aSoSS 25 | Terminus

a-spider-on-state-street Leave a comment

Here, sign it.

[Reading card] “Thank you for everything, you’re a great teacher and I’ll miss you.”

Angell Hall, 1:30PM, 4/19/2024

often we spend the ends in a state of regret instead of relief. in the corner of my room lies a box of blank paper: memories that could have been made, people that could have been approached, bucket list checkboxes that were discarded. i still carry the weight of the paper, but there is nothing to look back on. instead i am reminded that i could have picked up a pencil and created a masterpiece. why didn’t i try harder? why didn’t i? why? what grief lies behind a touch-starved heart!

so hug your favorite teachers and keep in touch with your friends. smell the sunshine and taste the earth on the air. plant flowers with your smile and paint meadows on your conscience. make the world a better place, even if only for yourself.

The end of the year is upon us! Here are a few more collected fragments from the semester that I did not get the chance to use. Enjoy your summer and remember to look and listen for modest wonders–life is too short to walk with your eyes glued to the ground.

Until next time~

If you were a windup toy, you’d be cranked up to the max right now!

Pierpont Commons, 5:30PM, 2/6/2024

I’m good at slogans, in middle school I used to sit in the car and recite all the slogans I heard on the radio…

Target, 10:00PM, 2/16/2024

I think this bus has a jerking problem!

Yeah I think I had it the other day too.

I remember you saying something like that…

Blake Transit Center, 11:00AM, 2/19/2024

She will attend to any name as long as I call her Cookie… she’s so big! I wanted a chihuahua and [points to Doberman] look what they gave me!

Green’s Antiques, 2:00PM, 2/28/2024

That’s the only non-Newtonian fluid I know.

What about Jello?

Pierpont Commons Murfin Outbound, 7:00PM, 3/7/2024

It’s a bread place, and you’re getting noodles?

It’s a bread place, and you’re getting soup?

It has bread in it!

GG Brown Laboratory, 11:30AM, 3/9/2024

Would you rather have super intelligence or lightning speed?

Super intelligence.

So a hundred times smarter than you are right now.

Oh… never mind then. I want the super speed instead!

Central Campus Transit Center, 7:00PM, 3/14/2024

I’m going to the bathroom. If I’m not back in ten minutes, get a plunger!

Duderstadt Library, 7:00PM, 3/21/2024

It’s for kids with cancer, they don’t have hair so they make wigs for them, and I go in and donate my hair.

Yeah, hair is a commodity for those patients.

My hair is valuable too, ‘cause I’m a redhead. Rare hair color.

City Hall, 2:30PM, 4/3/2024

Fish can’t jump.

Salmon?

No one’s keeping salmon in a fish tank!

Traverwood Library, 3:30PM, 4/3/2024

Witness the Small Life – Long Journey Home

Mia Lambert Leave a comment

I’M FREE!!! Classes done, critiques finished, dorm packed! Boy, what a semester it has been. A true rollercoaster of epic proportion with all the excitement a girl can handle on a day to day basis.

Firstly, I need to address my mistakes! My burnout brain was apparently so fried that I actually wrote the wrong date for last week’s post! I truly didn’t know what day it was (the prophecies fulfill themselves). Additionally, apologies for the late post! Between getting ready for moving out, actually moving out, and driving 11+ hours, there was a minuscule amount of time to get anything else done. Regardless, we are here! In my chaos of packing up my life into my blue storage bags, there’s been so much happening. From temporary goodbyes to friends to the difficult task of deciding whether or not to keep my various knickknacks or pass them off to others, I’ve been reminded of the multitude of ways we connect ourselves to the world. People, places, things, and memories all make up the different facets of what makes home home. Throughout my journey of intense homesickness and deep fear of change this past year, my relationship to each of these things in my life has shifted and transformed in ways that have been both gratifying and heart-breaking. There’s a duality to growing up and so much of that comes with how our relationship to home metamorphosizes. I feel like there’s never truly an end to this journey of change and that fact scares me while at the same time sparks a flame of excitement in my soul. Although we as people change throughout our lives and the spaces we inhabit will do the same, it helps to remember that there will always be love and support through the challenges of it all, even if it doesn’t feel like it. I find that as people we want to see the best for others, even if they’re just strangers, because we want to see and believe in the compassion and beauty of the world. People change and homes get moved but the existence of love always stays the same.

