Greetings all. :)
Hope everyone had good Turkey Days. Mine was filled with homework, homework, and then, for a change of pace, some homework. :) Finals time is upon us. This upcoming week is the last of regular classes, then it's finals week, then a nice winter break until classes start again on the 5th of January. The workload is crazy and I'm pretty much just focusing on Spanish. I feel very confident in my Microcomputer Applications class so....that's kind of a gimme grade. :) It's always nice to have one of those every semester. Comp II is going well, I think, but I have not as yet received my research paper grade. I do know that my group got the highest score on our poetry unit test so...that's all going well. I'm not worried about passing that class. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my Humanities paper on Hannah Senesh. Then it's just a matter of studying for that final. Luckily, some of it will come from the mid-term so that helps. I feel fairly confident about that test and class. Spanish is my trouble spot. Our recent three-unit test really kicked my ass. I'm having so much trouble with the uses of ser and estar and the preterite tenses....woe is me. I did have an A in the class before that test, which I got a 74 on. Happily, she graded on a curve and I noticed much, much worse grades than mine so....hope springs eternal. We have one last vocab test on Tuesday that can help bolster a grade, and I'm getting 100's on all of my homework so....keep your fingers crossed on that for me.
My classes for next semester are already scheduled and then sometime mid-January I will fill out the paperwork to graduate and will then have an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts in May. :) My diploma I got in Business Computer Applications back in '90 does not seem like a real college degree of any kind (and isn't counted as one either), so this will be my first real college degree and I'm very excited. This experience at CF has been really good. I'm looking forward to next semester and the classes. Liberal Arts Math....maybe not so much. Nor their "Personal Wellness" class. But I always enjoyed science classes in lower school years, so I'm looking forward to Biology and the lab. I'm also curious to see how my Acting class goes. I'm hoping that class will be fun.
As for the future, there have been more developments in that department. Truth be told, I have never had any desire, whatsoever, to live in Orlando. I don't even like driving down there. But for the purpose of the future, I resigned myself to Orlando and UCF because I am determined to complete my education and get into animated film. However, like Rasmussen (grrr!), UCF's programming is not animation specific. It is a digital media program that employs aspects like web design (which I hate), and regular design classes which do not interest me. So....I've been not exactly excited about the future of my education, but more accepting that UCF would be a better fit than UF or any of the other schools here. I had checked out programming back in Seattle (home! I miss you!!) and other parts of the country, and UCF seemed to be the better deal. UNTIL....I had a discussion with my mother. I don't know what prompted it, but we were discussing education and the subject of SMSU came up. That is the university she went to in Springfield, Missouri and she enjoyed going there. It has recently come to my attention that the education I received in the Springfield public school system was exemplary and head and shoulders above anything offered here in Florida by far. Anyhow, when she mentioned SMS (now MSU) I decided to check them out online. WHAT A STROKE OF LUCK!!!! For a small-town school, they have an AMAZING program for Computer Animation that is just about computer animation. Capstone projects that are computer animation. AND they offer a Screenwriting minor! The course descriptions and coursework are so exciting and so much better than UCF! Plus, honestly, I hate Florida, I always have. It's simply where I've ended up at this point in life, but it's certainly not somewhere I have any desire to remain. But I am an Ozark Mountain girl at heart and would like to live somewhere with four real seasons again.
So....instead of heading to UCF next fall, I will be moving back to mighty MO and starting classes at MSU. They, like UCF, give priority admission to those transfer students with a completed Associates degree so I feel fairly confident about admission. I'm excited to head to a school with better educational opportunity and a program more tailored to exactly the type of work I want to be doing upon graduation. So....we'll see if it's true that you can't go home again. :) I have not been back to Springfield in well over 20 years so it will be interesting so see how things have changed. But the eye is still on the prize - - completing my degree and then hopefully interning somewhere like Pixar, then eventually moving on to completing my own animated films and living back in my beloved Seattle. So...changes are afoot as always.
Wish me luck with these finals y'all - I need it! Cheers!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Contemplation
Hey all.
Sorry it's been a while but life has been busy. CF really is a different world from any college I've attended before and seems to be a good transitional experience to a regular four-year university. As such, the workload is hella intense and keeps me busy.
We've just passed mid-term week. I only had one "real" mid-term. That was in my Humanities class. That class has not really improved over time. Mostly we sit and listen to the instructor drone over Powerpoint presentations for the entire class time and you can literally feel the minutes of your life slipping away. The mid-term was a fill-in-the-blank type test instead of the standard Scantron, so that sucked fairly majorly. Twelve chapters of information to study to figure out what is required for 20 questions. Even with a review day, it was still way too much to process. I think I maybe scraped a C, but I won't know until Tuesday. Everyone in my class agrees that while no one likes a quiz after every chapter or whatever, a little reinforcement at the end of every chapter would help to get the information straight in our minds. We'll see what comes of it all once the grades come out. Luckily, the mid-term was just practice and doesn't count toward our grade. We are only given scores for a research paper and our final exam so....I need to kick out one hella good paper and study like a crazy woman for the final. I'm getting to know some people in the class and we have a good time.
English Comp II is a bit of a challenge. Our instructor is kind of a world-class wench and tends to change her mind on what she wants from day to day. Makes the writing assignments a little difficult. We didn't have a mid-term per se, but we were tested this week on the end of the short story fiction section of the class. I feel pretty confident on my test. She is very different from my previous writing instructors in that she is obsessive about word count. She also like a lot of in-text citation, which I was always instructed was lazy writing so....my usual happy place this class is not. We have a major paper due in that class as well that I am still struggling to come up with a thesis about. I have the book I'm going to use, but it's not really one of my choosing and so finding something to write about, in conjunction with 10 (10!) literary criticisms which she requires as research is a bit difficult. I've never had an instructor ask for more than 5 sources for any paper so....yeah. That's going on.
My Microcomputer class is pretty much lab time every week. I have a solid 100% and I don't touch any of it until class time. I'm so far ahead of the rest of the class that I will be out of things to do entirely very soon, but the instructor is cool and just lets me work ahead. No worries on that front.
Spanish is going well. I have a solid A and if I am very, very lucky, this will be the last Spanish class I will have to take. I feel confident about the class so that's good and I'm making friends in that class too.
The financial aid situation at CF continues to be an on-going struggle. They are not good at all when it comes to communicating with students and one must continually check in with them to make sure they are processing your file. I finally found one person to meet with and she introduced me to an actual counselor who helped me to see what classes remain for me to get my AA and also helped me to realize that the admissions people had put me in the wrong major. Good info to know. Scheduling will begin for Spring semester soon. I'm actually enjoying my time at CF. With the amount of classes I need, I will have three more semesters to get my AA. It's a longer wait to get to UCF, but you get priority admission in Florida with the AA so it's well worth it. I also discovered that I can take some alternative classes for requirements that I did not know about. For example, for my Oral Communications requirement I can take the Public Speaking the admissions rep told me about OR I can take a writing class OR an acting class. So....options, I likes them. ;)
All the present focus on required courses and general education requirements kind of makes me feel like my design muscles are going to atrophy, but the more time passes, the more I find myself wondering about the path of my future. UCF's Digital Media program is still the current goal, but I have always had other interests and I am wondering now if perhaps tweaking my goals might make better sense in the long run.
