Hurricanes and Halloween

I know I just posted something, but this one isn’t really about school.

It’s about Sandy.

Sure I go to school here in Florida but I’m a Jersey Girl all the way. My whole family is there - okay not everyone but 95% of the family I see regularly is.

Anyway you all must have heard about the storm. It was very bad for Jersey and New York, though I think we go it worst.

The City That Never Sleeps had it's lights shut off for them by Sandy.

Let me start by saying that my family is fine. Everyone is safe. They all lost power but my parents go it back today after it being off for 2.5 days. (Which is really good since we don’t have water without it thanks to our well system). Last I heard neither of my grandparent’s houses had power. My Dad’s parents - last I knew - had gone to the hospital since the generator broke and my Grandpa’s oxygen battery was dead (he’s been on oxygen since September after he had a stroke).

For anyone that doesn’t know Atlantic City is basically gone. Okay, not really, but the boardwalk is. To think that we live only 20 minutes from there is crazy.

Atlantic City Boardwalk or what's left of it.

Our main concern is Long Beach Island (LBI) since my family has a house there. Biased on pictures and videos we have come across it was bad - for a while the ground was gone. There was a clip we found of part of the island after the storm passed and our house happened to be seen in it. It was only a glimpse but the house is still standing with no major visible damage. Hopefully it was only the garage that flooded and it didn’t get up to the actual living areas but we won’t know for sure until they let us back onto the island.

The one thing that annoys me is the way people here are talking. Most are from Florida so are saying that we’re worrying over nothing, it was just a baby hurricane, it’s no big deal. I really wanted to hit them.

Get this straight Florida. We in the north weren’t built to stand against hurricanes. Some rain and wind is okay but this is not what we signed up for, not what we built our houses to battle. So SHUT IT!

Yeah, my rant about Sandy and I wasn’t even there. It did distract me in classes though to the point that my teachers noticed...

Anyway, it’s Halloween but it’s the only holiday I don’t really care for. Every other one I love and plan way in advanced but this day is nothing special in my eyes. That might change after I have kids but for now that is where I stand.

So in exchange I sat at the table doing Fine Arts homework. I got my armadillo and air plane done while watching Halloween movies: Hocus Pocus, HalloweenTown, The Littlest Vampire, Mickey’s House of Villains, and Tower of Terror. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

There's Such a Thing as a Free Weekend?

The weekend was easy. Like easy to the point that I was board out of my mind at times. I watched Netflix, read FanFiction, and played Sims 3. Still I felt like I had nothing to do.

I did have Fine Arts, making the figures and all, but I didn’t have a plan for two of them so just did Santa. 

Did the little Design work we had: make an icon.
This is my abstraction of a brain (brain cells

Sunday came as a relief for me as we had Sunday night dinner that evening. As it had been Brenna’s 20th birthday the day before we were having what she wanted - spaghetti and meatballs. Thankfully I already had the meatballs made from earlier in the term had frozen them. So I took out the crock pot, tossed them in with the sauce and relaxed for those two hours.

Then there was dessert. Brenna wanted ice cream cake - vanilla and chocolate with Oreo crust, mini M&Ms, and Recess. She also wanted almond cake with orange vanilla icing.

The cake in her favorite color: Orange.

The ice cream cake was easy to make as I had been making them constantly for several weeks now. For the almond cake I just made a Betty Crocker White Cake and added some almond extract and for the icing I was able to find pre-made orange colored icing being so close to Halloween and so just used that.

They all loved it.

Brenna as we sing to her. Even the candles and their flames are orange.

That evening we also started to prep for the Winter Holidays (I would just say Christmas but one of our friends involved in this is Jewish so we say this instead out of respect for him). What we did last year was draw names for a Secret Santa and then do the gift exchange during a big party. We wanted to do the same thing this year while adding in our new ‘family’ members as well.

You’re most likely thinking that we’re crazy and it’s too soon to need to worry about that. There’s were you’re wrong.

This year has been crazy. Not necessarily for me but for my CA (computer animation) and Illustration friends (which is nearly everyone) it has been maddening just to get them out of the labs once a week for a dinner that only lasts about an hour. 

So we pulled names. Our cards don’t just say who it is on it though, we fill out a sheet that asks you a few questions: name, shirt size, favorite colors, interests, things like that. This way if you pick someone who isn’t your bast friend you can actually find something.

We then makes sure everyone knows about the money limit ($25) and stress that you can also make the gift by hand (like a drawing or something). The time and date of the Holiday party was also scheduled so those who have work outside of school and adjust their shifts.

Thus my weekend ended. I bit slow but everyone needs time off once in a while. From now on I won’t really get any time off like that again so it was nice.

And the best thing about the weekend being over? It means that I have less than a week before I go to DISNEY!!!

It's Been a Week Already?

These days really do blend together. Are you sure it wasn't just Sunday?

After being up so long for Monday I was relieved when my day ended at 4:00 instead of 9:45. 

