Home Free!

Well my first semester at Sacramento State is over. The final 2 weeks were very intense. It seems like everything always piles up right after thanksgiving every year, but this year had to be the worst by far. I had 3 projects to do in one class, I had a final in my astronomy class, I had a final in one of my deign classes plus a really long paper due the day of the final and to top it all off was a brochure due in another class. 2 weeks for all that and though it doesn't seem like a lot, I really couldn't afford to phone it in. I have to worry about not just grades but the actual quality of work I had to create because a good sum of it ends up in my portfolio which will end up being reviewed by the design department faculty and they will decide if I deserve one of 40 spots in the program and if I don't get in then I am so screwed. I have a contingency  plan, but its terrible and expensive. Anyway, that's just to illustrate a bit of the stress I was feeling.

It was very difficult because at some point I felt like even though I was working hard, I wasn't getting anywhere. And of course so much had to go wrong. My printer ran out of ink, a tiny smudge of glue ruins something and forces me to redo it, and my personal favorite was when the bus driver decided to go off schedule and take his lunch break at the precise time I I had to go take my astronomy final and I had to run to campus in 20 minutes. 50 degrees out and I was the only one in class sweating buckets. You'd think I would expect these things since it seems to be how my life works, but somehow they always surprise me. But finally, just this last Wednesday the end finally came. I perhaps could have done better on some of the things if I had more time, but I'm very pleased with what I made and I'm really happy that I had the discipline to get everything done.

By Wednesdays night I was so exhausted. I got on the train Thursday morning to come home and now I have until mid january to be care-free. I can't wait to hang out with family, play video games and play with Butters. Its good to be home for Christmas!

*sigh* I hate titles.

Ever since the Ohlone College Student Art & Design show a few years ago I've been able to call myself an award winning designer. Now I can officially call myself an award winning professional graphic designer. Several months ago Richard King offered me the opportunity to design a concept for a brochure for his law firm. He said he would pay me for it even if he didn't end up liking it but if he did like it then more money would be in it for me. So I did. This all happened last July or August...its been so long now. I came back to him after 2 weeks and he loved it!*

* well he sort of loved it. he wanted some changes. This is what dragged the whole job on for about 4 months. I learned a lot about how I should do things in the future with clients, so it was a good experience. Last week I was finally able to deliver 1000 brochures. I am in Sacramento so I haven't been able to get my hands on a real one, but I can only assume that a box full of my cloned design is nothing short of adorable. Its an odd feeling to imagine that something that came out of your head is now duplicated and will be handed out and viewed by hundreds and hundreds of people. Anyway, here's a simulation of what the final thing looks like. Its pretty awesome!:

So Christy Tried To Kill Me

Sort of. I had a great weekend visiting Cory and Kristal and the kids in Tracy this weekend. Kevin and Lynn were in Fremont visiting mom and dad so I wanted to see them and also I would be able to get a train in Fremont to get back to Sacramento so Cory wouldn't have to take up half his day and gas tank taking me home. So on Sunday Christy came to pick me up in Tracy to take me back to Fremont. Everything was cool for about 5 minutes but then we were on the freeway on ramp. Suddenly Christy said something, I don't remember what exactly, but we had drifted too close to the side of the on ramp and the tire dropped off the pavement. So she kind of jerked the wheel back and the car just kind of went out of control entirely! Christy was saying things and then she screamed...I was just sort of looking around in disbelief that this was real. Finally we hit the curb on the other side of the road and I was expecting a roll-over. I grabbed the handle on the door and just held on as the car slid around in the dirt and finally plopped us out onto the freeway with the back of the car sticking out of the shoulder into the right lane. Oncoming cars started to clear out the lane and a couple of people stopped and helped direct us out of traffic.

The car seemed to be fine, although a wire got stuck in the wheel, but otherwise we were ok. As we sat there waiting for Cory to come with some tools to remove the wire I noticed that there was a near constant stream of traffic. Somehow we wound up spinning into that lane right when there was a rare lull in the traffic. A couple of days ago I sat in on a family time with Cory's family. He was telling the kids that some people thing that miracles don't happen anymore and that God doesn't talk to u anymore. Megan chimed in and said that miracles do happen, that it was a miracle when Stacy was involved in the 4 wheeling roll-over and was fairly unharmed. Reflecting on this experience I can't help but see the miracle that happened to us. For whatever reason the car didn't roll and there was no traffic on a normally busy freeway at the exact moment the car went out of control. I'm very thankful that for whatever reason Heavenly Father kept us safe.

