Condensation, part two

Carrying on …

Wednesday. The 15th of August. Nighttime.  Fancy, blurry, that-takes-me-back effect goes here.

The final class. Graphic design 9, the last in a long string of classes starting in 2006. End of the saga, like George Lucas couldn’t have done it, and usage of CGI was kept to a minimum.

We each had to create a project proposal for a social advertising campaign, with most themes being about the environment, like in my case. I had to design a campaign for the preservation of national parks and endangered species (flora and fauna). My idea was supposed to be a global thing, but the teacher wanted it (and all other projects) to be just for this country. Bummer, as I would’ve liked to create something non-specific that could apply to any place.

The online information on national parks is rather limited. While Wikipedia has plenty of information about species of any kind, I focused more on protected areas and scientific reserves. My project certainly lacked in the theory aspect because of this, but not in the graphical one. I found a nice amount of info on a few parks and a few species, and those were enough to create designs for banners, billboards, posters, ads for printed media, and even a small magazine-style bulletin for the campaign.

I also had to create the logo for it, from scratch and not based on anything. It contains leaf shapes and the color arrangement of our flag inside one of them. To its right, is the campaign’s name, A greener country. It was also the slogan for it, for radio and TV commercials, which would end with “for a greener country”. Saved me from having to come up with an original slogan, apart from the name.

Before all this, I had created another logo, which depicted a green human shape (made of two circles, and not attached to each other) hugging the Dominican flag. What a disaster that was. It looked like a pregnant person (Octo-Mom?) and no one understood it until I explained it. The teacher tried as best it could to avoid stating the obvious –that it sucked–, and said that it was too weak, that it needed strength. I was the one who suggested trying something else entirely, and she immediately agreed. This logo really, really sucked.

So, after having my new logo, making all those designs and the magazine thingy, promotional items (lighters, stickers, t-shirts, etc.) creating a script for a radio ad, a website mock-up, as well as a nice little storyboard with images that resulted from a mix of photo editing (via GIMP), recycled vector work (via Inkscape) and 3D rendering (with Blender), I went to print it all, hours before the class began. The teacher wanted it to be hardbound, like a book, but that required me to get everything done at least one day before, and I wasn’t even able to finish things on the final day. The website remained a mock-up, but it was supposed to be a working design. There was plenty of time, but I was exhausted in body and mind, and didn’t mind delivering something that was less than perfect.

As I was saying, I went to print my work long before class began. An hour and a half, or so. I figured the printing place would be nearly empty, with most students already on vacation. It wasn’t empty. There was a bunch of people there. Thankfully, I was somehow able to get my stuff printed without waiting half an hour. I was offered the choice of having my work bound, right there, but it wasn’t the type of binding the teacher wanted … just the simple binding for regular work. I declined, and instead went to buy a clear book, with 40 pockets. I chose this because the simple binding looked too regular, and in case the teacher asked me to change anything and deliver it later (so I’d only have to print the changed pages).

I ran into some trouble with the magazine thing. I couldn’t just print the pages and slide them into the book, because it would require turning it upside down all the time. So, I cut the pages out from their borders, and them bound. Then, I could easily put the magazine inside the clear book. The binding didn’t look pretty, but as long as it worked … problem solved.

There was also a CD label design, but I must have cut it too small and it didn’t reach the edges of the CD (which contained the presentation and all that the teacher wanted). I was in a rush, so I couldn’t make a test print of it at home, so I relied a bit too much on hope.

When it was all done, and those classmates who were there had also readied their work (one of them actually got it hardbound), we headed for class. While I had gone to print things early, the class was supposed to have begun by now, and we were late. But it’s a very small group, and those not with me were simply not there yet.

While crossing the street, I almost got hit by a car. I know my luck is bad, but that would’ve been a terrible thing to happen on the last day. If not for one of my friends calling me, I wouldn’t have seen the vehicle driving towards me. I joked about it afterwards, saying how much it would’ve sucked to have done all that work, only to get run over as I’m about to present.

