And that's week one.

So I finished my first week of classes. I think things went pretty well, all considered, and I'm looking forward to the quarter.

Spanish I'm really going to enjoy. The last two quarters I was being taught by an entirely pleasant woman, but not the best match for me. If I was a better student, she'd be great - she expects a lot of out-of-class, self-propelled work. This new teacher is going over everything in class, and assigns more regular and definite homework than "read over the next lesson, learn it by next class." He assigns actual exercises. Also, he actually goes over each new vocabulary word with us, which will help a lot with pronunciation. With Señora Valencia, we were sort of left to our own devices. Fun Fact: The new teacher is Señor Gracia. Like half of gracias. Like a single thank. Mr. Thank.

English is really going to be something. I feel like the teacher, Mr. John Milton, is a demigod, with a nigh-eternal reserve of knowledge and content. I thought he was awesome at first, and then I was tired of him, and then a little frightened, but at this point I'm certain he's on our side, and just has a lot to impart. I'm making it my goal to try to match what he gets us. If I can manage that even a little, I'm sure I'll get a lot from the class.

Karate I've already been through. I can reconfirm, though, that I'm wicked excited about it.

So I've been in a badish mood the last couple of days. That'll happen at times. Last night, though, I went to Safeway to get some dinner, and on the way put on some Janelle Monáe. Now, Janelle is somebody I was only introduced to fairly recently, and I'm fucking in love with her. I swear I've had The Archandroid (the album of hers that I have) running through my head for a week solid, and every time I hear it, I just want to dance. On the way to Safeway, I did. :D Since then I've been pretty chipper, which is nice.

It helps that I started playing Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. I played the first two games ages ago, and loved them, and the recent addition to the series has exceeded my expectations. Golden Sun I and II were, I feel, pretty innovative for the GBA, or handheld gaming at the time in general. There was a nice big world (GSII especially) to explore, lots of interesting characters, in-town/in-dungeon exploration and puzzle solving, and an amazing battle system that did everything it could to be 3D. It did pretty well too. Now, then, that the series is on a system that -can- handle 3D, it's amazing. The spirit of the game is every bit the same - the character and enemy designs are the same, the sounds are the same, the items are the same, the attacks are the same - they're just all better. Everything sounds better and looks better. Everything is actually in 3D. The summons got a huge upgrade (compare the GSII summon "Zagan" with the matching GSDD summon). All in all, I'm just thrilled to be back in that world (having played the first two games, the story is very satisfying so far), and happy to see the series get the upgrades it deserves. (I can't help but wish, though, that it could be a 3DS game. I have this awesome new system, but none of the release titles appealed to me, so the astonishing new feature is the only part I can't really enjoy yet. Oh well. Minus the 3D, it's still like...a super-powered DS, which is fine for now.)

So I've been playing that a bunch the last day. It'll probably take up a bit of my weekend too, along with an assignment for English. My real goal for this weekend, though (beside maybe cleaning Merrillspace) is writing a poem I started. I don't write poems super frequently, but I'd like to do it more than I have been. When I do, I like to share at The Canvas, which is an open-mic show for any sort of performance hosted at The Sunnyvale Art Gallery, which is basically art-shit central. It's a combination art gallery, art shop, art class center, florist and cafe. It's great. So I like to go perform there when I have something to share (which isn't often, hence wanting to write more). This poem I'm working on is called "Flower who Dared." It's about a daring flower, of all things. Hopefully I can do that in the next two days.

For fun, here's the last poem I wrote (and performed at The Canvas). It's called "Disease:"

Don't touch me

Don't even come close

God, the thought of your hands

Probing, invading

Back off

It's my space

I don't want your disgrace on me

Though, to be honest

I'm worried you'll see mine

We've all got 'em

Care to share?

Here's my disease

What's yours?

No, you won't tell me

Because nobody shares

Because nobody cares

To discover what's there

Lying hidden

Below our public skin

So you play it safe

And call yourself a stranger

To others

So strangers to you

Won't hit the jackpot

With a first furtive glace

Isn't that it?

The way that things

Are always going

When others are showing

We spend out time knowing

And don't bother growing

No, we judge

Assume

Condemn

And all in an effort to

Get into Heaven ourselves

Too bad we sell our souls

To do it

Walking around

It isn't easy, y'know?

Not at all

Walking around

without ease

Without...no, with

With dis-ease

Walking around

Diseased

And we all are, aren't we?

Here's my disease

What's yours?

Degeration?

Cancer? Love?

Indifference? Concern,

Some mix thereof?

No, you won't tell me

Because as soon as I think I know

I'll assume

Or so you assume

That's my assumption, anyway

Maybe I'm wrong

Maybe you're wrong

It's not like we know

We haven't even met

But maybe we could

Maybe we could shed

Our public skins

Chat a while

Share some stories

Share some worries

Share at all

How novel

We could share

Except for one little thing

One thing I refuse to let happen:

Don't touch me

So that's that. We'll see how this thing about the flower works out. I'm also working on a new song (I play piano, did you know? Of course you did. Only Jessica reads this, if anybody), which I'm excited about. I'm not rushing that, though. I can't really. It was a year between finishing my second-to-last song and beginning my last one, and it took six months to finish the most recent, so...yeah. That's just something else I've got going on that makes me happy.

That's about all I've got for now. I think I'll start thinking about dinner, or something. Later.

Oh, PS: So it looks like this blog has had some views? I'm pretty sure the only person who really knows about this is you, Jessica, if you're even keeping up with it. It also looks like it was linked from some webpage on online education? wtf. I dunno. I'll take it. Hey there, random Internet-goers. Hope you've enjoyed your visit.