October 7th, it was lovely and foggy, and there was strange pizza

Dear October,

You surprised us today. I woke up via light chirping alarm, and feeling slightly drowsy, I looked out the window and immediately backed up because outside it was all a dim gray, somewhat pretty and really strange. Looking out the bathroom window (which by the way, has a great view of the sunrise and the tops of tall buildings. I don't know if it is sad that I mention this from the perspective of the bathroom window) I could see one clock tower and then just nothing, and walking out of the dorms, the fog was so thick that I could see it flowing past me as I walked. You didn't even have to look a few yards ahead to find someone submerged in fog; just looking at your hand, it was tinted white. It's weird how really thick fog makes everything look like an island. It's as if you're approaching things as an airplane, even the patio chairs and the canvas bag you're carrying, as it swings closer and further away. Things are instantly magnified. You kind of want to look at the veins of your hand more closely because it's like approaching a river from really high up. Keep zooming in on google maps and you'll see the details more clearly. It was kind of an amazing and short experience, and I enjoyed walking to class (although it was too bad that today's class was only a minute's walk from my dorm, so I didn't get to see much of the city like that). Then you surprised me again when I walked out of the dorms in the evening to go to the computer lab, and was immediately pelted by rain.

So I went to drawing class today and we had critique on our skellies, and did a bunch of figure armatures. The room we have class in is smaller than usual because our class is actually held on the second floor of the 'cafeteria', which has three rooms that are usually used for club meetings and small events. Our teacher really dislikes the size of this room because it does make it difficult to position all the easels so that everyone has room to work and has a good angle. The other major problem is the lack of wall space. There's a bathroom in this room plus a strange counter area and a wall that is entirely window. So we've got 3 strangely shaped walls to put our work on (the room is irregularly shaped too), and some of these walls are painted with some kind of paint that makes it difficult for tape to stick on it well. And then sometimes we use the projection screen, so then we have to move the easels all to the side to make sure they aren't blocking the projector. Still, with all its problems, the classroom is "a) very close to the dorms and the place where most of us eat breakfast and lunch (and grab coffee/tea/snacks during break), and b) it is pretty and has nice lighting because of the windows. So I took a picture of that.

Let me tell you about the food of today. I had a toasted rueben sandwich and cream of celery soup at one place that's covered by my meal plan for lunch. I have honeydew, almost always, for every meal. I had some okay fish, pasta, and a slice of chocolate cheesecake for dinner. I had a poppy and lemon seed scone for breakfast (the scones are always so good!), although I often have half a waffle instead. 

Speaking of waffles, once I got over my initial apprehension of the timer and the beeping, it became really fun to make waffles on the waffle maker! And it's so nice how you can determine exactly how much of a waffle you want today. Some days it's a half-waffle day, and other's you just need a whole one. Sometimes you start daydreaming while pressing the waffle mix button, so you fill your cup with too much mix and later split your waffle with a friend. I've really been wanting to make a mini waffle, where you just drizzle the mix in the center of the waffle maker, rather than in a quarter section of the waffle maker. I've also wanted to make one where there's a hole in the middle, but I keep forgetting. Maybe someday I can make a dinosaur waffle. It's really fun to just half fill part of the waffle maker so that when your waffle is done, it comes out with these frozen drips and eddies, which are textural and fun to eat. Is it just me who likes to eat things with weird shapes? For instance, when you are presented with a plate of pancakes or meatballs, do you always want to pick the pancake/meatball with the most deformed/interesting shape? Those really do always taste the best, and it makes sense. 

Also I haven't yet mentioned the strange midnight pizza that is here. On weekdays/school nights, the cafeteria is open from 9pm to 1am in case students are still working. At that special time, all the strange and frightening pizzas emerge from the oven, and four are presented every night. At first we all thought that there would just be normal pizzas there, the typical pepperoni and cheese, some sausage, and occasionally a Hawaiian. But the first night my friends and I stopped by, we found out that at midnight is really when the cooks experiment with their food. Of the times we've visited (sometimes people go purely to see what they've concocted that night) there's been salad pizza, paella (spanish rice) pizza, m&m and sunflower something pizza, chicken noodle pizza, broccoli pizza, giant-potato-chunks pizza, beef/sort of korean bbq pizza, and strawberry/caramel/pretzel pizza among others I've forgotten. It's really kind of amazing (and hilarious). Once we asked one of the female cooks(?) whether they just came up with this stuff and she said something like,  "Yeah! We just experiment with different ingredients. The hardest part is figuring out what you guys would want. For instance the sunflower something one was fine but we didn't think anyone would want it just like that because it was too something, so we thought we'd make it slightly sweet, hence the m&m's." I've tried a few of the pizzas, although I almost never go for the really out-there ones, like the m&m's one, but I'd like to try one of the weirder ones some day. For now though, I have to say the chicken noodle one was really delicious.

