Ponies

Kinda had this random idea a couple days ago. So I sketched it up really quick now that all of my largest projects have been turned in. The last paper I turned in on Thursday was quite a surprise. Although I did all of my research beforehand, I wrote the entire thing the night before, as well as editing an essay due for another class. And somehow I got full marks for it. But it was only graded out of 25 points. That's half the number of points as all of our smaller assignments throughout the rest of the semester (he's written exactly 4 math problems that make sense. Unfortunately he's given us 18 of them). So I wonder if the assignments together counted for a smaller percentage than the paper, or if the paper really was that small. Either way, nice to know, I suppose.

I actually finished this a while ago, but Hadn't put it up yet. More practice, basically. Her mane's too short. I've almost got the pattern done though. Mainly gotta make the neck thicker and the head smaller so the head doesn't flop around.

Dragon's Pen Wood Carving

My Aunt and Uncle just got back from visiting my cousins in Italy.
David does a lot of wood work over there. And look what he made for my birthday!

I never knew you could do something like that! It's exactly like my blog mascot!
And the pencil she holds is the exact right length so that she can use it to stand up!

Taco

So, if Katara and Aang is Kataang, and Katara and Zuko is Zutara, then is Toph and Zuko Toko (Taco)?

Cherry Blossoms and Ponies

Maaan, I was soo planning on spending a lot of today on my research paper that's due next week.
But I went to the Cherry Blossom festival at Japan Town with Nick, and then when he left, I watched the season finale to MLP, which was really good. It was really sweet and there were some cool songs too.
Must force myself to read research papers....

Little Animation Things

So, I just took Alaska to the vet and did a bunch of yard work, and in a few minutes I gotta go to volunteer.
So, kinda tired, so I'll post some random things that amuse me.

Don't know if I can imbed them, so I'll just put links. They're all by Griffsnuff.
Lalala
Food

I Know You

Mateship AKA Nakama

There's red ships and blue ships, but there's no ships like friendships...

Except for maybe mateships. Nowadays everybody is friends with everybody else. How many friends do you have on your facebook page? 100? 1000? Now how many of those people do you talk to? I talk to maybe ten people of my own volition. Take out the people I live with and my family, and I talk to five...maybe.

So what are the other gazillion people I talk to?

They're still friends, according to mateship. Why is that?

Because with facebook I can 'talk' to them. Be updated on their lives, update them on mine. Pleasant every day fluff talk that doesn't really deal with anything of import. We can get along just fine.

Now say I was in the army, in the war (it could be true...ok maybe not). The people in my brigade/troop, what are they? They could be people I don't know, or I don't get along with. I might not even like them. But they've got my back, and I know that. And I've got theirs.

So are we friends? No.

We're mates.

Or say for example I have a rival. I went to a tournament. And there's this other kid, don't even know his name. The match starts and by the end of it I've lost. The kid comes and helps me up.

Next tournament we both fight again. This time I win. I help him up. This goes on and on for years possibly. Each of us spurred to become better by the other who's name we don't even know.

That's mates. Why? Because if this kid and I were thrown into a Hunger Games/Battle Royal situation, he'd have my back, and I'd have his. And we both know it. There's just no question.

It's this spoken/unspoken agreement that you'd trust each other with your lives, for the rest of your lives. With friends, they may be there for you when you're crushed about being dumped, or when you're bored and you want to hang out. But when the chips are down, you're not 100% sure if you can rely on them.

Mateship is this...manly thing. Where you don't have to talk about things, you just know it intrinsically. You can tell someone you'll always have their back, but it's different from knowing someone has your back. It's a rather difficult thing to explain.

It's almost like family. You may not like your family. And if you had a choice you'd never pick your family. But they're your family so you love them anyway, no matter how much you hate them as a person.

Personally I think the only word that I know of that's slightly akin to mateship/nakama is comrade, or maybe how priests or native americans refer to each other as brother. There's a sense of something beyond what is spoken, a sense of something beyond other people. A deep connection between two people of solidarity, truth, and realness that might not exist in friendship.

I'm not saying you have to hate your mates, or you can't trust your friends. People can be mates and friends.

In the terms of wherever the info came from (can't remember the website for the life of me): You can trust your friends to not drink your beer, but not with you life. Mates, you can trust with your life, but not necessarily your beer.

