graduation pics

Okay, so I'm not the fastest about uploading these pics. But I'm hoping it's a better late than never sort of situation. These pics are mostly ones that I took on graduation day.

Facts about the day...
over 7,500 students graduated
Bill Clinton was the main speaker
90 degrees
4 hours of sitting directly in the sun



This pic was from inside the field house were the graduates gathered before the procession. A tent was erected outside the field house for additional students since we could not all fit indoors.



We walked out of the field house and crossed the street to the stadium. They had to close a street down for the procession.


We're walking...



we're walking.



There were 10 processional lines. We were told to be very careful and follow the right person, but... um... as you can see it's a little tough when we're all dressed alike.



We entered onto the field from the same tunnel the football players use.



A view from the field...



My view from the stands...


Can you see Clinton on the stage? ... me neither. Luckily, they blew up his face on the score board.



There are more pics on other people's cameras. These are all from my perspective. I hope you enjoyed.

I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A VERY DULL BOY. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.

fini

I am done. So done. Quite done. Yeah! I'm done.

I will graduate from college Sunday. It's weird - everyone asks me how I "feel." Truthfully, I don' know how to feel about being done. There is a sense of relief and an odd absence of guilt. But other than that, it just feels like I have too much free time. I watched tv for like 5 hours straight yesterday. It was sad really.

My mind has really begun to worry about not having a job yet. I've put out a pathetic amount of resumes, but I have yet to do the big push. I'm having my resume reviewed today by career services. So hopefully tonight I can put out more resumes. I guess I feel like I'm in limbo. Waiting. In the mean time, I'm working my part-time job this week. Putting in like 36 hours this week. It feels like a lot, but I know it's not really.

Things to do:
• iron out graduation robe since it looks like it's safe to take it out of the bag now
• clean the house for graduation guests
• do laundry
• start working out again
• find a full-time job to support me and my husband - hopefully in a better lifestlye than I've become accustomed

graduation

I havent' finished yet, but graduation is June 10th.

Anyone who wants to attend is welcome. Please visit this website for more information.

http://commencement.osu.edu/

Wish me luck in finishing up...

and so it begins

This week is the first week of classes. It is hopefully my last first week. The weather has been so lovely, and so far I have enjoyed walking around campus again.

My week hit a snag yesterday though. I went to my World Urbanization course offered by the Geography department which fulfulled some silly Contemporary Issues credit that I need to graduate. This class was a disaster. It was not what I thought it was going to be about. This 70 year old man comes in the room speaking softly with a thick Russian accent and begins to discuss Geography as a mathmatical logic based system. He put up a x,y graph and said Pr=P1/R, but I had no idea what this meant since I couldn't really hear him. I tried to take notes but the lecture was disjointed and I couldn't tell what was important.

Several people got up and left the room within the first 20 minutes. I stuck it out for an hour before I decided this just wasn't for me. I ended up leaving too which was difficult since the door made a terrible slam whenever someone used it. But I bucked up the courage and reminded myself I was usually not so rude as to do this to a prof, and I left the room. I immediately found a computer and began looking up alternate classes.

I decided on an Anthropology course in technology and cultural development. It will be a lot more work with a term paper at the end, but at least I think I'll show up to this class. It's at 8:30 in the morning which I haven't done since I was freshman, but I really didn't have a ton of options on the second day of classes. An 8:30 my in my last quarter... I must be nuts!

she did it and I helped

He's here! He's arrived. It's time to get the party started. Neonapple delivered her baby nearly a month early. But all is well and he is doing just fine, thank you very much. I've not been given permission to post his name, but all of you in the know already know anywayz so no complaining...

The new family is quite tired and Neonapple and her husband and trying to find a new balance still in their new family. I guess each new family has to reinvent the wheel on that one. I have some pics below.

They say childbirth is the most forgettable pain. I just hope I can forget all that I saw too!

Have a good one people....

all in a days work

It's been a while since I posted so I thougt I'd try to make this a good one with some pics. I'm on break now, but I still dragged my butt into work today. I had thought I was going to continue with this awful assignment that made the previous work day quite long and tedious. However, I was delightfully surprised to find my task was reassigned to someone else. Whoo! Hoo!

So I got to work on fun stuff today instead. The first is a flyer for a music concert. It's not too wild since it's a classical show put on by music students, but since it is meant to appeal to students between the ages of 12 and 18, I thought I'd try to make it fun. The second is a poster I made for the office. March is National Women's History Month. (Yeah, I didn't know we had a month either...) It's really big. I think if I remember correctly it's like 3.5' by 5.5'.

french vacation

I did it! I did it! I finally finished all the French work I had for the quarter. In 2 weeks when I start a new quarter the bar will be moved again, but for now, I'm done. I get a nice little vacation from all that work.

I've been working like a crazy person the last few weeks and it is getting close to paying off. With all the French work done, I can concentrate on my final art quilt. (VJ - it's os my grandma, mom and great aunt. I am reusing images from my photo class last year.) It's a sad project for me since it features my great aunt who passed away this summer. The quilt is due Monday so I have a lot of work do on it.

After that I won't have anything until 10 days later when I have my last final! sweetness.......

light at the end of the tunnel

This past week was very busy for me. This next week is pretty full, but only with a few things that will need my concentration the most. I was able to cross a ton of things off my list. After my exam today, I will really only need to focus on two projects this week.

One: I am making a sort of quilt for my final photoshop project. I have the file ready to go, but now I need to break it up into squares which I will print on transfer paper. Then iron that onto fabric and sew the whole thing together. The sewing shouldn't be too bad... If I can't iron onto a single peice of fabric, I'll break it up into 4 large squares and then use the sewing machine to make it look like it's a bunch more squares than it actually is. I'll take a photo at the end to show you. This is due on Monday.

Two: I have finished reading the French play I've been working on. I have to write 3 more compositions about it. (I've already written 5.) I then need to study and get ready for a test over the play next week. It'd be nice to take the test this week, but I can take it as late as Wednesday next week.

Things I accomplished (in no particular order):
• laundry
• dishes
• read the play
• wrote 5 compositions on play
• studied for comm exam
• bought shower gift
• wrapped shower gift
• went to actual shower (since I had to allow time for this, I count it as a thing to do)
• began work and planned out final photoshop final
• made additional French appointments for next week
• filled out the husband's fafsa application for next year (yes, for some reason, I am in charge of this)

school update

This should be an interesting week...

I just handed in my third photoshop assigment. (Seen below) it was a mapping project.

I have a communications exam on Wednesday, and before the end of the week I need to take a French exam. I really should have worked more on this stuff last week. But, I procrastinated, of course. I also need to find time to do some laundry, clean the kitchen, and buy a baby shower present.

Ugh. Wish me luck.

eye candy

I spent a nice little weekend with the significant other. We saw Childres of Men (liked it) and You, Me and Dupress (pretty good). It's been a quiet week for the most part.

I have attached some images from my last digital art assignmnet. It is from an assignment called Technolandscape. I was supposed to address the idea of technology in our lives. The subject matter isn't very successful, but the images are pretty.

enjoy.

scraping the bottom of the barrel

...er. um...

I don't really have anything super to report. I just figured it was about time I did an update. After all, Librarian has been to Seattle, Quiltbug is rounding home on a major project and neonapple has set up her nursery. I'm feeling rather unaccomplished. I've just been pluggin' away at school. I had a test on Monday. (exciting...) I took a French test today, and I have the oral tomorrow. (I know you guys never get sick of hearing me complain about French...) And I have an art project due on Monday which I am 63% done with. I'm keeping up I suppose.

I'm still waiting to hear if my academic plan has been accepted. I could get an email letting me know any day now, but I won't start to worry until the middle of next week.

So basically I'm scraping the bottom of the bloggin' barrel here people. Blogs, I guess, are meant for people with more exciting lives than me. I'll try tomorrow to put up some pics of stuff I'm doing for work or something tomorrow. I don't have any images to post here on the library's computer.

So keep your fingers crossed my next blog will have actual content...

not a good idea...

I drove to work today. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I mean, it gets me to work in the morning fast. So that is good. But, I usually have to ride a bus back to the car at the end of the day. Which seems redundant to me. I could just take a bus home instead of the two-legged journey of bus then car. Anyway, I digress...

So I am taking the bus to my car. It's after 6 pm. (I'd just finished taking the first half of a french test. I got a 93% but I still have the oral on Thursday. Again, I digress...) I'm on the bus on the way back to my car. Well, my mind begins to wander, and I miss my stop. So I get off a the next one. But! this means I now must walk the length of the parking lot to get back to my car. This is about the length of two football fields.... in the dark... by myself. This just screams after school special doesn't it? I had to do it though, or else it would have been 30 minutes to ride the bus back around the horn. Besides it was only 6 pm and not midnight. Right?

