also posted at my tumblr

A project in my graphic design class. Color version coming next week!
Adobe Illustrator CS 2 (so old...)

I'm in desperate need of more sleep, but alas, the homework has not been completed and I can't go to bed yet. On that note, I hope everyone is well and enjoying early April. I hope it rains some more here in Texas. I love me some April showers and May flowers!

content, yet terrified

An octopus I drew last year. This is the extent of my digital work, for now. I'll be doing more stuff like this with my new major.

I got accepted into the program I applied for...*nervous smile* I'm happy, but I'm also scared out of my mind. It's different from anything I've ever considered doing as a career and I don't know if it's stable in the job market and I don't think my parents are exactly happy with me leaving engineering and there are just a lot of concerns/reservations I'm having. Like how I slipped that one in there, the parents one? Yeah, me too.

On the kind of not-so-confused side of this, I was told by the department coordinator, an extremely nice guy that helped me work on my courses that I'll be taking next year, that I was 1 of 2 change of majors that was accepted... what? Come again? Well, I must have done something right on that application... that is just amazing to me. I just can't comprehend that I'm good at art. I never have been able to. A person can't be good at math and science and art; it's just not the way things work. It doesn't make sense. Well, I kinda take that back. Leonardo da Vinci. But he didn't know calculus because it hadn't been invented yet. And yet that's what this major is about: joining those two seemingly irreconcilable subjects into this major.

Anyway, philosophical rant over. Everyone have an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I'll be chatting with my parents and extended family about this...  And charming and persuading them to let me live in an awesome town home with my 3 friends... for nearly $100 more than my brother gets for an apartment...

sorry for the slack

Well, it's been awhile since my last post. The middle of the semester always gets a little ridiculous, with tests and projects, birthdays and music festivals, so I'll give you a quick rundown of what's been going on:

My 20th birthday was about 2 and a half weeks ago. I'm no longer a teenager. I guess I had a tough time trying to grasp that, but now, it's all good. It's another part of life, getting older. But I'm really looking forward to all the things I'll do in the years to come. But to celebrate this passing out of childhood, we made s'mores and played Apples to Apples at my party.

I went to the Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 8, 9, and 10. I always have the time of my life there. The atmosphere there always helps me to remember to being loving and what makes humans human: love of beauty. Beautiful music, beautiful food, beautiful nature, beautiful people, beautiful friends! And thanks to Jennifer for introducing me to some new people and sticking with me throughout the masses of people!

And I've been trying to delay this last bit of info for some time... I still haven't heard back from the Visualization department about my application. This has me a little bit worried. I'm planning on trying to get in contact with them to know if I made it in or not. So as soon as I hear, I'll let you know what's going on. Thanks for thoughts and wishes during this process!

And I finally finished reading The Pillars of the Earth! What an amazing read! I was at a section about halfway through the book, around page 500, and I couldn't put it down! I swear I read at least 200 pages that day! If you want a book that you can read for a while but will never be bored with, this is it. Nearly a thousand pages of brilliant storytelling. Definitely one of my favorite books ever. And the mini-series is on Netflix, for those of you interested. I've been watching that, and it's just as breathtaking as the book.

So, this has been an attempt at a (quick) update on my life for the past month. I'm going to be better about posting everyday in November, I promise. And as for the giveaway that I'm planning, I'm still trying to figure out how to go about doing it. If you have any advice for me, leave me a comment!

the leap of faith

I turned in my application to change my major to Visualization today. Whoa, big step for Melissa.

I was walking back when I thought, "Damn, I NEVER let people look at my work, like, not even my friends or my parents or anyone, and here I am, letting myself be judged solely on my work. What the hell..." It was an interesting moment for me.

So, the ball is in their court now. They are supposed to get back to me in 30 days, so I'll let everyone know what's going down then.

Guess I'm gonna have to change the title of my blog now, as I highly doubt that I'm going to be an engineer anymore!

P.S. My 100th post is coming up and I'm thinking about doing a give away. Just sayin'!

ummmm...

Yeah. Life sucks right now. Timewise. Meaning I don't have a ton of free time. To post and stuff. School and all that is kind of a big deal. So. Sorry...? But as soon as I get through Wednesday, I'll be a happy(ier) camper.

For now, please enjoy a piece of work I'm submitting in my portfolio for my Viz major application:
My one and only life drawing piece in my entire drawing career and of my dear friend Sara-Jane.

I really do wish I was a more prolific artist. That would make finding pieces for my portfolio (due in roughly two weeks) so much easier. I will try harder.

cotton candy dream

Omg, I am so invisible. I just got stepped on, pushed into a wall, and hit with a binder all in less than 5 minutes. My roommate says it's because I'm short. I think I've got an Invisibility Cloak that never comes off. Explains why I don't have a boyfriend!

