Life up till now...
Before I begin, I'd just like to say that I'm redoing my Journal's look. So please excuse the mess.
Been a long time since I posted anything meaningful... I don't know what the last thing I posted was, so my life in a nutshell for the past two years has been:
Spring 2005: Went to school in Connecticut for a semester.
Early Summer 2005: Attended a metal sculpture class at an art guild, taught by my drawing teacher from aforementioned semester.
Late Summer 2005: Parents moved to Pennsylvania, despite my explicit objections. Helped them move because they paid me to.
Fall 2005: Stayed in Connecticut for one more semester, renting a room from someone.
Winter 2005: Stayed with Endless until mid-January. Went and lived with my parents.
Spring 2006: Attempted to study hard for SATs. Failed. Got slightly-above average score.
Summer 2006: Periodically visited Endless for weeks at a time.
Fall 2006: Went to the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh.
Winter 2006: Spent 3 months in New Hampshire with Endless.
Spring 2007: Present day...
So yeah, that about sums it up. I'll go into a little detail about CCAC: It sucked. Fucking sucked ass. Now, I complained the most about English 102, but honest to goodness truth... English was okay! Yes, I said it. It was okay. No, I didn't like writing the papers and such. But it was okay. Did it teach me anything? ::shrugs:: It taught me that modern writing is a mere shadow of this languages former glory. It taught me that people in this age whine a lot about things that don't matter. It taught me that our culture's professional writers are empty and soulless, for the most part. It taught me that I will never write essay's for a living. Was it supposed to teach that? I seriously doubt it. But it was okay, and the teacher was pretty laid back as far as grading went-even though she acted like a hard ass. One student (other than me ;-p) was also very bright which proved to make the class a little more... Well... Classy.
But my Graphic Design courses... Now those were painful! I took one design course in CT, and I used to actually look forward to attending it because it was fun, interesting and, yes, challenging. But the design courses I took this past semester were neither fun nor interesting and certainly not challenging. The teacher was always burnt out and grumpy, my fellow students were stupid to a degree that I could swear they were mentally retarded, the projects were particularly easy and uninspiring, very little teaching was actually done and well before the end of the class I realized I had more knowledge of the programs than the teacher could ever dream of.
Beyond the issues with the actual classes, the school itself was degraded and falling apart, the area it was in made me feel uncomfortable, the library had a terrible mold outbreak (probably due to the lack of dehumidifiers and proper ventilation system) and the smog from the city made my asthma act up nearly every day after two weeks of driving into it.
But I've been reflecting and I think I'm okay with having gone there. It illustrated a point quite clearly to me which I hadn't considered before while searching for a school: I will be very unhappy if I am not challenged. This is why the English course was okay. While it was painful to write and I hated it, it was still challenging, and that made it okay.
I've been looking for "the easy way out" in terms of an education. Something where I won't have to work hard. How foolish.
Easy is not interesting or productive. I have never gotten better at a video game by playing it on easy, only by cranking it up to Major Damage do I get better. Nor have I been entertained for more than a few minutes by a game which is easy. So why did I ever think I would get something out of an "easy" education? I don't know... I guess I was being lazy. So yeah, my goals have changed a bit. Though I was trying to get a jorb in NH for a while. Well, sorta. It's hard to explain-Endless knows what I mean. At that point I didn't really know what was happening with school. Then again, I didn't before either...
Currently I am trying to get into Carnegie Mellon University. I don't really want to live in Pittsburgh, but like I told Endless a few months ago after speaking with a professor there: "their program looks really interesting. If the school was in Boston or Connecticut I would go there in a heartbeat." They also happen to be one of the top 100 schools in the world, which will look good on a resumé. Only problem is that it's in Pittsburgh. The way it worked out though it looks like I'll be applying there. Oh well, it's only four years.
I'm going to need to beef up my portfolio a bit to get into a school like Mellon, though. Everyone always tells me "you have such a great portfolio", but what they don't realize is that it shows a very limited range-which I point out is not accurate. It has drawings, drawings, drawings and more drawings. Mostly stuff I did in Drawing I and II. They aren't bad, per se, it's just they aren't everything. I figure I need three drawings, two paintings, three print design examples, two 3D modeling examples and finish it off with an example of system or product design. I've got the drawings but I have no 3D models suitable for a portfolio and only two examples of print design, so that leaves me with:
- Learning how to paint.
- Painting two things suitable for a portfolio.
- Designing some system to do something or some product that does something.
- Design something for print that doesn't suck.
Beyond that, I've also got to get a job here, finish a bunch of my own projects, work on a website for my uncle, spruce up my Dad's website, completely re-make my website from the ground up, buy some books on web design I was recommended and read them and also I wanted to learn Latin and now I want to learn Swedish and I am trying to pick up a little Japanese as well.
Oh, Swedish. That reminds me. My friend introduced me to this really awesome band, Garmarna. They're from Sweden. They sing in Swedish. They are awesome.
Vedergällningen / Vengeance
Svenska
English
Jag blev född förr än tuppen gol
-Mina stigar de ligga så vida
Min moder blev död innan upp rann sol
-Själv måste hon sorgen förbida
Min fader drager så vitt om land
Så ond en styvmoder han på fann
Först skapte hon mig i nåler
och sade jag skulle tråna
Så skapte hon mig i kniver
och sade jag skulle icke trivas
Så skapte hon mig i saxer
och sade jag skulle icke växa
Så skapte hon mig i ulven grå
och sade jag skulle åt skogen gå
Hon sade jag skulle ej få bot
Förrän jag druckit min broders blod
Så lade jag mig under lida där
styvmodern min skulle framrida
Så lade jag mig under spånge
Där min styvmoder skulle framgånga
Där tager jag till med mäste
Min styvmoder utav häste
Så tog jag till med harme
hennes foster ur hennes barme
När jag hade druckit min broders blod
Så blev jag en riddare bold och god
Before the cock crew I was born
-Far are the paths that I follow
My mother was dead before the dawn
-Long, long she awaited her sorrow
-My father travelled the country round,
An ill stepmother to me he found.
Into a needle she conjured me
And said that longing would torture me
And then she turned me into a knife
And said I would suffer all my life.
She turned me into a pair of shears
And said I'd be stunted all my years.
A grey wolf then she made of me,
And said no good would come of me.
Under this curse I was to suffer
Till I drank the blood of my own brother.
So then I lay in hiding
Till my stepmother came riding.
By the bridgehead I lay watching
Till I saw her horse approaching.
And as she passed I caught her
And down from her horse I brought her.
In vengeance cruel and bloody
I took the child from her body.
And when I had drunk my brother's blood,
I became a knight, gallant and good.