So I guess it’s that time again. Time for another State of My Life. The last broadcast was rather depressing, no? Let’s see how this one fares:

Work:
~ I am LOVING my job right now. I even got an award last week for TEEXcellent Service. Apparently it’s somewhat rare for a student worker to get it. I got a statue thingy (it looks classier than it sounds) and a numbered TEEX coin (they’ve only given out 216 in 5 years) and a TEEX shirt. I was really honored and caught absolutely off-guard when the Director of the Agency came down himself to present it to me. I thought I was supposed to have a meeting with him and Jay, so I wasn’t surprised when he came into our office. I WAS surprised however, when he turned around with a TEEXcellence award in his hand for me! Everyone had come out of their offices into the main area and I was just so surprised! I’m sure I turned beet red. I was shaking. Anyway, work is going splendidly, and even though I was disappointed recently that I couldn’t teach myself ActionScript3 (a computer programming language) in a WEEK AND A HALF (I know, I have the most realistic expectations, don’t I?), the current presentation I’m working on is still going okay. It’s for the Chancellor’s Century Council (people that are richer than entire countries in Africa) when they come to Brayton (the fire field) on February 21. Gary (the Director) is going to give a short presentation to them before they get to explore what TEEX is and does, and that’s where I come in with the Flash presentation I’m designing for him. This time around has been admittedly a bit more difficult for me personally, since I wanted to do so many cool things, but school and time limitations just wouldn’t let me. But like I said, it’s still going really well and I’m enjoying my job and I love the people I work with.

Classes:
~ are going alright. I’m learning that just because they’re hard doesn’t mean they aren’t good. I’m enjoying them, and learning a lot. History is really interesting (it’s the Great Depression and WWII and I LOVE studying WWII). We just had our first test over the Great Depression and I have no idea how I did. It could have gone either way. But I’m choosing to be optimistic at this point. The course material is really interesting, and I really like my prof. He’s a no-nonsense type of guy, but he tells really interesting back stories and details about life during the time and really cool random facts that you wouldn’t find easily in a book. I like him.

~ My senior seminar (American music and lit) started out as my favorite class, and it’s still really interesting and I enjoy it, but it’s leveled out a bit. The last couple of books we’ve read I haven’t really enjoyed all that much, but I LOVE that he plays music in class (we’re studying jazz, bebop, ragtime, etc.), like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, and so many others. I LOVED it when we read Louis Armstrong’s autobiography. I recommend that book heartily. So all in all, I’m enjoying the books (’cept for the last couple, like I said), and I love our discussions and just learning about jazz and the lives of so many famous jazz musicians and singers. It’s really cool.

~ Shakespeare sucks. I like my prof well enough, I’m just not enamored with Shakespeare. I’d even go so far as to say I just don’t like it. But whatever. I have a test on Monday and I’m not sure how I’ll do, since I usually do better on tests over material that I’m interested in (because I pay closer attention and take better notes in class. You would laugh if you compared my Shakespeare notes to my History notes).

~ I go back and forth with ENDS101. I LOVE our prof (Jorge Vanegas!! - inside joke with Janet), but I’m oftentimes bored with the material since a lot of it parrots what I learned in all of my EPSY (educational psychology) classes. Not that I don’t like talking about creativity (um, I minored in it, duh), it’s just that it’s pretty much exactly what I already knew. But I’m excited to get to meet and go talk to him, he seems like a really interesting and funny guy. The course load kinda pisses me off though, because it’s a LOT of work and projects, and it’s an entry-level course. I wasn’t expecting an “easy A” or anything, but I don’t have time for a lot of the things he’s asking. We’ll see how it goes.

~ I have a love/hate relationship with my Graphics2 class this semester, although it’s usually love. Some of the projects haven’t been my favorite, but I will say that they stretched my limits as a designer and the way I view things, so I can’t fault them for that. Right now though, I’m working on an AWESOME project that I can’t WAIT to see through to fruition. We’re designing “VOTE” posters! They’re non-partisan, meaning we aren’t telling people HOW to vote, just that they SHOULD (btw, that means you too!). I am so excited about this project, and I have 8 million ideas bouncing around in my head. We’ve had quite a few cool projects lately (the most recent being a typographical grid assignment designing Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth on a grid format - they turned out SWEET), and I’m really enjoying stretching my bounds and learning new ideas and new skills. I dig graphic design.

Life in general:
~ I’ve been doing okay lately. I’ve been getting in bed early for a few weeks now (go me! I’m really proud of myself for that one) and now I can really feel the difference when I don’t get enough sleep. It’s kind of crazy. Even though I’m still sleepy even when I do get enough sleep, I’ve noticed that I can handle things better when I’m well-rested. Plus, I got a NEW! BED! and it’s the most glorious thing I possibly might have ever experienced, so that helps. I WANT to spend time in bed. :p And just because I can’t refuse, here’s a picture:

~ Tonight has been really hard though, because it’s raining like cats and dogs here and it’s supposed to continue through tomorrow. Normally I don’t care about inclement weather, because I can just hole up in my house, but tonight I was planning to drive to Austin to surprise my mother with a visit. I haven’t seen her in a month and a half, and I’m tired and stressed (deadlines and a freaking LOAD of school work) and I just miss her a lot. When I’ve called her crying a few times lately, she’s just been so amazing and reassuring, and typical Mommy. But I just wanted to be able to hug her and snuggle with her and just talk face-to-face with her. I have been telling her all week that I couldn’t come until Spring Break, and I have group meetings on Saturday, and blah blah blah. But the whole time I was planning on driving there tonight to surprise her, even if I did have to come back to CS Saturday night. So when I heard/saw/drove home in the horrible rain, I started having a downpour of my own down my cheeks just because I was so excited to get to see her (I’d even planned out what I was going to say as I walked through the front door) and I just felt so let down and disappointed and frustrated. So I guess that’s kind of the reason for this whole entry, because I needed something to get my mind off of where I was SUPPOSED to be.

And now I’m going to go get something to eat, because I’m famished. Hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of The State of My Life. Over and out.