My university plans have changed again. And finals are just as brutal as ever.
Monday: Due to it being Easter Monday, there were no classes. I spent the day doing homework.
Tuesday: I returned the DVDs to the VRC and ended up discussing them with the woman in charge of the Collection (Rebecca, who's a NSCAD grad--Photography, Class of '99). I think Anna Leonowens and I would've gotten along quite nicely, and I love that she was a suffragette. Once again, I spent the day doing homework, including prepping for the next day's printing.
I'm determined to get an apartment next year: I've lived in a university residence for the last four years, and at twenty-four (twenty-five in July), I'm ready to truly start living on my own and be responsible for paying rent. So I visited a couple of apartment buildings on my way home. I didn't get to see any rooms, but I like the feel of both places, and they're close to pretty much everything.
Later that evening, I started to feel the telltale signs of a cold.
Wednesday: I woke up feeling like I could've slept another hour or two. By the end of the day, however, I was feeling much better.
That day was Printing Day. I spent a chunk of the afternoon doing final adjustments and then printed the photos.
Class was another group critique. I had some tweaks to make, but overall it went well.
Thursday: Here's where things get interesting. I went to school early to meet with Adrian Fish, who'll be my teacher next semester for APC, to talk about the course. I've been discussing it a lot with a student who's currently taking it, Mary Ellen, and I wanted to see what Adrian had to say. We went over the course outline, which he emailed to me. I also mentioned that I'd be doing all nine of my history credits (three courses) that semester. With APC that's a whopping eighteen credits, i.e., overload. Whenever I've mentioned this to my friends at school they've all said something along the lines of "that's a lot." And it is. But I'd gotten it into my head that I'll finish my degree in three semesters, and all my plans and decisions have been based around that schedule, so adding another semester was more than a bit stressful. Adrian said the same--in fact, he said that that was the most difficult way to go about finishing said degree. That did it for me. Because Adrian's awesome and I trust him, I figured he had to be right about this. I've been kind of worried, anyway, about doing it that way. Yes, it's cheaper, but while I'd save money, I'd probably end up racking up a lot of sleep debt (and this gal needs eight to nine hours of sleep a night. I can get by on seven for a night or two, but any less, or several nights in a row of seven hours or less, and you don't want to be me. Though I somehow manage to happily go through Christmas Day on about six and a half hours of sleep.). I'd also be stressed out of my mind, especially during finals, which are stressful enough at fifteen credits. And I'd run the risk of doing a crappy job on my APC project, and my expectations for that course are higher than they are for most other courses because it's the thesis course for the Photography BFA (and as I've gotten older and learned more, my standards for my own work and that of others have skyrocketed--and not just for photography, either: this also applies to other forms of visual art, dance and music). I won't accept anything less than the best. But because money is a big concern for me (I have a student loan for the first time, having gone through NBCCD with a university fund that no longer exists), I was concerned about the financial side of adding another semester. However, I'd rather go a little deeper into debt than sacrifice the quality of my work, my GPA--and my sanity.
After all that, I went to the SUNSCAD AGM--which didn't get underway until about 12:30. I unfortunately had to leave just after the new SUNSCAD exec was ratified due to class at 1:00.
The latter part of class was a working class, and I spent it tidying up the pieces that I'd done. During break, I went to OSAS to talk with them about the change in plan because I'd already applied to graduate and listed my graduation date as Winter '14. I have a couple of appointments to talk things over on Tuesday, which is going to be a ridiculously busy day.
Friday: The last set of presentations for Obsolescence. We also made plans for next week: because it's the last day for that course, we're meeting at ten instead of 8:30. Hello, sleeping in until 8:30!
Anna spent the class going over the structure and format of our final essays.
Saturday: Up and at 'em. That morning we installed the show on the second floor of the Port Campus, and my print is looking gorgeous. This is my first time mounting a photo using earth magnets, and I love the look. It cuts down on cost, yes (and I don't know if NSCAD has frames that I can borrow nor do I know who cuts mats well and charges an amount that's easy for a student to cough up), but some images are best when presented "naked". It forces the viewer to be confronted by the work and whatever idea the artist is trying to get across whether the viewer likes it or not. This is my first show outside New Brunswick.
