I have no idea if this message will show... much like the last 6 I've typed out.
2pm this afternoon was the 1 year anniversary of the big goodbye from work.
One whole year.
It feels SO good!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Every Picture Tells A Story
Okay, this has been grabbed from numerous blogs (thanks, Mad!) and it looks interesting enough to try...
Directions:
Go to Google and click on the images link. Type in the following and post the first (or your favorite) picture the search engine finds.
- The name of the town where you grew up
- The name of the town where you live now
- Your name
- Your Grandmother’s name (pick one)
- Your favorite food
- Your favorite drink
- Your favorite song
- Your favorite smell
The town where you grew up:
Well, I've lived in numerous towns, but the majority of my life was spent in one particular hell-hole: Abbotsford.
The name of the town where you live now
Mission.
- Your name
[*snicker!*]
- Your Grandmother’s name (pick one)
[shveeeeet] Her name is Eva...
- Your favorite food
gotta love lasagna --sorry the picture sucks!!
- Your favorite drink
Mmmmmm, mocha shake... gotta LOL at the picture, though
- Your favorite song
Peter Gabriel has a song called 'Rhythm of the Heat.' It always gets me going...
- Your favorite smell
Awapuhi. My wife used to use a shampoo that had some in it. I love the smell...
Directions:
Go to Google and click on the images link. Type in the following and post the first (or your favorite) picture the search engine finds.
- The name of the town where you grew up
- The name of the town where you live now
- Your name
- Your Grandmother’s name (pick one)
- Your favorite food
- Your favorite drink
- Your favorite song
- Your favorite smell
The town where you grew up:
Well, I've lived in numerous towns, but the majority of my life was spent in one particular hell-hole: Abbotsford.
The name of the town where you live now
Mission.
- Your name
[*snicker!*]
- Your Grandmother’s name (pick one)
[shveeeeet] Her name is Eva...
- Your favorite food
gotta love lasagna --sorry the picture sucks!!
- Your favorite drink
Mmmmmm, mocha shake... gotta LOL at the picture, though
- Your favorite song
Peter Gabriel has a song called 'Rhythm of the Heat.' It always gets me going...
- Your favorite smell
Awapuhi. My wife used to use a shampoo that had some in it. I love the smell...
A Little Unfair
Got some sad, annoying, unfair news on Thursday. One of my favorite instructors has been put on suspension after a sexual harrassment complaint. The latest email says he's most likely going to be fired on Monday morning.
OK, now to explain the harrassment thing. This guy's an artist. A talented artist. And he's always looking to improve his work. So, what better than to ask if people would be willing to sit and have their portrait painted and/or to model. And, as we've been taught at the art school, if the request is denied, thank them for their time and move on --no pressure.
But a student in a different program took offense to the request and was seemingly blinded to anything that then happened afterward. But, it was enough to complain, and now the poor guy's probably gone as of Monday.
Don't get me wrong. I understand the administration's POV on this. Yeah, it probably wasn't the best thing to do: asking a student to pose. Now, the choice is do they get of the guy for making the mistake, or can they just slap his wrist and say "No. Don't ask students!" I know which one is sensible to me, but I also know that sensible and insitutional adminisation do not go hand-in-hand! Been there. For 7 years.
To make matters even worse, this guy's father died this past Sunday. So, while he's already down, he gets another kick: out.
And what makes me mad is that this guy has a major talent that I've seen lacking in several other instructors during this program.
He has a talent for teaching. And he goes above and beyond in his teaching ability. There was more than one late Saturday night, that I could count on an encouraging email from him when I was having issues with an assignment.
So which is more important? Losing a talented instructor over what others perceive as an error (but no one else has complained about in the 30 years he's been doing it) or feeling that the only way to "save face" on this issue is to fire the guy.
Dammit, I hate being the only one smart enough to know the right thing to do.
I'm going to miss him.
OK, now to explain the harrassment thing. This guy's an artist. A talented artist. And he's always looking to improve his work. So, what better than to ask if people would be willing to sit and have their portrait painted and/or to model. And, as we've been taught at the art school, if the request is denied, thank them for their time and move on --no pressure.
But a student in a different program took offense to the request and was seemingly blinded to anything that then happened afterward. But, it was enough to complain, and now the poor guy's probably gone as of Monday.
