So Very Dark

Once Halloween’s over, I feel like I’ve gotten all the use I needed out of fall.  Now I want snow.

Unfortunately, according to WeatherBug, that’s not happening any time soon.

Last weekend, Briggs and I drove down to Bryn Athyn to photograph his cousin Todd’s wedding.  The trip long, my homework got stress put on it yet again, but it was a very cool experience.

First of all, I got to feel like I was a part of a truly beautiful and awesome wedding without actually having to be IN the wedding.

Second, the photos came out, overall, better than I even hoped they would.  We have decent group shots, some good candid preparation shots and some of the bride and groom photos came out just beautiful.

Third, Briggs and I were bowled over when, as a gift for doing the photos and the wine labels, Todd and Michelle got us:  a photography backdrop (adjustable frame with two backdrop sheets, black and white), three lights with umbrellas AND a drawing table that I had lusted over in Micheal’s craft store a few weeks before.  Lemme tell you…I’m SO happy the photos came out well.

Fourth…I was really happy to discover that, exhausting though it may be, I CAN do a wedding worth of photos. (To give you an idea of the scope, Briggs and I took photos during the Rehearsal Dinner, the preparations, did the bride and groom photos, the group photos, shots during the ceremony, some photos at the reception and a few at the post-wedding brunch…we came home with almost 3000 photos between us. )

As for school…the quarter is almost half over and I feel like I have hardly done anything…which is doubly strange as I have gone in every Thursday so far, aside from the first week, to speak with teachers and get extra instructions.  I’ve completed two or three assignments…but I suppose just being so busy for the month of October made me feel like I was not really there.

My classes:  Editorial illustration is going all right.  Not the type of illustration I’m best at, but I’m getting by.  Fundamentals of Electronic design also seems to be going okay, even if layout is one of my worst things.

Dimensional Design, on the other hand…well, first of all, I really think my teacher is kind of, well, kind of a tool, to be honest.  I missed the first class he was there for (he missed the first week, I missed the second), but he spent a good portion of the first class I had him for bitching about the students and about how if he didn’t feel like people were invested in the class then he would loose motivation to bother trying to teach us…which doesn’t strike me as a great attitude for a teacher.  Plus, his teaching style seems to be very much along the lines of,  “You wanna learn how to swim?  Here, I’ll toss you in this deep water and you’ll figure it out.”  I have ‘working drawings’ due on Tuesday (basically a schematic of the Point of Purchase display we are supposed to build) and am not even entirely sure what my product is, certainly not sure what my display is and NOT good at drafting.  And I’m hesitant to even query my teacher after hearing him rant about how when you have a job in design, your boss is going to expect you to figure it out, not come whining to him with every little problem.  He already holds my class in rather low esteem, but at least so far, he seems to like me okay.  If I explain that I’m feeling a bit lost I fear that a) it will put me on his ‘useless’ list, and b) he’ll just rant at me about needing to use my head to figure these things out and still won’t really help me.  *sigh*

Other than that, life’s not too bad.  Last night was Halloween and I actually got dressed up and sort of did something — I went trick-or-treating with Anna and the kids (lemme tell you…country trick-or-treating is much less efficient than it is in the suburbs), then Briggs and I went and saw Zombieland (which was indeed AWESOME), then came home and watched Supernatural.  Spooktacular.

Other than that, my cats are cuddly, the weather is a bit chilly and coffee is brewing in the kitchen.  Which is my cue to go acquire coffee.