it's already May!?!

Can you believe it's already May 2nd?! Somehow I seemed to have missed posting for April. I know I say it all the time, but really, that month just flew by. It was a very full and busy month, however, probably why I didn't have the time to write. Now, it's dead week (the week of no classes before finals... though most of my projects were due before this week...) and it's been raining every day this week, so I have time to write.

First off, I have less than a week in college station until the *summer*! :D yeah!!! The semester is coming to a close very quickly. I have no more classes to attend, and only a few finals left. I am already completely done with two of my classes. So updates on those:
History - I took my last test last thursday, and it didn't seem too hard. I had a 97 or so average, so I'm not too worried about this class, pretty positive I'll make an A (the final grades get posted today, supposedly). I liked this class fairly well. The prof was a little boring, but the subject material was really cool. I hope to take more architectural history classes, and perhaps even get an Art and Architectural History minor. That would be really neat, and I only have to take two or three additional classes past my degree plan, which isn't bad at all. With that, if I really like it, I could even go on to get a masters in historical restoration, which sounds kind of neat too.
Computer Techniques - just finished this class Monday, thank heavens. This was a good class, but the last few weeks have been very very time consuming. I just turned in my final project, a computer animation of a project I made for studio (I chose to do a walk through of the house I just finished for the studio this semester). I spent probably hundreds of hours modeling it and animating it and everything else I had to do, all to end up with a little over a minute of animation. It turned out pretty well, I suppose - we didn't spend much time learning materials and lighting, so the lights did some weird things, but I think the modeling turned out nicely. It turned out to be a tougher class than I thought, and Ms. Jackson can grade pretty tough. Most of us, me included, had Bs at midterms, but pulled it up to an A after the stairs and photoshop project. Hopefully with all the time and energy I put into this last project, it will stay there. Despite the fact she grades tough, I think it was one of my best classes. I learned a lot of stuff on the basics, things that I really needed to learn (whereas in most of my other classes the profs just expect you to already know how to do everything and turn out masterpieces despite being freshman). She also had a party for our last day of class and brought us lots of snacks and treats for all our hard work.

Of my four remaining classes I still have to go to:
Math - my final is on Friday, then I will be done with math forever... kind of disappointing; I like math. But whatever. I'm doing really well in this class right now, and though the final is comprehensive (over the entire semester of stuff *yikes!*) I'm not too worried - as long as I pass it, I'll make an A in the class. And it'll be nice to be done with probability - it got kind of tricky at times. ... though I still managed to get a 102 on the probability test :) (I really got a 95, which is still really good, but everyone else did so bad, she gave us 7 extra credit points.)
Construction Science - my last test is Monday, and (thank heavens) not cumulative - but it is over 3 chapters plus about 50 pages supplemental notes, whereas our last two tests were only 1 chapter each! So, I still have to study hard and do well on this one. Luckily, I got a 95 on the last test!!! Now, an A is actually feasible in this class, the class everyone kept telling me horror stories about and how it's impossible to do well. So I hope I can pull an A in here, that would be really cool. And on the plus side, no matter what I make on the final, I pass the class which means I'll never have to take another construction class again! :D
Design Seminar - my final is Tuesday, last one for the semester. I'm not worried about it because it's (pretty sure) just like the midterm, and I got a 5 out of 5 on that one. Still have no clue what that really means grade wise, or any idea what my grade will be, or what my the heck heavily accented prof is saying every week, but I'm one class short of being done with this class forever! then no more design seminars (only freshman take them)!!! :D
Studio - weeeelllll.... almost done with this very bizarre class. Just one more project to do, just make a power point presentation / portfolio thingy of all the stuff we've done this semester. I just turned in my house that I've been working on for weeks, along with two sculptures that (supposedly) go with the house. I must say it felt more normal to be hanging around in studio for days on end working on my project than it had been before spring break. It was really weird but we never had a critique, unlike last semester where we had them once a week - not that I'm complaining! Those really stink, in my opinion, because I get so nervous and anxiety attacks and what not, though I will agree with others in my class (the ones who missed them) in the fact that we didn't really get any feedback or comments or anything on our projects at all. It was, as one girl put, an "independent study studio this semester" - which was good and bad. Feels a little like getting gypped when I pay for the class to teach myself and not learn much; but in a way it was kind of nice just doing my work and turning it in without having to make a presentation and make up a bunch of random stuff about it that I really didn't think about while making it at all. SO, I still have no idea whether I liked this class or not, ... as far as studios go that is. I don't know if I'll every actually like studio, so being neutral towards one will be the best it can get. At least Hill was nice and never yelled at us. And he gave us pizza last Monday when we turned in our projects. :) Who knows what I'll get on that project... I guess I'll just wait and see when final grades for the class are posted.

