The past few weeks have been busy, what with finals, graduation, and moving stuff around between Austin and the house. Graduation was nice, but loooong since it was apparently the largest graduating class they've had in the history of the college. To pass the time, I texted my sister, who let me know the crying status of my mom. Dad was disappointed in me. Big surprise.

I can't wait to have doctoral regalia one day, but for now my BS in Biology: Neurobiology is pretty nice. I'm taking a year off and heading up to Canada to work and hang out with Meghan, then heading to graduate school somewhere to earn a PhD and said regalia. I'm not sure specifically what sort of neuroscience lab I'd like to join, but I do enjoy electrophysiology, and I'm open to pretty much anything. Hopefully I can find a school that will take me. My GPA isn't fantastic after my Fall 2009 mental break, but it isn't bad either.

Speaking of issues, I probably shouldn't have posted that horribly depressing post without a follow up soon after. My bad, guys, I hope I didn't worry you. I actually hit a full-on hypomania episode not long after, which sort of pulled me up out of the rut. I haven't had one of those since I was about 15, so it was quite a surprise. I am an incredibly happy, but easily annoyed for roughly two seconds, hypomanic-person. I was particularly creative (wrote a ton in one sitting, and the work was actually quite good), alert, and enjoyed school. Most importantly, I was functional, which is what marked it as hypomania rather than mania.

It was more or less exactly what I needed, so for once I thank my mind for being loopy. I can see why some bipolar people refuse to take meds just to have those ups. Not that I would stop taking my meds since I can apparently have hypomania episodes in spite of them. The SSRIs keep the darkest depression holes (mostly) away, and that's what is important. Hypomania every few years is more like an unexpected bonus now and again.

I feel I'm still riding the aftermath of hypomania overall, which is awesome. I've been drawing, though I haven't uploaded anything in a while. Any depression I'm going through is situational rather than chemical, which means it can be dealt with rationally. I am nervous about moving to another country, even though culturally Canada isn't exactly exotic compared to the USA. My stay would be extended if I go to graduate school there, and I may. Though I don't always get along with them, I'll miss my parents being out of touch. Oddly, a lot of anxiety has come about because I'll miss my mini-library and my accumulated stuff in general. I'm not taking much with me for the year. I won't have my desktop, just my little Asus Eee PC, my cat, some clothes, and whatever household things I need to bring...which shouldn't be too much. It's my packrat personality not wanting to part with my "stuff". To quote the wise Tyler Durden, "The things you own end up owning you."

I also had a birthday in there. 23 now, still figuring out what's what. I am considering taking some of the money given to me and heading to the bookstore soon. I've run out of room on my bookshelves again, so creative stacking has begun. It is totally ruining my alphabetical sorting by author's last name. I haven't sat down to read much lately, save for the odd National Geographic, thanks to Pokemon White (and finals and grad and etc). Pokemon, you enthrall me as much as you did when I was ten. I don't know what that means other than awesome. For those curious, my starter was Snivy. I replayed FFVII not long ago too. Man, that was a nostalgia punch. ShinRa science department, ftw. I had forgotten so many of the little details, and now I want to play through Crisis Core again. Other games I've been playing include Mass Effect and Dead Space on the Xbox 360. More on those as I finish them.

I'll have to post more cat pictures, grad stuff, and drawings. Will work on that soonish.

Just got out of my Neurobiology of Disease class, having ravaged the first exam. Neurotransmitters got nothin' on me.

I wasn't sure how I'd take to living in an apartment off-campus, but I really enjoy it. The bus ride is about 10-15 minutes, and I get a lot of reading done. I've gone through The Book of Taltos by Steven Brust (second in the anthology series, and was excellent), the ENTIRE set of H.P. Lovecraft's fictional works (he is now my hero), and the second and third books in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (what, they're cute, though I'm sort of annoyed that Athena has children). Now I'm about to start up Garth Nix's Lord Sunday, which is the final book in his Keys to the Kingdom series. It's full of interesting theology specific to that universe and its construction, and he never fails to surprise me with his creativity so I'm looking forward to it.

I've also been playing through Final Fantasy VIII on the PSP. Man, nostalgia overload. I have FFVII on the PSP as well, but I can't replay it just yet. Too soon. So I'm going to try and actually finish FFVIII this time. The farthest I ever get is the Lunatic Pandora at the end of disc 3. I'm also actually attempting to collect the cards for the triple triad game for once, and am owning it.

