Sunday 29 April 2012

The End is Near;


Procrastination; a technique I have mastered in college. I think the fact that I get so tired helps me keep putting assignments off. I know I have an assignment due in a week, but I also know when I get finished with class at 5:30 and get done at the gym around 7, I will be exhausted. I will go home, force myself to eat before passing out for another night. Lately my procrastination has hit a whole new level. I finished my final project, it went up in the gallery and I felt accomplished and good about the work I put in the show. I was exhausted from all the effort I put into it in the leading weeks. When I was done and it was one thing off my list, I kind of felt like not working on anymore homework, like I was just done for the year. Too bad that’s not the case and I have about 6 more assignments to get on with.
Survival mode is something narcoleptics are familiar with, the times when either we weren’t medicated or we weren’t medicated properly. We do everything in our will power to remain functioning; we do everything to stay sane. I am properly medicated, I’ve got everything in order but if I don’t get that good nights sleep survival mode is within arms reach. If I miss 3 nights of a good nights rest, well survival mode is where I end up.
Last week I stayed up late watching a movie on Netflix, it was fine it was the weekend and I could sleep in the next day. I got 8 hours (weekends I usually get 10-12), woke up for practise. Sunday I hung out with a few friends, didn’t get to bed till about 1 or 2 am. Got 7 hours sleep. Was all right, took my supplements made it through the day but was super tired. Monday night however I was up working on a project I had completely procrastinated, left till the last minute. I had all the images I needed for this PowerPoint presentation but needed to learn my facts so I could give the expected 10-15 minute speech to the class. 11 o’clock at night I got off to a mediocre start, 11:30 a friend called crying. Next thing you know I am driving my friend to the emergency room and speaking to cop about domestic violence. At the end of the day, not upset about it, just happy she is all right and her boyfriend got dealt with appropriately. I finally got home that night at 2:30-3am. I still had to present my project in the morning at 11:30am. I still knew next to nothing about the facts to give that speech. I stayed up till 5:30am. Went to bed, woke up at 9:30, caught a ride to school with my roommate and managed to work a little more on the presentation. Worst part is that I worked so hard on the presentation but in our class we didn’t have time to get to my presentation, I now would have 2 more days till that class. I hate working hard on something that is due, completing it, then finding out I could have slacked and gotten away with it! That’s just the procrastinating mind speaking!
With all the lack of sleep, my mind was depleted I was struggling to stay awake; I was giving in to the horrid snacking/caffeine ritual to get by.  The next day I took a narcoleptic day and ended up skipping a class to go sleep. I didn’t even set my alarm to wake up. Four hours later I felt refreshed enough to do my homework then back to bed for some Netflix and a much needed nights rest. End of the school year means more stress and a lot of projects to keep track of for all my classes. I am extremely happy to see the end nearing!
College has taught me a lot; I’ve met a lot of people, had new experiences and just generally became a more independent person. I never expected college to be like this, and maybe it’s the fact that I attend a small college, but I’ve never experienced so much drama in one year of school. Seriously it blew my mind, we’re suppose to be adults, putting high school days behind us, yet I found everyone to be digging for drama. My parents would laugh at me for saying this, but I feel older than I am. I honestly feel like the amount of things I’ve accomplished, experienced, been part of and seen should put me at my Brothers age of 21. It seems silly, but when I put myself next to another 18 year old, it’s rare I find them mature enough or intriguing enough to have a somewhat serious conversation with. I also think it’s the fact that the degree I am going for (Photography) is such a short schooling that I feel like I’m starting a career earlier than most. It’s kind of intimidating to me, maybe it’s the reason I am intrigued by more schooling. I think that diving into a career at 18 or 19 when all my friends are just starting school is odd, maybe it’s the fact that it would make me feel like more of an adult and responsible and I don’t feel ready to stop goofing around and wasting away some of my teenage years. We all have to grow up, but stepping out of school and stepping into a career is a frightening move for me. Good thing it’s only a solid 7-8 months away.
13 Days till I am home in Canada
17 Days till I start my 8 week adventure backpacking Europe


Sleep Well fellow Narcoleptics!