Don't get me wrong. I understand the administration's POV on this. Yeah, it probably wasn't the best thing to do: asking a student to pose. Now, the choice is do they get of the guy for making the mistake, or can they just slap his wrist and say "No. Don't ask students!" I know which one is sensible to me, but I also know that sensible and insitutional adminisation do not go hand-in-hand! Been there. For 7 years.
To make matters even worse, this guy's father died this past Sunday. So, while he's already down, he gets another kick: out.
And what makes me mad is that this guy has a major talent that I've seen lacking in several other instructors during this program.
He has a talent for teaching. And he goes above and beyond in his teaching ability. There was more than one late Saturday night, that I could count on an encouraging email from him when I was having issues with an assignment.
So which is more important? Losing a talented instructor over what others perceive as an error (but no one else has complained about in the 30 years he's been doing it) or feeling that the only way to "save face" on this issue is to fire the guy.
Dammit, I hate being the only one smart enough to know the right thing to do.
I'm going to miss him.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
The Tuesday Effect
Quote for the day [from my 4-hour class instructor]:
"Okay, we only have 20 minutes left, so let's get started!"
Seriously. We started our "lesson" 3 hours and 40 minutes after class started...
Kinda sad, really. This morning while showering I realized that Tuesdays in this program of mine just aren't a good thing. I was thinking about how annoying my current class is when I suddenly thought about the previous 2 semesters.
So here's a rundown of the 3 Tuesday classes in this program:
In my first semester, my Tuesday class was:
1 - My lowest mark for the semester.
2 - The one instructor I didn't like.
3 - The one instructor who didn't like me.
In my second semester, my Tuesday class:
1 - Was my lowest mark overall in the entire program.
2 - Was the one where the instructor ran out of things to say every week.
3 - Was the one where we got all our assignments back on the last day of the semester.
This, my third semester, my Tuesday class is:
1 - The one where the instructor showed up 90 minutes' late the first day.
2 - The one where he shows us something "new" every hour which we should've known before we started our project.
3 - The one where 3 hours after we should've handed in our assignment, he says, "Didn't I show you how to do this?"
4 - The one where, 3 hours later, we still haven't submitted our assignments because he's till showing us stuff.
5 - The one where he was going to show us our next project an hour ago, but he got distracted and is doing something else entirely instead.
Thus, leading to 3 hours and 40 minutes of time wasted. Overall in this one class, we've wasted over 5 hours of class time. Disgusting.
If I have any Tuesday classes scheduled next semester, I'm changing them ASAP.
"Okay, we only have 20 minutes left, so let's get started!"
Seriously. We started our "lesson" 3 hours and 40 minutes after class started...
Kinda sad, really. This morning while showering I realized that Tuesdays in this program of mine just aren't a good thing. I was thinking about how annoying my current class is when I suddenly thought about the previous 2 semesters.
So here's a rundown of the 3 Tuesday classes in this program:
In my first semester, my Tuesday class was:
1 - My lowest mark for the semester.
2 - The one instructor I didn't like.
3 - The one instructor who didn't like me.
In my second semester, my Tuesday class:
1 - Was my lowest mark overall in the entire program.
2 - Was the one where the instructor ran out of things to say every week.
3 - Was the one where we got all our assignments back on the last day of the semester.
This, my third semester, my Tuesday class is:
1 - The one where the instructor showed up 90 minutes' late the first day.
2 - The one where he shows us something "new" every hour which we should've known before we started our project.
3 - The one where 3 hours after we should've handed in our assignment, he says, "Didn't I show you how to do this?"
4 - The one where, 3 hours later, we still haven't submitted our assignments because he's till showing us stuff.
5 - The one where he was going to show us our next project an hour ago, but he got distracted and is doing something else entirely instead.
Thus, leading to 3 hours and 40 minutes of time wasted. Overall in this one class, we've wasted over 5 hours of class time. Disgusting.
If I have any Tuesday classes scheduled next semester, I'm changing them ASAP.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Mental Decay
2 weeks into this semester and I already have a taken a weekend for a mental break.
Kinda sad, since last weekend was a 4-day weekend....
This is going to be a difficult semester. I've had clashes (both in person and ones I've kept bottled up) with all of my instructors for this semester and already talked to the Dean about one of my problems. No, it wasn't like I was called into his office for causing trouble, I just needed to talk to him about a problem our entire class is having.
