It just kind of occured to me that I haven't really mentioned school or anything on here since I went back at the beginning of this month.

This year, I think I'm starting to break out of my shell a little bit more, probably because I'm more comfortable in the environment because it's my second year there.

I like all of my instructors. Of course, they haven't had many chances to upset me or make me not like them yet...The semester is young. My classes are going well too. Life Drawing for Illustrators is a lot more fun than just normal life drawing because we do these things called dictates where the instructor will tell us to draw a person doing something and we just draw it, without looking at photo references or anything, and we only have 15 minutes. Mine are definitely getting better. On Thursdays, we draw while looking at a model, though which is not as fun. I actually didn't want to take another life drawing class because I get so bored just sitting there on those awful bench thingies drawing, staring at the model. In this class, I mostly get to sit in a chair and draw at a desk.

Quantitative Literacy (aka Math) is an ok class. And yes, that is probably the only time you'll ever see or hear "math" and "ok class" coming from me. The teacher is very easy going. I wouldn't go so far as to call this a blow-off class. But, we have 10 homework assignments the entire semester, we usually get out early, and we can use a calculator to do everything. Wednesday, which was our first lecture day, we learned about the order of operations. YES, I REMEMBER HOW TO DO IT!

Watercolor is fun, but also challenging. Leave it to me to find one of the most complicated ways to paint so beautiful that I want to try it. Watercolor is not very forgiving, if you mess up, you have little chance to fix it. But so far, the instructor has been understanding. I heard that he is very tough on people in critiques. He could probably point out the problems in a Monet painting. But I'm experienced with critiques, I try not to let the harsh criticism get to me and try to focus on what I need to take from the critisism. That's how you get better, though experience. Sometimes trial and error. I just finished painting a drape yesterday...it looks ok...if you squint at it.

And yesterday it really started sinking in that I miss a lot of my friends. I just miss seeing them and talking to them. I have a few friends at school, but all of them are strange in some way...like they all go out and drink, or they smoke pot in a alley around the corner. I miss the Summer. I wish it would come back!
 

So yesterday I went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire for the second year in a row. I have to admit, this year was much more fun than last year. Last year I went with my friend Eric from work and his cousins who were all guys and it was kind of awkward being the only girl. This year, I also went with Eric and one of his cousins but his sister tagged along and a friend of his family (who was thankfully female) came as well. It was a lot of fun!

lol I could not believe the amount o dirty-minded people who work at the Reniassance Faire. I mean, I guess they were there last year, but it seemed like they were a lot worse this time. We went into this shop that sold wooden mugs for drinking ale and other various beverages out of. I was looking at a mug that had a big E engraved in it and the shopkeeper lady comes up and says "well, are you just going to fondle the hard wood or buy it?" or something along those lines. It involved "fondling hard wood", I remember that much. All's I know is my face turned beet red and I was giggling. That soon became the joke of the day in our group "that Emily likes to fondle hard wood!" Eric said he was going to repeat that to some of the ladies at work and then I would have to explain it to them the next day. lmao! Oh man. Sadly, that wasn't the only gutter-minded person we came across. I had just bought a Mikes Hard Lemonade (which I probably didn't need, but it did make me a little more bubbly than usual--I actually bought it because I was REALLY thirsty and it was there--and there's only 5% alcohol in those anyway) and we walked past the guy selling cheesecake on a stick and he said something innappropriate as I walked past him. I know he was talking to me since he mentioned the lemonade I had. I don't quite remember what he said, but it was dirty.

But anyway, aside from all the dirtiness, it was a fun day. The weather was great, albeit a little hot, but I bought this fancy feathered fan and used it as my air conditioning the rest of the day. I also met this lady who did fantasy drawings and then painted them. I used to draw a lot of fairies and nymphs so I thought her work was very interesting. I guess someday, I could be an artisan at the Faire, maybe once I retire.

I didn't get to see the joust this year unfortunately, but I did get more pictures than I did last year. My camera didn't die on me this time. And the pictures are up on Facebook for anyone who cares.

And if you're wondering about the title of this entry. That was a quote I randomly heard while walking through the faire. Yes, apparently "knickerbockers" is a word.

I don't want to jinx anything, but remember a few entires back when I said my summer was sucking, well I'd have to say lately things have turned around. This is turning out to be an awesome summer and I really wish it didn't have to end.

So I just, for the first time EVER, ignored a friend request on Facebook! I feel like a total bitch right now. But the girl who added me is someone I knew in High School who had this chronic lying problem. She was rude to me behind my back and lied about every aspect of her life, which included things you just don't lie about, like having various miscarriages...oh man, she was just so annoying! I can't deal with that right now. If you look up Drama Queen in the dictionary, you'll find her picture.

I'm blocking her if she tries to contact me.

anyway....going to the Renaissance Faire tomorrow. Should be fun. Hopefully it won't be hot. Heat (as in like 90 degree weather in the summer) is seriously the bane of my existence. That, and algebra.

I've been realizing lately that there are A LOT of things that I don't like. I'm extremely picky. But to balance that out, there are many things that I absolutely love and pretty much everyone else hates.

Books: I never got into that whole DaVinci Code craze. My mom and sister absolutely love all of Dan Brown's books and I was convinced that I was the only one on the planet that didn't like the series. I also am not into Manga, or books based off of tv series. Never have been, never will be.

Movies: Ok, call me crazy, but I don't see what the big deal was with The Dark Knight. I saw it once and I sat there waiting for it to be over. And it was like one of the biggest movies of last year. Also, I can't stand pretty much any movie based on a comic book character (with X-Men being the exception), and I hate horror films since I'm a wimp and spend most of them with my eyes closed.

Bands: There are a ton of bands that I really don't care for, but the main genre that they all fit into are those industrial rock/alternative (and I'm not even sure if that's what they really classify as) bands like Hinder, and Seether, and Creed. Also, the whole Emo thing is really getting old for me. I think I have matured greatly over the last few years and I see all these new Emo bands coming out and it kind of just makes me want to kick puppies. And no, I do NOT consider Fall Out Boy to be an Emo band.

Food: I love Italian food but I am really sick of spaghetti. When my family has spaghetti for dinner, I always have to make it because that's what I make and I'm sick of both making and eating it. And crap, we're having that this week. :/

TV: I've stopped watching shows like ANTM and The Amazing Race because I'm soooooo bored with Reality TV. In fact, I'd say I don't watch much tv anymore because all of my favorites got cancelled or I just decided that I didn't like them anymore.

Yeah, I know some of those probably were not big suprises.

This felt a lot like a rant/vent post.