That being what's been going on lately.
Last term was a doozy - I was sick for about a quarter of it, which lead to dropping a class (needless to say, I'm in Warning status. Thanks, guys - I /knew/ that), and much scrambling to make up missed days. In an immersion language class, that is @#$!! hard to do.... Mein Mann was a big help there - I managed to pull through and get better grades than I figured. ^^;
Ceramics was much easier - I just busted my ass on the wheel and made some excellent bowls and a couple of nice mugs. My best bowl came out perfectly - with a foot and everything. Two cracked - that bowl was not one of them. Yes! ^^
The item I expected to have cracking or breakage issues did not - that was a pinchpot with legs that ended up going through the raku. Raku, for the uninitiated, is spectacular, dangerous, and a hella lot of fun. You start with a special glaze, which is painted on, rather than dipped or sprayed. Once that's dried, you fire the thing in a gas (in this case) kiln that basically consists of a giant insulated bucket on a pulley. It fires for about an hour, then you yard it out (white-hot) with tongs and thick gloves, set it on a bed of paper, put paper in it or on it. The paper is let to burn for a few, then you slap a bucket down on top of it and seal that off. Let sit for about half an hour, then retrieve your piece.
Bucket duty is fun. I had bucket duty a few times, volunteering once or twice when I didn't have anything firing just because bucket duty (and paper duty - although fire intimidates hell out of me), is fun. Dangerous, but fun. My lone raku piece was my kiln experience for the term, although I was signed up to do the woodfire kiln, I got sick that weekend and wasn't able to do it.
Next term, perhaps - I'm planning to do ceramics again in the summer.
So, after that, I start this term with painting, more German, and a round of XHTML/CSS. There was a fourth, but after attending the first class, I determined that between this round of German and the painting, I wouldn't have time for another work-heavy class, as much as I was intrigued by the possibilities of an analytical course on sequential art (ie; comics). Ah well. Another term.
The CSS course may mean changes to my blogs, and actual updates to the rest - assuming I get that far. ^^
Of course, when you throw WoW and the smatterings of a life into that, you completely muck my schedule up.... oh. Wait. My schedule has /been/ mucked up ... well, nevermind then.
Of course, just before break we lost KC to FIP - one of those things you really can't predict or prevent. I miss that cat....
But .... We've since aquired another (we're not home entirely too often, and Omen shouldn't be allowed to be lonely or bored), a lovely little female long hair called Shanti (we hadn't /intended/ to get a long-haired cat, but ... most of the time, they pick you, not the other way 'round), and after some serious rudeness all 'round, she's settled in and given Omen her cold, and her earmites. *sigh*
That's being dealt with. Omen is putting up with the goo for his eyes much better than either of them are putting up with having their ears cleaned and medicated ... I'm getting pretty good at restraining them in towels to prevent them slashing me to ribbons.
So that's current. Still sort of keeping an eye out for my friends who WoW (I'm on Moonguard! Come find me!), and having a fairly good time leveling my long-suffering Troll Shaman (Ak'shaka - or her two cousins, Rha'kir and Jhasiki - hunter and rogue, respectively), and inflicting my terrible troll accent on all and sundry. It's an rp server, so I don't think anyone /really/ minds. ^^ Still getting lost in paper bags - a trend I started in DDO, and have yet to really get over.
Yes, I /do/ have an Alliance character - a Draenei Paladin, on the same server. Haven't figured out how to reproduce her accent yet, and the Alliance in general makes me want to start hitting them /all/ with the Salmon of Smiting. A bigger bunch of flapping idiots I have never seen....
In other news, Mein Mann and I were at Gamestorm this year, and had a rousing good time, thank you - He kicked ass and took names at Aerotech, I dabbled in GURPS (thank you, Christine!), we both kicked ass playing Horde in the WoW board game (Horde rules!), did some RPGA gaming (idjits. Quit making things harder than they have to be!) and tried out the Crossroads of Eternity RPG (Fun! Interesting! Different!) and the Order of the Stick Boardgame. The comic's more fun, but I admit, I'd been running on no sleep and not enough caffeine for a while and the rules argument did nothing good for my temper or enjoyment of the game. So, probably my fault I didn't enjoy that one as much...
Methinks we provide our own munchies next time - Gamestorm's Hospitality was anything but (well, it was better Saturday and Sunday), and I am thinking that perhaps they should throw in the towel and arrange for catering next time. Mein Mann was most put out Friday - the food was late, and not even really worth the wait. >.<
Of course, there aren't a lot of options for food out there - it's the overpriced hotel bar, or Burgersling/Subw@y/McD's.... none of which is in walking distance.
If we go next year, we will probably get a room - two hours (or a little less, driving) is a little too far for us to seriously contemplate if we can afford otherwise.
In general, the con was a blast, for my first con - I think I need to doodle on the right side of my badge next time. ^^