Just so you know I'm fine. Nothing to report at all. I need to be more careful so that doesn't happen again...

finalize your syllabus people

So I spent all day on Monday working on my homework. I got a lot done and was feeling good about myself. Then I went to hand it in (online) only to find out the instructor changed the due date to next week. While normally I would have appreciated any extra time I could get... I'd finished the darn thing. So I was left sitting on my hands. If I'd know it wasn't going to be due, I'd have worked on my French instead. So I'm behind in French and ahead in art.

Below are the images I made for class. They are meant to satire the advertising/marketing of the pharmaceutical industry. Enjoy.

*cough* & *snifle*

Back in the saddle. School is back on. I'm already feeling behind.

If all goes well I should graduate this Spring or at the latest Summer. (If I'm really close to graduating, I'll suffer through some summer classes I suppose.) But until then, it's the grind for me.

I'll write more later, class is starting and that clickety noise of the keyboard might come across a little rude to the instructor...

feet dragging

My office is having their holiday party. The other student assistants are gone for the break. So it's just me. I'm not good at socializing. I don't' want to go down their again... Well, I forced myself to go to the auditorium where they are having this shin-dig, but there was such a long line for the food... I bailed and headed back for my desk. All I want is get my free food and hide out at my desk for a while. Is that so much to ask? I wish I were one of those gregarious, outgoing people that don't need a month to get comfortable with people. Even people I know a little make me nervous. Plus, I hate that awkward small talk junk. I'm not good at it anyways. Okay, here I go for attempt 2 to get some food... wish me luck.

happy holidays.

relief

What a relief.

I went into this past weekend in a terrible mood. Due to some sort of mix up and a misunderstanding, I thought I was totally screwed over in French course. I missed a couple of appointments with the French department. (I'm taking a French course where you make one-on-one appointments instead of attending a regularly scheduled class.) Now I knew I'd missed these 2 appointments, but it was the first ones I'd ever missed and you are only penalized if you miss a total of 4. Due to some mix up, the department thought I'd missed 2 previously and those plus the 2 I actually missed brought me to 4. So they dropped all my appointments for the next two weeks. Well, school is only in session for another two weeks! I'd would be near to impossible to get all my work done. With no appointments, I'd have to wait around their offices in hopes that someone wouldn't show up for an appointment. With the end of the quarter looming this seemed unlikely to me. Then as if that weren't bad enough... I got a friendly reminder email from the department reminding me that all my French work had to be completed by Wednesday - a week and a half early! Now, I'd sat down with one of the grad students and made out a schedule of the quarter for myself and at no time did she mention this deadline. Well, I was in quite a snit by Friday. If I had to pass two French tests by Wednesday (with no appointments!) I would have to get cracking. I locked myself in the library Friday night, but things looked bleak.

Luckily on Saturday afternoon, the assistant director of the French department responded to my frantic emails and told me not to worry. He fixed it so I could make appointments again and told me the Wednesday deadline would not apply to me. Whew! I am so relieved that he could get back to me over the weekend. Everything is right with the world again.

The only down side is that I have to reschedule new appointments for myself. My previous appointments where all given away during the one day I was without my privilege. This puts me a little behind scheduled, but I am in much better shape now than I was on Friday!

dead end internet?

The internet is like one big, long, never-ending magazine. I'm not all that crazy about magazines. It's a lot of disposable information which tends to either be too trivial to remember or so timely it's outdated in a month. I don't want to bash too hard though; the internet is a wonderful source of information. It is my yellow pages, my movie directory and the host of most of my correspondence. It provides up the minute accurate information about goods and services. BUT when I sit down at the computer and star at the keyboard, I don't know where to go. I sort of click my tongue, my eyes roll around the perimeter of the screen, then I go and check my email. How is it that people (by this I mean my husband) can spend hours on the thing? What is there to do?

I am going to ask you guys to please let me know your favorite(s) website(s) that you would think I'd be interested in...

I'll go first, this one was given to me by Quiltbug's husband....

http://www.angryalien.com/

tricky lighting

It's been a busy week. For once I was able to back-burner French which is good because I've been working a lot on my 3-d assignment this week. I had to create an interior space in Maya. I have attached pictures below. The lighting is bad because I didn't know what I was doing, but I'm proud of it. The teacher really liked it. I made a movie moving through the room, but it was like 120mb file - a bit large for a blog. So you are stuck with the stand alone picks. I'm toying with the idea of redoing the lighting and then trying to render it out in MUCH higher detail, but of course, it will take much LONGER and be much BIGGER files. We'll see if I have time.





I'm thinking about skipping my class tomorrow. I usually don't skip, but I'm really tempted since we have Friday off. That would end my week on Thursday at 4pm.

that's not right

Okay, this isn't right. I just witnessed the oddest thing. So I go into the ladies room. A woman follows me in... eating an apple. First of all, why would you eat in the bathroom?! Not right #1. Then she jams the apple into her mouth and proceeds to thoroughly wash her hands. Then with the apple still jammed up into her mouth, she uses the restroom. So she has food in her mouth while she goes. Not right #2. Then, and this is the kicker, she leaves the restroom without washing her hands again. She grabs the apple out of her mouth and begins to eat again before the door to restroom is even shut again. Not right #3. AND, this is a full-grown adult woman I'm talking about here. She wasn't a student! I think she's an advisor for heavens sakes.

That is the grossest/craziest thing I saw in the ladies room all week. Number two (no pun intended) was hearing a girl on her cell phone while using the facilities. Where, oh where, has our bathroom etiquette gone?

happy halloween

I wish I had a costume today. While I haven't really had the time or the creative energy to work on one, I wish I had made one. Heck, I wish I'd gotten the ol'Halloween decorations out. I haven't even done that. Really the only celebratory thing I've done this year is eat too much chocolate already. Which isn't a necessarily good thing... It's raining today. I hope it doesn't last too long so that the kiddies won't have to trek thru it. The best Halloweens were when it was cold enough that the leaves were falling, dry enough to cut through yards and warm enough not to have to wear a dumb winter coat. How many great costumes are ruined by a winter coat!? too many, that's what I say.

At work today there was a costume party. I thought the best costume was this guy who came as a bartender. He wore a tuxedo shirt and bowtie. But the best part was that he BUILT a portable bar for himself to stand behind. It was complete with a mirror behind and the bar and attached stools in the front. It was quite elaborate. The other costume I liked this year was some kid who wore an Optimus Prime costume. He clearly made it himself. I was quite impressed with that as well. Maybe next year I can be Optimus Prime?

check it out <-------

Please check out the hubby's new blog at sketchscape!

parlez-vous francais?

me neither...

Bonjour! I hate French. Well, that's not true. I hate learning French. Yes, that is much more accurate. I've painted myself into a very fine corner at the moment. I have until Friday to learn an entire chapter of French. Why, oh, why did I procrastinate this! I should have been working on this all weekend! --or at least on Sunday for heavens sake. I am currently locked in the library. I'm sure my pounding on the keyboard is bothering all the acctually studious students behind me. Well, screw them. Wow, this keyboard is very clicky. I kind of like it. It makes me feel like I'm typing really fast.

i've said it before...

...and I'll say it again. I hate throw away design assignments. I'm sick of creating logos for myself. Whether it's my full name or just a symbol, I keep getting this same assignment by various teachers. Here is my latest (and NOT greatest) version of my own personal logo.

If and when the day comes I actually need to make a logo design for myself, I won't be able to take it seriously. It's like interior designers who live out of moving boxes for years and never decorate their own place. Or the computer programmer who doesn't own a home computer. Or the elementary school teacher who doesn't want children. Sometimes the things you do for work just seem like work when you have to do it for yourself.

a moments rest

I just took my second French test (or as my good friend calls them my "freedom" test). The 2nd of a scheduled 10. I passed so I am going to reward myself with no French homework tonight! This is quite a treat, let me tell you. Even yesterday (Sunday) I was at the library studying French. So lucky me is in the computer lab preparing to actually do some work for my other classes. This is good because I've neglected them a bit as of late.

On an unrelated note...
I am so excited! It totally is feeling like fall now. The leaves are changing and falling just a bit. The weather has turned and there is that fall smell in the air. All I need now is some hot cider from ye ol'Starbucks and a pumpkin for my porch. Not that I have a porch... it's more of a stairway, but whatever. OOoooOOh, let's pretend to that I'll get some of those dried corn stalk things too for the the "porch." I love autumn.

UGH!

I'm going crazy. I have back pain today. I guess it all started a few weeks ago. I think I did too much driving over a short period of time, plus I spent a few nights on a rock hard bed. After that my back was a little cranky in the morning, but it would be fine for the day. Now is a different case. I think helping Neonapple build a bookcase this past weekend put me in worse shape. I was okay yesterday, but today is a different matter. I feel like a creaky old lady. I'm in pain. I went to webMD.com for some advice. They said to continue my routine for the most part. Apparently bed rest can make it worse. And I'm supposed to ice it for a few days and then heat it for a few days. Ugh. I can't wait to get home. Work is done for today, I'm in class right now. All I need is to make it to my individual French appointment and decide how ambitious I'm going to be with my homework...

tomorrow

The first day of school is tomorrow. I will actually know somone in my design class. A guy I work with is taking the same class. It will be good know at least one person during the day. Then I have a nice long break and then French. EEk. Then after French I'll go to work for a few hours. It'll be a full day - especially since it's also the husband's birthday tomorrow. Speaking of which, I need to wrap a certain present!

