A Specimen of Nostalgia

Nearly a full month of summer has passed, and I know a lot of you are going to think I'm crazy for saying this, but I'm ready to get back to school. Seriously. I am so ready to be working on artwork (not the math) and growing as an artist/designer. That's what school is for me at this point, and I'm sure for anyone who is working toward a specific career/life goal they feel passionately about.

College has been the place where my pursuit to be an artist has truly began. In high school I was not presented with the opportunities to start this development. Wait, I suppose that could be considered a lie. I took two classes (8th grade art & a photoshop class as a sophomore) and served as yearbook editor (which was virtually a living hell). These three brief opportunities, especially yearbook, had a great deal to do with my choosing of graphic design as a path to follow. However, when I say I was not presented with the opportunities to begin this, it must be understood that outside of those classes there were not any other art education opportunities that I could have seized. By the time I had the liberties to choose to take an art class our art teacher had retired (he had been there since my mom was in school so kudos to him) and we simply lost our art program. It's tragic really, but you all know that's been happening for years.

Anywho, I digress. It's been a little more than one whole month since I was stressed beyond reason, working on projects til two, waking up at five or six to write a paper, and then going to class at nine to kick some typography/digital design ass with a room full of my friends and one awesome instructor. How could a person not miss that? The learning that I had the privilege of partaking in this past year was at the very least inspiring. As a class we would learn from June (our instructor), she would learn from us, and everyday I learned something new from one of my peers. The environment in which we were learning was one of the most productive that I have yet to see and be a part of. So of course I only want to get back to it. Especially since I don't have the Adobe programming on my computer that would allow me to keep working and playing with type and design this summer (super sad face).

I am somewhat nervous about getting back to this classroom, however. We'll be meeting a new instructor, an entirely new perspective and set of expectations that first day of class. I'm not too happy about this, but what do you do? Hopefully I'll be able to maintain a positive attitude and it won't be so bad. I just want to get back to creating things like my Specimen Book  (click link to view Specimen Book via Google Docs) and my social cause poster.

An unproductive weekend

As the title eludes, I'm sure you've all figured out that I didn't really get a whole lot accomplished this recent, and almost past weekend. My lack of accomplishment has nothing to do with any sort of absence of things that need done. Oh no, I just found myself.....relaxing this weeked. And now I've relaxed it all away. No more weekend left to get it done. Wouldn't be the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Not for me at least.

I must say, being home this weekend, makes me blog less. Is it that I have better things to do at home? More important obligations? Meh, I suppose that's arguable either way. Boyfriends and video games are not good for my homework, I have definitely concluded that. It has been a great weekend, Mr. Matthew is to thank for that.

Can you smell that? Oh. My. God. I wish you could, my mom just pulled homemade  rolls out of the oven. Smells better than cake, or pie even. You really are missing out. I hope you're jealous. Because you really should be.

So I need to get a few things out of my brain and typed into this blog before I forget about them again.

First: I've noticed that sometimes, not all the time, I forget to close the barn door. You know....zip up my fly. Of course I never realize it until a few hours down the road. And all I can think is "welp, I hope nobody noticed that." If they had noticed, I hope they would have had the courtesy to politely, and most importantly, quietly let me know. It would be awful if something of that nature was announce out loud in class, or even in a packed hallway. So if you see me wandering around looking lost with my zipper down, just quietly let me know. Don't make it noticable. That  would be embarrassing.

Second: Drama sucks. And when I say drama, I don't mean the genre of film or play, I mean drama between people. You know that shit you gripe and groan so much about in high school? Yeah, that. It's so funny, because I know that I was hoping to escape it upon graduation and heading for college. Nope. No such luck. In fact I'm not even directly involved in any sort of drama currently, but other people who have giant wooden spoons are stirring the pot elsewhere. This figurative stirring of the pot is going on in an entirely different state and it's still affecting me. As you may have gathered, this bothers me. Makes me want to hurt people, or at least publicly humiliate them. So watch out. For those of you toting wooden spoons, take heed, I may be coming for you.

Third: I may have mentioned beforehand that I wanted to post this awesome banner that I made in my Digital Design class. Welp. Here it is, at the bottom of the post. Let me tell you something. It makes me chuckle every time. I do find it rather entertaining, and I hope that you do too.

Hopefully you accomplished more than I did this weekend. If you didn't, I hope you enjoyed your time relaxing just as much as I did.