Back at School....
It's not as bad as I thought.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes it still totally blows, but I found more people who share in my sentiments about this place. I'm still about 50/50 on the transfer situation, but I think I found a way that will enable me to spend only four more semesters here on campus. Which, yes, is a lot, but it's better than six.
I have to drop my minor (which is fine; I was thinking about doing that anyways), which will allow me to graduate a semester early. My parents wholly support that goal, because hey, that's less money they have to pay. I am also planning to spend a semester abroad--my school offers scholarships that cover full tuition for a semester abroad. My advisor, who practically worships the ground I walk on, is on that scholarship board, and he basically told me that if I applied, I would get a scholarship. So that's one less semester here.
Which leaves me four semesters--64 weeks/448 days (total, including weekends)--which sounds like a lot. But if I could manage to go home two weekends a month, I think, I think I would be able to survive this shit.
If I don't kill the Betas first (seriously, I thought we as humans had evolved past that level, but apparently not).
But on to other things. Like TQ!
I have been SO busy with school, but somehow I've managed to get my pictures done in time.
Challenge #1: Color Theory
I know this whole idea was cliched, but I tried to make the lighting interesting--which happened as a result of one of my lamps breaking and the other one falling over. I saw how the picture was lit with one lamp like this and thought, "Wow, this is cool!" So I went with it :D
Challenge #2: In Dreams
Big thanks to Turtle (zerohour269's boyfriend) on this one. He gave me the idea (though Rachel, of course), and I just went with it.
Behind Gabriel is a photo of MLK at his "I Have a Dream" speech. I printed this photo out from the internet (which is VERY difficult when your printer refuses to cooperate!!) and posed Gabriel in front of it. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.
And then there's this pic:
Which was my original idea for this challenge. I wasn't terribly satisfied with it (I was only kind of "eh" about it) for the contest, but the picture itself still amuses me. I mean, Gabriel knows WAY better than to associate with Greta.
This picture really isn't so much of a dream as a nightmare, really.
In other school news, I bought books. I had to buy 11 in total (I have a class that requires 6 books alone, but thank God, I already owned one of them). I bought some at the bookstore, some online, and it came to a grand total of....$213.54!!!
That is SO CHEAP!!! I'm so happy right now. Especially since I know a girl who spent over $600 on her textbooks.
That's the great thing about being an English literature major. You may need to buy 6 or 7 books for one class, but they're all super-cheap (online, that is) and widely available. Science and Math majors are always screwed. Their books get new editions every 1-2 years (so their resale value is crap), plus those textbooks are ALWAYS over $100 apiece. My brother (who is a Computer Science major), would be DESTITUTE if not for his "textbook scholarship" that pays for 75% of his textbooks. He gets that for working at the bookstore at UMKC.
College bookstores are a HUGE ripoff. I needed The Bell Jar for my Women and Madness in Literature class. A USED copy at the bookstore is $10.45. You can buy a BRAND NEW copy on Amazon for $11.53!!! A USED copy should not cost only a DOLLAR less than a new one!!! That's ridiculous!!! Yeah, I bought my copy for a grand total of $4 shipped.
I pay $22,000 a YEAR to go to my college. My school has an $100 MILLION dollar endowment (that's not even counting all the tertiary donations they get throughout the year). They can't afford to, you know, LOWER THE BOOKSTORE PRICES JUST A LITTLE BIT?!?! Sheesh.
I guess that's what half.com is for.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes it still totally blows, but I found more people who share in my sentiments about this place. I'm still about 50/50 on the transfer situation, but I think I found a way that will enable me to spend only four more semesters here on campus. Which, yes, is a lot, but it's better than six.
I have to drop my minor (which is fine; I was thinking about doing that anyways), which will allow me to graduate a semester early. My parents wholly support that goal, because hey, that's less money they have to pay. I am also planning to spend a semester abroad--my school offers scholarships that cover full tuition for a semester abroad. My advisor, who practically worships the ground I walk on, is on that scholarship board, and he basically told me that if I applied, I would get a scholarship. So that's one less semester here.
Which leaves me four semesters--64 weeks/448 days (total, including weekends)--which sounds like a lot. But if I could manage to go home two weekends a month, I think, I think I would be able to survive this shit.
If I don't kill the Betas first (seriously, I thought we as humans had evolved past that level, but apparently not).
But on to other things. Like TQ!
I have been SO busy with school, but somehow I've managed to get my pictures done in time.
Challenge #1: Color Theory
I know this whole idea was cliched, but I tried to make the lighting interesting--which happened as a result of one of my lamps breaking and the other one falling over. I saw how the picture was lit with one lamp like this and thought, "Wow, this is cool!" So I went with it :D
Challenge #2: In Dreams
Big thanks to Turtle (zerohour269's boyfriend) on this one. He gave me the idea (though Rachel, of course), and I just went with it.
Behind Gabriel is a photo of MLK at his "I Have a Dream" speech. I printed this photo out from the internet (which is VERY difficult when your printer refuses to cooperate!!) and posed Gabriel in front of it. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.
And then there's this pic:
Which was my original idea for this challenge. I wasn't terribly satisfied with it (I was only kind of "eh" about it) for the contest, but the picture itself still amuses me. I mean, Gabriel knows WAY better than to associate with Greta.
This picture really isn't so much of a dream as a nightmare, really.
In other school news, I bought books. I had to buy 11 in total (I have a class that requires 6 books alone, but thank God, I already owned one of them). I bought some at the bookstore, some online, and it came to a grand total of....$213.54!!!
That is SO CHEAP!!! I'm so happy right now. Especially since I know a girl who spent over $600 on her textbooks.
That's the great thing about being an English literature major. You may need to buy 6 or 7 books for one class, but they're all super-cheap (online, that is) and widely available. Science and Math majors are always screwed. Their books get new editions every 1-2 years (so their resale value is crap), plus those textbooks are ALWAYS over $100 apiece. My brother (who is a Computer Science major), would be DESTITUTE if not for his "textbook scholarship" that pays for 75% of his textbooks. He gets that for working at the bookstore at UMKC.
College bookstores are a HUGE ripoff. I needed The Bell Jar for my Women and Madness in Literature class. A USED copy at the bookstore is $10.45. You can buy a BRAND NEW copy on Amazon for $11.53!!! A USED copy should not cost only a DOLLAR less than a new one!!! That's ridiculous!!! Yeah, I bought my copy for a grand total of $4 shipped.
I pay $22,000 a YEAR to go to my college. My school has an $100 MILLION dollar endowment (that's not even counting all the tertiary donations they get throughout the year). They can't afford to, you know, LOWER THE BOOKSTORE PRICES JUST A LITTLE BIT?!?! Sheesh.
I guess that's what half.com is for.