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Educate Me

I am So Predictable…

I need to write two papers for photography (one on a photographer and one on a technique we are not doing this semester), a speech & slides for Honors Day this Friday about my X-Ray Crystallography project, a comparision of the various reproductive systems of the vertebrates due in just over a week, and last but not least the essay on what I want to be when I grow up for my scholarship form.

What did I do this weekend? Figured out afterthought heels (well, the first part of them at least), finished a sock except for the afterthought heel, cleaned out a dresser, sorted out part of a closet, cleaned out other stuff from the piles that the pile fairies seem to bring and dump in my house, and read about several different photography techniques.

Ok, the last one counts as being related to my paper, but I didn’t need to spend so much time reading all of them.

I am nothing if not predictable. Doing everything I can to avoid doing the homework that I must get done this week. Smart, huh?

Oh well, at least I was really motivated to get some housework done.

Categories
Birthday Wishes Picture Time

On Display and the Birthday Boy…

I still can’t figure out how to send a text message along with a photo from my phone, and I can’t get it into that speed typing text mode either (something 9? Those of you that text know what I mean) so I didn’t send a full message with my photo of my photo last night. Then when I got home, I was so tired I crashed by 10pm, right after watching a very interesting documentary on the concentration camps of Nazi Germany.

I was told before that all photos submitted would be on display, but that was not the case. The correct statement was that all photographers that submitted work would have something on display – one print from each person that submitted work. My “Don’t Lose Your Head” (Click to see it larger) print was selected, so it was pretty cool to walk in and see my work hanging on the wall. I wasn’t sure if they would all be there or just one at that point. It was also interesting to see other people looking at my work. I thought about taking a photo of someone looking at the print as it was hanging there, but I thought that would be sort of weird and I didn’t feel like asking anyone if I could take their picture. My phone makes this really loud sound when I take a photo with it, so no stealth photography for me. That is why I was so far away from the print when I took that shot! Although it would have been easy enough to explain that it was my picture, so I wasn’t violating any copyright law.

They have already done the judging, and I didn’t win any prize. However, I didn’t really enter for the prize – I entered more for the opportunity. So in the end, it is ok. I hope the winners were people that really needed the money to continue their education. It would have been nice, but financial issues are not standing in my way and keeping me from registering for the fall semester. (Organic Chemistry, Trig, and a required Psych class that you have to take for the scholarship I am applying for. Already registered on Wednesday.)

The big news for today? JASON TURNS 14 TODAY!!! Oh my goodness. 14. How did that happen? It seems like only yesterday he was a cute little baby. Now he is 14! He will be in high school in the fall! Yes, I have to use exclamation points with everything related to his birthday! Tonight we will go to eat with a few of his friends from school, and then the guys will go and play Laser Tag. Afterwards, it is Cold Stone ice cream cake (yum!) and X-Box time at our house, and one of the guys is spending the night. Tomorrow night we have family dinner plans with my parents.

14. I still can’t believe it.

I had this gushy post in mind yesterday, but I didn’t write it right away (being half-asleep and all that) so now I don’t remember it all. I wish I did. I’m sure it will come to me later though, and I think I’ll save it for just him. Something sappy to remember how much Mom loves him.

Happy Birthday, Jason! I hope 14 is a fabulous year for you!

Categories
General

On Display

On Display

Categories
Educate Me

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up…

I’m completing an application for a scholarship from the community college I am attending. It is for the Pre-Professional Medical & Health Sciences group; basically, anyone that wants to go into the medical field in one way or another. They would pay for my tuition next year if I am awarded a scholarship.

The only roadblock? I have to write an essay, maximum length 1 page, about why I want to be ___________. So for me, it is why I want to be a pharmacist.

There are a few problems with this essay. First of all, I am such a cliche Libra. I can never make up my mind. I realize that they won’t hold me to the major or degree that I write on my essay, but at the same time I worry. What if I don’t want to be a pharmacist? What if I get through a good portion of my degree and change my mind? I hate to commit to being a pharmacist if I am not sure that is what I want. Ugh! Second, why do I want to be a pharmacist? Is it just because aptitude tests say that it would be a good fit for me? Is it because my dad is a pharmacist, albeit not one on a daily basis? Is it because the starting salary for a pharmacist is so attractive, especially after being overworked and underpaid for some time in the legal field?

I realize that their point with this question is to make me think about it, but I also realize that it wouldn’t look good if I just wrote, “I want to be a pharmacist because the pay is good and I want to save lots of money up so I can travel Europe in the not too distant future. Right after I put my son through college.” See? That isn’t going to fly. Plus it isn’t anywhere close to being a page long.

Somedays I just want to toss it all aside and be a professional photographer. Now wouldn’t that be fun?!?

Which reminds me – my photography teacher informed me today that he was told that all entries into the art show were accepted, and are all up for consideration for the various scholarship prizes! The exhibit opening is tomorrow; it is going to be interesting to see my own photographs hanging up in the Fine Arts Gallery on campus. (Yes, I will take pictures and share.) I need to find out if it is too late to put prices on the prints; I learned when I turned them in that that was an option. How much should I put? I was considering $20, but that sounds high. Watch me find out that some prints were sold for $200 or something like that. I wish I knew what to do. See? Decisions? I suck at them.

Categories
Educate Me

Photographers Will Understand…

Blue Jellyfish

Today, I did something far from brilliant in my photography class.

I rewound the film I finished shooting this morning. I took the film out of my camera. I went into the loading room, which is completely black because film is sensitive to all light, and loaded it onto a spool and put it into a developing tank. I went back out into the classroom, and I got the first chemical ready to process the film.

Considering the process is called “developing,” a normal person would use developer to develop their film.

Today, I used the stop bath.

The stop bath is a chemical that stops the developer from developing. It is not what you should use for the first step. Doh!

Fortunately, stop bath doesn’t do much of anything if it doesn’t have developer to work on. I was greatly relieved to learn that rinsing my film several times and starting over with the developer would probably work out just fine – and everything was ok in the end. I figure that there is some sort of statistic that would show that for every “x” numbers of rolls of film you develop, you are bound to do something really stupid. I’ve developed a lot of film over the years, and this is the first time for me on doing something so foolish. I guess it was bound to happen.