And then a Brick fell on Hubby’s Foot!

Hello readers! Last weekend we made the six hour trip to Guelph and it actually went reasonably well. The cats mostly slept, we shovelled down food like champs at a rest stop, Toronto traffic wasn’t terrible and we arrived tired but still happy. The only real glitch in the beginning was the movers in Ottawa just deciding not to show up–Assholes–but two good friends of mine helped out which was awesome.:)

The next day was spent unpacking the truck and it was a bit bumpier.

The cats were mixed up, particularly Pierre, who decided to caterwaul and hiss outside the bedroom door all night and by the time the burly movers arrived, I was already tired. They did a good job moving all the heavy stuff around, but my fatigue grew and grew and by the time all of our parents were deciding how our house should be arranged, I was getting cranky.

I mean they helped out and meant well, but I am well kind of a control freak and need things a certain way. We also rearranged the TV and couches around a bunch of times, until I said, “Ok, that’s fine, leave it like that”

Which was ignored which made me even more cranky and then my father-in-law told me to chill. Urg.

But that’s not even the best part, the best part came, when we tried to turn a non-TV cabinet into one by stacking bricks and boards on top of it and one of the bricks fell on Hubby’s foot, followed by a string of curse words. Ouch!! (Yeah, not the best idea we’ve ever had)

But the next day after lots of sleep, I began to feel bad for being so grouchy and really appreciated the good job everyone did.

So now, we’re here and I love it. It was a bit of a shaky beginning, but considering we went halfway across the province with three animals and all our stuff, I think it went pretty well.

Image: http://sarah-farmerswife.blogspot.ca/2013/04/moving.html

Hi again!

Hi bloggers, yes, I know it has been forever since I blogged. And I am sorry about not posting your comments on here or responding or checking out your super blogs.

At the risk of sounding really boring and cliché, it’s not you, it’s me and my hectic schedule over the past eight months. But the school year is done and I’ve got more free time to blab on here.:)

My time now is pretty much divided between taking two online courses part-time and packing to move, which happens next month! (Holy cow!) Anyways, my first year back at school after a eight-year hiatus was interesting with its ups and downs; Some of the projects were great, some weren’t, some of the people were friendly and awesome, while a few had WAY too much bitchy attitude and tended to be clique-y (still stuck in dumb high school mentality I guess). In the fall, I was a neurotic, basket case who literally obsessed over assignments, while in the winter, I calmed down into a slightly more relaxed basket case who had a better understanding of the expectations and culture.

But overall it was good, it is not easy being 32 and going right back to square one with 17-19-year-olds. The nagging regret about not doing this sooner, though pointless, is tough. (And yes, I know I sound like a broken record) But at least I escaped my last job and was lucky to be given the opportunity, since there were quite a number of bitter, unhappy people there and I used to be one of them. I am so happy that I didn’t waste more time doing something I hated and decided to chase after a crazy dream.:)

Now onto moving, summer classes and adventures. I’m hoping Hubby and I can take at least a couple vacations. Nothing extravagant of course, just more touring around Ontario, but that is good enough for me. Ontario is awesome, if you haven’t you should tour around this beautiful province!:)

What are your plans for the summer?

Photo: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/01/summer-fashion-2012_n_1468714.html

Expiration dates-How much do they Matter?

Last time we moved, we didn’t just have to move our furniture, clothing, animals and assorted junk, we also had to pack up all of our foodstuffs and it was a pain! A large chunk of it also went into the garbage. To say it was a waste of resources would be putting it mildly.

So I’m starting a new “experiment”-I call it eat-everything-in-the-house or the cheap-persons-diet; Month-old food, expired snacks, overpriced foodie stuff that my mother-in-law buys us every Christmas that we swear we will eat and then promptly forget. It’s all getting eaten by moi!

Now, I’m not eating rotten meat or things with mold colonies growing on it, I’m just not taking the expiration date on dry packaged products quite as literally as I used to. Maybe it’s a risk but I just don’t want to throw out what might be perfectly edible food that is slightly less fresh.

What about you guys? How long do you keep food? Do you eat expired goods?

