The facilities guys were outside and backing a truck up, which of course started the back-up beep, which forced Heather awake, and now I've had to deal with constant bitching since then. ^^;

ANYWAY. Today shall be spent doing nothing but fun things. I have a final tomorrow morning (that I'm not worried about), but absolutely nothing today. I want pizza and games. Real tempted to order something from Pizza Hut. Domino's is closer, but PH is way better. I'd kill for some Little Caesar's right now, though. XD;

I've been playing Virtue's Last Reward, the sequel to 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, since classes ended. I can't put it down. Just like last time. I specifically didn't start playing it when I got it at least a month ago because I knew this would happen. Basically, VLR is this semester's Homestuck. XD;; I'm flying through the game, partly because it's easier to this time around. There are WAY more branching paths as far as I can tell, but you're also able to jump to points you've already been in the story's flow chart, so after I make a choice and hit a game over, I just go back and switch choices. I've been gunning for bad endings first. One of them escalated QUICKLY. The other reason I'm flying through? TV Tropes. I want to read the game's entry SO BADLY and I can't because of massive spoilers. This is a visual novel, after all. I snuck a peek there once already and got a major spoiler, so I've banned myself from all of TV Tropes until I finish the game.

I'm looking to do things this summer. Last summer I sat around. This summer I want to avoid that. I'm going to look for a job when I get back so I can pull in some money. Depending on what the school gives me in aid (I don't know yet because Financial Planning still has yet to send award letters... it's never taken this long before), I'll either try to save up money to pay my part, or save up spending money and take out a loan for the last year. If they ignore my FAFSA, which they should since they know I don't have any income, I'm hoping to get the entirety of the Pell Grant again. That'll help... even though it might also drop the amount of institutional aid I get, but whatever. I'm going to look into private loans, because Mom was talking about them with a friend (when I was going to take a summer class--I've since decided not to take the class) and he told her that some private loan interest rates are better than fed. I've always known the opposite, so I'm going to do some digging. If it's true, though, I'm thinking about just taking out another loan. It shouldn't be for too much money. My EFC is only $3000 next year as opposed to the $8000 it was for this school year. If I can squeeze some aid out of the school, it might go down. Or they'll give me a 0 EFC like last time.

Heather went back to sleep when I started ignoring her, haha.

We totally had a Gossip Girl running a Facebook page for people of the Juniata community to post confessions. It started off rocky (a few select dummies used it to cyberbully), but the admin quickly stopped that, and it became a serious outlet for everyone who's stressed out over Finals Week. They were anonymous confessoins, so everything was posted: crushes, fantasies about people, drunken stories, drug use, sex stuff. The college administration got wind of it somehow and put a stop to it, which has most of us pissed off. Like, way to censor us. Way to bully whoever the admin is. (They received an order from the administration to "cease to exist". They was using campus internet, so an IP trace wouldn't have been hard, I imagine.) The person is graduating. I'm really hoping they'll wait until after graduation, maybe change the name of the page (it's called Juniata Confession--not that the college has the rights to the name Juniata, it's part of the area, it's the name of a river), and then continue it. They seriously brought together the campus community, and most of the content posted was SO positive. I don't get why they freaked out. It's college, so the drugs/sex stuff is inevitable. And if they're concerned about some of the more serious stuff that was being posted, like several members of the sports community abusing people, maybe something should be done about it instead of taking away the outlet. We're a D3 school, it's not like our sports teams are sooooooo fantastic that we can't afford the bad image. Nothing will change if we don't do something about it. Unfortunately, they don't seem to care. It's things like this that remind you, quite forcibly, that college is a business.

ANYWAY. I think I'm gonna play some VLR, then nap, because I'm not ready to leave my bed yet. ^^;

Spent about an hour at the Humane Society, playing with cats and kittens. One of them, as soon as I entered the room, rubbed against my legs and flopped down on his side like a dog, haha. Like, "Rub my belly! :D" I had so much fun there playing with them all. A few of them insisted on plopping themselves down on my lap whenever they got the chance. There were a few I wish I could've brought home. A few gave me licks, one gave me little nibbles. Was covered in fur by the end of it, but it was a nice way to spend part of my Saturday.