I still feel very passionately about the power of the film media and animated film in particular. I also think education is extremely important and being in Florida, and having worked in their elementary education system, I can foresee the death of public education as we have all known it in the very near future. That said, what of digital media in a newer age with more home or private schooling? Won't education need to become more dynamic to keep interest and convey messages? I think it will and I would be interested in being a part of that movement.
Education has always interested me. I've always thought it might be interesting to teach somewhere around the 7th-9th grade English classes. Having been exposed to the Second Step educational materials, knowing the impact those kinds of lessons can have on young minds, and seeing the recent waves of teens suicides, it makes me wonder if a new kind of curriculum and learning isn't desperately needed. I would be very interested in being a part of something that works for the greater good.
I come from a family of worker bees. Being particularly artistic without any final dollar amount of income in mind has never really been encouraged. I tend to be the family black sheep who marches to the beat of her own drummer. As such, I can totally see working as a teacher for minimal income if I know I am making a difference in the world. Working at Pixar making beaucoup de bucks would be sweet, but in reality, even filmmaking in my mind needs to have a purpose, a message, something positive sent out in the world to educate and impact and inform. So....I am wondering about majors, minors and other courses, plus trying to learn of some new ways forward. All this while trying to work on my own writing and art and studying and such. Life is full, even without calls about jobs. C'est la vie.
I'm not a religious person, but I do consider myself to be spiritual and I do have faith. As such, I feel with great conviction that at this moment, I am on exactly the path I am meant to be following, and that I have everything I need, even if not everything I want. And in that much, I'm contented and after my recent dark period, it's a very good feeling. :)
Education goes on. Finals are in December and then a long break until mid-January and Spring semester. In the meantime, it's pretty much the same old same old. Even with all the financial aid mayhem and drama, I'm still very glad I left Rasmussen when I did and that I am at CF. I am making friends and enjoying the campus and a real college experience, even if I am a couple of decades late in having it. Until later y'all! Peace!
Sorry it's been a while but life has been busy. CF really is a different world from any college I've attended before and seems to be a good transitional experience to a regular four-year university. As such, the workload is hella intense and keeps me busy.
We've just passed mid-term week. I only had one "real" mid-term. That was in my Humanities class. That class has not really improved over time. Mostly we sit and listen to the instructor drone over Powerpoint presentations for the entire class time and you can literally feel the minutes of your life slipping away. The mid-term was a fill-in-the-blank type test instead of the standard Scantron, so that sucked fairly majorly. Twelve chapters of information to study to figure out what is required for 20 questions. Even with a review day, it was still way too much to process. I think I maybe scraped a C, but I won't know until Tuesday. Everyone in my class agrees that while no one likes a quiz after every chapter or whatever, a little reinforcement at the end of every chapter would help to get the information straight in our minds. We'll see what comes of it all once the grades come out. Luckily, the mid-term was just practice and doesn't count toward our grade. We are only given scores for a research paper and our final exam so....I need to kick out one hella good paper and study like a crazy woman for the final. I'm getting to know some people in the class and we have a good time.
English Comp II is a bit of a challenge. Our instructor is kind of a world-class wench and tends to change her mind on what she wants from day to day. Makes the writing assignments a little difficult. We didn't have a mid-term per se, but we were tested this week on the end of the short story fiction section of the class. I feel pretty confident on my test. She is very different from my previous writing instructors in that she is obsessive about word count. She also like a lot of in-text citation, which I was always instructed was lazy writing so....my usual happy place this class is not. We have a major paper due in that class as well that I am still struggling to come up with a thesis about. I have the book I'm going to use, but it's not really one of my choosing and so finding something to write about, in conjunction with 10 (10!) literary criticisms which she requires as research is a bit difficult. I've never had an instructor ask for more than 5 sources for any paper so....yeah. That's going on.
My Microcomputer class is pretty much lab time every week. I have a solid 100% and I don't touch any of it until class time. I'm so far ahead of the rest of the class that I will be out of things to do entirely very soon, but the instructor is cool and just lets me work ahead. No worries on that front.
Spanish is going well. I have a solid A and if I am very, very lucky, this will be the last Spanish class I will have to take. I feel confident about the class so that's good and I'm making friends in that class too.
The financial aid situation at CF continues to be an on-going struggle. They are not good at all when it comes to communicating with students and one must continually check in with them to make sure they are processing your file. I finally found one person to meet with and she introduced me to an actual counselor who helped me to see what classes remain for me to get my AA and also helped me to realize that the admissions people had put me in the wrong major. Good info to know. Scheduling will begin for Spring semester soon. I'm actually enjoying my time at CF. With the amount of classes I need, I will have three more semesters to get my AA. It's a longer wait to get to UCF, but you get priority admission in Florida with the AA so it's well worth it. I also discovered that I can take some alternative classes for requirements that I did not know about. For example, for my Oral Communications requirement I can take the Public Speaking the admissions rep told me about OR I can take a writing class OR an acting class. So....options, I likes them. ;)
All the present focus on required courses and general education requirements kind of makes me feel like my design muscles are going to atrophy, but the more time passes, the more I find myself wondering about the path of my future. UCF's Digital Media program is still the current goal, but I have always had other interests and I am wondering now if perhaps tweaking my goals might make better sense in the long run.
I still feel very passionately about the power of the film media and animated film in particular. I also think education is extremely important and being in Florida, and having worked in their elementary education system, I can foresee the death of public education as we have all known it in the very near future. That said, what of digital media in a newer age with more home or private schooling? Won't education need to become more dynamic to keep interest and convey messages? I think it will and I would be interested in being a part of that movement.
Education has always interested me. I've always thought it might be interesting to teach somewhere around the 7th-9th grade English classes. Having been exposed to the Second Step educational materials, knowing the impact those kinds of lessons can have on young minds, and seeing the recent waves of teens suicides, it makes me wonder if a new kind of curriculum and learning isn't desperately needed. I would be very interested in being a part of something that works for the greater good.
I come from a family of worker bees. Being particularly artistic without any final dollar amount of income in mind has never really been encouraged. I tend to be the family black sheep who marches to the beat of her own drummer. As such, I can totally see working as a teacher for minimal income if I know I am making a difference in the world. Working at Pixar making beaucoup de bucks would be sweet, but in reality, even filmmaking in my mind needs to have a purpose, a message, something positive sent out in the world to educate and impact and inform. So....I am wondering about majors, minors and other courses, plus trying to learn of some new ways forward. All this while trying to work on my own writing and art and studying and such. Life is full, even without calls about jobs. C'est la vie.
I'm not a religious person, but I do consider myself to be spiritual and I do have faith. As such, I feel with great conviction that at this moment, I am on exactly the path I am meant to be following, and that I have everything I need, even if not everything I want. And in that much, I'm contented and after my recent dark period, it's a very good feeling. :)
Education goes on. Finals are in December and then a long break until mid-January and Spring semester. In the meantime, it's pretty much the same old same old. Even with all the financial aid mayhem and drama, I'm still very glad I left Rasmussen when I did and that I am at CF. I am making friends and enjoying the campus and a real college experience, even if I am a couple of decades late in having it. Until later y'all! Peace!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Fall Semester 2010
Hey there.
So....there is news. :)
First of all, I did not flunk Spanish II. I got a D, but I did not actually get an F. However, the D was not good enough for admittance to UCF (duh) so I am currently still enrolled at CFCC/CCF/CF/Whatever-they're-calling-themselves-now.
