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!

End of Third Quarter Final

Hi all.

So....hope everyone had great holidays. Mine was pretty okay. :) My new books for next quarter have arrived and they look pretty interesting. I am, however, currently wrangling with the Sallie Mae people about loan funding. They have, for some inexplicable reason, done away with the Signature Student Loan that was an alternative loan funding source allowing you to borrow the remainder of what you need for school plus extra for expenses like room and board, etc. With that loan, repayment is made starting 6 months after graduation. The interest rate is ridiculous, but it was a great source of funding, especially being able to borrow extra for living expenses seeing as I am still (grrr!) unemployed. Now, the only loans they are offering require you to make payments on the interest while going to school. Ummm...hello? Are they high? I'm not working, I have no income, how the hell am I supposed to make payments on a loan? So....I called them and they said that I did not qualify for grandfathering for the Signature Loan program and that the interest payment option was the only one left to me. This....pissed me off, so I wrote all my state and federal senators and congresspeople and also the President and basically said "WTF?" I've heard back from one state representative's office, but we're playing phone tag. I dunno. What I do know is that employers are now requiring a freaking Bachelor's degree for a damn secretarial position. Supposedly there are all these displaced worker programs going on to help people become more employable - - well...I'm trying to do that, but without the Signature Loan program, wtf am I supposed to do? If I can't get that, I can't go to school full-time because I can't afford it. If I'm not attending full-time I lose most of the rest of my governmental funding and grants, plus the on-time graduation scholarship from my school. So...not surprisingly, the saga continues....I'll keep you posted.

At any rate, my final progress report is out and my overall GPA remains 3.84. Yay me! My last grades were all A's and I got 100's on my final World Geography paper and my final fiction project for Creative Writing. Pretty damn awesome if I do say so myself. So....for taking 6 classes this last quarter, I received 4 A's, 1 B, and 1 C - I'm thinking I did pretty good all things considered. :)

So....classes resume next Monday. So far, we're still on the fence about funding so while I have looked at my books, I have not removed the shrink wrap or anything until we have some final determination and I know I can afford to stay in school and take all of my classes. But....so far everything looks really interesting. The last time I went through college I never got to take real writing and literature courses and stuff so I'm really, really enjoying those. If everything goes as planned, I will be taking Introduction to Literature and Visual Communication in the Media online and Figure Drawing and Digital Media Production on campus. Visual Communication in the Media reminds me of a Mass Media class I took in the 10th grade that I liked. Anything having to do with literature is right up my alley. Figure Drawing would be this quarter's torture class and Digital Media Production just looks exceptionally cool.

Until I hear more, things are kind of in limbo. Hopefully some resolution can be worked out over the next couple of days. I love school and learning, I always have, and having the opportunity to learn new things that interest and fascinate me (even when some aspects piss me off) is about my idea of bliss on Earth so....we shall see. Keep a good thought if you will folks.

Cheers!

Saying I'm Pissed is the Understatement of the Century!

Hi all.

Well....it's the beginning of the second week of break. Fall Quarter starts next Monday.

I have lots of news, but we'll start with what is making me see red this morning. They finally posted grades for the Summer Quarter and my Drawing Design and Art Theory grade went from a B at Mid-Term to a B- at the final. Basically, this has jacked my GPA to 3.84 overall. I am not a happy person right now. For one thing, I'd like to know why the hell the instructor never answered the two e-mails I sent asking for my final project and class grades. He said to send an e-mail and he would reply LAST MONDAY and never replied to anything. So that ticked me off from the start. Second, WTF is with my grade going DOWN when he and everyone else in the class said I'd made the most progress in the course???!!! I'm just.....uuuugggghhh! Grrrrrr!!! Not a happy person AT ALL!!! >:( So, needless to say, that's seriously got my back up this morning. Happy Monday to me. :( The rest of my grades for the quarter were as expected, A in E-Commerce, A in Intro to Business, A in Intro to 3D Arts and Animation. So....yeah....whatever.

