19.7.07

HELP

Okay, maybe if I blog a to-do list I won't feel so terribly worried. I have a busy summer:

1. Write three papers I owe a semester ago. Two will be done this weekend and the other . . . well . . . with my intensive French class taking all my headspace (which, by the way, I'm not doing so well in) for the next week (it's five days a week for two and a half hours and I have to study for the class every night) so I'm freaking out because . . .

2. . . . I just got this lovely letter from the government stating that I need to have my grades in from the classes I deferred by August 3rd or else I will have to owe them a catastrophic amount of money and possibly threaten future funding.

3. That means I need to contact five profs, tell them to get my grades in by the 3rd (and hoping that they haven't disappeared for the summer) and write three papers (they're not so bad, really - rather short and one of them is almost finished) in time for them to receive said papers, grade them and give me a final mark. I have just over a week to do this.

4. I need a plane ticket back to Ljubljana.

5. I need to extend the storage company looking after our stuff.

I know, this was poorly written and rant-y but I REALLY NEED TO SCREAM TEXTUALLY.

Thank you.

13.7.07

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An excellent animated video for Tom Waits' "Starving in the Belly of a Whale," a graduate project by a student from Shenkar College of Engineering and Design.
Interesting new discovery: A baby mammoth unearthed in the permafrost of north-west Siberia could be the best preserved specimen of its type, scientists have said.

When the metal ones decide to come for you. And they will.

Back for awhile.

Hey there.

I've only been in town for a couple of weeks and I'm already worn out. Not that I'm complaining, because I love being busy and having multiple projects on the go. I've already taken a trip to Victoria to visit the family, and I've seen friends, and now I just finished my first week of classes.

I'm taking two intensive summer classes, meaning I go to class every day for about four hours, and the classes run for six weeks in total. You can imagine the frantic reading and lack of sleep that comes with intensive classes. I'm taking Shakespeare and another French course, by the way.

Besides that, I got a writing contract from the university library. They're setting up interactive software (read: a video game) to help students avoid plagiarism. Basically, I get to write the script for one of the scenarios in the game. I get free reign, and I think I have some input on the format. I was thinking of using a comic book layout. Each scene is framed like a panel in a comic, and players choose which route their characters should take as they write their paper.

So far, the project is amorphous. That is, there is no solid story, no format, no tone, no nothing. This is sort of fun. The project leaders want something comedic and possibly campy (so maybe throw in some pop culture references?) so I have to build this sucker from the ground up. I have twenty hours to produce something.

I actually feel as though I turned into my father. He spent his life working from contract to contract, hired on the basis of his specialization. In his case, it was building staircases; I use words instead of wood. I like that.

Anyway, hope is all good on your end.

Spare Winter Hours will updated infrequently until I get back. Stay tuned.