Reason? 

For one thing my Fine Arts class was just going over concept ideas and since I already had sketches and examples I got to go second (first person had just had knee therapy and was in pain so we let her go se she could leave). Anyway, I got my concept approved, to create line using bouncy balls, ramps, tubes, and “road blocks.” Once it was I could leave to get started on the work and advance the concepts. 

(Not that I actually did that. I made sure I had everything for my later class, went to diner and took a 15 minute nap.)

The other reason why my day ended early was that my night class was canceled since the teacher was sick. Of course I didn’t realize this until I actually got to the classroom, saw there was no one there (normally there are still 30 minutes early), and then checked my email. I had checked it before diner but of course she sent the email not two minutes after I went to eat...

Anyway, I went to bed early and slept for 14 hours. That felt great.

Tuesday was nice since I had finished my animation back on Friday and I had gotten all that sleep.  It’s a mock client project for MoMA and their upcoming exhibit. 

*(Tried to put it in this but it wouldn't work).*

Wednesday came up along with a meeting for Ministry of Magic making decorations for our Yule Ball in 2 weeks. Of course I thought we only had snowflakes to make and it would only take 2 hours at most. Nope. I forgot we wanted to make banners for each of the Hogwarts houses that day too.

So I got slated to make a banner with the fabric and paint. There were 4 of us on that job and 4 houses so the question got to who did what house. That sparked the question what house are you (everyone there is in Pottermore and has gone through the official sorting). I’m a Slytherin, but so was one other girl (the other two were Gryffindor and Ravenclaw so that was easy). It came down to me having a sister who’s a Hufflepuff so I was called on biased on association.

Worked out okay. I went with making stencils to paint with instead of free handing it on the fabric so it only took 5 hours instead of everyone else’s 6. 

Then off to the Academic Center to do the board-o-maitics for Concept since my lap top can’t handle it.

Jill actually liked the pieces when I showed them. Yeah the type is a bit too big but that’s an easy fix for Monday. Everyone in class seemed to like it too, especially the music choices.

*(These videos alos don't want to work...)*

I’ll end this with a note on Fine Arts. My piece is rolling bouncy balls and golf balls covered in paint down a tube/ramp to create a painting. They will also interact with obstacles that are on the paper thus forcing them to change direction. These will be things that represent road blocks I have encountered in my life. This weekend will be spent making them all out of clay. Hopefully.

Near All-Nighters Aren't Fun

I really did want to post something on Friday night, but by then my brain was off to all things complex, and that included typing.

But lets back track a bit first.

Thursday was okay. Concept was in class work day, Design was re-learn perspective because no one else really knows it, the we got to Fine Arts. Last class our substitute never showed up, he didn’t again today (and I waited almost an hour). Oh well.

Thursday evenings I spend in the Academic Center with Jason since he’s a Lab Monitor from 7-10 in an area of the hall that my year doesn’t use too much. So I go and we watch movies because he really needs to catch up. He hasn’t seen Harry Potter, or half the Pixar movies, and even most Disney classics. For instance he hasn’t seen Lady and the Tramp, Lilo and Stitch, The Incredibles, Hunchback of Notre Dame... the list goes on for a while.

Unfortunately he said he had too much homework so we didn’t watch anything and I pulled out my animation stuff to work on. Therefore I had no homework to finish after I left him or even the next morning.

Even class was simple since we were just having another in class work day this time for Animation class. 

The weekend came and it was Parent’s Weekend. My parents weren’t coming since the fall is the craziest time for us at home. They said they might visit in the spring. 

My little brother also turned 18 on Saturday so I called him in college at midnight but he didn’t answer. His girlfriend had flown down for the weekend so....

In order for you to understand my Sundays you have to know one important thing. Last year I lived in a dorm where the hall I was in had a common room. Those of us on it go to be really close and we now act more like a family than old floor mates.

But this year we no longer live together so I try to make sure I see them once a week by hosting a dinner on Sunday evenings. Diner, dessert, games, TV, talking ... really it’s just a time to relax for a bit all together.

Anyway, yesterday was Mikel’s 19th birthday (he’s the baby of us all). His favorite color is blue so I made him a blue cake with blue icing and blue candles with blue flames.

He was happy.

They all left early and I did something crazy, I decided to not do the required 1, 9 paneled storyboard for the next day, but 3, 9 paneled storyboards all of different concept. Not really a good idea when sleeping is the most important thing to do on Sunday nights for me.

But they came out nice I’ld say.

This is the second one I did last night. We had to come up
with ideas on what to do for a title sequence of a movie.

One last thing before I go. 

My family raises puppies for The Seeing Eye and our last dog, Pierce, went back for his real training over a year ago. They told us he had passed but was waiting to be paired up with a blind person. Then yesterday on Facebook they posted a picture of a recently paired graduated and person. AND IT WAS MY BABY!

We are all really proud of him and hopes that he does a good job. I’ve been so happy I have shown all of my teachers!

