New Endeavor: The Ugly

Pictures of the Day] uegly dolls!!! Mr. Wiggums, Mr. Twinkles, and Miss Boo.

Mood] Inspired

Weather] Pretty warm actually...

Currently] At home

Quote of the Day] "Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long."

So I decided that beyond pillows I might try and work on developing little plushies that my sister and I could sell on our Etsy store. These are my first few versions. They are based off of the Ugly Doll brand of plushies that you might've seen in stores. I think I may need to develop more of a style for them. Right now they just kinda look....weird. So yeah, it'll take some work! Other than that though, it has been fun and it's nice using all of the scrap remains from the pillows that I make. I just wonder if anyone will buy them! I ended up giving these to my boyfriend and sisters. :) I gotta say, this Etsy store thing is exciting but I'm starting to freak out about whether or not we'll actually sell things! I HOPE SO!!!!!! We're going to do magnets, aprons, pillows, and a bunch of random crazy stuff so it doesn't go together, but it's nice. XD More updates to come on the actual store launch/success!

*wiggin' out*
Jaye

Doctor Who Christmas Special

Picture of the Day] I found this awesome piece of paper art on deviantart! It was so cute I had to copy a pic of it. :D I love that site. XD

Mood] Cheery

Weather] Snowy some more. High 27 Degrees F.

Currently] At home

Quote of the Day] "The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think."

So the Doctor Who Christmas special was exciting and not at the same time. For those of you who don't know the show, Doctor Who is a very long running series from our lovely English on BBC. It tells the story of an Time-Lord self-named "The Doctor" who travels through space and time with a companion (or multiple) in a blue police call box and rids the world of evil, saves the day, yada yada through a crazy string of events. It is all good fun with great villains and lots of British humour.

Now currently the series is on the "11th" Doctor, meaning this Time-Lord has "re-generated" 10 times previously (also conveniently allowing multiple actors to play the same role which is why the image above is so. They are mini paper cutting caricatures of all the various versions of the Doctor). So each player can play the Doctor through several seasons, or just one. Currently Matt Smith is "The Doctor" and he is doing a lot better of a job than I thought initially. I am partial to Chris Eccleston and David Tennant, but meh. Now the exciting bit, and this isn't even getting to the special yet, is that the next season will be in AMERICA. WHOO!!!! Previously the Doctors have primarily traveled either out in space or in England/Europe. Now they will be off to America!!! It's gonna be exciting.

So about the special. Every Christmas there is sort of a movie spectacular episode that they do. This year was a rendition of "A Christmas Carol". Truth be told, there was a lot going on and I kind of was confused a bit. I felt like some elements were not resolved, but overall, it was enjoyable. The actor for the young Scrooge-type character was rather attractive if anything. Hee hee. Other than that, there have been other non-special episodes that I would rank higher than this Christmas one, but that isn't to say that it wasn't worth putting it on the DVR. It was rather exciting to be able to record the Christmas special on BBCAmerica ON Christmas. We're finally not getting things a year later! :D

Whew,
Jaye

Christmas!

Picture of the Day] Tree lighting around campus!

Mood] Full

Weather] SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW!

Currently] At home

Quote of the Day] "I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it."

Traveled to Chicago. Whew. It was tiring. Happy Christmas everyone! :D I hope you have an awesome holiday and new year! ^_^

Exhausted,
Jaye

MSI: Muppets

Pictures of the Day] Pictures at MSI of the various awesome things!

Mood] Tired

Weather] Burn your face off cold!

Currently] Home

Quote of the Day] "Fall seven times, stand up eight."

So my friends and I made a fun trip up to the Museum of Science and Industry and managed to catch the awesome Jim Hensen Muppet exhibit. Unfortunately, they did not let me take any photos inside. I did however, get some awesome pictures of the various trees they had spread throughout the rotunda and base level. The center housed the most gigantic tree of all with muppet themed ornaments and banners. It was so cute! The presents beneath the tree were even fuzzy and some had eyes! It was hilarious. The rest of the trees were smaller, but still at least 12-15 feet tall and had decorations from all different countries (though I did notice that North Korea was missing...)