Thanks for the fog,
Indigo

song of the day: Let Her Go by Passenger (cover by Jasmine Thompson)
also I found some really good music today, so get ready for a nice line-up in the next few days

October 6th, you were uneventful

Dear October,

So today I went back to the nature lab and drew the skeleton some more :( The forecast wasn't so accurate, because it rained today even though my printout said it would be "warm and sunny". I also taste tested some kind of apple ice cream today. I didn't realize our 'cafeteria' made their own ice cream! It's kind of cool because that means we can really ask for whatever flavor we want and they can make it. In other news, nothing else happened today! Oh actually, just a funny short story from yesterday: Yesterday a bunch of kids from my drawing class were walking back to the dorms after the nature lab closed, and on the way back up the hill, a driver stops by us and asks whether we know where Richmond-something is. We all just shake our heads, but this Italian guy from our class, who's standing closest to the car, turns to the car driver and says completely seriously in his accent, "um... I have not yet acquired that information..." and the driver is like ok thanks and drives away.

See you,
Indigo

song of the day: Waiting by IU

October 5th, I was in the audience

Dear October,

I went to anime club today for the first time. The club has been trying to get through the first episode of every new anime so that everyone gets a preview of each series, and then they can decide which ones they won't be following in the club, and which ones we'll continue watching as new episodes come out. Today we watched 4 first episodes, and we're currently in only the K's. 2 of the 4 were surprisingly good, so we kept those, although the latter of the two was just ridiculous, but the ridiculousness was great because it was hilarious and surprising in a way that makes you laugh and drop your jaw at how it just keeps going, and the animation is just extremely over the top. I never realized how enjoyable it was to watch anime with a group of strangers, but it seems fun no matter the quality of what we're watching.

At one point in the first anime we watched (Kyoukai no Kanata), there's this guy who is apparently "half-phantasm" and he's talking to this girl who's pretty clumsy (I know, stereotypical, but the way it's done is just perfect) and at some point runs into a mop closet or something and gets hit in the head by four mops in a row, which I don't think anyone's ever seen before in such an adorable manner. Anyway she seems so nervous and shy and we all think she's just following the guy because she likes him, but then the guy says something like, "Do you know how many times you've stabbed me this week?" and everyone who missed the beginning goes, whaaat?? Then we find out the girl is actually a phantasm hunter but doesn't have much experience, so since the guy is only half-phantasm, she's just been stabbing him after school for practice. LOL. And the guy is immortal so that's why she can just keep stabbing him. Later a real phantasm thing appears and it's giant, furry, and slobbery, with long swinging arms. It appears by flying, quickly growing larger through the window behind the talking male protagonist, and making impact while the guy's still mid-sentence. It's so unexpected that when it hits we all say WHOA WHAT and as the thing crashes into the room and we're all just realizing that the thing is a phantasm, a girl in the audience says of the guy, "Wait, so he's half of that??" And a second later while the thing's rampaging the room, someone squeaks, "I thought that was a squirrel!" because it did kind of look like a really big squirrel at first flying towards the window at high speed. The anime has beautiful art by the way, and looks really interesting. The other good one we watched that was ridiculous was called Kill La Kill and it involves an authoritarian school with different ranked uniforms that kind of give you superpowers. I didn't think I'd like it at first at all, but it's funny and won me over with its craziness. Everyone applauded after that one because it was so much fun guffawing at the visual effects and characters.

Afterwards I went to a casual open mic event, where people put their names in a bucket and are then picked randomly to go up on stage and perform whatever they like. So people sang, read poetry, did some stand-up comedy, told funny stories and bad jokes, read excerpts of bad books, and some weirder things. A lot of people played guitar while singing, and one guy brought his accordion and another brought a hand drum (my favorite was when this one RA sang Skinny Love by Bon Iver and then You and I by Ingrid Michaelson with her ukelele). It was early night, and we were all sitting and standing around a concrete "stage" that has a few folding chairs and microphones on it. Behind are some trees extending from the floor below, and some strung up christmas lights, lovingly colorful and mismatched. I was on the floor above, which conveniently has a sort of corner-balcony so you can easily see the stage from there. Anyway it was nice, and really wonderful when the trees above (there were really just trees everywhere, extending from dirt areas around the concrete tiles) let go of some of their leaves, because the lights that were above lit them up in the night so that they flashed and glistened a bit when they twirled into a patch of light, and then disappeared as they fell out of it. The leaves were small and yellow, and I think it's really cool that you have the trees change color here. It's so amazing seeing trees full of yellow leaves here, or even trees with only the tops of their bushes of leaves yellow. I keep trying to figure out the logic in how it's decided which leaves turn yellow, because there's clearly a pattern, but it doesn't seem to fit the explanation of "where the sunlight hits the tree most" or "where the leaves are furthest from the roots".