Wish me luck.

an intern looks back

Well, today my internship ends. While I wouldn't go so far as to say I learned a lot, I would say they paid me decently for my work. They didn't pay me all that much, and I didn't work all that much. It all evens out in the grand karmic circle of work. This summer has felt rather blurry. I don't really remember all that much of it. I felt like I spent most of my time running between my two jobs. The daily grind. I'd forgotten how easily it is to fall into it. When I think about my last job which I worked at for 5 years, I can see how easy it was to just stay there. You get caught up in the rhythm of it, and you don' t even notice.

I'm looking ahead now. The nice thing about being a student is that the rhythm of life changes often. It keeps you on your toes and makes you pay attention to what your doing. (Unless you're drunk half the time, and then the reverse is true. Being that I'm not much of a lush, it doesn't apply here.) So in a week and half my classes will start. But for now, I'm going to enjoy a week's vacation.

later, gator

busted again

Okay, I just got caught by a supervisor doing nothing again. I was checking my personal email this time. He came up to me and asked if I need anything to do. I said "yes, please. I can always use more work." Which is so totally true. I'm sick of asking for more to do which is why I didn't today. At least he didn't catch me checking the Sims2 message boards or checking out bravotv.com for more Project Runway dish. I'm such a dork...

tried and true

Well I guess no one really liked the "lies" of my previous email because I didn't get any comments. And don't we all judge out success by the number of comments we can generate? So we'll go back to the tried and true, where I'm "honest" and what not.

It's such a rainy day here. I want to crawl back into bed and listen to it rain on the roof of my apartment. BUT truth be told, I'd like to be in bed whether it's raining or not. It seemed especially hard to drag my butt out of bed today. It's so creepy when I look out my wall of windows and see such a gloomy scene. I swear it looks like evening out there. Nothing makes the day seem longer than everlasting evening.

I have a new obsession to add to my list. There is an expansion pack to the game I play all the time. The Sims2. Okay I don't play all the time, but I get re-addicted to it every few months. Well they've set a vague release date of "fall" for their pets addition to the game. All last week I re-rechecked their website for a firmer date than "fall," but couldn't find much other than some people speculating on message boards. So each day I check. I'm such loser... I know you don't have to say it.

finally someone's updated this stupid thing!

Been a rather blah week. Not much to write about really... So because my life is so boring, I will proceed to lie to you for the rest of today's blog. This is your only warning of my upcoming deceptions.

I am so excited about my upcoming vacation. Brian and I have been traveling so much over the last few years, but this trip should really take the cake. We're going international and taking a tour of non-American English speaking countries. We've been planning this for so long now! The first week we'll be in jolly ol' England. This should be a pretty good time of year to go there. I wouldn't want to go when the weather would be too rainy after all. The only thing I think I don't want to do there is go on that huge ferris wheel thing they've got. No way is Brian getting me up on that thing! Week two we'll be going to Australia - down under! My travel agent has found the most wonderful outback style spa and resort there. A week of relaxation and massages. I can hardly wait. I know we'll be quite jet lagged when we get home, but it will be worth it. Wish me bon voyage!

headache

My evening last night was dominated by a headache. Even after taking (over the course of the night) 8 aspirin, the thing still lingered there on the edges of my mind. I hate that. My original plan for the evening was to take some pictures of the area for my sister and then work on a feelance job. But when I got home I had this sh!tty headache, and Brian asked if I wanted to go to the movies. At first I said no, but I was in such a rotten mood, I said f#ck it, let's go. Besides he has to work the next couple of evenings so we couldn't hang out together again until maybe Saturday. We saw the Will Ferrell racing movie. (P.S. very funny) While my mood improved considerably, the high volume setting on the theater didn't do much for the original headache problem. Then when we got home, I had to get to work. I ended up working on my project until 1:30 in the morning. Doh! I paid the price for my procrastination!

So anyways. Here is a look at the project from last night. A woman I work with is on the Cheerleading Boosters for her daughter's high school. She needed buttons to be made up for the Boosters to sell at the football games. The school's colors are black, white and silver which translates to grayscale in other words. But the individual class buttons, I made color for fun. And the football teams unofficial anthem is AC/DC "Back on Black." If they hate the colored ones they can print them black and white. So here they are...

pockets of time

I am guilt free blogging today. I completed my assignment from yesterday, I have alerted my bosses that I am available for a new one and now I wait. The weird thing about being an intern is the lack of responsibility. I don't have a large on going project that is my responsibility to monitor and get out. I just sit here and ask for work when I'm out. Part of me likes this and thinks that is just fine (It's the same part that sees my paycheck every week.) and part of me wishes that I were like the permanent staff with a clear and defined roll in the system that is making a school text book. I'd have a deadline or goal I'm working to achieve (...and a bigger paycheck to go with it too.)

Then on a completely different note... I am looking forward to school starting again. I want to walk around between classes and enjoy the fresh air. I want to dress comfy and sloppy and be fine with it. I want to sit on the bus and read instead of having to drive myself to work. But of course, when you check back on this blog after a few months of being back at school, I'm sure I'll be wishing it were all over too and I were back at work. I just can't be happy?!

DOH!

You can disregard the blog below pretty much. I forgot I have to work on a freelance piece tonight and tomorrow. DOH! How could I forget! So much for free time...

work bloggin'

I'm trying to get back into my work bloggin' habits. I just can't find the drive to blog from home... so keep a lookout and let me know if you see anyone coming....

The house is now empty of house guests. Of course, this means it need a fresh round of cleaning. With 4 people instead of 2 in a confined space, they house got twice as dirty, twice as fast. I was looking around the messy apartment last night, hoping that my guests would just try to remember how tidy the joint had been upon their arrival. Good first impressions hopefully will win out over last impressions.

What will I do with my evening tonight? The procrastination over school planning and French studying can't be put off any longer. BUT I'm in the middle of the last Harry Potter book, so we'll see who wins this power struggle for my attention tonight. Plus this will be the first night to just hang with the hubby so maybe we'll see a movie or something. Who knows. Life is once again an open book!

messy is in the details

Well, the husband really pulled through! He did some serious cleaning of the ol'homestead. Which was fantastic. There are some details that still need handled. You know, I walk by the dead plants on our porch every day and don't even notice them. But I'm thinking a guest might...

BUSTED! I am blogging at work and a supervisor just walked up with a co-worker I've never met. He needed some papers and wanted to know how far into the project I'd gotten. DOH! Clearly I must get to work now. Ugh.

growing concerned

Two days until I have a houseguest. EEeek. Well the curtains wont' be done in time, that's for sure. The hubby said he'd clean the house, but he's been working a lot lately too. I think we'll focus on the critical areas of the house. Originally I wanted to clean my bedroom too, but that's out. I'll have to stick to the main rooms. Wish me luck because all I really want to do when I go home is veg out. I need some down time bad!

I'm also not getting enough sleep. My brain feels extra sluggish and I had to DRAG my butt out of bed. I was late for work, too. It's never a good day, when you open your eyes in the morning and you don't feel like you've gotten any rest.

I'm in a bit of trouble with the hubby I think. I tried to reset our computer passwords the other day. Quite frankly I'm just sick of typing it in. So I tried to make it so that the computer would just stop asking. But I must have skrewed something up for him because I was shaken awake and bruskly asked what I had done. I fixed it before I left for work which also contirbuted to the lateness. Oops. I hate all the passwords I have to remember!

countdown

House guests are coming on Saturday morning. (I think it's Saturday... I still need to get some details.) The house needs scrubbed a bit. It's not messy, but dusting and vacuuming need done. Plus a good hosing off the bathroom would be good too. The hubby swears up and down he'll do it all himself, but he really only good at getting the big chunks. Dust doesn't seem to phase him too much.

Other than that, it's just another week of work for me. On the home front, I'm re-re-re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book 5 to those not in the know). Man, I do love those books. Partly I'm reading it because the library put a hold on my account until I paid a fine. (Hubby's fault on this one...) The fine's all paid and I'm back in the black with the Columbus Metro Library, but I started this old favorite, and it's keeping me busy before bedtime. I really look forward to reading these books with my children. I'd like to try and read one a year with them as they grow up. What a nice concept it is to read books about children as they grow up. Anyways, enough Harry Potter rambling...

I need to buckle down and get to work. I enjoyed myself this weekend, but now I've got to get some freelance work done!

new show

Okay, Brian and I have a new show we watch. I'm sure you've seen the commercials for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Brian and I have started watching it. It is hilarious!! I want you all to set your dvr and tape this show.

