Why Youtube is the best.

This is not a list of reasons I love Youtube. It is a list of things I want to do on Youtube. So, really...the title is utterly misleading.

I am considering making Youtube videos, but I should probably get a decent camera first...Though mine does do "HD." However much HD a Kodak Zi6 can do, at least...
Ideas:
Music Theory lessons, done Michelle-style
Crafting videos, but not stupid and boring
Nerdy rants/reviews, probably exactly as you expect they would be
A few everyday life vlogs



So, to break it down, for Music Theory Lessons, done Michelle-style:
"Why Every Good Boy Does (Not Do) Fine Always" - a video about note names on the staff and the acronyms we use to identify them. They are confusing, and I plan to make it a little clearer for those who have not considered this.
"Intervals: Whole Steps, Half Steps, and the Major and minor 2nd" - talking about whole steps and half steps and clarifying that they are, indeed, Major and minor 2nds.
"What's the Deal with Scales?" - where I will go a little bit into why the major scale is the way it is. This will include its origins in the early church modes and the way it is constructed with whole and half steps.
And many more that I have not yet planned.

Everyday life vlogs:
"Jack of All Nerds" - an introductory video, including a brief explanation of "Jack of All Nerds" and why it does not really make sense, but I like it anyway.

Crafting videos:
Knitting tutorials
Great knitting patterns I've found
Reading patterns
Reading charts
Writing patterns
Writing charts
Crafts I'm doing, with credit to and permission from their creators

Nerdy rants/reviews:
Nerdy does not apply only to gaming and social habits. Think more like the Vlog Brothers (who are a major inspiration for me) where it will be informative, often about nerdy/geek culture, and (hopefully) entertaining.

Now: Why did I write all of this out instead of just doing it? I love lists. Making lists makes me happy and makes the ideas more tangible for me.

Feedback is welcome! Have an awfully good day. =)

X-Men First Class

**THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS**

Okay, so I know I was supposed to be doing the 30-day blog challenge, and I will get back to it. But I wanted to say this first:
X-Men First Class was a great movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ignoring the liberties taken with some of the mutants, I think it did stay true to the heart of the X-Men. But there was one big problem: The ending was terrible.

Oh no, Magneto somehow managed to deflect a bullet that then curved, Wanted-style, to hit Professor X in the spine?!?!?!?!?!?! Seriously, X-Men, what??

Here is my preferred ending (and the one I expected to happen):
Xavier is in Shaw's mind, holding him. He is literally seeing and feeling everything Shaw sees and feels. He is also talking to Magneto telepathically up until the point where Magneto puts on his famous mind-power-blocking helmet.

Rewind: Throughout the movie, Charles is telling Magneto not to kill Shaw. Xavier wants Magneto to understand that killing is not the way, that it will not bring him peace or any sense of justice. Yet Magneto's like, "Whatever, dude." This is the issue that, throughout the movie, drives Magneto and Professor X apart.

Back to the ending: So Xavier is in Shaw's head. He has been telling Magneto not to kill Shaw and to keep listening to him (Professor X). Magneto symbolically cuts the mental link between himself and Xavier by putting on his helmet, and proceeds to kill Shaw in a pretty intense and poetic fashion. For those of you who have forgotten: Shaw killed Magneto's mother because Magneto was unable to move a coin for Shaw on command. Magneto saved that coin for his entire life until he moved it through Shaw's brain, killing him.

All while Xavier is in Shaw's mind. The scene is beautifully done, with Xavier feeling the coin pass through his own brain at the same time as Shaw's. Xavier keeps Shaw in place knowing that letting go may end up causing Magneto's death, but experiencing what would feel like his own death at the time. The coin finally passes completely through Shaw's head and falls to the floor. Xavier lets go of Shaw's mind and they both collapse.

At this point, I was actually expecting Xavier to be unable to stand again. Why wouldn't the mental trauma of experiencing death via a coin ripping your brain apart have some kind of side effect? Instead, he hops up, runs out of the aircraft, and we end up with the much more lame bullet instance.