Overall it was pretty spectacular. I had a fun time running around with my friends being idiots and little kids again. I wish we had more time though! It's such a big place and although I have been there several times, it never ceases to amaze me. I love museums so much! :D I was really glad we went into the muppet exhibit. It was really interesting because it had original drawings by Jim Hensen (some of which did look like a small child drew them), but they also had some of the muppets there like Ernie, Bert, Kermit, Miss Piggy, and some of the dudes from Fraggle Rock. The best part was looking at the story-boards, which I will be sure to keep in mind when I get on writing my comic some more...yeah...that's still in the works. Heh heh.

Exhausted,
Jaye

PILLOW MANIA!!!!

Pictures of the Day] Pillows I've made!

Mood] TIRED

Weather] Warm...for winter. XD No really. 23 Degrees F

Currently] At home

Quote of the Day] "Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them."

So pretty much I have been pumpin' out pillows like MAD. I also have been granted the magical ability to stay up until four in the morning. WHY CAN I NOT DO THIS DURING THE YEAR YET I CAN DO IT NOW!?!?! So frustrating. ANYWAY, I've been making lots of progress making pillows and arranging music for girls group. :) I haven't done ANY Christmas shopping pretty much (screwed!).

Tired,
Jaye

iPhone Application

Pictures of the Day] iPhone App interface!

Mood] Excited!

Weather] Coooolllddd!!!!

Currently] In my cubicle

Quote of the Day] "Laughter is the closest distance between two people."

So Rishab told me today that the iPhone Application has launched! I am SOOO excited! For those of you who did not know, Rishab and I have been working with some other people as well on creating an iPhone Application for IIT. It basically is a school map that looks like a google map and you can click on different buildings to find your way around. You can look at pictures of the buildings, watch videos related to that building or structure, read a quick summary of the building and its importance (WHICH I WROTE!!!!!) and also listen to an audio recording of the reading for that blurb (WHICH I ALSO DID!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!). I am so excited to be the voice of IIT's iPhone Application. I was hoping that the recordings I made turned out and they sound pretty good, so I am pleased! I hope that other people do end up using the application and that it is beneficial to the university. Well, enough boasting from me.

Jaye

X-Chromotones Carol in Chicago

Picture of the Day] Sadly I forgot my camera!!!

Mood] Whew. Stuffed!

Weather] FREAKING COLD

Currently] At my apartment

Quote of the Day] "To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others."

Hooray! The X-Chromotones caroled at Daley Plaza for the Christkindlmarket which is a German Festival held every year around the holiday season. There are all sorts of authentic German goods (clothing, music, ornaments, roasted nuts, candles, miniature houses, hand-painted everything, clocks, etc...) and of course tons of food!!!

We sang an assortment of Christmas carols, which was really fun. I hope we can do it as well during this upcoming finals week, but we'll see. I think it would be a good break for people.

I definitely bought some goodies for people!
1. Roasted Cappuccino flavoured almonds for the b/f
2. Chocolates and cookies for family and friends.
3. Hard candies for family and friends.

Food the b/f and I ate:
Homemade Goulash Soup
Fried potato pancakes with apple sauce
Plain Pretzel
Wiener Schnitzel
Curry Meatloaf

The b/f also bought me a stylish hat that I've always wanted! One of the furry ones. It's rainbow and plaid. I adore it and will stay warm for the winter!
Jaye

Final Review

Picture of the Day] Too tired...

Mood] u.u SLEEP

Weather] Pretty cold...

Currently] My bed.

Quote of the Day] "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."

So our final was competition style, meaning we put up our drawings and my professor + his five jurors kicked us out and reviewed our drawings. After about fifteen minutes we came back and they had chosen 4 that "won". Those got to present first and were of course, praised for their work. I felt a little cheated because although my boards were not as "impressive" in the sense that they did not have a huge beautiful rendering on them (they were filled with smaller ones!) they suffered the problems that the winners did as well (the jurors pointed out faults as well as virtues). In this way, I felt like it was kind of being unfair. A lot of the time the teachers always tell us to choose based on how well someone has achieved the idea or the program etc...I guess that didn't work here. I am a bit sore, but I understand it's better to get across your idea. Maybe my boards just weren't as engaging and just weren't as clear with my intent. It was disappointing to say the least, but I felt like I learned a lot more about my style and I felt like I learned a bit more on how to design. *sigh* Now to sleep before the big storm...

All studio-ed out
Jaye