Sunday 8 April 2012

Long Awaited;


I owe you all an update on my life. I am sorry to those who actually read this blog on a regular basis, but I have been lacking this past month! I am going to blame it on life and me having my priorities somewhat in a scuffle. I am not slacking in school or anything but I have added more to my daily plate with workouts and it seems to be bettering me but also knocking time out of my day to finish everything; hence me failing to blog regularly.
For starters school is in the last stretch, close to finishing up this photography program and having all these late nights and tedious projects be worth it. My painting and drawing class aka 2D Design has been a rather large learning curve for me. I can honestly say this class has been enlightening to me. It has helped my photography in the sense of thinking about composition in a more thoughtful way, and really thinking about how colours communicate to a viewer different emotion. For that I am thankful I took the class, for the amount of work it put me through each week outside of class I dread it!
My intermediate photography class has a project that lasts 5 weeks; each week you take 576 photographs. Each week you print your 5 favourites, get a critique from your classmates and move on. At the end of it all you choose 20, they have to have a common theme, they have to flow together. It’s been challenging for me, I chose night shooting; it’s my favourite time to shoot inanimate objects. The sun goes down around 830pm right now, which leaves me photographing late at nights. It’s hard to always find people to tag along with me, and it’s hard to take 576 photographs a week when one photograph has the exposure of 30 seconds!! It will definitely be interesting selecting my final 20, not sure where I am going with this project!
My Photo lighting class has been enlightening; we had a guest speaker the other day. He is a commercial photographer who makes a living off of photographing inanimate objects. He photographs anything from air duct systems to construction sites. He does a lot of work, and makes a good living off of it. After listening to him talk, and hearing what he does each day to make his living, I have decided that I love photographing people, and the commercial side is something that I don’t see myself in. Although I could make money photographing a piping system, I don’t get the enjoyment out of photographing something I can’t interact with. As far as the class goes, it is kicking my ass right now. Having to book studio time and not being able to take lighting equipment off campus for a shoot makes it crucial that I plan a schedule and that I make use of my 2 hours in the studio. Almost done though!
Art Portfolio is my photography class in which has a gallery showing where we show a project that we’ve made out of our own passions. Ongoing projects are more about fine arts and creating a series of themed images based on an interest or investigating a topic. For me I investigated self-image and how we as humans (mainly females) have learnt to see ourselves. It was an interesting project for me, I don’t see myself as self-conscious so I’ve never really thought about it. Exploring self-image allowed me to really see the issues women have with themselves these days, the constant need to change the way they look. I am happy with the outcome of my images, and I am happy to have them in this gallery showing. I however am intrigued to hear the responses from those viewing them. The show opens April 17th, so I will let you know the response I get from everyone! I will also post images of them up in the gallery!
Now that we are up to date on school I will fill you in on my spare time! I am still taking the energy supplement V16 Energy Drink from Advocare. It is still working wonderfully and is a great pick me up before my daily workouts. I have started to workout in a more intense manner than before. After soccer season I would run, I would do stairs, simple things here and there to maintain my shape. Now however I have decided to step it up, running at least 2 miles a day and working in either an arm workout or legs. On top of this all, a few of us soccer girls have been doing sprints to help get us back in “soccer season” shape. Although it’s making me extremely sore and tired in the moment… I am finding it giving me more energy in the long run! Having teammates to train with is just making it that much easier to stick with; motivation is always around me!
That is that for the update!  I get to go back to Canada in 34 days, I will be leaving to Europe in 38 days and really I just want to get my summer on the way! I am incredibly excited for what this summer will bring, a huge learning curve will probably be on order the moment I set foot in Europe. Until then, time to remain focused on school and getting myself out of here sane!
Till next time!