Demand and supply...

Alright, time to catch everyone up on all the good stuff of the week so far. We started it off with Portfolio Center orientation on Monday morning at 9. Side note, if anyone has not had the chance to check out the institution I am about to devote the next 2 years of my heart and soul to, I really recommend you do so so that you may have some more of an understanding of what I am actually doing. That is if you don't know. www.Portfoliocenter.com. Anywho, orientation went great as I sat there amongst the other 35 new students for this quarter, and with a big dorky grin on my face the whole time. I have never had such a peace about being in a place as I have about this, and I thank God everyday that my path led me here. I can't wait to see what happens.

We were introduced to some of the staff, which basically we sat in awe as their careers and experiences were verbally depicted for us. I hope to grab a single breath of creativity from these people because I know it will take me far. I plan to be like a sponge and soak up every single thing that they say and teach us. Everyone looks really friendly as far as the students go. Age ranges from right out of undergrad to school to married with kids. Also, not to mention lots of cute artsy chicks that I can't wait to "work on projects with." We settled with financial aid, took our pictures for our id's and picked up the parking pass, then we got our schedule. 

Here is mine for the week, just so you know: 

• Wednesdays - 8am - 12pm Typography Fundamentals (dealing with use of type in works. One of the major struggles for designers is creatively sending the message of the work on a parallel that matches the art itself. We will be designing our own fonts as well I assume.)

• Wednesdays - 1pm - 5pm Electronic Digital Applications (class overviewing the use of the Adobe Creative suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign, along with Quark. These are programs I have used a lot in the past and will use even more in the future.)

• Thursdays - 8am - 12pm Seminar (the whole school student body as well as public attends this. We meet in the biggest room in school, also known as the Los Angeles room, and sit to hear speakers from the creative world that come from agencies and companies all over the nation. Good chance to network and plant that seed for possible future employment. Frog Design is coming soon, which is an incredible studio which has a location in NYC. Time for some butt kissing.)

• Thursdays - 1pm - 5pm Integrated Print and Electronic Production (I believe this is just the basics about how to prepare to start building a portfolio in print as well as electronic, such as a website. We shall find out soon.)

• Thursdays 6pm - 10pm Emotive Type (Again, not too sure of this class, but the supplies list was hella long. I do know however we will be making our own books, binding them and all.  have actually seen finished products and they are legit books. Should be interesting.)

• Friday 8am - 12pm Design Aesthetics (Oh yes, the class also known as hell on earth. From all the students I have spoken with, the most warning comes for this class and instructor. Not too sure what goes on in this class but I do know that my free time as I know it disappears completely once I begin this course. I am however extremely excited because this is just the challenge I have been wanting!)

So there you have it, the schedule. Not too bad but I may be singing a different tune this time Friday. Here is a picture of my recent art store trip, purchasing products I had never even heard of. But thanks to Alan at Binders, I was able to locate everything. He also was very helpful to explain the structure of the store, and let us know he was always there to help when we needed.

For my Typography Fundamentals course, I have been reading the book, Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton, which is one of my required textbooks. It is actually really interesting, as others may not think so much, to explore the histories of where certain fonts have come from, and how they have changed over the years. I am very interested to see how my design will go when I start to brainstorm it up. Hopefully it won't suck!

I also wanted to really quick throw out a thank you to all of you who have shown your support tremendously. It really means the world to me to have such great friends and family backing me up when I am chasing my dreams into unknown territory. From little financial presents in surprise cards to simply a phone call or text message telling me good luck in class, these are all things that have made a great foundation for me to walk strongly about. I can't wait to see what all is going to happen for myself my career with Portfolio Center, but I do know there is no other place in the world I would rather be at this time then where I am, and my happy cup runneth over!

A new day...

Hey guys, I will be sitting in orientation for Portfolio Center in nine hours. Can't wait and be looking out for updates about the chaos my life is about to endure. Cheers!

A stroll in the park

Hey guys, wanted to throw in a quick entry about the last couple days. We finally have internet so now it is only requiring the motivation to get off my ass out from in front of the 42" television filled with digital cable and enlighten you. We have been here one official week now and it has been a busy one to say the least. We have ridden Marta busses and trains, walked God only knows how many miles and dissected the city as much as we can in the last 6 days. I have been filming as I said so not many pictures, but I did in fact grab the camera for photography down in Piedmont Park, which I can already see to be one of my favorite places in the city. I was here a little over one year ago to see Dave Matthews and the Allman brothers put on a great show here, and now I stand just looking over acres of green grass, nestled in the shadows of the Atlanta skyline. Check out the photos of the park, downtown as well as some around the apartment. (Click on the picture). If you can remember earlier in the blog I discussed my couch and snapped a shot of it in its worst state. Check it out now after Mom's magnificent doctoring of it. We are going to hit up Buckhead Church tomorrow to see how that is. Oh, and by the way, Marta has come in handy since I have had to park my gas-needing car because I can't find a station with gas to supply. It is kind of scary, but thankfully I do live in an area where everything is walking distance or a bus ride away. I am also trying to recover from this annoying cold, which seems to be slimming up. Hopefully will have completely removed itself from my body by Monday morning so I don't snot all over my new fellow classmates that I will be educating with for the next 2 years. 

