Call Number: 140A. 1-5.

If you haven't already heard me harp on about The Sketchbook Project, this is the post for you. Basically, you sign up online (pay a small fee) and the lovely people at the Brooklyn Art Library (yes, that's in New York) send you a sketchbook for you to fill, personalise, re-create... etc. Then send it back to Brooklyn, where it gets a call number (incase you're ever in town and want to look it up!) and then all of the registered sketchbooks from around the world go on tour... around the world! And just the other day, I received a much anticipated email...

And since I had received this thrilling confirmation email, I decided to look on the "Digital Library" (an optional [paid] extra feature) to see if mine was up yet. Kids, this was one of the most deflating moments of my time. Some people are crazy talented... & it seemed that ALL of them had taken part in the Sketchbook Project. No, mine still isn't on the Digital Library, but you know what? (Hindsight #2:) Who cares. I'm freaking famous. I have some original illustrations touring the world this year.. and then after the tour, MY sketchbook, the one I created, is going to live in the Art Library in New York! YEAH! 

She's back?

"Well, it's about time" I hear you saying (some of you, perhaps).  No? No one? Great start. I have don't know how I stumbled upon this dusty old URL, but I felt that I had some catching up to do. And while uni holidays and unemployment has left me crippled with boredom, I'm hoping that this might be the cure I've been dreaming of.

Yes, you read correctly, I am on uni holidays. That would make me a uni student. (Proud much?) Yes, the 16 odd months break from "Strawberries and Suncream"means that a whole heap of change has occurred without  my documentation. How fascinating would it have been for you to witness and laugh at the high-school-drop-out going back into study mode after 5 years of full time, mind-numbing retail. Yeah, you missed out on a lot of laughs. Or did you? Now that the dreaded first year is over, I now own a precious gift: hindsight. We know this already, right? Things are way funnier looking back at them. Or maybe you just "had to be there."

Try using your imagination, and laugh anyway. 

Hindsight 2011 #1: First day of uni. Being on my Ls meant that I had to catch public transport to uni. 2.5 hours later (as if this isn't already hilarious!), there are countless ways that I embarrassed myself and that others embarrassed themselves. One girl tried to make friends with me by saying "How IZ YOUUU?"... We are not friends in case you were wondering how that turned out.. And who could forget the classic moment when it's half way through the class and you realise you're in the wrong room. Not to mention the time you slip on the wet brick pathway and flash the outdoor smoking section and the entire left hand side of the library your least flattering pair of underpants. Or being so nervous for a presentation that you stutter the first 2 minutes of it, panic because you've got another 18 minutes to go, and BAM! GET A HIGH DISTINCTION BABY! (I seriously don't even know how I did that...)

I propose that this year will be a year to laugh at yourself, regardless of how awful it may be at the time. Or laugh that it's not happening to you. Or laugh because it is happening to you! Just think, "this will make for a great story".

There shall be more instalments to come of "Hindsight 2011" as I remember them. But let's not dwell on the past.. I have my 2nd year of uni coming up!