Once again, an ungodly amount of time has passed since I last updated my journal. At least it wasn't over a year this time, though.

Big updates: I'm done with my undergraduate education! Four years of study have rendered upon me a degree in Engineering: Mechanical Specialty. The other big news is that I have been accepted to Northwestern University to pursue a Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering! I will begin attending this fall for probably two years, depending on how long it takes me to finish my coursework or (hopefully) my thesis. Expect to hear more on this thesis work as I find out more.

As far as this past semester has gone, it was really busy but very rewarding. I worked on a senior design project with five other members, two of whom were and . Our project involved controlling a power wheelchair with thoughts and brainwaves using Electroencephalography (EEG). It was a ton of work for all of us, but we were actuating the chair using EEG by the end of the project. It is an indescribable feeling, to work on a project for so long and have a working prototype by the end of it. Especially when it involves brainwaves.

Over this past semester, I also decided that I need a new, more jazzy bass guitar. On one of our days off, and after a lot of research and playing on different basses, I went out to Guitar Center and bought myself a Fender Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass V, which is a sexy-looking 5-string bass with a natural finish. Oh my god, it feels so amazing, and plays so smoothly.

Anyway, expect some pics of my bass at some point in the future.

Finally, a bit of an update on my art submissions. I know I don't post very often, but I do have a few ideas. First, I hope to have some cool prosthesis/orthosis SolidWorks deviations to upload in the future. Maybe some weapons or something, but I need to find time to do those in the first place. Second, I've had an idea for an original story for a while, but I've never had the drive to do so. What I'm hoping to accomplish over this summer is to finish my fanfics and get those all out of the way, then begin fleshing out a plot and characters for this story. Expect to see a couple of character bios uploaded over the summer. Aside from that, I also recently wanted to try my hand at writing in a film noire style, so we'll see if anything comes of that.

Third, and probably most obvious to those of you who actually pay attention to the deviations I post, I seem to have taken a bit of a satirical view of deviantART with my last couple of deviations, and I do plan to continue this for a while. Specifically, I want to do some research and see what sorts of subjects are most popular on deviantART, so I'm trying to organize how I want to quantify this. I have an idea that and are at least two of the most popular submission on dA, but I'd like more ideas. Therefore, if you have any further suggestions on what you think the most popular searches/submissions are on dA, please let me know, and I will include them in my research.

That's all I got for right now. I'm sorry I haven't been more active in posting art, but I hope to become a little more so in the future.

Peace out,
~JoeCoool

People that I watch:





YouTube Account: [link]
Slap Bass Video: [link]
Bass Duet Video: [link]