"I put my new shoes on and suddenly everything is right"

If there was one word that could describe how I feel right now it would be "Awesome." Now yesterday this was not the case. So let me explain how I got to feeling awesome.

Thursdays are hard. Yesterday was no exception. However, instead of eating dinner over my studio desk, I decided yesterday morning that I was going to go home and take a two-hour dinner break. So after history class I went to Rand, handed over some material to be laser-cut, and headed home.

Then, on my way home I remembered that Thursdays are free beer tastings down the street. So I dropped off my backpack and headed down to the Green Street Tavern / Ithaca Coffee Company. Like wine tastings, pretty much everyone is happy and having a good time at a beer tasting. I actually had an interesting chat with a farmer but I'll get back to that.

I returned home and still had plenty of time to make some dinner, watch a TV show or two. Then around seven o'clock I catch a bus back up the hill and walk back to studio.

I picked up my stuff from the laser kids and got to work gluing. In about an hour and a half I had made an Awesome model. My classmates even told me it was Awesome and at this point, I really start to feel Awesome (the beer tasting was just a warm up).

I finished my drawings and got out of studio at the Awesome time of 11:30pm (most of our studio was still there and about half were still there when I came back this morning). Deborah told me that I was her hero. On my way home I talked to my Awesome girlfriend and got an Awesome amount of sleep.

Now here is where it gets good.

Do you remember what it was like to be a kid in an art class? Anything you did was good enough. Well, studio often feels like the exact opposite of that. Nothing you do is good enough. And that feels like getting punched in the face... three times a week. Pop-culture accompaniment - Buster: "Oh that is what it feels like to get punched in the face."

Today Jim picked up my model in front of the class and said, "John. I really like this. I really really like this." Two 'really's!!!

Anyways, as I was walking home I stopped at Fontana's shoe store in collegetown and purchased some all weather boots. My vans and converse have not been cutting it and I was desperately needing some waterproof footwear. The farmer I met at the beer tasting had given me one piece of advice, "Keep your feet dry." So I bought these boots and they are BOOts, rated to -25 degrees Fahrenheit. I put them on and felt pretty hardcore but also... Awesome.

AND IT IS A FOUR-DAY WEEKEND!