I'm stuck in the waiting period now. I submitted my medical school application to TMDSAS and AMCAS, so now they just have to process everything before they send it off to the medical schools I picked. Since I finished my submissions in August...hopefully that will be soon. >> IF I get any interviews, I'd rather them not be at the very end of the semester, when finals and projects all hit the fan. Then again, that would still be better than no interviews at all.

Boyfriend and I had been pondering adopting an animal since our apartment complex is pet friendly, and after going to the animal shelter a few times he decided on a 5 month old tabby kitten. Her name is Audra--the name the shelter gave her and we just happened to like well enough to keep. I'll have to upload some pictures sometime.

Speaking of which, I have been drawing more than it seems. I've uploaded a few finished things to DA, including a picture of an original character of mine and Uryu Ishida from Bleach. I've also done lots of sketches, but they just felt meh enough that I didn't care to upload them to DA. Maybe I'll throw them in here. They're not terrible, just line art drawings which I find kind of boring to post on DA as standalone works. XD

Boyfriend likes to go out and see movies and things, so I've been dragged along. Not that I entirely mind, but at times I wish he were happier sitting at the apartment. I'm such a hermit. Am now missing my priest, so I'll have to arrange lunch with him or something. Is it more scandalous to have lunch alone with a priest if you're single or dating someone? HM. I'll have to write that down on my "list of things to ask him in case of awkward silence".

Anyhow, genetics lab is going to start soon. Those fruit flies aren't just going to selectively breed themselves.

I've been in college for four years. When I entered, I assumed I'd be graduating this year...but I'm going for another. It's weird seeing my classmates graduate while I'm still hanging back, but I don't really mind. I'm a neurobio major now, so I have nothing left but biology classes, a typical US history class, and a Texas government class left to go. I like biology classes fairly well.

I spent this last semester busy studying for the MCAT. It went well. Not spectacular, but med-school worthy, which is enough for me, especially since I only studied for the biology section. *cough* I got the results on my birthday, which could have made my 22nd go well or badly. Luckily it was the former. My priest texted me and asked if I'd like lunch, so we went. Not an eventful birthday, but nice regardless. I expected as much--once the 21st is gone, there isn't that much to look forward to beyond getting older.

The end of the semester was fairly busy too. A friend of mine that I've known for two years, now boyfriend, moved down since he got accepted into graduate school at the University of Texas. He's living with me and the family at the house during the summer, and then come fall the two of us are moving into our apartment. All of this was my parent's idea, which is weird considering how conservative they used to be regarding these things. He's almost been here a month, and it's all going pretty well. He's looking for a job anywhere, and I'm looking for something medical-related. A part of me still feels a little odd dating someone post-Eric's death, but I suppose that will always sort of linger regardless.

In the meantime, I've been rewatching Dragonball Z, and doodled a Piccolo and Vegeta. I'll have to scan those. I'm also sculpting, which is something I haven't tried since middle school art class. I'm using golden brown Sculpey and copper wire for a frame, and working slowly on punching it into the shape of the villain from my novel. For a first try, it's turning out fairly well. Looks...humanoid, anyway. Speaking of my novel, I spent many hours rereading what I've written so far so I can jump back into writing it. I hadn't realized I'd written so much over the years.

One of my birthday presents was Dissidia for the PSP. The dialogue is horrible, but it's still a lot of fun to button mash someone to death. I've been playing through Cloud's story. Big surprise, I know. Boyfriend has a PS3, and had bought FFVII and FFVIII from the online store, so they are now on the PSP as well. I plan on replaying them sometime soon for old time's sake, though I may get particularly emotional with a VII replay. Considering how I know the majority of you either directly or indirectly due to that game, I can hardly imagine something that has impacted my life as much as a single game. And to think my parents almost didn't let me play it because it had magic in it. Yes, these same parents that have now given my boyfriend a room in the house and suggested we get an apartment together. I guess people do change.

I really need to take pictures of things and do a picture post. I saved a Betta fish from Walmart back on St. Patrick's Day, so naturally his name is Patrick. I want to post pictures of him if only to show off his prominent green lips, which just look hilarious. We also got some new chicks, and 58 baby quail. The quail are so tiny you can hold five in your hand easily at once. Nothing thrilling, but they're fun to look at. Maybe I'll have something of a sculpture to show off soon too.

Next project: Medical school applications. o_o

Looking back, this next statement is certainly arguable, but I have to say I think this was one of the worst semesters I've had at UT. Not only because of the classes, which at the least the bad ones were balanced by some lovely ones, but because of outside circumstances that will affect your performance no matter how you wish it wouldn't.

