Photoshop

Daily Post 0075: I Love My IF Project <3

Standard

I’m still at work. I thought I was supposed to be here for SAL lab, but my calendar was wrong, so I ended up getting an extra four hours to my day. Huzzah! And I’ve spent in upstairs at work, working on my homework, totally alone and undisturbed. Double huzzah!

I didn’t get the project finished, but I love the way it’s coming out. Like, hardcore, zero fucks given about my grade, this is one of the best projects I’ve done level of proud. At least the best Photoshop assignment that I’ve done.

I’ll post it after writing.

Today was pretty alright. My shoulder blades are soooo incredibly sore from practicing my punches the other day. I had to deal with them complaining all day over any and everything I tried to do. Sort of lame, but they’re feeling better since I got to stretch at aikido.

My shin and left ankle have been bothering for the past few days, too… So of course I went running last night, because screw you body.

I didn’t go to the gym this morning. Instead I worked through my 30 Day Challenge stuff, then up graded and restructured OmniFocus. I think that was an ok thing though due to my physical form trying to fall apart on me. I’m actually wondering if two hours a day is a little extreme at the moment. Maybe I should back it down a bit?

I’m still mulling it over in my head.

Anywho, eventually I finished with OmniFocus, so I showered and went to my sports bar. I was a little nervous walking it. Part of me expected them to turn me away or something because of last Friday. My server was super happy to see me though.

She asked how I was feeling and was her pleasant self. I told her I was doing well and I gave her the card I bought from Walmart the other day. I asked if the manager was in because I had a card for him, too.

She said he was, and took the card to him for me. They both came back and were super appreciative. My server said it was the nicest, more genuine act anyone had ever done for her.

I hope random acts of kindness happen to her more often. She deserves them.

After catching up on emails and WordPress I ate then went to school where I worked on my homework until it was time for aikido.

Tonight was open mat, so I got to do my own thing. Sensei Jan and Beata were there. I got more help with my back rolls, which was awesome. I’m starting to really feel them, and how the energy moves through them.

I’m still not super awesome at it, but I can tell I’m getting better. I practiced some dynamic movements with Sensei Beata for a while as well. She was helping me work through the moves for my Kyu 6 test.

I’m eligiable for testing next weekend. I’m nervous about it. I want my mom or someone to be there for me. It’s always easier to do a test or performance when I know that someone is there for me, cheering me on.

I don’t know. And right now I’m sort of too tired to put much thought into it. I’m not all that interested in testing to be honest. I’m not doing it for a belt color.

Something Sensei Jan said tonight has sort of wormed it’s way into my brain, though. Both he and Beata constantly tell me how I’m advancing really fast. Jan said that I still am too gentle, soft. I don’t want to hurt anyone, which isn’t a bad thing, but my moves need to to have intention behind them. There needs to be energy.

He said once I get that, “once I come out of my shell” he said, I will be amazing. He said that once that happens, he will remind me about this conversation so I can remember how far I have come.

The ‘amazing’ comment is what keeps fidgeting and calling my attention.

What if I did become really good? Like, “to the level that I could teach” good?

There’s a part of my brain that is very still, very aware right now. There is something in me that connects with that idea on a very deep, super serious level. It’s not a joking, “ha ha I could teach”. It’s an, “I could teach…” A super soft, quiet realization.

If I practiced and kept at it, there’s no reason why I couldn’t. It’s sort of a mind blowing realization.

For right now I’m going to keep on doing my classes for Digital Arts and Design, and then Web Design most likely. After that Psychology and Sociology. Maybe after all of that schooling I’ll be ready to be a sensei myself.

The Earth Dragon in me is giving me knowing eyes. I think there is something there in that realization. I knew when I walked into the dojo that morning back in January that aikido was going to be a very large part of my life. I think I’m only now grasping just how big it could be.

I left the dojo so I could be at work on time, only to find out that I didn’t have to be here for lab. Which I was totally ok with because that meant I got to put in more time on my homework.

I talked to Ashley earlier. I’m allowed to start painting the room, but they haven’t cleared out any of Warren’s stuff, so I’ll need to do that before I can do anything else. Blah…

I talked to Sam and Tim, and they said they could help me move everything. Which would be great. Not sure when that’s going to happen. I’m going to have to see if I have enough money to get a UHaul for the furniture I want to get rid of. There’s the possibility that Joshua will let me leave the stuff I don’t want in the room until the end of the lease. He and Susan are going to be staying until the end of May. I suppose that’s something I can ask him about. It would be nice if I could do that. It would make it a bit easier.

Right now I’m writing this up before heading home to stitch. I want to get a bit done before calling it a night. But for the most part, today is done.

Daily Post 0073: So This is Late…

Standard

I was supposed to make this post this morning, but if you’ve read my previous post, you know that this morning turned into a shit-tastic cluster fuck of frustration.

