This is really a hodgepodge (weather, and calligraphy/Kushiel's Legacy, and Star Wars speculation)

[silverflight8]

Today was FREEZING.

It was wonderful this morning because it was still snowing (!!!) and usually when it snows like that, you know, powder-puff and sunny skies, the temperature's usually not that bad. Did regret leaving behind my scarf though. But the snow more than made up for it - it's been weird living here, because it doesn't snow as much.

But coming home at four - before the sun went down, I'll add - it was FREEZING. It had stopped snowing and the wind was blasting the snow off the trees and roofs (so it looked like it was snowing giant clumpy white blobs) and did I mention FREEZING? I checked the weather report and it said -15C, which isn't unheard of and really not that cold, except I was not expecting it. Oh god.

But that's not what I was going to talk about. In a fit of procrastination, I've made mockups of calligraphy broadsides. Basically I went searching for Kushiel's Legacy icons and kind of, uh, hated the typography on some of them, so I started playing around with phrases. I especially like Thelesis de Mornay's poetry quote; I made several other quotes, but the other ones need more work. I used a fountain pen for the blue, but if I want to make a full-sized version, I need to buy gouache: you can't tell because the pen is very thin, but a thicker dip pen using this sort of ink would look extremely patchy and weirdly translucent, because this ink isn't really designed for larger work.

I used to scan these sorts of things. Now I have a Mac (D:) and I cannot get any program to recognize my multifunction printer as a scanner, so I'm stuck with photography. Which, yeah, cry harder plz. But it does mean that nothing came out quite flat, and the reason why there's pens and stuff weighing down the paper so it doesn't curl up. Also I cannot write in a straight line to save my life. My squares are not squares, they are but faint shadows of the ideal boxes that would have resulted if I were anything approaching a draftsman.

eta: Also, I shot this photo at 1600 ISO (I...think I didn't bother changing the settings from the last time I was taking pictures, which was a night-time fireworks show) so I wouldn't bother enlarging: the photo's really grainy.



(Second version - see? CAN'T WRITE IN A STRAIGHT LINE.) I'm pleased that the margins for both lined up, though I think there's too much space on the bottom....


I decided that I wanted some more of the big text, so I went with "everlasting". Not sure about the size, but I'm pleased with the home - just I need to figure out how to place the previous line so it doesn't get wiped out by the h! The thing in the corner is my camera's lens cap. It seems to suck all the light in; I put it there myself and I spent several minutes squinting at my screen wondering what it was. I guess it's quite effective in protecting the lens from light, though!

(You can see here I finally got fed up with not-straight-lines, and drew a cheating little line in black pen :P)


Lastly, Samuel L Jackson expressed his desire to return in Episode VII: http://www.jedinews.co.uk/news/news.aspx?newsID=10067

I don't know why I'd have to be a ghost. I'm a Jedi! I fell out of a window and they took my hand off. I could show up as a one-handed Jedi - alive!

Not gonna lie, that would be AMAZING. I would be all over that. More Mace Windu! :D

Comments

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Ugh it was painfully cold here too today-like so cold my eyeballs hurt and any exposes skin went numb! So glad this weather came the day AFTER Inauguration Day...

Also I was looking through your About Me entries and noticed you did IB? ME TOO omg--"IB, therefore I BS" amirite? :p Good times...

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

I was so unprepared! And it was SO windy, it was unbelievable. I'm wrapping up in five hundred layers tomorrow.

Yes! I agree with a lot of their educational principles (the school model needs a loooooooot of reform, hello, teaching to the tests in addition to a million other things, and I went to an amazing school) but I question the way IB went about things. "Squash elitism by designating two separate streams at high schools" and the way that ToK was taught was just...no.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Hmm well they weren't talking about squashing elitism when I did it (just being on a more international standard of excellence), but the main BS for me was the stupid CAS hour forms, FFS...and ugh, I hated TOK sfm, it turned me off Philosophy as a subject for LIFE. The only thing I enjoyed was when we got to read "Girl with a Peal Earring" in our class, because that is an excellent book.

I did enjoy the camaraderie that emerged though, taking so many classes with the same group of people, it created a sense of fellowship that I don't think I would have necessarily found otherwise--for me high school wasn't really so bad in terms of the social climate, at least in classes, probably because of the kinds of classes I took--though we only did IB classes the last 2 years of high school. (Not to mention a sense of instant connection with anyone else who did the program, lol! ;))

Also, they seriously need to give you a nicer, more diploma-looking diploma after all that work! :p

holy tl;dr

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, the elitism thing is part of the literature on the site. You know, like in the beginning of the brochures where they outline their purpose as an international standard *facepalm*

CAS. Ugh. I did it in one fell swoop, which in retrospect meant that everything was easy, but ugh, the BUREAUCRACY. Everything we sent off had to be accompanied by forms, forms, and more forms. (Also the whole "you must save alllllllll of your lab reports! So that we can compile a massive folder and then randomly select people!" and it's two years later and just the stupid sorting, where is $Lab??) Also that G4 project, which was hyped into a huge, year-long project and caused unbelievable stress - some of it attributable to upper years who'd warn us about how terrible everything was, etc, and just fueled the panic.

Ah, for us, ToK was squished into history, and we...really didn't talk about it. (Which I preferred. I like history, not so much keen on the philosophy parts.) Interestingly, we talked much more philosophy in English.

I loved English because I had an excellent teacher, but dear GOD, the book selections were depressing. Kafka's Metamorphosis, L'Etranger, Crime and Punishment - the school's selected texts were dramas like Hamlet and Macbeth and Waiting for Godot, and short stories that were psychotic and creepy like Shirley Jackson & The Yellow Wallpaper, plus 1984 and Perfume. (Perfume is about a serial killer with superhuman sense of smell. It's actually a really great book though.) Everything was despairing.

I agree about the comradeship, though. High school was really big, so having the same people in every class let me make good friends and a pretty big circle of acquaintances that I could at least talk to, not just go "I think so-and-so might have been in this one class three years ago?"

Heh.

[cordialcount]

Eeek, sorry your Mac isn't cooperating with you ;__; The calligraphy, especially on that second one, is beautiful, and much sympathy re: not finding typefaces you like used on icons. My icon folder is 600 strong, but only five have text on them.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Apparently there's support for OSX 10.8? I embarked on an extensive Google search, but that's all I could find. I am unfortunately on 10.7.5 so...I guess I'll be taking pictures for the time being, heh. Thank you!

Yes, I wish there were more text icons! What I'm guessing is most icon-makers are artists themselves, so they tend to go for pictures.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

I will definitely take cold over hot, ngl; I wore five billion layers today and felt much better :) Obviously, we need to exchange some temperatures.

Thank you!

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

Pretty calligraphy! My mom had me practice as a part of our homeschooling, but I haven't done it in a while. I need to get into that again. What sort of pen did you use? Fountain? Felt?

As for Samuel L. Jackson, well, he just gave us yet ANOTHER reason to revere him as one of the most awesome people alive. :D

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, it's a fountain pen - it's actually a really thin nib (the reason it looks thick is because the stuff in black is in a 0.3mm rollerball pen, so proportionately it's much bigger :)

Oh man, I wish someone taught me calligraphy when I was small! When I was in school, I worked really hard on my handwriting, which was the closest thing. You should! It's so lovely to just have that writing come out pretty.

Yes! I hope that whoever develops VII takes him up on the offer!