Printmaking blues, Sailor V manga arrives!, finished Oracle Quest

[BEGUN AT 2:40] Just left Printmaking class. I am getting fed up with my pictures not coming out right. At the same time, I don't want to drop the class, since I can't add any classes right now I don't think, except for open entry/exit classes like the BOT or CIS ones, until the 8-week classes start.

The teacher came up to me at my supplies locker unexpectedly and we talked. He seemed ok with my slow progress and said I just might need more time to pick the right image. (It's a good thing I didn't tell him that in the progress of cutting one of my blocks today I chipped one of the tool ends!)

So I am going to try to find possibly just some image from online instead of trying to draw something. That seems to be what most of the class did. I also may do a background plate in addition to the main plate (or "key plate" as it's called). I may have to have more linoleum cut though, since two of my plates aren't really re-usable (one with my Jalin Chinese New Year picture and one with the pieces from the CYA's Armor of God on it, on which the main drawings turned out good -when I showed the teacher my plates while we were talking, he liked the boots I'd drawn to represent the Shoes of Readiness - but not the writing) and the other two have pencil drawing on them from when I was trying to make more copies of the Jalin picture. I may be able to just erase the pencil though, though doing this somewhat messes up the linoleum. I think I need a stronger eraser. (The ones on my pencils are pretty weak). Besides, I need to save some linoleum for our second blockprint later in the semester.

I just hope that at the end of the semester I end up with enough good pieces for the final! I need 5. I mean, I'm planning on taking the class credit/no credit anyways - in fact, I am going to go figure out how to apply for that before I leave school today since the deadline for doing that is this Friday - but still, I have to have something to submit. Fortunately, we're supposed to be doing more than just blockprints this semester, hopefully, so maybe I'll do better with woodcuts or etchings.

In other news...I mentioned on the 10th that I ordered the Sailor V manga from Amazon Canada. For some strange reason, they were unable to deliver the package to my house. They left a little slip telling me where I could pick it up and such. Today was the first chance I had to pick it up. I left an hour earlier than I usually leave for school and took the bus to the post office listed on the card (having looked up bus directions last night), which was like a 15 minute bus ride away. Then I went to where you pick up stuff like that and got the package. I opened the box once I was on the bus again, and there they were: all 3 volumes of the Sailor V manga, in French. The manga are in nice trade paperback graphic novels, about the size of a normal graphic novel. I was surprised by the size, seeing as each one was like $13 apiece. They did have those cool faux flaps though that they use to make paperback books look like they have a dust jacket when they really don't.

I haven't read them yet though I glanced at stuff on them, like the flaps and some stuff in the back about a Sailor Moon club that I could more or less understand without translation (guess a semester using a French Canadian planner aimed at preteen girls paid off).

I did notice a typo on the flap text though. Volume 1's flap refers to Minako as a lycéenne, but Volume 2's flap refers to her as a collégienne. Aside from the accent error on Volume 2's label - the accented e should have an accent grave (è), not an accent aigu (é) - the labels themselves aren't consistent. The word lycée can be translated to mean simply "secondary school" but usually is translated as "high school." Therefore a lycéenne would be a female high school student. Collège is also considered "secondary school" but is more the equivalent of junior high (which is why the school in Code Lyoko is called "Kadic Collège"). A female student there would be a collègienne.

I just checked a translation of the first volume and it says she is in 7th grade. So the lycéenne one is technically wrong, although the translation I checked translates it as "schoolgirl," which deals with the discrepancy.

Oh well that's just me being nerdy like that.

Anyway the books are printed with flipped pictures, in other words in the way any book of the West is usually printed. Probably just as well.

Okay it's nearly 4. I didn't mean to stay so late. Anyway, really quick about Oracle Quest: I finished it today. Unfortunately, thanks to the interview on PotterCast and some poking around at the series website, I spoiled myself on some details for the next few books. Like that *SPOILER (highlight to see)* Katie ends up marrying the guy she meets at the end of Oracle Quest, who is in fact the World Dimension counterpart of the Prince of the Land.*SPOILER END*

The book was very good, and I'm looking forward to reading the others.

Okay I'm gonna go. I was just going to blog quickly and then work on my new websites for a bit, but I think I will do the website work at home. Not to mention finding an image for next class.

Bye.