I went out for a lovely walk yesterday during a Thunderstorm warning. I didn't get rained on, but it was really windy. Windy enough that the metal frame of my umbrella was twisted out of shape several times and I had to twist it back, which took no small amount of effort. I also got sort of lost, but not really. I knew where I was, I just wasn't sure how to get back to where I wanted to be without turning around. In the end, I just turned around and went back the way I came.

I walked down the Canal Walk and would have taken photos if it hadn't been so dark and overcast that my digital camera would have failed at portraying the atmosphere- ha. There were ducks and ducklings and the water was rippling like crazy with the wind. Like I said, it didn't rain, but it was very, very humid (I'd guess...90% humidity?) and the wind was blowing around 30mph at some points (I checked the weather report, lol) . I only took shelter once, in the IT building, because I was afraid that since the much darker clouds were moving away from the Canal, that it might be much worse over by the apartments, so I called my roommate who said everything was fine; so I just walked back.

And had Cream of Chicken Soup for dinner. Mmmm.

Now, I'm awake (on time?!) and I have a slight sore throat. I took Tylenol Cold Daytime, but I think the sore throat is from sleeping with my mouth open so much last night. At least, I hope so. I'm not taking any chances with missing any more class time. I've already missed one Lab in Design Issues in New Media (which, as far as class goes, wasn't a loss at all, but attendance is really strict in that course) because I had a terrible headache and had to call someone to pick me up and take me back to the apartment, and one Lecture in Art Appreciation, which due to a terrible night's sleep, I missed due to exhaustion the next morning.

Actually, I missed the last Art Appreciation Lecture, so I hope we didn't go over anything crucial. I did finally get the damn book in ($96 used!) so hopefully that will cover everything her little Powerpoint presentations covered. I was going to get on OnCourse and e-mail her as to what we went over, but she obviously is quite computer-challenged when it comes to OnCourse (not that I blame her too much, it could be vastly improved) and she hasn't posted anything and doesn't have an e-mail. When I checked the actual phyisical syllabus, she didn't have any contact information there either, so I said 'screw it' and decided to wait for today to come around and see what the damage is (or isn't, as the case probably will be).

Now, I'm hungry, and I really want to drink something hot and eat something equally hot, if not more so...

Tags: art appreciation, indy, oncourse, school, sick?, walking, weather
Current Location: IUPUI Campus Housing, Clarke House
Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: tummy grumbles- grrrrwl

The first day of classes was...interesting! My first course was CIT106: How to Use Your Personal Computer. And it was made even more dull and boring than it seems like it would be because half the class was locked out of the network. OH IUPUI.

After that, I had 5 hours before my next course, so I went to speak to the Herron (Art school) Advisor about changing my major because it was wrong. I was referred to Pam Hacker who immediately told me that if I didn't want to major in Visual Communications with Herron, I needed to speak to a different advisor in a different program on the other side of campus. I had to walk over there and speak to a totally different advisor. When I went to speak to her she told me that if I kept the courses that I had registered for, that none of them would count towards my new major and new program. So I had to drop all of them except for Chinese. Which isn't that big of a deal actually, though I did have to drop the very class I took that morning. XD

So, I'm not a Herron art student, I'm an Informatics student! Informatics is so awesome. It really is. It's a fairly new department, but it's in the IT building, so it's sort of just IT with awesomeness involved. They don't really go into it enough on those sites, but there's basically four tracks you can take for the degree. I'm torn between Web and Digital Design and Digital Storytelling. But, I won't need to worry about it too much until next Fall, when I have to take more specific classes. For now I just have to cover the base preliminaries for Analytical Skills and Art and Humanities. Chinese is an elective credit. Because of the Psychology101 course from Ivy Tech, the credits for that section are finished. That means I already have 3/15 credits e.g. I only have to take four classes!

My new classes:  Design Issues in Digital Media (utilizing Photoshop CS3), Art Appreciation and Practical Logic.