After many visits, phone calls, etc., they have finally gotten financial aid worked out and I am taking a full schedule of courses. Interestingly enough, to get the AA degree that they offer to prep students for transferring to a 4-year college, I only need 2 semesters of coursework so it looks like that is what I will do, Fall and Spring at CF and then transfer to UCF for next fall.
My schedule for this semester is as follows:
Microcomputer Applications. This is basically a Microsoft Office 2007 course. I already know this stuff, but it's a requirement and hopefully an easy A class. It meets in one of CF's computer labs and their labs are 8 million percent better than anything Rasmussen had to offer. I still feel so ripped off by Rasmussen. If there was a way, I'd try to get my money back. The teacher is an older lady, but seems super nice and the coursework should not be too hard at all. I never actually took any classes on Access so I'm hoping I might learn something there. We shall see.
Freshman Composition II. Another required class. I always enjoy English and writing classes so this should be good. The teacher is another older lady who also teaches at one of the local high schools. She's been teaching close to 30 years and it shows. You can tell she's the teacher the high school kids hope they don't get. All in all though, should be a good class, I hope.
Spanish I. Back to the Spanish drawing board. Same teacher as my online Spanish II class last semester and it actually meets in the same classroom I had Statistics in (little bit of trivia there). Looks like it's going to be intensive, but I found some books she recommended at the college library (which, incidentally, is an AWESOME library!), so I'm feeling good about starting over here.
Introduction to the Humanities. Yet one more required course. While waiting for the classroom to open, myself and another older student noticed this skinny, ponytailed dude in all black being led around by an administrative aide explaining things to him and we both had a sinking feeling he was going to be our instructor. Yep, he was. When he wrote his name on the board, I got another sinking feeling as he is a Rev. Dr. and has a fruity, hippy name. Turns out he's a "minister" at "an interfaith church" where "we love everyone equally" and I....threw up a little in my mouth. Ugh. He's a real space cadet this one. He thinks he's amusing and gets upset when people don't laugh at his not-funny jokes and comments. There are a LOT of young kids in this class (I feel so old) and so this is going to be the hard class this semester I can tell. Surviving these lectures is going to be hard. Just the first intro meeting class was the longest hour and a half of my life. I hope he gets organized and can get things on track, otherwise I'm going to have to invest in no-doze. The class has the potential to be interesting, and the book looks very interesting so....we'll see if he can step it up at all. And also as a side note - a ponytail? Really? Dude, the 60's called - they want their look back.
So....that's the situation currently. CF is actually more like a "real" college than anywhere I've attended before, so I think these two semesters will help me transition better to a four-year college. Now that the financial aid seems to be all squared away, I was able to get my books and have everything I need. As with Rasmussen, I'll post and share what I can as the semester continues. But things are looking up and I'm really feeling much better, more motivated, and more excited about learning again. Yay! That's the latest! Cheers!
So....there is news. :)
First of all, I did not flunk Spanish II. I got a D, but I did not actually get an F. However, the D was not good enough for admittance to UCF (duh) so I am currently still enrolled at CFCC/CCF/CF/Whatever-they're-calling-themselves-now.
After many visits, phone calls, etc., they have finally gotten financial aid worked out and I am taking a full schedule of courses. Interestingly enough, to get the AA degree that they offer to prep students for transferring to a 4-year college, I only need 2 semesters of coursework so it looks like that is what I will do, Fall and Spring at CF and then transfer to UCF for next fall.
My schedule for this semester is as follows:
Microcomputer Applications. This is basically a Microsoft Office 2007 course. I already know this stuff, but it's a requirement and hopefully an easy A class. It meets in one of CF's computer labs and their labs are 8 million percent better than anything Rasmussen had to offer. I still feel so ripped off by Rasmussen. If there was a way, I'd try to get my money back. The teacher is an older lady, but seems super nice and the coursework should not be too hard at all. I never actually took any classes on Access so I'm hoping I might learn something there. We shall see.
Freshman Composition II. Another required class. I always enjoy English and writing classes so this should be good. The teacher is another older lady who also teaches at one of the local high schools. She's been teaching close to 30 years and it shows. You can tell she's the teacher the high school kids hope they don't get. All in all though, should be a good class, I hope.
Spanish I. Back to the Spanish drawing board. Same teacher as my online Spanish II class last semester and it actually meets in the same classroom I had Statistics in (little bit of trivia there). Looks like it's going to be intensive, but I found some books she recommended at the college library (which, incidentally, is an AWESOME library!), so I'm feeling good about starting over here.
Introduction to the Humanities. Yet one more required course. While waiting for the classroom to open, myself and another older student noticed this skinny, ponytailed dude in all black being led around by an administrative aide explaining things to him and we both had a sinking feeling he was going to be our instructor. Yep, he was. When he wrote his name on the board, I got another sinking feeling as he is a Rev. Dr. and has a fruity, hippy name. Turns out he's a "minister" at "an interfaith church" where "we love everyone equally" and I....threw up a little in my mouth. Ugh. He's a real space cadet this one. He thinks he's amusing and gets upset when people don't laugh at his not-funny jokes and comments. There are a LOT of young kids in this class (I feel so old) and so this is going to be the hard class this semester I can tell. Surviving these lectures is going to be hard. Just the first intro meeting class was the longest hour and a half of my life. I hope he gets organized and can get things on track, otherwise I'm going to have to invest in no-doze. The class has the potential to be interesting, and the book looks very interesting so....we'll see if he can step it up at all. And also as a side note - a ponytail? Really? Dude, the 60's called - they want their look back.
So....that's the situation currently. CF is actually more like a "real" college than anywhere I've attended before, so I think these two semesters will help me transition better to a four-year college. Now that the financial aid seems to be all squared away, I was able to get my books and have everything I need. As with Rasmussen, I'll post and share what I can as the semester continues. But things are looking up and I'm really feeling much better, more motivated, and more excited about learning again. Yay! That's the latest! Cheers!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Educational Update
So....it has once again been a considerable time since my last posting. There's a lot to go over so....let's get to it.
My meeting with CFCC, which is now CCF (College of Central Florida) went well and I was admitted for the summer semester. I managed to get the Statistics class I wanted and also registered for Elementary Spanish II. The semester was just a six week semester and has just come to a close for me today.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, math is not my strong suit so I was very worried about the Statistics course. However, it turned out to be a great experience. The instructor was fabulous and the material was similar to things I did doing data analysis at various jobs. As such, I managed to complete the course with a B+. Not too shabby at all and I'm proud of myself for that accomplishment.
I wish I could say that things with my Spanish II class went as well. Unfortunately, they did not. I had the sinking feeling that my Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen had not properly prepared me for anything, but since CCF offers Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Spanish classes, I thought I might be in pretty good standing for Elementary Spanish II considering I got an A in my Conversational Spanish class. I thought wrong. The Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen was a joke and did not give me anywhere near the foundation I needed for Elementary Spanish II. The class workload was insane and EVERYTHING, the book, the instructions, EVERYTHING was in Spanish. I only took the two classes this semester, but the workload ended up being like the quarter I took six classes at Rasmussen.
Despite constantly working my ass off in the class, I ended up failing it. I did the best work I could and everything I could, but without the proper foundation from the first class, I was always three steps behind. It took forever to translate the instructions, then to do the work. The workload was also rather ridiculous really and the instructor seemed to think that the students had nothing else going on but that class for six weeks. There were four websites with work you had to do on them, and every week covered two chapters. I did well on the discussion posts and the vocabulary quizzes, but the verb tenses and changes, as well as the workbook and audio work, completely threw me and I never got above a 53% on any of it. Add to that the fact that I only got a 52% on the final, and my final overall percentage was 59.61%. So....F. I failed. Which sucks and makes me feel about 2 inches tall.
