White Winter

Snow. Funny that it always ends up snowing the most when you don't have the opportunity to enjoy it. After warning of the impending conditions for the majority of Wednesday, "Blizzard 2008" held off until very early morning of Thursday. And Blizzard it was. I woke up to a fresh coating of about 4 inches which is massive for the Seattle area (although barely a sprinkle in places like Minnesota which spend time in this weather in shorts [see recent How I Met Your Mother]). During the day, the white continued to fall, which was pretty cool since I had forgotten how cool it was to look out into the woods covered in snow. Took some pictures (something I still need to get loaded onto a computer... sorry) and spent a lot of time watching the white world. A little before noon I shoveled the gate to the neighborhood a little so we could prop it open (so anyone who had driven out could make it back home) and it is surprising to me about how acclimated I am to the weather now, since not a month ago I was in Venice being chilled by weather not nearly so cold. Odd.

I kind of want to race around through the woods on my mountain bike. Maybe tomorrow that will have to happen. Especially considering the fact that it might snow even more Saturday night. Quite the snow for Redmond this season. A white Christmas might even be a possibility. How fun would that be (except for, you know, the whole relatives coming over and potentially getting stuck in a ditch kind of thing...) And my brother, stuck over in Pullman finishing his quarter at WSU has to deal with getting over the pass to come home tomorrow. Hope he can get over (I need him to tell me what he wants for a gift still!).

Well, I hope you (reader) are either able to venture around or snowed in with loved ones so that you might best enjoy this time. Sorry I haven't been able to see everyone yet (since getting back to Seattle), and if I don't see you soon, hope you are having a good winter!
Play in the snow now, why don't you?

Snow Drift

Back in the Northwest, I am happy to say that winter actually exists (although apparently since leaving Rome it has entered the monsoon season [which i think is usually a spring thing...], but that still isn't winter...). The weather is crisp, and yesterday/overnight it has snowed! Always fun walking around and listening to the crunch of ice under your feet. We also went out into Snoqualmie and bought a Christmas tree yesterday! Now we just need to clean off all the snow and get it into the house... haha, that might have to wait a little while.

The other day I was heading into Seattle to meet up with my roommate Mark and some of our friends to see My Name is Bruce, which was playing at the Varsity theater. The movie was funny in typical b-movie way, and the best part was that the Man himself was there and fielded a few questions after the film! Awesome. The FUN part of my story comes earlier though. After getting home from Europe, I found out that my car had just sat the entire time I was gone (should have figured and disconnected the battery before I left...) and as a result, completely dead. So, Thursday evening as well as much of Friday was spent charging the thing, and finally I got it going to head to the Sandpoint Gallery to visit my friend Kristen and see the show she had going. Little did I remember that you can't drive from Redmond to Seattle between the hours of 6am and 8pm without getting stuck in traffic. Nice, but it gets better. Somebody decided to break their car toward the bridge, and as a result I spent 3 HOURS waiting to get to Seattle. So, as much I was wanting to see Kristen and her art, that plan died. And with the movie that we had pre-purchased tickets for at 7pm, I almost missed that too, getting to my apartment at 6:35! Needless to say, I was not happy with how traffic had treated me. Just another reason I can't wait to get on the bike again.

Final pieces of info; Went wine-tasting yesterday and saw all my parents' friends (and answered "how was Rome?" like 10 times...), finished downloading some cycling films that I am looking forward to seeing, and today I am baking (so I plan to make some tasty granola and some go-lean crispy bars!

Hope you guys are all having a good mid-December! Ciao!

Settling In

Being home, it is amazing at which the rate of routine takes hold. Familiarity sweeps over, and things become second nature again. Even though I was gone for nearly 3 months, I had no problem navigating these places I was so accustomed to. After a day of relaxing and doing little chores around the house (like cleaning up my luggage) I went out to dinner to meet up with my roommate and good friend Mark, and my other good friend Kyle. It is good to see familiar faces and while we talked quite a bit, it is becoming obvious that there is a lot of catching up to do! Friends have moved around, my work-buddy-turned-friend Carson bought a new sweet car (gotta check it out sometime, this guy just keeps getting new cars...), people have drifted apart a little. So many changes!