Had the coin been the cause of Xavier's paralysis, it would have been directly Magneto's fault, after Xavier's many warnings. It would have also been in a moment of sacrifice on Xavier's part. This would have been the perfect, final wedge to drive Magneto and Xavier apart. Instead, Magneto, in self-defense, repels bullets being fired at him by Moira MacTaggert, and one happens to awkwardly ricochet into Xavier's spine. Seriously, watch that ending again. The bullet curves. There is no way the trajectory would have normally hit Xavier there. And even if there were, it was an accident. Done in self-defense. And then Xavier has the gall to tell Magneto it's his fault. Oh, and then, in spite of a very very serious injury, Xavier gives a nice speech including giving Mystique permission to hang out with Magneto because he knows she won't be okay with it unless he is, etc...

The point was brought up to me that if Xavier has such a powerful mind, and the paralysis was due to a mental injury, couldn't he just get over it? I see the point there, but maybe he can't. Perhaps experiencing death mentally just has side effects from which a man can't recover. Xavier would learn from his mistake and would be careful not to connect in that way again should the other person experience death.

I think it makes sense, anyway.

This has been an opinionated production of One-Ear Surprise. I welcome your opinions and comments, but please leave the trolling at the door.

Please note that I am speaking of all of this in the sense of the X-Men universe as established in the movie only. I know that things happen very differently in the comic.

Temporary suspension.

I'll be suspending the 30-day challenge today and tomorrow as I will be out of town. Posts will resume on Wednesday. In the meantime, you can check out another, much shorter, rageface comic I made!

The rage of the Snarfblat.

I went without internet for a while, so this sat in Word for a day before I could get it up here. It's fairly long, so I understand if you don't want to read it (but you could at least skip to the comic 2/3 down and then the last paragraph).

Day 4: Your Parents.

I think I am an absolutely lucky person. Seriously, blessed beyond what I deserve. I have awesome parents. They tend to be weird sometimes, but they are AWESOME.

Take my mom, for example: She is a super classy lady: poised, well-dressed, and never remotely trashy or less than age-appropriate. She is an art teacher, and she likes gardening, mission trips, and spending time with her church friends. She also opens up her house at least once a week, every weekend, for all of my friends to come hang out. This has been going on for over a decade now. I’m crediting this to my mom, even though my dad makes most of the house payments, because she is the one who cleans before and after us. Every Saturday, she’s cleaning her house so my friends and I can come wreck it the next day.  And we used to be SO BAD about it. Cups EVERYWHERE, food EVERYWHERE. Did I mention she even cooks dinner four the lot of us (as much as 15 of us) every weekend? Because she does. And it is delicious.

Aside from my mom being a total classy lady who selflessly gives her time to her students, me and my friends, prison ministries, couples ministries, her church, and other missions, and being really smart in many areas, she has a great sense of humour and a wonderfully weird streak. Now, I probably couldn’t recall a joke she’s told me if you paid me because her sense of humour lies in sarcasm, witty remarks, etc. She’s funny in the moment, and doesn’t really store up any one-liners or stories for entertainment. My dad does all of that (but it’s my mom’s turn right now). And that weird streak…well, a nickname I never talked about was one she gave to me and my sister when we were very young. I think my dad had a hand in it; it was likely a joint effort, but it seems like something my mom would do. My parents called me “Snarfblat.” I don’t know what a Snarfblat is. I think it may refer to a rather formless blob of a person who is loud, obnoxious, and smelly, i.e. a baby. Or not. I don’t really know. But yes, I grew up being called Snarfblat.

UPDATE: I have discovered the term "Snarfblat" is what Scuttle the Seagull calls a pipe in the movie The Little Mermaid.

I am now less impressed with the creativity of my parents but still just as convinced of how weird they are. END OF UPDATE.

My mom is wonderfully weird in other ways, as well, but they’re mostly “you had to be there” situations. Beyond that, she is endlessly patient, loves pretty much everyone, ever, and super optimistic. She used to help me clean my room even though she had told me about 50 times before not to let it get so messy you had to wade through the junk. Which I did. Then I didn’t want to do it alone, so she helped.

Mostly, my mom taught me how to act like a lady (I totally do know how, mom, I just don’t like to always utilize my knowledge…), how to be patient, to use proper manners, and how to tell people politely to bug off, which is an invaluable skill everyone needs to learn to use and recognize.

And now we move on to my dad.