My other new show I think will be a little harder to get you all into, but... It's called the Venture Bros. on Cartoon Network. It's about a genius government scientists, his two sons and their bodyguard assassin. One of the two sons look suspiciously like the bodyguard which they never explain. If you're feeling adventurous one night, give this show a chance.

Thank goodness for the ol' drv. I love taping stuff. I don't have time to watch stuff when it's usually on so it's perfect!

Oh, how nice. They have turned my computer so that no one can see what I'm doing. Not that I'm being all that bad, but before you could see my screen the whole time you walked down the main hallway. They've turned my desk so that it doesn't face the bright, bright window. True people can now watch me sitting at my desk as the walk the length of the building, but they don't know what I'm working on as they approach. I can check my bank statement without worrying that the whole office knows my balance. Plus as an added bonus since I'm no longer facing the unshaded window, I don't have to squint the whole day. I was getting worried I'd get added eye wrinkle lines. Now that I'm approaching 30, eye wrinkle lines are more of a concern than they were before.

I made some progress on my list. I got my oil changed yesterday and I made some phone calls to friends and family. I still need to talk with my mom. She called me a few times this weekend and I need to get back to her.

Things left to do on the ongoing list:
1. Update blog at least 4 times a week.
2. Start studying those French books I got out at the library.
3. Return overdue books from the libraries (both school and public).
4. Do laundry.
5. Clean bedroom within an inch of it's life.
6. Clean bathroom and replace moldy shower curtain (purchased but not installed).
7. Call all my friends and family and catch up.
8. Write out my school plan for next year.
9. Write a rough draft of my graduation mission statement.
10. Visit friends on the weekends.
11. Buy specialty hair cream that I love.

falling back on the wagon

I'm back, Baby!

All right no more excuses. I realized today that the summer is nearly half over. I need to get my butt in gear.
Things to do in no particular order:
1. Update blog at least 4 times a week.
2. Start studying those French books I got out at the library.
3. Return overdue books from the libraries (both school and public).
4. Do laundry.
5. Clean bedroom within an inch of it's life.
6. Clean bathroom and replace moldy shower curtain (purchased but not installed).
7. Call all my friends and family and catch up.
8. Write out my school plan for next year.
9. Write a rough draft of my graduation mission statement.
10. Get the car an oil change.
11. Visit friends on the weekends.

Being sick most of last week really set me off my goals, but also reminded me that time is going by too quickly.

mixed emotions

Well, today was my birthday. I really have had some mixed up emotions today. I enjoyed getting my way all day - I had Starbucks for breakfast and Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and I listened to up beat songs on the ol'ipod and bossed my hubby around. But I've been sad too. There was a death in my family over the weekend. It's really weighing heavy on my mind. It's so odd that all day I had this terrible sadness sitting next to the joy of being alive. After all, isn't that what birthday is? It's a celebration of life. So I mourned and I celebrated. A very confusing grown-up birthday. And I won't even get into the age thing! I'm not excited to be a year older either. Maybe if I were in a different place in life, I'd be fine with it. But I don't have my career going again, I don't own a home or have a baby on the way. I feel like I'm behind schedule. I'm working on it though so I don't have any regrets. What a weird day - good thing it only comes once a year.

Okay, here's some work I've done recently. It's all stuff from the OSC since all McGraw has let me do so far is batch process files.

This is a business card I did for a member of the Ohio Board of Regents. I did two others as well. This isn't my fav, but it's the one that was declared the winner.


This is a poster I'm currently working on. It hasn't been seen my anyone but me so I'm sure it'll have some major revisions before it's sent to the printers.


This is the front cover for a booklet/brochure for an upcoming conference.

internship update

Well, I've been working at my new internship for 4 days now. It hasn't been all that exciting to be honest. I've been batch processing files. It's not very entertaining, but someone has to do it. That person apparently is me. Oh, well. At least I still get to make stuff at the other job. I made three business card designs today. I just love making stuff! It's hard to explain, but after I make something Iike, I look at almost surprised. Surprised that I made it, I guess. Part of me picks it apart looking for weaknesses too of course. I never see perfection.

blown to bits

Well the new bed time was once again broken before it even began. I am trying to work on a website I'm doing on the side for my boss. I got so caught up in learning new CSS stuff that I just kept going. I know... what a dork. Anywayz, this will be short and sweet because it time for bed. When the site is closer to completion I'll have a link from my site.

nighty, night.

bed times

I had my first day at the new internship today. It went well and luckily everyone has a nameplate over their desks so memorizing names doesn't have to be as big a deal as I feared. The offices are really nice especially since the building is only 5 years old. They are running out of office space though and my desk (which is actually a plastic folding table) is in an alcove of a hallway. The good news is that I have a window, the bad news is that its a floor to ceiling huge one that is near blinding since my desk butts up against it. Plus I kept findiing myself looking past my computer screen to stare at the clouds as they pass by. Needless to say it doesn't look good for the newbie to be woolgathering instead of actually working.

The job seems like it will be fine. I don't think I'll be revolutionizing their designs anytime soon, but it seems like nice steady reasonable work which is fine by me. Besides I still have my other job where I am really creative there. So one day down and a whole summer to go. Tomorrow will be a more average day where I will work from 8-1 at the uber corporate McGraw-Hill offices and then from 2-5 at the laid back university center.

My big goal is to start being in bed by 11pm. Since it's already 10:30 tonight might already be a bust.

count down

On Wednesday, I start my internship. Yikes! I hope my Beacon wardrobe holds up because I couldn't really invest in a new wardrobe. I did drag myself out an buy some new pants. It seems to me that you can get away with a lot if you at least have good pants. I mean all girls want good shoes, but if your pants suck no one keeps looking down to notice. All you see are the bad pants. Now I want to be clear, I'm not putting down a good shirt either. In fact a good shirt is almost as important as the pants - just not AS important.

Back to my point though... (if I have one that is) and my point is that I had to go shopping. I hate shopping. To be more specific I believe that I hate the malls. Outdoor shopping seems just fine to me, but indoor malls make me nervous. I feel like I never park in the right place, and get a feeling of being trapped. The air is stuffy and the interiors are too beige. I usually come home more stressed after shopping at a mall... But in the end I was victorious. I got the new pants and got the hell outta there. Now all I need to do is start the darn job. With my luck, everyone will be wearing jeans and t-shirts and I will have wasted my time and money. BUT that would be fine if I could just wear my jeans and t-shirts since those items make up over 85% of my current wardrobe already.

it was bound to happen

Well, I am now done with all my classes. My test was taken yesterday, one of my projects was due today and the one due on Monday I turned in early. I'm done! Wheww... I can chalk up these classes to experience and call it a day. I feel this odd sense, a strange feeling... it's hard to put my finger on it, but I think it's a lack of guilt and stress. I can read my books and play my video games. I can work on my curtains and a website for my boss. I'm free. My time is my own. All I have to do for the rest of the summer is work. I'm looking forward to it. Yes. I'm looking forward to "just" working. It's a good time in old town today!

horrors of speeches

I hate giving speeches. I hate talking in front of groups of people. I hate the blood pressure rise, the pounding in my chest, my stomach hits the floor and I feel like my mind goes for a stroll and leave my body on it's own to fend for itself. In short, I hate giving speeches.

BUT professors - and more specifically my T.A. - don't care about my aversion. All quarter long, my persuasive writing class has been building up to us giving 5-6 minute speeches. Mine was today. I should have practiced Sunday... or Monday... or last night. I just couldn't face it. So I ended up practicing it this morning at 8 am just before class. I'm not good with writing tons down so I thought it would be better "off the cuff." Well in my one and only practice run this morning, my speech ran 20 minutes long. That of course is WAY too long. I think I ended up jabbering on for about 6 minutes during the actual speech, but I had to skip so many talking points that I don't think I did a very good job. PLUS I'm not even sure which points I skipped since my brain went to lunch during the whole thing. Sure my lips were moving, my hands were gesturing but I have no idea what I actually said. The only thing I'm sure of is that my jokes (the only two I tried) didn't go over and shook my confidence even more.

At least the dam thing is done though. It's been hanging over my head all quarter. One more test in that class, and I can write off the whole experience of that class. Thank you god for letting me survive another speech!

happy, happy! joy! joy!

The rain has stopped, and the clouds have parted. A ray of pure sunshine strikes my perfect moment... I got the call. THE call. I did in fact get the internship. YES! Apparently they didn't call me last week because of two of the managers each of whom thought they'd called me to give me the good news. Yes, yes... uhhhh, yes. I can't tell you what a relief this is to me. I was seriously beginning to wonder if I just suck in person. They all sit around saying that I look good on paper, but they don't' actually want to work with me.

