Was it really November when I last picked up the dA pen? XD Art was never my modus operandi, I suppose. Attracted to it, enamoured by it, inevitably rejected by it and pushed away from it. I don't have the artistic visualisation necessary, nor the raw patience for sheer technical practice.

Photography, I maintain doggedly with. Not much improvement == not much practice, but studenthood goes as studenthood does.

Graduation from the second level of hell into the third in a few weeks, and a major exam to boot. Figures dA'd come back into my life just now. xD

A lot has happened since September, and so I might as well make use of this paid journal while I still have it.

September came and went without much incident. Exams and all that, but this is coming from the slacker who studies the day before her final paper. Results were all right at the end of the day, but I have to say that it's not an experience I think I should repeat for my final year next year.

November is turning out to be an extremely fun - if tiring and/or stressful - month. Went on my overseas trip to the Outdoor Pursuits Centre at the Tongariro National Park in New Zealand (North Island) and had the time of my life. The group - all 25 of us, 28 including the teachers - had a hell of a fun time. Made plenty of new friends, and can now testify to my ability to play volleyball not only in the sweltering heat but ALSO at 5 degrees celcius AND before breakfast. I love our insanity.

Climbing mountains and watching Mr Han clamber about with his film EOS gave me a whole new sense of respect for mountaineering photographers. He took it everywhere - up mountains and into rivers and through mud. And it still looks clean.

And now I'm back, and I've got photos and I've got new friends and I've also got a million things to do (oh my god, NaNo...). OFF TO WORK.

Okay, point in case, no longer capable of speaking. 10 seconds of Wheelchair Man, the guy with Toru O.'s voice, the person I've been waiting forever to see:

[link]

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View. And, if still coherent, squee with me.

Righto. I have a million other things I ought to be doing instead of typing into my dA journal (such as studying for the FREAK ASS MAJOR EXAMS or doing my ART HOMEWORK or my literature homework or my --- never mind. It's better not to think about it), but here I am anyway.

Got the slide prints back from the developer today! Didn't do them slide-form (like my teacher graciously did so for me the last time, so pretty... *eyes wobble*), instead got them processed normally. Amazingly enough, even after a freaky five minutes of exposure and me screaming and grabbing shirts and running upstairs into my bathroom where there (hopefully) had been little light, about 18 out of the 36 shots were still processable. The major part of the processable film came from the beginning (typically), and I'm extremely grateful that the prints from the school events are ALIVE, because those things don't happen too often.

*breathes sigh of relief* I think it will be a little while more before I wander back into the realm of film, at this rate. But the happy, secret joy at holding processed FILM NEGATIVES in your hand never goes away...

I'm half way to slightly less than a third of ancient tomorrow! In other words, 15 at long last. I get my identification card, uh, and, um, yeah. That's about it for gigantic rites of passages. *laughs*