Okay, we got the actual classroom. Not the usual classroom, but the projection room. First time since it was remodeled, that I used the projection room for something that was actually class-related. I (we?) thought the dean of Arts would be there to witness our presentation, but that wasn’t going to happen, just like the previous term. It’s strange, because Graphic Design 9 is his class, but I guess the teacher would just show him our work after we were done presenting.

I offered to present first, because I wanted to be done with it and, if I screwed up, everyone else would forget about by the time the last person presented. The projector was behaving strangely, displaying the wrong colors. My green campaign was blue and pink. We thought the projector was at fault, so we got another one. Turns out that the laptop was being evil, and had to be replaced. I ran with the evil laptop and quickly asked for a replacement. After that, things worked fine.

My presentation was probably the longest (around forty minutes, according to a classmate). I went through all the theory and through each and every logo variation and each and every design. I was going through the script for the radio ad, when I read the part about “nature sounds in the background”. At this point, some members of the audience thought it would help to emit said sounds. Gee, thanks.

At the end of my presentation, I quickly showed the website mock-up and nodded along as I heard the critique. I didn’t think too much of the quickie mock-up, which had seen few updates since the last time the teacher saw it, so I just kept nodding. I did have to defend my work against some of the comments, and had to agree with some others. I didn’t offer to provide a revised version of my work for a later date. That would’ve been crazy of me, as I wasn’t going to spend yet another night on anything else other than sleep. I did agree to complete the theory part and e-mail it to the teacher later in the week, but the design part stayed put.

When I was done, I hurried to a seat in the front, thankful that there wasn’t going to be a Graphic Design 10, which would have been too much, and I think nine levels of graphic design are too many already. If, for some reason, you’re not able to select one particular class in that long chain, you’ll add four months to your college career. It would be great it some could be taken simultaneously.

While I watched others present their work, I had the camera in my hands at all times. If not for the terrible quality of indoor shots (not to mention the weak flash), I’d have more to show for this moment. Oh, well.

Each presentation was shorter than the previous one, and mine held the record for the longest one. When the presentation was done, everyone walked out of the projection room, while I further tested my camera’s ability to capture an indoor scene at night. Suddenly, one of my classmates saw me and said “Hey, group shot!”. Then, everyone walked in again. Great.

Ideally, I would have taken care of the photo-making, not minding that I wasn’t going to be in the picture, but someone (the teacher?) went outside and got an employee to work the camera so the group shot would be complete. The camera’s built-in flash doesn’t reach very far and, while I thought I could fix the shots when I got home, there was little I could do to salvage them.

When all this photo thing was done, we finally went outside, good-bye to the teacher and stayed there for a bit. Knowing that this would probably my last time being in college at night, I kept making some shots of the place outside. Difficult to keep a steady hand, and the flash helps little.

While I was doing that, the others were talking about getting together on the weekend or something like that. Not interested (in part because going out doesn’t agree with me), I ignored pleas from others, who wanted me to promise that I would go. Most I can say for such things is “maybe”, and I just wanted to get home.

Finally, the others were on their way, while Maru and I walked to the south gate. She’s a long-time friend of mine, all the way from Graphic Design 3, and I always wait with her until they pick her up. As her mother was taking her time, we just kept talking and I kept pointing the camera at everything. When Maru was picked up, her mother offered to drive me home, which is just nearby. I gladly accepted, because I really don’t like to say “NO!” to such kind offers.

It was my last day, but that wasn’t the same for Maru, who still had to do her final photography assignment. It seems everyone had a photography thing to do.

I got home, had a quick dinner, wrote that post and … wait, it’s happening again. Essay-sized post. Cutting it short, right about … now.

Condensation, part one

I let a week go by.

More than a week. And the potential entries in this journal of mine just kept piling up. In an attempt to relieve this issue, I’ll just throw everything in a few posts, and I’ll keep things brief. This is the condensed version of the last two months or so.

Be ready, reader(s). El muchos blogos postos here … probably.

So, flash back to Thursday, July 30th (imagine the screen going blurry and everything turning black and white).

I got back from that short visit and just in time for class. Before that visit was made (or paid), I had printed some work for the “degree seminar” class. Every week, the teacher would explain to us what we should bring the following one, and it would all add up to a thesis. In this case, not a full thesis, but the point is that we learn how such a thing is done, and we prove that we can do one by ourselves by providing him with an almost-finished thesis.