Met a few new people, at least one of which is a Doctor Who fan. XD Saw Pirates 4 a while ago. Good movie, greatly enjoyed it. Should probably watch 2 and 3 at some point. ^^;; Also? Doctor Who. LOVE. Moffatt and crew are fantastic. Next on the agenda for stuff to watch: episodes 2 and 3 of Kid the Phantom Thief/Magic Kaito. I literally squealed when I saw they released two more episodes. It's been like half a year since the first one. I haven't been keeping up with Detective Conan (can't torrent here, so downloading would SUCK), but I'll keep up with Kid as much as I can.

Tomorrow: Homework and laundry. All I have is a little bit of work for QM and reading for MKS. Still debating whether or not I should drop that class. There's just this nagging feeling, you know? I could drop that and replace it with Explorations in Clay, and actually have an art class in my schedule. Plus, the ceramics studio is right across the street from my dorm. ^_^ I've never worked with clay before, so it might be fun. It's the only art class this semester that fits into my schedule, since I don't want to drop the other stuff I'm taking (aside from MKS), so...

Anyway. I'm tired as hell. Kind of want to do something creative, but don't really have the energy. Maybe tomorrow after I finish stuff.

GodDAMN, I love this game's soundtrack. It and the original are just so good. I miss watching Craig play.

1. Called unemployment and someone will be looking at my case. Hopefully there's a big fat SORRY WE DIDN'T PAY YOU! lump sum of two weeks' worth of benefits in my bank account in a few days. :D Worst case scenario, they deny me and I have to find some kind of employment for the time between now and mid-August. I need income just to pay my health insurance, because all the deferred comp money melted away between health insurance and Oliver's vet bills. I'll look, but they want me to find an office job, and eww. Even Craig says eww. They had him do some secretarial/clerical work at OBT. He hated it. He now understands my near-constant bitching about my former job.

2. Child of Eden. OMG. Love love LOVE that game. Stuck on the fourth level and can't be angry because the song is just so freaking catchy and the visuals are awesome. Got to the boss for the third time, actually got pretty far in, and got hit by a phantom bullet on my right. Craig saw it, but I was too late to do anything. Unfortunately, I've been kicked off the 360 now that he's home. I'll get to play it while he's out tomorrow, then I won't get it again until I get home on Saturday, or maybe on Monday again when he's at OBT. Actually, he said he might let me play it later.

Seriously, I was a bad girl and splurged getting that game, but that Rez itch needed scratching. CoE surpasses Rez at this point. I'm really curious about how it plays with the Kinect. A few people have said the speed of the cursor when using the controller is an issue, and it's much quicker with the Kinect since it's following your hand movement. Maybe I could actually get past Passion with the motion control. XD

3. Yeah, the art history final? 101. I have no idea how I did that. I seriously thought I'd messed up somewhere, but apparently my memory was fine despite lack of sleep. Arianne goes, "You already know what your grade's going to be." :D

4. I'm tired. Neighbors (no idea which ones. Upstairs? Downstairs? In one of the S apartments across the hall? The sound carries too much) were up moving furniture last night. At three in the morning. For like two hours. I wanted to kill people. Who the hell does that? I'm probably making my steak and settling down until it's a decent time to sleep.

5. Next week, I'm starting back up on the treadmill again, or walking outside, or something. Either the treadmill or walking to/across the Williamsburg Bridge and back. As long as it's not too hot and humid, the bridge will be a good walk. The treadmill's boring. (Also, we need an elliptical. I think I'd feel more inclined to use an elliptical than the treadmill. More range of movement on an elliptical.)

6. Going back to Oliver, he's doing better. I got him another month of pills, and I'm going to keep giving them to him, but his coughing's diminished significantly.

Now, food.