( How to sleep your life away )

( The classes themselves )

( The seeds of creativity )

I'm heading to Canada for Christmas, the day after my last final, the 15th. I'll be gone to the land of snow and ice for two weeks before returning in time for New Years. Hrm, now to email that artsy faculty member and ask him if he'd like to be my mentor for my Catholic Art thesis project. I also need to sign up for the MCAT. >> At least I don't have to take the MCAT AND the GRE for the MD/PhD admissions process.

So I hear it's supposed to snow here tomorrow. WTF, Texas?

This past weekend? Awesome.

Considering how I've spent most of August saying to myself, "I don't want to go back to school", Saturday probably made up for it. It's not too often that my priest (aka Padre) and I get to do stuff together for obvious reasons, but with the assurance that one other person was going, we made plans back in June/July to go see the Broadway Across America showing of Wicked in Austin. The extra person was originally supposed to be a friend of mine here in Austin, but they couldn't make it, so I invited my little sister instead.

He came by the house at about 9:30am to pick us up and wander around, and we were off on the looong-ass drive to Austin. I had offered to drive, but he is a manly man and said no way. This is a typical theme with him, though it is rather nice in that old-school gentlemanly sort of way despite all of my desires for gender-equality. Anyway, Austin was packed on Saturday due to everyone moving in (I had done so on Thursday because this is my fourth year and I know better), but we eventually found somewhere to park. We got over to the theater just in time to sit and eat at the cafe there--Lori and I had turkey paninis while he had a bleu cheese pizza that looked like it would be really interesting.

Then we wandered in and got seated. The tickets were not the best ever, however Padre is 6'3" tall so he had no problem seeing over anyone in front of him. I think Lori got a nice seat too. However, I had the generic yammering lady with poofy hair sitting in front of me, and when you're 5' tall, it's hard to win in such a situation. Next time I'll blow the extra cash to be close up. I was at least happy that everyone else could see, and with enough leaning, I could too.

The play itself? Amazing. I actually enjoyed the play far more than the book, though they could be viewed as two entirely different stories as different as they were. If you don't like musicals, you won't like it much, but otherwise I'd recommend it to almost anyone. The soundtrack isn't the most beautifully arranged one I've ever heard, however, some songs really shine. One or two sent shivers up my spine and made me smile, particularly "Defying Gravity". Lori loved Glinda, mostly because they're practically twins personality-wise. I loved Elphaba, but then it's hard not to love the social-outcast that takes a stand against the world. I think Padre enjoyed the music but found the story a little weird. He's in his sixties, so I'll cut him some slack. XD I'm going to try and get tickets for "The Lion King" if it ever comes to Austin again since he seems to really want to see that one. Then again, so do I.

After the play, we drove around Austin a bit and parked near 6th Street, the infamous party-street. We walked around wasting time until "Chez Nous", Padre's favorite French restaurant, opened at 6pm. He called and made reservations and took us into the Driskill since neither Lori or I had ever been. We sat at a table and he ordered us drinks. Water for Lori since she's only 18, but we had Tito's vodka (a Texan vodka) and tonic water with lemon. We looked around to see if we could see any famous people, but we didn't. Alas.

Headed over to Chez Nous at about 6:30 and sat down for one hell of a dinner. I had never truly had French cuisine before, so Padre pointed out all sorts of things for us to have. We had two appetizer plates, one with cheeses and one with pâtés and meat slices. I adored the cheeses, though the one goose liver pâté was a little too pungent for my tastes. We had champagne to go along with the dinner. Padre got a really delicious backed fish, and Lori and I got a veal dish. I liked mine a lot, but later Lori confessed to me that she wasn't terribly fond of French cuisine. Bah. :P Then came the desserts, which were heavenly. I had a chocolate mousse, Lori had creme puffs, and Padre had a creme brûlée. Sharing was unavoidable, and oh so good. We had coffee with our dessert, but mostly because it was already like 9pm and we were sort of getting tired. When the bill came, I knew it would be expensive, so I insisted that we split the bill at the least, but no. He dropped $160 for our dinner. I think that's the most expensive dinner I've ever had. >> Damn it was good, though.

And of course halfway home he was pondering stopping for Blizzards at every Dairy Queen we passed. That man is going to make himself diabetic. And poor(er).

Got home at around 11:30pm. I sort of felt bad because he had to get up the next morning to preach, but he did a good job despite being tired. He's my only "local" friend and my only "best" male friend, and he is independent, hilariously snarky, and an awesome guy all around. If I could choose how my last weekend at home for the summer would have gone? I would have picked this. Every time.

