Production woes + first Ritalin notes
I swear some people in my journalism program are missing HALF THEIR BRAINS.
(I have about a million things to post...but I'm teed off again, so I'm posting about this instead!)
Our half of the Print Media program (Group A) had their first production day today. I have a story, a photo and an editorial going into next week's issue, so I'm fairly happy with my contribution this time around. I was also on "cleanup crew," which meant that I was one of a couple of people who stayed after class was over to fix up details on all the pages of the paper and make sure the whole thing looks top-notch.
It was fun, no denying it. I like it a hell of a lot better than going to any of my classes.
But why are people in my program such fuckwits?
After finishing the page I was originally assigned, I asked if I could fix up Page 5, the page my own story was running on. I guess I'm a bit of a control freak, and I need to get just a bit more used to accepting that other people are going to design the pages my stuff appears on, but damn... Could I at least get someone smart doing my page? That's all I ask of the universe.
When I grabbed Page 5, I pointed out to my instructors that whoever had written the head for the story and the caption for my photo (the caption I wrote got erased somehow) had obviously NOT read my story, since
a) the caption contained incorrect information
b) the head completely contradicted information given in the first paragraph of the story
Dude, WTF?
On top of this:
c) almost nothing on the page was aligned properly, and
d) various elements were butted up strangely, creating weird white space gaps while cramping everything else
Sigh. Well, actually I should have expected that, since it was one of "The Plastics" working on that page - a group of three so named by our class because they are, as my mother says, "weather girls."
So I set to work fixing it. At one point, one of my instructors called over to me to ask if I was free, and I said, "No, I'm working on Page 5."
And another one of my classmates (she's an editor this semester, I believe) said, "But I already finished working on Page 5."
Let's just say I didn't comment. If I'd said anything, it would have been rude.
When I was done with Page 5, I was given Page 8, to fix some "minor" errors on a graphic box at the bottom. Besides the fact that the box looked liked shit, other "minor" errors turned out to be:
1) Numerous misspellings, of the dyslexic-appearing variety. Seriously, tons of letter reversals, reversed SYLLABLES, phonetical spelling. (Okay fine, but spellcheck for god's sake.)
2) Various other grammar issues. (Have you ever heard of an apostrophe?)
3) The entire story hadn't been put on the page, and only parts of it had been formatted properly. And the girl who did this page? It was her OWN STORY. She didn't even realize that the last five lines of her own damn story weren't visible on the page?! (Are you blind?)
4) We've been told many times over the past two semesters to put our stories in ONE text box, in order to make them easier to format and align with other elements. She still chose to make a separate text box for EACH column her story ran across, so the bottoms of ALL FOUR columns weren't aligned in the slightest. At least she linked them, christ. (Follow the most basic instructions, okay?)
5) She didn't drop her photo files on the server for the paper, or save them anywhere we could find them. I had to run to her class and drag her ass back up to the production room so she could log on to the computer she was using and see if she left them on the desktop. She had, thankfully - and big surprise there! It would be just like this ditz not to securely erase the files.
But she actually had no clue what was wrong! When I asked her where her photos were saved, she said "On the page!" WHAT? Maybe if we were just starting out, I could understand making this mistake. But by GRADUATING SEMESTER, she should damn well know that the page needs to access the photo files in order to print them off properly, otherwise the layout program we're using substitutes low-rez copies. (All the photoshop information doesn't just magically transfer to the page when you drop in the picture, okay honey?)
ARRGH. I seriously can't believe this day - we went hours longer than we probably should have, fixing mistakes like that. My instructors have said they're going to have "serious talks" with people next class about dropping files on the server and so on, but they've been giving those same "talks" since last year, and the info apparently hasn't sunk in yet.
C'mon people - if the official space cadet in your class can pick up this info, SO CAN YOU.
Signed,
One pissed perfectionist
Apparently, some of my classmates are pissed off at a guy in our program, B. Apparently, B's been saying that Group B has much better writers than our group, and our editorials suck, and so on and so forth. Kind of amusing, since the guy's never in class and doesn't listen to us read our work. Evidently, one of our editors came back with, "You think that, but you haven't heard DAN and DAVE'S stuff!" I feel so loved.
Also, I am FINALLY on Ritalin. It's a really low dose so far. In theory, I'm only supposed to be on 5mgs a day for the next few, but I upped it unceremoniously to 15mgs today since I could barely tell it was in my system. No side effects, no major benefit, nothing. I know that's "bad" - oh well, people have been started by their doctors on less cautious doses, and if it ain't doing anything at all at 5mg, why not up it?
Not sure if I've got any benefits going on - maybe? Slightly? I'm not tired at all, and I probably should be after 3 hours of sleep, so that's a sign it's THERE anyway. But still no side effects. Going to go try to do homework in a bit, we'll see.
It wouldn't really surprise me if I needed a higher dose - I'm a bit immune to drugs. My biggest concern is just that nothing will work.