2010 Midterms

Some people like football or baseball or even tennis. I like politics. I remember back in 1996 waking up after election day and mom told me that Bill Clinton won the election and was still the president, and it made me kind of sad. I remember that when I would play with my matchbox cars had a limo and I would sometimes pretend that Bob Dole was the president who drove the limo and I had this red convertible that Bill Clinton would drive around in. Its kind of funny that at 9 years old I had Bill Clinton pegged as a party boy even before that whole Lewinsky scandal broke out. But I digress. The point is I like politics and the past couple years have been really interesting to say the lease.

Living in California's capitol city gives me some pretty cool opportunities that I just didn't have in Fremont. Last Sunday I got to meet Carly Fiorina who is running for the US Senate. It was really cool. We were all there making phone calls in the campaign office and she came in followed by a bunch of news cameras and reporters and shook everyone's hands. Then she gave a quick motivational speech and then stood right in front of me to talk to the reporters. Apparently the footage was on the news but I didn't get to see it. Then on her way out she patted me on the shoulder as she told us all to keep up the good work. It was so cool! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture with her but I got a picture of her, which is almost as good haha.

Hopefully she wins! It would be nice to have someone from CA in office that I actually voted for.

Interesting...

So it seems half of my professors this year are LDS. One of them graduated from BYU so that was a fairly easy one to guess. But my other professor was a bit more of a mystery. I always felt there was something familiar about him. But slowly the evidense began to pour in. First he mentioned that he had 5 kids. Then in another class he mentioned that he met his wife at a church dance. Later he mentioned incidentally that he was out of the country from 1986-1988. I was pretty convinced at this point and then I happened to notice on his blog he has a quote at the very bottom that reads "It is better to be trusted than loved - David O'McKay"

He's a pretty big-wig in the design department and he is part of the panel that reviews portfolios for entry into the program. Its kind of cool to see LDS people in high places : )

Butters Visits Sacramento!

So I have a bit of blogging to do that I've been putting off. First of all, Butters came to visit right after my birthday! Mom had to go to Utah for a week so we decided to send Butters back to Sacramento with me and mom would  pick her up a week later. Well towards the end of the week, mom called and said she was going to stay in Utah for two weeks so she could take care of some business there. Then we noticed that her and dad would be going to Minnesota to see Stacy and Jason the weekend after she got back from Utah so we decided to let Butters stay another week rather than taking her back and forth so soon. Finally mom was home on monday but we decided that our schedules would work out best if she came to get Butters on that Friday. If you're confused by now, I'll just say that Butters came to stay with me on the 19th of September. She was only supposed to stay a week but ended up staying until October 15th!

It was really nice having my dog back and I was sad to see her go. I had to get used to being alone all over again, although sometimes when Im on the computer I forget and in the back of my mind I feel like Butters is still there and when I go to scoot my chair back I turn around to make sure she isn't in the way and remember she's not there. :(

But anyway we had some fun, here are a few shots I took of her favorite behaviors:

Container Deconstruction

 

Afternoon window patrol

Bath time 

Pre-Exam studying 

And of course, she got into the holiday spirit 

My New Place!

With my first week at Sacramento State University under my belt, I finally have time to blog after a lengthy summer hiatus.

Here is the front living room

The kitchen

And most importantly....my room!

So far my classes are pretty good. Boring, but nothing difficult. There is an air conditioning access thing in my bathroom ceiling and its turned into a waterfall. So right now I have the air conditioner off and its 100 degrees outside. Hopefully it will get fixed soon. 

I miss my old room and my old life back at home, but its getting easier each day. I've never been real good at making new friends all by myself, but hopefully I can meet some people so I don't go crazy.

Summer Update

Time sure flies when you're having fun. I haven't blogged much this summer despite having a great deal of free time. I've been going to Six Flags with friends quite a bit. I have a season pass and I'm certainly making good use of it. Its great because we go on tuesdays usually and there are like no lines.

Charlie

So the other day mom was going through some memories and she came upon Charlie's adoption form. We adopted him on June 26th, 1991. He was born somewhere between November of 1990 and February of 1991. He lived until July 12, 2008 when he was about 17 years old. I know we have a lot of pictures of the younger Charlie around somewhere. The ones I can find on my computer are all in his later years.