So, while I need to buy three new books, I did find out that I only need the same three Chinese books for all four consecutive years of Chinese. Score on saving money! Which is really good, because I figure the new books are going to be costly, though I'll be trying to purchase them Used and NOT from Barnes and Noble @ IUPUI. Because they are rip-offs, like all campus bookstores. D:

One good thing in the bookstore's favor: They offer Microsoft Office 2007 Student Edition for FREE download on the website. FTW.

Tags: class, classes, design, informatics, iupui, school
Current Mood: OK

So, I looked through my closet today and realized two things:
1. I only have one pair of cargo pants left, and that makes me sad
2. I own no black pants and I really, really should because they are awesome

It also occurs to me that it's about that time to start looking through all my clothes and figure out what I actually still wear. There's no reason in keeping it if I don't wear it right? I mean, I've found shirts that I haven't worn since before I went to Texas last summer. That's pretty bad. They should be gotten rid of because they're just taking up valuable dresser space.

Not that the two full drawers of old sketchbooks aren't...I need to find somewhere for those too because I'm not moving them all into my apartment! In fact, I've been thinking about all the things that I definitely need to move in that are coming out of my bedroom.
-Computer setup (obviously).
-Bookshelf (a small 2-shelf)
-Clothing (again, obviously)
-Floor lamp (the hydra lamp)

And those things are the only drop-dead important things I could think of. I mean, obviously I want to take a shitload of my own stuff with me, but I'm just not sure what I'll have room for. If I don't take enough, that's fine I'll just come back and get more, but if I plan to take too much and don't have room for it, that would be really annoying.

There are things that make my room My Room. The whiteboard on the wall, the manga that fills up the whole 2 shelves of space, my awesome computer chair, my under-the-bed boxes, my industrial sized trash bin and the little mesh aqua trash bin and my radio. These are all things I can take with me, but should I? I mean, I'm leaving so much here! I'm not planning on taking any of the storage boxes in the closet, any of the stuff on the large shelves, the dresser, the desk, the other bookshelves, most of the crap under my bed--I mean, it's just staying there. Seriously. I'm not touching it.

I wanted to take as little as possible to the apartment because I feel that will be the best way to make a "fresh start". That, and it should be about 99 x easier to clean with 99% less crap to leave on the floor (there's the clothes, but since I'll be doing my own laundry, that shouldn't be too bad...hopefully). Really, I want my apartment to feel fresh and new and open- not cluttered -because I know that I'm going to need a clear space to think and adjust to all the new stuff.

Of course it will be exciting to get a whole bunch of new stuff too. I'm getting a new set of sheets, since the beds in the apartments aren't the same size as my own bed. I'll need some file boxes, because I really do file things and they are important, but I'm not lugging that 80lb mass of steel cabinet to IUPUI. That's just crazy. So fileboxes it is. Aaaand...I'm sure I'll think of more stuff later. There's also the whole matter of actual household amenities, but I'm still working that out with the roommate. It's a little hard when our schedules clash so bad. We'll be doing most of the shopping pretty damn last minute (like the week-of-move-in) because that's the first time we'll actually be in the same place to shop for stuff.

Oh yes, and I miss IKEA being, like, 30 minutes away. Seriously, IKEA = love.


----

On a totally unrelated matter: I'm playing Final Fantasy XI Online! It's so awesome, I love it. I can't wait to play at normal times when other people play and like party and stuff. Lvl 4 Red Mage - ftw. I am n00b, hear me squee. >:3

Anyway, I'm trying to readujst my sleep schedule juuuuust a little bit so being that it's 1AM, I'm going to bed.

Tags: apartment, ffxi, iupui, moving, random crap, school
Current Mood: Sorta' tired
Current Music: Just the fan blowing behind me

I made it into IUPUI. w00t. :D

Tags: iupui, school
Current Mood: cheerful

But there will probably be some swearing (towards the bottom, yeah) but it's not exactly the swearing of rage, more of annoyance.

So, if you are familiar with my situation regarding the transfer from Ivy Tech to IUPUI, then you will know that I have been waiting for about a month for them to send me an answer. My application was "pending" that entire time. I had already sent the high school transcript and everything. All I had to do was sit back and wait for my answer.

Or so I was told. By three different people and one highly misleading letter from the Applications Office.

No. No. No. No. NO.

