Okay, Maybe Australia.

Turns out the educational system is quite a bit different in NZ... They don't have any studio art classes I guess. SO NOW I MIGHT GO TO AUSTRALIA.

I've been looking at a University in Townsville... It's RIGHT on the Great Barrier Reef and has a lot of studio classes I'm interested in...

It's a couple thousand dollars cheaper than New Zealand too.


In other news, I gotta tattoooo... It has finally stopped itching and pealing.

I got it because I love Iowa, and the Gold finch is Iowa's state bird. Even though I am probably not going to live here for the rest of my life, it will be there perched on my shoulder to remind me of my ROOTS.

New Zealand???

I might be hanging out with Kiwis from July-November '10... If I get my shitttt together. I have a meeting in the study abroad office on Thursday.

WE'LL SEEEEE...

Here I am...

I am back at Luther College and doing well. This school year has been great so far... I've got 3 fantastic roommates and four great classes.

Painting is making me a little crazy... but that's because I've never worked with oils before. I'm starting to get the feel for it little by little. I dread going to class and doing still life paintings.. but it's good for me.

It hasn't rained since I've gotten here (three weeks ago) and the leaves are finally changing to orange, yellow, red, and brown.

Things are just beautiful... minus my painting abilities.

It's been a month..

• Stayin' in school. Talked to finaid and they gave me more money. PHEW.
• I finally turned 20
• Went to pitchfork music festival and saw the flaming lips... one of my life goals: completed
• Went to Nordic Fest, camped, played, ate lefse and hung out with dear ones.
  
• My computer crashed while I was away at Nordic Fest, so everything that has been gained over the summer was lost. Luckily, I had put the majority of my goods on a hard drive before summer started... so I didn't lose EVERYTHING-everything.
  
• Bought a new phone last week for 80 dollars. Forgot it was in my pocket and went swimmin' with it.
• The Zaffarano family has congregated to the Ames area this week. 4 out of my dad's 5 sisters have made it and about 2/3 of the cousins have made it.
  
• Tracy, Leanne, and Gig have a 'plex now. So I've gone over quite a bit. It's nice and has a blue door.
• I got new glasses
• My sister and brother-in-law are in town as well..
  

that's all that's happened I think. I've been eating a lot of sweet corn, and started quite a few discussions about how corn is ruining us.

College Dropout

Today I told my mom it was okay if I had to drop out of school cuz we couldn't afford it. We just found out a week or so ago that Luther has raised tuition and cut back on financial aide.


MEANING: my student loans would dramatically increase and my parents would have to take out loans cuz we split the cost.

My mom said she thinks I would regret it and says they're gonna try there best to figure something out but IDK. Finaide might not follow through..

If I had to drop out of school it wouldn't be the WORST thing. I would still be alive, I would still have friends and family that I care about and that care about me. I dunno what I would do if I dropped out, I don't really want to. BUT if things end up too expensive, I will accept it and drop out.

I could get a hokey job to pay the bills and still be able to do art... maybe pay off a few loans. Also, maybe eventually I would be able to go to cosmetology school or something. Or even go back to school.

We'll jus' see what happens. Who knows what the future will bring....

Worst Case Scenario...

Today I did the thing that parents and teachers always warn you about...


...I spilled soda alllll over a computer keyboard at work.




That was always one of those things that I thought would NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN. Now I feel like a dumbass.

Turtle is Dead!

Or so I thought...

Turtle, is my overly curious and friendly hermit crab. I hadn't to filled her water dish in four or five days and JUST realized it. Soooo... I hurriedly went over to her cage really REALLY hoping she hadn't died.

The first sight I saw was exactly what I thought was my worst nightmare... Turtle's carcass was lying there limply next to the food shell dish.

"Noooooo!!! Turtle died!" I cried out to my father, and begged him to take care of it.

"No way," my dad said and told me to take care of it.


With great dismay, I did just that. I looked really closely at the nasty limp hermit crab carcass and thought it might be a good idea to double check her usual shell (just in case). I picked it up and was overjoyed to find a freshly molted hermit crab, still pink and soft!

Turns out she wasn't dead after all, despite my carelessness!!! Hopefully she will forgive me.


She's as cute as ever!

Children of the Corn Theory

I recently watched the movie Children of the Corn with my friend Tracy. After watching the movie I came to the conclusion that Stephen King was trying to warn America.

For one, he was trying to warn us about our over-dependency on corn. The children in the movie basically worshiped the corn which is not too far off from what the United States food companies have been doing. A vast portion of the food most americans eat daily has some sort of corn product in it. Not to mention the food industries feed corn products to our poor livestock which causes them to gain more weight faster. This is NOT the kind of food that livestock is conditioned for. They are grazing animals, meaning, they are supposed to be out in the fields eating grasses... not starchy corn-based meals. ALSO- all this overproduction of corn is causing depletion of the rich top soil in corn-growing states (SUCH AS IOWA) which is due to run out in the next twenty years. It wouldn't be so bad if farmers didn't choose to continue to grow corn everysingleyear... It isn't just the food industry though, the use of corn as a source of ethanol might not be the best option... APPARENTLY, the natural prairie grasses that used to be so abundant in the midwest would be a BETTER source of ethanol!! ANDDD it is better for the topsoil. WHY HASN'T ANYONE STARTED TAKING ACTION?? STEPHEN KING WARNED US THAT CORN ISN'T ALWAYS THE ANSWER!! Burn those fields.

Another warning that Stephen King spooned out in that horror flick was about radical exclusive religions in america and how they are definitely not healthy or good for ANYONE. If you haven't seen the movie, watch it. YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN.

Those are just some of my thoughts...

...I'm probably reading into it too much.