More Big Changes!

(A view of Guelph from an earlier trip, there was a lot more snow during my most recent outing)

Well we’ve decided: I’m more than likely moving to Guelph in the summer, provided they keep Hubby at his new job. As mentioned, I spent Valentine’s weekend in Guelph visiting him and it was so great! (I tell ya, long distance relationships really suck, but when you finally do get to see each other, it’s amazing!)

I also went down there to check out another college-Conestoga-and met with their Graphic Design coordinator. I showed him my portfolio along with my marks and he said that I would need to apply as an advanced year standing student through OCAS if I wanted to get into their second year program. So being the keener (and forgetful) person I am, I zoomed back to Hubby’s apartment and got right on it! Fingers crossed I can get into second year in the Fall!

I’m also hoping to take Web Design classes in the summer for fun and for the resume.
Speaking of which, I should probably learn my way around the HTML part of WordPress.

So here I am on the train on the long ride back to Ottawa, it’s boiling hot and my butt is sore from sitting down so long, but I’m happy and grateful for my weekend with my husband and can’t wait to see him Easter weekend!

Pushing Through

Thanks everyone for their nice comments on my last post. I may not have time to reply to everyone, but I do read and appreciate your thoughts.:)

Instead of wasting time worrying about what kids think of me, I’ve decided to just focus my energy on my school work and the future. Some of my classmates are nice people, but I guess I shouldn’t expect too much out of them. When I was doing my undergrad and was their age, making lots of new friends was even tougher. I knew a few people from my high school but the only other people who I hung out with were random creeps who were trying to get into my pants. Yeah, not exactly ideal and they didn’t stick around long when they learned I wasn’t interested.  But I was there to learn and spent most of my time in my pjs staring at books and eating oatmeal. (Study food of champions!)

Anyways, I’ve got focus on what’s important and besides I have friends outside of school, which is great. Plus, I’ll be seeing Hubby Valentine’s Day weekend.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?

The Loneliness of School

I’m not sure if anyone is still reading this but I thought ‘What the hell? I just put it out there anyways!’ Maybe there are some other old fart students who can relate or even just regular students who are struggling socially.

I have been feeling so incredibly lonely in school. You might think that it’s me, maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I’ve been friendly, helpful, and happy because I love what I’m learning. (Well most of the time, there have been a few growing pains which is normal)

I’ve helped people out willingly, given rides home, laughed, listened to their stories, empathized, but I just still don’t feel like I fit in with the students. I’m not wanted or missed and feel like an island. Sometimes I just feel plain used too.

Of course, people go to college to learn new skills, not necessarily to make new friends, but networking is incredibly important and I just don’t feel like I can count on anyone in my classes to be a contact for possible work or as a good friend.

People don’t really care about me and a few don’t like me for no-good reason and it just hurts.

Of course the age thing doesn’t help either-Many don’ t get the references I make and I feel like I can relate more to the profs more than the students. (Makes sense since one of them is only a couple years older than me)

Speaking of the profs, it is so depressing to hear them talk about working in the industry for the past ten or fifteen years, while I pissed my twenties away working as a retail employee-secretary-retail employee-secretary-mailroom clerk.

I know, I know, nothing I can do about it now, but regret doesn’t really ever go away completely, it just fades a bit in the background. 

Maybe I’m also feeling like this because my husband moved to Guelph last Friday, while I’m still here in Ottawa. He got a job there, which is great and believe me, I’m happy for him, but the house can feel really empty. I felt the inklings of loneliness and stress in school when he was here, but it does make things a bit tougher.

Anyways, apart from the loneliness, school is great, I love what we’re doing and enjoy design so much. I just wish I could make some great friends and feel appreciated.

Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone!

It has been absolutely crazy past few weeks, but all my projects are handed in and I get three weeks off! Woo! So much has happened this term, I’m not sure how to describe it all in one blog post. Let’s just say I worked my ass off and got some pretty good marks in the majority of my assignments.

