Words and Images Update :)

I added a link to my mblog specifically made for my Words & Images class. To get to the mblog, you must click on my favorite YouTube duo, Gabe and Max, in the top right hand corner of this page. 

Both of my blogs are going to undergo a fabulous makeover now and in the Future!

I never really thought about changing font sizes and color choices within the blog entry itself, but I have seen a number of really dynamic posts by my W&I professor, Thylias Moss. She has really helped me out today, enabling me to do many things, especially regarding html and blog formatting.

In order to progress and improve my blogging skills (thanks Gabe and Max! :)) I need to know some html. Which I have tried to do a little of. She pointed me in the right direction and explained some things to me that are going to be fantastic. Now I know how to post images, video and have direct links to websites within my blogs.

This is fantastic. I know I will be experimenting with this in the days to come!

I'm out!

my life is officially madness

all right. i have to be more up-to-date with this.

but i will start by telling you how my day went today. it went very well, thank you for asking, in a fantastic way, but it did make my future life for the rest of the year potentially absolutely ridiculous. (hopefully!)

beginning of day: meeting with joe trumpey.

background story: so we were assigned a group research project on monday for my art design perspectives class that has to do something with the class lectures. (which is pretty broad...the main topics we discuss are green-themed having to do with sustainability and having an impact on the world). i emailed my friend lindsay about starting a group that will implement an ad campaign of sorts, but i didn't have a specific topic or focus in mind for us to do, only that a portfolio-quality product would come out of this project. ok. so she told me yesterday afternoon that she had been talking to alyssa about designing a 4th grade science-related presentation that we could present and implement in one (or multiple) of the elementary school in ann arbor. fantastic. this project has so much potential.  that was yesterday.

as of today, our team is composed of alyssa, lindsay, grace and myself. we met with our professor to get our project okayed. he let us know that we have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to actually be able to present our presentation in the actual classrooms. we had a general idea, but since joe's wife is a teacher, he knew way more information about the things that we need to do in order to even possibly get the "go ahead" from a teacher. so one of our research topics is on the state-mandated curriculum benchmarks. we will now have to take a look at these benchmarks and form our presentation and information around these benchmarks, so that elementary school teachers would see us as helping us achieve these benchmarks and not just waste their time. fantastic.

our general idea right now is to aim big. some of the things that group members would like to see done is 

get the presentation/curriculum published

website constructed and maintained

ad campaign

"green & sustainability carnival/fair"

video/commercial

sustainability-related science project

vegetable garden @ school

greater emphasis on recycling

 

the only way, right now, that we could even imagine completing many of these things is by getting a grant. so we are now in process for applying for a grant through GROCS here at the University of Michigan. It stands for Grant Research Collaborative Spaces. So we have to turn in our abstract by October 1. The 10 semifinalist groups will be announced on the 10th. And from there the semifinalists will have the remaining month of October to formulate their entire plan of action and complete proposal with how they would use each component of the interactive, collaboration to make a difference. I think we have a fantastic idea that would be perfect for what GROCS seeks to do. We want to teach elementary school children about sustainability and have a permanent impact on the school. Our goal is that whatever we do this year isn't just a one-time thing; we want the schools to hopefully add it to their curriculum in the years to come as well.  GROCS would help us out so much! It would really be the perfect way to complete this project, by meeting with other groups and holding forums with them in the Design Lab 1. (I have a class held in Design Lab 1 this semester. I love it! It is a fantastic place to work and collaborate- it's so open!) Plus, the funds that we would receive from the grant would be somewhere around $9000! Which would really allow us to be able to have some events, pay for printing costs, buy materials, and essentially, allow us to have way more freedom for us to complete this project. 

Now the first two really important issues that need to be addressed are that we need to a) find an individual in a different school within the University that would be interested in doing this project with us...and b) we need a moderator that would be in a different school than us & that student. We are strongly leaning towards a student from the Program in the Environment in LSA and/or one in the School of Education. As for a moderator, ideally one from the School of Natural Resource and the Program in the Environment would be perfect. Either a professor or a GSI can be our moderator.