Okay. Gonna check my list, and then see if I have any magical focusing powers. Ritalin a go-go!
(I have about a million things to post...but I'm teed off again, so I'm posting about this instead!)
Our half of the Print Media program (Group A) had their first production day today. I have a story, a photo and an editorial going into next week's issue, so I'm fairly happy with my contribution this time around. I was also on "cleanup crew," which meant that I was one of a couple of people who stayed after class was over to fix up details on all the pages of the paper and make sure the whole thing looks top-notch.
It was fun, no denying it. I like it a hell of a lot better than going to any of my classes.
But why are people in my program such fuckwits?
After finishing the page I was originally assigned, I asked if I could fix up Page 5, the page my own story was running on. I guess I'm a bit of a control freak, and I need to get just a bit more used to accepting that other people are going to design the pages my stuff appears on, but damn... Could I at least get someone smart doing my page? That's all I ask of the universe.
When I grabbed Page 5, I pointed out to my instructors that whoever had written the head for the story and the caption for my photo (the caption I wrote got erased somehow) had obviously NOT read my story, since
a) the caption contained incorrect information
b) the head completely contradicted information given in the first paragraph of the story
Dude, WTF?
On top of this:
c) almost nothing on the page was aligned properly, and
d) various elements were butted up strangely, creating weird white space gaps while cramping everything else
Sigh. Well, actually I should have expected that, since it was one of "The Plastics" working on that page - a group of three so named by our class because they are, as my mother says, "weather girls."
So I set to work fixing it. At one point, one of my instructors called over to me to ask if I was free, and I said, "No, I'm working on Page 5."
And another one of my classmates (she's an editor this semester, I believe) said, "But I already finished working on Page 5."
Let's just say I didn't comment. If I'd said anything, it would have been rude.
When I was done with Page 5, I was given Page 8, to fix some "minor" errors on a graphic box at the bottom. Besides the fact that the box looked liked shit, other "minor" errors turned out to be:
1) Numerous misspellings, of the dyslexic-appearing variety. Seriously, tons of letter reversals, reversed SYLLABLES, phonetical spelling. (Okay fine, but spellcheck for god's sake.)
2) Various other grammar issues. (Have you ever heard of an apostrophe?)
3) The entire story hadn't been put on the page, and only parts of it had been formatted properly. And the girl who did this page? It was her OWN STORY. She didn't even realize that the last five lines of her own damn story weren't visible on the page?! (Are you blind?)
4) We've been told many times over the past two semesters to put our stories in ONE text box, in order to make them easier to format and align with other elements. She still chose to make a separate text box for EACH column her story ran across, so the bottoms of ALL FOUR columns weren't aligned in the slightest. At least she linked them, christ. (Follow the most basic instructions, okay?)
5) She didn't drop her photo files on the server for the paper, or save them anywhere we could find them. I had to run to her class and drag her ass back up to the production room so she could log on to the computer she was using and see if she left them on the desktop. She had, thankfully - and big surprise there! It would be just like this ditz not to securely erase the files.
But she actually had no clue what was wrong! When I asked her where her photos were saved, she said "On the page!" WHAT? Maybe if we were just starting out, I could understand making this mistake. But by GRADUATING SEMESTER, she should damn well know that the page needs to access the photo files in order to print them off properly, otherwise the layout program we're using substitutes low-rez copies. (All the photoshop information doesn't just magically transfer to the page when you drop in the picture, okay honey?)
ARRGH. I seriously can't believe this day - we went hours longer than we probably should have, fixing mistakes like that. My instructors have said they're going to have "serious talks" with people next class about dropping files on the server and so on, but they've been giving those same "talks" since last year, and the info apparently hasn't sunk in yet.
C'mon people - if the official space cadet in your class can pick up this info, SO CAN YOU.
Signed,
One pissed perfectionist
Apparently, some of my classmates are pissed off at a guy in our program, B. Apparently, B's been saying that Group B has much better writers than our group, and our editorials suck, and so on and so forth. Kind of amusing, since the guy's never in class and doesn't listen to us read our work. Evidently, one of our editors came back with, "You think that, but you haven't heard DAN and DAVE'S stuff!" I feel so loved.
Also, I am FINALLY on Ritalin. It's a really low dose so far. In theory, I'm only supposed to be on 5mgs a day for the next few, but I upped it unceremoniously to 15mgs today since I could barely tell it was in my system. No side effects, no major benefit, nothing. I know that's "bad" - oh well, people have been started by their doctors on less cautious doses, and if it ain't doing anything at all at 5mg, why not up it?
Not sure if I've got any benefits going on - maybe? Slightly? I'm not tired at all, and I probably should be after 3 hours of sleep, so that's a sign it's THERE anyway. But still no side effects. Going to go try to do homework in a bit, we'll see.
It wouldn't really surprise me if I needed a higher dose - I'm a bit immune to drugs. My biggest concern is just that nothing will work.
Okay. Gonna check my list, and then see if I have any magical focusing powers. Ritalin a go-go!