Once the show was up, I went back to my place and spent the rest of the day studying, and I'm amazed at how much I got done--which is good news for Tuesday. I also dropped two courses from my Fall '13 schedule and registered for courses for Winter '14. I'll be taking APC and Survey of 20th Century Art in the Fall (twelve credits), and Contemporary Indigenous Arts and Topics in Canadian Art in the Winter (six credits, meaning that I'll be a part-time student--full-time status kicks in at nine credits). Since Friday, I've felt lighter when I think about the remaining courses: I don't have to worry about how I'm going to get all my projects done. Plus, if Contemporary Indigenous Arts is as awesome as I think it's going to be, I could treat it as an extension of my summer project on First Nations peoples, culture, history, treaties and treatment by white people (that's probably going to be the most painful part of the project).
Due to all the excitement, I didn't listen to the opera. This week the Met performed Das Rheingold, which is home to one of the most beautiful preludes ever. I don't care what you think of Wagner or opera--that thing's awesome. I'm not the biggest Wagner fan--I'm definitely not a Ring-head--but the Das Rheingold prelude is one of my favourite pieces. I love how it starts out simply and then grows and builds and swells, evoking the Rhine river. Here it is, as performed by the Met in the new Robert Lepage production. That's all eight MOO hornists you're hearing.
Sunday: Once again, I spent the day doing homework down at the Port Campus. Despite my rather late start to the day, I managed to finish much of the rest of my to-do list.
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Monday, April 8, 2013
Monday, October 8, 2012
NSCAD: fun/awesome things happen here
This weekend was my first time celebrating Thanksgiving away from home. But it wasn't too bad.
Monday: I spent most of the day in the darkroom, reprinting yet again for Intro Photo.
That evening, SUNSCAD held a general assembly (GA), which I went to. The main topic was the Framework for Sustainability and voting no confidence on the Framework (which FUNSCAD 1, the teachers' union, has already done. FUNSCAD 2 is the studio technicians' union, by the way.). It involved a lot of debate, several amendments and amendments-to-amendments of the "be it resolved" part of the motion, but the GA and participating in democracy without the unfairness that is prevalent in the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system that Canada uses (it's also used in most American elections) gave me a rush. This is what democracy looks and feels like.
Tuesday: We all reread this week's handout in class, making notes on things that we wanted to talk about, and then discussing them. We then watched a movie about the Nazi concentration camps and discussed that.
Since starting classes at NSCAD, I've been thinking about running for SUNSCAD, as I've been very inspired by what they do. The Student Union of NSCAD isn't afraid to get their hands dirty: they will fight for their school and the rights of their fellow students. Since I got my first taste of SUNSCAD on Orientation Day, I've been thinking about getting involved in the union--of actually running in the election, which is something that I've never done before. Prior to this year, I've never taken much of an interest in school politics (NBCCD's Student Representative Council, while they did an excellent job of representing their fellow students, wasn't exactly interested in challenging the status quo, which I understand because NBCCD is doing very well--they haven't had to deal with people not doing their jobs or a lack of money), so it's been a surprise to me as well.
So that day I told one of the executives that I was interested in running, and she gave me a nomination form. There are a bunch of positions that I could run for, including Media Arts rep (the division that the Photography Dept. is in) and Mature Students rep, so I chose randomly: Students Living in Residence rep.
Wednesday: We finished the perfect binding books. Mine didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, binding-wise, but they could've been worse: getting the width of the spine of the cover just right is a pain. Too loose and the book will fall apart (everything's just held together with PVC glue), too tight and the pages won't fit.
After class, I walked back to my place, as I hadn't packed my SLR and I wanted to shoot a roll of film. I shot the roll on my way back to school.
That evening was the first meeting of the NSCAD Dance and Movement Club where we actually danced. This meeting was more about exploring and experimenting with different ways of movement.
Thursday: Bob had planned to take us to the Dalhousie Arts Centre (home to Symphony Nova Scotia, FYI) last week, but we ran out of time. This week, we were able to make the trip. The show (which is a group show) blew me away, and I felt that if I were to truly appreciate it, I'd have to stay there much longer than I did. It was very avant-garde, modern and cool, and was comprised of many different media: photography, fluorescent bulbs, sound, glass, video...