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Hey, does anyone mind if I just leave school to live in one of these paintings by Will Cotton and dive head first into a sugar coma? Really? Kthnxbi.









Katy Perry, anyone? Will Cotton was actually the Art Director for her video, California Gurls, and did the cover art for the album Teenage Dream.

Just some current thoughts of the day. School's ok. I'm going to pick up an application for the Visualization program tomorrow so I can change my major!! I'm kind of nervous about it. And with that, I'm off to Intro to Literature!

dark

I just finished reading Mockingjay which is the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I can't even begin to describe what I feel. I love the way books can touch something inside me, but it's not always a pleasant feeling that they leave with you. I could tell from the first book that they weren't the kind of books with fairytale endings. But all the same, I'm content with these books, the characters, the story they told, and how it all ended.

On a little bit of a lighter note, I start my sophomore year at Texas A&M University tomorrow. Bright and early with calculus at 9:10. Send me love on my first day back as a possibly non-engineering major. More on this development to come. And for those of you starting school, or with children starting school, or know someone starting school, I send you all my best.

stress

Registering for classes is way too stressful...

And it really sucks when the one that you want fills up and no more spots open.

Why, oh why, Physiology for Bioengineers, why won't you put in more seats?!?

softly call

Tomorrow, April 21st, is a sacred day at Texas A&M.
We will be remembering our the ones we've lost this year from generations past and present.
And of all the things I love about A&M, the traditions are some of my favorite things.

Take time to be thankful for those you love in your life.

getting sick sick

Some of this would be fantastic right about now. Too bad I don't have any and I don't have a car to go get some. Some of these would be great, too:

My favorite cough drops EVER!!! Kind of a weird thing, I know, but a girl's gotta have standards. Maybe some of this would do me good as well:

But really, is there every a day when this wouldn't do good? I don't think so. :)

Hope everyone else is taking the changing of the seasons in better stride than I am!

snoooooww

So we were sitting in engineering today, all pretty bummed out because that's what that class does to you. I mean, I have a friend that refers to our dorm, the engineering one, as the "Pillar of Sadness." Complete truth in that statement, ladies and gentlemen. Anyway. It started to

snow
.
.
.


!!!

I don't think I've ever wanted to drop whatever I was doing and run outside quite as much as I did at that moment. Big, huge flakes just blanketing the ground. I don't think I have ever seen flakes as big as those ever, and I've witnessed blizzards.

Snow definitely agrees with College Station.

A winter wonderland right before spring shows up!

january

1. My boyfriend and me at Lake Amistad in Del Rio, TX for New Year.
2. My engineering boy Javi!!! Love him!
3. The Del Rio Crew, plus adorable little Elena and wonderful Jessica.

4. Em, Sam, Tiff, and SJ at the Cathedral of Junk Day!
5. JLew at breakfast before Cathedral of Junk.

6. My ballin' pink ski pants. I know. Not very Meliss. It's my yearly dose of pink.
7. Dan and me, Park City, Utah.
8. Incredible view from the summit.

9. Delicious white chocolate, cinnamon and sugar apple.

10. Schedule for Spring 2010 at TAMU-CS

11. Where's Waldo?! @ Aggie basketball game vs. Tech

WHOOP!

**I will preface this post with an apology. It has been a while since I've posted and I've been super busy, so please forgive me for this post if it turns out to be uber long. I've got a lot to tell you.

******************************

First and foremost, a huge thank you to Sara-Jane for bestowing upon me the  

"Brighten My Day"

award! Whoop! I'm honored.

The rules...
Name 10 things that make me happy
Pass it on to 10 blogs that brighten my day

I will try my best! 

1. Hot chocolate and a warm bath with relaxing music.

 

2. Concept art for Disney-Pixar movies. I would kill for one of these books. 

3. A pair of really good-fitting, comfortable jeans. Thank you American Eagle. The last pair I bought from you fit both of these requirements wonderfully!

4. A clean, uncluttered room. I need to get on that...

5.That first big stretch when you get out of bed in the morning that energizes you. Amazing.

6.Being creative and my imagination.

7. Music. Any and all kinds. Well, except almost anything played on the popular hit station. Like Austin's KISS FM or College Station's Candy 95.

8. Team 17 minus Adam, plus Nathan! Well, Nathan is not in this picture. Daniel, me, and Javi at a Quelf party. Without these guys, I would have lost my mind months ago because of engineering! They rock my world!!!!

9. Sleep. Did not get enough of that this semester. I'm going to try harder next term to get more because I know I'm a better person when I've slept for 8 hours.