- Was not admitted to Alfred, but WAS admitted to Juniata, so yay. :3 Haven't gotten that letter yet; checked my application status online and it says accepted and congratulations and all that. Expecting something in the mail soon. Schools I'm still waiting on, even though I don't expect to get into all of them and I'm pretty sure Juniata is where I'll be next school year: SVA, Smith, Mount Holyoke, OWU, MIAD (which I'm still getting everything together for), Allegheny, MICA.
- Bought and played and beat BIT.TRIP FLUX. Must play again. Loving that game to pieces.
- Beat de Blob 2, and am now working on perfecting all stages. And they released the soundtrack, so I don't have to rip it myself!
- Craig will be signing up with the GED/job training center near here. Ten minute walk at the most. He's not happy about having to sign up and start going to classes, but he needs to do something.
- Graphic Narrative will probably not be canceled! 14/22 seats are filled, and that HAS to be enough to hold the class. (If not, holy crap.) This means I can drop the backup Intermediate Painting class, but I'm waiting to do that until I'm absolutely sure what's going on. If I drop it now, someone else will take my spot, and I'll be screwed if things don't go the way they look like they are. If I don't drop the class, I'll have that five-hour gap between painting and astronomy to deal with. Also, I have Arianne for my last art history class, yay. That's all three, haha.

I never did talk about my visit to Juniata. Won't do it now, tired. But, it was awesome.

I want to see SuckerPunch.

Okay, good night.

Prof. Alexander just sent out an e-mail canceling today's class! I ran to the living room and did a little dance in front of Mom, haha. Awesomesauce. I'm not doing a DAMN thing today. Well, not entirely true, but the next time I go out will be to walk my dog, and that'll be it. Today's a nasty day.

Want to download Bit.Trip BEAT here. I beat Descent while up at the house (just barely), and Growth is kicking my ass. BEAT and RUNNER are so fun. The last game of the series is supposed to play like BEAT backwards, so once that's released, I'm buying it.

... I was supposed to post this three hours ago, haha. Oh well.

Downloaded a gamerip of DJ Hero 2's soundtrack, because I watched someone place it at Best Buy recently and got all curious. Soundtrack's pretty damn nice.

Unforunately, this rip is NOT. Audio glitches everywhere! So I'm stuck with these pretty great songs with annoying skips and pops in them. Sigh. Whoever you are, thanks for ripping, but check your files!

Mom said she and Craig will come up to visit Alfred University with Dad and I, so yay? I'm sure Craig will be a bit of a dick, but that's how he is. Eventually the teenage angst will pass, right?

I haven't written much for NaNoWriMo. I have the second part of my term paper for Art History due a week from today and haven't started it. Story will likely be put on the backburner at least until I get that done, plus we'll be getting our second English tests tomorrow. Yeah. NaNo + full-time = not good. I'm totally doing it, I just need to get school stuff out of the way first. Damn you people and your 4,000+ word counts! XD;; The good thing is, the boss will be out next week.

My boss is a doofus. He's redundant. Today he says, "Christina, can you make a copy of this for me, two-sided? It's one-sided and I want it two-sided." I wish he weren't so in love with his own voice, or whatever his problem is. He's awkward. Maybe that's it. He doesn't know when to shut up, and keeps talking, which makes it sound like the person he's talking to is an idiot. 9_9

PTK induction ceremony is on the 18th! Of course, that means missing TWO Life Drawing classes in a row. Not sure about that. I'm going to ask Prof. Mutter on Thursday. The problem with Life Drawing is it's very spontaneous, and he makes up homework on the fly, based on what we did that night, so make-up work might be a problem. I can always put induction off until the spring ceremony. I have a feeling there will be a conflict no matter what, but at least that probably won't be two weeks in a row.

I looked into Queens College a bit more; specifically, the distance between the college and work. There's no way. It's that bus that's causing the problem. The school's on Kissena Boulevard, and that's a high-traffic area. I'd be at the mercy of the bus and whatever traffic felt like doing. It's still an hour-long commute. It wouldn't really work. So, it's probably out.

ANYWAY.