Hello WWW...

Hey guys, just got all connected to the internet and some cable on the tube via Comcast. I feel like I have my limbs attached to my body again. It's sad that technology does that to you nowadays, but anyways, just thought you should know.

Peachy day in the city

Sitting here at Panera again eating a cobblestone and figured I would update you on all thats going on. Everything is going great here in Atlanta. Having an absolute BLAST so far. Mom came up yesterday to visit and see the inhabited apartment and thought she was pretty impressed with what she saw, which is great. We went and grabbed some most delicious grub at the Varsity by GA Tech in downtown. After a couple chili burgers and onion rings, we headed over to Ikea to load up on some bedroom furniture so I could stop living out of suitcases. After struggles of screws and nails and even a broken toe, I got everything built and put in place and my room is a very comfortable living space now. My roommate Evan and I spent the duration of the night hanging our wide assortment of our NYC art all over the apartment, definitely making it feel just like home. It will be a great next 2 years. 

Today we ventured to Lenox mall to the check out the Apple store and some others. Then we headed back to the apt. and grabbed a Marta downtown. I have been doing a fair amount of filming and not too much picture taking, so as I said, stay tuned for the vid. We will also be getting internet and cable friday morning so the long wait will be fine and maybe limit our trips to Panera. We hit up Underground Atlanta, Olympic Park, and found ourselves walking aimlessly for a while around the downtown area, looking like we knew what we were doing. We also made a pitstop at the Westin, the huge round building with the glass elevator on the outside. Granted the elevator was boarded up for repairs after the tornado struck it last year, but the top was a great view of our new home!

We plan to hit the coke museum later this week and perhaps take a ride out to Stone Mtn. I should be quite skinny with rock hard calf muscles by Christmas from the amazing amount of walking we have been doing. Welcome to city life. Anyways, more to come soon. 

I have arrived!

Hello folks, just wanted to quickly give you the update. Move went splendid. Weather was beautiful. Apartment location is great and Atlanta is going to be a great new home. We don't unfortunately have internet or cable until this upcoming Friday, so me and my roommate are sitting here at Panera up the road using the free wi-fi. I have been doing a fair amount of filming of all move in work from yesterday to the Marta adventure to the Braves game today to watch our home team put a whoopin on the Mets. It has been a blast so far and will continue to be. Just stay tuned in!

Classes start a week from tomorrow, ahhhhhhhh!!!!

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...but not leaving on a jet plane.

What a week it's been. Ellen and Brian came last week for mom's 50th birthday week. We completely renovated her garage, leaving it a bright room of purple walls and a green floor. Wasn't the easiest task I have ever worked on, but definitely turned out great, and was just what Mom wanted. I will be editing some video footage in the following week so be on the lookout for that video.

Interesting to find though. Our little cat Oliver unfortunately went into heat earlier this week. So now we call HER Olive. Kind of a funny story to tell, but through my mom into a tantrum. Plus I feel like the cat just got a sex change and I am just having to adjust to not calling the female cat by the male name of Oliver.

So I spent the entire day today packing my life away. You really find just how much stuff you own when it is all in boxes. Luckily a 5'x8' U-haul holds all my belongings (for now) perfectly, along with the help of a truck bed. I am so very excited the time has come for me to make this move. It's been a long time coming. This summer, however, absolutely flew by, as it feels like yesterday I just unpacked everything. There are going to be some many challenges and events coming my way in the next few weeks that will probably put me in a trance. Hopefully I will be loyal to updating the blog on everything going on. We are leaving promptly at seven in the morning. With a nice breakfast stop in Madison, GA, it should put us there about 10:30, in time for me to sign my lease and get the key. Uncle Alan is going to meet us in downtown about that time to hang out as well, so that will be way cool as well. 

Alright, been a long day and I am exhausted. Tomorrow will be even more of a tiring day. I will see you on the other side. 