As such, I'm pretty much screwed. I will still submit the transcript to UCF, but without the second foreign language requirement being satisfactorily completed, I doubt they will allow me admission. :(
My next problem, however, is that I cannot move forward with taking any classes at CCF right now. Though I was fully packaged with financial aid at Rasmussen for summer, and for a great deal more than CCF charges, CCF is still dragging their feet on getting any financial aid awarded, so I still have a balance on my account for this summer semester. That, coupled with no financial aid awarded for fall yet, means that I cannot register for any classes. I have been round and round with them about this, submitted all the transcripts and paperwork they wanted, and now they are telling me that they need all of my transcripts entered into their system before they can award anything, and the girl doing it is 2-3 weeks behind. So....I'm screwed.
I don't know what is going to happen now. Monday I will go back to CCF's financial aid office and try to get someone to get something happening with awards. If that is accomplished, I will then move forward with trying to find some classes to take and hopefully find a place in their Elementary Spanish I class so I can get the proper foundation I should have had. I now completely hate the Spanish language by the way.
As I say, I will continue on with submitting my CCF transcript to UCF, but I don't think they'll let me in without that other foreign language requirement. So....I'll just have to do what I can to get it. If CCF cannot get my aid squared away in time for fall semester, however, I have no idea what I am going to do.
So....things are in limbo right now. UCF is still the goal, but some roadblocks have been thrown in my way. I feel like complete and utter shit right now, a real total loser because of failing that class. But at the same time, what more could I do? I did everything I could and worked as hard as I could. I just didn't have the foundation I needed to understand it. Live and learn I guess.
So that is my current status. I will keep y'all apprised of any forward movement. Any good thoughts or energy that could be sent in my general direction would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all!
My meeting with CFCC, which is now CCF (College of Central Florida) went well and I was admitted for the summer semester. I managed to get the Statistics class I wanted and also registered for Elementary Spanish II. The semester was just a six week semester and has just come to a close for me today.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, math is not my strong suit so I was very worried about the Statistics course. However, it turned out to be a great experience. The instructor was fabulous and the material was similar to things I did doing data analysis at various jobs. As such, I managed to complete the course with a B+. Not too shabby at all and I'm proud of myself for that accomplishment.
I wish I could say that things with my Spanish II class went as well. Unfortunately, they did not. I had the sinking feeling that my Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen had not properly prepared me for anything, but since CCF offers Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Spanish classes, I thought I might be in pretty good standing for Elementary Spanish II considering I got an A in my Conversational Spanish class. I thought wrong. The Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen was a joke and did not give me anywhere near the foundation I needed for Elementary Spanish II. The class workload was insane and EVERYTHING, the book, the instructions, EVERYTHING was in Spanish. I only took the two classes this semester, but the workload ended up being like the quarter I took six classes at Rasmussen.
Despite constantly working my ass off in the class, I ended up failing it. I did the best work I could and everything I could, but without the proper foundation from the first class, I was always three steps behind. It took forever to translate the instructions, then to do the work. The workload was also rather ridiculous really and the instructor seemed to think that the students had nothing else going on but that class for six weeks. There were four websites with work you had to do on them, and every week covered two chapters. I did well on the discussion posts and the vocabulary quizzes, but the verb tenses and changes, as well as the workbook and audio work, completely threw me and I never got above a 53% on any of it. Add to that the fact that I only got a 52% on the final, and my final overall percentage was 59.61%. So....F. I failed. Which sucks and makes me feel about 2 inches tall.
As such, I'm pretty much screwed. I will still submit the transcript to UCF, but without the second foreign language requirement being satisfactorily completed, I doubt they will allow me admission. :(
My next problem, however, is that I cannot move forward with taking any classes at CCF right now. Though I was fully packaged with financial aid at Rasmussen for summer, and for a great deal more than CCF charges, CCF is still dragging their feet on getting any financial aid awarded, so I still have a balance on my account for this summer semester. That, coupled with no financial aid awarded for fall yet, means that I cannot register for any classes. I have been round and round with them about this, submitted all the transcripts and paperwork they wanted, and now they are telling me that they need all of my transcripts entered into their system before they can award anything, and the girl doing it is 2-3 weeks behind. So....I'm screwed.
I don't know what is going to happen now. Monday I will go back to CCF's financial aid office and try to get someone to get something happening with awards. If that is accomplished, I will then move forward with trying to find some classes to take and hopefully find a place in their Elementary Spanish I class so I can get the proper foundation I should have had. I now completely hate the Spanish language by the way.
As I say, I will continue on with submitting my CCF transcript to UCF, but I don't think they'll let me in without that other foreign language requirement. So....I'll just have to do what I can to get it. If CCF cannot get my aid squared away in time for fall semester, however, I have no idea what I am going to do.
So....things are in limbo right now. UCF is still the goal, but some roadblocks have been thrown in my way. I feel like complete and utter shit right now, a real total loser because of failing that class. But at the same time, what more could I do? I did everything I could and worked as hard as I could. I just didn't have the foundation I needed to understand it. Live and learn I guess.
So that is my current status. I will keep y'all apprised of any forward movement. Any good thoughts or energy that could be sent in my general direction would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
It's Been A While.....
...hey there y'all. :)
So it has indeed been quite a while since I updated this school blog. Part of it has been that I have been very, very busy. The other part has been because I have been becoming more and more dissatisfied with the educational experience I have been having.
To start off, when I decided to go back to school, it was a decision I thought long and hard about before committing to. Returning to school costs a lot of money and is a very big commitment to make.
I had seen the old Webster College building with it's scrolling marquee sign for a while and watched as it turned into Rasmussen College. Being that it was just a little one-building looking place, and having already been to something considered more a "vocational" college than a real university, I pretty much ignored it.
However, I happened to receive a postcard mailing about an open house they were having about their technology and design programs. Being in the worst county in Florida for unemployment, and having been without steady work for a while, it seemed the time might be right to look into a return to school and into finally completing a Bachelor's degree.
So I went to the open house and while the building wasn't spectacular and the inside not a whole lot better, what was interesting was talking to the people and seeing the presentations. Digital media, and most specifically animation, is something that I have been interested in for a very long time. It was interesting to me to find some place here in dinky old Ocala that had that kind of programming. I jumped right into taking the placement testing, working with an admissions rep, and actually met with the director of the entire Technology and Design program for all of the Rasmussen campuses, and I liked what he had to say. He mentioned wanting Rasmussen to be one of the "go-to" schools for design, and said that he thought it was important to get more women into the design field. So....I signed up, registered, and started classes.
As an older student going back to school, I started this blog to chronicle the journey. To keep a diary if you will of the experience not only for friends and family to read and follow, but for myself to see my own growth. I believe I have grown throughout this process.
But, also as an older student, and someone that has worked at a major university, I know problems when I see them. I've been involved in the business world in one capacity or another since the age of 16. So when I started to see problems with the school, when I started noticing issues in the programming, then I started to lose my faith in the experience. And unlike a lot of the younger students at Rasmussen, I'm not afraid to speak up, voice my concerns, and push back when I'm being told to make due with substandard situations and classes, and I have no problem taking my business elsewhere when it becomes apparent that things are not what they appeared in the beginning to be.