10. Smiles and laughter. Always the best. Being around happy people makes me happy.

Blogs that make my day brighter: 

Rae Gabrielle

Shelby: College Life Rantings
and I'm now going to use a cop-out and tell everyone else to do it because it's fun to think about things that make you happy! Get in the holiday mood!!

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So, the personal life has been a little crazy. Jacob and I ended. Daniel and I began. I'll tell you more in person if I know you. ;) And I'm really only posting this so NOBODY ELSE can accuse me for not telling them about my life!!! I've had it!

I'm kidding. It's nice to know that people are curious and concerned and care about what's going on.

******************************

CHRISTMAS IS ONLY 5 DAYS AWAY!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!

What are you wishing for?

My list consists of Daisy by Marc Jacobs perfume, a yoga mat and a bag for it, a Jane Austen anthology, an art book of any kind, Glee Soundtrack Vol. 2, a Chi Low EMF Hairdryer, world peace, possibly a Kindle or Sony E-Reader

... and a New Year's Eve kiss. I'm hopeless, I know!

We shall see... I'm just excited to be home and with my family, out of school. No more tests or homework or projects to worry about. No more horrible food. Although I do miss my roomies and my friends terribly. But it is so nice to sleep in my own bed and have a car. And knowing that any food I want is in the pantry!

 ******************************

 And a very happy birthday to my mother! It was actually yesterday but better late than never!!
I guess that's it for now! Have wonderful holidays and feel the love!!! 

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HOLY MOTHER EFF!!!
One of my favorite artists started following me on Tumblr!! Please check out her stuff!!!
Lois Van Baarle
I'm in total shock right now. Excuse me while I get a paper bag...

Hot Topic

I will be up front with you, this is kind of a strange thing to post, but it's because I'm in Comp and Rhetoric that I put it up here. Senator Savino makes a brilliant argument here, and I think people need to have an open mind about this. If you've been alive in the past 10 years, and I assume you have or you wouldn't be reading this blog, you know how polarized this issue is.

And without further ado:

What are your thoughts about this? Anything and everything.

GPOYW (I took this yesterday, so it is still technically correct to say GPOYW.)

Engineering test tonight 8:15

 English paper rough draft due tomorrow

Must study physics as usual

I now realize that I look unnaturally happy in this photo considering all this stuff I'm worrying about...

On a lighter and final note, the indoor soccer team that I'm on is advancing in playoffs! We won last night in a really close nailbiter... Final score: Us-5, Them-4. It was so close...

These are the kinds of things that make me love my English class so much. My prof is amazing...



My Favorite Movies: Star Wars vs. Star Trek.
I saw this done once with Star Wars and Eragon on G4, that gamer channel. If you've read Eragon, although an amazing book and story, you can see the similarities quite well... Captured princess, farmboy with extraordinary power who didn't know his parents and was raised by his aunt and uncle, fight between an empire and a rebellion that empolys all races including the little ones (dwarves and Ewoks), etc. Sorry, I know a little too much about Star Wars.

I know this has run through your mind at some point, too. via http://io9.com via LiveJournal's kar3ning

Even if you don't want to admit it, you've thought about this. Lol...

I tell you what, it's not that I hated English in high school. I had some fabulous teachers (Ms. Conroy, Mrs. Jones), but college English is just making my life, except for the two papers I have due next Monday. But my prof just makes it awesome. He's always got something interesting for the class to talk about before class has "officially" started, like these. We watch movie trailers, too! And commercials! We are the ones that made YouTube's unique visitor quota surpass 1 billion hits.

I love college. Except for those two papers and two tests. But other than that, I seriously love college.

Dorm Decor

Ugggh... I should be doing physics right now, but I'm so not in the mood. Instead, I'll be productive in another way... DOOR DECORATIONS FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!!! Our hall is having a contest!

I'm soooo excited to do this! Problem is having the perfect idea. We don't really know what we want to do... I've got some good ideas, but I feel like they are so generic.

Anybody out there have any cute ideas?!

Musings

So, I think I've got a serious problem... I constantly change the layout of this blog. I just can't seem to find the right one. I think I've got the same problem with boys... not really. I've got good ideas, but they all just seem to disappoint me. High expectations...

I can't even believe that the first semester of my college life is almost over. It seems like only yesterday that my parents were walking out of my room and I knew what a vegetable looked like. It went by so fast!!! But alas, I still have tests in every one of my classes and then finals to worry about, so it's not completely over yet. But it's getting there.It's been a ton of hard work because engineering is stupid and wants to kill all the freshmen, but so much fun at the same time. Going out dancing on Thursdays, 2 am runs to Whataburger, wasting lots of money and making poor life choices at Walmart and Hobby Lobby. It's been fantastic. And the weeks seem to go by so much faster than they did in high school. Am I right?