Things just feel like they're getting better and better to me. I've been in a blue funk for weeks, but school will be over in a few weeks, I got the internship, I tested out of two French courses and my current job is going great, too. My boss wants me to work on an outside project with him designing a web site. Which is great because I really don't' have a recent web site to add to my portfolio. PLUS, he's giving me a crack at redesigning the company's logo. It may not go anywhere, but I'm flattered he's letting me try.

grandeous dreams

You know everyonce in a while (like now) I read a book of essays. Recently published, amusing, almost anecdotal in nature. And I think to myself, hey I could do that. I could write a book of essays. I've got tons to say. I'm way interesting in my head, so I'm sure that'll translate to paper quite simply... Then I get here and stare at a blank screen. I finger the keyboard a little, my eyes roam around a while. I purse my lips and sometimes make a silly little noise as if I need to break the tension. Finally I'll settle on a loose little topic and hope the genius will just poor right out of me. Hardly genius, I know. But I guess you get what you pay for on a blog. Maybe I need a tape recorder. I'm funnier on the fly. As quickly as I type, there is still a thought delay. Maybe I just suck on delay. Can you still be an author if you use a tape recorder instead of a keyboard or pen? I'd like to think so. That way there's still hope for me. I can keep the dream alive a little longer.

I liked having an image yesterday to post, so I'm posting something else I'm working on for work. It's still in progress and needs some serious additions made, but I like it. I don't say that often about my work, so it's a bit of a deal for me.

a first for everything

This is a first for me. I designed a mailing piece for work and they aren't going to run it because it looks too good. It's too professional for a government institution they said. As a government, non-profit we aren't allowed to look like we're trying to compete with companies like AT&T and the private sector companies. Someone actually said something I designed would look like something a major company would put out. While on the one hand, I feel very complimented... I'm also hurt because the week of work is down the tubes and no one will ever see it. I may keep it for the old portfolio, but it will forever be tainted for me. I'd hate to put something that didn't run into my portfolio. I love that all my stuff in there is actually stuff that went through the whole approval process and still came out on the other end looking good...

Here's the front and back. Now I don't actualy think it looks like an AT&T piece, but someone did....

alone in the weeds

What's happened?! All of my blogging buddies seem to have bailed on me. I admit I've been lapse myself, but here I am trying to keep the dream alive. If this is something we all given up on, just let me know so I can quit too. I mean it's 12:43am. I've had a really long day. I worked and had classes all day and then I stayed at work until after 9pm doing homework. Now here I am about to call it a day, but I figured I needed to sent out emails and update the old blog. But if we're done. We're done. All fads come to an end. Everybody's released their pet rock back in to the wild... we've forgotten the steps to the electric slide... there is no use in trying to fight the dying of the light. I'm going to keep this up for a little while longer, but I don't like being here all by myself you know...

a good time was had by all

My interview went well yesterday. I felt good all dressed up, but I wouldn't want to do that everyday. Dress pants and pointy shoes make me feel like I've just gotten a makeover on What Not to Wear. Seriously though, the interview seemed to go well. I hopefully will hear from them next week sometime. They were very impressed with my portfolio and I was told by the head of their department that my "typography is very good" which means I make type look good. I was also complimented on my writing skills because I wrote some of the copy myself.

Mother's day is coming up. I need to go and work on my homework for next week. I think I'll be visiting with my mom this weekend and I need to get a jump start on my projects....

interview

Well, I don't have to go to work today. I will be getting dressed up and going to an interview instead. I am interviewing for a summer internship. Why does it have to be so humid today? My hair is not cooperating with me today -especially when I want it to look sleek and professional. Instead, my hair has decided to flip out. I hate that. I feel like Gidget with a bubble flip. I'll try to tame it when I go home to change after class, but I'm sure I'll be unable to contain it.

Wish me luck.

rumors

Well, don't believe the rumors people! I am still breathing. I know I've seemed to drop off the face of the Earth, but I've clawed my way back on.

It's been a busy week. A few tests, a paper and the homework keeps coming. I am really looking forward to summer. All is well for the most part in my neck of the woods. I'm hoping to hear from McGraw-Hill about an appointment for an interview for one of their summer internships. Since I haven't really made the time to apply for anymore internship, I'm really putting all my eggs in one basket. Please cross all fingers and any toes you are able for me.

My plans for tonight is to work on a short paper for homework - only 1-3 pages. It's going to be sort of an outline for the speech I have to give later in the month. Yuck. A messy house, a sick full of dirty dishes, laundry and this paper. Being in college is just as glamorous as I remember....

taking the punishment

It's day two of the the consequences of not doing homework over the weekend. I have a 4 page paper due tomorrow that I haven't started. So I'm staying late at work and working on it here. The husband needs the comptuer room tonight for a paper of his own and staying at work is better than dragging myself off to a lab. At least at work I have my trusty sidekick, my foot rest. And if you know me, you know a footrest is VERY important.

Off I go. Much work to do.... maybe I'll check my email first....

waves of apathy

What a lazy student I am. I can't even update this blog more than once a week now. I could make the time, I suppose. I'm letting down the "fans." I've been reading too much and playing video games too much. I'm not focusing on my school work very much. I'm doing well in my classes, but I feel guilt and stress because I'm doing stuff at the last minute. This week a wave of apathy has struck me big time. There I was progressing through the quarter very well. I was doing my homework on time or early and I was looking into internships. Now I've let everything slip. I haven't applied for any internships besides one. I need to get a grip!

I can't wait for this quarter to be over so I can just work! To have evenings and weekends guilt free! Oh, I can't wait.

Ann

language

Greetings all. I hope you all had a good weekend. I had a pretty good one. I was excited on Sunday when I realized the test I hadn't studied yet for was not, in fact, this Monday (today). It is actually next Monday. I can goof off for a whole nother week! I got most of my homework done over the weekend though. I have some drawings due tomorrow I have to work on tonight, but at least I started it. It should only take me a few hours tonight. It was such a lovely weekend.... I miss it already.

I was Silent Hill on Saturday with my man. I don't actually like scary movies, but I've played the game, and he wanted to see it. I tried to explain to him that a game is a totally different entity from a movie. I can pause a game when I get scared or turn it off or wait for daylight to play it. I can't turn off a movie in the theater when I get scared. (LibrarianVJ should not fall for the trick that it's an "adventure" movie. Don't let your man try to trick you with that one again!)

I've made a big decision over the weekend. I think I'm going to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree instead of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The upside is that I should be done in (I'm guessing) 5 quarters. The downside is that I have to take a foreign language. It'll be French since I took that in college. 4 quarters of a language. gag me. The Fine Arts would have taken a little over two years!

caught up & stressed out

Well I wrote my paper and for nearly 14 hours I have enjoyed the feeling of being all caught up. It is of course a temporary feeling because I am in classes today and am getting new homework assignments. C'est la vie. That's life.

I am feeling a bit stressed today about a second issue though. I'm not complaining, but I am stessing a bit. I love my current job. I work 20 hours a week doing cool things. I design logos, letterheads, signage and wall displays. awesome. And when I'm not busy at work, no one cares if I'm on the internet or checking my email. However, I need a second job for the summer... preferably an internship doing graphic design. My number one prority is to KEEP my current job because it's awesome. But I think I may have a solid line on an internship working in the graphic production department of a MAJOR publishing company. It would be a great opportunity if for no other reason than to have their heavy-hitter name written on my resume. BUT they are asking that I work 30-40 a week. I want this job, but not at the expense of my current one. I need to talk to my current boss today and see if he's willing to be flexible with my summer hours. If I can get him to cut my hours to 15 and let me work until 6pm, I think I swing both jobs. I'll talk with my boss when I go into work later today. I hope this goes well.

I'm getting a stress headache.

behind on my homework

I hate being in this situation. I have homeword due tomorrow that I haven't started yet. It's not a big, big assignment but it should take a few hours to do. I just want to go home after a day of work and classes and goof off. Is that too much to ask?! I should have done this stupid thing over the weekend. It's not stupid; I just wish I'd done it early.

organic is in fact a good idea

So for my pursuasive speech/paper, I have chosen to try to pursuade my audience to buy organic produce. (I'm not asking them to go whole hog on the organic thing. This is a baby step in the right direction.) I chose this topic because I didn't really know anything about the subject. I figured it would be interesting enough research, and if I could convince myself, maybe I'll be able to convice others.

I have to say that my research really has opened my eyes. I think I'm going to try to by more organic type stuff. Now due to the fact that money is in question, I won't be able to blindly shop at more expesive stores and such. Hopefully though I can try to start a little better. Over the last year, I've been embracing the idea of buying stuff with few chemicals whenever possible anyway. Let me give you an example: I like to buy pancake mix. You can get one that says "just add water," but it has a laundry list of ingredients you can't pronounce. OR for less money you can buy the box that has you add milk and an egg. It's has a much, much shorter list of those chemical words you can't pronounce. Who doesn't have one egg floating around the kitchen anyway.

