Three till Seven

While using StumbleUpon last night, I found a really neat art project: The Monster Engine. The premise to it is “what would a child’s drawing look like if it were painted realistically?” The result is pretty cool; I particularly enjoy the chomping baseball and this fellow. All the art shown has both the child’s version and the artist’s rendition, and it’s interesting to see how the child’s version was rendered in a ‘realistic’ fashion, especially since the professional’s version stays true to the child’s.

I had a linear algebra test Tuesday and, apparently, she already has them graded and ready to hand back today (one of my classmates texted me last night to tell me this). I can’t believe how prompt she is. She’s just a grad student, not a professor, and I swear that has something to do with it. All the professors I’ve had take maybe a week to return a test or paper, and some are worse than that. My applicable algebra professor doesn’t get around to handing back graded quizzes for months; I still think he has some of my quizzes from when I took Calculus IV with him a semester ago.

I’m going to Jessica’s house this weekend to relax for a while but also to help her varnish the dining room set we’re to have in our new apartment. It’s a set of table and chairs that have been sitting around her barn for years, but they’re in good enough condition to still be used, so we’re going to sand them down and re-varnish them. I don’t think I’ve varnished anything for maybe six years, when I helped my dad sand and varnish a computer desk he made. Though I try to avoid them, I always end up with runs that dry into hard little lumps that I then have to sand down.

Varnish fascinates me, actually, both because I like its color and also because of how rock hard it gets when it’s dry. I think it’d be infinitely fun to get some ball-shaped mould and fill it with varnish. I have this idea that it would never really set up, but would instead remain this amorphous blob that I could squish around, so long as I didn’t break through the outer, solid crust. Oh, and it would smell horrible, since it would be varnish and all.

I’m on the hunt for interesting personal sites, because I love finding sites with really pretty layouts and then reading all about the person that made them. Then if they have a funny blog, well! I’m just set. Here’s what I’ve found so far:

rogue.essence.nu

I love how it’s very modular, with each section being in a different color that matches the link image on the main page. Her blog’s funny, too. If I had a MySpace account, I’d totally be hitting up her layouts, because MySpace is freakin’ ugly by default.

grumblemuffin.net

The layout is pleasant enough, but what really caught my eye is 1) her entry about guinea pigs and 2) the humorous way in which she wrote said entry. But… I love guinea pigs! Squeak squeak squeeeeeak!

slow-down.org

I really like this layout. It follows the typical image on top, sidebar + main area below with the patterned background, but I like how the labels in the main image hang down into the sidebar. Makes the whole layout feel less boxy. She also has pretty photos for wallpaper.

Tonight, Todd and I are going on a double date with Ashlee and Brent, Todd’s brother. (I feel like I’ve written about this in here before, but then I couldn’t find it. Bear with me if I have–I’m growing forgetful in my old age.) We’re supposed to see a movie and get dinner, pretty basic. However, it was up in the air because Brent’s visiting his parents this weekend and won’t be back till this evening, and Ashlee’s concerned about getting her homework done. It’s also a blind date for her, so she might be nervous. Anyway, I hope it goes well and is fun for all involved. We’re seeing ‘Accepted’.