After dinner we went to the Best Buy to pick up some cheap shit and also ran into Mark's gf and my other roomy Aly. After the blow of surprise at seeing me, we chatted about when I am moving in and other little things about the apartment. It will be interesting to move over, and be back in Seattle (which will be nice for hanging out with friends, but likely be worse for getting in good rides and also commuting to work...). Speaking of work, I am currently updating the old resume and throwing together a nice little portfolio for the jobs I can hopefully get interviews for (thanks Emit and Matt!).

Glad to be home, now I just need to get everything rolling smoothly again!

Homecoming

This is my official last post from Italy. This isn't the end though, as I have decided to continue the blog stateside, and just let people have a little insight into my life. I finished packing yesterday, and managed to haul all my gear over to the Rome Center, so life is pretty smooth sailing. We had a final group meal yesterday and many of us said our goodbyes. It has been a great few weeks and I am happy that I had the chance to meet some of these people, and also I have been veery happy with the support that the faculty have given me. One of the students, Cliff, recently put together a website that covers the final show including pictures and video. http://despeaux.com/saprxiv/SAPR_Final_Show/Main_Floor.html
I think that the show went pretty well, and it was nice to finish the project.

I am ready to be home, and I keep thinking of what I will do and what I want to see, and all those crazy things. Obviously I will be a little out of it, since I get into Seattle at the equivalent of like 1am here in Rome. But, I should be able to catch some zzzs on the plane so hopefully it won't be too hard to make it through the evening. Once i am back on track I kinda want to pedal around a little (obviously nothing crazy since i've been out of saddle for awhile), and I also want to spend time with my family. Friday I guess I am going to a movie in Seattle with Mark and some other friends, so maybe I will figure out a way to make Friday my friend day or something. You know, catching up and shit.

Rome and Italy in general has been great. I loved Brussels. I wish I could have found a place that sold jerseys here, but at least I will be coming back with my sweet treasure one. I can't wait to get back into pace at home. I have to set up interviews for jobs and also make sure my graduation is all in order. I also can't wait to see Izzy and also just be with my parents and my brother. I miss all my friends, but at the same time I will miss the people I've come to know here. I guess there are plans to keep in touch, so we will see how they go. I am coming home. Every minute is a step closer. Can't wait!

Finally, here is a cool video I found the other day of one of my favorite cyclists, mr Jens Voigt. I love the part where he talks about his body and his brain. I completely know the feeling, and his way of talking about it just made me smile. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UncELpyKQLU

Alright. See you all soon. Ciao!

Show Time

We knew it was coming, but I guess some people just didn't understand how fast. The day is here. Show time is tonight! After cleaning up the studio (which took a long time because apparently some people did jack-all yesterday) we got about to setting up our finals in the conference room (main show room) and then also hanging up drawings and other work in the now clean studio space. Seeing as I had prepared everything and even had my piece hanging in the studio yesterday, my work for hanging stuff was incredibly easy. No hassling about what to use, or how to put it up. That was what yesterday was for. Anyway, all that is left now is to wait for people to show up, stand around and answer questions I guess, and then go home feeling happy that the work is done.

The work is done. Crazy. Just a few more days. I need to make sure I get all the little loose-ends finished before we are shipping out. Yesterday the architecture kids left, so we got a preview of that game. It should really be noted by the free bin that it is for things people might want, not a place to toss your trash. While I have found some cool free food and stuff in the bin, yesterday we found a open carton of milk, some dried out nasty ravioli, and some other assorted crap. Seriously.