One of the toughest things about graphic design that I’ve found is paying attention and remembering the little things. I can follow instructions but they usually come with smaller bits that can really trip you up! So you pretty much have to read the instructions and any notes taken about a hundred times and make absolutely sure that you haven’t forgotten anything. (It sounds easy but when you have seven classes and each assignment literally takes hours and hours, it then becomes easy to miss these things)

But I’ve learned a lot in just four months, so the stress and work is worth it.:)

So now, I get to relax and do whatever I want, although ironically, part of my holidays will be spent preparing for next term. I’m going to learn all I can about Adobe Creative Suite and Typography, and maybe through in some general design principles and perspective in there as well. We’re expected to start making some design decisions on our own, so I’d rather make hopefully the right ones.;)

Apart from that, I’ll be baking and wrapping and we need to buy a new Christmas tree since Hubby ran over our old one with the car. (Our garage is just slightly disorganized, LOL, that’s another thing that I should do). Oh and I’ll be turning 32 at the end of the month. (Man it hurts saying that in a room full of literally 18-year-olds! Ah well! I’m not old, I’m “mature”)

What are your plans for the holidays?

I’m Still Alive!

Hello dear readers! It’s been a long time, I know, but school has been really, really stressful. If I had to describe studying graphic design in two words it would be “stressful” but “gratifying“.

Deadlines are hard and fast, projects literally need to be perfect and the learning curve is steep! But I like challenges and put 110% into every single project in every single class. I’ve sweated literally on assignments out of sheer panic and fear, cried in hubby’s arms over actual or anticipated marks and there was one particular incident with one of my cats, who shall not be named, who decided to climb on me while I was working, and there was some blood involved. (I was SO not impressed!)

And as good as the program is, it can feel like they expect you sometimes to already know everything, which can be a tad frustrating. I had next to zero experience with Adobe Creative Suite when I first started, and after only one class in some of the programs, we were asked to use them to create some projects ranging from basic to fairly elaborate. So I’ve been redoing projects in these programs at home as well as getting together with a second-year tutor. I’ll pretty much do anything to get ahead and stay ahead.

That’s what this program requires, complete dedication. You can’t settle for the first design concept that pops into your brain and you have to be proud of your work. Regularly communicating with the teachers is also key, although some are easier to access for their opinion on your progress than others. It also requires time, lots and lots of time, for research and execution. For instance, I spent ten hours working on one drawing and my mark was pretty good, but there were people who spent twenty or thirty hours on theirs (One girl worked FIFTY hours on hers! Holy shamoley!) and their marks were better.

However, despite these complaints, the program is fulfilling and rewarding. They push you to think and create things and sometimes they turn out really neat! Some projects are so much fun too, and I have laughed so hard while doing them, my sides hurt! Sometimes, I’ll be walking the dog at night, which is great creative fodder btw, and smile at how much I enjoy doing my homework. (Even if it can be crazy stressful sometimes!) The other students have been helpful too, which is great, and I’ve been sure to express my gratitude to them by helping them out should they need it.

That’s it for now, but I hope you guys enjoyed my little spiel. I’m just going to keep fighting and doing my best and hopefully it will all work out!:)

Week Two

It’s the end of my second week at college and I’ve already got homework projects to keep me busy. The running spiel from the teachers in pretty much all my classes was: “Get ready, because we are going to give you lots and lots to do at home and in class”

What reading and studying is to university, project making is to college. I don’t mind though, because most of the work is pretty fun!

In the second week of classes, people in the program were also starting to chat with one-another, as opposed to just sticking like glue to their friends. I now talk every class with a girl who was in the Pre-Animation program, but decided to switch to Graphic Design, instead of continuing on with the regular Animation program. She’s also a furry and showed me her costumes. Furries-for those who think they’re just crazy-are actually just regular people who enjoy dressing up and making people happy and getting lots of attention. You’d never catch me dressed up in a big sweaty panda/cat/dog/etc costume, but whatever flots your boat.  There’s another girl who introduced herself and mentioned that she was working full-time for awhile too before quitting and going back to school. One of her previous jobs consisted of tax collection, so I could see why she quit.