For this particular class … I have no idea what I brought. I know that the teacher wasn’t there yet and that, despite the rainless trip I had just taken part in, it had rained a little. One of my classmates kept asking why I was snapping pictures of the railing. I recall answering something to the effect of “because I like it”. I showed her the result of that railing, covered with water drops from the short-lived rainfall, and she answered “Ooooookay” with that you’re-a-strange-person tone. I didn’t mind at this point, and kept pressing the shutter to make some good images for you people of my last few weeks of actual college class-taking.

For the following week, I had a ton of work to do. An exaggeration, of course, but to a lazy person like me, any amount of work is a ton. I didn’t touch the camera at all during the week, and there’s little to illustrate (so the images you see are from that Thursday). All I can remember is that I actually cared a little about the work I had to do. For the final budget class, I had to create the launch the career of a musician. Not an actual musician, but one of my classmates, who didn’t mind the teacher using him as the subject of our final project.

I wrote a quick description of what his music styles would be, created four tables spread over the same amount of pages, where I detailed advertising budgets for radio and television, as well as banners, T.V. show appearances and small concerts. I sort of … came up with the prices for everything, based on what I had seen all throughout my college career. In the end, I only used about 75% of the budget the teacher had given us, but I think it’s for the best to not leave the artist completely broke. All this work was quickly printed and delivered on a Tuesday (at this point, it’s finally August). There was only a handful of students left at the end of the term, whereas it had been a full classroom, and the largest group the teacher had had so far, on the first day. Numbers kill, I guess, but this was such an easy class that I should blame the mass withdrawal on scheduling issues and not on difficulty.

That was it. I was done with one class, out of three. I had printed what would be the final thesis on that same day, also before the class … or was it after? The point is, I printed it. It had to be printed as early as possible, so I could inform the other two in the group about how much it cost. I had paid most of the prints throughout the term, but I just didn’t care and remained fair in splitting the cost for the final print. One of the two others in the group was in the budget class, so told her how much she had to bring after doing some math. The other, I was able to contact online.

Wednesday came and went, and I did little for the design class. After Thursday, I would have a whole week to do all that was left. One thing, though, is that the teacher told us that the final work had to be hardbound like a fancy yearbook. Only a few of us were told of this, and just as we left the classroom.

Then … there was Thursday. The teacher wasn’t there when I got to the classroom, and my group was incomplete. The teacher had said that we would have to present and defend our work as we would with a real thesis, but that’s not how it turned out. He approached each group, flipped through the pages and gave some comments. When my group was finally complete, we agreed to be the last ones, as we weren’t in a rush.

Some people weren’t able to print their work on time, and the teacher had to look at the work in a laptop. “How irresponsible”, I thought. When our turn came, the classroom was very empty. He looked through our work, commented on a few things that would have to be changed if it were a real thesis, and proceeded to grade it …

85.

Eighty-five. Ninety points or higher would’ve meant an A. But that’s not how it ends. As for most of the other groups, the teacher gave us a chance to correct things, which would bring the grade to 90. I was extremely tired, but my group-mates stared at me for a few seconds when the teacher said it. I had no choice but to say “Yeah, sure, we could do that”. Thankfully, I wouldn’t have to print it all over again, and I would only have to deliver it in a CD, before the following Thursday.

As I don’t have the best luck, I knew it would be bad to wait until Wednesday to deliver the revised form of this semi-thesis. So, I completely forgot about graphic design and spent the better part of the weekend fixing things, here and there. I did get plenty of rest on Friday and most of Saturday. Otherwise, I’d have passed out just from staring at the word processor.

I burned the revised work on two CDs,  in case my bad luck should strike, and printed a quick label with our names on it, and our subject (acceptance of graphic design in politics, etc.). I didn’t have class on Mondays, but I wanted to deliver the stuff as early as humanly possible. This was the third class that I had taken with the same teacher (the first being in 2006) and, while the guy is nice, I didn’t want there to be a fourth time.

