Back from a Break!

So after a winter break + 1 week of "J-term," I'm back. J term basically means having one week to solve a problem; mine was cheating on tests, which I was supposed to solve.

Creativity... ahh, how I missed you. I learned how to make iMovie and hide cameras in bookshelves and eavesdrop. <3 Agent Anya, reporting for duty!

This month, I want to focus on book covers. I used to be on inkpop.com, where I sometimes wrote stories and edited others, but I LOVED to make book covers. So it irks me a little when I see published books with, well, not-so-great covers.

Besides other artsy endeavors, I will be starting: Critique of the Week, where I critique and/or redesign covers that I don't like. This will probably be only a month since I really want to do other projects-- as much as I love books and Photoshop.

Anyway, long time no blog!! :) I will be back to commenting on IC, Mellywood's Mansion, etc. this weekend.

Happy creating~!

Done :)

I am done with the senbazuru. Approximately 4 months, 4 days, and (APPROXIMATELY) 4 hours have passed since I begun.

Pictures to come.

I hung them from two headbands... again, this will make more sense once pictures are posted, but there were these small wire twisty things meant to fix it to your hair/scalp. Instead, I used them to tie the strings to. Now, I just have to tie the headbands together. They kind of form an infinity symbol, which I really like.

So proud of myself. It's been a long journey. I'm debating to fold one last non-mini (all of my other ones are teensy) crane and make it 1,001. Thoughts?

Merry belated Christmas! It's been forever since I posted because I have been folding like CRAZY. I folded 75 cranes today. Also, I stabbed myself with the needle a ton when I was stringing and then dropped the headband on my foot when I was hanging. Yes, I am clumsy... *sigh*...

I hope everybody is having a happy holidays filled with good weather, smiles, and joy. I really want it to snow here because now that it's gone, well, I want it back. Snowballs, forts, angels, and sledding, I want to do it all! Preferably before winter break ends.

xx Anya

Artsy Literature (again)

i lost myself in
september.
felt myself shatter 
tiny little pieces, i think

your necklace hung
a promise, burning my
skin with the lie. I felt
the silver chain,
was tempted to break it
like it had broken 
me.

Isn't it funny, the way
words are so small.
infinitesimal, really 
a slice of life in a world
too big for humans. 

 you lost yourself
twice: february, then
again, september.
 
isn't it funny the
way you hear them
and you stand, silent
knowing they have
changed you?

we betrayed each
other without even
knowing it. words. an
almost apology in 
the air. a quiet
acceptance, from both of us.

the next time you feel
yourself falling, reach out to me: let 
me feel the warmth of your skin
the weight of your world. let
me take some of your burden--

the next time you are lost
can we be lost together?
-
This is for my English portfolio. It's for/about one of my good friends, who has a few family problems, but is such a sweet, kind, smart guy. :) Thought I would post it. Also, goodbye, finals!! Hellooo, Winter break!!!!!

Day of Silence

Sandy Hook

Tomorrow, my school's service club (me and many good friends) are holding a sale to raise money for Sandy Hook. This money will go towards counselling money, money for parents to take a leave of absence for work, funeral money, memorial money etc. We are selling candy canes wrapped with ribbons. The ribbons will be worn the rest of the week in Sandy Hook's school colors (green & white) to show support for the brave people of the school, relatives, and those affected.

I'm swamped by finals (it's the end of the term) and haven't had time for ANY crafts projects! However, I'm looking for little bits of fabric, clay, beads and other for my little village, which will be started after my 1000 cranes are done.

While I am struck by this tragedy, I am still amazed with how people have come together as communities to help Sandy Hook. Today at least 75% of my school wore green & white, the Sandy Hook Elementary school colours, while 5% wore blue & yellow by accident--the high school's colours. Wow. Hope, teamwork, and understanding will never cease to amaze me.

I went to the concert last night of the locked-out orchestra of our state. It was amazing. Beethoven's 9th was played (and as a classical music dork, of course, I was about to die of happiness!) and it was amazing. Again, in awe of the volunteers & supporters of the orchestra that came together, selling t-shirts, buying concert tickets, making buttons, yard signs, stickers. I have never clapped for that long-- the conductor and solo voices came out at least 5 or 6 times! So many standing ovations... and I was of course elated because I have never heard Beethoven's 9th performed live, with a chorale and everything.

