Week 3: Busy busy.

It's been awhile since I've written about anything, and my only excuse is that I'm busy. And, of course, who isn't? Here are the best excuses I have to offer, though, and I can only hope everyone will let me slide for a little while.

Capstone. For those of you unfamiliar with UC or the capstone process, a capstone is similar to a senior thesis. Ours can be completed in small groups (2-3 people) or individually. I'm not much of a team player sometimes, and I'm confident I can't stand working with one person for six months straight, so I'll be doing mine on my own.

Capstone is funny. For four years, our schedule is dictated for us. We have classes all the time, we have daily homework assignments that result in very large, very difficult projects, we have little time to ourselves. Then your senior year hits. We have one fifteen minute meeting once a week with the head of our department to discuss our progress. The other 167.75 hours per week are up to us. (Not entirely true - we have one multi-disciplinary studio on Monday and Wednesday, and we have a discussion class on Friday mornings. As far as our biggest project of our educational careers go, though, that's it.)

It requires a lot of self-motivation. I'm doing the best I can, and I think I'm pretty far ahead of most of the people in my class so far. Still, I feel like I'm doing nothing for the class. "Researching" and "gaining knowledge" are big things, but they're things I honestly do every day. I don't feel like I'm working when I'm googling, or reading books. It's just what I like to do. So while I'm sure I'm doing lots of things, it feels like I'm completely unproductive. I hope I get over this soon.

Work. I kept my job at FRCH, for a lot of reasons. Number one, the digital department is no longer teaching Cinema 4D, and FRCH really needs someone to step in on day one and know how to do everything they do. This isn't conducive to hiring another co-op. They need me, even with my limited availability, and I need them, because they pay my credit card bill. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a full-time position in my future with them, but we'll see what everyone's needs are at that time.

Work was a little frustrating for awhile, because I was just showing up and checking my email and didn't have any actual work to do. This week was nice - there were some design changes made to our plan for Hampton, so I was able to help out on some of the visualization for that. Now I'm back with nothing to do, hoping that a project will come up and they'll need me to step in and do some things. My boss has been nice enough to pass off some of the 3D work that comes our way to me so that he can work on some different things, and I'm hoping that system continues. I know there's enough work for everyone, we're just trying to find a healthy balance.

Teaching. I've been a teaching assistant for the freshman digital classes for the past three years now. This is my fourth and final year to be a TA for them. This usually means that I show up on Monday evenings and watch the big lecture that their professor gives them, and on Fridays they hang out in smaller groups with a bunch of us. They work on their projects and we're around to give them help if they have any questions.

The system is a little different this year. Instead of having 25 people in a room with three random TA's, there are 25 people in a room, and 8 of them are assigned to one of the three TA's. We're able to develop more of a one-on-one relationship with them as a result. I'm not sure how I feel about the system just yet. My first afternoon with them was last Friday, so I don't have a lot of experience with it. We'll see how it all works out. They're also much quieter than any classes I've had in the past, which makes me a little uneasy. It was a slightly boring three hours.

I've also been offered the opportunity to lecture to the whole group, and I'm really excited about it. I think it'll just be for a few minutes per lecture when they're learning 3D, but it's a really fabulous opportunity. I won't know more about it for a few weeks, but I'm looking forward to it.

Graduating. I'll be graduating in a little less than five months. It turns out that's a pretty big deal. My friend Ian and I will be the digital representatives coordinating our final show (DAAPWorks). We applied for graduation this week. My mother is throwing the graduation party to end all graduation parties. Me? I'm just trying to keep it all together. It's a lot to handle.

And quite frankly, I'd be handling everything a little better if my bedroom wasn't 62 degrees. I do not handle the cold very well. Even the cat is curled up under a blanket, glaring at me like this is my fault. We have four total rooms in this house - bedroom, kitchen, living room, bathroom. The living room, where the only thermostat in the house is, is currently 70 degrees. The bedroom, a mere 15 feet away with the door completely open, is 62. I don't think I get to win at air circulation.

So, stay warm, everyone. I miss you all dearly. I think I'll be taking an unofficial break from the online world for awhile, because I just don't have the time to fit anything else in to my life. You can always catch updates from me at twitter in the meantime.