My application has not been pending for a month. My application has been sitting in Suspension for a month due to the lack of my Spring Semester transcript from Ivy Tech. Now, few of you probably know anything about Ivy Tech > IUPUI transfers. Well, to put it simply, Ivy Tech basically feeds straight into IUPUI. They share all student records and besides the normal application to the university, no further documentation (except the high school transcript) has to pass to the student during the transfer process. It's that simple. Really.

Except not for me, evidently. No, for some obscure reason unknown by anyone at IUPUI, Ivy Tech was not allowing the release of my transcript from their database at the time IUPUI tried to access it. I guess they only tried once- June 24th to be exact -and never again. Instead they sent me a letter; the kind that is supposed to be all encompasing so no personalization is necessary. The two important parts of the letter read something like this:

...Further action from the student will be necessary. Documentation must be received and released by the student in person at the college in question and then delivered or otherwise dropped off at the Admissions Office of IUPUI.

...P.S. Any student transferring from Ivy Tech Community College or other applicable schools may disregard this letter as it does not apply to interschool transfers. No further action from the student will be necessary.

Ha-ha--wait, what? I even contacted someone at Ivy Tech to verify this and got the same response regarding the sharing of interschool records. So, I disregarded the message. Which was bad. Because despite the fact that two seperate messages appeared on the same page, and the second of which said to disregard the first entirely, I should have done what the first message said. When the woman I spoke to in admissions today read that the two statements were contradictory, she made note to have it changed in later editions. She also made a plea for an Acception from the department, since the deadline is looooong gone for Fall applications.

The acception was granted, now I just need to be accepted into the school. At this point, if that does not happen within the next week, I am registering for Ivy Tech again before I wind up with shitty "flex-term" courses again. Then, I will find another univerisity to attend in the Spring- because this is complete bullshit.

BY THE WAY~ Ivy Tech never even mailed me the transcript in question- I just got my grades today from IUPUI!

I didn't fail Intermediate Algebra! I got a B!

Ohmigoshhhh. If I hadn't been so-amazingly-pissed-off at the time I would have rejoiced. I'm rejoicing now. That's so fucking awesome.

Fuck yessssssss~!

In completely unrelated news, I'm diving into the world of computer programming. Most likely using Visual BASIC. Don't ask why, I just felt like trying something I never, ever thought I could ever do. Something totally different. I haven't even started programming/scripting anything, I'm just reading up on the nuts and bolts involved first. I don't even really have anything in mind to want to program, I just want to know how to do it.

Also (thought not the reason why I decided to start programming) I'm reading Daemon, by Leinad Zeraus* which is kick-ass. I mean, really, really kick-ass. I remember reading Digital Fortress and thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread; this is ten times better than that, seriously.

Hee-hee. I'm such a geek.

*Why yes that is the name Daniel Suarez backwards; how perceptive of you!

Tags: daemon, iupui, ivy tech, programming, random crap, reading, school
Current Mood: uncomfortable
Current Music: Euphoric Field (ENG)

I really do.
I need to draw from life.
I need to do landscape sketches.
I need to work on my perspective, shading and composition.
I need to practice creating a more dynamic cartooning style.
I need to work on boring things like buildings and plain objects.
I need to study lighting and shading a little closer.
I need to practice getting away from bad habits like being too lazy to ink properly or use a ruler.
I need to practice creating cleaner lines and smoother inks and penciling.
I need to work on my comic in traditional media.

And, eventually, I need to get around to taking a whole buncha' art classes. Why? Because my major Visual Communications is an Art major and majoring in art at IUPUI means that you actually attend the Herron School of Art- which requires a portfolio. Which I don't have yet.

I've got a lot to do.  O w O()

Tags: art, drawing, life, school
Current Mood: calm

Yay! Seriousness. So, coupla' things going down in me-land.

