I feel like I barely held onto my sanity most of this week. There were at least three days I was so tired I wanted to lie down on the floor and cry. I want to be proud of myself for pushing through the week but I’m too concerned about the stress my mind and body are under to pat myself on the back. I’ve been working hard to feel caught up in my classes, but I’ve been feeling particularly bad for the past two weeks. Last week I noticed I was feeling unusually light-headed, dizzy, short of breath, and numb in several parts of my body. I went to the doctor on Friday and was treated for a viral infection but I don’t think that’s what’s up. The steroid shot made me feel a bit better for a few days, but my light-headedness and shortness of breath have gotten worse. I’ve even felt like my surroundings were spinning a few times. It dawned on me yesterday that some of this could be pseudotumor cerebri symptoms. If so there’s nothing that can be done except a lumbar puncture and I can’t have that done until the end of October. I’m just going to have to pray really hard that my symptoms don’t get even worse over the next month. I can’t begin to express how frustrating it is to have chronic health conditions that make it difficult to function. My own health issues drive me nuts, I remind myself that it could be a lot worse, but that only helps so much.

Design Studio

I spent over seven hours designing an events flier for my design class and redoing some packaging samples over the weekend. Thankfully they all came out well and my first project in my Design Studio class is now a wrap. We presented project proposals for our Entrepreneurship project on Monday. I decided to focus on developing a business identity and assets for selling fine art prints and gifts. I proposed developing branding, packaging, a booth design, web design, and various marketing materials for my business. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I’m hoping once I get past the branding stage the rest will go smoothly. I hate branding. #sigh

Darkroom Photography

This week we learned how to make contact sheets from film negatives and how to print from film negatives. It appears tedious, but I think I’ll enjoy it once I get the hang of it. I’ve got to return to the darkroom this weekend and make a few good prints to turn in on Monday. One fun and interesting thing I wored on this week was a prospectus for a silver gelatin photography show I am helping to plan with the other advanced darkroom photography students. Researching how a show is put together and how to write and format a prospectus has been fun. It’s definitely something I would like to do again in the future.

Sound Design & Production

I felt caught up in all my classes except this one all week. I’m still behind on my reading but am hoping to get caught up this weekend. We read our first play ‘Letters to Sala’ and are going to be designing sounds for Act 1. I’ve got to do a play analysis this weekend and then work on a cue sheet. All this sound/theatre stuff is still completely new to me but it’s interesting. I’m trudging through it now but I think I’m going to learn some really cool skills to add to my arsenal by the end of the semester. I love the professor (Jennifer Luck). She’s cool and doesn’t mind repeating things or trying to explain things in ways that help me, a completely non-musical person, understand.

GAA Stuff

I worked at Faculty Commons Monday – Thursday. This week I just took care of some web work and was able to work on homework the rest of the time. I also spent a good bit of time working on the Art Department blog and social media accounts. I’ve taken some more things to my office and it is starting to feel cozy. I’m so thankful to have a quiet space of my own to work in. I love being in the grad lab with other students, but I can’t really focus there. I don’t do well when other people are around to distract me, or when I can see people walking by or coming in and out. However I have recently tried to make the grad studio comfier so perhaps I’ll have an easier time there from now on.

AIGA JSU Meeting

This week was full of club meetings and special events. On Tuesday I attended the AIGA JSU meeting and was seriously impressed with the turnout. The room was packed and everyone seemed really interested and pumped to be there. Being a grad student, I don’t really feel like I belong, at least not in the way the undergrad students do. I feel more like a mentor peeking in to see what the undergrads are up to. The energy in the room reminded me of my Art Alliance days. I loved my Art Alliance group. I made the best friends through it and we had a lot of good times working together on projects. It makes me happy to see so many students getting involved with school clubs.

‘Yes I Use a Rule” Artist Talk with Diana Cadwallader

Diana Cadwallader (Ms. C) gave an artist talk Wednesday afternoon to coincide with the closing of her show — it was absolutely stunning. She shared some stories about her life and what inspires her work and it was so refreshing and wonderful. She gave a lot of great advice that I hope the young ones were able to soak up. For me, it was just a pleasure to learn more about her and to once again hear her talk about art. She was my primary design professor in undergrad and I feel very privileged to of studied under her.

Photo Club Planning Meeting

I must have spent at least 5-6 hours throughout the week working on photo club plans. We had an initial planning meeting Thursday evening, discussed goals, chose officers, planned meeting times, and so on. I can’t wait for us to have our first public Photo Club meeting. JSU has such a great photography program and I really want to see it and it’s students promoted more, plus photography is such an easy activity to have a blast with. I don’t feel right about being a club officer since I’m a grad student, but I will probably be very hands on this semester and maybe even next as I try to help our newly appointed officers figure things out. I’m super happy to serve as a club mentor and I’m excited that there are a good many people interested in getting together and doing stuff. I’m looking forward to making new friends, trying new things, and sharing some of my own experiences in the form of mini-workshops and demonstrations.

 

It was a super long and busy week, and I still feel unwell, but a lot of exciting things happened this past week. Yay!