To take into our next week:

Ins: Limes, the smell of bug spray, remembering to take breaks instead of just giving up, being the early bird that gets the worm, biking, daydreaming on roadtrips.

Outs: Hoarding to the extreme, letting the paranoia get to you, forgetting to patch up holes, taking on more than you can handle, caramel in coffee, not putting recycling in the recycling, cheap perfume.

This is my second to last post for the semester! To everyone wrapping up their semesters, planning their summers, and taking a second to breathe you all are amazing! Remember that even though life throws a bajillion crazy things our way, we will always be there for each other.

~Sappy Daze~ Day 10

Sappy Leave a comment

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Ching Chang Chong

Ching-ching is the sound of a 
cash register: the sound of money.
It’s the sound of an American 
dream achieved by a Chink.
But the Chink named Chang 
dreamed a pipe dream of fame 
only to pave a track to gold 
not meant for oriental freaks, 
because they were 虫, insects, 
and an invasive species from 
the Pacific named the yellow 
peril and came in terrifying
rising tides that never grew weak.

- Sappy

Capturing Campus: April

EKArts Leave a comment

The River Man
at the riverside
I saw arches of rocks
which told the water where to flow
about the pattern, I asked the girl beside me
she said a river man picked up heavy stones, guiding the water downstream
she asked, and he answered with tired eyes
“leaving a mark before I go”

Chapter 10

Hannah Park Leave a comment

Hello, and welcome back to Captured Moments! I decided to document the last day of classes, April 23.

9:30-10:30

I started off my day with a final in my Theory 140 Aural Skills Class. The final consisted of material such as the seven diminished chords and two diminished chords. It also included half diminished chords which only appears in a minor mode. I found these chords very interesting to learn about and when I combine all of them together, it produces a compelling sound.

12:30-1:30

I then went to my final sight-reading class. I learned a lot throughout the semester, and I passed the class! The hardest part of this class, for me, was learning how to read four voice Bach pieces. It might look easy at first, but I have to strategize on which hand takes which voice, adding on to the complexity.

3-4

I went to my last French class on central campus, in which I reviewed for my final.

4:30

Finally, I went back to the Music Building to practice for my final performance. As I walked by the pond, I saw baby ducklings! I incorporated this image onto my playing by producing beautiful sounds.

See you next week!

Pallasite Veins

Micey Leave a comment

This is Lias, formally known as Yim before I changed their name because ‘Hima’ and ‘Yim’ sounded too similar. Lias is a fae-dragon with a third eye and facial markings that resemble sliced Pallasite meteorites (look them up, they’re beautiful). Originally, they were just going to be a flat pallasite-inspired pattern slapped onto Lias’s skin. Then, I was struck by inspiration. What if Lias instead had a series of translucent nictating membranes layered over each other that resembled pallasite patterns? That’s infinitely more eldritch, body-horror-esque, and interesting to think of!

Here are my test patterns. I settled for a base layer of yellow that looks like it’s glowing from within. Then, I worked backward and started with the outer layer of dark brown. Then an inner layer of silver, then orange. I wanted to get that intricate veiny feel, and I went from careful layering of lines and crisscrosses to just scribbles. I think all experiments look good at a distance, but up close you can see the sloppiness of the scribbles versions.

Overall, I think the middle test on the top image looks the best. It’s the one where I drew all the lines carefully. It’s also the most time-consuming to draw. Going forwards, I think I only need to make the outer layer carefully drawn, and go looser with the inner layers. I’ll need to keep in mind to not make the lines too thick or numerous, to really get that base layer glow across.