All the leaves are brown, leaves are brown

It's a beautiful sunny day in Portland and I'm about to climb into an allergy pill. Sunny and warm and windy as hell. It seems like all of the musty summer goodness has been unearthed and is being shuttled around town by the pesky winds.

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Unexpectedly got the day off work. Woke up at 7am to feed Gus and then went back to bed. Slept until 9:45! It's been a nice little morning. So far my duties have included: Pet the dog, drink the coffee, play the guitar and search the internet for information on casting basalt - in order of most to least important.

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First day of ceramics was last night. Made a few things, including a tea pot that is part of a group project. This is a first in Kowkie's class. She had us make the parts, and then we'll pick different pieces from different peoples pots and assemble them. I think it's a pretty cool idea. Whatever I end up with, I think I'll try to recreate it for a real project.

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This week is the last week of summer before the term starts at PSU. I'm excited to start classes, and a little nervous too. This seasonal transition always hits me a little harder than the others. I remember most vividly this transition when I was a kid. I was always bummed that the light didn't last as long and that the air began to encourage layers. Meh. I'm glad that it's hot this week. One more week of driving in the jeep with the top and doors off, in relative comfort. This week also will see the sculpture club installing our first show at the MK Gallery on campus. I have a piece to include and as the date approaches, I'm noticing that I'm feeling nervous about my contribution. The word "anachronistic" keeps swimming around in my head. I've never shown a piece of sculpture outside of a classroom setting. I'm sure it will be fine. The chances of somebody looking at my work and then hitting or shooting me is pretty slim. It's not that good.

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Oh! I think I just heard something. . . yep, it was the dog park calling Gus. I'd better help him out with that.

Cold coffee means summer is coming

Just strained a batch of cold press coffee. It's delicious, I'm having some now. First math test of the term is tomorrow and I'm about half way to being ready for it. Luckily, it's raining so I'm not working, which means I've got 4 extra hours to study today.

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I was thinking about changing my course of study to Bachelor of Science, rather than art. The difference would be that I'd take science courses rather than language courses. I would need to take 20 credits of lab science in sequence. If I stay on the BA path, I'm looking at 24 credits of Spanish. I think it's really good for the brain and the world to know other languages, but I'm really having a hard time getting excited about the class. I need to buckle down and do the work, then see how I feel about it.

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Leisa and I are taking a whitewater kayaking seminar together. It starts next week. I'm a little bummed that it conflicts with a bronze pour, especially as I just took over responsibilities as "event coordinator" for the sculpture club. I should be there. I'm going to see if I can farm some of the responsibility out for the next couple events. The seminar, however, is guaranteed to be a blast and we get to float two rivers(not sure which).

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Gus is doing great. Better each day, with the occasional thick headed naughtiness that makes him such a good all around dog. Lots of personality, good natured and lots of fun. I took him to Delta Park last week. That place is huge. Just fields and fields and paths and streams for him to explore. He made it as far away as 75 yards, but always made sure I was within eyesight.

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Tiff and I are looking into buying a house here in Portland. We're pre-qualified for whatever that's worth. Been looking at houses in the 160-180 range, which surprisingly offers quite a variety of homes.

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better get to the studying.