Friday: That day was a working class, and I'm finally getting the hang of NSCAD's Saunders/LPL enlargers. After three years of working with NBCCD's Durst enlargers, I'm used to working with that brand and know what settings to use in order to get the results that I want, and I've had to transfer those three years of experience with one brand to another brand that works in a completely different way. I've learned that I have to use a higher-contrast filter than I did with the Dursts (I generally used either a 2.5 or a 3; with the Saunders/LPLs it's more along the lines of a 3 or a 4) in order to get the same results.
Due to all that work, I was late to the SUNSCAD election meeting. The meeting was mandatory, but only a handful of people bothered to show up, so the fact that I showed up was good enough. We were given the rundown of what's going to happen over the next few weeks and what we need to do.
Saturday: I spent most of the day migrating all my data from my old, orange-juice-filled computer to my new one with Tom's help.
Late in the afternoon, I started to feel the early signs of a cold. Me being me, I tried to deny that I was getting sick.
Sunday: Okay, yeah, it's a cold. Thankfully, I was still well enough to do homework.
I spent much of the afternoon shooting the final roll for Intro Photo and developing it and roll #2. I plan to print the photos on Wednesday afternoon.
That afternoon was also the Bangor Symphony's first concert of the 117th season. As a result, I had An American in Paris (which was on the program) going through my head for several hours. Here are some (more like three hundred and eighty-nine) photos that were taken during rehearsal and the concert. Most of them are good, especially given the fact that stage lighting is extremely high-contrast, and therefore very difficult to photograph in, but a handful of the photos left me wondering, "why did that photo make it into the final batch?" For some, it was the technical aspect that was missing (metering issues/blowout, motion blur that didn't look deliberate, occasional incorrect-looking white balance), but for others, it was more the artistic side that was lacking. Yes, it's documentary-style photography, but there's still an art to it.
But as a proud New Brunswicker, I love the fact that the BSO uses Sabian cymbals. Sabian is based in Meductic, NB, and they make some of the best cymbals you can get. Unfortunately, since there isn't anything written on the BSO's cymbals aside from the Sabian logo, I can't tell which model they are.
And because it's Thanksgiving here in Canada (happy Columbus Day to my American readers), here's this year's list of what I'm thankful for:
Monday: I spent most of the day in the darkroom, reprinting yet again for Intro Photo.
That evening, SUNSCAD held a general assembly (GA), which I went to. The main topic was the Framework for Sustainability and voting no confidence on the Framework (which FUNSCAD 1, the teachers' union, has already done. FUNSCAD 2 is the studio technicians' union, by the way.). It involved a lot of debate, several amendments and amendments-to-amendments of the "be it resolved" part of the motion, but the GA and participating in democracy without the unfairness that is prevalent in the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system that Canada uses (it's also used in most American elections) gave me a rush. This is what democracy looks and feels like.
Tuesday: We all reread this week's handout in class, making notes on things that we wanted to talk about, and then discussing them. We then watched a movie about the Nazi concentration camps and discussed that.
Since starting classes at NSCAD, I've been thinking about running for SUNSCAD, as I've been very inspired by what they do. The Student Union of NSCAD isn't afraid to get their hands dirty: they will fight for their school and the rights of their fellow students. Since I got my first taste of SUNSCAD on Orientation Day, I've been thinking about getting involved in the union--of actually running in the election, which is something that I've never done before. Prior to this year, I've never taken much of an interest in school politics (NBCCD's Student Representative Council, while they did an excellent job of representing their fellow students, wasn't exactly interested in challenging the status quo, which I understand because NBCCD is doing very well--they haven't had to deal with people not doing their jobs or a lack of money), so it's been a surprise to me as well.
So that day I told one of the executives that I was interested in running, and she gave me a nomination form. There are a bunch of positions that I could run for, including Media Arts rep (the division that the Photography Dept. is in) and Mature Students rep, so I chose randomly: Students Living in Residence rep.
Wednesday: We finished the perfect binding books. Mine didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, binding-wise, but they could've been worse: getting the width of the spine of the cover just right is a pain. Too loose and the book will fall apart (everything's just held together with PVC glue), too tight and the pages won't fit.
After class, I walked back to my place, as I hadn't packed my SLR and I wanted to shoot a roll of film. I shot the roll on my way back to school.
That evening was the first meeting of the NSCAD Dance and Movement Club where we actually danced. This meeting was more about exploring and experimenting with different ways of movement.
