Life lessons are everywhere, if you just keep your eyes and your ears open.

Yesterday, I attended a memorial for the father of one of my dear friends. I have attended more than my share of memorials over the years, but this was much, much different. I don’t know that I have ever learned so many things, or considered so much about life in one afternoon.

Life is so beautiful. I should hope that all living creatures know this to an extent, but it’s easy to take it for granted. It’s tempting to try and put life in a box. When we get weary, it’s so easy to fall into a routine. To skate by. To keep life predictable. Oh, what a tragic mistake.

And so, we begin to live in black and white. Our souls become stagnant. Our hearts begin to decay. And it hurts, to be perfectly honest. Not a piercing hurt, but a slow, dull ache. We long for a breath of fresh air, the kiss of sunlight on our skin. We want joy. Glory. Intimacy. Because we know we were meant to be so much more than this.

But while it’s true that we were made for something great, we often forget just how marvelous the world is, right here and right now. We forget to wonder at the little things around us.

In the early morning rain, the pavement glisten like a street of gold. Christmas lights shine from the trees as if there are a hundred stars caught up in their branches. We enjoy a friendly smile, or a warm embrace from a friend.

And there’s more to life’s magnificence than sunshine and flowers and the loveliness of cleanliness and purity. There’s also a very real, raw sort of beauty in pain and in loss. Beauty does not reside in the hurt itself, but in what lies behind it. For, you see, the pain of loss comes only after love has dwelt in the hearts of those who feel it. Ignorant as I was, I assumed that, at the memorial for such an amazing (and young) man, the predominant feeling in the room would be grief. I did not know Stan very well, but the strength of the love I felt in the church yesterday shook me to the core. Perhaps it caught me off-guard. Though (or perhaps because) this love was still mingled with grief, its beauty was so potent that it was almost unbearable. And all at once, I felt many things:

Sadness. Not so much for Stan, but for those he left behind. For the fact that we must part with the ones we love, at least for a time.

Longing. Because in that moment, I was reminded of the beauty the world holds. But I also remembered how broken we are. God wanted so much more for us, and we’ve lost so much. I know it because every so often, I catch a glimpse of true, untainted beauty: a grace so powerful and amazing that I am left staggering. But it’s so fleeting. So elusive. So quickly overshadowed by a world that seems so dim in comparison. And yet, I crave it like nothing else.

Admiration. For a family with incredible strength and optimism and faith. Their unwaivering belief that God knows what is best for them. That they will be provided for in Stan’s absence. Hearing of Stan’s faith was so incredible to me. He loved God with every ounce of his being. He loved to serve others and make them think. He memorized an entire book of the Bible from start to finish. And even when the cancer began to confuse him and wear on his mind, I am told that he could still pray with unfailing clarity. His faith in God allowed his spirit to remain strong, even helped him to grow as his body failed him.

And finally, I felt joy. Immense joy. A bubbling, shining, overwhelming joy. Knowing that the pain can never overshadow the marvelous love shared by this family. Knowing that one life can change so many. Knowing that all things happen for a reason. That good can come from evil. That the beauty of the world will be restored. Knowing that Stan is no longer hurting. He has a new body, and he’s seeing Jesus face to face. Nothing could be better!

Currently:
Mood: Contemplative
Watching: The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Eating: Nothing
Drinking: Caramel Apple Cider
Reading: The History of Love (second time around!)- Nicole Krauss
Hugs to: Heather, Holly

One of my classmates asked this on a recent trip to Haight Street. Yeah. We were listening to Alicia Keys. Of all the things he could have guessed…Enya? This was the same kid who later asked what part of the chicken had “chicken breast” and didn’t know what animal roast beef came from. Oh, the people you meet at art school.

So I’ve been here for three weeks now….three whole weeks! That’s almost a month! Crazy. I’m happy to say that I’ve really gotten used to living here. Before I left (as some of you might remember), I was pretty worried about making the adjustment and living mostly on my own. But now everything feels pretty routine, from living in the dorms to making my way around the city (I’m even starting to get street names down!). I feel pretty accomplished!
So what have I been up to since my last post? I’ll try to make this pretty quick and painless (just highlights)….I’m sure no one wants a detailed account of the last two weeks.
6/30- Haight Street!- For those of you who don’t know, Haight Street is famous for its association with hippies and the Summer of Love (which was fourty years ago this summer). It’s now lined with novelty and vintage shops. I didn’t get much time there, but I bought a really cool vintage capelet. It’s wool and plaid and looks like real vintage, but I don’t really know what era it’s from.