Moving on.....I have received my books for next quarter and WOW! that's a lotta stuff! Breaking it down for ya:

College Algebra has a massive book, massive workbook, 9-disc tutorial and 5-disc problem thingy. Needless to say, this is going to be my rough class this quarter.

World Geography has a giant book and a giant atlas book that goes with it. Geography has always been something I have trouble with so....this will be a challenge as well.

Astronomy (which I keep confusing with Astrology), has just one book and it's mostly pictures. Very pretty pictures at that. I have a feeling that class will have lots of lecture, otherwise it's going to be hard to learn online. We shall see.

Creative Writing has one little book with it. I read the first chapter and it's okay. I just really wish that some of these writing books, specifically those written by women, would use more female writers than always falling back on the same male writers we've all read a million times before. Can't we move forward and realize women have been writing, and writing astounding works, just as long as men and try to highlight some of that? Is it asking too much? Apparently so. :( Ah well....we shall see. It's more of the same highbrow crap that drives me nuts too. I'm not much for the flowery writing, I like honest, straightforward, real prose. I dunno. It'll be interesting to see if that instructor is male or female.

Fundmentals of Web Authoring and Design has a Teach Yourself Dreamweaver in 24 Hours book that goes with it. Since the only web authoring I've ever done has been on Microsoft Front Page, and the only coding a severely basic smattering of HTML and then a ton of Visual Basic, suffice it to say that I've got some learning to do on this software. :)

Our book for our next level 3D Animation class is very interesting. It's an older book, but it does have more in it about stuff than our last book so....combined together and with the lecture and lab work, I think it'll be another fun class. I like working in 3DS Max and I like modeling - I could totally see myself doing that all day.

So....that's the latest. I am very, very, very unhappy about the grade I got in Drawing Design, but it's done and there's nothing I can do about it now. :( Time to move on to the next exciting quarter. In the meantime, I know I'll be spending a good portion of this week online playing Evony and Plants vs. Zombies, which I have gotten addicted to. I expect the intervention will commence any day now. "Amy, step away from the computer...." :)

I shall return next week with all the latest news from the new Fall Quarter. Cheers until then!

Two Down, Two to Go!!

Hey all!

So....my final Introduction to 3D Arts & Animation class was last night and it was pretty damn awesome. I know that with all of my projects and the final exam and extra credit, that I have a 103.5% grade - that's an A. :) Yippee! The instructor said I chose a really good major and that I'm really doing well. I really enjoy the class and I'm looking forward to learning more next quarter.

Our final project was supposed to be a "Jack-in-the-box", in this case, the Jack in the box was Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I am extremely proud of my treasure chest, let me tell you. I think that thing is fierce! This quarter mainly focused on modeling, texturing and lighting. Next quarter we will move on into more to do with the cameras and animation. As such, our project was rendered out as JPEGs and kind of works like the old flip books, I guess. We have a six-scene storyboard pattern that we followed. So...without further ado, our "Jack Sparrow in the box":













So....there you have it. The projects were broken down to the girls versus the boys in the class, and was an even 4/4 split. However, two of the girls flaked out during the course so it ended up just being me and Marcella doing all the work for our team. And we KICKED ASS!!! :) The boys still didn't even have their project done at the end of class last night. Marcella and I both put in weekend hours, showed up to every class, and had the two highest grades in the class. Why? - cuz girls RAWK!!!! :)

So there you have it, our final project for our Intro to 3D Animation class. Now it's on to my final Intro to Business paper and final written assignment for E-Commerce. Once those are completed and I finish all of my discussion post replies, Summer Quarter will be over. Then I'm spending the next two weeks reading for fun, writing, and chilling out. At least until my new books arrive - then I'm going to be reading ahead, as always. :) Cheers all!

One Down, Three to Go!

Hey y'all!