Thursday: Bob had planned to take us to the Dalhousie Arts Centre (home to Symphony Nova Scotia, FYI) last week, but we ran out of time. This week, we were able to make the trip. The show (which is a group show) blew me away, and I felt that if I were to truly appreciate it, I'd have to stay there much longer than I did. It was very avant-garde, modern and cool, and was comprised of many different media: photography, fluorescent bulbs, sound, glass, video...
Friday: That day was a working class, and I'm finally getting the hang of NSCAD's Saunders/LPL enlargers. After three years of working with NBCCD's Durst enlargers, I'm used to working with that brand and know what settings to use in order to get the results that I want, and I've had to transfer those three years of experience with one brand to another brand that works in a completely different way. I've learned that I have to use a higher-contrast filter than I did with the Dursts (I generally used either a 2.5 or a 3; with the Saunders/LPLs it's more along the lines of a 3 or a 4) in order to get the same results.
Due to all that work, I was late to the SUNSCAD election meeting. The meeting was mandatory, but only a handful of people bothered to show up, so the fact that I showed up was good enough. We were given the rundown of what's going to happen over the next few weeks and what we need to do.
Saturday: I spent most of the day migrating all my data from my old, orange-juice-filled computer to my new one with Tom's help.
Late in the afternoon, I started to feel the early signs of a cold. Me being me, I tried to deny that I was getting sick.
Sunday: Okay, yeah, it's a cold. Thankfully, I was still well enough to do homework.
I spent much of the afternoon shooting the final roll for Intro Photo and developing it and roll #2. I plan to print the photos on Wednesday afternoon.
That afternoon was also the Bangor Symphony's first concert of the 117th season. As a result, I had An American in Paris (which was on the program) going through my head for several hours. Here are some (more like three hundred and eighty-nine) photos that were taken during rehearsal and the concert. Most of them are good, especially given the fact that stage lighting is extremely high-contrast, and therefore very difficult to photograph in, but a handful of the photos left me wondering, "why did that photo make it into the final batch?" For some, it was the technical aspect that was missing (metering issues/blowout, motion blur that didn't look deliberate, occasional incorrect-looking white balance), but for others, it was more the artistic side that was lacking. Yes, it's documentary-style photography, but there's still an art to it.
But as a proud New Brunswicker, I love the fact that the BSO uses Sabian cymbals. Sabian is based in Meductic, NB, and they make some of the best cymbals you can get. Unfortunately, since there isn't anything written on the BSO's cymbals aside from the Sabian logo, I can't tell which model they are.
And because it's Thanksgiving here in Canada (happy Columbus Day to my American readers), here's this year's list of what I'm thankful for:
- SUNSCAD
- NSCAD
- The fact that SUNSCAD is very political and not afraid to get it's hands dirty
- The cool things that NSCAD students and supporters do (e.g., ANNAmotion LOGOmotion)
- The liberalness of Halifax
- The Bangor Symphony (and their awesome violin section)
- The Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony
- NBCCD
- My three years at NBCCD, what I learned there and the experiences that I had
- The NBCCD faculty, especially the photo faculty
- My knowledge of B&W film photography
- The fact that film photography is still taught (alongside digital) in art colleges and universities even as digital takes over more and more of the world
- My desire to learn
- The high quality of my artistic education
- My interest in Canadian politics
Monday, January 30, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, January 16, 2012
this is going to be one heck of a semester
I think I'm going to enjoy this semester. For one thing, Mondays are more relaxed, as I only have one class, and it's in the afternoon. And I think I'm going to really enjoy it.
Monday: The class in question is Imagery: Sources and Development. Although we're starting with observational drawing, the course goes beyond that form of drawing, using different sources, techniques and media. "Emphasis [is] on developing personally relevant imagery" (from the blurb about the course). In other words, it's the drawing course that I've been waiting for for three years.
By the way, that class is huge by NBCCD standards: twenty-two students, including me.
After class, I hung out in the photo studio and chatted with Peter before heading home.
Tuesday: This semester's Photoshop course is brand-new, so, as with Preparing for Professional Life last semester, my class gets to deal with the kinks and bugs in said course. However, I'm okay with that because I know that the course is new (I didn't know that Professional Life was new until the last week or two of the semester), and I know what my teacher (Drew) is like and what his expectations are, and he knows us students and what we're into--and whether or not we even like Photoshop.