My dad is simultaneously inspiring, terrifying, and infuriating. My dad has been my Superman since as far back as I can remember. He is 6’ 3” and a big guy, so I always knew my dad could take anyone that was going to hurt me. He also has this huge, booming voice, and when you were in trouble, you knew it. All of my male friends were terrified of him. Note that I said “male friends” not “boyfriends,” though they were scared of him, too. For some of my friends, he has this way of appearing in the doorway any time they were going to say something inappropriate. Many were convinced he didn’t like them, which is completely not true. My dad just has a strict set of morals and sense of chivalry that people don’t often hold on to nowadays. He doesn’t bend those morals, either. He has a strong loyalty to his family, his church, and his friends, and I admire him for that. He also respects my mom, and I really respect him for that, because she really deserves it.

But sometimes I just want to throw things, he gets me so badly. Here is a frequent exchange (in technicolor, rageface format) between me (the time-waster, procrastinator, and person with no idea how time passes) and him (the always-on-time, my-way-or-the-highway one):

Yeah. That. Completely infuriating. This stopped for a while, when I moved out for college. When I moved back in with the parents, it started up again. I understand the reasoning: he wanted to know how late he should leave the door unlocked or the alarm turned off and at what point he should call the police should I be MIA. I just wanted to freaking do what I wanted to do without limitations. But now it doesn't happen anymore, much, because I just moved out of the house for real (to rent the house next door XD).

But I know my dad loves me. He’s been trying his best to give me the tools to be a successful, contributing member of society. And, for the most part, I have those now. Except at the moment, when I need to leave in 20 minutes, but I’m still in my pajamas (I love you, Dad).

One more thing about my dad: He is really funny. He has the fastest wit I’ve seen, and is so good at sarcasm, I’ve learned to doubt everything anyone is saying if it could be the least bit humourous. He also knows SO MANY JOKES. I think he lied about majoring in accounting; I think he majored in gorram comedy. The man knows one-liners, stories, riddles, Boudreaux and Thibodeaux jokes GALORE, and probably has about four hundred funny stories from his lifetime. And if they weren’t funny then, he makes them funny now. I think a good sense of humour lets life be easier and more manageable. It helps us roll with the punches.

My dad has taught me that responsibility is important, and it lies on my shoulders; my life decisions are made by no one but me. I should always be on time, and even a bit early if I can help it, and that if you can’t learn to learn from then laugh at your mistakes then it will be really hard to be happy.

To wrap up: I have never heard my parents raise their voices (except my dad yelling at the hammer that smashed his finger, and even then he managed not to curse), I know they never end a day mad at each other if they can possibly help it, and I know they love me and my sister an absolutely ridiculous amount and would do anything to make sure we are prepared and happy in life. They are the awesomest parents ever in the history of parents.

Everyone should combine forces to make the Gordon-Levitt an actual unit of measure. That measures awesomeness.

Day 3: Your First Love
Did I skip a day? I feel like I skipped a day. Oh well, moving on.

My first "love" was probably my first grade crush, Adam. I don't have a picture of him, and if I did it would be weird that I have it and I would need to get his permission to use it. But I'm pretty sure, in first grade, he basically looked like this:

Please note: I will not ask Joseph Gordon-Levitt for permission to use his picture because he's famous and it's everywhere, I'm not using it to make money or connect him to any organization, and because he wouldn't answer (like he hasn't answered any of my 386 fan letters).

That's Adam, give or take a few Gordon-Levitts*.

He was totally my first kiss, maybe. Except possibly a guy in preschool before I got kicked out (a story for another post). He would insist in college that I was the one chasing him down and kissing him, like, everywhere, but I think his imagination has added some details. There was just the one in the morning attendance line, which was totally mutual. Probably.

So we ended up going to different schools for second grade, and when he arrived at my new school in third grade I basically thought we'd hook up again, since it was beyond our control that we got separated. But noooo, Chelsea** comes along and steals him away and it's just so drama. So we kind of had a falling out (that really ended up okay because we all moved on by the time we were super-grown-up fourth graders. We were really getting too old for that silliness, and my lady-friends and I had a Spice Girls tribute band to create) and traversed the rocky terrain of love denied for the rest of the year.

We reconnected recently, once in High School (and my friends and I completely scared him off because we are crazy), and again in college. I was really surprised we crossed paths on a campus of 30,000 students, but we did and it was very nice. I think, deep down, we still feel the uncertainty of a love lost...but time heals everything.

*Not an actual unit of measure, but still awesome.

**Chelsea is actually awesome and we became very close friends. She is in no way a person who breaks up relationships, especially fictional 3rd-grade ones.

Nicknames are names for lazy or unnecessarily creative people.