This quarter has been about the worst ever so far in my education at Rasmussen. There have been issues with textbooks, software incompatibility, computer lab issues, online class issues (that if you scroll back you will see I have been having since the very beginning with the online design classes), and one massive issue with an instructor in my Conversational Spanish class. All of this has led me to stop enjoying the educational process.
I've always been a perpetual student. I love to learn new things and get excited at the prospect of challenging myself with new software applications and learning new ways of doing things. I stalked the online classes when I first began, unable to wait to see the new assignments every week and dive into the newness of it all. Over the last two quarters, that shine has definitely come off. Now I must drag myself to the campus, force myself to access the online classroom, and dread opening the books and "dealing" with the work. This feeling, this unhappiness, has caused me a lot of stress this quarter.
I could sit here and laundry list every single issue that Rasmussen has, but I'm not going to. For one thing, it would have no purpose, and for another, I'm tired of thinking about it and dealing with it. What I can say is that it has become apparent to me lately, and over the course of this quarter especially, that I've been rooked. Scammed. Taken for a ride. Pick your metaphor. And this makes me sad, angry, irritated, and tired of the whole damn thing. I hate that I've wasted all this time at a school that does not really care about its students, nor about helping them to succeed in their goals. I'm pissed off at the exorbitant amount of money I have spent to go there when I have now found that one of the premiere digital design programs is only an hour and a half away and $300 less per credit hour. I'm sick of dealing with scheduling issues and nonsense. I'm just over it all.
So....in an attempt to regain that spark, that excitement for learning, I went and met with an admissions representative from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. And it was refreshing! The programming is exciting! And it's a real college, with a real curriculum that includes great elective classes, not just the junk ones that Rasmussen offers. It's a nice campus, friendly people, and a chance for me to have the real college experience I never had.
I will have to go to a local community college for one semester (hopefully this summer) and take another math class and a second Spanish class (oh help!) to get the full requirements for admission to UCF. If all goes well, and I can get into CFCC (or whatever they're calling themselves now) for this summer quarter, and get those two classes done, then I can head to Orlando and UCF in the Fall. I think a lot of my gen ed classes will transfer, but I think I'm going to end up back at square one with the design classes. However, their animation program is much more advanced and I am, once again, excited at the prospect of learning. Already I can feel they have a real commitment to seeing their students succeed, not just in getting people in the door and rooked into whatever lackluster programming they want to provide.
I wish I had done a bit more research about other programs in the area. I did check UF, and Rasmussen's program looked better than that, but I never thought about UCF until a friend mentioned it. Turns out my sister-in-law is an alumni from there and sings its praises. I guess you have to sometimes take the long way to finding the right place to be. Life is weird that way sometimes.
So....I am hoping to start back up with this blog and continue to chronicle the newness and experience of an old bird going back to the books. :) Hopefully these new changes can reignite that spark and snark and make this blog something fun to read again.
As far as the current situation, I am in Week 9 of this current quarter. It feels like it's been going on FOREVER. But, just 2 more weeks to go and then it's done. On Monday I will meet with CFCC to see about summer quarter. Worst case scenario is I can't get into their summer programming because the deadline has passed, but the admissions rep from UCF seemed to indicate that I might be able to make it in under the wire. He also said that as long as I am registered and taking those final two courses, I can apply to UCF and should be good for admittance in the fall. Another great thing about UCF is that the work placement service I use is closer down there and might be able to find me some good work too. So hopefully this is all moving in the right, positive direction.
Thanks for hanging with me y'all and if you would, please keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck! I'm still aiming for nomination for that Animation Short Film Oscar no less then 2 years after graduation. :) Still wanting to intern at Pixar. Those plans are still in motion.
I leave you with this thought - it's never to late to follow your bliss and find that thing that makes you happy and go for it! If you haven't found it yet, what are you waiting for? Life's too short to spend it unhappy - find your spark and shine! :) And also, never let anyone tell you to make due with something less than what you want and deserve. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one has the power to make you feel inferior without your consent." Never, ever, give anyone that. At the end of the day, the best advocate you have for your life is you - DON'T SETTLE! Cheers! :)
So it has indeed been quite a while since I updated this school blog. Part of it has been that I have been very, very busy. The other part has been because I have been becoming more and more dissatisfied with the educational experience I have been having.
To start off, when I decided to go back to school, it was a decision I thought long and hard about before committing to. Returning to school costs a lot of money and is a very big commitment to make.
I had seen the old Webster College building with it's scrolling marquee sign for a while and watched as it turned into Rasmussen College. Being that it was just a little one-building looking place, and having already been to something considered more a "vocational" college than a real university, I pretty much ignored it.
However, I happened to receive a postcard mailing about an open house they were having about their technology and design programs. Being in the worst county in Florida for unemployment, and having been without steady work for a while, it seemed the time might be right to look into a return to school and into finally completing a Bachelor's degree.
So I went to the open house and while the building wasn't spectacular and the inside not a whole lot better, what was interesting was talking to the people and seeing the presentations. Digital media, and most specifically animation, is something that I have been interested in for a very long time. It was interesting to me to find some place here in dinky old Ocala that had that kind of programming. I jumped right into taking the placement testing, working with an admissions rep, and actually met with the director of the entire Technology and Design program for all of the Rasmussen campuses, and I liked what he had to say. He mentioned wanting Rasmussen to be one of the "go-to" schools for design, and said that he thought it was important to get more women into the design field. So....I signed up, registered, and started classes.
As an older student going back to school, I started this blog to chronicle the journey. To keep a diary if you will of the experience not only for friends and family to read and follow, but for myself to see my own growth. I believe I have grown throughout this process.
But, also as an older student, and someone that has worked at a major university, I know problems when I see them. I've been involved in the business world in one capacity or another since the age of 16. So when I started to see problems with the school, when I started noticing issues in the programming, then I started to lose my faith in the experience. And unlike a lot of the younger students at Rasmussen, I'm not afraid to speak up, voice my concerns, and push back when I'm being told to make due with substandard situations and classes, and I have no problem taking my business elsewhere when it becomes apparent that things are not what they appeared in the beginning to be.
This quarter has been about the worst ever so far in my education at Rasmussen. There have been issues with textbooks, software incompatibility, computer lab issues, online class issues (that if you scroll back you will see I have been having since the very beginning with the online design classes), and one massive issue with an instructor in my Conversational Spanish class. All of this has led me to stop enjoying the educational process.
I've always been a perpetual student. I love to learn new things and get excited at the prospect of challenging myself with new software applications and learning new ways of doing things. I stalked the online classes when I first began, unable to wait to see the new assignments every week and dive into the newness of it all. Over the last two quarters, that shine has definitely come off. Now I must drag myself to the campus, force myself to access the online classroom, and dread opening the books and "dealing" with the work. This feeling, this unhappiness, has caused me a lot of stress this quarter.
I could sit here and laundry list every single issue that Rasmussen has, but I'm not going to. For one thing, it would have no purpose, and for another, I'm tired of thinking about it and dealing with it. What I can say is that it has become apparent to me lately, and over the course of this quarter especially, that I've been rooked. Scammed. Taken for a ride. Pick your metaphor. And this makes me sad, angry, irritated, and tired of the whole damn thing. I hate that I've wasted all this time at a school that does not really care about its students, nor about helping them to succeed in their goals. I'm pissed off at the exorbitant amount of money I have spent to go there when I have now found that one of the premiere digital design programs is only an hour and a half away and $300 less per credit hour. I'm sick of dealing with scheduling issues and nonsense. I'm just over it all.