Anyways, other recent events were buying a laptop-essential for the program-and finally finding my way around campus. Algonquin is the only school whose buildings are letters instead of names. Why? I have no idea, but I can now use the tunnels like a pro and am no longer wandering around in circles.

For those who are curious, these are the classes and my impression of them, for first semester:

Graphic Design 1-Gives a general outline of the field of graphic design and it’s fundamentals and techniques, as well as opens the floor to discussion on various related topics.

Typography-The study and creation of type. The instructor LOVES type and you never really think much about it until you take a few of these classes and realize how influential it can be.

Computer Graphics-Discusses computers, namely Apple laptops, and their functions as well as essential software used by graphic designer, namely Adobe Creative Suite.

Creative Thinking-A class that tries to get your imagination flowing by various exercises. It sounds a bit flaky, but the exercises do work!

Photography-Using our cameras, we wander around taking pictures according to the teachers specifications.  We’ve already covered composition.

Visual Dynamics-An intensive illustration class where basics like shading and proportion are covered. In our last class, we had to make some boxes and they had to be a specific size and centered right in the middle of the page. I can’t remember the last time I measured something with a ruler on a page, so that proved a bit more frustrating than the rest of the assignment. But correct measurement is important in this program, so I’ll just keep at it until I get it. 🙂

So that’s it for now, but next time, I’ll post some pictures around campus!

First classes

After a lazy Labour Day weekend, today was my first day of classes. I had a heck of a time getting to sleep last night and was pretty much in full panic mode staring at the ceiling, same tired worries and regrets circling through my head. It wasn’t until after a sleeping pill and some nose blowing (my allergies are crazy right now!) that I finally got a bit of sleep.

All my morning classes for the week begin at 8am sharp, so after persuading Hubby to drive me in the morning, he and I both woke up at 6:30am and got ready. My Tuesday morning class is Photography and there is about twenty students registered.  The instructor is a trim, 35-year-old guy with blondish, slightly spiky hair who, in addition to taking pictures, has a passion for rugby and told us about his experiences playing the sport. Then it was the students turn to state their name and talk briefly about themselves. One girl at the back mentioned that she was a psychology student, but left because it “sucked”, which made me wince since I have a degree in that program. But weirdly enough, there were a few other kids who also said that they tried psych as well and left due to lack of interest.

Anywho, when it came around to my turn, I mentioned my degree and said that I liked the program but didn’t pursue graduate studies, and gave a tiny version of my life story up to now.  Somebody had to stick up for psych and while this isn’t the first time I’ve heard it being criticized and yes, I sometimes regret my degree, I still think it’s an interesting subject. Taken as just a bachelors, it doesn’t help you solve your own and/or others craziness, but at least it gives you a bit of insight, which can be oddly comforting. 😉 Plus, as you all know, you pretty much need a BA or diploma to do anything nowadays!

After introductions, we were given our first assignment: We were given a number of steps from the classroom entrance to a spot where we would take ten photos. I was given the number 50, so I walked down the hallway, counting the number of steps while also dodging crowds of students and when I got to 50, I stopped and found myself in a starwell. Then I photographed random stuff: The floor, the sky, the flourescent light fixtures on the ceiling, some people coming up and down the stairs and worried if my pictures were good, I was putting some thought into them, but it’s tough to do anything too magnificent from a bright college starwell.  It was fun regardless though!

Then after a looong and hot walk to the bus stop, I went home and called up the Registrars Office and listened to Kenny G muzak for about twenty minutes until confirming with someone there that yes, I am enrolled in Communications online. Ironically enough, no one communicated with me that I was registered online, so I had to make sure, because I really didn’t want to go to an early morning class, come home and then hours later, have to go back to school again. But it is online and you’ll never guess what we’ll be doing-Blogging! Slightly different then this of course, but the gist is the same. Isn’t that funny?

So that’s that for today-Tomorrow-Wednesdays- will be the busiest day of the week for me, I have classes from 8am-5pm, with a lunch break at 2pm. Thursdays are my days off and then I have one morning class on Fridays. In college you spend more time doing assignments, then listening to lectures, which suits me fine! As mentioned, I love dear old Psychology and university in general, but I’m looking forward to more practical schooling!