It has been an eventful day.
Really it has. Okay, so maybe I haven't left my dorm since I returned from lunch...

This morning, I had my "provisional honors admission oral exam," or whatever they call it. (I think it's provisional jumping through ten hoops of differing diameters and heights, or something.) It was a little nerve wracking. I get there and my advisor walks in "Oh, I'm sorry, Erin, I forgot to bring your paper." She means my paper for class (which you may remember from last week), and my heart sinks. In the past few days, after learning and examining more of Locke and Rousseau, I have concluded that my paper had serious problems. But, no. She liked my paper. She wants a copy of my paper to keep.

(Note how Salli mysteriously changes tenses between paragraphs.)

Anyway. Maybe this should have reassured me, but it had the opposite effect. Slowly the other professors arrived, and there were sat spread around a table that would hold 20 people. All four of us. Then, they invented complicated questions, such as "so, there's this problem that has been central to the debate about truth commissions, which serious scholars can't agree over... solve it, please." When one professor started his questions by saying how much he liked my paper (this would be my thirty page paper from last semester, not the one I did last week), I nearly had a heart attack. One could just hear the "But..." The whole thing eventually segued into a discussion on how I might proceed with the topic. (They think it would be just great if I included a long section of theory. Which, around here, I suppose I should have predicted.)

And then I had to leave while they confered. The problem with waiting like that is that the longer it takes, the surer one is that they're trying to figure out how to break the bad news. Fortunately, I had a book to keep me from going completely crazy. You already know the end. I did get accepted—provisionally, of course.

After lunch, I returned to my dorm and haven't left since. But I've been doing things. For example, my roommate and I made ourselves dinner. (Not the sort of thing one does often in an ill-equiped—and usually dirty—dorm kitchen.) We had pasta with pesto and (for her) tomato sauce, plus breadsticks. There were way too many breadsticks even after we invited our CA to join us (have to get rid of all that food somehow!), but we managed to give most of them away. It was delicious, and a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I like cooking, but it doesn't happen often at school.

And now, as if that wasn't already more than enough for one post, I'm going to share two of the dolls I've been working on lately (I know I'll never get comments if I don't). Hopefully you remember Rayna, who I introduced earlier. Her area is water—particularly fresh water (this is where I first used the division that applies to Ivaité and Vrezhe at the Forest), but any water will do.

Among other things, Cari can't drown. This talent comes in handy when her boat gets caught in a storm along the coast. She's the only survivor, and she is rescued by a ship full of big, brawny sailors who don't exactly have clothing in her size. She doesn't remember who she is or where she came from, which is convenient, because, by the time she realizes that she's technically betrothed to a (rather minor) local prince she's very nearly married the ship's captain. (Who, incidentally, is the sea water person.) Any of my other characters I'd suspect of dissembling, but Cari wouldn't do that sort of thing. She is, however, not above going ahead and marrying the aforementioned ship's captain, before anyone has a chance of making her do anything else.

Actually, at this point in the story they've already picked up Rayna, who probably suggested it. Rayna is very sneaky, and she could surely convince poor, sweet Cari that her father and fiancé wouldn't really mind. (Not that Cari doesn't have a backbone, but she only uses it on special occassions.)

Just so we're clear, the rest of the storyline isn't (quite) as corny as all of this, but it is a Great Epic Story, and this sort of thing is rather inevitable.

Anyway. After doing Cari in baggy sailor clothing, I had the urge to draw her in something more interesting. (I have no idea why. Doing hair like that produces serious eye strain.) Being a court (or at least very formal) dress, it was supposed to be more elaborate, but it didn't cooperate. You would think my own drawings would cooperate, but no. Note how several weeks at sea produces a nice tan?

I've been trying to go through all of Sarah's bases, but there just wasn't one that was right for what I wanted to do, so I chose a base from Swan Lake.

Two more ladies, and we'll have the entire female cast of the story. (Well, the main characters, anyway.)

~Erin, 8:53 PM