So....in an attempt to regain that spark, that excitement for learning, I went and met with an admissions representative from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. And it was refreshing! The programming is exciting! And it's a real college, with a real curriculum that includes great elective classes, not just the junk ones that Rasmussen offers. It's a nice campus, friendly people, and a chance for me to have the real college experience I never had.
I will have to go to a local community college for one semester (hopefully this summer) and take another math class and a second Spanish class (oh help!) to get the full requirements for admission to UCF. If all goes well, and I can get into CFCC (or whatever they're calling themselves now) for this summer quarter, and get those two classes done, then I can head to Orlando and UCF in the Fall. I think a lot of my gen ed classes will transfer, but I think I'm going to end up back at square one with the design classes. However, their animation program is much more advanced and I am, once again, excited at the prospect of learning. Already I can feel they have a real commitment to seeing their students succeed, not just in getting people in the door and rooked into whatever lackluster programming they want to provide.
I wish I had done a bit more research about other programs in the area. I did check UF, and Rasmussen's program looked better than that, but I never thought about UCF until a friend mentioned it. Turns out my sister-in-law is an alumni from there and sings its praises. I guess you have to sometimes take the long way to finding the right place to be. Life is weird that way sometimes.
So....I am hoping to start back up with this blog and continue to chronicle the newness and experience of an old bird going back to the books. :) Hopefully these new changes can reignite that spark and snark and make this blog something fun to read again.
As far as the current situation, I am in Week 9 of this current quarter. It feels like it's been going on FOREVER. But, just 2 more weeks to go and then it's done. On Monday I will meet with CFCC to see about summer quarter. Worst case scenario is I can't get into their summer programming because the deadline has passed, but the admissions rep from UCF seemed to indicate that I might be able to make it in under the wire. He also said that as long as I am registered and taking those final two courses, I can apply to UCF and should be good for admittance in the fall. Another great thing about UCF is that the work placement service I use is closer down there and might be able to find me some good work too. So hopefully this is all moving in the right, positive direction.
Thanks for hanging with me y'all and if you would, please keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck! I'm still aiming for nomination for that Animation Short Film Oscar no less then 2 years after graduation. :) Still wanting to intern at Pixar. Those plans are still in motion.
I leave you with this thought - it's never to late to follow your bliss and find that thing that makes you happy and go for it! If you haven't found it yet, what are you waiting for? Life's too short to spend it unhappy - find your spark and shine! :) And also, never let anyone tell you to make due with something less than what you want and deserve. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one has the power to make you feel inferior without your consent." Never, ever, give anyone that. At the end of the day, the best advocate you have for your life is you - DON'T SETTLE! Cheers! :)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I Have a Future in Hands!!!
Hey all.
So....welcome to Week 6 - mid-term week. For the most part, it's been pretty quiet. We're getting our final project assignments so I'm working on trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to do for all of those. They should make for interesting posting here when they are all done, however. :)
Intro to Literature is poetry still. I'm enjoying it. Of course, as a writer and poet anything to do with literature is right up my alley.
Visual Communication is learning about Typography and Graphic Design. Learned a lot I didn't know about Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press. Our final project for that class has me scratching my head a bit. Still haven't decided about a topic yet - and it's due Sunday. Eek!
Last night's Digital Media Production class was good. Learning more and more about Flash and now getting into ActionScript. Our final projects in that class should be really cool. I'm going to have to hook up the old external drive though and pull some old assignments to feature in it.
Figure Drawing is...not sucking too bad this quarter. Who'd have thunk? And apparently I have a future in drawing hands! Yes people, we found something I CAN draw! See for yourself.
Our class was supposed to have a free model, but they didn't show so the instructor decided we all needed some work on drawing hands since they were giving everyone trouble. First assignment was just drawing four hand gestures. We were drawing our own hands. So....first set:
It was pretty much agreed upon that I do well with fists, which are supposed to be harder to do. The general consensus is that this was my best drawing of all:
Our next set of drawings were the dreaded contour line drawings where you can't pick up your pencil. The first one really sucks, but once I relaxed into it, I think the others came out okay. The little one in the corner was just something I was trying to draw from a picture.
Our final assignment on hands for the evening was to try to draw the best one we could. We can finish it or redo it and it will be graded next week. I may try to do a better one, but this is what I came up with by the end of the class time:
So....there you have it. Apparently I don't do too bad at the hands. :) We're supposed to get a real model in for next week's class so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, in addition to our final hand we need to draw a full standing-up figure so...gotta work on that. But this class is not the nightmare my last drawing class was. Maybe cuz it's smaller and I'm not in there with all the freaky talented people. I dunno. But it's going pretty well this quarter.
And that being said, time to get back to work! Until later. Cheers!
So....welcome to Week 6 - mid-term week. For the most part, it's been pretty quiet. We're getting our final project assignments so I'm working on trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to do for all of those. They should make for interesting posting here when they are all done, however. :)
Intro to Literature is poetry still. I'm enjoying it. Of course, as a writer and poet anything to do with literature is right up my alley.
Visual Communication is learning about Typography and Graphic Design. Learned a lot I didn't know about Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press. Our final project for that class has me scratching my head a bit. Still haven't decided about a topic yet - and it's due Sunday. Eek!
Last night's Digital Media Production class was good. Learning more and more about Flash and now getting into ActionScript. Our final projects in that class should be really cool. I'm going to have to hook up the old external drive though and pull some old assignments to feature in it.
Figure Drawing is...not sucking too bad this quarter. Who'd have thunk? And apparently I have a future in drawing hands! Yes people, we found something I CAN draw! See for yourself.
Our class was supposed to have a free model, but they didn't show so the instructor decided we all needed some work on drawing hands since they were giving everyone trouble. First assignment was just drawing four hand gestures. We were drawing our own hands. So....first set:
It was pretty much agreed upon that I do well with fists, which are supposed to be harder to do. The general consensus is that this was my best drawing of all:
Our next set of drawings were the dreaded contour line drawings where you can't pick up your pencil. The first one really sucks, but once I relaxed into it, I think the others came out okay. The little one in the corner was just something I was trying to draw from a picture.
Our final assignment on hands for the evening was to try to draw the best one we could. We can finish it or redo it and it will be graded next week. I may try to do a better one, but this is what I came up with by the end of the class time:
So....there you have it. Apparently I don't do too bad at the hands. :) We're supposed to get a real model in for next week's class so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, in addition to our final hand we need to draw a full standing-up figure so...gotta work on that. But this class is not the nightmare my last drawing class was. Maybe cuz it's smaller and I'm not in there with all the freaky talented people. I dunno. But it's going pretty well this quarter.
And that being said, time to get back to work! Until later. Cheers!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Welcome to 4th Quarter and Sophomore Year!
Hi all.