7/4- Fourth of July- We went on a school trip to Santa Cruz, which is about an hour and a half away. It’s basically an amusment park combined with a pier. It was really fun, and a great way to spend our fourth!

7/6- Bowling. Not much to say about that.

7/7- Jenny and I took a cable car out to Pier 39, where they have a Farmer’s Market every Saturday. From there, we went to Fisherman’s Wharf (tourist haven) to have lunch, and finally we headed back toward the middle of town to watch Ratatouille. It was such a cute movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, do! You won’t regret it. It’s probably one of the best Pixar movies yet.

Then this weekend my roommate and I went to the zoo and saw Harry Potter on IMAX with my friends Ariel and Liz. It was pretty good, but short, too. Then again the movies are always a bit of a disappointment, so it’s not too surprising. We had fun, though. On the way home, we decided to look for a bubble tea shop we’d seen earlier, but got lost and ended up going thrift store shopping instead. We missed dinner, so we bought Cup-o-Noodles at the corner store. I guess we really are like college students, now that we’re living on instant noodles.

Last night, I was walking home from the store, and as I was standing at an intersection, some random guy appeared next to me and asked, “Do you like beautiful music?”. Just out of the blue. Now, being in the middle of a new city, I wasn’t really sure how to respond. He’d just shown up there, and to be honest, I was a little weirded out. Part of me was wondering if it was slang for a drug of some sort….something I wouldn’t have heard of back home. So I just sort of shrugged and said something stupid like, “I don’t know.” He sort of looked both ways and then started to pull something out of his pocket…and I was there thinking “holy crap. He’s gonna try to sell me drugs or something.” But it turned out that he was just a rapper trying to sell me his mix tape. He ended up being very friendly, but I don’t listen to rap, so I turned him down. Still, I have to admit that he got my attention.
And now you’re probably wondering, “what about her classes? doesn’t she ever do anything productive?”. The answer is yes. I’m happy to say that I’ve worked quite hard the last couple weeks, and I have stayed on top of all my work. Here’s a quick summary of where I am:

Digital Design:
This class is SO easy, I’m sorry to say. The first day, our substitute made it sound like such a hard class, but when our real teacher came, I was pretty disappointed. Our assignment is to make four pages out of a magazine (cover, table of contents, two-page spread, and original photography) with a partner. That’s our whole assignment for the course. And I’m halfway done, with three weeks left. I’m going to try and finish in the next week and ask for some more work. Here’s what I’ve got so far, though (we’re making a magazine about Japan Town, aimed at young women, but it looks a little funny because I don’t have the right font on my computer):
Cover
Spread

Interior Architecture and Design:
This class rocks! I love the fact that it’s so laidback and hands on, but it’s still challenging. It’s pretty hard making a realistic model that’s durable and neat. Harder than I would have thought. I love looking for new materials to imitate the look of large scale details (like using wooden coffee stirrers for molding) and just plain being creative. Our current assignment is to build the front of a building that’s 6 by 6 by 8 in, with exactly five windows, one door, a mailbox, and a porchlight visible from the front. I’m building a coffee shop called “Mocha Polka”. My most recent picture is from last week, but I’ll post it just to give you an idea of what I’m doing:
My Architecture Model

Graphic Design:
I think I could grow to like graphic design, but at the moment I’m a little bored. We’re making logos right now, but we’re doing them all by hand, and they’re all black and white. We began with making symbols for things (on/off, push/pull, etc.), and now we’re making business logos using different elements of design. Not particularly interesting, but I guess it’s getting better. Part of me still wants to study graphic design though– the work that’s up in the hallways of the graphic design department is just so cool! It’s just more complex than I would’ve expected. My architecture teacher said he dropped out of it, because it was too exact for him (as a regular college student, they will sometimes check your work with a magnifying glass). I don’t have any pictures for this class, because I just have too many papers. At the end, I might post some scans of my final work.