Day 2: Nicknames

I will take this opportunity to talk about screen names and nicknames in my life.
My first nickname I can recall was "Mich." Pretty standard. It was given to me in first grade by a fellow classmate whose name I think was Larry, but I can't remember, and his birthday was on Valentine's day. If he didn't assign that nickname, he's at least the one who used it the most.

Next we have Mikki, which came about in softball in late elementary school. Everyone on the team chose nicknames, and mine ended up being Mikki. I think I officially dropped it when I met a girl actually named Mikki in 6th or 7th grade. My friend Sharron still calls me that occasionally.

For a brief period in early high school, my art class all exchanged names, so I was Malcolm. It didn't last.

My brother calls me George because my Pirate name is 2-Eyed George. Yeah, my friends and I all gave each other Pirate names on the way to see the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Or maybe it wasn't that movie...but it was within the same year as Pirates.

Then there's Artist77. Super generic. I liked the number 77. Also, JesusFreakFive5, because I like the number 5 and the song Jesus Freak.

Ryoukai came from a browsing of cool-sounding Japanese words that weren't incredibly stupid. This one's only slightly stupid. What can I say, I was like 14. It's supposed to mean "Roger," as in, "Roger that!"

The Infamous Flatline was from my band in 10th grade. I think the other band member nicknames included Johnny Schiz, Grumpus McGumpus, or Grump McGump for short, Super Sexy Grandpa, and 2 more I can't recall. The Infamous Flatline was a joke inspired by the fact that I had literally zero interest in relationships of any kind. This has passed, as I have dated a few people since then, but I still use the name, or forms of it, just about everywhere online.

I also played RO for a while with the screen name Jazz Hands, because of this:

2 more:
In high school choir, I was called mini-Beth (or evil-Beth, depending on who you asked), because my sister (Beth) and I look very much alike though we are almost 3 years apart. She was, of course, in choir before me, and I was rather...exuberant.

And in colorguard in HS, I was called the Free Hand Nazi, because I was incredibly strict about the girls' free hands. They're important, dangit!!

"I'M SIGNIFICANT!" ...screamed the dust speck.

So I have moved out of my parents' house and gotten a real, full-time job. Life is going up! I thought I'd attempt a 30-day blog challenge. If I miss a day (which I very well might), I will simply resume on that day the next time I update.

Day 1: Introduction

Today, I will be officially introducing myself. My name is Michelle, I am 22, and I recently got a haircut I really like:

...in a picture I really don't like lol...smile much?

I am a graduate of Louisiana State University (GEAUX TIGERS) in Music Education. I just got my first full-time teaching job as of August 1st, and I am so pumped I can't even describe it. I have also just started a community choir in my area. That is also super exciting. Within the first day of advertising, I've gotten 22 people signed up.

I am a Jack of all Nerds (or a Nerd of all Trades, whichever you prefer) in that I am into numerous nerd-tacular things though I have mastered none of them. Some of my favourite nerdy topics are:

Video Games

Books (especially fantasy)

Role-Playing Games (Holla back for the Serenity RPG!)

Sci-fi shows and movies

Campy martial arts movies (this is a sort of recent development, though I have always admired Bruce Lee)

Comics & Manga

Anime

Superheroes (Hal Jordan & Wally West. They can just take me.)

Drawing

Music (because I like nerdy music like Wizard Rock and I am a music nerd. I could rant about Beethoven all day)

DIYing

Magic the Gathering

Pokemans!

And other things I can't recall offhand right now.

As you can imagine, being such a fan of so many things kind of spreads me thin when it comes to devoting myself to just a few of these things. That's one reason something like blogging is so hard for me to do: I just keep changing my focus!

I will count that as my first Interesting Fact. Here are the rest:

2. I have fixed a harmonica with my teeth.

3. Lady Gaga both inspires and repulses me. She inspires me because I like outrageous costumes. She repulses me because she relies too much on them. That woman can SING, but I don't think she uses her full range of ability.

4. I have the 50th Anniversary Batman board game. It is an okay game, and is better for novelty's sake than quality gameplay, but I'm excited I have it anyway because Batman is AWESOME.

5. I have knitted a sweater like Hal Jordan's Green Lantern costume, but have yet to sew on the actual Green Lantern logo, so many people don't know what it is.