So, I'm on the Internet pretty much all the time, mostly looking at blogs and art and stuff. I don't really get on Facebook that much anymore. Or I'm just doing my calculus homework. But anyway, one of my favorite blogs, Little Green Notebook, posted a link to an amazing site that has vintage art that you can print because it is public domain. It's awesome. It's got sketched pages from botanical books, butterflies, illuminated manuscripts! I just want to print them all out and paste them all over my binder and my room! Go check it out: Vintage Printable

One thing that is awesome about College Station: Starbucks stays open until midnight.
One thing that sucks about College Station: some movies don't show here.

Exhibit A: Pirate Radio, with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh, and Bill Nighy!!... I wanted to see this so bad, and then I find out that the closest theater showing it is an hour away. And I don't have a car and I don't think anyone I know with a car wants to see it. So, can't wait to get that on DVD!


Ok, so I want to try something. Exercising everyday for 2 weeks. Do you think I can do it? I hope so. I hate feeling sluggish all the time. I walk up stairs now and I get winded! It's dumb. I want to get back into shape and lose the 5 pounds I've gained since I've been here! So here goes nothing!!

Justa Update

Art History, For The Win!

hrrrthrrr.tumblr.com
A real world application of art history if ever I saw!! *sigh* Art history nerds make me so happy.



Fright Night
So, how was everyone's Halloween? Good, good. I went over to my friend Gabby's house and watched scary movies with her and Emily and Amber. The feature films were:

Dawn of the Dead: a really good gore movie. Some parts were just messed up, in my opinion. I'm not a big horror fan but this one just seemed more gory than scary, which I liked.

Scream: Yeah, some parts are really corny, but over all, it's a really good movie. I'm sure everyone else has already seen this, but that was my first time seeing it all the way through. Good jump scenes, decent amount of blood and stabbings and psychosis. My personal favorite of the night. And it's the movie that got Courtney Cox and David Arquette together, so if you don't actually like the movie, you can appreciate for bringing together my favorite Hollywood dynamic duo ever (yes, more than Brad and Ange. I actually don't like them much at all. However, a very close second goes to Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn).

House of Wax: A remake of an old Vincent Price flick, which I have not seen, but would certainly like to because Vincent Price is the biggest horror movie creeper next to Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney. But I digress. This movie is sufficiently creepy, again, even if some parts are corny. Like the face peeling. I don't think that's a spoiler... no, it's not. I do like how the relationship between the twins changes and how Chad Micheal Murray becomes a badass. The backstory is so strange and didn't really make that much sense to me. Too bad Paris Hilton isn't a better screamer because I may have liked her in her role then. But whatever.

Oh, Owl City played in Austin October 30th and I really wanted to go, but I didn't get tickets in time. I'll definitely catch him next tour. Adam Young is my hero. I would like to marry him, I think. Just sayin'.




Shopping!
I really want to go shopping. Here's what I'd look for:
- larger purse of color (mustard, green, blue, etc.) with lots of buckles and strings and complex things
- stuff with some sort of print. I swear that almost all of my clothes are solid colors. I'll take plaids, animal print, stripes, graphics. Anything!
- some of those oxford ankle boots that lace up in the front. Black patent leather like these, $20 at Target!

I would definitely wear these with some patterned tights and a waist skirt, topped off with a cardigan. Too bad that's a bit dressy for C Stat, what us Aggies lovingly call College Station.

November 3, Silver Taps
Tuesday night is Silver Taps. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go to this one since I don't have any tests this week and I haven't been in a while and it's a really nice way to spend a Tuesday night. This is why I love A&M; things like Silver Taps that make you feel that you are a part of something so much bigger than yourself and you have the support of everyone on campus. I'm going to hate to leave in four years.

Things I Must Do Around Here

1. Take lots more pictures. I'm talking hundreds. This blog needs some sprucing.
2. Take a bus. Somewhere, anywhere.
4. Get more sleep and drink more coffee/tea. Mmmmmm tea sounds really good right now. And all those cancer-free-radical-fighting antioxidants!
5. Explore campus more. Like I don't know what half of these buildings have in them. My roomie and I were exploring the other day after a picnic (it was so nice outside) and found the architecture building. So cool.
6. SPOONS! It's fro yo. 'Nuff said.
7. Post somewhere all the meteor shower peak dates. I think that's going to be my thing now, watching meteor showers at 3 am with about 5 blankets piled on top of me and a hot cup of joe. Maybe hot chocolate.
8. Get on that homework. Calculus. Physics. English. Engineering. Getting it all knocked out right after I learn it would be the most amazing time management feat I've ever accomplished.
9. Keep drawing and painting. I need to try going outside one day and drawing, just to catch everyone off guard and freak 'em out.
10. Live life here. Learn to make the world here fit around me, not the other way around. Work hard, play harder. Be true.