Product and Toy Design:
I love this class, too. I guess I like working in 3D, or something. I’ve done 120 concept sketchs in the last two weeks (we’re designing vinyl toys that go through at least three or four conceptual stages), before I finally ended up with a final idea. After that, I made a model which has cost me a lot of trouble. She’s made of a soft modeling clay that never hardens, and I had to protect her through four bus rides today while carrying two other bags of supplies. Not fun. But she’s worth it– my teacher really liked the idea. He said Jenny and I are way ahead of the guys in the class (we’re two of only three girls), so that was encouraging. Next, I have to make an orthographic sketch of her, which will be a big pain. For those who don’t know, an orthographic sketch is a technical drawing that needs to have all the measurements required to remake the model. Luckily, we don’t have to do a complete one– in the real design world, that would take 40-50 hours!

Speaking of homework, I probably should be working on that. I’m going to wrap it up for now, but hopefully I’ll be back within the week. I hope you’re all doing well. Let me know what you’ve been up to… I’d love to hear from you!

Currently:
Mood: Content
Listening: Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk- Rufus Wainwright
Eating: Nothing
Drinking: POM- Pomegranate Hibiscus Green Tea
Reading: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The History of Love- Nicole Krauss
Projects:

• Digital: Magazine
• Int/Arch: Storefront
• Graphic: Process Book (logo project)
• Product/Toy Design: Vinyl Toy (orthographic sketch)

So I got eaten by the Busy Monster for the last few months…no, I know that’s not a very good excuse for disappearing, but I really don’t think you care to read about everything I’ve been up to for the last three or four months.
But I just got to San Francisco, where I will be studying art for the next month and a half.

I’m really terrible at this “blogging-regularly” thing. I always tell you that I’ll try to blog more often, but I never seem to succeed at it. Well this time I’m not going to make any promises, but I will tell you what’s been going on….
Very little happened after new year’s, other than the normal craziness of life…nothing you’d be interested in hearing about. School got really hectic as the semester came to a close. Finals week was just as stressful as usual, but in the end it was relatively painless. I managed to pull off A’s in all of my classes, so I was happy about that.
Since then, I’ve really just been tied up with more homework and with preparations for solo and ensemble contest. I’ll be singing a solo (Alma del core) and a duet (Widmung) this year. If I get a chance, I’ll try to record one or both and get them up here on the site, though I’m not amazing like Elisabeth is!
Other than that, I’ve been busy working on a site for my city’s Japanese sister city program, a job I’d been putting off for months. I’ve made some new art here and there, and I’m going to try to get my portfolio back up and running before long, though I can’t make any promises since the site for the city takes priority.
The weekend before last, I went to Canada with my family, which was nice, since it’d been ages since we’d done anything together. I spent most of this weekend working on the sister city website, and on projects for various classes. My church had an “Envisioning Day”, where we gathered everyone (about 1400 people!) in a gymnasium and brainstormed service project ideas and such…it was interesting, and there were some really neat ideas that I hope to see used.
Today I’m home sick- there’s a nasty bug that’s been going around our area. I don’t think I have it, since I’m not really as sick as some of the kids who caught it. I probably could’ve managed going to school today, but I decided that I needed to rest. I’ve been feeling pretty drained lately, both physically and emotionally, and with a hectic week ahead of me (two projects, piano lessons, a meeting, a concert, Bible study, and solo and ensemble) I really can’t afford to get any worse.
I’ve got some exciting news though-I’m going to study at an art academy this summer! I’ll be staying in the dorms with a friend for six weeks, and taking classes in interior architecture, digital design, graphic design, and product and toy design. I’m nervous to see how I’ll measure up next to all those amazing students, but I’m sure it’ll be a wonderful learning experience, and I’m SO excited! This’ll be a great way for me to decide if I really want to go into art after high school. As nervous as I am about living in a new place and jumping into this program, I’m really looking forward to it.

Seen: The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Read: The Silmarillion
Heard: Explosions in the Sky- The Long Spring
Hugs to:Queenie, Heather, Holly(x2), Hannah, Elisabeth