First up, I finally purchased a new desktop computer! I just sent in the order an hour ago. Ivy Tech Community College gives really sweet student discounts through Dell.com so I decided to go for a really nice computer with a good graphics card and a TON of HDD space and RAM so that I will be able to run Photoshop, Mozilla, iTunes AND other stuff without the super-lockup. Yeah, and it cost me about the same as the Acer Demon after the discount (it was a good $460 discount off of the $1200 computer!). So in about a week or so, I'll be running a sweet new machine. Totally wicked sweet dude. :D

*edit: Did I mention? That awesome price includes a 19" flat screen monitor, mouse, keyboard, 3 year warranty, free shipping and a bunch of other stuff? Oh yeah, and it runs Windows XP Professional. Yeah, it's that awesome.

Next, if you are as-yet unaware, I no longer work as a Sales Associate at OM, I now work back in the Print and Document Services in ImPress! So I make photocopies, bind books, use drills and giant cutters, laminate stuff, scan and print stuff, create self-inked stamps (in less than 2 minutes- oooh!) and tons of other stuff. I've even been allowed to tinker with the DTP (Desktop Publishing) stuff, even though only one of our Associates is professionally qualified as DTP (she goes to Ivy Tech as well, and is majoring in Graphic Design through them). So far, I've only scanned things and edited out copier-spots and lines and whatnot, but it's still awesome. Much more so than hanging around the register or shelving things. Yep. The only downside? There are only three of us total, and we all work one at a time, so taking lunch is a tricky thing, since you aren't supposed to leave the counter unoccupied, but you can't eat there either. I think the longest ImPress lunch I've gotten was 11 minutes total, lol. But it's cool, since during all the quiet spots in the work day, I'm not required to do anything but keep things clean and organized and check the e-mail for ImPress.

School isn't going horribly (yet). I've caught up in Public Speaking, English Composition and...well, almost IntroMicroComp. Intermediate Algebra though...I'm fairly sure I've failed that one. Actually, I'm pretty sure a ton of people did, because when I came to class today there were 2 of us and later the third girl came, but STILL that's only THREE students! Crazy! But at least we're getting back into stuff that I remember from Alg1 and Alg2. It's sort of a bummer though, I'm having trouble with the same things I did back when I took class with Mr. Melosh (damn the man) and the class is really fast-paced so I work on mastering everything I can, but I wind up skipping things I don't get right away. Mr. Melosh, I hope you lose tenure. :\

So, if I DO flunk MAT111, I have two choices:

1) I can retake it over the Summer (after I quit work) and hopefully be able to master it with a full semester's length.

OR

2) I can forget it and enter into IUPUI on the Freshman level, and sort of take that year...again. :(

Mom says I should pick choice (2) but I honestly don't want to be a Freshman AGAIN just for one class! I would rather struggle through it over Summer Break than have to do it again in the Fall. I want to move on with life, not repeat the same crap again. But, I will have to apply to IUPUI ASAP (lol) so that I can get into the system and assure myself a spot in the apartments or else I'll be S.O.L. in the Fall.

Other things? That commission I received through dA is pending-request, since he wants a background layout for an animation and I'm not too great with those. I told him that if he supplied me with enough information about what he wanted I would work from references to get it right. I haven't gotten a reply yet though; I fear he has decided to commission someone else. Which isn't too bad, but he was the one who sent me the Note saying that he liked my style and then asked me to do something that doesn't even APPEAR in my gallery. Of course I'll have to practice it, but whatever. It's his money- his decision.

I haven't played LoZ: PH for a while since I'm stuck on a part where you have to be clever AND fast or you're dead and it's driving me nuts because I can't focus on it properly when I'm so busy. It'll have to wait until at least my first 2 classes end (MAT and PS) or else I'll never get it done.

Remember how I wrote about finding that woman's planner on the road a few weeks back? Well, yesterday Mom and I decided to be good people again and helped out a young woman when her car ran out of gas juuuuust as she was entering the intersection. We had to park behind her car (to stay out of the way of other cars) and then (with the help of a random man who was also feeling generous) we pushed her car to the other side of the street and then drove her to the nearest station to buy a gas canister and then back to fill her car. It was exciting. And tiring. And followed up by Taco Bell. Nom-nom-nom. :9

Not much else to write about for now...work in an hour, so I guess I'd better get goin'! Ta~!