I just applied to Marywood. Still have to get them transcripts. The request to my high school will go out tomorrow (also having them send one to me so I know what the hell I did, haha), and I've sent a request for Brooklyn to send that one. (Unfortunately, I can't just sweep that under the rug.)

Now. Something sweet.

Yeah, okay, gotta get Patapon. Someone had the great idea (that I'm surprised no one else thinks of, I've been doing it since the early 90s) to plug audio cables from the PSP to the computer and rip the music straight from the gameplay, since the gameplay is where the real meat of the music comes from. I can tell I'm not going to be happy until I get to play what I'm hearing. XD; Good thing is, both the original and the sequel have been out for ages, so they're both cheap! And I believe the Gamestop in the neighborhood has both. Craig's not really using his PSP because the analog stick's missing its top, so I can snatch it for a while.

My addiction game lately's been Picross 3D, but I've hit the hardest difficulty (... I hope) and I'm sure it's going to start pissing me off at some point. I need a new addiction. Something that'll hold me over for the month between August and September 20 when Professor Layton and the Unwound Future comes out. (Assuming I have time to PLAY Unwound Future.)

Took Oliver to the dog park, but sadly, no other dogs came in. Oliver didn't seem to mind. He walked around and marked the whole place (XD), and at one point just sat underneath me while I sat on a bench. He wasn't in a rush to leave.

Seriously. I wanna watch it again, but maybe later. I'm already tearing up. Again. They handled Van Gogh's mental illness SO well, too. I was worried they'd gloss over it because lots of little kids watch this show. It's good they didn't, because people have to learn about it sooner or later. Beautiful episode. <3

Other news... de Blob sequel has a general release time! Yay!

It's in Spring 2011! Boo. Of course, it's de Blob, so I'll wait as long as it takes. Love that game. And the DS version is finally happening, too.

Hair's been taken out, washed, and trimmed. Mom wasn't happy about its length (even though it'd grown at least an inch, but because it hadn't been straightened out, it looked much shorter), but I like it. It's like a little shorter than chin-length right now. I had it shoved underneath a winter hat, and the hair was just long enough to poke out of the bottom. I didn't perm it since that would set me back--still planning on locking my hair--so it's just been pressed. The humidity will play havoc with it, I'm sure, but that's okay. Having it out is temporary, just to let it breathe a bit. I'm either going to braid it up again, or find some place to start the locking process.

Have homework to work on. Two illustrations, one started in class but still missing some stuff before I can color it, one still in the planning stages (I had an idea for it that involved an extreme close-up, but I've realized I might not be able to do it that way because the donkey's skin should be visible). Also need to work more on the Cezanne copy.

(In the aftermath of Doctor Who, I SWEAR I want to change my painting decision and go back to Van Gogh. I wanted to do one of his paintings--either one of the ones with the cypresses or The Starry Night--and chickened out once I saw them in person and how utterly complex they look. I'm only in Beginning Painting, after all, and we're not supposed to use a grid to help us. But damn if they didn't just cement The Starry Night in place as my favorite painting ever. I might actually e-mail Prof. Segre and ask if I can switch. We have to say a little something about the artist we pick, and I really want to just dive into a biography of Van Gogh now.)

Oliver's groomed! And once again, he's not very happy with me. ^^; I'm going to give him a little bit of hamburger, though. He only ate about half his food, and I know he'll start bugging Mom later on (like, tonight) if he doesn't finish it and we throw it out, so I'm sticking some burger into his food. Just enough to get him going.

I'm exhausted. I've basically been sitting around all day, apart from taking Ollie to the groomer and picking him up, but I'm still ready to drop. It's what I get for staying up until after 1:30am.

Beat Rocket Knight! Played it this morning, got to General Sweinhart, and proceeded to lose every last one of my lives and continues on him because I couldn't get my timing straight. Went back to it while Oliver was at the groomer, stocked up on lives, and only ended up using two in the end; the first loss, I died at the exact same time as Sweinhart. I HATE THAT. XD;; So yeah, next time I kicked his ass. I'll try hard mode next.

Right. Art homework.