Grad-School

So, there that being really about posting on here, I do have some things to say so lets move on.

Grad-School is not what I thought it would be. Though to be honest I’m not quite sure what I expected. 

I guess part of me thought it would be something like 4 years of schooling and teaching packed into 2 years. So far its more like, “Here. The assignment is due in 3 weeks. In the mean time read this packet that is 60 pages, watch these short films, now get me a 15 minute presentation about all that. What isn’t your animation do yet?”

So yeah. Not hand holding here.

Midterms is officially over. With it has past 3 Narrative assignments, 2 Practicum animations, countless Languages files, 5 written out thesis ideas for Seminar, and a board-o-matic + concept art in Animation.

Lets break that down.

Narrative (the class “Animation Narrative”) is a bit up in the air. The teacher still isn’t sure what his plan is and each day of class it a very different topic than the week before. So far we have had to write 1 narrative piece, 2  scripts (one was film noir), and do 2 story boards. Nothing is graded yet so I have no idea how I’m doing in that class.

Practicum is a bit of a joke at times. We had 1 project to make some idents. Then we had a partner project to make an animation about a political or social issue. I HATE partner projects. Thankfully though the person I was with understood after effects at least and though we had several things we disagreed on, it was always resolved quickly and with little fuss.

Two shots from my ident project. Theme was pastel goth.

Seminar is, I’ve found out, thesis prep part 1. While we watch different shorts and talk about film devices and story rules, homework is always to write a short story you could see as an animation. Nothing is set in stone yet, but we do have to make a final decision by 4 weeks into next semester.

Languages is a pain. I don’t like coding but I get some of the concepts easily because they are all very logical to me. Unfortunately this means that most of the class thinks that I know everything so they always ask me for help. I don’t mind helping, but I am no where near confident to proof read your code.

Color wheel created using nothing but coding.

Finally Animation. If you’ve been following my other blog then you know everything that is going on there. Basically we are working on an animation that will last till the end of spring semester. Mine is about a girl that travels to different worlds by a portal/ puzzle piece. It was based off of the Shel Silverstein poem Picture Puzzle Piece.

Expression example sheet for the main character - Pepper

That’s most of the assignments so far, well not mentioning the 40-60 pages of reading for each class every week…..

For now though I’m going to bed. I’ll try and be more regular in posts, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

5 Months, 800 Words

Last I updated this I had just gotten excepted into Pratt for an MFA in Animation and had about another month at Ringling.

Well, graduation has come and pass.

The ceremony took for. ev. er. You would think that only 260 people would be fast but noooo. Must be dragged out. But finally that moment came. I crossed the stage, got my diploma case (real thing get mailed to you) and said a final goodbye to my Ringling friends.

Some of us from freshman dorm, 2nd floor short hall

Summer came and so did another trip with Katie and my Grandparents. Last time it was our turn Katie and I went to central Europe. This time we wanted any but Europe. So we went to Japan and Taiwan.

We did it with an 8 day cruise since the grandparents can't walk as well as they would like. Most of the time off the boats we were all together, but Katie and I often ran around the boat when we weren't docked. 

In Taiwan by a tea shop that inspired the shop people turn to pigs in Spirited Away.

I loved the trip, would go back in a heart beat, and the weather was great - though we had issues with the time difference for a long while.

A Shinto shrine in Osaka, probably my favorite location.

When I got back it was time to start with apartment shopping for in Brooklyn. Let me tell you, it was a pain in the butt. One day I have 7 roommates, then 4, then 1, then we find a flat, then it get sold...on and on and on this went.

Finally we did find an awesome place. Huge, right next to campus, very reasonable price if someone didn’t mind sharing a gigantic room. Eventually we did secure the place and rent it for our own. It was a process though. Our broker, Tom, was very demanding on us about deadlines but would never get us the next set of papers until the day of. The manager, Hal, is also nearly very annoying stereotypical thing about a New Yorker rolled into one. Good thing is that once we signed the papers we said good-bye to Tom and Hal said he would leave us alone unless there was an issue.

I’ve now been renting the apartment for about a month already. I have my own room and live with 3 others. Shirley, Emma, and Michael. Shirley and Emma are both from Taiwan (I seem to attract international students), and Emma and Michael are dating (and sharing the giant bedroom.) Shirley is also in my MFA program, Emma is studying fashion at FIT, and Michael is a Bio-Chemist who just got back from a teaching program in Taiwan. We aren’t best of friends, but it’s only been 2 weeks since we all got here.

Onto school.

Basically we hit the ground running.

I have 5 classes this semester, 4 are CORE classes. 

Animation Narrative: elective humanities course that teaches good story telling techniques when applying narrative to 4 minute films.

Practicum: a class to get real-life-experiance. First assignment, to create a 15 second promo animation for a new TV network, aka a network re-brand. Something no one in my class really understood, but I did them often at Ringling.

Seminar: not quite sure what we’re doing yet other than going over different devices and collecting a crazy amount of pictures.

Languages: aka Coding. I think in the end we learn how to make animations using only code (Processing 2) but for now we are learning how to create shapes and beginnings of interaction with the image.