So...it's finals week. This quarter has been interesting and challenging on many levels, and also catastrophically boring and annoying on many levels. I'm doing fairly well in my classes and I hope to end the quarter on a high note with a respectable GPA. I *hope*. :)

So last night was my final Drawing Design and Art Theory class. We brought in our final projects to be critiqued and it was agreed by the class that I have made significant improvement over the course of the quarter. And I quite agree. I will know on Monday what my final project grade is and what my overall grade is for the class. This is the one class that could really hump my GPA. At mid-term, I had a B. I know I've improved, so hopefully (hopefully!) I have improved enough to at least an A- or an A. I can handle a 3.95 GPA again, but I really, really, really have been working so hard - I think I've earned my 4.0. But....we'll just have to wait and see.

At any rate, here is my final project from that class. We had to take a book that has not been made into a movie and draw up a movie poster for it. The book I chose was Red Leaves by Paullina Simons. Check it out:



Aside from saying that my trees looked like Lego trees and knowing that I can't draw architecture to save my life, the reviews were overall very positive and since I've never taken any kind of drawing classes before, I feel proud of the final product.

Tonight is my final Introduction to 3D Arts & Animation class. I'm excited to see how our project in that class turns out and hope to have something cool to share with you later. After that, I have two final papers to complete for my online classes, and then this quarter is done. So....as always, watch this space - more to come! Cheers!

Next Quarter's Finalized Schedule

Hi all.

Well....it's hard to believe it, but my second quarter here at Rasmussen is almost over. Seems like the time is flying! :) Things are going well. I think I will survive this quarter with 3 A's and one B. At least that's my hope. I can't see myself pulling off better than a B in my Drawing Design class. I'm lucky I've got the B I think. :)

So....came into school today and met with the registrar and financial aid (both a couple of times actually), and finally have my schedule for next quarter finalized. I started out with four design classes and two gen ed classes, but my financial aid wouldn't jive with that, so now it's four gen ed classes and two design. Five are online, only one on campus. This will indeed be an interesting quarter with taking 6 courses and 22 credit hours - wowza! I think I'm insane. We shall see. Anyhoo....here's how it's shaking out:

Fundamentals of Web Authoring and Design
Introduction to Astronomy
Creative Writing
World Geography
College Algebra
3-Dimensional Animation

Overall, I like this schedule and think it will be interesting. I know absolutely nothing about astronomy other than what the Big Dipper looks like in the sky so I'll be learning all new things there - cool!

Fundamentals of Web Authoring and Design should be interesting. All about setting up and coding web pages.

Creative Writing should be really fun and interesting. By the end of the class we have to have written a 6,000 word project.

World Geography should be interesting too. I'm a bit geography-challenged, so I'm excited to have a chance to really learn that stuff. I always miss the geography questions on Jeopardy!

College Algebra will more than likely kick my ass. Luckily, there is tutoring help here at school that I am sure I will utilize. I suck with numbers.

3-Dimensional Animation is the next step up from the Intro class I'm taking this quarter. I really love these Animation courses, so I'm stoked to get going with the next one. Also - a good portion of the people in my class this quarter will probably be in that class, so it will be nice to already know some people. It's my only on campus class next quarter.

I'll be almost out of lower level gen ed courses after this one, so I'm going to have to work with financial aid in squaring away enough aid to cover the design heavy quarters that will follow until I get to upper level classes. But, things should be interesting next quarter. I'll be excited to get my new books! I always am.

So...that's the latest. More to come later as things progress. Laters!

Welcome to the end of Week 7!

Hi all.

Wow - things have been really crazy busy here lately! My dog has been sick, I've been dealing with some work weirdness, and school is....school. :) On the plus side, I finally checked all of my mid-term grades and everything is A's except for my Drawing Design and Art Theory class, which is a B, which is better than I thought so - yay! If I turn in a really kick-ass final project, I may be able to salvage my GPA! Oh the joy!

Intro to Business and E-Commerce are pretty much dud courses. Incredibly boring and banal but....what are you going to do, right? It wouldn't be so bad if the books weren't so far behind the times. I think the E-Commerce one is from 2000 or 2001 - - don't they realize how much shit has gone down since then? Anyway, it makes reading them and juxtaposing all of that with the current state of things a little head-trippy.

In Drawing Design we have moved on to portraits and figure drawing. I need to take some pics of my new sketches and show y'all the mock-up of my final project but, honestly, it ain't gonna happen tonight. I'm about out of steam and still have homework to do. Hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow or Sunday.