I still haven’t done my 30 Day Challenge assignment. In fact I have done very little today aside from not destroying stuff, which is a huge accomplishment in my book. I’ll keep holding the course. You know… take one for the team and all.

So here’s the run down of yesterday, and I’ll maybe, eventually, at some point get around to not being pissed off with my day.

The Awesomeness of Yesterday

Before I get to my stitching I suppose I should do this. Not like I haven’t been spamming the Internet all day with mindless stuff…

I cooked breakfast this morning and had my coffee while checking emails. I wrote a quick update from last night since I felt that writing wasn’t as complete as it should have been. I’m not sure I really should have posted last night, but alas, there is nothing I can do about it now.

I wrote my 30 Day Challenge post. There actually wasn’t much to do today. There first few days are pretty intense, or at least they can be. There’s a lot of soul searching and figuring yourself out. There’s still going to be a bit of that, so it’s nice to have a ‘breather’.

I won’t really write more about it, since I wrote several pages worth of ranting for what I think about Day 6. After posting I went to the gym where I ran a 17 minute mile. It was an awesome run. I’m super happy with it.

After running I practiced my punches for Taekwondo along with my first form. I think I keep messing it up though. I also practiced my side and round house kicks. There was a bunch of stretching and yoga involved, too.

After showering I went to school where I made a cute little comic about an email with my instructor. It happened a few days ago, but I finally got over my fear to make the comic. I sent it to him, so we’ll see what he thinks. XD

Once the comic was done I ran to Publix since I didn’t really have food on me. I got a summer roll with a sweet tea. Because I had gone grocery shopping so early in the morning on Monday there hadn’t been any sushi trays put out yet. So I made up for that today.

When I came back to school Kalel was sitting on a bunch outside on of the labs. He was eating before going back to work, so I sat with him while I ate as well. We talked about a handful of things, it was an overall pleasant interaction. I’m glad I sat with him.

Eventually we got tired of talking about the work environment and decided we should both get back to what we had been doing. So I went back upstairs to my little corner.

I think of it as mine now even though it is a ‘communal’ spot.

No one goes there. I’ve moved things around to make it ‘my’ space. I want to take a power cord in so it’s easier to set up my laptop. I want to pin inspirational sayings to the walls as well. I want to make it mine for real.

So that’s stewing in my brain.

Anyway, I went back to ‘my’ desk, and read all of the stuff for the quiz this week, then took the quiz and got a 90. After that it was time to head out to the dojo for aikido open class.

Sensei Jan was teaching tonight! Yay! It was a really good class. A lot of the moves I had never done before, but everyone was super helpful and I picked them up fairly fast.

When I was leaving Sensei Beata mentioned that if I wanted to meet during the week to practice that she would train with me. She didn’t want me to stop training because my work schedule wouldn’t allow me to get to the dojo next month.

She said that I am mapping the moves extremely well and advancing faster than what they are used to seeing. She said that she couldn’t promise to make it every day, but that to let her know what my schedule was and we could work something out.

I can’t put into words how amazing it was to hear that. Sensei Jan and Beata are so fantastic and accepting of me. When we talk it’s like I’ve known them for years. Like we’re old friends. There’s just something about them that makes me feel safe and understood.

Side note: I’m not sure if I ever mentioned this (int he billions of pages I write…), but Jan and Beata are married.

I can’t believe that they want to go out of their way to make sure I am able to train. It’s more than training for me. In such a short time I have latched onto it, and aikido is one of the things I refuse to compromise on now. I was seriously wondering how I was going to survive next month because I as so angry that I felt like I had to give it up. Even if it’s for such a sort amount of time, I get so much fulfillment and self-satisfaction from it, that I don’t want to go without it.

I know that’s not fair of me. I know my schedule changes every month and that some months I work 5pm, while other months I work 5am. That’s my job. That’s what I agreed to. It’s not fair of me to be angry over it.

But I am. I want to go to the dojo because it makes me a better person. I want to go as often as I am physically able to be there.

I was trying to work it out in my head. I was trying to figure out how I could do both work, and aikido so I could have my paycheck and get fulfillment, too. But I couldn’t find a solution, and I was angry and frustrated. It felt like being stuck in the ‘terrible twos’ phase. I had a plan, I was executing my plan, then the plan got interrupted and my brain couldn’t figure out a way around it, so the only thing I knew how to do was be angry.

Luckily I was able to keep the kicking and screaming contained within my head. I think I would have worried Joshua if I had thrown a legit fit.

But Sensei Beata and Jan have come and saved the day. I now have an answer to my thwarted plan. Even if it is only a couple times a week, it would be amazing. I’m so honored and grateful for Sensei Beata to even think I am worth training. I’m sure she doesn’t do this for everyone.