Animation: not a class on learning an animation program, but a class where all we are really doing is working on an animation. (You can find the other blog I have to keep for this class about my progress)

So those are my classes. I’ve also picked up a job, a Graduate Assistantship helping to run events on campus. Irregular hours, but $12/hr and only a max of 15hrs a week so I think it will fit in nicely.

Other than that, well I’m exploring the city a bit. Not too much yet since I’m trying to find a buddy to explore with me, but I have seen a free concert and visited Little Italy....

Waiting is Part of the Game

Waiting is one of the hardest things a person has to do, and there is no shortage of it even at art school.

Every spring semester everyone is applying for internships, normally due in February and some will start getting back to you as late as early April. That’s a bit over a month where you are just waiting.

When applying for Graduate School it is even worse. You fill out the applications as early as November, maybe December, then…..wait for 4+ months.

Some letters come in February when everyone else starts stressing out over applying for internships and jobs. Them March comes and more letters arrive, but they are all saying no.

Then suddenly its April. You are waiting on 2 more schools to get back to you, your last chances. Everyone around you is getting interviews, job offers, school is ending in a month, people keep asking what your going to do, you start crossing campus every day to look for a letter but start to think that you will have no options.

Then it happens.

An email, one week before graduate schools make their accepted students chose where they are going.

Breath.

You have to still open it.

“Congratulations on your acceptance to Pratt Institute for the fall 2015 semester!”

Breath.

Finally.

How I felt once I read the email.

So there it is, an acceptance to a masters program that I actually really wanted. No more wondering what was going to happen, no more dodging people and their questions, no more waiting.

True, I’m still waiting to hear back from UCLA but my chances of getting in there was slim to begin with. If by some miracle I get in I don’t know what I’ll do.

Other news isn’t too great though.

Not half an hour after hearing I got into a school I learn that our dog, Nikolai, had just died. I knew it was coming for years now. He had problems walking, couldn’t see or hear well, and was issues controlling his bladder at night. Every time I left home I would ask him to not go when I was away, guess he couldn’t hold on another month.

Still, 14 years for a Siberian Husky is a long time.

Good-bye Mr. Nick, our old man, keep Papa Tom company upstairs.

Time on Fast Forward

Time has felt like it's been on fast forward here. Seriously I feel like it was just Valentine’s Day but really April starts in 3 days.

I have no idea where the time has gone.

.... scratch that, it went to classes.

Honestly I will never suggest doing 6 classes during your final semester unless you absolutely need to.

Work has not been easy. Thesis is taking up a LOT of time but I am - thankfully - not behind. The General Motors class is moving along and we are starting to create the digital models. My Zbrush class is a lot of fun, but also tons of work. I’m also the only person not in Illustration, Game, or Animation therefore basic first steps to them are very foreign to me. Glass casting is one of my only laid back classes - I can take it easy and not stress as long as I get 4 projects done. Native American Cultures is a joke. The class is boring like nothing else and we aren’t even given any tests so what’s the point. (of course this is the only one I have to take to graduate....)

Somehow Spring Break came and went.

I spent the first half at Disney World. My sister Katie is doing the Disney College Program but was able to get most of the time off. My brother Michael had the same break week and drove down with his friend Maddy and my parents and youngest sister flew from home. It was the first time all 6 of us have been to Disney together in 5 years. 

Family all together in Disney for the first time in a while.

The week was fun: seeing shows, riding rides, taking pictures of Katie at work, catching up with May-Lou about things at school and the up coming prom, watching Michael and Maddy make strangers and cast members give the a “high five for Disney,” not thinking about anything else but the present. 

Alas, it was only a week. A week several weeks ago now.

Things are really moving.

Moving to summer.

Moving to graduation....

...ug.

If you had asked me 6 months ago how I would be feeling now, I would have said, “good.” I had everything planned. I would hear back from all my schools, have gotten in to my safety schools, a few middle-of-the-road ones, and maybe, maybe, even a top pick. I would have other options too: long term internships, Disney College Program, maybe even a job offer........

Now though.....

I’ve heard from 5 schools: 2 yes and 3 no. (I’m still waiting on 3.) As for my back up plans I have heard nothing back. The college program has been sending me emails for over a month saying they are backed up and will get to my application soon, but everyone I talk to say that is very odd. Everything else is just nothing, no emails, no notices, just silence.

Before I thought I would be standing at the end of a hall with almost a dozen open doors to choose from. 

Now I feel like am standing in the dark watching doors disappear or slam shut. Even the halls that I do see don’t look as appealing as I first thought they would. Nothing is how I thought it would be and a part of me can’t help but think that these are the only options I’m going to have. After all, I’m never the one picked first, never the smartest or the best, never the one chosen for the job or the internship, never the one asked out, never the one looked at twice.....so why should I feel hopeful for my future when I’ve always lost in the past? 

The next few weeks will determine everything.

I’ll hear back from the last 3 schools by the 10th, the college program by the 20th. The internships will be starting their process soon so I’ll know if I have a chance or not soon. 

So, yeah, time is really moving.