We've been split up something fierce this semester and some of us aren't getting the same level of education as others. In my life drawing course, we averted a near-disaster after I had a "talk" with the instructor. He wanted to teach us the same anatomy lessons as last semester when he discovered half the pupils in the class weren't taught any anatomy the first time around! As one who doesn't want to spend 22 weeks studying the torso and arms, I convinced him that a week or two of that is more than enough when some of us (and we're the ones who got the A's last semester anyway) would like to know the musculature of the legs, neck and face! My carpool guy is in a different class and he'll get lessons in shading and "emotion," but he's not getting any more anatomy lessons.
On Thursday, our instructor gave us an entire page listing how many ways we can lose marks in class. Even things we're not allowed to do when the class takes a break! Feels like I'm in kindergarten again...
My blog could be quiet over the next few months. I have a feeling this semester's really going to eat into my time. Fortunately, I've managed to get the right software at home, so that I can work on this stuff any and every day.
If I could just break out of this mental break....
Kinda sad, since last weekend was a 4-day weekend....
This is going to be a difficult semester. I've had clashes (both in person and ones I've kept bottled up) with all of my instructors for this semester and already talked to the Dean about one of my problems. No, it wasn't like I was called into his office for causing trouble, I just needed to talk to him about a problem our entire class is having.
We've been split up something fierce this semester and some of us aren't getting the same level of education as others. In my life drawing course, we averted a near-disaster after I had a "talk" with the instructor. He wanted to teach us the same anatomy lessons as last semester when he discovered half the pupils in the class weren't taught any anatomy the first time around! As one who doesn't want to spend 22 weeks studying the torso and arms, I convinced him that a week or two of that is more than enough when some of us (and we're the ones who got the A's last semester anyway) would like to know the musculature of the legs, neck and face! My carpool guy is in a different class and he'll get lessons in shading and "emotion," but he's not getting any more anatomy lessons.
On Thursday, our instructor gave us an entire page listing how many ways we can lose marks in class. Even things we're not allowed to do when the class takes a break! Feels like I'm in kindergarten again...
My blog could be quiet over the next few months. I have a feeling this semester's really going to eat into my time. Fortunately, I've managed to get the right software at home, so that I can work on this stuff any and every day.
If I could just break out of this mental break....
In Motion
I was struck last week with kind of a philosophical debate. It's truly sad when you're alone in the car and you have a good debate, yes?
Anyway, I was on my way home from school and this Cadillac was coming up behind me fairly quickly. My first thought was (having parent who owned a Caddy recently, but smartly sold it because of the cost of *everything* for it) "how much does this guy pay for gas these days?" It's one of those moments that make you think about people who constantly speed, even when the price of gas is so high. Speed does NOT equal fuel efficiency!!
I digress.
I'd taken a quick glance at the guy as I stopped for the red light and as I waited for the green, I was suddenly aware f quite a bit of movement from behind me. Looking in the rearview mirror again, I saw this guy was really really into the music he was playing in his car.
We're not talking air guitar here, people. This guy had the entire band going on his dashboard!
So, it got me thinking....
This guy, bit of a comb-over, thicker-than-normal glasses (basically, a little on the homely looking side), was in a position that people can think one of two things about him:
1 - This guy's high on life and he doesn't care who knows it.
2 - The guy's a freak.
Now, depending on your own view of life at the time... if you were to see him (or someone like him), which person would you view? The freak? Or the happy-go-lucky guy?
Anyway, I was on my way home from school and this Cadillac was coming up behind me fairly quickly. My first thought was (having parent who owned a Caddy recently, but smartly sold it because of the cost of *everything* for it) "how much does this guy pay for gas these days?" It's one of those moments that make you think about people who constantly speed, even when the price of gas is so high. Speed does NOT equal fuel efficiency!!
I digress.
I'd taken a quick glance at the guy as I stopped for the red light and as I waited for the green, I was suddenly aware f quite a bit of movement from behind me. Looking in the rearview mirror again, I saw this guy was really really into the music he was playing in his car.
We're not talking air guitar here, people. This guy had the entire band going on his dashboard!
So, it got me thinking....
This guy, bit of a comb-over, thicker-than-normal glasses (basically, a little on the homely looking side), was in a position that people can think one of two things about him:
1 - This guy's high on life and he doesn't care who knows it.
