“tek knits”: tek1377 on Knitting

I am crawling out of the dark recesses of my college cage to bring you a little notice.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, I have recently begun a secondary blog to cover my new fascination with knitting called “tek knits” (the banner is pictured above). There is also a new page on the “The Turnip Cube” menu to reflect this addition. I debated just including these posts/images/etc. here, but I decided that keeping the two separate would be a good idea. After all, not everyone is as interested in knitting as I am. And, for those who are, there is a blog solely devoted to that.

I very much intend to get back to regular blogging. I am by no means abandoning this blog by adding this new blog. Keep your eyes peeled!

“tek Sketch” Issues

Recently, I launched “tek Sketch” as a digital sketchbook and source for inspiration. This blog is currently hosted at Tumblr, and I am having some slight issues.

I was using the Queue feature to stock up on posts. This feature allows you to have posts staggered over a period of hours or days to help keep the blog consistent and active. When you finish writing posts, you can add them to your queue, and it schedules the post for a day and time to post. At that time, the post goes up automatically.

In my case, I had the Queue set for two posts a day. For two days this system worked perfectly. I really liked how consistent it kept the posts: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. As of this morning, I had about five posts in the queue.

But when it came time to post this morning’s post, my Tumblr ate the post. According to it, it never posted the post to my blog, and my Queue claimed it was still there, but it wasn’t. This post was a lost cause. I retyped it and published it immediately without any problems. I contacted their support system and politely let them know of the problem. They were grateful and very professional about the whole thing.

So, I decided to change from having things in my Queue to setting a post time. I checked a few minutes ago, and my post I set for this afternoon was eaten much in the same fashion as the previous post. I decided to just give up, and I posted the final three posts to avoided losing them too.

From now on, I’m just going to have to try posting twice a day until I have a chance to test the system again. I know Tumblr was recently having site issues, and I hope this is just some of that. I really enjoy the setup of the site. It makes “tek Sketch” effortless to operate. I just hope this feature gets fixed soon, because that was the most efficient part for me.

In the mean time, I’ll to my best to keep “tek Sketch” running smoothly.

Hello, Winter Break

It’s the most magical time of the year, aside from summer: Winter Break. My finals are done, my classes are over, and the only thing I have left to do is whatever the heck I want to. So now that I have a little more time, let’s get down to some explanation.

Where have I been?

I have mainly spent this semester starting up the Admissions Blog for Winona State University. I’m currently the captain of the Admissions blog team, which includes creating schedules for the blog dates/topics/bloggers as well as creating actual post content. It’s been incredibly fun to be a part of! And though it’s still a work in progress, I am really grateful to be a part of it.

What’s this “tek Sketch” thing all about?

I have finally decided to try Tumblr. It will not replace “The Turnip Cube”, since I enjoy having this space on the internet that’s pretty much all about me and my joys in life (art, journaling, writing, etc.). Instead, it is intended to be an artistic complement to this blog.

The name of this new, complementary blog is “tek Sketch”. It is, in my mind, a digital sketchbook, which I will use to post works of my own and the works of others (properly attributed, of course) both from the real world (or non-Internet Land) as well as from the internet in the hopes of finding inspiration for my own art as well as attempting to inspire others. In addition to drawings, sketches and other forms of artwork, I hope to feature writing, photos, video, music and anything else that is inspiring, whether because it is liked, disliked or just downright weird.

I am unsure how successful this is going to be. Heck, I don’t even have a single post yet! But when have I ever backed down from a bad idea?

Until next time!

Mid-Finals Week Rant

I know I haven’t updated in a while, and I haven’t posted a non-Plinky powered post in an even longer span of time. I apologize. In a future post, I will briefly explain why this has been so. But for now, I have bigger fish to fry.

This is how I feel. Except I'm not a guy.

I am in the middle of finals week at Winona State University. This, in itself, is not so bad a thing. What I really hate about finals week is you’re just so darn close to being done with everything and being able to move on to things you want to do. For example, I had a couple of really great classes this semester which allowed me to focus on my love of comics and my wish to pursue them. I even have gone to far as to plan and begin sketches for a web comic. Unfortunately, class assignments and lack of time have prevented me from going further.

Now, classes have been going steady over a course of three or so months. This means (for someone like me anyway) that by the time one gets to the end of the semester, one just wants to be done with it. But then, a little thing called finals week comes along, interrupting one’s desires.

This is the case with me. I want to work on my web comic. But I can’t because of my remaining finals. And the amount of work I have left leaves me also in tears. The part that makes it the most frustrating is that all of this work must be done within the next 40 hours. After that, I will be free to do what I please for a whole month.

It’s just the getting there part that’s so difficult.

Spiders

Finding a big spider in your room is never a fun time (unless you happen to love spiders). I found one a couple of days ago crawling across the items I was planning to pack for school. The resulting action can be found below, but I revel in the irony that I am now prompted to write on the very subject of reactions to large spiders in bedrooms.

spider-Web-Luc_Viatour

I apologize to people who like spiders. I find them very frightening (though I do appreciate that they eat insects). But, being a big arachnophobe, I can't deal with the big creepy crawlies in my room.

If I find a big spider somewhere I am passing through, I will leave it be. Or, for example, if it's in a corner of a room I spend little time in, I don't bother them. But, when they are crawling around out in the open of a room I frequent, I generally go for the kill.

And I do feel guilty afterwards. But when I look at them (in pictures and in real life), I start to feel anxious and aggravated.

This is how I am feeling now. Enjoy the abrupt ending to the response.

Primary Crayons

Lately in my art classes, I have noticed I have a fascination with the primary colors: red, blue, yellow. Much like the artist Piet Mondrian, I enjoy using primary colors and square or rectangular shapes.

Red
Red is a strong, powerful, passionate color. It is the big brother (or sister) to my favorite color, orange. When I want to make a statement, I reach for red.

Blue
Blue is somber, cool. Unlike red, blue is used for a contrast effect. Whereas red makes a statement, blue tones down the composition. In essence, it takes a screaming piece and transforms it into a dance.

Yellow
Yellow is bright, happy. Compared with red and blue, it adds an accent to both of them. They are quite an odd trio, but an effective one nonetheless.

Today is Extraordinarily Mundane

This is a special day in history. I'll celebrate by doing completely mundane things.

Japan Expo 2009 Souvenirs

10/10/10

I will read all of the current "Silver Diamond" manga by Shiho Sugiura (7 volumes).

I am going to start working on notes for Nanowrimo 2010.

I played Gamecube for the first time in a long while. Some games I played: Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Animal Crossing. Will probably follow up with some Harvest Moon: Magical Melody later. Not sure right now.

I will most definitely either be watching Land Before Time or M*A*S*H (or both).

I will eat a homemade steak and cheese quesadilla.