This was when he was more spry, doing what he loved to do; dig under things and try to catch wild animals.

Whenever you went in the backyard, Charlie would always want follow you and hang out. One time I was trying to take a photo of a tree at night. So the camera was on the ground pointed up and I clicked the timer and set it down so it would be stable. Just then, Charlie came over and put his face in the frame andtook the Camera's focus off of the tree! Silly dog.

Sleeping was another favorite past time of his, espcially later in life.

We got Butters before Charlie died, so they had an opportunity to meet and it seemed as though Charlie mentored Butters a bit. They wandered the yard together sometimes.

Another thing Charlie used to always do was eat Grass. I remember when I was little, Charlie would eat a whole lot of it and then barf it up on the patio. Mom was never pleased. haha. But he kept on eating his veggies as a senior dog

He even taught Butters the importance of having a diet balanced with greens

Here are a couple more I found from his youthful years:

It was very sad to see him go, but he lived a long life and made us kids very happy. Not sure what the plan is for animals after death, but I hope we get to see him again. He was a very good dog.

Sac State Orientation

So on Friday the 18th I got up at 4AM to drive off to Sacramento for Orientation t hat started at 8AM. I don't think I've ever driven that far all by myself, but thank goodness for GPS. They allow you to take a guest and I figured I didn't really want to bring my mommy along so I got a friend to go with me. But it turns out that all the other guests were parents and they separate you much of the day so it sort of defeated the purpose. I guess it was worth it though so I wasn't completely alone. It was pretty annoying though. I thought I was going to have to take a couple of more GE classes when I got there, but they sprung some more requirements on me and I am going to be spending a lot of time on GE. Whats worse is that my major is impacted, so they only accept 40 students a year by portfolio review. But the good news is that if I don't get accepted next spring, I can spend that year finishing up my GE classes and then reapply and I won't really have lost any time. They have you register for classes there and they were pretty much all full. I was able to get into my graphic design classes, but all the GE classes I wanted to take were full. So who knows. I may be there a while.

Its a beautiful campus. So many trees and its pretty much all flat. Unlike Ohlone which used to have trees but they cut them all down and its built on a cliff. You pretty much have to go rock climbing to get from place to place. But I digress.

After orientation I went to the apartment to refresh my memory so I can plan what to bring when I move. My friend mike that I  brought was pretty impressed with the place. He's going to nursing school somewhere near Sacramento so he said he's going to look into getting a place at the element too. That will be cool if I can have a friend already in the complex! It will make meeting new friends much easier for me.

It will be very exciting to be out on my own. I hesitate to say "I can't wait" because I know that with it comes school, and I really enjoy being on summer vacation.

Ohlone Graduation! (the final one)

So on Thursday May 27th I graduated for the second and final time at Ohlone College. Last year I got my AA in Graphic Arts and this year since I was wrapping up some transfer requirements I thought I'd take an extra class and snag myself a communications AA. It was nice to have a formal end to my time at Ohlone. I've learned a lot there, and not just academics. As sappy as it sounds, I've learned a lot about myself and how to succeed and I hope that means Sac Sate will have minimal problems presented to me. I get the feeling that won't happen. There may be bigger problems and challenges, but hopefully with the preparation I've had I will be able to face them. Anyway, here's some pictures from the ceremony. We took a bunch later and I havent been able to steal those from mom and dads cameras yet but they'll probably make it to mom's blog soon enough, so if you really can't get enough of me wearing a funny hat and a dress, be sure to watch for that over there.

with flash

without flash (for cool sky)

A Quick Update

Its a week before the end of the semester and graduation, so things are a bit hectic. I'm very excited though. All these years at Ohlone with no clear end in sight and finally the end is a mere week and a half away. Earlier this month, mom and I went to Sacramento to stake out possible living situations. Turns out that theres very few options for students. There are about 3 apartment complexes that cater to students, not including the on campus dorms. But we found a great one that is a really short bike ride to school, has amazing amenities, is only a few years old and quite possibly one of its best features is that they are constructing a Target directly across the street from it! That will be so convenient, and I can probably snag a job there when it opens. I didn't take any pictures of the place, but here's one from the web site:

Definitely gonna get my money's worth out of that pool. (or dad's money's worth. thanks dad!)

