It’s that in-between time of year again, where summer is almost over, but school has not yet begun. By my count, classes don’t start for another two weeks, so I’m trapped between wanting to enjoy the last little bit of summer and getting back into “school” mode. I have this dread of going back because I know all my free time will vanish immediately and I’ll be living on Mountain Dew and cheese and crackers for 10 months. I usually start feeling really lethargic towards the end of summer, as it’s usually SSDD (same shit, different day). My brain keeps reminding me of all the things I wanted to do during the break from school, but my body doesn’t want to listen, it wants to stay plopped down in front of my computer playing video games. I get easily bored and have limited patience.

So what is there to do about that? Not much, except to wait it out. A new semester always brings with it new experiences and surprises, not to mention taking a major dip out of my savings. There’s always something going on, which makes life interesting, though very tiring. I have the type of personality that causes me to always want to be doing something, so life at school is perfect because I’m always busy whether I want to be or not. I feel less tired when I have a full “To-do” list than when I am just sitting at my job all day waiting for something interesting to do. I feel more alive and creative when I’ve gotten only five hours of “school” sleep than seven hours of “summer” sleep.

In the meanwhile, I’ve started playing Dungeon Siege again, and have started sketching again. I’d gotten out of the habit of drawing ever since I got a computer of my own, so I pretty much have to force myself to do it now. At times I remember why it is I wanted to be an artist, and I feel great. Machines make things so easy these days that I tend to forget what it’s like to go in there and get my hands dirty doing a real piece of art. Based on my emotional state over the past month, I’ve come up with an idea for a painting, which will hopefully give me a starting point once school begins, as I have another painting class this fall. I did a few sketches for it the other day (which turned out like crap, but who cares) so I at least have the idea down on paper.

Speaking of sketching…I was pointed to a really cool, simple drawing program the other day called Open Canvas. It took a lot of adjustments learning how to use my tablet again, and I’m still not all that great with it, but it is a lot of fun. It allows you to do a collaborative piece with another artist over a network, which is really cool, but I don’t feel ready to do that yet as I feel very self-conscious when others watch me draw (or do anything, for that matter). Soon, though.