So for any of you who may be interested, summer school is going well. I am staying super busy and all I can say is I wish I had the energy of the younger people in class. I am making lots of really cool stuff and learning a lot of new things, which is probably why I am having such a good time.

The weather has been a bit odd lately. Apparently mother nature can't figure out if she wants to warm up or cool off. It's 100 degrees one day and 70 the next. Not complaining about the 70 degree temps. though, just wish they would stay a little longer.

Things have still been really, really slow for Kermit an it doesn't appear to be getting any better. Found out recently that Arizona has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, but on the up side we have the lowest gas prices (which really aren't that low by any means).

Well, that's it for now. Take care everyone.

And It Ended With A Pfffffffft.

So the semester is finally over, and all I can say is this was the suckiest semester ever. Yes, even worse than the year I fractured my arm and was forced by my teacher to write "I will not talk in class" 100 times on the bulletin board with the bum arm, which was in a sling mind you. Bad, bad professors this semesters. Actually bad, bad, lazy, opinionated, elitist professors with ginormous egos is more like it. Hope to have made a B in each of them (the classes that is). Got so fed up with one, I actually politely told him what I thought of the School of Art and most of the faculty that I have encountered there. So, although I plan on finishing my BFA, I have enrolled in a second degree program, which I am happy to say is not related to Fine Art, but rather English Education. I have realized that I can only take so much opinion based bull crap in one semester, so I am going to balance it with English Ed classes. So by the time I graduate, I will be able to teach English at a secondary school level. Ahhh...relief.

With that said, I am gearing up for my summer school class that starts Monday. I had to drop the second one, due to the current financial situation, which isn't so great. I actually received enough money (scholarship) to attend the two classes, but was using it all for tuition which left me no money for bills for over the summer. I don't know how things are going where you are, but here they suck and it seems as if there will be no end to this recession. Kermit's even seen a huge drop in customers and customer frequency. Hopefully all will be fine and work out, but for now it has left us broke and stranded in the desert for the summer. I think the biggest loss is missing my little brothers wedding (which is to take place this summer), of which he is probably mad at me for, but hopefully he will forgive me.

Well, that is it for now. I hope all of you take care, and keep in touch!

For this months totally Kool video, click here.

Well, April has arrived leaving behind a rather uneventful March. At school, March is the month of deadlines and registration. Registration is always a nightmare since I am two different departments, of which have registration at two different times and which occur in very different manners. Art registration is a week earlier than English, and requires that you show up to wait in line at 6 a.m. in the morning (that is if you want to get the classes that you need). English requires an appointment with an advisor before you register (to approve your course selection) but the trick is that they send out an email to announce that they are taking appointments, and you have to race down to the department as quickly as possible to get an early appointment (again, that is if you want to get the classes you need). It's all rather rediculous and apparently they are the only departments that do this (lucky me :o)). Anyway, I got the classes I needed and hopefully fall will prove to be a bit more pleasant than this spring semester. All of the scholarship deadlines hit about the same time, along with midterms, etc., so all in all it was a blah month.

Somewhere in all of that, my birthday came and went. Kermit made me a nice dinner to celebrate.

Weather has been quite nice lately. Not too hot, not too cold, not too much of anything. Hopefully, I can spend a little time relaxing and catching up on my sleep this month.

I have made a couple of friends at school that are around my age. It's actually rather nice, because we all get along and seem to be dealing with the same issues at school.

Oh, before I forget I did get in a 3-D juried exhibit at school. It was with a piece I recently did and here is the link to see it:

http://www.alicevinson.com/catalog/item/5810401/5673806.htm

Well, I have some serious house cleaning to do so I best run. Take care everyone!

March Update

Well, once again here is the monthly update.

First, congratulations go out to my little brother who will be getting married this summer! I wish you two the best!

Now to more local news. Things are going well. Kermit and I are both sick right now, but it's not too bad. Been trying to take it easy, and even skipped a class or two so I wouldn't make it worse. Mid-terms are coming up and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I do well. I also have two rather crazy projects due, and hopefully I will finish them on time, but we'll see.