Antisocial

I always seem to get antisocial during the college semester.
I suppose there' a few logical reasons for it. Most people are away at college. The friends I have at college are far away, and I only really see them at school. But I still have friends nearby that I could hang out with.
I wonder if I get peopled out at school? Or I have a lot less free time so I try to finish other stuff?
Actually, I'm less antisocial this semester than I usually am. Jenny and I take the train together every now and then. And Nick and I have a break in our classes when we can hang out.
Why am I writing this? It doesn't even make sense.
I want to eat another cookie.

Tyra Request

ShadeofShinon did a livestream yesterday where she did free requests. I asked her to draw Tyra.

Animation Stuffssssssssss

I'm doing independent study for school on animation! yay!
here's a gif of a bouncing ball, I'll see if i can post the walking gif I've got, for some reason right now blogspot doesnt like me.

Fern Commission

So, I finished my project finally today. I had to work on it for several hours straight. Didn't even eat lunch, though I didn't notice at the time.
Feels soo nice to get it done. I finished my short story too, and spent far too much time and paper printing out 24 copies of it.
Although I learned a couple days ago that my speech for my whaling project is this Wednesday. So, I'll have to get that over with before I can start working on my home design project (due next Monday).

Anyway, today an amazing artist Saimain opened some cheap commissions. Her usual pictures are in the hundreds, so I ordered one. She finished really quickly. The hair and feathers are so pretty!
Kinda felt like the world is celebrating with me for finishing my project.
And doubly so, because I went to a livestream, and the artist drew Tyra for me (one I didn't have to pay for~ ). I'll post it once she emails it to me.

Fang Commission

Fang.
By Wolfroad.

Grandma's Awesome Painting!!

So, I'm nearing the deadline for my project (less than 48 hours). I've done a lot, but it's hard to estimate how much I have left. Problem is, I need to finish by tomorrow morning, cause I need to take my report down to get bound (cause my teacher is a detail-freak and wants 2 copies of each report, and one has to be bound in a certain way). I'm almost done with the writing part, but I also need to do the introduction and all of the image lists and everything.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll finish. May have to stay up kinda late though.
Today, My grandparents, aunt, uncle, and two of my cousins came over today for an Easter party/birthday party (for both me and Grandpa) sort of thing.
A while ago, I asked Grandma to paint me a picture,because she does beautiful landscape paintings. And she finally finished it! The moment I saw it, I ran upstairs and reorganized the stuff on my walls to find a place for it to live. I asked for something not too big, so she made me this cute little one! Here's a picture (thieves after my grandma's artwork will be eaten by my dragons), though of course photos are never as good as the original work. And it's so appropriate to my paper too, because it's of the waves on the coast!

Big Evil Stuff

So, on Monday I have a big project due about Portuguese Onshore Whaling. I originally chose this topic because I thought the main project site was relatively near my house (compared to the other sites, at least). I then discovered that there are TWO project sites for my topic, and while one is relatively near, the other is one of the farthest sites. But that lead to a fun little trip over spring break (where I had my very first clam chowder, and in a bread bowl too!) so that was okay.
Then on Monday I discovered that the paper is twice as long as I thought it was. Every paper I've written for college has been double-spaced, so I assumed this one was too. Not so. This one happens to be single spaced. Who assigns a damn single-spaced paper?
So, I've been working a lot on the paper, and will be doing nothing but this paper until Monday. Plus it's a sad topic because of some of the accounts I've read about the poor whales. TT^TT
I've found a couple ways to distract myself (like my blog), but I should be able to finish in time to get the stuff bound properly. I've been trying to harass Nick and Nicole online for company, but I guess they're busy too. Crystal chatted with me a couple nights ago.
Oh yeah. Same day my paper is due, my next short story for my fiction class is due. I pretty much finished that. Once I get the rest of Crystal's comments, I'll do one last quick revision.
I have a post I'd like to do about my fiction class that I've been sitting on, plus something about the English program in general. Either I'll wait until after my paper (I've already put the one off for a few weeks) or maybe I'll use them as a break from my paper later on.
And the week after this paper, I have a big assignment due for my solar home design class. Then it's a few weeks until my last research paper, so I should be able to calm down for a little while.