believe that health is more important than suffering multiple all-nighters just to get good grades. And I'm probably in denial about how much work I have to finish in the next week.

At least I'm still able to laugh daily, in the face of this ridiculous crisis. My classmates were saying maybe we should go on strike like the tv writers. --Except that doesn't really work, when we're paying for our own labor abuse.

Anyway, here are some amusing moments I've had in class:

(On our first day of Safety and Materials Class, we each had to introduce ourselves and name a previous job we once had:)

Classmate #1: Uhh, well. I used to work in a cemetery.

Teacher: Wow, what did you do there?

Classmate #2: Were you a gravedigger?

Classmate #1: Yeah. Well, that... and everything else.

Class: ...

Classmate #2: Whoa.

(Later, I learned that the ex-gravedigger --who looks like he would be a gravedigger--, is a big fan of Gilmore Girls, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, and baking.)

***

Classmate #2: (Shows me her drawing of girly rollerskates) What do you think of these new colors?

Me: Hmm. I guess they're good. But what happened to the rainbows you had before?

Classmate #2: Ohh, I decided that I don't like them. I was looking at it, and I thought they were too wacky.

Me: Wacky? You're drawing unicorn rollerskates, and you're worried about being too wacky?

Classmate #2: They're supposed to be elegant and majestic!

***

Classmate #3: Can you tell me what you think of this design? (explains the details of the toy)

Me: I like it. I think it's a really cool concept.

Classmate #3: Yeah? Thanks.

Me: But one thing...

Classmate #3: What?

Me: You probably want to change that term for this part of the toy. And you might not even need that feature for what you're making.

Classmate #3: Oh?

Me: (whispering) Yeah, cuz "vibrator" generally is used in English to mean a sex toy.

Classmate #3: (--who moved here from Korea) Oh no!! Oh my god. I used this design to enter the program!

Me: Ohhh don't worry. I'm sure they knew English wasn't your first language. They probably had a good laugh about it.

In other news, one of my old dorm neighbors from UCLA (Sproul Hall 4-North Arts Floor, Woot!) made it on People's Sexiest Men Alive list this year! Now that, is wacky!

I'm not so sure about Matt Damon taking top spot. I like him, but I wouldn't call him sexi-EST. And from the picture they used, he's lookin' a little old to me. (Sorry Matt!)

I personally, would have picked Ewan McGregor. I don't think he's even on the list! Or I would have expected JT to take the top spot. I'm also tickled that Michael Cera and Tim Gunn made the list this year. I also would have liked to see Jesse Bradford (of "Bring it On" fame) on the list, but I think I would have been the only one who'd recognize that name. Who would you pick?

I will not be beaten down!

It was a rough week. Schoolwork is doubling... as if the weekly all-nighters weren't bad enough! I hit a wall on Monday and decided to just get some sleep, finally miss a class, and just turn in my homework late.(Of course, that cheered up one of my over-achiever classmates, because he became the only one with perfect attendance.)

It's getting difficult to remain creative when I'm continually not getting proper rest, and I don't have time to hang out and get inspiration outside of school!

Last night was my weekly all-nighter. I don't know how much more of this I can handle. Just as I left campus today, my portfolio blocked a huge garbage can from my view as I walked full-speed into it. My knee still smarts from it.

And then when I went home and took a shower, my nose started bleeding. In the shower. WTF. Did I mention that half my classmates and teachers have colds? And still they come to class. My roommate and I keep a constant supply of Airborne at home, so luckily I've been okay in that area. Also, New York weather has dipped into the 40s. AND I have class tomorrow, on a Saturday, from 10am to 7pm!!!

Two of my classmates already broke down and cried from the stress! Sometimes we get a little wired and crazy and develop little strange habits. Most of them are little musical ticks. My class BFF tends to break into X'mas songs, and then the star marker-drawer started singing the Spiderman theme song over and over and couldn't stop. Then they said it was my turn to sing. I said I only sing at karaoke. The young dorm guys kept singing Jimmy Fallon's "Idiot Boyfriend" song. Luckily this mostly amuses me, but at times I see it come dangerously close to becoming annoying.

One of the seniors has her birthday today and even invited all the juniors to join in for karaoke later. As much as we all looove to sing, and have been dying to go karaoke together, we were just way too exhausted from the lack of sleep, so we declined the karaoke!!

Anyway, I will not be beaten down!!! I may get lower grades than I wanted, but I will not be beaten down! Not by Toy Design school, goddammit!

(In case you were wondering what I stayed up all night doing, this week it was drawing toy Mexican Wrestlers.)

Time for bed. Sheesh.

Dodging bullets Part II, Wonder Woman style

This year, I dressed up as Wonder Woman for my first Halloween in New York. I even grew my hair out specifically to pull the costume off, with boots, cuffs, tiara, lasso, and all. I even rode the subway to class like that.

People would call out to me, "Hey Wonder Woman!" or "Hey Linda Carter!" Strangely, several people called me "Super Girl." I think the red cape threw them off. Some stopped me to take pictures! It was pretty funny.

My Psych teacher reacted with, "I'm narcissistic enough to think she dressed up for me." And of course, Henry the doorman was really stoked about it. I even went to sewing class this way. But I had to take off the tiara and cuffs, when it started to get a little warm.

Some of my classmates dressed up too, including such characters as Jem, Indiana Jones, and the scary Asian kid from "The Grudge." Two guys dressed as nerds, another girl dressed as a ladybug (borrowed from me), and one dressed as a panda (also borrowed from me).

After sewing class, my classmates and I failed to get a good view of the Halloween parade. So eventually I ended up at Union Square, trying to catch a 3-d showing of "Nightmare Before Christmas." But we got there too late, cuz it was so hard to get through the crowds! So finally I ended up going to a bar in Tribeca before finally heading home.

The next morning, I found out that there was a shooting in Union Square, right after we left the area. I thought I was escaping the Halloween violence of San Francisco, but apparently this stuff just follows me around!

***
Yesterday, at lunch break from sewing class, we had Korean takeout together:

Classmate 1: Man, this is so much better than all the Hot Pockets I've been eating!
Me: Ahh, Hot Pockets. I remember when I used to live on those.
Classmate 2: What's all this "used to" stuff? Why y'always saying "used to"?
Me: Well. I'm old.
Classmate 2: What? You're not old. How old are you?
Me: Uhh, haha. Old.
Classmate 3: (my class bff, who knows my actual age) You don't ask a girl that question!
Classmate 2: Come on, you're not that old. How old are you? 23?
Me: Uhh, haha. No.
Classmate 2: 24?
Me: Hah. Wow. I'm not saying anything anymore!!

Well I need to get back to school and partying with classmates who are turning 21. (hah!)

But in the meantime, you should catch up on episodes (free online!) of my favorite new tv show, "Pushing Daisies." It is a wonderful combination of so many of my favorite things: romance, a sweet boyish lead, murder mystery, magic powers, funny names, Amelie-esque narration, singing, smart dogs, and adorable 50s-styled fashion.