Midsemester

Well, I managed an Honorable mention at R.O.A.R., another student at FHSU got first place mixed media in the amateur category, but being as he is a grad student he really should have been in the professional category. The main reasoning for this is the rules state that if you have a Bachelor's degree in art, you are considered professional. Something I will be, next competition as I should get my degree after Christmas.....and being a graduate student means you have already achieved your bachelors degree...or so I thought....anyway, c'est la vie.

I have also made a decision to stay away from games like Evony and Travian, I spend time on them seeing how developed I can make my cities, this relieves stress for me.....go figure...micromanaging helping to alleviate stress. Anyway, I can put up with the occasional attack from random people setting me back a little, but all I seem to encounter are the trolls who spend every waking hour, and most of their RL resources buying themselves up, as well as allying themselves with groups of like minded cretins. One even had the nerve to send out over 6 attacks my way and then was expecting to have amicable negotiations with me to ask me a favor.....don't know about you guys...but if I get slapped in the mouth, I'm not inclined to be amicable with the person doing the slapping...let alone doing it multiple times. So I'm done with these truly unpleasant encounters, with truly unpleasant little twits.

My sponsor teacher and I will be co teaching the week leading up to the 23rd, gearing all our classes to make decorations for the cafeteria for a special day put on by the students and art club, then I will have two weeks left of teaching high school and return to the elementary school for my remaining five weeks. I have had awesome reviews by my university supervisor, and I get along well with my sponsor teacher as well, which is a plus. Her advice has been of great help to me in many ways. I look forward to finishing my tests and my FPA, then making sure I have copies of them so i may send them to other districts to apply for teaching positions. Mock interview day is on the 23rd as well, so I'll miss out on the festivities, which is unfortunate.

So the five state is this November, I'll try and find the entry fee somewhere, otherwise...I won't....I have pieces in several other competitions, but I always feel like I'm just missing it.....it would be nice to figure out what I need to do to get that nudge that would take me from just being on the edge of being good, to actually winning something more than once.....heck I'd be happy for a consistent second or third place.....guess that's just life, I just need to be patient until the right person sees the right piece and allows me some of that recognition that I'm doing alright.

Frustrated

Well...after having my new camera only a couple of months, I have to send it in to the service center of my choice on either the West Coast or the East....I kept getting "Error 30" every two or three shots, and occasionally it would happen every shot, so it made getting any decent shots even harder than usual because I was having to turn off the camera and turn it back on constantly. Everything I have checked on it says its a shutter malfunction and that new products are more likely to malfunction, well now it gets sent in under its warranty, of course the cost for insurance and shipping is mine, at least to the manufacturer....better that than lose almost a grand in camera equipment I guess. Frustrates the heck out of me as i won't see my camera again for at least three weeks.....maybe more, but its only three months since I got it ...or thereabouts. Will try to remain positive, and take my pieces down to ROAR next weekend......weekends seem shorter now I am technically working full time, but the days seem to fly by.

Another good talk

Another absolutely brilliant talk about creativity.

Progression

I have been student teaching for almost three weeks now, I am thoroughly enjoying myself and looking forward to some of my lesson ideas to see how well they do and how well they are enjoyed. I have lettering in the morning (otherwise known as artistic typography) and drawing, both are small classes and I feel lucky to have been able to start with them, despite some communication issues in the earlier class. I will be working with painting, Intro to art and crafts as I progress....the crafts class is the biggest and probably the most onrey, as it is the last class of the day and the majority of the students are freshmen...fun fun. I missed one day due to a migrane which I was annoyed about, and I am waiting for the FHSU education department to finish the new KPA, because I would like to get started on it. My university supervisor liked my first reflection even if the person who I'm supposed to turn them in to wasn't entirely happy with it....something about following a conceptual framework, which I thought I had.....but I guess that's the problem with conceptual things, if one is unaware of exactly how it needs to be framed or structured. Anyway, I will be doing lots of photography, though mostly of the journalistic variety, being Kappa Delta Pi historian and all, and trying to be involved in school events at my sponsor school and taking yearbook pictures along with the students. Financially, things are already beginning to be uncomfortable, and we are having to take a tougher stand with our daughter to try and get the message through to her that misbehaving and tantrums are not something she wants to pursue. I have also entered this years Photographer's Forum College contest, Popular Photography's contest and American Photographer's contest as well, though I can't shake the feeling its money wasted, you can't win if you don't try. Now I just have to figure out what I want to submit to R.O.A.R. and The Five State, go deeper into debt entering and printing/mounting the images I want in, then patiently waiting to see what happens. Guess that will do for now, I teach two photography classes for yearbook next week so I am stoked for that.

Disappointment etc.

Well, it seems I never made it past the finalist selection in a couple of places, that tends to be disappointing, but we move on and keep creating. I don't expect that I'll really get a lot of recognition, I always seem to be good, but not good enough. I know I need to get out and shoot/draw/paint more, and after my student teaching I really want to try, I also want to get some more tools to help improve the quality and impact of my work, both software and hardware wise. I also have to keep reminding myself that art and how well it fares is completely subjective, and I'll be pretty happy to find a teaching job where I can impart passion and skill to even a few kids, pay all my bills and allow us to live comfortably....that's the really important thing, and something I lose track of while trying to be competitive. I have accomplished more than some people ever get the chance to, and if I had just a little more raw talent and/or time to add to the skills I've developed I might actually manage a little more. For this reason alone I am looking forward to my grad studies, so I can have that time to work on things that I feel will help give my images just a little more impact, both photographed and drawn

Fall Semester Looms.......

Well....it doesn't bode well for fall....it'll be pretty lean as far as making ends meet. Not to mention that I'd like to submit to ROAR, The Five State and Photographers Forum again....each of which will cost me at least $120 total plus another 25 in gas to get to Russell and back. I am going to hold some finances in reserve from disbursement, but bills come first as always. I have been selected as a finalist in two competitions, but I am wary to say more than this for fear of ruining my chances at even an honorable mention. I will be thrilled to get anything of the sort, but that shows I am doing something right so far as my photography.....I have one or two other sites to get pieces on so I can get my images seen, and I need to get more on Flickr as well. I will be riding my nieces scooter to student teaching, losing that $600 work study per month really does hit hard, but working and doing student teaching I'm told is something that would likely burn me out. If things are pretty easy to manage, I might apply for an evening job at Hastings...hey books and DVD's....and it's walking distance from home. I have been learning as much as I can about curves and layers, and I hope to be implementing them more effectively in the near future, making my already pretty spiff pics even better.

One of the best talks I have ever heard

I think that maybe I should look into showing this video at one of the beginning design classes or something, or maybe see if the Creative Art Society could get her to come and give the talk in person. That would be spiff.