March Madness (which in my life, has nothing to do with basketball, or whatever)

This has been my face for the last month. 

So it's been a long time since I've posted. What have I been up to? 

To be honest, I don't even know. Work. Work. Work. Class. Class.  Phi Sigma Pi. Class. More work. Phi Sigma Pi. Being sick. Work. 

It's been just a little bit insane. 

But you know, I've actually done some cool stuff in amongst the stress. Let's see. 

I went to Denton 35 Festival, which was pretty cool (if crazy). Unfortunately, the first night I didn't go for very long, but then the next night it rained--a deluge like no other--and the thing was pretty much cancelled. Then the next night, I saw a couple cool bands, but I had a fever so I left early and missed the truly awesome stuff. This is my life. 

Then it was Spring Break! This meant my dad's and brother's birthdays, and this awesome otter cake my mom made. It was as delicious as it was adorable. 

Unfortunately I had to work all through Spring Break, and it never really felt like a break as I was sick and busy the whole time, but at least there was....

 MUSE CONCERT!!

It was unimaginably epic and spectacular. AAAAAAAGH! Still can't believe how cool it was. 

This is the Cellular Device Nebula located in the American Airlines Constellation, as seen from Section 318, Row H on planet Earth. 

This past week since being back at school has lasted years. 

There are a curious number of misplaced chairs around campus...Hm.

A couple days ago a balloon man came to Honors for an event! He made this beautiful octopus as well as many other spectacular balloon shapes. And I had many balloon sword fights. I won them all. >:D 

(not really)

Yesterday Jackson and I went to the Dallas Museum of Art, which has free general admission right now. We saw all kinds of old art, including a mummy and some very neat artifacts from ~2500 B.C. I wish I remembered more about each of these specific pieces, but I don't. So here, look at some pretty old stuff. 

This is a phoenix (Japanese?).

This is a weird little dude (Mesoamerican?). 

This is definitely Roman. 

This is ancient Indian. The detail here is amazing!

Then today I went with a bunch of Phi Sigma Pi people to paint pottery at Time to Kiln. I made this:

The colors look really ugly in the picture, but this is the color scheme inspiration (which I stole from the Internet, of course: design-seeds.com -- an awesome site) 

So hopefully it will turn out looking something like that. 

My "Big" (read: mentor-type-person) in Phi Sig, Erin, made a lovely mug!

She's awesome. 

 Then I got sushi and went to a bunch of meetings and bought some chocolate and studied management nonsense and now I'm writing this blog. Whoopee! You're all caught up in my life now.

Have some things!

A Jackson wearing a fringe-ful coat, next to a flower tree!

A turtle cartoon, made in times of boredom at work!

A Sheldon the Tiny Dinosaur cartoon!

And a cartoon by my brother about winning Olympic archery! I hope you don't mind me sharing this, Austin, because I think it's fantastic. 

Have a wonderful day and a glorious, chocolatey Easter! 

Day 21: Liverpool, City of the Mersey Beat!

This city is so proud of its (rather awesome) musical history. Seriously, not only is everything a reference to the Beatles, but everyone legitimately loves them. The city has retained, through decades of pilgrimages of tourists, the badassness that made the Beatles who they are.

Also, for the first time on this trip (besides the Canadian cyclist girl in Stratford whom I helped book a cheap train ticket to the coast), I made some friends! Sort of.

First is Jen. She's from China and her name is unfortunately too complicated for me to pronounce. So, Jen. She has lived in Sweden for four years and so has a very strange accent, though she speaks good English. Today we went to The Beatles Story museum together, though we ended up losing each other and going separate ways. But the museum was kind of neat - very processed, if that makes sense, but I learned a lot. It did, as my guidebook said it would, gloss over some of the grittier aspects of Beatles history, like the influence of drugs and sex on their music and personalities. And there was not one unconservative picture of John and/or Yoko, which disappointed me because the edgier pictures are some of my favorites. But generally I love Beatles/early rock n roll photography because it's so characteristic and raw and gritty, but there's something clean about it too, something un-alarming, unlike the music photography of, say, the 80s and 90s (think Nirvana). Not that I don't like that kind of photography, too, it's just...different. And I liked the black and white better. :)

Anyway, my second "friend". This one I hesitate to call a friend because I suspect he may have ulterior motives (very strongly suspect, in fact). He asked to sit with me at breakfast (which was weird because I was having a very serious phone conversation at the time) and then proceeded to flirt unashamedly with me (which was confusing because I looked awful, and I'm not making that up - I literally looked at myself in the mirror this morning, flinched, then said, "Eh. Who am I trying to impress?"). So this poor guy's from Beaumont, Texas (go figure) where he studies history. I get the impression that he came to Liverpool exclusively to go to clubs. He's nice, in an arrogant sort of way, I suppose. We talked again before dinner (about his school plans, his affected British accent, his trip, his love of cars, his clubbing adventures...you get the idea). But at least he's someone to have a conversation with, and at least I can be reassured that three weeks of silence haven't totally numbed my social skills. Still, I wish Skylar was here to reciprocate his flirtations. (hahaha just kidding. Sort of. :-P)

But that's basically totally irrelevant, so I will get back to my day. After the museum, I wondered around for a while and eventually got on the Magical Mystery Tour bus, guided by a super awesome Liverpudlian man who played John Lennon in the film 'In His Life: John Lennon". He was incredibly knowledgable, and his accent, coupled with his very Beatles-esque humor, had me laughing the whole time. Seriously, if you're ever in Liverpool, this is the tour to take. We saw the church where Paul auditioned and failed to join the church choir, the stadium that was built for Paul, the original sites where the Quarrymen played, all of the houses they each lived in in Liverpool, all of the parks and roads and shops that had any relevance at all to them, Penny Lane, and, of course, Strawberry Fields. I swear I learned a ton of stuff about them, but it's not the kind of stuff I can just spout out, or I would - it'll come to me randomly when the context is right and I'll be able to show off my superior Beatles knowledge. :)

The tour ended at the Cavern Club, which, to my surprise, is not primarily a tourist destination but still functions as an operating club, pub, bar, and venue for artists famous and brand new. Everyone you've ever heard of has played there, from Bo Diddley to Bob Dylan to Adele. When I went in a guy was playing (really good) acoustic covers of Beatles and Beatles-related songs. That the sound is awesome down there was a definite plus. I will certainly have to go back there one might to see a big performance.

Anyway, that's basically it. Liverpool's a really, really neat town, and there's a lot to do, but it's really not an easily navigable place by public transport. Walking's okay, but the hostel is just far enough away that it's annoying to walk that far to go anywhere. And I have there full days here, so it will be fine. Still, this would be a really fun place to come with friends - full of dancing and music and stuff. But oh we'll. Next time.

PS - The Penny Lane sign is barely a day old. In fact, I'm sure that particular sign is no longer there. The city has to replace it almost every day. Haha.

PSS - As you can see, I have given up on taking good pictures. I'm completely sick of my phone camera. Ugh.