There's No Such Thing As a Day Off

Three days have past, that’s it, yet I have to say that 1) group work is horrible 2)there is no such thing as a day off.

So Monday started early as usual but after Concept the Design class was canceled since he was out of town and wanted us to rest. I went and took a nap.

Then there was Fine Arts where we were to have a sub while he does some installation. Half hour later there still is no teacher and we all leave. So much for approving our concepts for the next project.

Then Bio. This was just horrible. Our group had met on Wednesday last week and one girl said that she would take our information and make a video for it with a narrator and pictures. Since the presentation had to be 10 minutes one would think she would make a 10 minute video. You would think.

So I get to class early and happy after having my last 2 classes that day canceled. People start coming in, beginning of class rolls around, and the girl isn’t here. Not good. We email her and she sends back, “I’m not coming here’s the video.” I breath, look at the video and want to die. This girl only made it a minute long!

We had 20 minutes and I grabbed pictures for the others and threw them into the slid show I had made before on my information. The girl shows up and makes us go in the very beginning so no one but me knows the order of these slides. None of them even know their information!

I was ready to kill someone after that class and it was only Monday.

Tuesday was spent talking with my advisor for no real reason and going to animation class were I didn’t really pay attention and opted to draw instead.

I taught myself how to draw with my opposite hand over the summer
and it is better at drawing figures than my right hand is.

Finally it was Wednesday.

Now if you think that since I have Wednesdays off I can relax, think again. I spent the entire day today working on Design. Oh how I hate type.

We have been working with one phrase all year so far and manipulating the layout of the type to create new compositions. In the end we had over 80 different variations of the same line. We then had to pick out 23 of the to finalize and turn in to create a book.

Really it shouldn’t be too bad since our teacher wrote on every page saying what to fix, but it wasn’t that simple for me.

See we had to update our computers so we had CS6 as opposed to CS5.5 and our school does that by whipping you whole computer. So I had my external hard-drive and copied over everything, got it updated, and went to put it back. Of course the one file that didn’t copy was the Documents so I lost everything that was in there including all of these layouts.

So today on my ‘day off’ I had to not only recreate the 23 finals but also fix them and make them work in the new format our teacher gave us. 

If you don''t know, the line is from Winnie the Pooh

It took 8 hours.

On top of that the store didn’t have the thicker paper so I had to use only regular pages, then the color printer wasn’t - still isn’t - working, and I still had 2 more classes of work to finish.

Concept was one of the classes I also had to deal with since our teacher decided that we should do a presentation tomorrow suddenly. Great. I tossed some pictures together to show but I really don’t feel like doing it.

There was also some Fine Arts to do, though nothing is needed for tomorrow since the sub didn’t even show. 

I want a real day off.

Let's Start with the Schedule

This year at Ringling is going okay so far - I guess.

Let’s start with my schedule shall we? Now it you think you have bad Mondays, you’re wrong. Mine start at 7:20 to eat and get ready for a class I get to at 8 that starts at 8:30 (I like to do the finishing touches at that time). That class ends at 11:15 (Concept), then lunch, another class at 12:30 to 3:15 (Design), the a third from 3:30 to 6:15 (Fine Arts), a quick dinner, a forth class from 7:00 to 9:45 (Biodiversity), then call home and work on animation homework till 3 or 4 am.

Yeah, I hate Mondays. And I'm not the only one.

These 2 always fall to sleep in Design, no matter what we're doing.

Every other day is easy in comparison. Tuesdays and Fridays are only animations at 3:30, Thursdays are the same as Mondays without Bio, and Wednesdays are completely free.

I also have Ministry of Magic (MoM), Anime Club both of which I am very involved in (actually run anime club). In MoM we are organizing a Yule Ball for the beginning of November. We had one last year in February as already have a lot of the stuff. For anime club we wish we had more people (only about 5) while we meet once a week for 6 hours (Saturday nights 7pm-1am) and just watch anime the whole time. I also organize a weekly dinner in our on-campus apartments on Sunday nights with all our friends so we can get together and also so I can pull them out of the labs and get some fresh air. 

I mother them a lot. Can’t help it.

So far classes are, eh. My Concept teacher made me think I was okay, then shot me down with little warning, my Design teacher made me feel like an insect everyday as he ripped apart my type layouts then turned around and said that I was one of the people who understood it the most. What? 

My first project in Fine Arts dealt with fabric as the main medium and I don’t think the teacher knew anything about it so it’s been easy. In Bio, the teacher realizes we’re at an art school so doesn’t bother giving us tests and quizzes, just asks for a blog post every now and again.

My FA project when it was almost completely done.

Then there is animation, so simple to me. I don’t understand how some people can have so many problems with the basic aspects. I guess I just get it, but it makes the class a little slow at times.

∆ My cube in 3D space with After Effects. I was the only one to build it during the animation.

So there you have it, my schedule and classes for the week - mostly.