Well, that's all my classes. Speaking of which, another reason I was so busy in April is because I registered for classes for next semester. It'll be different next year because the group of students I'm with now will be starting to fan out more as people choose different classes, some by choice, some because they let their grades slip so they're not in honors anymore. Luckily, I stayed in honors and got into all the classes I wanted, and my studio next semester has several of my friends in it (and, of all my peers in my studio now, the ones that will be with me are the ones I would have picked if I had to choose :) not that I don't like them all...lol.) So, I'll be taking an honors studio (which sounds really hard -- but, really good news, I don't have studio my spring semester!!! :D !!! I take some autocad type class instead! Finally, a break!); systems (not really sure what this class entails); modern architectural history; oceanography (for my second science) and pilates (for my pe). Oh yeah, and this summer I'm going to be taking physics... -_- Yeah yeah, I know, just over a month ago I was adamently refusing to ever take a summer course, but the way it worked out, this is really the best way to do it. I'll get my science over with and free up some time in my normal semesters, and won't be so crunched for time, since physics is a more demanding science class than others. And, I'm not planning on getting a job anymore for the summer (this go around anyway) since I'm taking the class and also because I got really lucky in my financial aid and got some really good grants again, grants I didn't think I could get. So that was really good news when it came. So now my summer plans include taking physics for the month of June, but then the rest of May, all of July, and most of August OFF!!! :D Isn't it great to be in college and get such long breaks? :P

What else... oh, in church news, April was busy because our choir performed its Easter program (technically we did it the week after Easter, because half our choir was gone for the holiday weekend) that we had been practicing all semester. AND, I had one of the SOLOs!!! I was really nervous but it was really exciting at the same time, especially because I've never really sang a solo before and since I'm usually singing to blend with a choir, I got to belt it out for my solo, much to the surprise of many fellow members and people in the congregation. I got several comments about how they had no idea I could sing like that. Of course, I really think I had some divine intervention to help me out there and being in the choir all year has really helped me improve my singing. It was kind of cool though. ... Also in church news, we had our last FHE for the semester on monday! (hopefully my last one ever to plan...) The bishop is having a special open house / game night thing at his house next week, so we didn't have to plan one for next week, and then the semester is over. I really hope I get released for next year. One school year was long enough, and besides, all of the FHE group leaders this year were called in this year, so maybe (hopefully) it'll happen again. It is a trying calling, that's for sure. I do like being Relief Society pianist though - I hope I get to keep doing that.

... let's see... oh, I had my last day in institute last week - I really looked forward to tuesdays getting to go to New Testament with Bro. McMullin. It was such a good class and I learned so much in there. I'll have him again though next semester; I'm planning on trying to squeeze in Book of Mormon 1. It gets tricky since the BoM class is always M/W, same as all my other classes, but I have a place for it in my schedule next fall, and I think if I work hard and plan my time well, I'll be able to pull it off despite it being the same days as my studio class. ... hopefully. It should be a good class though. And it will be kind of nice having it twice a week instead of just once, especially since my history class next semester was only offered at one time, the exact same time as sandwich seminar, so I won't be able to go to that next fall. Oh well, I was getting a little tired of it anyway. Book of Mormon will be a much more interesting class to attend (and cheaper).

Well, I think that's all that's really been going on in my life. I don't really have time for any social life after school and church, so nothing in the realm, though I will add that currently the total of engaged couples in my ward is now nine couples, all getting married within the next three months. Might I add that we probably only have about 60-70 active members in my ward? and we already have five or six married couples? -_- I really hope next term brings new people into my ward. Then, maybe I'll be able to have a social life. ... maybe.... though doubtful. Langford takes all my spare time, and probably will take even more time next year. Oh well, that's not for over three months. :)

SO.... now that you've actually read all my ramblings, a few explanations of the pictures below in the slideshow (in order):
1st - photoshop project of stairs poster... thing. supposed to learn how to pleasingly show information about the stairs and learn how to put materials onto a computer modeled picture
2nd - picture of the computer model for my sculpture to go in my house
3rd - photo of the sculpture actually made in plastic from the 3D printer --> sorry, but my camera isn't that great so a lot of the close up photos aren't that great...
4th - photo of a chipboard model of my second sculpture, a decorative wall that connects to the garage (you can see it in place in later pictures, I just had to have pictures of it separated from my house as well)
5th-16th - various photos of my studio house; it is made entirely of chipboard (with the exception of the white plastic sculpture in the back and the cardboard topography [base]) and most of it was cut using the school's laser cutter :) which can cut very precisely as small as 1/32", as well as etch on very detailed lines, such as my cabinets in the kitchen (though it's kind of hard to see it in the picture) or sinks or floor tiles, etc. It makes really nice cuts very fast and looks really professional, but it leaves scorch marks on it that you have to sand off and there is only one machine for the entire college, so it's tough to get a spot in line - I had to get there two hours before it opened to get third in line, and later in the semester, people were getting there 4 hours early and not even getting on the list the line was so long! craziness, definitely. You definitely want to be sure all of your lines on the computer program are correct and you have done everything you need before cutting so you don't have to do it again. It does look really nice though.
17th - presentation board for my animation project for my computer class
18th & 19th - pictures of some of the inside of my house of my animation project
20th - outside of the house of my animation project

Second one is actually my animation project movie, a little bit blurry though posting it through onetruemedia, but it's generally the basic idea. Now you can see what all those hours and hours of work actually produced.