FVA nostalgia--and it's only been two years

I'm sick. Again. Grrrr... According to Mom, I haven't been sick twice in a row in twenty years. Though there was that time when I was twelve, and I got two colds, one on top of the other. I was sick for months. Oh, well. I'm in much better shape than I was thirty-six hours ago.

Monday: I've officially applied to university!

As a refresher, unless they are connected with a university, colleges don't grant degrees: the highest you can go is a two-year diploma. You can also get a certificate after one year (I have a certificate in Foundation Visual Arts, and I'm currently working my way toward my diploma in photography). If a college is a program within a university--like UNB's Renaissance College--then they can grant a degree. Universities, on the other hand, can grant a four-year degree.

Last week's drawing class was purely one of experimentation, with no real homework--just collect images for the next assignment, which we're starting today.

Tuesday: We did another stop-motion movie for Rod's class. This time, I took advantage of the fact that I now own a couple of camera remotes, and put myself in said movie. My movements were a bit stiff and jerky, but hey--I had to hold each one for about five shots! Overall, I'm happy with it.

Wednesday: My second research project is going to be on digital portfolio options. I found out yesterday that you can get a couple of free plug-ins for Photoshop CS4 that will allow you to make web galleries. The ability to make web galleries is pretty much the only reason why I would want to get Lightroom (when it comes to photo-editing, I'm a bit power-hungry, so Photoshop is right up my alley), so now that I've discovered these plug-ins, that makes buying Lightroom unnecessary. And I couldn't be happier. Thanks, Adobe!

The day before St. Pat's Day is the opening of the second-year Photogs' first show. We'll have two shows this year: that one, and then the grad show at the end of the year. As the first one is only about a month and a half away, we have to work our butts off in order to get the thing off the ground. However, as we've done this before, it should be easier--at least for me. I usually find stuff like that easier the second time around (I'm looking at you, ArtsNB scholarship application, and you, studio lighting class).

Because university is different from college, I decided to ask Karen about those differences, as she went to both NBCCD and Acadia University. We talked for a bit, and then she put me in contact with a guy from St. Stephen who actually went to both NBCCD and NSCAD.

Thursday: That morning, we had the dress-rehearsal for our presentation to PhotoFred. In other words, we presented to the first-year Photogs. I couldn't help but think back to last year when the Class of '11 presented to my class. The presentations went well, though we ended up not having time for a project critique that Peter wanted to do. We're going to do it this week.

As usual, I spent the rest of the day working on homework and my ArtsNB application, and then skyped with Helen in the evening.

Friday: More work: homework and scholarship application.

That morning, I made a point to sit down with a good book. As I was going through a period of nostalgia for the time when I applied to the diploma program, in all it's stress and excitement, I decided to watch the movie that Drew made, showing us FVAs how to document our work for our portfolios. After almost two years of photo courses, I found myself wanting to shout out, "HOT LIGHTS!," "SEAMLESS BACKDROP!," and say, "yep, that makes perfect sense."

Saturday: Sick. Once again. I managed to get a fair amount of work done, but by seven that evening, I was wiped. So I trudged back home through the snow.

Sunday: I can't remember the last time I had such a productive day. I'm usually fairly productive, but not this productive. I basically woke up, got brunch, sat down at my computer for several hours (Gallery homework: thisclose to being done), took a shower, sat down again (Imagery homework: done; Research proposal: done except for proofreading), got supper, sat down again (Photoshop homework: done). Whew! And I'm supposed to be sick, right?

The BSO played a concert yesterday, and The Planets was one of the pieces on the program. The orchestra's Facebook page has been hyping the concert, and has featured a movement from that work every day for the past week. My favourite movement was featured on Wednesday: "'Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity,' usually one of the favorite movements of Holst's 'The Planets.' It's one of ours, anyway!" Mine, too, BSO, mine, too. Click here to see that video.