On to 3D Animation, which is my favorite class this quarter. We've been doing so much cool stuff. We're still in modeling, but I like it. I definitely chose a good major for me, that's for sure. :) So - without further ado, more postings of the cool stuff we've been doing!

First off, we have a project called the Boolean Project, which was using Boolean Commands and Compound Objects. We had to build a claw-footed hammer, a mallet, a dagger, and a pillar. (yes - that's a dagger - shut up!)



Then we had an assignment to build a solar sytem:



Then our newest projects were using Edit Mesh commands. Here we had to make a flying saucer, a doorknob, and a lightbulb (yes - that's a lightbulb - shut up!)



Finally, our newest projects are to build a building like the Capitol in Washington, D.C. and a suspension bridge. I'm still working on the bridge, but here is my Capitol so far:



It's still a work in progress, but I like it so far.

Aside from all of that, it's just business as usual. Schedules for next quarter should go up any day now so I'm excited to see what I end up with. I'll be sure to let y'all know. So - - onward and upward. Again, I'll try to get some new sketches up tomorrow or Sunday for your amusement. Laters!

P.S. - we got sent an e-mail with a link to sign up for the Jeopardy College Tournament test online - I signed up. The test is Tuesday - this should be interesting! ;)

Going Into Week 5

Hi all!

Okay, so - first things first - my birthday was good. Drank an entire bottle of pink champagne. Did some Intro to Biz homework after 4 glasses. :) Been getting 88% on all of my assignments - - assignments I did after drinking both got 100% - hmmm.... :)

Intro to Biz and E-Commerce are both still deadly dull. I'm still getting A's in both classes, but it's a snoozefest. I have an assignment where I had to interview a small business owner and I will be posting that lately. I chose an awesome Etsy person named Amanda Swan from Sygnet Creations so....that'll be up soon! ;) Especially since it's due tomorrow!

Intro to 3D Animation is going well. Unfortunately, all that homework lives on the school computers, but I'll try to get my JPEGs when I'm back in class and post a few here - some of it's kinda cool. I have a mid-term in that class this coming week so - gotta study for that. :)

Which brings us to Drawing Design and Art Theory. I know I've been promising/threatening to post my sketches and now (while I take a homework break), I will do so. I'm going to try to post these in the order they were done, so bear with me. And please try to keep the helpless laughter to a minimum, okay? My ego, she is fragile. Thx! ;)

Our first assignment was a self-portrait. It did not need to be "real", but a representation of how we see ourselves. So....here it is:



Next up was 2-point perspective. We were set the task to draw a house in 2-point perspective. My classmates, all of whom can draw circles around me I must note, drew these really amazing structures. I came up with these:





One of our course books, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, has these upside down line drawings that you can do that are supposed to turn off your left brain and turn on your right. Guess what? I can draw upside down stuff!!



Here's the drawing turned right-side up. I did okay with just focusing on the lines and not thinking about what I was drawing until I got to the fingers, then I had some trouble. But still pretty good, no?



Then we had to do some drawings from life. I had a box of Jujyfruits so I drew that. Here's the first angle:



And here's the second angle of the back of the box:



Then we had to draw chairs in class. This exercise almost brought me to tears, I must tell you. I could see the chairs right in front of me, and I knew what I wanted to do, but I just couldn't get from the image in my eye through my fingers onto the paper. Needless to say, the rest of the class's drawings left mine in the dust. :( In the first drawing, we were allowed to pick up our pencils:



In the second drawing, we were not allowed to look at our drawings or pick up our pencils while we were drawing:



Here is another upside down drawing from the book that I did - I LOVE the way this one turned out!



Here's the same drawing right-side up.



Our next homework assignments were to sketch some things from life, which I suck at. First drawings were an eraser and my pencil case:



Next sketch was my drawing/art supply briefcase thingy:



And finally we come to this last week's work. We were supposed to be focusing on positive and negative space and how you can use that space to create images. My final work was about honeycomb and hourglasses:



There are some random sketch pages that I went through to get to that, but this is a big enough post already. So....there you have it - what I've been doing in Drawing Design and Art Theory. I pitched my instructor my idea/topic for my final project and he approved it so - - now it's just time to mock it up. He said I could do it on the computer and then draw it so I'm going to do that. You better believe I'm turning that sucker upside down to do it!