Knowing that it would be one of the last chances of being in college during the day, at least for a while, I took my camera, batteries well-charged. After heading straight for the where Social Studies department was, and leaving the CD (where it was placed with some others, apparently for the same teacher), I headed for the exit … and turned back not long after. I was there, and I had the camera. Why not?

So, I went to the little round plaza with stone benches that was nearby and began my photo-day. At one point, I noticed a girl who I had known from school. She didn’t recognize me this time, but her friend pointed at me in a way that meant “Look at that guy … what is he doing?”. Once again, I didn’t mind, and continued to walk around, my right index finger always on the shutter button.

I went to where the Coffee Store once was, and were people I know (somewhat) usually hang out. There hasn’t been a Coffee Store in a long while (now it’s an Orange cell phone thing, and people have to get their caffeine fix at the cafeteria), but it’s comfortable to sit at the tables that have been placed there, under the shade of the trees. It’s not so comfortable when it rains, though.

Few people were left when I was there. This was the final week, and only the least fortunate had to attend. I photographed my surroundings, including a bird’s nest at the top of a tree trunk, right at the point where it splits into branches. Despite taking a couple dozen pictures of it, none of them are good for showing. Too bad.

No one asked why I was photographing things. They hadn’t seen me doing this before, but it seemed like something normal to them. A guy taking pictures of his shoe, of a bird’s nest and empty tables? Completely normal. Right. I even let one of the guys use the camera for a bit. This isn’t school, so I didn’t have to worry about people breaking things they borrow from me. Or, at least, not as much as back then.

After a while, and after a quick walk to the parking area to get the photo I forgot to make that one time (I had to take advantage of it being empty, and I think it turned out well), I figured it was time for me to go. At this point, my friend Johan was there, finishing a photography thing. I’ve known him for ten years now, since sixth grade, but it’s only when high school kicked in that I was able to befriend him and others. He’s at the beginning stage of the graphic design career, after deciding that computer science (or whatever it was) wasn’t for him. I always brag about being farther ahead and he’ll always jokingly say something like “Damn you!” or “Shut up!”. Fun times.

Anyway, he had that photography thing to finish. He was participating in an exhibit of photographic work, and he had to scan some negatives. I had never seen a negative scanner in action, and had seldom been to the remodeled photography studio/classroom (my luck at work), so I joined him. The remodeled studio is twice as big as the original one, after being merged with the classroom next to it. This took place while I was taking the last two of the three photography classes, and so I never got to make use of this new space, or sit at the fancy classroom with the projector. Instead, I only got to see the old, smelly dark room, which is gone now (it became my Graphic Design 8 classroom).

The film scanner was a flatbed one, but at much higher resolution than the one we’ve got at home. The girl who was working the scanner couldn’t find the right settings so the scanned result wouldn’t look so bright and faded. Shortly after, the scanner began to behave … strangely. The result was had dark stripes that went across it in a Beetlejuice sort of way. We began joking that Johan’s negatives had broken the scanner and he would have to buy a new one.

Because the scanner didn’t work, Johan had to go somewhere else to get his negatives scanned. As that “somewhere else” was on my way home, we walked up until that evil corner where many cars have crashed. I was walking at a fast pace, because it was very cloudy and I didn’t want to be in a literal under-the-weather situation because of my photo-making. Besides, I had a ton of work to do for the graphic design class, and there was no little time to waste. So, I said goodbye and tried not to get hit by oncoming traffic as I crossed. Traffic lights? No one pays attention to that these days.

I got home and … this post is almost past the two-thousand-word mark. Pretty much an essay. I guess I was right in putting a warning at the beginning, reader(s). If you made all the way to here, congratulations. A winner is you.

I guess I should cut this short right about … now. Just crossed the mark.

Serve cold and hot

Not a placeholder for a real post. Just showing signs of life.

The visit

Rumors of this blog’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. In an attempt to destroy self-bets involving cheeseburgers, and to dispel rumors that I’ve died or been abducted or joined a cult, I post once again.

Flashback to the 30th of July (whooshing sound effect goes here).