I feel loved and like maybe next month won’t suck so bad after all. I can have my job and aikido, and I can keep being happy and not feel like I’m giving up a part of myself. It felt like it was coming down to picking between aikido and work, and for a while I was thinking about letting aikido win. I seriously like it that much.

So needless to say, that totally made my whole night, day, week, month. I’m not dreading next month now. A tension as been eased and I can breathe normally again.

Once I left the dojo I went back to work. I was still in my gi pants, workout top, gross and sweating from kicking ass and taking names, but I didn’t care. I wanted to work on my block out for this weeks assignment. So I had left all of my stuff at work so I could finish that off before going home.

There was a group of students in the lobby; Marc, Nicole, Desiree, and a handful of others. They mentioned wanting a lab to work in, but because of the events going on at school, there aren’t going to be any open labs until Friday.

I offered to open one of the labs for them to work in since I was going to be on campus anyway. I actually opened the Finals lab, which was so nostalgic for me. I spend literally 4 months in that room, working on all of the assets on my demo reel, and a few that aren’t. I got to sit at my old computer desk. It was like nothing had changed.

It was very comforting. I set up my laptop just like I had when I was a student, only instead of rigging, I had my massive tablet in my lap, sketching and coloring away. It was nice. Familiar, but different. It made me aware of how much I have grown, how much I have traveled over the past three years.

I feel like I’m doing really well with this new assignment. I’m going to use it as a way to study musculature. I think that will give the composition a better connection to the word ‘strong’.

I posted my WIP image to Facebook and WordPress since I’m so pleased with it. Totally shameless about how much I like it at the moment.

I posted my Push Goal Promise to Facebook afterwards, so that’s done and I can stop stressing over it. I’ve gotten some really supportive comments. I replied to all of my emails. I downloaded an app that Jon wants me to get. I showered. I ate…

And I’m back to being tired. It’s 1am. I don’t know if I have it in me to stitch. I actually didn’t stitch at all this morning even though I said I was going to. I think I can not beat myself up over it though.

I got so much done today. I’m going to let myself be happy about that.

Dragon’s Horde 0022: Roll Model Student

Image

roll_model_student

Photoshop – 20ish minutes

I was exchanging emails with my instructor when this happened

.

Me: Thank you for all the wonderful assignments. I know I am not being the roll model student at the moment, but this is a very fun and engaging class. I have loved all of the assignments so far, and am looking forward to the rest of this week and the week after.

Instructor: I am glad you are getting a lot out of it. Role as you say is not two “L”s—I can’t help it, I am a teacher.

Pardon me while I go crawl under a rock and die a agonizing death from humiliation… >.<;

Though I suppose it wasn’t that bad. I got to make a cute comic out of it.

Dragon’s Horde 0020: IF Challenge – Path

Image

IF_Challenge_Path_005

My class this month is Digital Story Telling. One of the weekly assignments is to do the IF Challenge.

Illustrator Friday

Each week the website posts a word, and it is up to us to create an image for that word by Friday.

Well, this week’s word was “Path”. And this is the image I created for it.

My first, full blown, digital painting in Photoshop. I know there’s tons of room for improvement. But I’m proud of how it came out, especially with how little time I actually put into it. Roughly 5 hours.

Daily Post 0045: One More Day!

Standard

Tomorrow I get to go home. : D

I can’t wait to see my mom. It’s going to be great.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I woke up and had laundry done by 9:20. I decided that the sheets needed to be de-catfurred, so I had two loads to do yesterday.

I still only ended up paying for one though. /flex

The Laundromat that I go to does this ‘lucky wash’ thing. I think I’ve rewritten about it before. But basically you put in one quarter, and you have a chance to get ‘lucky’ and not have to pay the rest.

Well, yesterday was my day I guess. At least of one of my loads. Woohoo.

I got through most of the grading while I was doing laundry, so that was cool.

I did 13 miles at my spin class. Showered, then headed to school to meet with Rhonda.

We went over her current asset and talked about different things she could do for it. There’s the potential for some really cute stuff, and expressive facial deformation.

She is rigging a robot, so we had to address some of her joint placement, and talk about the difference between mechanical rigging and regular biped rigging.

It was a lot of fun.

We got to talk about her wolf asset as well and different ideas we could do for animations.

We’re going to meet again to continue discussing her ideas. We ended up running out of time. But we’re both ‘talkers’ when we’re engaged in topics that we like, so we spent the whole two hours jumping from one thing to another.

She had about two pages worth of notes though, so more than enough to chew over between this week and next week.

After that I went to the SAL lab where I finished off the grading and wrote my discussion post.