In a pure coincidence, I also visited an area natural foods store. Some work friends asked if I'd like to make a smoothie run, and of course I said yes. Who can resist a good smoothie on a warm day? Not me. Well my friend took me to a nearby natural foods store, where I purchased an all organic smoothie. The store was very nice and had a "friendly" feeling. I'm thinking I'll check out the store this weekend for my grocery run. I'm sure it will be too expensive to get everything there, but I thought I'd make a small trip to check it out.

a lot on my plate

I am really looking forward to summer, but there is just so much I have to do in the mean time! First of all classes and homework are really cutting into my "me" time. Plus I have to make some appointments to meet with people. I need to get my major and class schedule finalized. Since I am creating my own degree, I need to decide what classes I want to take, which department I want to be associated with, plus I need 4 people to agree with my course of action. I've spoken with two advisors already.

My first decision is this. Do I want a B.F.A. or a B.A. Bachelor of Fine Arts or Bachelor of Arts. Sounds like the same thing, but it's not my friends. The B.F.A. will take 2 years and has to be mostly studio classes - all of my general stuff would be done though. Studios are a lot of work but more fun. Now the B.A. would be 1.5 years of classes. I could take almost anything I want, BUT I'd need 4 quarters of a language! It's been 10 years since I took a language. So here's the question: IS IT WORTH THE LANGUAGE TO BE DONE A QUARTER OR TWO EARLY? Let's all remember too that college language is a lot more advanced than my little high school experience. C's do get degrees though.... I don't know what to do....

PLUS, I've started my summer job search. I figure all the good jobs are taken early so I didn't want to wait. I will still be working 20 hours a week at my current job, but I want to pick up another 20 hours a week somewhere else. I've updated my resume, and I have a really solid lead on a part-time job/internship with McGraw Hill publishing. There's a career fair Next Wednesday that I'm hoping to get some more leads on, too.

that sick feeling & republicans

I skipped my persuasive writing class on Monday... Man, oh, man do I wish I'd skipped today's instead. At the end of the term, I'm going to have to give a persuasive speech to the class. Fine, I understand; it was on the syllabus. Today though, the t.a. had us get up and give impromptu speeches on general topics so we could get used to getting up in front of the class. WHAT! I hate that. I hate it, hate, hate, hate it. Not only did I have to get up in front of everyone, but I felt unprepared as well. I had to give a 1-2 minute persuasive speech on the topic of trying to get everyone in the room to "buckle up their seat belt every time they get in the car." The topic was fine enough. It could have been worse, I could have drawn persuade the class "to eat tofu" or "buy Nascar tickets." I just hate that sick feeling I get when I stand in front of people to give a speech. I tried to give myself a little pep talk, but I found my heart was just racing while I was up there. Before I began I took a deep breath and told myself to relax, but it didn't slow the chest pounding down any. Bleh. I hate giving speeches.

(To Paul: Let's try to watch what we say about democrats now. In case you forgot, I'm one. We may or may not be flaky, but at least we try to see the world from more than one perspective. I don't make comments about republicans hiding behind the shield of religion as they try to take away my civil liberties, now do I... No, I don't.)

Wow, my blog got controversial all of a sudden. Please know that I don't mean any offense to anyone. I usually keep my political feeling to myself unless provoked.

take a trip

I know it is safe to write this because my mom doesn't turn on her computer much any more. The odds are clearly in my favor that she'll never see this... Even if she did I practically said all this to her over the phone anyways...

She just frustrates me sometimes. I know I can be flaky, and I know exactly which parent gave me that quality. (I define flaky, as a adjective describing a person who has positive intentions with zero follow through, yet the zero follow through doesn't actually bug you that much because they are soo positive about it. Does that make sense?) She told me she was coming the weekend after my first week of classes to visit me. She never shows, and I get no phone call. Then this weekend she calls and asks if I'm coming to Easter. Well, I have a paper due the day after Easter so I know I will want the day to start/finish/whatever it. She sounds all disappointed like I let her down and tries to guilt me a little about it. Then she gets all excited and says she'll bring Easter to my house! (In type it's a little hard to express how excited this thought made her. Her voice went up in an epiphany type way....) I know she thought this would make it easy for me, but having an apartment full of guests for the day does not actually free up my day to write. In fact it would mean I'd be spending Saturday cleaning instead of writing too. So then her voice sounded all sad. Her disappoint was clear. I felt like I let her down or something. Mom's are great at guilt trips, man.

weekend update

Why is it that as soon as I have homework I really don't want to do, I start thinking about all the household chores I should be doing? At least the house gets a little cleaner on a Saturday afternoon... No progress on the homework though. My goal is not to be doing it at midnight on Sunday...

are you tired too?

As much as I'm loving daylight savings time. I feel so tired this week. I'm going to bed earlier and earlier. I got a solid 8 hours last night and feel a little druggy today. Of course I just got out of the most boring class ever. That could have something to do with it I suppose. At least I got out early so I could update this blog and write some email. So it could be worse. Truly though it can always get worse.

After work tonight I am going to go to the campus library. I need to figure out how to find books and journal articles for my persuasive paper due in two weeks. I'm just going to go and fall on the mercy of the librarian at the information desk. I haven't had a research paper since I was a freshman. And I think we all know how long ago that was for me. If I have to I'll ask Librarianvj, but I want to at least TRY to get the information on my own first.

mining for gold

OH, my GOD! I'm sitting in my photoshop class and this guy across from me can't get his finger out of his nose. He's been mining for gold the whole class! Oh, he's trying to be subtle, but it's so obvious he's picking! I am so grossed out right now. You'd think by this time he'd either find what he's looking for or give up!

nice breezes and black thumbs

I love this time of year! I love the buds on the trees. Tulip are my favorite flowers and should be making their appearance soon. AND I love changing the clocks! While I'm certainly not a fan of losing an hour of sleep, I love the longer, sunshiny days. It just seems like you have more time to do things and don't feel so trapped in the house. Running an errand at 7pm in the winter is a chore, but in the summer it's no big deal. I love opening the windows and letting fresh air in the house. (Brian who has allergic phobias about spring wants all the windows shut so this makes for many disagreements in our house. I open windows and he walks around shutting them so them I have to open them again. It's a vicious cycle, really.)

I got some plants from Lowe's, I'm going to try not to kill. I have about a 50% success rate with new plants so keep your fingers crossed for me. I bought some different varieties so I hope they are hearty enough to survive living at my house.

I'm going to go now. I plan to do all my homework during class and I need to set up so my prof doesn't get suspicious...

can't take it

I CAN'T TAKE IT! IT'S SOOOOO NICE OUT! I AM GRIPPED WITH SPRING FEVER! MUST GET OUT! MUST GET AWAY FROM THIS DESK! I NEED TO UNPLUG AND RUN FREE! I NEED TO FEEL GRASS BETWEEN MY TOES! I NEED TO FEEL THE SUN ON MY FACE AND THE BREEZE THROUGH MY HAIR! I CAN'T TAKE IT.... CAN'T TAKE IT! 45 MINUTES! I'LL NEVER MAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a quiet moment

Today was such a nice day! Well at least it was before the sun hid behind the clouds and a cold wind blew through. But the morning was so nice. After I was released, er I mean... got out of my communications class I had some free time before my next class. I sat outside on a bench and took a few minutes to enjoy the day. It seems like it's been so long since I sat outside. Autumn quarter I sat outside a lot between work and classes and really enjoyed the 15 minutes or a half hour breaks. I think I may adjust my work schedule a bit so I can have more time on campus that I'm not running somewhere...

of course I don't mean to complain

I am very concerned. I returned to school to be challenged. Yes, my ultimate goal is to get my degree, but I would actually like to learn a few things along the way. I don't think I'm going to be learning all that much this semester. Oh sure, I'll have homework and projects due. I'll be quite busy some weeks I'm sure. BUT I don't think I'm going to grow as an artist. I'll have to hope that maybe next year I'll get more of a challenge. My two design classes are a joke. I felt like I could teach my photoshop course and my design class today was beyond simple. We actually practiced drawing straight lines and circles. Its funny a few weeks ago I was complaining that I was sick of proving that I could draw. This class actually assumes I can't and wants to teach me! My homework is to practice writing my name in a cool looking way. My college homework is to write my name cool. This is literally an exercise I did in high school. I'm trying not to be too down on these classes though. I'm sure if I pay attention and hang in there I'll pick up a couple of nuggets that will prove beneficial in the future. It's just going to be tough staying awake until then...

I won't lie to you

Today was the first day of spring classes. I won't lie, I wasn't really looking forward to it. I'd grown used to having free time. I enjoyed reading books and spending time with my husband. I watched movies and window shopped. I daydreamed and took naps. It was the good life. But that's all over now. Today it has begun again. I think I'm just looking forward to summer break where I will "only" work. Working doesn't seem like an "only" I know, but it does to me now.

I had two classes today and will have a third tomorrow. Today's classes were a communications persuasive writing course and a design photoshop course. The persuasive writing will be my nightmare this quarter. 4 papers with citations and footnotes AND a persuasive speech at the end. (I am currently taking suggestions for topics I can research and write about. The whole class I will be researching the same topic so it needs to be good...) The design class is a snore. I could teach the darn thing so far. I'm planning on doing my homework for my other classes during that class time. It's going to be a hassle more than a challenge that's for sure.