A Suitcase Full of Black

It’s been a long time. Trust me, I know. 

So in the last post I had promised to tell you what classes I would be taking this term. And I planned to do it once I had had them all, but life got in the way - or rather the lack of one......

The day my classes started this term was the day my Papa Tom got rushed to the hospital because he couldn’t breath. He already had horrible lungs and a bit of pneumonia was no help. He had to get a breathing tube and was in the ICU - it didn’t look to great.

He did get better, to the point that we were making plans on what would need to happen when he got released....Then a week after being admitted, after getting out of the ICU, he got worse. I called on the 21st and asked if I could talk to him. I told him how much I loved him, how he had to work harder to get better, and how I was going to make mini cheese cakes and show him. He had no energy to talk but I’m told he did smile and try to open his eyes - the most he had done in a few days.

My Papa Tom teaching me to make meatballs when I was about 6. 

I called around the same time on the 22nd, only to be told he wasn’t there.

Things moved quickly after that.

All at once I was contacting teachers saying I would be taking 2 days off the following week, trying to finish all my homework, making sure I had my plane tickets, packing my suitcase with every black thing I had. Everything was on automatic. Even when I got to the airport and saw my Dad, even when we got to my Mama Lou’s house to make memory boards to show during the wake. Nothing was real.

It got real once I saw him though. And I didn’t react well. 

I can’t do this anymore. We’re moving on.

So....classes.

First thing I did when I got back was my Thesis Pitch Presentation. Thankfully I had everything done ahead of time, and it went well. I’m doing mock commercials for PBS Kids and it will be very cute.

In addition to my 2 thesis classes I am also taking a Zbrush class (3D computer modeling program) and we are finishing up a full figure project. I also am in Glass Casting because, come on, it sounds awesome. It really is fun and learning to sculpt with wax instead of clay is interesting.

Next up we have my only Liberal class - Native American Cultures. Sounded interesting, needed the credit, teacher turned out to be annoying beyond reason. Why is he annoying? He says every week that he will post the homework and discussion pages and never does. You would think that a teacher forgetting to give you homework would be great, but it really isn’t.

Finally there is the 6th class, the one that I added to my schedule last minute. It is a collaborative class with General Motors (yes the car company) and you get assigned a mentor from the company and work with them to create a speed form of a car. Sketches, digital model, and clay model. It’s been interesting.

And there it is people. The beginning of my final semester of college. 

Winter Break

HAPPY NEW YEAR PROPLE!

So it has been about a month since I last updated. Back then I had my final fall thesis presentation the following day.... and it was great!

I had been able to somehow finish editing my “Making of Thesis” video 3 days early so was able to play that during the presentation as well. As an extra encouragement we also had 2 representatives from the Sarasota Film Festival to watch our movies. After I played mine one of them came up to me and complemented my video - even asked for my email because he wanted to make sure I knew about several festivals I could submit it to.

Then right after classes ended I went to Disney World with my old roommate from Moore College - Charmaine. It was her first time at a Disney park in America. It was cold and a bit wet, but we did everything in 4 days. Absolutely everything.

The day we checked out I dropped my car off at school then meet my Grandmother and Aunt to head over to Tallahassee. Then a very important event happened the next day..... my sister Katie graduated from FSU!

She graduated Magna Cum Laude, and with 2 honor medals

Little over a week after school left out I was finally able to go home. The week leading up to Christmas was spent dressing the house, buying last minute gifts, and wrapping. I also spent a day at my Grandmother’s house.

Reason?

My Poppa Tom would make thousands of christmas cookies every year. Trees, Norwegian jellies, snowballs, and biscotti. 2 years ago I started helping to make to cookies and learn the family recipes as 2 years ago he had had a stroke and got diagnosed with a something similar to ‘miners' lungs.’ Every year I do more of the work. It started with just prepping ingredients, then doing some of the work, and finally this year. 

This year my Poppa Tom was a lot worse than last year. He could no longer watch over my shoulder, show me how to work the cookie press, have the strength to stand at all.... I learned all the recipes this year. But, well, God has a plan for everyone. And mine includes learning how to make the cookies. Within 24 hours I made about 1,200 cookies.

Then you had Christmas. My brother Michael just made it back in time from school for us to go to our first night of Christmas. At my Dad’s parent’s house we had 14 people with a lot of traditional Italian Christmas food. At my Mom’s parent’s house we had 38 people with popular American Christmas food.

On the 27th my family left New Jersey and spent a week at the Florida Keys. We spent time relaxing, kayaking, reading, and hanging out as a family.

When we got back home I had a week before I had to leave for school. I spent the week mainly with my family. I did spend one day at my old high school to talk to the kids about life at an art college.

Now I’m back at Ringling for the last time. Classes start tomorrow and I’m not giving myself an easy time. Last semester I had 2 classes outside of thesis, anime club, Sunday dinners, and tutoring kids. This semester I’ll have 4 classes outside of thesis, anime club, Sunday dinners, tutoring kids, and big brothers/ big sisters. No, I don’t NEED them all, but I want them.

I’ll tell you what they are after I’ve actually had them all - hopefully this will be more regular with posting.