So by Sunday night, we have a lot of research to be doing, will probably meet upwards of two or three times a week, and will be working like crazy until October 10 when we find out if we are a semifinalist group or not. I am psyched! I really think we can do this. We have a fantastic group of girls and we are all really motivated to complete this project and do it the absolute best we can.  :)

---

Other than that, I met with the Director of the senior care home that I want to do my CFC project at...and she seemed really skeptical of me and what my intentions are. I explained the project to her, but I don't think she really understands. It's frustrating. She says that I can't even come until Friday October 3. Which is way too late. I have to some way talk her into letting me come earlier than that. Hopefully my prof, Addie, might be able to write a letter to her so I can get okayed quicker. I need this project to get rolling, especially with ADP taking up so much of my time! And this group project is only 1/4 projects we have currently assigned for that class...crazy! I am going to have to start hardcore researching and getting my other ones done asap so that the huger projects can get done on time and well.

Other than that, I had Words and Images today. Thylias Moss, my prof for that one, is fantastic and intriguing. She always has really interesting things to say and ideas to put out there. We are starting on a project for her class as well. I am debating what I want to do for her class, besides the book altering project we will be doing...I am thinking, though, about having to construct a website. I am really strongly considering this, since I do not know how to do it and I need to learn! :) So I think this will be perfect. I also really want to do an ad campaign, but I think that just learning how to make a website is going to take up a huge amount of my time. I think that once I have that done and figured out, I will be able to consider other "forms" to work in as well. Something exploring the relationship between physically printed text, digitally "printed" text, and moving text using Motion might be a really good way to tie in different aspects of the project and would be great for exploring different ideas.

On another note, I am so glad I took Chiwei's class last year! It taught me really good time management and there is no way I would be able to keep up with that workload right now. There is no way, which would put me back a semester in some class :( 

Everything happens for a reason.

And right now, I will go to sleep. 

My reason is that I'm tired. So I will go.

I'm out.

something on this i don't like

okay. so let me explain to you a project i am going to have to do at school this semester for my concept form context class.

we had to pick an entity, institution, or group that we believe is completely opposite and different of our individual selves. something that is so unfamiliar that it totally scares us and/or freaks us out almost (in the nicest, most unbiased way possible). I do not mean this in a negative way, just as a huge step outside of my comfort zone.

so after weeks of brainstorming and narrowing down my lists, i have finally come to a conclusion; the person i wish to observe and break the stigma and boundaries on is a senior citizen with dementia and/or alzheimer's disease. i have come to this conclusion because of many reasons. 

one: i am extremely afraid of losing my mind

two: i am not comfortable around elderly individuals. (my grandparents do not count at all. i am totally comfortable with them and love them a ton!)

three: through an honest discussion, my prof and i have pretty much come to the conclusion that i probably have a fear of losing control. 

four: so by getting involved in the life of an individual who is either in the process of losing control of their mind or who has lost their mind is going to be a struggle for me. i am extremely uncomfortable with this situation and i think that though i do not wish to really do it, it is going to be a very important learning experience for me. 

more later.

i'm out.

Long Overdue

I have come to the conclusion that something really ridiculously big and important is happening around me. And I cannot see it right now. This clearly does not involve me, except for the fact that I am a member of the human race. Well, not exactly. In fact, this involves every single person in existence on this planet. All. Everyone. This theory is an idea extremely similar to the basis of Darren Aronofsky's Pi. 

Fantastic film, in fact.  

I will revisit this asap.

I'm out.

quickly

i do not have much time on my hands already. 

last year, there was this fantastic amount of about two weeks' time where i could do whatever i want and enjoy the people i was with regardless. there were typically no assignments and if there were, they were small and pretty insignificant. they did not take up much of my time so i could spend it seeing my friends or eating meals (i miss that so much)...

and already i am a busy, busy bee.

i decided this semester to take on the job of starting my own intramural soccer team, since last year i wanted to play, but couldn't find a team to get on. so i vowed to start my own. and did. and i have to register the team tomorrow, but we've already had two practices :) it's a fantastic group of people though it is quite a large team. but i really love doing it. and it takes up a ton of my free time, emailing everyone and figuring out rules and stuff. but whatever. i do it because i love it. so that's one of my lovely activities that makes time disappear oh so quickly.

let me see. after last week i already had several assignments assigned that are due this tuesday. tuesday is my crazy day. i just got a work/study job (yay!) that i will start. and then i have class until 10pm with only a 2.5 hour break in between two studios. not the most ideal for getting homework done. i really have to rework my sleep pattern and develop stronger time management this semester. 