Excited to start on a Christmas present for family friends when winter break begins!! For now, off to studying the Great Depression...

(p.s. Tomorrow is the Day of Silence for Sandy Hook, bloggers! participate, please!)

School Shooting

Imagine what it must feel like. Panic. Fire. Blood. This is a school shooting; this is what happened today at 9:40 a.m. in Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, USA.

It's not the pictures that kill me, surprisingly. It's the numbers. 27-- 20 kids, 6 teachers (including the principal, I think) and the shooter himself. I cannot even begin to express the grief that the whole nation is feeling right now. You know what hurts? Not paper cuts, not skinned knees. It's the fact that these kids' futures have been ripped away from them. Ages 4-10, these kids will never experience school dances. The first day of high school. Physics. Graduation. College. Professors. Weddings. Jobs. I mean, all it took was somebody with no right to pick up that gun, no right to fire it, "100 rounds" as one parent who was there described it. This is more than gun control, debating, or blaming Obama... this is more than a political brouhaha. Put away your arguments for a moment. Just breathe. Grieve for these lives lost. For all the futures that will never happen. For the teachers who aspired to make these children better. Pray no matter your religion. For survivors, parents, anyone directly or indirectly affected by this tragedy.

I guess this is learning about life. Another part in Anya's Learning How To Grow Up. The director of my school announced it today. She was choking up. Crying, almost. She said: "This could have been any one of us. You are all so precious...I know you think that when we have lockdown drills, it's just a silly precaution, but then something like this happens and it's not."

The weird thing is that I am not at all directly affected by this...not my school, relatives, friends, teachers. And yet I can feel. What's that emotion called? Long-distance sadness, maybe.

Today, I fold cranes for Sandy Hook. :)

Coming Soon: Pop-up cards are beautiful!

What I've learned, 2012

740 cranes! The picture doesn't reflect mine at all, but whatever, I guess. Every crane is beautiful. Every crane feels like a little bit of hope...folding is therapeutic, in a way. I'm almost testing myself. The clock is ticking. Paper, paper, paper. We love and we live, and this is a way to go beyond myself. Origami? I've never been good at drawing, or art in general. My fingers haven't started hurting yet. I fold during class, while I study, eat, read. I do better in school now because I can work with my hands. I'm a kinetic learner: I need to feel. Sometimes I even dream of cranes. I dream that they float down in the wind. I dream that they tell me to keep going, that I am close, and that it is worth it, this project, that has taken me months, that I have doubted myself over, that I have wondered if I can do this. 100 became a goal, 200, 300. And I realized that I would not stop. Not unless my family friend's disease was cured, although what I fold for is bigger than a cure. It is bigger than a violin. I fold because cranes are a promise. One day, I will write a letter, fold it in a crane, seal it in a biodegradable bottle, and throw it out to sea. I think of all the words I haven't said... I fold. Cranes are my constant, my rock, my life vest. Because this year has been hard. Not just this school year; since January. Divorces, runaways, surgeries. Sometimes I wonder if I've made the right decisions. I guess cranes have become more than cranes. Because so many things have betrayed me this year. So many things have gone wrong. But through it all I can fold. It's like the way I practice music, except that for once I can hold something tangible.

740...

I forget to count sometimes, just fold, surprise myself at the end. 60 more, I tell myself now, and I'll only have 200 left. My friends offer to help. Really, this is something I feel like I need to do alone. I wonder, when it comes down to crunch time--next week--what will come out of this. I wonder what it will look like when I'm done. I'm procrastinating on stringing again. I've learned so much: in awe of the kindness of people who fold me cranes and are my personal cheering section, in awe of my own strength, and in awe of my mom, who persuades me to persevere.

Thank you to all the people who have helped me with this project. It is so much more than a piece of paper-- 1000 pieces of paper-- and so much more than a gift. It's ending soon. What will I do? Who knows? I don't. When the phone rings I hope it's not bad news. I am wary of surprises. I don't believe in romance novels anymore. I watch my friends, hoping they're okay. These are all the things I have learned to do this year... When 2012 ends, I know I will have learned the good too. I do believe in miracles now. The power of dreams. When a friend is in need, I will rush to their side. I know life better. I live, I love, I dream, I hope.