For the graphic design class, we set a date for our visit to ITLA (Instituto Tecnológico de Las Américas, and I’ll leave you to figure out the translation). A Thursday afternoon seemed to work we best for most of us, although I was very concerned that I wouldn’t be early for my 5:00 class.

We agreed to meet at the southern gates of Mordor, early in the afternoon. As I’d been having more health issues than I usually do, I had to get up and have lunch earlier than the usual, so my food would have time to settle.

I got there just in time … to see that only one other person in class had arrived. I had some waiting to do before everyone got there, so I went to print some work that I had for my 5:00 class. When I went back to the gates, no one else had arrived. I had the camera with me, of course, and I checked if the batteries were working properly and made a few test shots.

All but three people in class arrived (two weren’t going, and one was “on his way”), in addition to the teacher and her husband, who would be driving us. Four others had withdrawn from class already, bringing it down to six, of which only four were going on this trip.

The one who was on his way was stuck in traffic, so we all managed to fit in the small car, driven by the teacher’s husband, with the other guy meeting us at a halfway point. Taking advantage of the situation, I readied the camera and made several car-window shots (even though I was in the middle of the back seat). At one point, we passed that evil school I graduated from and, almost immediately, some newspapers that were in the back were rustled by the wind and began to attack us. It was the school’s doing. I’m sure of it!

After crossing the Juan Pablo Duarte bridge, we drove some way ahead and waited for the other guy to join us. We had stopped at one of the many places where transit is at its most chaotic, and were looking in every direction, waiting for a sign. After a long while, his car stopped in front of us, and he took out his hand to indicate to us that he was willing to take two passengers (well, that, or he was just making the peace sign). Myself and a girl in class quickly got out of the car and ran toward his. That way, each car carried three occupants.

It was better for me this way, because the trip was finally made comfortable, and even enjoyable. I was alone in the back seat, the air conditioning was at full power and the guy (whose middle name is my first) is a big, big fan of Michael Jackson, and perhaps had a bigger rediscovery of his music than I did after he died. The entire way was accompanied by some of the best songs from the King of Pop (and even some from the Jackson 5/The Jacksons).

We kept singing along to every song we could. There were some cases where I could finally connect a song with its title, having heard it before but not knowing what it was called. We had lost sight of the other car a while ago, and we stopped. I took advantage of that moment to roll down the window and capture the Caribbean Sea, which was to my right (those shots resulted in the panorama featured in this post).

After a while of not seeing the other car, we decided  to just keep going, in case the others were actually ahead of us, or in hopes that they would eventually catch up. We finally got there (and took me a while to get to this part of the post). We were the first to arrive. The others weren’t there yet, and so we waited inside the car.

When they finally got there, we all got out and made our way to the Arts building. The whole place is looks magnificent. Colorful buildings, scattered here and there, and its initials, written in big, blue letters, stood out under the cloudy sky. The Arts building, predominantly orange and yellow (on the outside), has quite a lot of glass in it. Many door-to-ceiling windows, glass panels, and a long skylight allowing for the sun to do its part for the lighting. Energy efficiency win.

The first thing I noticed when I was inside, was the abundance of laptops. No, really. There were a lot of artsy-looking kids (I say kids, because I’m clearly older at this point), each one sitting down on the floor, or in one of the few chairs, staring at a laptop. After this short first impression of the place, our tour guide led us to an auditorium, where she and this young fellow readied the standard presentation. The auditorium had many large screens in the front, but the presentation only used one. Through it, we were shown the history of the place, its purpose and its many departments.

During the show, I started to feel less than great (gah!), and I knew I had to make a quick trip to the restroom. After the presentation, we were led out to the hallway, so we could see some of the works made by students. Some are quite good, I have to admit. As we looked (and as I kept getting worse), an older man, older than our two guides, arrived. He was a teacher, and was going to talk about the art courses.

We were back in our seats in the auditorium, and our new host talked about the courses, the pricing, duration, requirements, and so on. It seems our teacher’s husband is also very interested in 3D animation, but kept mixing up CAD and standard 3D modeling (and kept getting corrected).