I also like that according to the forecast you'll be warm for at least another week!

See you then and tomorrow,
Indigo

song of the day: You and I by Ingrid Michaelson (Couldn't resist. Note: learn to play this on the ukelele and sing it cause it's such a great group song.)

October 4th, nice rain

a picture my roommate took in the nature lab

Dear October,

I loved the rain today! It was good, timing that with the afternoon light. I was cooped up in the nature lab for seven hours with about ten of my drawing classmates today, and we were all drawing dynamic skeletons as accurately as possible. At some point after noon, small groups of us went downhill as it was raining and the sky was bright white, to go see the free stuff down at Market Square. There was a little art vendor event going on there, with little booths of branded art products under a big tent, and it was such a nice surprise being able to pick up a tube of gouache and technical pens and brush cleaner for free. I even got a really nice gray toned sketchbook! A bunch of students were standing around the table eyeing the sketchbooks displayed in stacks of two and three, and we all wanted them but we knew it would be too good to be true for sketchbooks like that to be free. But one daring student asked a vendor next to that table whether the sketchbooks were free, and he said we could just take them. So one girl picked up a tan toned sketchbook hesitantly and held it for a moment as if she was bracing herself for any objections, and then she walked away guiltily. Then the rest of us picked out sketchbooks, looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then walked away very slowly, and during that time the vendor who put up the sketchbook table came back and just sat down and watched it all happen without comment.

I really like having souvenirs of any kind, but especially the ones that can be opened or used for a while, because the happiness that comes from that lasts a long time. First there's the brimming excitement of having the potential for more happiness in little plastic packages, each of which can be opened at any time, and just thinking about it makes you happy. Then there's the fading happiness that is there after you've opened the package, so souvenir happiness comes in small bursts and layers. So that was how it was with us art students, I think, because we just got a whole bunch of high quality free art products and discounts, and that really cheered everyone up.

Also I got to spray paint on a slab of some kind of wall since there were art demos there too. So I did graffiti for the first and probably only time ever (except I suppose it's not really graffiti because we were allowed to do it)! I spray painted a red star over a bunch of other spray painted things. It was exhilarating.

Anyway, the timing with the rain was great. It made it all feel like an adventure, our small group running down the hill to find a tent with oil bars and spray cans and strangely absorbent claybord, and then running back up as if to return from our wardrobe.

I think I've been slamming my feet down on stairs and sloped sidewalks a bit too much, or else I've been twisting my feet in weird ways while standing in studio, because it's a little difficult walking! My feet hurt with this strange internal pressure whenever I step forward and put weight on the front of my feet, but not even my runner friends know what that means. I predict I will be limping for a few days, but at the same time that's fun too because it feels like I am enduring trials while traveling.

Goodnight,
Indigo

song of the day: Landfill by Daughter

October 3rd, the end was embarrassing

Dear October,

I am drinking Jasmine Green Tea right now because I just sent my teacher my sound art project. The project was due at midnight exactly, and I sent it 2 minutes late. The assignment requirements involve, among other things, a 3-5 minute .mp3 file and 3 questions that you want others to answer about your sound piece. My schedule today (estimated) in relation to my project:

9:00-ish: checked out audio recording device from Resources
1pm-2pm: tried recording a lot of things
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5:30pm: upload files onto computer after classes
5:40pm: cannot find my files. computer says all files were last edited in 2008
a few min. later: realize audio recording device settings were set to a default Jan. 1 2008. fix the date.
a few min. later: identify which files are today's. find that there is no sound on any of the files
a few min. later: realize I was supposed to press a certain input button that was half wiped out so I didn't know what it was the whole time I was recording
a few min. later: record myself laughing and ranting and crying internally about not having recorded anything
a few min. later: record myself eating chips
throughout this whole process: think about using the 45 min. sound file my class partner and I recorded while testing this device in class.
for several hours: record things randomly. overhear people's conversations accidentally in the cafeteria and think about how terribly creepy this device can be.
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10:00pm: a little worried.
10:10pm: plan to record something involving running down the hill to the store and back in 5 minutes. roommate is worried. asks if I want to wear her neon reflector vest so I don't get hit by a car.
10:13pm: leave dorm to run to test idea. running uphill is horrible as usual. I get back in 7 minutes.
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11:00pm: worried. perusing through recordings, feeling despair
11:20pm: freaking out a bit. get random idea of embarrassing myself by shouting a phrase out loud while running through the halls quietly because it's quiet hours
11:30pm: I panic and grab my recording device and shout "there's a pig on the schoolbus" randomly in the residence halls, and then run to the next floor as quickly possible if there are people nearby
11:35pm: upload file and edit. though I tried to shout, it was more like I spoke louder than usual
for a while: try to decide on editing one of three possible sound files. play around with editing. the other two are normal but one is not original enough and the other is possibly too boring. pick the insecure sounding one
11:50pm: freaking out and trying to thinfk up wuqsutions for project!
11:56pm: try to export sound file as mp3 from sound editing program and IT TELLS ME I HAVE TO DOWNLOAD ANOTHER PROGRAM to export as an mp3.
11:58pm: downloading mp3 program and thinking up less stupid questions
12:01am: export file as mp3 and attach to email. try really hard to reword questions
12:02am: send email. freak out a bit about it being late and about how embarrassing everything is. roommate asks if I want tea