So now I will go off to bed. I have a long day of work of school ahead of me. I'm already behind in my readings! Wish me luck.

miss the bus?

What a fool I am!

So I got up and got ready for work/school as usual. I went out and stood on the corner waiting for the bus. I waited and waited. No bus. I finally looked at the posted sign attached to the bus sign's post. No bus today. WHAT! I knew there would be no bus during spring break and in fact I'd considered buying a west campus parking permit so I wouldn't have any issues getting to and from work, BUT that isn't supposed to be an issue until next week. The dam buses are still supposed to run during finals week or so I thought. I had two options at this point. ONE: walk to campus and wait 15 minutes for a loop bus to cart me out to work or TWO take my car, drive to the parking office and buy a parking permit so I can drive my car to work. I figured both options were going to make me equally late for work so I called my boss, left a message that I'd be late and drove off to buy myself a permit.

It's odd knowing that my car is outside my work building right now. I've gotten so used to relying on the bus. Sometimes I actually really like the bus. I mean I can read and not have to think about anything. On the other hand, it of course takes longer to get home. The extra time either relaxes me or frazzles me depending on how much I feel I have to do for the night. But I figure, with the new parking pass, I'll probably only take the bus to school 2 days a week instead of 5. It will depend on my work schedule. Since my pass is the cheapest one, it's only good out in the boondocks where I work.

finals week/spring break

Well, I am officially on break now. I have no finals or obligtions for school this week. Technically this is finals week and next week is spring break. My only obligation is to work, my Stephen King book and my new video game. I got the next expansion pack for the sims2. I played it on Sunday night and a good chunck of Monday.

However, I find that I am so very tired. I don't know if the stress bubble just popped and took all my energy with it or what. I'm getting enough sleep a night and taking at least one nap a day and yet I'm exhausted. I kept yawning at work today. I'm sure it doesn't help that I got the new video game. I didn't play it at all today though.

I wish the weather would take another turn for the good so I could enjoy it properly. I want to sit outside and read, but now that the weather has turned again, I don't see that happening over break. But I'm not complaining. It feels so good not to have a ton of things I ought to be doing!

silly hats

Well today was my final pottery class. We wore silly hats and ate food be brought, served out of our own work. I made brownies which I brought most back home with me, and wore Brian's Mad Hatter hat. Ironicaly I tried to convince him to throw out the hat when we moved and it ends up being me who wears it next.

I'm excited to say that my house is fairly clean. My mom came over yesterday and I felt the need to spruce up the joint after a quarter of procrastination. Now I can certainly goof off guilt free. Awesome.

final project

Here is my final animation. Go to this website

http://homepage.mac.com/rabrn48/FileSharing6.html

and dowload the "connecting" file. Use your internet browser to open the file.

enjoy. Oh, let me know if the music is fading out before the animation is done. I don't know why it's doing that. It's fine for me except when I open it using my browser. Oh, well. You'll get the idea...

sprint to the finish

Well after an intensive day of work, I have 40 seconds of animation done. It's not awesome, but it's good enough to get a good grade. I still have another 20 seconds to do today. Luckily, I only work a few hours and then I go to class to work on the assignment. Then after class, I will lock myself in the lab until I've finished it. I want to get it done tonight because I have to write a 350 word artist statement and formalize my storyboards to turn in. I want to be able to do that work tomorrow.

Lucky for you guys, my boss is at a conference all day and didn't leave me any instructions on how to spend my two hours this morning. I decided to catch up on emails, update this blog and then I'm going to sit in front of the interactive plasma tv and learn more about my new employers. My boss encouraged me to check it out, but with getting ready for the conference I haven't had time to. So for work this morning, I will be playing with an interactive tv. not bad. Plus it's one of those touch screen ones. very cool.

I am already looking forward to Thursday afternoon. I won't have to work, all my schoolwork will be turned in and I will be taking a monster nap! I woke up this morning convinced I hadn't slept at all. I hate that. Plus, I woke up ten minutes before my alarm went off. I hate that. It's like my own mind is trying to cheat me out of ten extra minutes. I think it's just stress and my body wants to make sure I'm up on time. dam body.

let there be light!

WHEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did it. Or rather the gods have smiled upon me. The clouds have opened and a shaft of pure light has fallen upon my undeserving head. Can you hear the choir of angels?... I got an A on my communications test last week. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't have to retake it on Thursday. I only have one impossible task instead of two. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, I really need to get to work now. Thank you gods of destiny...

he says to "foo off"

It's one in the morning. I'm tired, but I know the fans are restless. It's been a busy week followed by a busy weekend. And this week is only going to get worse. Last week I had a lot of pottery to work on because it was our last "wet week," and I had a test in communications. This weekend I spent 6 hours in pottery lab and many frustrated hours in front of the computer trying to get my new animation started. I say started because I barely have a few seconds of it done. I am planning to go to the lab at school and work until it's done. I'm not putting on my shoes and leaving right now or anything, but I will spend the next few weeknight in the lab. (Start praying for my VJ, I need it.) PLUS, I may or may not have another communications test this week too. If I did well enough on the last one, I can skip it. If I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, I have to start studying and say goodbye to sleep. Plus I'm busy at work tomorrow. While I'm really liking the new job, I have a lot of new responsibilities to go with it. They are having a conference on Tuesday, so I have to print out hundreds of programs, name badges, lunch tickets, and signs need to be mounted and printed - not in that order. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited by the work, but I wish it were a week after this. Please forgive me for the communications block out. I'll try to be a better friend after Thursday. I know I make this promise all the time, so you're just going to have to forgive me for that too.

lost and found

Hey, hey, hey. I've been bad today. I skipped my animation class even though I have nothing done and need to get crackin' on it. I skipped so I could write my scholarship personal statement and then go to pottery and trim up some stuff for tomorrow. Fear not, I have sworn to myself that I will spend the same amount of class time that I skipped at home working diligently on my animation. Cross your fingers for me.

I found the breakroom finally at work today. It has all the standard amenities... a refrigerator, two microwaves, a sink and vending machines I will try my best to forget all about.

short and sweet

busy week

Sorry there haven't been more posts this week guys. I'd lie and say I'd step up my game, but school is getting busy as the quarter's end draws near. I have so much to do!

Ceramincs: I have to paint 15 bowls and throw 10-15 more. We've moved on to pots with lids. tuf.
Flash: I need to work on storyboards and begin drawing/animating the idea I'm not sure I want to run with anymore.
Communications: I need to study over notes from the two classes I missed. I need to get my focus back on this class. It's a lecture so it's easy to get lost in it.

The new job has been good. busy, but good. It feels nice to be designing again. I share a cubicles with two other student assisants. I have been working hard on my first assignment for them so I haven't really met all that many of the people there.

nerd heaven

You can stop searching people. I have found it. I have found Nerd Heaven, and now I work there. The supercomputer center I work at is a haven for overeducated dorks and nerds. My boss was showing me around this morning. I've been promised a closer tour of the virtual reality room some time in the future, and to learn more about the center, I need to spend some time sitting in front of an informational touch screen plasma tv. Awesome.

My job seems pretty cool. However, I have only been there for a few hours and I had to leave early because my passwords weren't all set up yet. So the tour and the paperwork, I guess, left a favorable impression. Pus the building is fairly new and filled with monster computers, huge plasma sized monitors and a lot of people a little too into Star Wars. Perfect.

I had to take two buses to get to the opposite end of campus for work this morning. I was maybe five minutes late, but my boss was almost a half hour late so he had no clue about my 5 measly minutes.

here it is

Okay. If you want to see my animation follow these instructions.

Go to http://homepage.mac.com/rabrn48/FileSharing6.html

Download the file called "5"

If you can't just open up the file directly, open it with your internet browser application.

*You do need Flash to see it*

Let me know you're thoughts...

what a great dilemma

Well my annimation is done. As soon as I figure out how to deliver it to my fans I will post it or link to it or something on this page.

I have a very strange dilemma. I have some free time coming up. Now sure I could use this time to get ahead of my school work, but that's just not the college student way. I am trying to figure out how to divide up some time between friends, family and of coarse Brian. I won't be able to see everyone, but I'd love to see some friends.

My whole goal today is to work in a nap. I am debating leaving my communications class early to go to the library to catch some zzz's before going to work. This is out of desperation to be sure. I've been up late night and been quite stressed about the before mentioned animation. Plus I'm hungry. Sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day and sometimes there are too many....

failure

Well I waited 30 minutes for this stupid download only to be told I don't have privilege to intstall the demo of Flash. Breath easy Paul, the "man" is watching me.

simplification

Hey all,

I am having computer issues at the moment. I was working on my animation in class which was fine except I had to change all the fonts because the school doesn't not have Univers Ultra Condensed. fine. So then, I go to a computer lab to work on the animation. Keep in mind I'm skipping communications to work on this... Now the Flash is too low a version to work with my saved files. I am trying to download a trial version of the program version I need. (I know I should not be doing this, Paul. But I need to work on this!) I have 17 minutes waiting on my download. Oh, how frustrating. I'm worried when I get home tonight it won't work either. I don't want to be trapped in labs in order to get this thing done by Thursday.