6. I have designed sweaters for other superheroes as well. Nerdy knitters UNITE.

7. I never ever ever paint my nails or toenails, but my new roommate might persuade me to try it.

8. I really love Art Nouveau prints and posters.

9. I love posters! I have over 70 posters. And this is from not actively collecting them! I mean, just buying one or two a year, and getting a LOT as presents.

10. I have been known to dress as a Pirate spontaneously, with no apparent purpose (the true purpose being that it's just time to dress as a gorram Pirate).

11. Halloween is my favourite holiday, followed by Christmas. Halloween because, like I mentioned before, I love costumes. Christmas because people are generally nicer around Christmas-time, and I like to give people presents.

12. Speaking of presents, I feel hideously awkward opening presents in front of people who don't have presents, so I've started to do White Elephant gift exchanges at my birthday parties ($5 spending limit so everyone can participate). This way, everyone gets something, and there's no horribly awkward opening all my swag in front of people without any.

13. My birthday is in October, so I also try to have costume parties because it's close enough to Halloween that it still counts.

14. I have been fingerprinted at least three times.

15. I have never broken a bone or gotten caught breaking a law (and the only laws I've broken are typically traffic laws and the non-speeding ones are accidental. What can I say - women can't drive.**)

See you tomorrow!

*Kudos to anyone who gets the title's reference.

**Yes, I am aware that one's sex or gender has nothing to do with their capability to operate a vehicle.

If I don't learn this...

I've realized I will never draw a comic ever if I can't learn to loosen up and just draw. Everything I do has to be so freaking perfect I'll never actually do anything!

So guise, if you have any advice on how to just draw faster and accept your mistakes or what-have-you, please enlighten me. I have been in a comics rut for years and it is sad times for me. I actually have the time to do it now, but I never go quickly enough because it will never be good enough.

Also, I have serious issues capturing motion. 95% of my drawings just look posed. Or they are posed. Or they're stationary in general.

So yeah. Advice would be so appreciated. If you want examples I've got some older stuff on DeviantART that is still a pretty true to how I draw now.

Wait, there is one picture that I feel has movement, but it is really stylized and not how I draw on a regular basis. And you can see where I started getting nitpicky anyway (the tiny details appearing hither and thither).

Who needs proportions when you've got style?? (hint: I do.)

Not a new idea

Oh my gooses, you guise. I should do videos.

No, I haven't spent all day watching Youtube, what are you talking about...
...heh heh.


Also! I finished my painting. I like it, but I still aim to improve (pictures to come when I get a camera). Next up on the painting front: possible Green Lantern logo in spray paint. Next up on the sewing side: An awesome dress from Little Green Dresses, a book I got at a local new and used bookstore, Cavalier House Books (LOVE that store). Next up on the digital art locale: I apparently get to figure out how to use Photoshop so I can seem "professional" and do a presentation for a local art club. Haaaahahahahaha XD Then I'm going to do a bookworm at some point and some other wonderfiul compound wordplay. Finally, in the knitting area: I have made 2 original tams and am working to put together the patterns. I will possibly sell them on Etsy. If I have the guts.

Finally, my friends and I have some humourous videos to make...that may or may not ever happen.

WIP

Hey guise I'm PAINTING!

This is a work in progress for a good friend of mine whose birthday was definitely long enough ago that I should have finished this. Unfortunately, I am still without a camera, so you'll have to get the terrible quality that is the tiny camera built into my laptop.

There is more to be done, and I will be trimming some off of the bottom. (Also, I had to hold the laptop, so that's my hair in the top right corner...) The rest of the background will fade to black on the edges, and then there will be (more) splatter painting.

I am supah psyched.

UPDATE: I finished it, I like it, and my friend loves it. Bi-winning.

Can't do much without it...

I need a new camera. See, I made a dress using this super awesome tutorial, but I cannot show it to you, because I do not have a camera. I used to have one, but it broke. I don't even have a camera on my phone at the moment. It's so sad, I know. But I've been busy lately with more hands-on crafts again, and less drawing, so I can't show it to you without something to document it! I've been having the same problem with my Ravelry projects, and I just hate having low-quality webcam photos or none at all.

So, coming as soon as I get a camera, my dress done with Talk 2 the Trees' awesome tutorial, a shirt I reconstructed using the ever-awesome book, Generation T (and also here is their main website), and a shrug pattern made by yours truly that requires knitting, purling, picking up stitches, and a total of 4 - 6 inches of mattress stitch on each side. No circular knitting, for those who don't like it, and it's knit side-to-side, so no raglan shaping or anything like that. It's also great for people who just want a break from difficult, long-term projects (like I did).