Tags: acer demon, cis101, com101, computer, dell, eng111, impress, iupui, loz:ph, mat111, om, school, work
Current Location: on the couch yo.
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Unconditional - The Bravery

Evidently I can't work on Algebra for longer than 6 hours (2 hours, 30min break, then the rest). At least, not when I'm sick. I can't focus anymore...just completely brain-dead (and why not? It's almost midnight dammit).

Did I mention I was sick? Yeah, I had to leave MAT111 early today because I was so ill I couldn't focus. Not sure what's wrong with me, but it feels like either a cold or a sinus infection. Either way, not fun. And you should have heard me practically begging to get today off at OM! I mean, it's not like I take days of regularly! I've worked for nearly 4 months and this was my FIRST SICK DAY. Even though I've needed others.

No work tomorrow, since it's Easter (Corporate decision? Probably.) so at least I can get more sleep. Hey, no school either! Maybe I can actually GET BETTER. What a concept! :o

Happy early-Easter.

Tags: mat111, om907, school, sick, work
Current Mood: exhausted

So, I have now taken the Official campus and campus housing tour of Indiana University - Perdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI) the school I will be attending in the Fall, if all goes well *crosses fingers*.

IUPUI is not a bad school at all, the campus is huge and they have a lot of really great things like the computer kiosks where you can jump on a comp really quickly and check your e-mail or look something up, they have a ton of places to eat, a great community center-esque building, free shuttles around campus, a campus library that's the third best in the entire nation, free Wi-Fi and a ton of other things. Not to mention the smaller class sizes and the way the campus is set up, you only need to work in one area of the campus at a time. So, for incoming Freshman, you'd stay in one building your entire year to take your liberal arts. Each department outside of liberal arts has it's own massive building. We went through a few, but skipped buildings like the Business building, what was referred to as the "-ology" building (sciences), and the IT building, which we were told was basically a really, really large computer lab.

Probably the coolest feature- at least to me- at IUPUI is what they call the JagTag (IUPUI's mascot is the Jaguar) and that's basically your student ID. It has a barcode on it that stores your personal information, access codes and even money to pay for books and food on-campus. You also need it to enter your dorm (if you live in one) and any specialized facility- which is what the access codes are for. This keeps people from being where they don't need to be. If this isn't enough of a reason to carry the darn thing, if you are carded by the IUPUI-PD and don't have it, you can get in big, big trouble. If you don't have your JagTag, I can only imagine how hard it would be to get around campus. You can't take the shuttles without one, use the campus ATM or even use the library! You would be pretty S.O.L. without it. My guess is that people don't lose 'em too often.

The last part of the tour was the Housing tour, and housing at IUPUI is pretty straightforward. The "dorms" are in Ball Residence Hall- four stories, two floors of girls, one of guys, one co-ed. Cheapest choice is the 3 person room. But, that doesn't really matter to me since it applies only to Freshman. Once you go any higher you get kicked out- and since I'm transferring as a Sophomore, that doesn't bother me. (Not to mention, the dorms were kind of depressing).

The second option, available to all levels of student and staff, are the Campus Apartments. They are basically, apartments. They don't look like student housing, they look like...apartments. They are available in single, double and four bedroom models. They come fully furnished, bathrooms, beds, closets, tables, chairs, full kitchen and washing machine/dryer. Pretty freakin' sweet. Of course, they are pretty expensive. The housing commission took the average of all the surrounding off-campus apartments, made it a little cheaper, and left it at that. Of course, since option three is family housing, I really don't have much of a choice- so the apartment it is. I send in the application tomorrow and hopefully I will have either a two or four person apartment by the beginning of September.

