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Oct. 11th, 2009
It's what you've come to expect from me.
Oct. 11th, 2009 08:41 pmI know I've been posting a lot of pictures of Ethan lately, but it's been one thing after another with him. Cross-country. Homecoming. My days are pretty monotonous lately - work and school are taking up most of my time and there's not a lot to say about it. My two science classes are driving me nuts - not because I don't love science or find it hard, but the class structure and the instructors are maddening.
For instance, I just had to to an assignment with four sections. The first was to go through my latest exam (on which 60% of the class got a D or an F; no one got an A - I got one of the highest in class with an 86%) and correct it, write down why I got it wrong and cite my sources for finding the correct answer. Then we had to write out a detailed essay on our study habits, then write down ways in which we could improve our performance and then rewrite some of the questions to make them clearer. The problem I had - several of my answers were totally correct and marked wrong for no reason.
This teacher has such a confidence problem - almost every week, she makes up break up into groups to discuss ways in which that class could be better and to evaluate her teaching. We spend more time discussing the rules of the class than we do the actual material. Which is too bad, because I am rocking this whole valence electron thing.
The highlights of my week are photography and weight training. I love having a scheduled hour twice a week (a third day would be great) to work out. I've lost 12 pounds and rebuilt quite a bit of my chest muscle since classes started seven weeks ago. I'm hoping to take another course in the spring as well to keep up the progress.
I may also take another photography class if I can swing it in my schedule. This coming spring will be my final semester before I transfer to the university, so it's my last chance, really. Photography has been just fantastic. It's odd how a picture I wouldn't give a second glance to on the digital is a beauty when so much time and effort has gone into its creation.
So, as my post began, I'm sorry I've been posting so many pictures of Ethan lately, but I have to post one more. Our latest assignment in photography is portraits and lighting. We had to take many pictures with lighting coming from different directions. This one in particular is from the set with the forward-lighting. It turned out so well, I have surprised myself.
We also had the critique from our first project. My pictures were widely liked, with some good, healthy criticism. I think my favorite comment so far has been: "When I first look at your pictures, I wonder why you would take a picture of that. It's like pictures of nothing [an empty street in one, someone shouting as some people walking by in another] but the more I look at them, the more I like them. There's something there but I don't know what to call it."
And just so my skills don't erode, I played with the digital with some self-portraits and Photoshop.
( It's me. )
And soon, I need to decide what I'm going to do with all this colleging. I like being more educated - I always have. But that's always been a reward in itself. I could go to school forever. But that's not a career and I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be doing this for a reason, toward a goal. I don't have one of those, exactly. You know what I really like? Learning. Knowing. Creating. I would make a great gnostic God. It reminds me of the last page in Lon Milo DuQuette's The Chicken Qabalah.
For instance, I just had to to an assignment with four sections. The first was to go through my latest exam (on which 60% of the class got a D or an F; no one got an A - I got one of the highest in class with an 86%) and correct it, write down why I got it wrong and cite my sources for finding the correct answer. Then we had to write out a detailed essay on our study habits, then write down ways in which we could improve our performance and then rewrite some of the questions to make them clearer. The problem I had - several of my answers were totally correct and marked wrong for no reason.
This teacher has such a confidence problem - almost every week, she makes up break up into groups to discuss ways in which that class could be better and to evaluate her teaching. We spend more time discussing the rules of the class than we do the actual material. Which is too bad, because I am rocking this whole valence electron thing.
The highlights of my week are photography and weight training. I love having a scheduled hour twice a week (a third day would be great) to work out. I've lost 12 pounds and rebuilt quite a bit of my chest muscle since classes started seven weeks ago. I'm hoping to take another course in the spring as well to keep up the progress.
I may also take another photography class if I can swing it in my schedule. This coming spring will be my final semester before I transfer to the university, so it's my last chance, really. Photography has been just fantastic. It's odd how a picture I wouldn't give a second glance to on the digital is a beauty when so much time and effort has gone into its creation.
So, as my post began, I'm sorry I've been posting so many pictures of Ethan lately, but I have to post one more. Our latest assignment in photography is portraits and lighting. We had to take many pictures with lighting coming from different directions. This one in particular is from the set with the forward-lighting. It turned out so well, I have surprised myself.
We also had the critique from our first project. My pictures were widely liked, with some good, healthy criticism. I think my favorite comment so far has been: "When I first look at your pictures, I wonder why you would take a picture of that. It's like pictures of nothing [an empty street in one, someone shouting as some people walking by in another] but the more I look at them, the more I like them. There's something there but I don't know what to call it."
And just so my skills don't erode, I played with the digital with some self-portraits and Photoshop.
( It's me. )
And soon, I need to decide what I'm going to do with all this colleging. I like being more educated - I always have. But that's always been a reward in itself. I could go to school forever. But that's not a career and I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be doing this for a reason, toward a goal. I don't have one of those, exactly. You know what I really like? Learning. Knowing. Creating. I would make a great gnostic God. It reminds me of the last page in Lon Milo DuQuette's The Chicken Qabalah.