2 - The guy's a freak.
Now, depending on your own view of life at the time... if you were to see him (or someone like him), which person would you view? The freak? Or the happy-go-lucky guy?
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
I, Madman
Today was day #2 of semester #3 (of 6 total semesters) for my classes.
My carpool partner & I have 2 classes together out of 5. We're in the same program in the same semester, but can't take classes at the same frickin' time.
Today was a solo drive in (fortunately for an afternoon class), but good ol' professional dump truck driver (AKA Asswipe Boy) managed to hit the shoulder of the road just before I was about to pass him in the fast lane.
I now have a nasty rockchip on my windshield. It'll cost me $100+ to have it fixed. I felt like taking my "The Club" and beating the guy at the next stoplight. That was 30 minutes into the 90-minute commute.
Parking, as usual, was atrocious at school and I went to the 2-mile-away supplementary lot only to find a lone car circling the lot waiting for a spot to open. He eventually left (I just pulled my car off to the side and waited) and as he left some kid walked up and got in his car. So, I moved my car to his lane and put my turn signal on to indicate "this is now my spot."
Well, freaky boy who'd been circling earlier all of a sudden cuts in front of my car to take the spot! So, out I get and walk over to his window, rap on the glass and say:
"If you even try to take this spot when I'm sitting here signalling for it, I will kill you. Back your car up and wait your damn turn." He backed up and I got back in mine in time to pull in. I wasn't wearing my photo ID card yet, but was just in a black jacket, black shirt, and jeans. Imagine him complaining to security "he had a goatee, black shirt and blue jeans." Yeah, one-of-a-kind at art school...
I get to class for 1:00 and the damn instructor doesn't show until 2:30. His schedule had the class slotted for a 6:30pm start time. Well, nope, it's one and he decides that since we're starting late "we'll just push on through 'til 6:30." My hand goes up and I inform him I'm leaving at 5. I have a meeting at 7pm and have a 90-minute commute ahead of me. I don't care that his schedule was wrong, mine was right and I was there on time. Didn't go over well with him, but the associate Dean (who'd come to the class to figure out where the instructor was) just shrugged her shoulders and left the room.
As it was, the course is a heavy one on 3D animation using Maya (which I've never used before). It has a prerequisite course (Introduction to Maya, dontcha-know?) that I'm apparently scheduled to take starting tomorrow. Nice program schedule, people! By tomorrow night, all the stuff I "learned" today will probably make a lot more sense.
Y'know, you'd think an art school would realize that the students are their best marketing tool. When teachers don't show up, we're scheduled in prerequisite classes AFTER major classes, and our program students are sent flying in numerous different directions (I've seen now 10 different schedules for the same 5 courses... there's only 25 of us) instead of building the "network" that could carry us through the next decade after graduating... does anyone REALLY think I'd recommend this place to anyone?
Rrrrgggg. Annoying pissy little friggy things today...
Oh, 2 more things. Prof. Lateasiwannabe also spent over an hour reading us the course syllabus. Um, hello? It's in front of us and you were frigging 90 minutes late, move on already!!
Secondly, my carpool partner had his second semester of life drawing start on Monday night. The instructor there spent 10 minutes griping about people using MSN Messenger and how he'll ask anyone doing it in class to leave.... There's no computers in that room. There isn't even a network connection from the school into that room. How the Hell does he expect people to be using MSN Messenger???
Oh, and apparently the class is going on a field trip to the Granville Island Market one night in order to draw the pigeons.
At night?
Fortunately, I have the same instructor for my second semester of life drawing as I had for the first semester, and not this dude. So there. We'll spend an hour each Thursday afternoon discussing anatomy before the model arrives and we draw for 3 hours. Sounds great.
Later this week: Prepare for a philosophical piece on whether performing air guitar(drums, piano, whatever) casts positive or negative emotions in other... drivers. Seriously.
My carpool partner & I have 2 classes together out of 5. We're in the same program in the same semester, but can't take classes at the same frickin' time.
Today was a solo drive in (fortunately for an afternoon class), but good ol' professional dump truck driver (AKA Asswipe Boy) managed to hit the shoulder of the road just before I was about to pass him in the fast lane.