And because this course is new, we students have a say in how things are going to go down this semester: our assignment this week was to come up with some techniques that we wanted to learn more about.
Still to Motion started with talking not about the visual aspect of creating movies, documentaries, etc., with DSLRs, but the audio aspect. And it reminded me just how interested I am in sound: how it behaves, how one can manipulate it, etc. (I'll happily blame it on my eight years of violin lessons). Our assignment this week was to record ourselves reading an excerpt of text--like a Wikipedia article--with music in the background (don't speak until after the first verse), using the built-in mic on our computers. We were to then decrease the volume of the music when we were speaking, bring the volume back up when we finished our speaking bit, and then decrease the volume again at the end. Simple, but so much fun! I did my homework that evening, and it was a good thing I did, because...
Wednesday: ...I woke up with the telltale sore throat of a cold. Ugh. And as I tend to do, I spent the first half of the day in denial: "please don't be a cold **swallow** please go away **gulp**." But by two that afternoon (one PM EST), I admitted that I was sick. I immediately went into recovery mode.
Oh, yeah: classes. That morning, I had Gallery as a Market Place--and I had Karen as a teacher again! Let's just say that, as with last semester's business class, I have much to learn about the ins and outs of galleries. But I actually want to take this course.
I'm applying for the ArtsNB scholarship again, so I asked Karen to be one of my references: she said yes.
That afternoon, I had another class with Drew, and, like Peter's second-year classes, it's devoted to independent study projects. But these are little projects: I think the biggest is about three weeks long. My first one is on model releases, and I want to have one that's readily modifiable based on the situation/project by the time I'm done.
I also asked Drew if he'd be my other reference (I need two): he said yes. And he reminded me to print out two copies of the form that the reference people fill out.
By that point, my throat was so sore that it hurt to speak, or even whisper, for longer than a few seconds at a time--which is a major blow to someone who's as talkative as I am.
Because Drew wanted a project proposal for the first project from each of us, he let us go after an hour. I spent the next hour-and-a-half writing mine, and then packed up my stuff and headed home as soon as I dropped the proposal in the assignment folder for that course.
When I got home, I was so tired that I decided to take a nap. Afterward, I felt a bit better, but I didn't do much for the rest of the evening.
Because I felt so crappy, I was more than a bit concerned that I might have to skip Peter's class the next day. And because I love Peter's classes so much and this week's class was the first of the semester, I did not want to have to miss that class.
Thursday: When I woke up that morning, I still felt like crap, but I was well enough to go to school. Yyyyyeesssssssssss!
Because Karen's history class was taking over the Photo Studio classroom (where Peter normally has his classes) that morning, he moved us to the Surface Design classroom. And starting the second week of term, his class will start not at 9:00 AM (8:00 EST), but 10:00 AM (9:00 EST)!!! As someone who's not exactly a morning person, I can't complain.
Like all the other classes this week, Peter talked about how the semester's going to go down: things like the fact that we each have to have a website by the end of the term, and that we're doing a presentation to the local photography club, Photo Fredericton, next month. And the fact that from now on, that class starts an hour later than what's posted on the schedule.
He also wanted us to take another look at the project proposals that we'd written and handed in at the end of last semester. We were to make any necessary adjustments, and then email them to him by this coming Thursday. Taking another look at the proposals also served to remind us exactly what we wanted to do.
I spent the rest of the day working on homework--except for when I had a meeting with Peter that afternoon.
Friday through Sunday: On Thursday I'd drawn up a to-do list of everything that I wanted to accomplish over the weekend, and although I worked on it a bit that day, it was on Friday that I really buckled down and started in on The List. I...
So I called back on Saturday afternoon. Because Peter ran a bit late, we didn't connect until after two. But once we did, he was happy to answer my questions (I typed up a summary of each of his answers in Word, having written down my questions earlier)--in fact, the guy was a perfect interviewee, and patiently waited for me to finish typing (at the beginning I told him that I'd be typing up his answers).