The only other person on the campus tour is an incoming freshman named Li (that's her nickname anyway) and she and I are...amazingly similar, actually. We're going for the same major, we share a lot of the same interests and we hit it off pretty darn well for two perfect strangers. In fact, so well that we both signed each other's names on the housing applications in hopes of winding up as roommates. Even though we'd be a year apart in school, we're not quite a year apart in age. We exchanged info and hopefully we'll be getting together again soon. :)

Tags: dorms, housing, iupui, school
Current Mood: cheerful

Oh man, BUMMER. Because you know, I never talk about myself.  *sarcastic eye-roll*

Actually, I talk about myself a lot, since it's a subject with which I am intimately familiar (duh), but I don't just talk about myself in front of large groups of people I don't know for no reason. I really hate having attention like that. But it can't be helped, since tomorrow morning is my first speech for my Public Speaking class. *sighs* I have no clue how I'm going to structure it actually. It needs to be attention-getting --which I can do really well-- but I just don't know how I'm going to go about it. I mean, I need to focus on three main aspects of my personality that can be demonstrated through the use of three visual aides and that can be successfully pulled off in 3 minutes, give or take 30 seconds at the most.

The problem is that I'm no longer quite sure how to describe myself. I used to just say "Oh, I'm an artist! See--*arts* look!* but now I don't feel like being an artist describes me effectively anymore. I mean, I still do "art" but I'm not just an artist anymore- it's not my main focus anymore. So, I have a lot of things that I could say about myself. I could say that I'm a "creative individual" which is what I've been pulling for the last few months or so. I've also used the phrase "anti-artist" (as in antagonist) but that's not really accurate either. My title on dA is actually "Antagonist" just for laughs- I think it's shockingly accurate though. >:3

Uhhh- oh, so yeah, I'm still trying to get that together. My first idea- and so far the only one that hasn't been dumped- is the Organized Me -vs- The Artistic Me- vs- The Messy me; as demonstrated through the Acer Demon (laptop), a sketchbooks, and a messy file of junk (I'll bring it a plastic storage box of crap). But really, what am I going to talk about? Those facets of my personality are sort of dull...OK, very dull.

My life doesn't split into trios well...

There's also the idea that I could just use three drawings to show my Focused, Relaxed and Lazy sides. It would be easy for me to do that. I would bring in the Acer Demon and show a really nice CG (I dunno which, just one...nice one?) and then a sketchbook and then crap-sketches (I could probably bring in the ones that are so sketchy you can't tell what they are-LOL). If I was going to be a little nicer about the three sides I could say the art styles of Clean-cut, Relaxed and Speed Sketch, but somehow I think the first three are more readily understandable than the last three.

If I was going to use Focused/Relaxed/Lazy I would have to explain how these are pretty much the only "modes" I'm ever in.

Focused: When I'm at work and at school I'm usually very focused, especially when someone is speaking or I'm learning something. When I focus on something, I really FOCUS on it so I can get it right the first time. When it comes to artwork, I focus on achieving the image in my head with minimal re-tries. I can spend hours on one designated task in an effort to get the best results possible from it. Sometimes this leads to me becoming somewhat tense and even stressed, but overall it's the most efficient mode for me to be in.

Relaxed: Most of the time I'm relaxed; still attentive but not completely absorbed in one thing to the point where I can't multi-task or switch my focus readily. I'm more easy-going and ready to laugh at something when I'm relaxed. I do my best creative work when I'm relaxed and don't try so hard to focus on getting it perfect (usually counterproductive during the creative stages, though useful in the technical ones).

Lazy: I try not to be lazy as often as I can, but since I've adopted the attitude that the world just moves way too fast already and that if it doesn't need to be done right-this-very-instant-or-the-world-will-explode-from-the-effort-of-waiting then it can wait until I'm not occupied. Since I'm so easily stressed, relaxation is key for me to stay healthy and alert when I need to be. If I don't relax frequently I become very tired and although I am a reseliant person, I find it harder and harder to bounce back each time.

I'll need to pick appropriate images demonstrating the three "modes" I was in while drawing them- maybe even exaggerated selections, so that the audience will connect the concepts better. I also just drew a circular arrow-to-arrow image to show how one mode flows or snaps into another, but OC1.1b72rv1 decided that it was just not going to actually PUT the image on my hard drive, so I'll need to redo it.

I think I may just do it all on the computer- in a Presentation and then use the slides to display the images- I don't know yet- whatever works out best I guess...I'll have to see how well my computer performs running multiple apps with the Presenter software.

Tags: introduction speech, me, public speaking, random crap, school
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Time to Waste - Alkaline Trio