homework? What's that?

This week was the last week of classes. I spent today doing the last bit of homework--though I still have to arrange my independent study prints in the portfolio that I got for the project. Hello, homework withdrawal...

Monday: Most of Output was devoted to looking at everyone's website designs. This assignment was mostly a trial-run for me, and I now know that when I put together my professional website (which will be within the next year), I absolutely will not use iWeb. That program is decent, but it has some major shortcomings, and I found it really frustrating to work with. The fact that I couldn't change the colour or font of the "Play Slideshow" and RSS "Subscribe" buttons in image galleries bugged me the most. I wanted that text to match the other text that I had on the website. Also, I found out via Drew that iWeb websites aren't compatible with smartphones. Huh? But... iWeb is made by Apple, which also makes the iPhone, which is one of the most popular smartphones! That makes no sense. I don't have a smartphone, but still: STEVE JOBS! Why?!

Drawing was once again devoted to self-portraits. Mine was better than the one that I did at the beginning of the year, though I'm not thrilled with how I drew my nose. I hate drawing noses from the front, anyway--they're really difficult. After that class, I felt so free, knowing that that was my last long day--for a while, anyway. We'll see what next semester brings.

Tuesday: I'd planned to print that day, but we were out of the Premium Luster paper, which I'm partial to (although it's not as archival as the Enhanced Matte). We wouldn't get our next supply in until later that week, so that meant that I wouldn't have anything to show during Thursday's class. However, Peter was aware of our lack of lustre paper (and the fact that I'd have nothing to show on Thursday morning), and within a couple days said paper was ordered.

I spent the afternoon working on the last bit of stuff for my business plan (the final product is due tomorrow at assessment).

Wednesday: Because I was pretty much done my Photoshop project but still had a week before it was due, I had Drew critique it. I then made the changes, and submitted it.

My final lighting project was to try out every flash modifier that I had yet to use: the octobox and the gridded softbox. The photo studio's snoot is meant for the Speedatrons, so I tried once again to get those things to slave. No such luck. However, even just turning on the modelling light gave me a pretty good idea of what the snoot does (it focuses the light in one little spot)--I just didn't have the photos to show for my efforts (I told Drew about what I'd learned). And because I didn't really know what the gridded softbox does, I asked Drew and he showed us. When in doubt, draw.

Thursday: During class, Peter updated us on the situation with the Winter electives. Although Book Binding will be offered, I think I'll probably choose either Painterly and Mixed Media Drawing, which is taught by Jen Beckley (my old drawing teacher), or Imagery: Sources and Development, which is taught by Linda Kelly (my old first-semester History Tutorial teacher). I think in the next week or so we'll be getting info on what the courses actually involve.

Peter's and my meeting centred around what I want to do post-NBCCD and my next independent project. One of the goals with the projects is to explore things that we may be interested in doing post-graduation. One of the possibilities that I'm considering is teaching (though I'm not even considering K-12: the North American public school system and said system's treatment of the arts as "less important" than math and reading drives me nuts, and I know that if I taught at a school like that that I'd be fighting the system from Day One--and that I'd drive the higher-ups nuts), and possibly teaching at a place like Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre. So Peter suggested that my next project could be to design a course for the Centre. Project: decided.

I also began the process of cleaning out my locker. Rolls of paper: gone.

Friday: I spent the morning being as lazy as possible, but finally made it to the school and ran some errands. I printed a test for my independent project, which was a good thing: it needed more contrast. And I needed to fiddle around with the size of each image, because I wanted them to be 11" x 14", and although I'd resized them in Photoshop Camera RAW, I found out that they weren't the right size--yet. I also started the proposal for the Sunbury Shores course project.

Saturday: My earbuds finally started to really bite the dust, and I was forced to replace them. Although they still work, the rubbery casing that protects the wires leading to each bud was disintegrating. So I packed my backpack, went downtown, and bought a new pair at Tony's Music Box. The new earbuds sound even better than my old ones, and the old ones were better than the set that came with my iPod Nano (which make the bass sound rather dull).

That meant that I had to miss a sizable chunk of the Met's broadcast of Faust, though I managed to catch the Opera Quiz (which is always fun, and I learn a lot). And I didn't miss the Jewel Song.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working on the proposal for the next independent study project, adding a bit to the final report for my last independent study project, and getting the photos for my business portfolio and the independent project ready to print (double-checking size, sharpening them, etc.).

Sunday: This morning was gloriously lazy, but this afternoon wasn't: I had to proofread and send the final report and project proposal, both of which are due tomorrow at 9:00 AM (8:00 EST), print my photos (I booked the printer for two hours this afternoon), print the final version of the business plan, and skype with my parents and my mentor.

Because I have nothing other than my assessment tomorrow, and I know that after a semester of eleven-hour-long Mondays tomorrow is going to feel really bare, I'm going to do my Christmas shopping after my assessment. And I'm going to clean out my drawer in the photo studio.

And because the Bangor Symphony plays The Nutcracker next weekend, here's the battle scene and the Journey to the Land of Snow from that ballet. Journey to the Land of Snow is one of my favourite pieces from The Nutcracker: the violin part is so beautiful and powerful. What I would give to hear the BSO play that piece...