Time to get things done. The show will be nice, and I am already happy about seeing what everyone has been doing. Hopefully there will be stuff worth mentioning in the next post. Ciao

End of an Era

Yesterday was the last day for working on the final project. That being said, I spent pretty much the whole time I was in studio working on my background (I was already done with the actual piece, thinking ahead is fun), and it was a good thing that I gave myself the time to do this because I probably put about 4 hours of playing around in and still wasn't happy (although I had figured out how I wanted it set up, and figured out the hanging issues). This morning was when it all finally came together. I had planned to just make my quite red paper less bright so I thinned out some black ink to do a wash. Unfortunately, too dark still (at least compared to my plan). What ended up happening next was an odd mixture of working the paper and adding layers of the ink mixture. The result is a crazy texture and irregular surface that does a good job of popping the art off the wall while also defining the location. Nice, and sorry for going into the details. Anyway, the rest of this morning was studio clean-up with a lot of things being trashed and work being stored away and whatnot. I had brought my camera to studio earlier today to take photos of all my work, but I think I am going to try to ship some home with my luggage. Since I had my camera (and still plenty of storage) I decided to pop off a couple shots of the studio space. So, then post clean up I just had to do a few more. It is funny to look at the sets of photos and think about how they are only separated by a short time period. Looking at the cleaned up area, I definitely thought about the time here in Rome as almost over. I need to make sure I get off my ass and hit up all the things I still want to do. In less than a week I will be back to WA and it was funny to read that the weather there is slightly warmer than here! What the heck is going on. Why is everywhere still warm? I actually spent all of yesterday in a short-sleeved shirt. It is DECEMBER! Anyway, I guess it is a good thing for me... More cycling! I think that is something that has to happen when I get back. That and driving. It has been awhile since I thought about it, but I miss my car. Today's internet time started with email from nwmr2 telling me I had a private message. Wow. So, head over to the board and after a few tries, logged in. With that step I then spent a good chunk of time with cars and even forced myself to get headphones so I could watch 1:42:08 and a Forza2 drift video that were on autoblog. Cool. So much to do when I get home. Just a few more days here. I had better go enjoy them, huh?

The Final Stretch

Here I am, only 8 days left in Rome. Hard to imagine that it is now December. And by that I don't just mean because the weather is so silly here that I have been walking around in a t-shirt outside no-problem. I mean more that it just seems like time has flown by. I arrived in Italy before the start of October, and while this blog didn't begin until a little while back (so you can't re-live all my experiences here) it just seems like this period of study has gone by with amazing haste. I have traveled to many places, seen many things, yet there always seems to be things that I missed, things I wish I could still do. I wonder how things would be different if I was here for even just another month. Where would I go? What things would I make an effort to do or see? At the same time, as with any away-from-home experience, I am ready to be back with the people I care about and the things I miss. I have gotten to know a group of new and unique characters, some of which I will try to continue to see back in the States (others I will be happy to hopefully never come in contact with again). I feel that my time here has been helpful to not only show me how quickly one can become acquainted with new surroundings, but also how I can do things that I wasn't sure I was ready to do. Traveling into places that are unfamiliar is always challenging, but realizing through experience that you can navigate through a new place (even one that doesn't really cater to your language) without too much trouble was amazing. I made an effort to experience new things, break out of habits, and also see artwork and architecture that is famous and incredible. And, as the days left here come to an end, I think that I made the best of my time. Sure there are things I wish I could have done, but those will always exist, and one can always hope that they have the time and financing to finish those journeys in the future. With my mind set, I look forward to my remaining days here, confident that I will be able to squeeze out the few things I have left to do. Final project, you are almost done. Chocolate shopping, give me a few hours. Home, I am on my way.

Sorry that this post seems so much of a conclusion. I guess my mind is ready and my hands just went along with the train of thought. I will keep you guys up to date as these few remaining days draw out, and I hope that I have nothing but good news left for my final posting from Europe, which I assume will be posted on Monday. Keep on reading friends, and I hope your roads continue winding.