Current location:	Melbourne, Australia
Entry tags:	daily life, visual art

Air trip
An attempt to organise my life and state some proactive goals

Right, so I'm flying to Malaysia in precisely 24 hours, and:

1. My room is still a mess.
2. I have a very important letter and an informal CV to write and send (at least I've done the other submission thingy...that one was particularly urgent).
3. I still have a list of requests that I am going through too slowly.
4. We're missing Malaysia-Australia adaptors.
5. My net died in the middle of some rather delicate conversations as my brother and mother were calling through from the US...

Ooh, that's probably getting irrelevant now.

I really don't know if I'm looking forward to the trip. It's been about 10 years since I last set foot in Malaysia, and I haven't really seen the relatives in any capacity for at least 5 (my father's funeral doesn't count). But part of me is ambivalent, another part of me is eager, and yet another part of me wants to stay right here so I can get around to doing things I need to do, as this trip will end with another week in Sydney and then I have one week before 5th semester starts. It feels like most of my holiday has been spent either travelling around or waiting to travel around, and as such is part of a growing sense of general displacement that makes me feel like...I should put living life on hold.

That's probably another reason why I'm looking forward to the academic year- or at least the AMS part of it. It's like that's the time I'll know that I'm firmly established in this location for a good while longer. I just hope I feel rested enough when the time comes, as alot of my classes are 2 hour lectures starting at 0800. This also indicates to me that as the final biomedically oriented semester, it will be the most content heavy. No surprises, since it focuses on immunology, which I already know is my weak suit when it comes to medicine. Ugh.

Hopefully my low expectations will be met with pleasant surprise, as opposed to the slight disappointment I experienced with neurology. I am suddenly compelled to conquer neuroanatomy.

To keep some perspective, I'm going to make a list (which, for some reason, I'm going to share with the public), of the things I have to do when I get back from this trip:

1. Write those bloody posts I promised myself to do about animal philosophy and psychiatry stat.
2. Resume appointments with the psychiatrist, if for no other reason than to make amends for scheduling bungles (on my end).
3. Ditto for that Christian counsellor, except the bungles were on his end.
4. Ditto with the careers mentor, except there were no real scheduling bungles. Just really difficult transportation arrangements.
5. Buy a replacement graphics card for the computer sitting in my cupboard. Also, I'll take that one week I have to really organise the hard-drive, backup everything on this laptop I currently have, make sure everything is running fine. Originally my sister and mother harangued me about using the box, effectively demanding that I stay off it (I was hogging teh internets) but that ended up being entirely superfluous, come to think of it, so it's time to set it up again and give this laptop a rest (really, I only need it on the go, like if I'm at the library).
6. Refine the AMS project plan and run it by the guys at MNC (I'm excited!!!)
7. Revise the clinical pharmacology component of neuro.
8. Check to see if it won't actually be CHEAPER to use broadband instead of dial-up, for which I am charged $0.50 a call (translation: about 25 bucks EXTRA per month). Since I will be staying in Melbourne for at least another 2 (probably 4, likely 6) years, that every company that offers broadband seems to have a minimum 24-month contract is not a problem so long as it's transferrable (I might have to pay installation costs...) but essentially the retarded line-rental charges are the kicker.

I can't really think of anything else at the moment, but that should be plenty for the week before semester begins.

In other news, my mother and brother unexpectedly splurged and bought me the complete 120 set of Prismacolors as well as some holdfast (non-fade) pencils...and tree-free hemp paper. ZOMG. My mother and I may not see eye-to-eye but her concerns about the content and the time-consuming nature of my hobbies aside, I have realised (and mentioned to the effect) that she actually likes the fact that I draw (since she drew alot herself too). Still, this tickles me pink in some respects (and, sadly, makes me feel horrid in others). More pragmatically speaking, this does for me something I've been unwilling to spend the cash on: good pencils so that I can improve and branch out my drawing more aggressively. Because I do love to draw, and I do hate not being able to draw certain things because I'm simply not good enough.

Speaking of art, as testament to my inability to stay on task:





WARNING: NAKED BUNNY

Product of yesterday! New character, actually, not entirely new, but he's this guy. As you can see (CLICKY THE LINKY THINGY the thumbnail looks TERRIBLE) I've changed the skull alot- when I first attempted drawing rabbits, I made the amateurish mistake of attempting to let the ears do the work. The styles clashed as I was trying to do...like...a realistic version of Cream (from Sonic et al.) and, like...no. So this guy's my second attempt- or second and third, since the second consisted of an essentially human head with altered muzzle and of course the ears (some hen- I mean manga influences evidently). I suppose this approach was in part successful but I totally freaked strawcat out with those glassy, soulless eyes. Having accomplished this feat in my next quick sketch (quick save for the bloody head, that is, oh boy I struggled) I decided that yes, this approach was definitely not working (another friend called them "killer zombie eyes" to which I had to agree...I will eeeeat your soooouuuullll...) and whacked on an actual rabbit head, slightly modified.

Bingo. We have, for all intents and purposes, an anthropomorphic rabbit, in keeping with my insistence on relatively realistic anatomy. By the way, he needs a name!!! I started out with Dent, or maybe Jack, but neither of those fly. Neither did Felt. Bill I stuck with for a bit but it was indeed a total joke, as was Charlie. Fleet is too corny, but Fleck and Flisk are just way off. It pretty much needs to be monosyllabic, relatively uncommon, but also preferably denoting no meaning except by phonetic connotation. And I majorly suck at giving names.

You'll note that he's the strongest built yet (I decided to make him an exotic dancer for the hell of it, huzzah), and you might even note that I've been drawing more muscular characters as time wears on (Rael was pretty thin, though that is very different now...Morgan was spindly but has broad shoulders, Orlestat is pretty damn ripped.) No, I am *not* developing a muscle-fur fetish! Honest. Though I do have to address the fact that my habits in terms of subject matter are rather narrow in scope. I need to exorcise some demons and draw a larger range of characters. Ah yes, that's a good idea. While I'm thinking about broadening the palette, I also need to start looking at more diverse architecture, hierarchical (religious) themes, more complex drapery and non-flattering, candid poses- all of which I tend to shy away from for a variety of psychologically-based reasons. Which reminds me- costuming tips would also be much appreciated. I wanted to have this sleeve-thingy, but it doesn't seem to go so well with a loin-cloth, and I suck at costuming anyway.

Now, I should finish up what I'm doing and head to bed. Perhaps the reason I'm still feeling so marvellously displaced is because I'm still high on MSG. Also, I may be online whilst in Malaysia, but not a whole lot (and time zone changes, obviously: GMT+0800). After that, I'll be in Sydney until about the 10th (Feb).

So. Later!