Yes, I've been very bad and neglectful of the blog here lately, but I hope today will make up for it. :) Honestly, we've just gotten to the point this quarter where there are things for me to share with y'all so....that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :)
To begin, I'll revisit the topic of my last post, student aid. The drama still continues. I've been in touch with all of my congresspeople, state and federal, and even posted on the President's site. I heard back from one state senator and one state congressman, but have not heard anything from them since their original contact. :( I have been given a couple of other options for help with student aid, so I am working those angles. And as always, I am looking for a job. The economy, it sucks. I wish my school worked more actively in helping to attract scholarship funding, especially for women in technology programs, but it seems to be pretty much a "you're on your own there" type deal. Now that I am starting to get some kind of work together for a portfolio to enter for those kinds of awards and scholarships, I am going to start focusing on that. This quarter is taken care of. Now that I have my taxes filed I can submit my new FAFSA and hopefully will be eligible for more aid. Oh how I wish I could win the lottery or be left a lot of dough by some unknown newly dead relative. Ah well...in the meantime, it just requires some work to find assistance. Sallie Mae can pucker up and kiss my lily white ass.
Okay - moving on! :) This quarter has been good so far. I am enjoying my classes for the most part, even my drawing class. Who'd have thought that?! :) So far the grades are all As and things are good. Maybe, just maybe, I might acquire that elusive 4.0 this quarter. Maybe. :)
First up - Introduction to Literature. This is a great class and I really enjoy it. I never had the opportunity to take a real literature class before and it is very different than what I had anticipated - but in a good way. I've always loved literature, but never really read it too critically and certainly never wrote about it critically so this class is very challenging. The instructor is really awesome and involved in the class. She turns around grades really quickly, participates in the discussions, and gives awesome feedback. I'm really enjoying learning from her. There's not really anything to post from this class cuz it's all kinda dry stuff for a reader. I may post my final essay at the end of the quarter. But it is an awesome class and I am getting an A.
Next, Visual Communication in the Media. This class has interesting materials, but the class itself leaves a bit to be desired. The instructor is really slow on turning grades around and doesn't really encourage the kind of discussions and analysis I would expect in a mass media type class. Also, my classmates are not exactly helping matters. There seems to be a lot of mental disconnect going on where the discussions are concerned and no one seems to be reading the book and actually analyzing the content as instructed. The posts are poorly written and no one is giving me much to reply to - - makes the discussions difficult. I'm actually really surprised that so many people are in college but cannot think or write at the college level - - what's up with that? I'll give you an example to show you what I'm dealing with here. Last week we had a discussion on shock advertising. The instructions for the discussion post were to relay a time you'd been shocked by advertising and to discuss whether you think advertisers can go too far in shock advertising. Naturally, my classmates completely ignored the second part of the instructions and focused only on the first. Apparently, it doesn't take much to shock these people. Once classmate in particular posted this little gem from the UK:
http://www.utdallas.edu/~jep044000/vidal/sportka.mpeg
Basically her post and the responses of those who replied to her were "ZOMG! Poor kitty!" ::rolls eyes:: Yeah...this is what I'm dealing with folks. So....very nicely, I posted pointing out that UK consumers are a little more savvy with advertising and can take the ad for the joke that it is, understanding that the cat was not actually harmed in the making of the ad. I pointed out that the target demographic for that ad would be young males who would actually find the ad funny. Well...can you guess the reaction from my classmates to my post? "Funny? That's not funny! Animal cruelty is never funny! I'm a cat lover! How dare you!" Then another classmate posted about how the UK is Sodom and Gomorrah and don't they have laws over there and it's just so shocking and immoral and... *facepalm* *headdesk*. After that, I didn't bother responding. That kind of stupid just really doesn't need any encouragement. If you can't parse an ad that obvious for its point and subtext and meaning after reading the chapters in the textbook and studying the concepts in a college class, I can't help you. *heavy sigh* Most of the things people posted that they found "shocking" were things they went looking on the internet for from the UK and wanted to post to make the point that the UK is just so completely immoral in comparison to the US and shouldn't we have stricter laws in the US to protect us all from things like the UK and ZOMG! UK has NUDITY and... Yeah....I just...wonder about some people, I really do. If you're asked to discuss something in a college course, you need to actually provide more of a critical analysis of what it is you're seeing and what about it is shocking, not just knee-jerk ZOMG! responses. And at least attempt an intelligent discourse. Please?
This week's discussion is about stereotyping. And it's abominable. No one in the class seems to understand the definition of the word. One little gem from a classmate: "TV news is showing stories about high profile people and infidelity - don't they know how immoral and wrong that is?" WTF does that have to do with stereotyping? Apparently she doesn't know either. But my classmates are all chiming in on the bandwagon of "ZOMG! I know! What kind of world are we living in?!" And I.....lose a little faith in the ability of people to think at a college level y'all, I really do. So...that class is a bit of a challenge for me on an intellectual level. I took a mass media class in freaking high school where high school kids had a better grasp on critical analysis of images in the media than these people do. It makes my head hurt y'all, it really does. So that would be my least favorite class this quarter. I'm getting an A in it though. As I say, I like critical analysis classes so I enjoy the book and materials we study, I just wish the instructor was helping to facilitate better discussions rather than joining in with the mob mentality "I know! How awful!" choruses. Ugh.
Onward we travel. Next up - Figure Drawing. Y'all know how I feel about drawing. I have not been subtle in previous quarters about how it is the bane of my existence. This class is my weekly humiliation basically. It is, actually, a very small class - only 5 people - and I am actually not the worst artist in there so....it's not as bad as the last drawing class. I'm still having serious troubles drawing from people IRL, but we did exercises this week drawing from masters in our book and I think they turned out okay. Judge for yourself:
Master drawing: Woman Bending Forward by Suzanna Valadon:
And here's my take on it:
Next master drawing, Reclining Nude by Aristide Maillol:
And my attempt at it:
All in all, I'm pretty proud of those drawings. Unfortunately, that's about the only such exercise we're going to do and the rest of our drawings must be drawn from actual life and not pictures so....that sucks. I'm working at it. This class is the one that I spend the most time outside of class working on. Something in the way I see things just does not translate as well IRL as it does from a picture. I dunno why. But I'm working on it. :)
And lastly, we have Digital Media Production. Again - same instructor as my 3D animation courses and I love having this guy as a teacher. He's pretty awesome. The first weeks were all about learning Flash and we just completed and submitted our first project assignment last night. I'd never touched Flash before this class so....I'm learning. :) Our project was a short cut-out animation project. I had lots of ideas, but couldn't quite figure out how to execute them so....I ended up going with this:
He suggested trying to do something humorous for this assignment so that is what I came up with. It's not the best thing ever produced, but at least I am learning the basics of Flash, which was the point to the exercise. I have high hopes for my next project and final project in that class. Just takes a lot of study, playing with the software, and watching tutorials. I'm excited to get into the ActionScript part of that class as well. I like playing with code. I'm a geeky dork - I admit it happily.
So....there we are. That is the status of things right now. I'm amazed that we're already in Week 5, almost Week 6 of this quarter. It seems to be zooming right past me. Things are going well, aside from my personal frustrations, and the educational process continues. We're moving into studying poetry this week in Intro to Literature and I love poetry so that should be fun. We're starting to come up with ideas for our next and final projects in Digital Media Production. In Figure Drawing I have to do 4 (!) drawings from life this week. Eek! And again, Visual Communication in the Media is focusing on stereotypes.