It looks like I will be attending school this summer. I was given both a scholarship and a grant by the school recently in order to attend. Hopefully, I will be taking a printmaking course and the Intro to Fiction (this is a how to write fiction course) class I need. I'm really excited about it, and hopefully, this will allow me to graduate a semester early.

There isn't much else going on, but I'll post some more during spring break (in about 2 weeks).

Take care everyone!

February Update

For your listening and visual pleasure:



Well, February has arrived in the old pueblo and today I am finding myself in a short sleeve t-shirt and flip-flops. Seems a bit early for this weather, but it does make walking from one end of campus to the other a bit more plesant.:o)

School is going well. I love all of my classes, just hate the schedule. I spend most of my time going to and from school. The gaps between classes are too long to stay on campus, but the time it takes to go home and back really eats into homework and freetime. I find that it is incredibly draining, and by the end of the week and am simply beat. I know several other students that ended up in the same situation, and they feel the same way. Hopefully, next semester will be better.

As I said, my classes are great. Art History/History of Cinema is a blast and I simply love going to this class. My professor is incredible and makes learning art history really fun. The only drawback is that our entire grade is based on 2 exams and some quizzes. There are no papers or homework to help bring up the grade, so if you are a terrible test taker (like myself) you relly have to work at it to get an A. Then my Folklore class, where we are learning about Native American folklore,is a papers only class. Yep, no tests only two papers to get you that A. It seems a bit odd, them being exact opposites, but oh well. Speeking of opposites, my two sculpture classes are taught by two different instructors. One is very laid back and flaky (in a good way), and the other is very regimented and deadline oriented. I am somewhere in between, so I am going a little kookey from the two different teaching styles.

Not much else going on. Meowzer moved in and we got her fixed, and all of her shots. I'm kind of glad she found her way in through that doggy door, because she's pretty nice to have around. I'm just thankful she is the only one to have found her way in! I think Amy (our dog) likes having her around too. They seem to keep each other company when Kermit and I are away.

Well, that's it so guess I'll run for now. Take care everyone, and don't take life too seriously!

School, a Spay, and... Oh God, Not the Camera!

Whew, well what can I say. The New Year has arrived and even though we are only at day ten, I have a feeling it's going to be one of those years.

I finally received my school money, and was able to get my books and necessary supplies for the semester. Just in time, as I was officially on the Ramen diet and washing with shampoo. No, seriously, I really was. Anyway, we spent the morning restocking my share of sundries.

Meowser, who I scheduled for a fixin' tomorrow morning, has suddenly gone in heat. Oh my god people, be sure to get your cats fixed! No more than 6 hrs. after I had made the appointment she just flips out starts rollin' around and screamin' like a banshee. Man, she is driving us nuts. Just figures that I would finally get the money to do it and BAM! We have to keep her inside all night (per the vets instructions), and I have no clue how we are going to fall asleep with those blood curdling meeeeeooooooooooows going on. If that wasn't bad enough, I actually started feeling guilty because her big, hottie, man cat has been at the door crying back to her, as if to console his sweetheart. Geez... they're making me feel as if I separated the Romeo and Juliet of cat love. Well.. I felt bad until I remembered that she did go pee on the floor (mind you, as she starred at me with a spiteful look), when I first locked her in the house this evening. Oh well, hopefully all this will be over tomorrow and she won't hate me for it.

On a final note today, I would like to send out a final farewell to my Canon digital camera. A few days ago I found her sitting peacefully on my desk, and when I tried to waken her there was no response. After several minutes of trying to revive her, she was pronounced dead. I will greatly miss her, as I loved her dearly for the four, short years I knew her. Her point and click, auto focus, 10X zoom (sighing as a tear rolls down my face). She will not quickly, nor easily be replaced as she was a truly great camera, and helluv expensive.

Happy New Year!

Just wishing all of you a Happy New Year!