I happened upon an article about Harmony 2, which is a puzzle game for iPhones that is actually based on color theory. It seems like something I would totally geek out over, though I haven’t played it. I thought it was a pretty appropriate article since our class is conveniently named Color Theory.

I also spent a fair about of time getting my reference material in order for the tattoo consultation that I had for later that day.

After the lab I went to the tattoo parlor, which was a bit of a let down to be honest.

It wasn’t that they guy shot down my ideas. He had valid points about how the level of detail I wanted wouldn’t translate well from paper to skin. That skin is not the save as canves.

He gave me a lot of think about, and I get why he wasn’t all that stoked about working on the design.

I get that. And can respect that.

It was more that we really didn’t connect I guess.

I got the impression that he thought I was just a girl who wanted ink because ‘ink is cool’. And armor is cool, so I want armor tattoos.

It didn’t seem like he picked up on that fact that this is deep for me, and that I have thought about these tattoos for literally 10 years.

I know this is going to be a very large, very extensive endeavor. I actually do know what I’m getting into, at least halfway, and what I really am looking for is someone to help guide me to the end goal since I can’t get there on my own.

Sorry, I don’t know how to tattoo myself, nor do I really want to learn.

I feel this is going to be a very important part of my journey and I don’t think the guy I spoke with yesterday is the right person to be part of this process.

That was what made it disappointing. Sorry, you’re not Mr. Right. Guess I’ll keep looking. /sad face

I have already starting thinking of ways to alter my tattoo designs, and I actually like the cleaner, more streamlined concepts that I have in my head.

One of the concepts we’re being taught in my design classes is that simple is usually better than elaborate. It is more memorable, and easier to convoy a message.

So while it wasn’t a total bust, I don’t think the tattoos are going to happen until the beginning of next month, if then.

It’s going to be like when I shaved my head. I need the other person to understand. And I don’t think I had that yesterday.

So after the tattoo adventure I had about an hour before aikido. I came home, ate, and curled up with Scarlet for a little bit. Between all of the running around and the exchange at the parlor I needed some space and silence to recover.

I almost thought about not going to the dojo. But once again I had an awesome dinner in the works. Steak with green beans and potatoes. I had to kick ass and take names if I was to be found deserving of such awesomeness sustenance.

So I went to the fundamentals class, and ended up staying for the normal class as well.

There was a ‘new’ person there. At least he was new to me. Paul. I think he is a dan as well. He hardcore knew what he was doing, and helped me and the less experienced people out a lot.

Sensei Jan and Beata were super complimentary about me again.

I ended up staying for close to an extra hour talking with Sensei Beata. She does embroidery as well, and wanted to learn counted cross stitch. When I told her that was one of my main hobbies she asked if I would mind helping her learn.

I told her I would be more than happy to help her. So maybe I have a new stitching buddy. : )

Once I finally left the dojo I came home, made the bed, and cooked. I didn’t stitch last night. In fact after I ate I was petting Scarlet, trying to find the motivation to do anything other than fall asleep. After about 15 minutes I gave up though and turned out the lights.

Today has been going great. I woke up and had breakfast, then came to work for CRI1 lab at 9am.

I helped a student out with a script he emailed me. He wants to make an ‘auto swim’ script and was having some issues. It was a lot of fun to dissect his thought process and show him all sorts of new things that will help him out.

I had a meeting with Carol to talk about the requests we want to make from Interior and Design for the break room.

That actually made me super happy because it is a step forward that I didn’t have to initiate. There is momentum behind my project, slow maybe, but slow change is better than no change.

So that was cool.

I scanned the sketches that I did for my logo design so I can finish off my final project. I doubt I will do it today. Either Friday or Saturday, maybe Thursday evening depending. We’ll see.

I have a web seminar at 2pm for Time Management. That will be roughly and hour long.

I have the Photoshop tutorial that I want to begin work on, and hopefully complete today. That will leave only creating the logo and finishing off the project documentation, which I am estimating will be roughly 3 to 4 hours because I’ll get lost in playing in Illustrator.

Aikido Open (the advanced class) starts at 7pm and the weapons class starts at 8pm.

I’ll most likely end up going to both.

Past that, it’s packing up so I can leave tomorrow morning. There is another Aikido Open at 7am. Since I won’t be here for any of the other classes this week I’m thinking I aught to go to it. I don’t know if I will be rested enough to make it through the class, though.

My quads are still burning from yesterday’s biking and two classes. I’m going to beat them up again tonight, and then have a less than 12 hour turn around time. I’m not sure if my body is ready for that much intensity.

I guess the only thing to do on that front is see how well I recover between tonight and tomorrow morning.

So today is still busy, but it is much less people oriented than yesterday was, so I think I’ll be alright.

Lab is almost over, so I should go for now so I can transition to a new location to work on that Photoshop tutorial I keep talking about.