So there you have it. Hope you enjoy. Any feedback on the projects is appreciated. Be kind on the Flash though - I'm still a newbie at that. Cheers until later! :)
Yes, I've been very bad and neglectful of the blog here lately, but I hope today will make up for it. :) Honestly, we've just gotten to the point this quarter where there are things for me to share with y'all so....that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :)
To begin, I'll revisit the topic of my last post, student aid. The drama still continues. I've been in touch with all of my congresspeople, state and federal, and even posted on the President's site. I heard back from one state senator and one state congressman, but have not heard anything from them since their original contact. :( I have been given a couple of other options for help with student aid, so I am working those angles. And as always, I am looking for a job. The economy, it sucks. I wish my school worked more actively in helping to attract scholarship funding, especially for women in technology programs, but it seems to be pretty much a "you're on your own there" type deal. Now that I am starting to get some kind of work together for a portfolio to enter for those kinds of awards and scholarships, I am going to start focusing on that. This quarter is taken care of. Now that I have my taxes filed I can submit my new FAFSA and hopefully will be eligible for more aid. Oh how I wish I could win the lottery or be left a lot of dough by some unknown newly dead relative. Ah well...in the meantime, it just requires some work to find assistance. Sallie Mae can pucker up and kiss my lily white ass.
Okay - moving on! :) This quarter has been good so far. I am enjoying my classes for the most part, even my drawing class. Who'd have thought that?! :) So far the grades are all As and things are good. Maybe, just maybe, I might acquire that elusive 4.0 this quarter. Maybe. :)
First up - Introduction to Literature. This is a great class and I really enjoy it. I never had the opportunity to take a real literature class before and it is very different than what I had anticipated - but in a good way. I've always loved literature, but never really read it too critically and certainly never wrote about it critically so this class is very challenging. The instructor is really awesome and involved in the class. She turns around grades really quickly, participates in the discussions, and gives awesome feedback. I'm really enjoying learning from her. There's not really anything to post from this class cuz it's all kinda dry stuff for a reader. I may post my final essay at the end of the quarter. But it is an awesome class and I am getting an A.
Next, Visual Communication in the Media. This class has interesting materials, but the class itself leaves a bit to be desired. The instructor is really slow on turning grades around and doesn't really encourage the kind of discussions and analysis I would expect in a mass media type class. Also, my classmates are not exactly helping matters. There seems to be a lot of mental disconnect going on where the discussions are concerned and no one seems to be reading the book and actually analyzing the content as instructed. The posts are poorly written and no one is giving me much to reply to - - makes the discussions difficult. I'm actually really surprised that so many people are in college but cannot think or write at the college level - - what's up with that? I'll give you an example to show you what I'm dealing with here. Last week we had a discussion on shock advertising. The instructions for the discussion post were to relay a time you'd been shocked by advertising and to discuss whether you think advertisers can go too far in shock advertising. Naturally, my classmates completely ignored the second part of the instructions and focused only on the first. Apparently, it doesn't take much to shock these people. Once classmate in particular posted this little gem from the UK:
http://www.utdallas.edu/~jep044000/vidal/sportka.mpeg
Basically her post and the responses of those who replied to her were "ZOMG! Poor kitty!" ::rolls eyes:: Yeah...this is what I'm dealing with folks. So....very nicely, I posted pointing out that UK consumers are a little more savvy with advertising and can take the ad for the joke that it is, understanding that the cat was not actually harmed in the making of the ad. I pointed out that the target demographic for that ad would be young males who would actually find the ad funny. Well...can you guess the reaction from my classmates to my post? "Funny? That's not funny! Animal cruelty is never funny! I'm a cat lover! How dare you!" Then another classmate posted about how the UK is Sodom and Gomorrah and don't they have laws over there and it's just so shocking and immoral and... *facepalm* *headdesk*. After that, I didn't bother responding. That kind of stupid just really doesn't need any encouragement. If you can't parse an ad that obvious for its point and subtext and meaning after reading the chapters in the textbook and studying the concepts in a college class, I can't help you. *heavy sigh* Most of the things people posted that they found "shocking" were things they went looking on the internet for from the UK and wanted to post to make the point that the UK is just so completely immoral in comparison to the US and shouldn't we have stricter laws in the US to protect us all from things like the UK and ZOMG! UK has NUDITY and... Yeah....I just...wonder about some people, I really do. If you're asked to discuss something in a college course, you need to actually provide more of a critical analysis of what it is you're seeing and what about it is shocking, not just knee-jerk ZOMG! responses. And at least attempt an intelligent discourse. Please?
This week's discussion is about stereotyping. And it's abominable. No one in the class seems to understand the definition of the word. One little gem from a classmate: "TV news is showing stories about high profile people and infidelity - don't they know how immoral and wrong that is?" WTF does that have to do with stereotyping? Apparently she doesn't know either. But my classmates are all chiming in on the bandwagon of "ZOMG! I know! What kind of world are we living in?!" And I.....lose a little faith in the ability of people to think at a college level y'all, I really do. So...that class is a bit of a challenge for me on an intellectual level. I took a mass media class in freaking high school where high school kids had a better grasp on critical analysis of images in the media than these people do. It makes my head hurt y'all, it really does. So that would be my least favorite class this quarter. I'm getting an A in it though. As I say, I like critical analysis classes so I enjoy the book and materials we study, I just wish the instructor was helping to facilitate better discussions rather than joining in with the mob mentality "I know! How awful!" choruses. Ugh.
Onward we travel. Next up - Figure Drawing. Y'all know how I feel about drawing. I have not been subtle in previous quarters about how it is the bane of my existence. This class is my weekly humiliation basically. It is, actually, a very small class - only 5 people - and I am actually not the worst artist in there so....it's not as bad as the last drawing class. I'm still having serious troubles drawing from people IRL, but we did exercises this week drawing from masters in our book and I think they turned out okay. Judge for yourself:
Master drawing: Woman Bending Forward by Suzanna Valadon:
And here's my take on it:
Next master drawing, Reclining Nude by Aristide Maillol:
And my attempt at it:
All in all, I'm pretty proud of those drawings. Unfortunately, that's about the only such exercise we're going to do and the rest of our drawings must be drawn from actual life and not pictures so....that sucks. I'm working at it. This class is the one that I spend the most time outside of class working on. Something in the way I see things just does not translate as well IRL as it does from a picture. I dunno why. But I'm working on it. :)
And lastly, we have Digital Media Production. Again - same instructor as my 3D animation courses and I love having this guy as a teacher. He's pretty awesome. The first weeks were all about learning Flash and we just completed and submitted our first project assignment last night. I'd never touched Flash before this class so....I'm learning. :) Our project was a short cut-out animation project. I had lots of ideas, but couldn't quite figure out how to execute them so....I ended up going with this:
He suggested trying to do something humorous for this assignment so that is what I came up with. It's not the best thing ever produced, but at least I am learning the basics of Flash, which was the point to the exercise. I have high hopes for my next project and final project in that class. Just takes a lot of study, playing with the software, and watching tutorials. I'm excited to get into the ActionScript part of that class as well. I like playing with code. I'm a geeky dork - I admit it happily.
So....there we are. That is the status of things right now. I'm amazed that we're already in Week 5, almost Week 6 of this quarter. It seems to be zooming right past me. Things are going well, aside from my personal frustrations, and the educational process continues. We're moving into studying poetry this week in Intro to Literature and I love poetry so that should be fun. We're starting to come up with ideas for our next and final projects in Digital Media Production. In Figure Drawing I have to do 4 (!) drawings from life this week. Eek! And again, Visual Communication in the Media is focusing on stereotypes.
So there you have it. Hope you enjoy. Any feedback on the projects is appreciated. Be kind on the Flash though - I'm still a newbie at that. Cheers until later! :)
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