However, for me, this was more than just another school assignment: this interview marked a huge turning point for me. For as long as I can remember, although I'm an outgoing person, I've always been shy when I call someone for the first time. It was to the point that I had to force myself to dial the number. But something happened between the last time when I had to do that, which was in November, and Friday: I lost my shyness about calling someone out of the blue. When I called Peter, I just picked up the phone, dialed the number (making sure to dial 9 first, as it was on a school phone--Peter Gross' phone, to be exact, as he's one of the ones with long-distance. And yes, I asked him for permission.), explained that "I'm a student at NBCCD, I have an assignment to contact a gallery and ask for their mandate and submission guidelines. Is now a good time or is there another time that would be better?" Done. And it was no big deal: in fact, I'd say it was almost as easy as playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
Monday: The class in question is Imagery: Sources and Development. Although we're starting with observational drawing, the course goes beyond that form of drawing, using different sources, techniques and media. "Emphasis [is] on developing personally relevant imagery" (from the blurb about the course). In other words, it's the drawing course that I've been waiting for for three years.
By the way, that class is huge by NBCCD standards: twenty-two students, including me.
After class, I hung out in the photo studio and chatted with Peter before heading home.
Tuesday: This semester's Photoshop course is brand-new, so, as with Preparing for Professional Life last semester, my class gets to deal with the kinks and bugs in said course. However, I'm okay with that because I know that the course is new (I didn't know that Professional Life was new until the last week or two of the semester), and I know what my teacher (Drew) is like and what his expectations are, and he knows us students and what we're into--and whether or not we even like Photoshop.
And because this course is new, we students have a say in how things are going to go down this semester: our assignment this week was to come up with some techniques that we wanted to learn more about.
Still to Motion started with talking not about the visual aspect of creating movies, documentaries, etc., with DSLRs, but the audio aspect. And it reminded me just how interested I am in sound: how it behaves, how one can manipulate it, etc. (I'll happily blame it on my eight years of violin lessons). Our assignment this week was to record ourselves reading an excerpt of text--like a Wikipedia article--with music in the background (don't speak until after the first verse), using the built-in mic on our computers. We were to then decrease the volume of the music when we were speaking, bring the volume back up when we finished our speaking bit, and then decrease the volume again at the end. Simple, but so much fun! I did my homework that evening, and it was a good thing I did, because...
 |
| Because everyone knows me as a classical music-freak, I decided to shake things up. Although I'm crazy about classical, I'm also into a lot of other genres, including indie, punk/alternative and folk. This time, I went with one of my favourite Green Day tracks, 21st Century Breakdown, from the album of the same name. I read the first paragraph from Green Day's Wikipedia article. |
Wednesday: ...I woke up with the telltale sore throat of a cold. Ugh. And as I tend to do, I spent the first half of the day in denial: "please don't be a cold **swallow** please go away **gulp**." But by two that afternoon (one PM EST), I admitted that I was sick. I immediately went into recovery mode.
Oh, yeah: classes. That morning, I had Gallery as a Market Place--and I had Karen as a teacher again! Let's just say that, as with last semester's business class, I have much to learn about the ins and outs of galleries. But I actually want to take this course.
I'm applying for the ArtsNB scholarship again, so I asked Karen to be one of my references: she said yes.
That afternoon, I had another class with Drew, and, like Peter's second-year classes, it's devoted to independent study projects. But these are little projects: I think the biggest is about three weeks long. My first one is on model releases, and I want to have one that's readily modifiable based on the situation/project by the time I'm done.
I also asked Drew if he'd be my other reference (I need two): he said yes. And he reminded me to print out two copies of the form that the reference people fill out.
By that point, my throat was so sore that it hurt to speak, or even whisper, for longer than a few seconds at a time--which is a major blow to someone who's as talkative as I am.
Because Drew wanted a project proposal for the first project from each of us, he let us go after an hour. I spent the next hour-and-a-half writing mine, and then packed up my stuff and headed home as soon as I dropped the proposal in the assignment folder for that course.
When I got home, I was so tired that I decided to take a nap. Afterward, I felt a bit better, but I didn't do much for the rest of the evening.
Because I felt so crappy, I was more than a bit concerned that I might have to skip Peter's class the next day. And because I love Peter's classes so much and this week's class was the first of the semester, I did not want to have to miss that class.
Thursday: When I woke up that morning, I still felt like crap, but I was well enough to go to school. Yyyyyeesssssssssss!
Because Karen's history class was taking over the Photo Studio classroom (where Peter normally has his classes) that morning, he moved us to the Surface Design classroom. And starting the second week of term, his class will start not at 9:00 AM (8:00 EST), but 10:00 AM (9:00 EST)!!! As someone who's not exactly a morning person, I can't complain.
