Finally back online after being without for a few days. It's amazing how much I didn't really MISS the internets

Lots of resolutions were made that will hopefully not be broken. If they're not, the results will speak for themselves in a few months.

School is going. Math still sucks. Science is weird.

My youngest spawn is now TWO. It just doesn't seem that long ago that I was posting alien and fish baby pictures on here. Ca-razy.

Back to work for me! May those of you who made resolutions be able to keep them!

You know, I can't help but feeling a sensation of "ARGH DoubleYou Tee Eff?" when I hear about the OMGZ SHINY! #CityofHeroes being announced on here, and the HUGE massive movement of support for it. Don't get me wrong, I think it's awesome. There's just one thing that bugs me.

I have asked and asked for help running ~CityOfArtists so that it wouldn't get neglected. I funded contests out of my own pocket to try to get it going, so that it would be the go-to for commissionable artists for CoH/CoV with a gallery that showcases the many talents here on dA. Asked. Asked again. Gave up.

I guess it just wasn't good enough or shiny enough.

Yes, my feelings are hurt.

Merry fucking Christmas.

End of term is rapidly approaching for me, and I have so much to do.

1) A+ Essentials certification test - PASSED
*edit* Hoooo nelly. I took a couple of practice test with my study software and was dismayed that out of 100 questions, there were only about 10 that I'd seen during the course of working with the practice drills. W. T. F.? Anyway, I "passed" the practice test but I scored really low, so I was a bit concerned when I rolled into the testing center to take the real thing.

Fortunately, the actual test did have more information that I'd covered, and I was relatively confident about most of the questions. My mantra was "I only need to pass. I only need to pass." Question 97 of 100, and I'm almost done, when the system hangs on going to question 98. I successfully backtrack to question 96 when all of a sudden....

THE SYSTEM REBOOTS ITSELF!!!!

Talk about a heart attack. I'm not ashamed to say that I was a bit frantic and teary-eyed with worry and stress that I was going to have to take the whole thing over again. Fortunately, the test center person was able to restart the test and make it remember my progress.

I scored 736, passing score was 675 on a scale of 100-900. That's one down. The one tomorrow morning is part 2, and I need to pass that one in order to get my certificate.

2) A+ Technician certification test - PASSED

Nothing special to report about this one, except I did it on about 5 hours of sleep because I was up half the night with heartburn which is still lingering tonight. We're about 80% moved and the new place is niiiiiiiice.

3) Humanities test - PASSED

4) 3-5 page essay : Your goal for this task is to discuss and analyze creativity as the continuation of, or as a reaction to, an earlier historical art period. You will choose two historical periods from the list below and discuss the relationships between the periods. You should discuss how one period revived or continued the style and characteristics of the other period or how one period originated in reaction to the other period. - PASSED

5) Multimedia presentation: In this task you will analyze and interpret three creative works from the humanities using methods of subjective and objective analysis and create a multimedia presentation about why being knowledgeable about the humanities is valuable in regards to your profession. Select one literary work from the list provided in the task directions and two creative works from two separate disciplines found on your task directions. - PANICKING

6) Oral presentation: This week you will be using a video camera to record your presentation in front of a live audience. You will use your prepared plan to help you organize your thoughts. You will have your visuals or props to emphasize certain points of your presentation. But besides these aids, you will have yourself, your body language, your composure, your finesse, your wit, your emotions, and your knowledge. All of these
characteristics make up an effective delivery. - PASSED

And deadlines:

The last day to submit an assessment referral for this term is October 9, 2009.
Completed performance assessments need to be turned in by October 15, 2009 in order to guarantee that the assessment can be graded and results posted prior to the end of your term.
Proctored objective assessments need to be scheduled by October 25, 2009.
Any assessment that you are enrolled for in the current term that is not passed by October 31, 2009, will not count toward your Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) and a mark of Not Passed will become part of your permanent academic record for this term.


No pressure!

So, one of the things I'm going to be trying to do is leaving comments with a little more substance than "neat!" or "awesome!" like I usually do.

Once my next term starts I'm going to again get into the habit of practicing my figure drawing. I had a lot of fun on the 30-second-pose thing, and I want to start doing that again. I still have a lot in my head I need to get out and I can't always afford to do that.

Speaking of affording things, =CatharsisJB has been doing some awesome stuff lately that's available on her Etsy [link] If you like cute little things, definitely check her out. She's a fantastic storyteller and has the most amazing cute little detailed stories to go with her pieces. I bought this guy [link] a couple weeks ago and immediately commissioned a few more. I'll get a picture of them when they're all together

In other random news, we've gotten two medical bills paid off (yay) with a couple more very close to being finished. I tell you what, don't have a baby and then need to have gallbladder surgery the same year. It's EXPENSIVE! We've also gotten the truck paid down enough that we only owe for two more years. Not bad for a truck I bought new in '04

We're also moving on Wednesday into a 3-bedroom apartment. The extra 50 bucks for a third room will be more than worth being able to do my schoolwork without Griffon coming up and smacking my keyboard all the time, or trying to open the drawers of my little office organizer, or any other number of things that are cute yet annoying.

I promised my darling ~NightGryphon that as a condition of moving to a 3-bedroom (and thus having to renew our lease which puts us here for another year at least) was that I would actually UNPACK everything. We've been moving around so much the past few years that I've never bothered to unpack all the boxes when I knew I'd just have to pack them up again to move. Because of that, I've really felt settled, and I actually don't like that. Yes, we still want to move to Alabama as soon as we're able, but we're going to be here a bit longer, at least until I finish school, probably, so I'm going to unpack everything and make this apartment as "home" as I can.

Fortunately, Orlando has one of the best things to help with that - an IKEA. Oh how I love IKEA. We have no couch, we have no chairs, but by golly we've got plans!

Last week I went to the open house of a new daycare, with my son. My son has never been around a lot of kids before. One of the kids at the daycare had a cold.

Guess what!

All three of us are sick now, yay.

On a totally different tangent, you know how we get into the habit of doing things a certain way? Like typing certain words is faster because we're used to typing them, etc. If you really want to throw your brain off, take a DVD, open it up so you can get the paper cover, take it out, flip it upside down, and put it back in. Flip the case over so the cover is right side up, put it back on your shelf, and forget about it.

Trust me, when you get around to getting that DVD, you will automatically reach for the DVD on the right side, even though it's on the left.

I spent a couple hours today playing Beatles Rock Band with my mom. She plays the drums, and I alternate between bass and guitar. I even tried my hand at playing lefty. We did pretty good, and for anyone who loves the Beatles (and has a 360) this is a must. The intro video alone is so freaking awesome, and there's a great mix of songs across the years. So if you have the chance to get it, or try it out, don't pass it up! It's worth it!