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So, more on my Digital Projects Lab job at the UNT Library. I am transcribing letters in both Spanish and English from the Lorenzo de Zavala archive for the Portal to Texas History (amazing guy and first VP of the Republic of Texas!). His son, Lorenzo de Zavala, Jr, was aide-de-camp for General Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto and acted as interpreter between he and Santa Anna! His letters reveal an affectionate and articulate man, as well as one intimately involved in Texas history. This project gives me urges to check out books on Texas history, visit the Alamo again, and write letters to my grandparents, all at once!

A bad typo can completely change the tone of a sentence, as proved by the example below. Replace "important" with "impotent," and it reads quite differently...
"He [Santa Anna] told his captors to conduct him to the Texan camp to confer with General Houston to whom he had important things to disclose."

Interesting note on transcription: one of the ways I figure out words that I can't make out from context or by looking at similarly shaped letters in other words, is by tracing the word with my finger, to figure out how the hand was moving when it was written. For some reason, this often helps me to determine whether a letter is a "r" versus a "s," for example, by figuring out what direction the hand moved. I don't know why sometimes this is easier to figure out kinetically than visually, but I guess whatever works is valid!

...And right, I'm also painting a nursery mural right now through my business, Snazzy Decor. This particular mural is incredibly immersive, due to the fact that the client painted the entire room, including ceiling, a light aqua-type blue, and also because I painted a wash of dark ultramarine blue that fades from dark at the bottom to light where the wall meets the ceiling, all in an irregular, watery-looking wash. It makes the whole room very effectively seem underwater, and I am incredibly tempted to do the same in my own bedroom.

So far, I've also painted a border of sand around the bottom, a section of coral and an octopus (yet to be finished), two dolphins (one finished), and a six-foot-long blue whale (almost finished). I've got a lot more fish and coral to add, plus some things like a treasure chest, seaweed, and a turtle. Hopefully I can somehow accomplish the rest of this by mid next week, so that I can return to a more realistic pace of two jobs and one course. (Eek!)