Also, this has nothing to do with the rest of the post, but if you grew up on Nintendo and/or Lego blocks, you should really watch this. ^^

Been working on this picture for a bit. Glad to finally have it finished, though the scanner ate all of the detail I worked in and made the shading look so rough. x.x




Seems I have a thing for the crazy scientists in Final Fantasy games. Who would have guessed?

In other news, I get my wisdom teeth cut out on the 11th of August. Erf.

Finished drawing this a few weeks ago as a birthday present for Meghan. Shading is a bitch XD:




The link to the deviantART version is here. Aaron is my ex-priest character that is possessed by the demon Legion and the origin of vampirism on Adrian's world. He's a messed up guy, but really comes full circle in the novel. Speaking of which, another 750 words down today. Whoo.

Maybe I'll post art-related stuff here, I don't know. :P I'm off to check on Tabby-kitten.

So the last two months have been interesting in that they've been filled with lots of change. Last month my grandfather finally surrendered to his five year battle with cancer. The next day my eight year old goldfish died. I put the latter in a nice shoebox and buried him out in the pasture, under the shade of a grove of trees.

The haze of the death of my grandfather stuck around for most of June. I didn't get much done then. My mom sort of went off by herself since she's never lost someone before. She's still affected by it, but getting better.

July has been a much better month. I've decided to go into the medical field for many reasons. It was by no means an easy decision, but one I've been bouncing around in my mind for the past several months. I don't exactly know what I want to do as a doctor, but I guess I'll figure it out in medical school. I'm pondering something in surgery.

So I've started shadowing a doctor this summer--an OB/GYN to be precise. I'd never want to go into gynecology, and this cements that decision in my head. The procedures in themselves aren't so bad, but it's dealing with the women that would get on my nerves. So many of them are so...whiny. "Shut the fuck up" is the muttered mantra in the offices, usually combined with a groan and a headdesk, faaar away from the patients. I love the doctor I follow--she is incredibly friendly, but sarcastic and animated and keeps an otherwise incredibly routine day entertaining. So, there's my shadow-the-doctor check on the med school application.

I can now say that I have now seen more vaginas than most. Should mention that to my priest to watch him wrinkle his nose or, better, fire something sarcastic back at me. He is so badass. He's going with my sister and me to see Wicked in Austin sometime in August.

Speaking of Broadway shows, I found some ridiculously cheap tickets for the second row and took my grandmother to go see Phantom of the Opera. I had never seen it live, and all I can say is wow. Oh, Erik, you could make me stick to any chair with your voice. I felt particularly classy because I took my grandmother to an upscale Italian restaurant and ordered the proper wine to go with our meal and whatnot. Mm, wine.

Now, about this kitten. A wild kitten just appeared out at our shop with the other cats. Since they're all fixed, we have no idea where it came from. It's about seven or eight weeks old, in the bouncy stage. We had to trap it in the shop before we could catch it, and once we did we put it in the old rabbit hutch. Turns out it likes people just fine--it's just afraid of everything else. And I mean everything. Any noise scares it, and we have to be careful that it doesn't jump out the hutch door while we're petting it or else it will run and hide in the 18-wheeler or bulldozer motor. Not good kitten-friendly places.

We've had it for about a week, and today I put it in the cat carrier and brought it up to the house. It needs to get some exercise. The hutch is large, but not so big that it can really jump about like it should. I sat with the kitten, named Tabby because she is a tabby kitten and it's short for Tabitha, for about an hour and a half. Got a ribbon out and tried to get her to chase it, but she was afraid of that too! After a good long while of building up kitten-confidence, she was eventually spinning out over the floor in pursuit of the ribbon. Mission accomplished.

Other than that, I've been writing a good deal. I think my novel is now around the halfway point. Maybe. >> I've been a lector at church all month, doing the readings from the Old Testament. I actually have to pronounce "Baal-shalishah" with a straight, slightly holy face next Sunday. So far I haven't been able to because inside I am a five year old. I'm going to text my priest and ask him if it would be cool if I said "Boston" instead.

I was also commissioned to draw the logo for a food drive that's going on in the community. It's being put on by one of the church kids that's in Eagle Scouts. I hope it goes well for him. He surprised me and said that my name would be in the paper for it. I'm such a local celebrity.

For Meghan's birthday, I bought her a copy of Pokemon Fire Red, and Leaf Green for myself so we could play through them. Turns out I got bloody bootlegs that randomly delete the save game files. Otherwise it's perfect. Damn you, China, for corrupting a childhood love of mine!

That's all for now. Man, summer, where are you going?