Otherwise today was good. Please stay warm for a while longer because I don't want to wear long pants.

Thanks,
Indigo

song of the day: We Found Love covered by Ed Sheeran, originally by Rihanna

-------Also here's a letter to October by my roommate:

Dear October,

You were pretty warm today. You should like... cool down yo.

love,
eggs

October 2nd, you made it pretty to eat

Dear October,

Today was warmer than I expected. Even at night, when I went to grab some midnight pancakes with my roommate and we forgot where the midnight pancakes were, it was surprisingly just a bit cold, but not really chilly. At lunch I sat at the end of the table with two class friends and while they were laughing (they each laugh much more often than I do! which is weird!) I saw one of the staff wiping the tables with a wet towel and it was really mesmerizing. We were facing the windows, so you could see the reflection of the light from the windows on the table, and usually it just glows a tiny bit as it bounces off the tables, but once wiped with water, it shines. I know that's obvious, but it's really interesting watching table after table transform into these gleaming swishy reflectors. It's kind of like watching someone squeegee water off your windshield, or watching that girl in From Up on Poppy Hill (kind of a weird movie, but nice music and art) apply plaster onto the wall of the clubhouse. Just watching someone cover so much area so quickly and efficiently is really fun. Anyway I took a picture of the tables but didn't catch the staff person as he was wiping them. My friends suddenly stopped laughing to see what I was taking a picture of, and they asked if I was trying to take a picture of the group of guys at the far end of the tables.

At dinner I was talking to a friend about how I used to really hate having one class of food touch another class of food, but now I have chicken bits on my cantaloupe and scones soggy from waffle syrup (I don't know when I stopped hating pancakes and waffles, but it was a recent thing). I still find it slightly annoying and I look for an extra second at the honeydew at the end of my fork if it has a little bit of parsley or lasagna on it, but I find it to be an ok sacrifice because I really just want to stuff everything on one plate if possible and I try not to use the trays because they're so large and at most I'll probably only have 2 plates and a cup of water on it. It's fun to struggle with carrying all your food. The worst combination would probably be if I got soup, a plate of stuff from the main bar, a plate of fruit and pasta and stuff that couldn't fit in the other plate because of how much they overfill your plate, dessert on a plate, a bag of chips, a wrapped sandwich for later, and a cup of water. Imagine carrying that and then having to get your id out somehow at the checkout, hand it to the cashier, then take it back and run to the utensils station to grab that and napkins.

See you tomorrow,
Indigo

song of the day: Near to You by A Fine Frenzy

October 1st, you were nice and breezy

Dear October,

Your morning was pretty today. It was kind of a drowsy day, but in a nice mellow way. I woke up at 7 in the morning incidentally (even though I set my alarm for 9), wondering how I got to procrastinating over work yet again. At 9 I brought my camera with me as I headed off to the Homer Lab to print out

a. my revised essay on Candide
b. a list of my design assignments
c. the weather for you

Looking at the forecast between you and me, you get significantly chillier day to day. I think I’m going to need to start wearing pants on a regular basis now. Every time I put on pants these past few weeks, I've regretted it later because September always decides to be warm and sunny on those days I wear pants.

So I left the Homer Lab because the printer was out of toner, and I noticed that you lit up the leaves outside really nicely. It’s just ordinary trees surrounded by buildings, but there was one tree that was half lit bright yellow, because a building cut off its sunlight. I'm so excited for the leaves to turn colors. Your breezes came occasionally and ruffled the trees until tree dandruff drifted out (this is a term my friend coined. I thought it was fitting and cute and maybe nasty) in little flutters of confetti. I tried to get this on film but you were being disagreeable. I also spent some time trying to catch a leaf as it fell without looking stupid, and I succeeded and tucked the tiny yellow leaf in my pocket so that I could later sandwich it in my journal and call it the leaf that I caught as it fell.

Don’t forget to shower,
Indigo

song of the day: Sayonara no Natsu by Aoi Teshima (From Up on Poppy Hill)

(psst read about the Letters to October project laurapoet's started here!)