Bear with me while I get this rather essential piece of equipment, and I promise you won't be disappointed! Well...you may be disappointed. I can't really promise anything concerning your emotions. And I don't want to guarantee anything since I can't really refund your time or take back the words you read. But still! It's gonna be there! With pictures! =D

Generosity

I've heard people say that while the United States of America is often lazy and obnoxious, it is one of the most generous countries in the world. I was playing CityVille on Facebook, fulfilling my American demands of being lazy and obnoxious, when the game sends a pop-up message. CityVille is giving all of the money spent on one of their instant "crops" to funding relief efforts in Japan after this horrible earthquake and tsunami.

Then I had a thought. Maybe one of the reasons we are so generous is because we are so lazy. We want to play these silly games and ignore the world around us, but our consciences can't quite let us forget about such present disasters. We certainly aren't going to take time off of work and buy tickets to travel across the world to help in person, so if we throw money at it we will feel better. It is our hard-earned wages, and giving feels good. Some of us buy instant crops in a Facebook game because, hey, we can afford to waste money on virtual junk. But somewhere, someone said, "Let's give some of this away." So, for a while, bored people with too much money, playing on Facebook, can feel like they have made a difference in the world because they bought virtual crops for charity, and we can be reminded that there are others who need money, too.

I think there's two sides to this idea. There's the argument that we as a country don't really want to help if it inconveniences us, which I often feel is true. Then there's the reminder that many people are using our technology to help us help others. Many people want to help; to feel they've made a lasting difference. They see commercials to sponsor impoverished children and think, "Can I fit that into my budget?" And then they see an ad on the side of a website they frequent advertising charities with easy, one-time donation systems ready. By making giving so easy for lazy people like you and I, we help a lot more around the world. So, in this case, I think being lazy is okay.

Now maybe we should make an effort and look up some charities. See if there's one whose cause you want to support, and consider making room in your budget to give just a little bit every now and then. I'm going to try this, too, because, you know what? Giving does feel good, and I guess I'm selfish.

Here's some charities I could think of offhand, but look for some of your own if you don't like these.
Water Harvest International
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
The American Cancer Society
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Operation Smile
Doctors Without Borders
World Vision
Compassion
Heifer International

#3 Card Sharks

So I kind of got lost in the background and composition overall, but I really enjoyed drawing it, so I'm not that upset.

Also done at Oekaki Central's Atrium.

#2 Barfly

The next few pictures I'll likely do will be plays on words. Here we have a barfly - literally. I enjoyed it. The bar itself is based on The Cove.

I drew this over at Oekaki Central's Atrium.

Picture Series #1

I'm starting a series of exercises to hopefully help with my drawing. As of now, I have no real drawing software so I'm doing this at 2draw. The first was to draw a portrait using a light source you're not used to.

December 12th Update.

Ok, just kidding about the December 12th bit. That was my goal, but a month and a half went by in which I got a job for the holidays, went on Christmas vacation, got a job for the rest of the year, and started said rest-of-the-year job. HOORAY.

So yeah. I think I made myself clear in the previous post that you should not pursue graduate studies unless you really want to. It is not a way to postpone "real life." It is not an escape from "real life." It is hard work. That's why, when you finish, you get to be called a "master" or a "doctor." Because you have actually mastered the work. And you know what? Mastering something is hard. It takes time, focus, and hard work.

I went into my graduate studies thinking my love for music would carry and inspire me through it. It did not. Because not all of grad school is happy and fun. A lot of it kind of sucks. The work is tough, and there's a lot of it. Especially when you're taking five courses. But that's a tip for later in the post.

So I quit grad school, and I'm going out into the "real world" to get some experience, save up some money, and take a good hard look at when or if I will ever go back. For now, I'm going to contribute to society and make enough money to be *gasp* independent. It's a scary word, I know. While I would love to chill at my parents house all the time, not paying for rent or food or insurance, that does nothing to help me, them, or the people around me. So here's to independence. Ugh.

If you are going to graduate school, don't take five courses in one semester. That's stupid. Take the minimum amount you can to be able to afford all of the semesters you'll need and keep whatever assistantship or fellowship you may have. It's about the quality and quantity of the work you do, so give yourself plenty of time to do said work.

And for those of you who finished grad school: Congratulations. May you go forth and make more money than me.