Family Life and Love (again)

I was a slacker and went home yesterday as soon as I could. Well, not a horrible slacker though I didn't do my chemistry homework. I did take some more pictures of my sister. I think I'm getting much better at planning what I want but also improvising on the spot. I've got some more great shots of her in her room and I'm hoping to put one together of her outside, looking dead and beat down. That should tie in nicely with my self-portrait. Okay, if you can't tell I'm actually becoming excited about my senior show. I never thought the day would happen that I wasn't doing the art just to do the art and get done with it. I actually like what I'm doing now. Hopefully that will show in my next critique.

So, while I was at home I worked on a puzzle. A 1,000 piece puzzle. Mom has become obsessed and always has one out. I love her dearly but she's just not a very good puzzle doer. I probably put together about half of the puzzle last night all by myself. Okay, Mom definitely helped but I did do a lot of it. I ended up staying til around 10 pm. I meant to leave at around 9 pm so I would have time to get back to Coe and do my chemistry homework but I got so addicted to the puzzle that I didn't even think about what time it was. Besides, I haven't been home in quite some time (by "quite some time" I mean over two weeks) and I missed being with my family. That's one thing I enjoy so much now that I'm not dating Alex. I missed my family and didn't even realize it while I was with him. He pretty much hated spending time with my family and so we never did. Now that I can, I spend a part of almost every weekend with them. They are great people. They love me and are interested in what I do. I don't know how I stood being away from them for so long.

I watched a movie in European cinema class yesterday called M. It was about a child serial killer and the cops and the underground are both searching for him, yet the underground gets to him first. It didn't end as I expected it to end. I won't say how but there was some very thought-provoking speeches given at the end that really made you wonder how responsible people are for their actions. It was also our first talking picture for the class. We've been watching silent films up til now and I think we go back to them next week. Its more difficult to take notes, watch the movie for camera movement and editing, and read subtitles all at the same time. So, taking notes tends to fall by the wayside and I'm going to have to rely on my memory for the talking pictures.

Lydia was at Caleb's birthday party on Monday. I haven't seen her in awhile even though she lives here in Cedar Rapids, too. She was telling me about her love life since her and TC split up about six months ago (keep in mind I've been single since last May and haven't had a single date.) She has dated 2 or 3 other guys since then and is on the fourth which she met on MySpace and is actually more seriously interested in than the first 2 or 3 since TC. I'm not saying she has low standards. I'm not trying to say anything bad about her at all. Its her life and she can live it the way she wants to. I'm pointing this out because I find it ironic that I've been single for nine months now and haven't had a single date and she's been single for less than six months and has gone through three, onto the fourth guy. I think this is an accurate reflection of the differences in our life-styles. I don't know where she meets these guys but I think I can safely assume that at least one of them was at a bar. I don't go to bars regularly. I doubt the kind of guy I'm looking for, I'm going to find in a bar. I think its much more likely I will find Prince Charming(PC) at a church function or an academic situation. (Both indications of the traits I'm hoping PC will have.) Neither of those traits are going to be dominant in a frequent bar goer.

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. She found a heart murmur. She tried so hard to make sure I knew it wasn't anything to worry about. I wasn't worried even before she tried to assure me. If I'd been having chest pain or shortness of breath I would be extremely worried but I eat fairly healthy, I exercise regular, and I don't drink excessively or smoke at all. I highly doubt that I'm going to keel over of a heart attack anytime soon. True, there has been some heart disease in my family but nobody has ever died of it. In fact, if I had to compare the health of my family compared to how it could be, I would say its pretty good. (Cancer not-withstanding). I'm not going to die any time soon. In fact I plan on living to become at least 100 years old. Its possible. My great-grandfather on my mom's side lived to be 96 and my grandma on my dad's side is 85+ with Leukemia and still going. As long as I eat my broccoli I think I'll be set to hit the big one-zero-zero.

PS - Wouldn't it be cool to be able to celebrate my eleventy first birthday, like Bilbo Baggins?