Finals

by tns

So my very first semester is almost done, this is the last week. Which means usually, finals. Fortunately this semester I have two classes which one involves a rudimentary PowerPoint presentation as a final and the other does not have one (besides to go to a portfolio show.) Which reminds me, I cannot go to it since I still have two other finals to work on.

My English class has some homework, but we had last week off. The final is an argumentative-persuasive problem-solution five paragraph essay on one of the following topics: economics, war, race (relations.) We don’t get to pick, the teacher will. Three topics I generally do not feel comfortable writing about and I think that was done on purpose. It’s a little hard to write a essay of this sorts on a subject you’re not too familiar, to me it seems hard to be convincing; which is one of the focuses our teacher puts on such essays. I’ve yet to brainstorm on any of the topics as I do not even know where to start with any of them, except for maybe war, which would be self-explanatory. I have to pretty much brainstorm for all three topics in preparation for any one of the topics, however we get the whole period (four hours) to write it. I suppose I could spent about thirty minutes to an hour on extra brainstorming should I need it, then probably another two to write the whole thing and use the rest of the hour to maybe go over it. I’m sort of confident in my organization of the essay but I have trouble focusing on the subject or introducing an actual problem without going into far too much detail, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem since the topics are fairly alien to me.

I just finished my Fundamentals of Design final, which involved producing 10 thumbnails (3×5 inches, color pencil required, wtf) based on two emotions, five thumbnails for each. The main focus was to use all elements of design and principles. After that we had to choose two compositions from each emotion and replicate them to 8×10 inches, in any medium. Doing ten thumbnails is time consuming, being REQUIRED to them in color pencil is even more time consuming. Not to mention how many times you have to sharpen the pencil to get the right results, caking on coat after coat to get the desired value. Also this had to be done on watercolor or Bristol paper, which doesn’t seem like an issue but then you have to deal with all the white speckles color pencil doesn’t cover, which ends up dulling your intended colors and everything generally looks like the same boring tone. The amount of times I broke my color pencil lead in my sharpener was frustrating, considering they cost $1.50 each. I got tired of sharpening them by hand and ended up buying a $10 electric sharpener, but this only added to the frustration of consecutive lead breaking. I decided to do the two final compositions in Illustrator, which I had to do at school because 1) my computer is being retarded and cannot install Creative Suite 4–I also uninstalled Creative Suite 3 which I cannot reinstall now 2) they have printing services that are open until at least after 9pm. I think my Kinkos closes earlier than they do, it’s also slightly cheaper. I’ll post up the final compositions some other time.

On top of this final project, I think in class we have to critique in front of the class or something. I’m not sure if its about our work or someone else’s, I’m assuming ours. I guess my teacher is trying to make us articulate how something might be good or bad. I just don’t agree with her teaching style, she only explains she wants us to articulate and critique but only gives us pointers when she’s really not getting any response from us and even then its only about what to avoid saying. Not that I particularly have that much of an issue speaking in front of people or to people, I’d imagine most people studying design would be leaning over more on the introverted side than the other. So I think if she just broke it down into a process that made sense or some kind of run down of things we could cover. Oh well.

The plan is (not that you care):

Tomorrow:

  • Finish 2nd draft of a previous essay.
  • Finish my PowerPoint presentation final on The Giving Tree

Wednesday:

  • Go to the bookstore and do English bibliography assignment.
  • Finish up any other English homework.
  • Brainstorm on essay topics.
  • Finish up PowerPoint presentation final if not finished.

Thursday:

  • Turn in my finals.
  • Do my English essay.
  • Celebrate by drinking.

Then spring break! It’s weird, I’ve never fully appreciated the concept of spring break because I’ve never been in college besides now. Really, its only nice because of its placement between semesters, meaning you have to go through a flurry of finals before getting to it, making it that much sweeter.

I even have a lot to do for spring break, which, for organization’s sake, I will list:

  • Buy bike shorts, with padding. Which I will need for the Century (100 miles) I plan on doing in April.
  • Bike more in preparation for the Century in April.
  • Tune up my bike and potentially shop for lighter wheelset (I’m looking for Open Pros)
  • Buy my mom tv converters because I’ve forgotten to get them for some time, I still don’t know why she has TWO TVs.
  • Get an oil change.
  • Reinstall Windows XP on my system so I can install Creative Suite 4
  • I can’t think of anything else but I hope it involves partying and/or drinking.

Ok I’m done, shit this was long.