what a difference a few hours can make

my schedule is a little screwy
my classes (monday and friday) are from 1-7pm
which is a pretty cushy schedule to be fair

but that means i have to fabricate structure
i work mostly on design studio tuesday-thursday
and mostly problem solving on saturday and sunday
as a result it never really feels like i have any down time
oh i do manage to squeeze it in, believe you me
but it's not like at 5 o'clock i can be done
it just doesn't seem to work like that
i feel a subtle nagging guilt
every second i am not sitting in front of my computer

i usually get up around 8:30-9
and i am usually in bed by midnight-midnight thirty

on days that i feel like i have much to do i try to get up early
(7, which ends up to be more like 7:30 with the snooze button)
which works better for me than staying up late (usually)
when i do get up early i am always amazed at how much gets done
it will be 8:55 and i will have gotten a lot of work done
and i am amazed at how early it still is
especially in light of the fact
that there are days when i might still be in bed at that hour
it's a life of luxury here, i know
i get coffee brought to me in bed
i'm a spoiled brat
the post-school world is going to be a harsh dose of reality

but the days are getting longer
the promise of spring....
time to start making a habit of getting up a little earlier
and to enjoy the productive morning hours of the lengthening days

tred lightly and kiss a little a**

a good first day back
a few minor move that a little here
and move that a little there's....
and food for thought for the next few bits i need to resolve

i did a little "can i have your opinion on this?"
and he ate it up with a spoon

it somehow seems almost too easy...
but who am i to complain?

5 weeks to go.......

a matter of time

i feel like i made it over some kind of hurdle
portfolio week marked the middle of the semester
which means that at this point we are more than half way there
to the end
it's almost unfathomable to me that this will soon be over
finit-o
done-o
end-o
(we had our first spanish class last weekend)
that i am not sisyphus perpetually pushing a rock up a hill

there is still a lot on my plate to finish
but whether or not i get to push it as far as i want to
in 5 weeks it will all be over

can't freaking wait
we made our hotel reservations in madrid
and are trying to decide where we want to stay in barcelona
maybe: hotel jardi
maybe: hostal girona

and i am REALLY looking forward to vegas
the conference is at the mandalay bay
and i will be staying at the monte carlo

lots to look forward to
much work to still do before i get there

big ideas

had a really good monday
"r" gave me really good feedback
and said i could leave early
since the majority of my project is not digitally based

so, now i have to take this big idea and resolve it
and maybe i am biting off more than i can chew?
trying to tie togethr so many different ideas
and have it all be cohesive is maybe more than can be achieved in 5 weeks
i'll do the best i can
and i have my original idea to fall back on

i will reveal more about this "big idea"
as it becomes realized
sneak peek: it may include marshmallows and rice krispies

that was grueling

what a week
crit every day
redo print portfolio every day
print whole damn thing in color every day

plus: design & build a web site
smack dab in the middle of everything else

too much

by the end of the week all i could do was watch bad tv
and read trashy magazines

exhausting

this week has been overwhelming and exhausting
and it's only wednesday morning
there is no down time it's go go go
get up do as much as i can before i have to get downtown
hang around and wait for my time slot
try to get some work done while i'm there
get home
get food
work until i can't see straight
toss and turn with visions of page layouts swimming in my head
last night was completely devoted to trying to remember
css and dreamweaver
it's been months and months
and if i don't do it every day
it just fades to black

i would have preferred to spend the time refining my print portfolio
i got lots of good ideas yesterday
and i don't know if i will have the time to implement them
before my time slot tomorrow

i promised 2 of my classmates
that i would help them do their web sites today
even thought i have mountains of things i need to do
i feel bad because i know who their teachers were
and i understand why they have no idea what they are doing

making stuff

there are things that i can still make without "thinking" about it
like, for instance a bag made out of duct tape
and even that was made with the designer's choice: clear duct tape
not the utilitarian silver stuff
although that would make a nice bag too...

but what i am saying is
having survived 4+ years and counting of art school
becoming a designer has forever changed how i make things
everything is influenced
everything now is considered
has purpose
a greater context
it's complicated
in some ways it makes making things more fun
in some ways it makes it exhausting
and nothing ever seems done
there's always more tweaking you could do

i have been feeling really crafty lately
and i have been doing lots of things with yarn and thread
weaving, embroidery & the like
it's very satisfying to make something with my hands
when i spend all day in front of the computer pushing pixels around

spring break

well i successfully frittered away the entire week
getting nothing really done
i did some cleaning and some laundry and some crafty
but, no work

which means that yesterday
i sat in front of my computer for 14 hours straight
cranking out raw material for the making of portfolio-ish type things
both digital and tactile
it should be an interesting week
it's kind of a nice break from thinking about my other projects
but it is stressful and scary to think about looking for a job
and what i come up with in the next week
is the thing that is going to speak for my skills
and there just doesn't feel like there's much there
i know that 5 really strong pieces is probably enough
but it would be nice to think
that i was cherry picking the best of the best
but, it feels like i will be lucky to have 5 strong pieces
i need to get ready to go
it's supposed to be 76 freaking degrees today
craziness

long relaxing sigh of relief

we had a nice mini vacation in not exactly the country
i didn't know exactly what to expect
i had been to lambertville once, but didn't really recall the environs
we stayed in a very cute hotel in an 150 year old building
our first room was 206, which was very cozy with tons of windows
and i really liked the dark brown walls
combined with the white trim and ceiling
but after we got back from dinner
and started getting ready for bed
we discovered that the live band playing in the bar
located in the basement of the hotel
was clearly a grateful dead cover band
and was going to be impossible to sleep over
we eventually decided to complain
and got upgraded to a room on the third floor
which was much quieter and had a big jacuzzi tub for 2
so we had a nice hot soak
and shook off the irritation of our peaceful weekend being disturbed

we went for dinner at a really great restaurant in lambertville
we shared the jumbo shrimp in anchovy butter appetizer
& then josh had the oso buco and i had the grilled tuna
really simple, grilled and delicious
the escarole was amazing, buttery and not at all bitter

the flea market was spare
but we still managed to acquire a few treasures

we didn't take a single picture

now i make a really long list
of all the things i want/need to do over the next 7 days:

make a chocolate birthday cake
go buy some steaks
make a bank deposit
fill the car with gas
clean to house
do the laundry
do some sewing projects
do web sketches for mark, the zaroffs, preston & myself
take photos for my web portfolio
do a few redesign-updates for portfolio pieces
do yoga
make birthday card for lydia
make more "exchange" samples
check out circle thrift
call sugar butt
plan tapas menu for my graduation party
start planning our spain trip
make podiatrist appointment
make dentist appointment

and i'm sure there's at least 100 more things i'd like to do
and i'm sure only a fraction of there things will actually get done

the "i heart those guys" fan club

monday was great
even though i was sick all weekend
and still had a slobbery nose
i got doped up and dayquil and went to class

"B " was suitable impressed with all the work i had done
which made me feel good
he really liked my constructed logo idea
i am making various things (or photoshopping) that spell out "exchange"
which is the name of my cable company

so far i have exchange:
knitted into a scarf
soldered onto a circuit board
spelled out in toothpicks
made into a banner
made into a pop-up card
cross stitched on a piece of fabric






and i have another dozen or so ideas
from sewing to having a rubber stamp made
it's not "logo design" in the traditional sense
and i won't have that experience under my belt
but this is really fun and takes advantage of my crafty skill set