Politics

So in general I have always disliked politics. I never had the patience or the interest to sit down and educate myself in the world of politics, and have used that as an excuse to just keep my mouth shut. But as this Health Care Bill is passed and I watch the explosion of opinions about it, I find another reason to not like politics, the contention. I've never handled contention well. I would get in fights with my sisters when we were younger and after a few minutes of shouting, I would always break down into tears because I just can't handle the contention. So when I see the alarmism and hateful things said about our president over this bill, I just want to shut down and retreat into my room until it blows over. I do not think Obama is a perfect man, but he is my President and deserves my respect. I think he is doing his best to help this country change for the better, and though I don't agree 100% with absolutely everything he does, I still support him, because he is my president. He is trying. Our government is here to protect and help us, so why are we fighting against that? It just upsets me to see the hate and discord that is filling the air and seeping into people's homes. I don't like it one bit.
And that's all I have to say about that.

So I feel a little disappointed, but mostly sad. I was on facebook this evening and discovered that one of my girls from EFY is pregnant. Unmarried, underage, and pregnant. This is a girl who is just so smart and beautiful. I remember watching her glow as she bore her testimony, not only in testimony meetings, but during lessons as she answered questions and constantly applied what we were teaching to her life. It just breaks my heart to see such an incredible girl make such a poor decision. But what hurts the most is the title of the album she posted with ultrasound pictures. She called it "babyyyy :)" and then I saw her status "Some of you already know, however some of you don't...buuuuuuuuut I'm having a baby!! :) I had my first ultrasound today, pics very soon :) I know this wasn't exactly the right order, but Jake and I are making things right and we're getting married this May :) We're so excited for our new family!! ♥". What hurts me is the smily faces and the hearts. How excited she is for this. I don't think she understands the gravity of the situation. I am glad that she is making the best of it, but it just makes me sad. I'm just so grateful for the atonement. I know that this sweet, vibrant girl can be clean again as she deals with the consequences of her actions. I hope that she and her fiance work together to be sealed to their little baby someday. I just hope for the best for her. She deserves the best.
And that is all. I guess I just need to vent a little tonight.

Google overload

In my painting class we're in the process of starting our self portraits, which means I haven't even stretched the canvas while I ponder what exactly I want to put on my imaginary canvas, but as a part of that we were given a four page list of artists to look up and research. I know that she doesn't expect us to look up each and every one of the bagillion artists, but I wish I had the time to do so, they're just so fascinating. So as I google artist after artist tonight I'm experiencing a little bit of search overload. I'm excited to go to the library tomorrow and actually get my hands on some books to whittle down my thought process. Anyway, so seeing as how I'm a little google-fried I thought I'd look up something non-painting related. Who knew hunky Christian Bale could sing so sweetly as a child.

Tired

So I had a painting due yesterday for my class, so of course the week before I was busting my fanny to finish it on time so most everything else took a back-burner for a while. For a little explanation, the project was just to paint a still-life on a 3'x3' canvas, but for each square foot it had to be treated differently. For example, in one square the marks reiterated the picture plane, and another had a different color palate, or explored depth of field through edges or saturation, etc. So each square was different, but made up the image as a whole. It was an interesting and challenging project. It was like doing 9 different paintings all at once. Anyway, so despite being so weary of still-lifes I really enjoyed this painting in some ways. This is the first painting I've done since I switched majors and I felt so much more motivated to work on it than any other similarly tedious painting. It felt good to paint. I would come home from the studio with my legs aching and my feet sore, barely able to focus my eyes after standing and staring so long, but it was a better tired than anything else. It was a happy tired. I was physically worn down but emotionally, mentally, it felt good to have been painting.
I will post a picture of the painting as soon as I get around to taking a picture of it, but in the meantime I will be happy for a little break this week, but hopefully tomorrow we'll get more details on our next assignment. I hear it's a self-portrait which really, really excites me. I've wanted to paint one for a while but haven't had the time to do anything outside of school. I'm excited enough to be hoping I can get started during spring break, which is unheard of for me to start an assignment early. So we'll see how that pans out.