5/13/16

Haven't been up to too much in the last few weeks. I've mainly just been trying to finish off my first year of college as best as I can. My English professor is really happy with my writing. She told me that she thinks I am an A-level writer and that she is very impressed with my essays. That makes me feel really good. My poetry class is going pretty well too. I like having at least one class that allows me to exercise my creativity. Grading is pretty loose in that class, so it's hard to not do well in it. My computer science class is a little tough, though. Some concepts are basic while others are more technical. Oh, well. I'm doing what I can.

Concert-wise, I have a few more things to look forward to. First, my dad and I will be seeing Yes in Santa Barbara in late August. We're essentially giving them one more chance. If this show is as low-energy as the last one, then we will have to retire from going to Yes concerts. I hope that's not the case, though. I also learned yesterday that the new Jon Anderson project with Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin will be at the Orpheum on November 22. A Tuesday night, yes, but I'm thrilled. I wish it had been a day later though, since that is the week of Thanksgiving vacation, and I will be going home the very next day.

Since today is Stevie Wonder's 66th birthday, I played a couple of his albums while I was baking this evening. I played Fulfillingness' First Finale and Disc One of Songs in the Key of Life. Great tunes.

5/2/16

Can't believe it's already May and Week 6 of spring quarter. Before you know it, it will be time to move out!

Anyway, I went home this weekend. I did homework, which included finishing an essay for English class. I really think that I should make English my second major if I'm going to do a double major because I have been doing really well in my English classes. I got off to a bumpy start in the fall but I have improved since then. I got an A- on my first essay for this quarter's English class and I feel great about that. My professor thinks that I write very nicely and that I structure my arguments really well.

Another homework assignment I worked on was a visual project for my poetry class. We've been reading one collection of poetry per week since the beginning of the quarter. For this assignment (which will count as our midterm), we had to pick one of the collections we read and create a visual representation of the themes of that collection. It could be a diorama, a video, a picture, or some other kind of visual creation. It couldn't be a poem, though, since we've been doing that too. If I had been given more time, I would have tried to make a stop-motion video since I have tried that in the past and have enjoyed it. It's a ton of work, but it's really fun. I have made a few 3-4 second-long videos in the past. Those 3-4 seconds contain up to 60 frames, so you can see what I mean when I say that stop-motion is a ton of work. It pays off, though. 

Instead, I made a shoebox diorama using fabric, markers, a little bit of molding clay, and a small doll that I don't really use that much. I used all those things to make a bedroom with the doll representing the author. The poetry collection I chose was the first one we read: Stag's Leap, by Sharon Olds. The entire collection centers on her divorce from her husband of thirty years. From what I read, there were all kinds of thoughts and emotions running through Sharon's mind during that time. There was an overwhelming amount of pain from it. I went through the entire collection and took out words that stood out to me ("pain," "dying," "broken," "fuck," whirlpool…") and typed them into a Word document. I typed a lot of words. After that, I printed them out and cut them out of the paper. I taped them all to the "floor" of the diorama to represent the variety of thoughts going through the author's head. It was as if they were all spilled out onto the floor in a big mess. Then, using fabric from my mom's sewing kit and extra cardboard, I made a small "bed" and some wallpaper. I made the bed small since she now sleeps alone. I taped the doll in the middle of the "room." I used a little bit of clay to mold two wine glasses, one which is upright, and one which is spilled, since Stag's Leap is a brand of wine, apparently.

On Sunday, dad and I went to the Regent Theater in downtown LA for the monthly Great Rock and Roll Flea Market. I had been wanting to check that out for a while but we never got the chance to go since we always had something to do on the first Sunday of every month. The venue where it was held was really small. Not quite as small as places like the Whiskey or Roxy, but small enough. There weren't just records available. There were guitar straps, vintage posters, shirts, and even handicrafts. I mainly focused on the vinyl. My main goal was to look for Stevie Wonder material. I actually found quite a few things. First, I got an album called Uptight for $10. The rest of what I got were 45s. I picked up five Stevie 45s. To be exact, I got: Big Brother/You Haven't Done Nothin', Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer/We Can Work it Out, I Was Made to Love Her/Hold Me, Higher Ground/Too High, and Sir Duke/He's Misstra Know-It-All. I haven't had much luck finding Stevie 45s in other record stores so I was very happy to find all of these. There were more available, but I was happy with these five. I also grabbed a 45 of "Dancing in the Street" by David Bowie and Mick Jagger just for fun.

I played two Stevie albums on the drive back to campus: Fulfillingness' First Finale and Innervisions. I'm having a hard time picking a favorite Stevie album because I've really liked every one that I've heard. I told Dylan that I was tied between Innervisions and Music of My Mind but now I think Fulfillingness' First Finale may be up there. Songs in the Key of Life has grown on me a lot lately. I played the entire record recently and it really stuck with me that time. I brought all my Stevie LPs and 45s with me to campus so I can really give them a good listen. Hopefully I will pick a favorite some day.