and MUSKET hasn't even really started up yet...i am working as the assistant marketing director this semester for an entirely student-organized and -run musical theatre group. which will be madness when it actually does start up. again, i do it because i love it. i love theatre and any chance i can get to enjoy it here even if i'm not acting is still amazing. and it is giving me a bit of experience on planning and holding promotional events as well as advertising! so even though i'm not working as a creative, i'm still getting a feel for what happens when marketing performances to college kids. i'm getting to know ann arbor and its businesses better as well. working as a marketer for MUSKET is fantastic! and i am thrilled to be the assistant marketing director this year (as a sophomore!) . 

some sad news though, i cannot act in children of eden this year. i just found this out tonight. i am extremely disappointed. since i have to take two night classes this semester, i can't go to any practices.  which, if you were wondering, makes me a very sad person. i love this play. it's fantastic. and i was in it my senior year of high school. it was truly a life-changing experience. and alas, i cannot have any part of it since my schedule won't allow it. same with choir. i can't go to any choir practices this semester since i have class. horrible. i love choir. it's one of the highlights of my week. and i can't have it either. 

i want to have my cake. i also want to eat it. and i can't. this is horrible. right now, my life is very frustrating. 

but a key point that i do have to go back to is that i do now know what i want. and as one of my friends told me today "that explains the glow you have about you". 

so apparently even though i'm a bit internally mismashed, i'm glowing. figure that. 

i'm out.

everything happens

for a reason

i was meant to take this class
wasn't too happy at
first with the fact that it
meets at night

but after sitting
through the first half hour
i realized
it was exactly where
i needed to be.


___
First two days of class are done. They went well, except for my drama today with my first advanced studio. But all's well that ends well so I am pleased with the outcome. I really like the class I added on today. Words and Images. What kind of words and images? Any kind and every kind! My prof has a background in English and writes poetry. Fancy that! At A&D? What is she doing here? I'm not quite sure yet, but I am psyched. Over the moon. This will be a fantastic class with which to work on portfolio pieces for internship applications this summer! I can construct ads, work on sound, video, copywrite, everything I want to do, I will be able to do!
This class and I were meant to be. In the least cheesy way possible. I like it!

Except for the fact that it's at night. So now my days start at 11:30am and end at 9:30 or 10pm at night...far from ideal, but it will be totally worth it. This is, of course, until I start working my work/study job...I even have an interview tomorrow! Yay! And another is strongly considering me, though I do not know what will come out of either. Something good, hopefully!

P.S. Festifall is tomorrow! I hope I can locate and join AAF!

I have to finish my homework before I go to sleep! Have a fantastic night!

I'm out.

last day of true freedom

monday it is

as i sit here

enjoying the sound

classic rock

last day before classes

time passes quickly

i can't believe it's noon already

so much to do

before sophomore year officially begins.

-----

This past weekend was fantastic! Football game was a little lacking; Michigan didn't play well at all. The new team has a lot to learn. The actual game was enjoyable though, between my seating group and friends sitting elsewhere much excitement was had. 

The main thing that I forgot about Michigan is the incredible amount of school spirit that everyone has. This contagious spirit and enthusiasm found in A2 on game days is unbelievable. Amazing. Spirit alone is one reason why I really love Michigan. Though attending an art-only school would groom me for a job immediately after graduation, regardless, Michigan has so much to offer besides a design curriculum.

Which is why I am hoping to teach myself a ton of things this year about art direction and graphic design. Now that I know I'm not focusing on ID, I have to start fresh again and this time pursue more graphic design-related classes. I am really excited about AD though; I know that I can learn quickly and I have just realized how interested in advertising I have been my whole life. Starting in 7th grade, I tore out ads in magazines and started assembling my collection of inspiration books. As cheesy as it sounds, I think that AD is going to be my perfect fit. 

And though I know I could complete any curriculum, heck, I could be an engineer if I really wanted to...I really love the creative world. And creativity will always have a job. No machine can truly be creative alone. A creative mind is needed to guide the machine. Voila! I have a job for life. Fantastic. That is extremely reassuring. I love creativity!

Ending this cheesefest. 

I am really glad to be back, but more than that, I am really happy that I have found a direction (!) to pursue. One that I am passionate about and motivated to work hard to learn.

I have to go put all my art supplies in a locker at the art school, so I must go. 

Have a lovely Labor Day!

I'm out.