Like all the other classes this week, Peter talked about how the semester's going to go down: things like the fact that we each have to have a website by the end of the term, and that we're doing a presentation to the local photography club, Photo Fredericton, next month. And the fact that from now on, that class starts an hour later than what's posted on the schedule.
He also wanted us to take another look at the project proposals that we'd written and handed in at the end of last semester. We were to make any necessary adjustments, and then email them to him by this coming Thursday. Taking another look at the proposals also served to remind us exactly what we wanted to do.
I spent the rest of the day working on homework--except for when I had a meeting with Peter that afternoon.
Friday through Sunday: On Thursday I'd drawn up a to-do list of everything that I wanted to accomplish over the weekend, and although I worked on it a bit that day, it was on Friday that I really buckled down and started in on The List. I...
- Reworked the project proposal and emailed it to Peter.
- Did my Photoshop homework.
- Did my Gallery as a Market Place homework (more on that after the list).
- Researched model releases.
- Started putting together the PowerPoint presentation for Peter's class.
- Wrote notes for said PowerPoint.
- Photocopied some of my sheet music for Imagery.
- Wrote like crazy for my NSCAD application (250 - 500 words) and my ArtsNB scholarship application (one 8 1/2" x 11" page or less), and tweaked my RBC scholarship application (two questions, 600 words or less total).
- Skipped the Met's radio broadcast--though I did it in the name of Gallery as a Market Place, so I'm sure they'd understand (there's a gallery at the Met Opera House--**squeal**).
- Wondered where Sunday disappeared.
- Hung out with friends/fellow Photogs (there's never a dull moment in the studio).
So I called back on Saturday afternoon. Because Peter ran a bit late, we didn't connect until after two. But once we did, he was happy to answer my questions (I typed up a summary of each of his answers in Word, having written down my questions earlier)--in fact, the guy was a perfect interviewee, and patiently waited for me to finish typing (at the beginning I told him that I'd be typing up his answers).
However, for me, this was more than just another school assignment: this interview marked a huge turning point for me. For as long as I can remember, although I'm an outgoing person, I've always been shy when I call someone for the first time. It was to the point that I had to force myself to dial the number. But something happened between the last time when I had to do that, which was in November, and Friday: I lost my shyness about calling someone out of the blue. When I called Peter, I just picked up the phone, dialed the number (making sure to dial 9 first, as it was on a school phone--Peter Gross' phone, to be exact, as he's one of the ones with long-distance. And yes, I asked him for permission.), explained that "I'm a student at NBCCD, I have an assignment to contact a gallery and ask for their mandate and submission guidelines. Is now a good time or is there another time that would be better?" Done. And it was no big deal: in fact, I'd say it was almost as easy as playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
midterms aren't as bad as I thought
This week is assessment week and I've been feeling off-kilter since yesterday. I don't even have any real classes today: just come in to pick up my grade for history (not bad--probably has something to do with the fact that I love history of almost any kind: I just get so into it) and meet with Denise, my Creative Process teacher, at one. And that's it for today.
I caught a cold somewhere in the school and woke up with a sore throat on Friday. I managed to make it through my last ceramics class but by that evening I was so exhausted and plain ol' out of it that I went to bed just after 7:30 (which is really early for me--I usually don't go to bed until about eleven).
Mom phoned that evening (I'd emailed her to say that I was sick) and offered to have Tom come and get me the next day. He'd talked about going up that night but Mom put her foot down (driving through Moose Alley at night, plus giving me enough time to pack). The next plan was for him to drive up and get me at eight the next day. I protested that one and we settled on 9:30.
I hardly did anything on Sunday--just read Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume (which I ended up taking with me when I went back to Fredericton), played around on my computer (Facebook, anyone? Or how about watching a performance of The Nutcracker on YouTube?), planned to watch The Secret Life of Bees on said computer, read the material for the reaction paper, and worked on the reaction paper with Tom (I was still rather out of it).
On Monday morning I woke up feeling a lot better and worked a bit on my project for Creative Process (which I just found out isn't due until next week) before heading back to F'ton.
Now I just have to make sure I don't get sick again until after the Met's simulcast on the seventh--I don't want to be sneezing and coughing my way through a major horn (or violin) passage: "what? Could you guys play that again, please?"
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