Plus, I realized that I need to simplify my animation idea. I was going to have a guy get really useless superpowers, BUT that will be too long an animation. I'm going to have him imagine he has powers instead. It's faster. My little movie is already almost the length it needs to be and I'm only half way through the story. I enjoyed all the suggestions. It was truly helpful to get me to this point in the project. I'm going to give a shout-out to my favorite. Quiltbug suggested he have Ultrasonic powers so that he can tell you the sex of your unborn baby and clean jewelry in liquids. HA! I love the jewelry cleaning as a super power. Awesome. 13 minutes left. So much for skipping communications for this. All and all it's only going to get me an extra half hour of work time in. whoooppeee.....

useless super powers

Well, let me give you a run down on the weekend. Friday was an amazingly productive day. (I include Friday in the weekend because I don’t have any classes that day, and usually only work for a few hours.) I worked for over 5 hours in the pottery lab. Whew! I trimmed a bunch of bowls and created 7 more. I’ve never spent so much time in the lab, usually it’s only a few hours that I’m there. I was just on a roll I guess. Then I had to run to Target to pick up some curtain clips for my second curtain panel which I finished early on Saturday. Other than finishing the last two seams on the second panel, I was a total slug on Saturday. I had so many things I should have been doing, but I didn’t even get dressed until 4pm. That’s what I call “Amy Lazy.” (She knows what I’m talkin’bout.) I had to pick up my game again on Sunday. I did laundry and headed back to the pottery lab. I went to the lab to trim up the stuff I did on Friday, but it wasn’t dry enough yet. So instead I made 4 more things. It wasn’t my best night in the lab. My stuff was lumpy and uneven. All this bowl making over the weekend means I have tons to trim later in class today.

Now there was still one thing I really should have done this weekend that I didn’t do at all. I have to come up with a 20 second flash animation by Thursday. It has to be a STORY. If it didn’t have to be a story, I could animate a guy walking and call it a day, but no, it needs to be a story. I’ve been racking my brains for days trying to come up with some sort of an idea for a story. Well last night I thought of something while driving home from the lab. I’m going to make an animation up about a superhero with really useless powers. 20 seconds is a long time, and I only have 3 days to complete it. If anyone has suggestions for a useless super power, please feel free to leave it in my comments box.

catch up

I didn't do my laundry yesterday. I left work with a raging headache. I went home, took some medicine and took a nap. By the time I got up, it was dark and I didn't want to trapse over to the next building to do it. So my clothes remain in the giant heap located ironically right next to my clothes basket. I'd lie to you and say I'd do it tonight, but it's back to pottery lab tonight. I am trimming some bowls. If I can trim them well, I think they will look good. Finally, something that looks just like it was supposed to. Well, I should wait until I trim and glaze before I get too excited.

I must say the internet is so great at helping me keep in touch with my friends. I'm bad at making calls, I'll own that, but with my time so constrained I know that without email I would have alienated everyone by now. So thank you internet gods.

I had a really good morning at work today too by the way. I worked in the school's computer lab on a web site for a graduate club associated with the school I work for. I don't know why I love it so much, but I walked out of there with a buzz and feeling excited. I didn't even do that much; I built the bones for the site. I can't wait to get back to making stuff for a living again! I so hope college gets me the job I'm dreaming of...

two weeks it is...

Bummer. My new job is fine with me staring a week later. I'm stuck here for an extra week. yeah...

School pressure has lightened a little today. My test is over - I have no idea how I did. It's easy to screw up a test you don't think is too hard. Tonight I intend to spend a little free time catching up on laundry and straightening up the apartment. It's beginning to look like apes live there instead of humans. Mostly though it's laundry I need to focus on though. Brian's been doing some straightening up and that really helps. He works such crazy hours, I know it's tough for him to find the motivation to wash a dish.

I know I haven't been calling anyone lately. I'm sorry about that everyone. Last night I finally had a bit of time to myself where I considered making some calls, but I realized it was after 11pm, and I needed to get ready for bed. I'm hoping the next 7 days will be a little lighter so I can catch up with you all. If it makes you feel any better, I need to catch up with Brian too. We live together, and we haven't had much time to talk things over either. Someday my life will be back to normal, but not for a few years at least.

test day

I know the general concensus is to have more loyalty to my new job than my old one. I agree, but when your boss is staring at you saying "we're really going to need two weeks notice." It's hard to be firm - at least for me. I wrote my new boss and told him to let me know if it was a problem. If for any reason it is, then I'll leave the old job without feeling badly about it. I really will. I haven't yet heard from the new boss yet though. I should call and see if he got my email...

I also have a test today - if you're interested. I studied but it's over a bunch of communication theories which have weird names that make it easy to get them mixed up. I understand each theory, but it's the names I keep getting confused. Cross your fingers for me. This test is 50% of my grade. That's a lot of pressure.

I also spoke with my advisor today. She's encouraging me to design my own major. It's called a personal study program. You can make up your own major, and even give it a name. However, I have to find at least two professors who will back me up and advise me through and I have to fill out paperwork and write an essay to justify it. Right now I'm thinking I'll take as many graphic design classes and communication/advertising classes. I need to look A LOT more into it, but that's the plan so far. It seems to change often for me though.

full credit

Just so everyone knows:

BRIAN SHOWED ME THE LISTING FOR MY NEW JOB. IT IS BECAUSE OF HIM THAT I WILL START A NEW JOB SOON. WITHOUT HIM, I AM NOTHING - AN EMPTY SHELL. THANK YOU, HONEY, FOR MAKING ME WHAT I AM.

hello, I quit

Why don't people get it?! I gave my current job a week's notice that I was going to a new position. Now I know you're thinking, "Isn't two weeks customary?" But this is a student job. It's not like they need to cancel my 401k and pay out vacation days. So I gave them my notice on Friday, and today my boss says that she's "really going to need me for two weeks." What part of "I quit" don't you get? I'm not ASKING to be let go; I am saying I won't be coming here anymore. Generally that means I should get to decide when I leave. I could stop typing right now, get up, walk out of the building and never return. What would they do? Call me and as me to come back for a few weeks?

So now I'm in this awkward position with my NEW boss. I had to email him and ask him if I could delay staring his job by another week. We'll see what he says. If he wants me there in a week and not two, I'll just have to figure something out I suppose.


My new job is working as a graphic design assistant to the graphic designer for the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC). For more information you can check out this link: www.osc.edu It sounds like a cool job in a cool place. The only downside is that the job is on the other side of campus. Other as in across the river. I'll need to take two campus buses to get there from my house. It'll be worth it to have a job I enjoy again.

just another day in the life

It's been a typical day for me today. I woke up late. I had to throw my flavored oatmeal in my bag so I could eat breakfast at work and walked to school because I missed the bus. I could have tried for the next one, but that bus is always too full to get on anyway. I worked this morning updating the website for work. You can see it at this address:
http://ppm.ohio-state.edu/resources/fulltime.htm

I typed all the junk in today. Well most of it. I don't mind doing web work so all in all it was a good morning.

Now I am sitting in my photoshop/flash course. We've moved onto the flash part of the course which I am very glad of. I made an animation of a bouncing ball. 1.7 seconds. I tried to make it show up on my blog, but I couldn't make it work. You are just going to have to trust that it is awesome.

I have a few minutes before I go to my communications class. It's hard to stay motivated for the class since it won't count towards anything. At this point I just don't want to "F" up my gpa. It's not a hard class and a minimum of effort will get me a good grade. I'm hoping to get out of the class early and head over to the student union for a little lunch. I'm debating chinese food and or a garden wrap - just in case you're interested.

I'm going to skip pottery lab tonight and go on Friday instead. That clears up my evening to begin my second curtain panel. I know you're as excited as I am about it.

shattered pieces

Sorry for the long absence. I usually post almost every (week) day, but when your ego has been as bruised as mine a little healing time is required. This will be short because I have to run to class in a few minutes. (I'm handing in tea cups for ceramics class today.)

I'm feeling a bit better. Let me tell you what I found out. I must have blown the interview. I wrote to "Good Cop" to see why I was wait listed. He said some vague thing about looking for an "openness" in the interview process. Maybe he wanted some 19 year old kid who'd kiss his butt? I don't know. They've made a mistake. That's how I'm looking at it. Perhaps, I was too mature and sure of myself. I think I may go egg his house. We'll see how I feel later on tonight.

Life goes on. I have a meeting with an advisor next week so I can explore some new options for myself. As always, wish me luck.