Scheduling Shuffle
Spring Quarter at Eastern started the Monday before last, so this is the ninth school day of the quarter.
At Techeze, we're on our 6th rewritten schedule. The good news is that my schedule didn't change much, aside from Mike accidentally scheduling me for a time we both had the same class. (Funny, and begging off gave me time to scan in my portfolio, but still...)
So I think Shannon knows that I already know how to write-- she let me leave in the middle of class to go look for an html book for her to borrow. Technical writing is a cinch: it's creative writing that I'm still critiquing myself to death on. Patrick O'Brian, whom I've been reading lately, has a wonderful command of description. It's a trait that I find I'm lacking on; O'Brian will describe something, then add something on to the description that doesn't seem as though it would belong at all, and the contrast between the two will give form. I need to try that... O'Brian is not my genre, but between him, Orson Scott Card, and George R. R. Martin I think I've improved.
Orson Scott Card actually has a book on characters and viewpoints, and the book is incredible. I bought it along with a mystery writer's guide to poison last summer, and I think that both of them are well worth whatever I spent.
Two complaints of the day:
One. I have to take another CPLA test tomorrow. I'm a computer science major, I've passed Database Structures (CSCD 326) and Object Oriented Programming for Multimedia (CSCD 414) with over a 3.0 in both-- somehow, I need to prove that I know how to use a computer, because Microsoft Excel is the only tool for measuring technical competence.
(I don't mind Microsoft, actually-- just the way its tools are used sometimes.)
Two. When I turned in my portfolio to the art department I asked what the standards were that they'd be grading on. I didn't like the answer: it's even worse than the critique they give students trying to graduate with a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts). If I get into this degree, my three art classes that I've taken as a CS major will be more than the equivalent of what most art students have to go through in four years.
I spoke with my mom over the phone, and she reassures me that I have a chance. I don't know... she's a professional artist, and I know that I'm really not all that close to her skill, especially in oil. The only thing I can say is that we're at about the same level as far as portraiture goes, and she focuses on landscape.
In any case, I've come up with a couple different plans for what to do next.
Plan 1: I get the degree approved, I go to grad school for the next two years, either getting an assistanceship, financial aid, or a loan. I graduate from the university with a M.S. in computer science.
Plan 2: I apply to a whole bunch of other universities for grad school. My GPA is hovering around 3.0-- I might have a chance.
Plan 3: Much like the second, only instead I join a nonprofit group like the peace corps or red cross international and travel around helping people internationally for a year or two. Then I apply to a bunch of universities with grad programs in 3d graphic design.
Plan 4: I work hard on my portfolio for a while, then apply to a bunch of companies for jobs in 3d graphics. I would love to work for Bethesda, the company that makes 'The Elder Scrolls' series.
I'll probably try to do all four at once, and see what my options are from there. It'll be interesting. My parents are looking at a house that's a total fixer upper in the South Hill of Spokane. I loved the house we restored in New Jersey-I’d rather have a wreck with potential than a ‘cute’ place that has no options.
At Techeze, we're on our 6th rewritten schedule. The good news is that my schedule didn't change much, aside from Mike accidentally scheduling me for a time we both had the same class. (Funny, and begging off gave me time to scan in my portfolio, but still...)
So I think Shannon knows that I already know how to write-- she let me leave in the middle of class to go look for an html book for her to borrow. Technical writing is a cinch: it's creative writing that I'm still critiquing myself to death on. Patrick O'Brian, whom I've been reading lately, has a wonderful command of description. It's a trait that I find I'm lacking on; O'Brian will describe something, then add something on to the description that doesn't seem as though it would belong at all, and the contrast between the two will give form. I need to try that... O'Brian is not my genre, but between him, Orson Scott Card, and George R. R. Martin I think I've improved.
Orson Scott Card actually has a book on characters and viewpoints, and the book is incredible. I bought it along with a mystery writer's guide to poison last summer, and I think that both of them are well worth whatever I spent.
Two complaints of the day:
One. I have to take another CPLA test tomorrow. I'm a computer science major, I've passed Database Structures (CSCD 326) and Object Oriented Programming for Multimedia (CSCD 414) with over a 3.0 in both-- somehow, I need to prove that I know how to use a computer, because Microsoft Excel is the only tool for measuring technical competence.
(I don't mind Microsoft, actually-- just the way its tools are used sometimes.)
Two. When I turned in my portfolio to the art department I asked what the standards were that they'd be grading on. I didn't like the answer: it's even worse than the critique they give students trying to graduate with a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts). If I get into this degree, my three art classes that I've taken as a CS major will be more than the equivalent of what most art students have to go through in four years.
I spoke with my mom over the phone, and she reassures me that I have a chance. I don't know... she's a professional artist, and I know that I'm really not all that close to her skill, especially in oil. The only thing I can say is that we're at about the same level as far as portraiture goes, and she focuses on landscape.
In any case, I've come up with a couple different plans for what to do next.
Plan 1: I get the degree approved, I go to grad school for the next two years, either getting an assistanceship, financial aid, or a loan. I graduate from the university with a M.S. in computer science.
Plan 2: I apply to a whole bunch of other universities for grad school. My GPA is hovering around 3.0-- I might have a chance.
Plan 3: Much like the second, only instead I join a nonprofit group like the peace corps or red cross international and travel around helping people internationally for a year or two. Then I apply to a bunch of universities with grad programs in 3d graphic design.
Plan 4: I work hard on my portfolio for a while, then apply to a bunch of companies for jobs in 3d graphics. I would love to work for Bethesda, the company that makes 'The Elder Scrolls' series.
I'll probably try to do all four at once, and see what my options are from there. It'll be interesting. My parents are looking at a house that's a total fixer upper in the South Hill of Spokane. I loved the house we restored in New Jersey-I’d rather have a wreck with potential than a ‘cute’ place that has no options.