Thats the floor plan of the one I signed up for. They pair you with a roommate based on a compatibility test you take. And I get my own bathroom. So I'm hoping I won't have any roommate difficulties. Normally I'd be really nervous about that part, but I think the fact that I get my own bedroom and bathroom and that theres only one roomate to deal with is making it relatively easy to cope with. Anyway. I have a lot of crap to do before school is over but I wanted to throw out an update for the record and for the 3 or 4 people that look at this blog. haha.

The Strange Sleeping Habbits of Butters

So, much of this blog has been centered around me (I'm the one writing it so that makes sense), but  the title boasts inclusion of a dog. So here's a post about Butters. She likes to sleep in the weirdest places and in the weirdest positions. Whenever I see it I usually take a picture and I recently realized that I have a lot of those. Here are some of the crazy ones.

She started young. This was her first day home. She was so tired from the flight she passed out under my desk. So cute!

This is her the following morning. She just sort of layed there like that for a while after I opened the crate.

One time I had a huge pile of clothes on my bed. Butters saw it and decided she needed to climb to the peak and sleep there.

For a while she loved sleeping on this big stuffed duck. It was adorable.

I just pulled some clothes out of the dryer and put them in my room. I left for a moment and came back to find that Butters had awkwardly made a bed out of the clothes basket.

 

I just remember that this was late at night. I don't know what she was thinking. lol

I have to admit, this photo is slightly staged. She laid down and put her head on my pillow and I just had to pull the covers up and put her teddy bear in her arms to take a picture.

Butters likes to watch lifetime movies with mom. She usually sleeps through them. This time she decided that she was bored of laying on the cushion like any other dog would and ventured to the top of the couch.

She is a strange animal.

I'm Famous!

I've been featured on the front page of the school website. I'm the awesome one on the left.

One Beast is Slain

So last year about this time I was preparing to participate in a graduation ceremony at Ohlone College where I would be awarded an AA in Graphic Arts. Well, I did participate, but a month later I received a letter informing me that I have to take a class with the school newspaper to get the degree. So I signed up for the class and I was told I would get my degree upon completion. Not a huge deal because I had already planned on being there an extra year to work on my transfer to Sacramento. So I took that class and cleaned up the whole mess with the mistaken grade. Its been a few months since I finished, and still no word. So I went to see my counselor. She said that the lady in charge of approving my degree had been let go due to budget cuts. So now its just one guy that approves degrees and it turns out the other lady never did resubmit my application. The guy felt bad, and he told me he wasn't supposed to do this, but he went ahead and approved the degree for me right there on the spot. He updated my official transcript and printed me out a copy. I was so happy! And if that wasn't enough, it turns out that getting an A in the newspaper was just enough to nudge my GPA into the Honors bracket, so now my transcript has this written in it:

Now I just need to get my AA in communication this May and then I will hopefully leave Ohlone forever.

Spring Break!...Part 2

So this is kind of late, but on the tail end of Spring Break, I went to Wonder Con to see the sights and of Course the public debut of Cory and Matt's Plotless Comics. I went on friday and then again on staurday. On friday I kind of just wandered around. On saturday, I went with Christy and our friend Idris. He bought us nerdy t-shirts (I got a Battlestar Galactica one!) and we went to the bathroom to put them on.

Then we went and found Cory, and things looked pretty busy at his booth.

Cory's table was located right next to the asile with all the "celebrities." I use the quotes because a lot of them are old and haven't been in anything important since the 70's. But this time some people from the new Battlestar Galactica were there! I love the show so I was excited to see a few of the characters there and we got to say hi and take pictures.

First we met Richard Hatch (left)  who is the evil Vice President on the new series and Captain Apollo in the original series. He was very cool. He told us he was the thumb wrestling champion and kinda looked like he was challenging one of us. I looked over at Cory Idris and Christy and no one volunteered so I jumped at the opportunity. So I played thumb wars with Richard Hatch! Christy got it on video.

Then we saw Aaron Douglas from Battlestar Galactica (left) who plays Cheif Tyro. He was basically the head mechanic. He was nice too. Wanted us all to squish in for the photo.

Then we saw the guy who played Chewbacca in all 6 Star Wars movies! He's kind of a crazy looking guy, and he's super huge despite looking kind of skinny. Idris managed to get a wookie sound out of him too!

After all the excitment and overstimulation that happens at Wondercon with all its colorful stuff to see, we got on Bart and went back home. It was a really fun time and Cory really enjoyed exhibiting there.