I now have a nasty rockchip on my windshield. It'll cost me $100+ to have it fixed. I felt like taking my "The Club" and beating the guy at the next stoplight. That was 30 minutes into the 90-minute commute.
Parking, as usual, was atrocious at school and I went to the 2-mile-away supplementary lot only to find a lone car circling the lot waiting for a spot to open. He eventually left (I just pulled my car off to the side and waited) and as he left some kid walked up and got in his car. So, I moved my car to his lane and put my turn signal on to indicate "this is now my spot."
Well, freaky boy who'd been circling earlier all of a sudden cuts in front of my car to take the spot! So, out I get and walk over to his window, rap on the glass and say:
"If you even try to take this spot when I'm sitting here signalling for it, I will kill you. Back your car up and wait your damn turn." He backed up and I got back in mine in time to pull in. I wasn't wearing my photo ID card yet, but was just in a black jacket, black shirt, and jeans. Imagine him complaining to security "he had a goatee, black shirt and blue jeans." Yeah, one-of-a-kind at art school...
I get to class for 1:00 and the damn instructor doesn't show until 2:30. His schedule had the class slotted for a 6:30pm start time. Well, nope, it's one and he decides that since we're starting late "we'll just push on through 'til 6:30." My hand goes up and I inform him I'm leaving at 5. I have a meeting at 7pm and have a 90-minute commute ahead of me. I don't care that his schedule was wrong, mine was right and I was there on time. Didn't go over well with him, but the associate Dean (who'd come to the class to figure out where the instructor was) just shrugged her shoulders and left the room.
As it was, the course is a heavy one on 3D animation using Maya (which I've never used before). It has a prerequisite course (Introduction to Maya, dontcha-know?) that I'm apparently scheduled to take starting tomorrow. Nice program schedule, people! By tomorrow night, all the stuff I "learned" today will probably make a lot more sense.
Y'know, you'd think an art school would realize that the students are their best marketing tool. When teachers don't show up, we're scheduled in prerequisite classes AFTER major classes, and our program students are sent flying in numerous different directions (I've seen now 10 different schedules for the same 5 courses... there's only 25 of us) instead of building the "network" that could carry us through the next decade after graduating... does anyone REALLY think I'd recommend this place to anyone?
Rrrrgggg. Annoying pissy little friggy things today...
Oh, 2 more things. Prof. Lateasiwannabe also spent over an hour reading us the course syllabus. Um, hello? It's in front of us and you were frigging 90 minutes late, move on already!!
Secondly, my carpool partner had his second semester of life drawing start on Monday night. The instructor there spent 10 minutes griping about people using MSN Messenger and how he'll ask anyone doing it in class to leave.... There's no computers in that room. There isn't even a network connection from the school into that room. How the Hell does he expect people to be using MSN Messenger???
Oh, and apparently the class is going on a field trip to the Granville Island Market one night in order to draw the pigeons.
At night?
Fortunately, I have the same instructor for my second semester of life drawing as I had for the first semester, and not this dude. So there. We'll spend an hour each Thursday afternoon discussing anatomy before the model arrives and we draw for 3 hours. Sounds great.
Later this week: Prepare for a philosophical piece on whether performing air guitar(drums, piano, whatever) casts positive or negative emotions in other... drivers. Seriously.
Mr Lonely
Okay, no new posts in weeks isn't really a *new* thing for me, but utter silence usually is.
Let's just say I've started to consider my daughter a primary plague carrier --especially in this family. With her starting kindergarten in September and me being particularly defenseless after staking so many hours into projects leading up to September 15th...
By September 17th I was down and out and am still recovering on October 5. In the meantime, I've had:
So I pretty much slept on my 2 weeks off. And had very little contact with the outside world.
I know, plenty of time for blogging, right? No, actually. Typing made me sweat too much. I was only good to sleep on the couch.
Let's just say I've started to consider my daughter a primary plague carrier --especially in this family. With her starting kindergarten in September and me being particularly defenseless after staking so many hours into projects leading up to September 15th...
By September 17th I was down and out and am still recovering on October 5. In the meantime, I've had:
- an eye infection
- an earache
- a cold
- bronchitis
So I pretty much slept on my 2 weeks off. And had very little contact with the outside world.
I know, plenty of time for blogging, right? No, actually. Typing made me sweat too much. I was only good to sleep on the couch.
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