After we were done with that, our tour guide led us to the second floor so we could see some classrooms. I spotted a restroom close to the stairs, but I didn’t want to miss the tour, so I kept going. We saw a few classrooms (I spotted a girl working on a 3D model of a car), and more student work displayed on the walls. I couldn’t stand it for longer, so I asked the tour guide where the restroom was. I knew where it was, but I didn’t want to give her the impression that I was straying from the tour. I went and … well, that ended quickly. My plan to eat earlier was an effective one, as all my food was kept down. Still, it sucks that I had to feel ill during an interesting visit.

When I went back to where the classrooms were, I saw no sign of the tour guide … or the rest of my group. I asked a student who was sitting on the floor if she had seen them, but she missed them, as she had been working on her laptop. I walked around the place and went upstairs to the third floor. Turns out that there is no third floor. The staircase led up to the roof. I went downstairs the ground level and found them there. The tour guide was gone, and the tour was over. That’s it?!, I thought.

That was it. Of all the buildings and facilities that ITLA had to offer, we had only seen one, and the whole tour lasted less than the way there. Good thing it was free!

We went outside, and the sky had cleared up a bit. I quickly made several photos to create a panoramic view of ITLA. I’m surprised it turned out decent.

One of the others saw me with the camera and called to the rest of the group. We needed a group shot. Many group shots were made, including some in front of the big, blue letters. The camera didn’t expose correctly at first (resulting in some very dark, but fixable images), but it eventually gave in to the temptation of actually capturing what was in front of it, just as it looked.

After that, we were back on the road, and I was back to singing along to Michael Jackson. When I didn’t sing along, I took my time to make more window shots of the sky and the road. Good times.

Before we knew it, we were back in the city. I guess I expected too much of the visit, seeing that it was too short and not overly impressive. The time on the road was great, though.

In the end, I made it to the classroom some fifteen or twenty minutes before my 5:00 class began. Whew!

Okay, that’s plenty of words and pictures for today. I think I’ve made my point here, but I’ll make it again: I’m not dead, and neither is the blog. I’ve just had little reason/motivation for posting, as of late.

Expect more frequent posts from now on, reader(s). If I’ve got so much free time, it’s the least I can do.

The rainy season

It’s been raining a fair bit in the past week.

Okay, it’s been raining a lot.

Doesn’t bode well for us that there are two tropical storms headed our way. The hurricane season is making up for its tardiness, throwing things at us more than two months after its official start. While my long vacation doesn’t seem to have a good start, I expect that to change after the season ends.

I’ve been spending all my time at home (what a surprise). In the last few weeks of college, I wasn’t feeling so great and had trouble keeping food down. So, I’m taking my time to relax, eat and rest. It’s what I need, for now. I’ll have to take some courses to complete sixty hours that I’m supposed to do in order to graduate. Two should be enough, and I hope I can take them at the same time.

Other than that, I haven’t done much of anything. I’m not the type who goes out to parties or drinking or whatever people my age like to do. I stopped reading a good while ago, because of the overwhelming amount of college work. I’ll have to pick that up again.

I should make a list. Lists usually work. I’d like to improve myself during this time, before January comes and I go back to college for the final term.

Ever since Wednesday night, my family keeps asking what I’ll do now. I just don’t know. They’re probably wanting for me to get a job, being the only one who doesn’t have one. I’ve told them that I have to do those courses, and that seems to have done the trick in keeping them quiet for a while. I won’t be able to keep that up for much longer, and I’ll eventually become a part of the herd working world. Live to work, work to live, repeat.

It’s probably not as terrible as I make it sound, sure, and I would like to repay all that’s been invested in me (too unrealistic?). I guess I’m wishing there were more than settling for something that could become a decades-long routine: going to work, sitting at a desk, typing words or numbers, or creating/editing images until someone other than I is happy about them, followed by a trip back home. It seems to work for most of the world (I said seems to), but I’m not sure I want that for me.

Maybe I should sit outside and wait for my dream job offer to fall right on my lap … if only I still knew what that dream job is. I’m not sure what I want to spend my life doing (and photography is just a hobby, and one that I might get tired of sooner or later).

I guess figuring out what my career will should be makes a good addition to the list.

Meanwhile, the rain continues to fall.