dude, it, uh, snowed...

My brother, nephew, and niece came to visit this weekend, which reminded me that we live in Boston. Neal and I don't get out much, but family in town is a great excuse to explore a little. New experiences included dinner at Blasi's in nearby Adams Village and a visit to the New England Aquarium. I think everyone enjoyed both, but parking near the aquarium is a nightmare. They only validate the nearby parking garage tickets with aquarium membership, which is probably less than what we spent for admission for three adults and two children, plus the $29 parking garage fee. Ouch! Oh well, hopefully with each visit or excursion we'll be a little wiser.

Speaking of life in Boston...it snowed last Saturday. Mmm-hmmm, that's right, snow, that white fluffy stuff. When we were planning our move east I thought my first New England snow entry would be a little later in the year, say during winter. I'd call it "Dude, it's snowing," I told everyone. But the day of snow (during which I met my old boss for lunch and then worked through the afternoon and evening, hence, no time to blog) was followed by a week of sun and temperatures in the 60s, so it was, as have been, I've been told, all the other crazy weather patterns in the last two and a half months, quite "unusual," just like the heatwave during our arrival in Boston, the ten or so days of nonstop rain in October, and, now, the early snow. However, I've already lived here long enough to not question a week of "unusual" Bay Area-like weather. I'll take it!

And before, as Lewis Black complains, "a wind blows and we're stuck with twigs for six months" (or something to that effect), above is a close-up image of fall foliage outside the main Museum School building. This image doesn't do it justice, but it really is as amazing as everyone says...

In other news, I'm feeling a bit stalled in the studio. I tend to get involved in process for a couple of weeks, but once I complete a stage, I have a hard time maintaining that momentum. Here's a re-assembled image of some of the fragments I've been working on over the past few weeks:

Based on this kind of work, I've decided to register for digital photography and screenprinting next semester; I hear that's a killer combo and think screenprinting's the logical next step for me. Maybe painting really is dead. Anyway, I have yet another individual critique tomorrow so perhaps that will inspire me to move on with this stuff. And at least I have over a month to make some progress before my semester review board on December 20th. The late review board gives me over two weeks without classes to spend some quality time in the studio. Nice...

Finally, in an update to my last entry, I finally had a chance to watch a couple episodes of this season of ANTM. I'm hoping my viewing will be able to continue because the show is, in my opinion, back on track. Last season was filled with empty, immature, and not terribly attractive model wannabes, but this time around they seem to have collected a group of oddly self-conscious, sensitive, and quite lovely gals. There was a glimmer of a catfight brewing on the next episode, but for the most part, the girls seem to immediately self-reflect on any bad behavior toward another competitor while still making for good television. There's little in the way of diva attitude for Tyra to break down. What will she do??