So - so far maintaining straight A's in all of my classes. Oh! - spoke with my counselor and the dean and am going to segue from my Digital Design and Animation BS into the Gaming BS. Will add on about a year and a quarter to my schooling if I take 6 course per quarter, but will be so awesome when I'm done! So - starting next quarter I'm going up to six. This should be interesting!

Okay peeps, that's it for now. More to come soon when I get this interview essay finished so - watch this space! Laters!

Summer Quarter Has Begun!

Hey everyone!

So....just a little bit relating to last quarter before we move on: I made the Dean's List and the Perfect Attendance List! Yay me! Yes, I'm still a bit bitter about that A-, but I'm dealing with it. 3.95 is not a bad GPA. I keep telling myself that - I'm sure it'll sink in any time now. :)

More non-school related news that affects school - I've acquired employment! Yay! It's a part-time job right now. I will be working 4 5-hour days every week, with Fridays off. This is good as new assignments come out on Fridays, so I will have the weekends free to focus on my schoolwork - which I will need!

Which brings us to Summer Quarter! This is going to be a challenging quarter. My Intro to Business and E-Commerce classes are very similar. There is a lot of reading (very boring reading) required for both classes, and lots of lecture notes. I learned my lesson last quarter about taking notes - I am printing those suckers off rather than writing them out. Which is good, because there are tons. Also - both classes have a quiz every week (didn't I tell ya so?) and both classes have a 5-7 page paper due at the end of the course. Oy! So those classes are going to keep me on my toes. The reading and concepts are all very similar (and did I mention boring?) so that will hopefully help reinforce the concepts rather than confuse them. So far, so good.

As far as posting information from those classes, we'll have to play it by ear. Mostly they are going to be written assignments that may not be of much interest - we'll just have to see how it goes. It will depend on how interested anyone is in business topics. However, both coursebooks are very up-to-date on current trends and I will be posting interesting/useful information I learn so - watch this space! :)

Tonight is my first on-campus class, which is Drawing Design and Art Theory. I have access to a scanner so I will be posting the results of my endeavors in this class for your amusement/mockery. :) Tomorrow night is my first Intro to 3D Arts & Animation class. That class uses the 3DS Max software so I don't know how much I will be able to post, but I'll post what I can.

So - - that's the latest. Summer Quarter has begun and it's very interesting and very busy. My postings here may be a little more sporadic and more along the lines of once-a-week at the weekends, but I'll be here.

Cheers!

Final GPA

Well, my final GPA for the first quarter is officially 3.95. I'm bummed. I really wanted my 4.0. Stupid Typography instructor and his stupid A-!!! :( grrrrrr!! But, all in all, I should be happy, I know. School is difficult for perfectionists, let me tell you. :)

I received my books and they are really interesting! My two books for my Drawing Design and Art Theory class are cool and kind of Drawing for Dummies, so I know I'm in the right place! :) Then, in addition to the books we got a drawing kit that's a real Drawing for Dummies kit! :) Has a little wooden model in it and everything! So - that should be a really cool class.

For my Introduction to 3D Animation class, it's a new software program - 3ds Max. I downloaded the trial version of the software because to run the tutorial disc you have to have the software. My poor little computer just doesn't have enough memory to run it properly - I need an upgrade - but what I have been able to try is really cool. I'm looking forward to that class.

My Intro to Business class book is ginormous!! Seriously huge book with small print that fills up pages with really, really small margins - the text practically fills the entire page! Also came with 4 CDs containing chapter audio notes - that's going to be a serious class with serious tests and stuff - I can tell.

My E-Commerce book is also pretty detailed. It's another class that I think is going to be serious and have real tests and stuff.

So....I'm working and reading ahead for the second quarter. I'm excited!!

More to come later!