Looking back

It is truly unbelievable to think that today marks the actual 7 year anniversary of the tragic events of 911. I remember like it was yesterday. I was in the first semester of my junior year of high school. We were in the middle of changing classes, which I was going to drafting. I walked in to the big classroom to see a group of students standing around looking up at the TV hanging from ceiling. The news was on covering the actual events as they were occurring. I remember sitting there thinking of the freak accident. Now, call me dumb or lacking any knowledge of the outside world from my small casual life in Evans, Georgia, but I hadn't even known what the world trade centers were until this point. I had heard of them before but knew nothing more than the name. I watched in amazement as the smoke billowed from the top of the tower. I just felt that it may have been a freak accident. I mean, the towers stood so tall over the city and sometimes these things happen. Little did I know this was nothing of the kind. 

I watched as a plane slammed into a tower... again. I honestly thought it was a replay of the first plane hitting, but I realized after a bit of time that a second plane had flown into the second building. I was in complete and utter shock. Even though I was young and sometimes incompetent of placing a solution to every problem, I joined the rest of the nation in curiosity of what was actually happening in lower Manhattan. The rest of the blur seems sort of a blur to my memory now, but I do in fact remember it being progress report day. My grades were slipping a little in chemistry for the first of the year, and I saw this situation as a possible relief to the punishment that was coming my way. Selfish I know, but as I said, I was younger then and not had quite the experiences yet that has edged me to be the person I am now. Not just an observer, but wanting to understand what I am encountering.

Throughout the day more and more news continued to flow through the hallways and classrooms. "These may be signs of terrorist attacks." "The towers have collapsed." "An act of evil has occurred in New York City and upon America." I felt I was stuck in a nightmare. I didn't know how to feel, what the think, or how to respond to what was happening to our country.

That night, my family went to eat at a nearby Mexican restaurant, El Valle, which I remember nothing from the meal. The only memory that lurks in my mind was viewing the news on the Hispanic channel, where I watched people jumping from the towers to the ground. Sure I had seen violence in R-rated movies and on television shows, but never had I seen people finding themselves in such situations that the best alternative choice was to jump to the end of their life. I think back to that day sometimes and still find myself in disbelief that I witnessed such a historic event, which was one of the most horrifying days of my life. 

In March of 2007, I was able to see ground zero, which is quite the construction zone and completely built up. New York doesn't waste time. There was a fire station across the street which is still defaced, and had a big plaque on the outside of the building stating "We Will Never Forget."

So many times in this world we get caught up in our own dramatic events that we blow up to be some sort of colossal event when it really makes no sense at all. I am guilty of such, and I try to remember that there is much more evil in the world to dwell on my insignificant problems. We become selfish and don't realize how good we really do have it as being Americans. The freedoms and opportunities that this country lays out for us that other countries could never live up to. If we are not careful, we will find ourselves in another civil war between what is wrong and right, democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives, whites and blacks, when in this time we need more than anything to unite as a solid nation. When you find yourself in some type of "complication" in your life, put yourself in the shoes of one of those who dove to their death because that was a better situation than where they were. 

Alright, off my soapbox I go

The Life of Olive

The Life of Olive from EWD Design Productions on Vimeo.

As promised, here is my newest video done with my new HD video camera. It has been so much fun. I also picked up Final Cut Express, a new editing software, which is definitely a step up from what I have been using. This being said, the video quality to come will be much better than what i have been producing. I did this little montage of my mom's new addition to her cat family for her birthday. It gave me a chance to use my 240 fps feature on my camera. Check it out!

Unemployed...but happy

A few thoughts have been streaming through my brain in the past couple of weeks. After much reflecting over the subject, I have decided to blog it out so I can express my feelings and maybe disentangle some of the emotions that have somehow intertwined themselves, throwing me on a bit of a roller coaster. So bear with me on this.

So here I am, about an hour and a half from dozing off to the lethargic bridge that will link me to tomorrow, Friday, my last day of my first "career" out of college. It's funny though. It felt just like yesterday when I was offered the job, and here I am over a year later walking away from it. The thoughts about it kind of sets me in a state of unsureness, fear, anxiety, and most of all, curiousness. As each day goes by, we accumulate plans and ideas that run through our minds. Whether they be what we are going to do to pass the time during our weekends, or how we choose to spend the rest of our living years walking the planet. I have never believed to be one to settle. Once upon a time I may have thought thats what I wanted, and maybe some later day I will, but anyone who knows me well enough knows me to be a nomad. Always ready to go again and see what the next place has to offer, and what I can offer it.

I graduated college and resided in Greenville, which was comfortable to me at the time. Then with the assistance of Mom and a 4' x 8' U-haul trailer, I found myself in another transposition of where I would leave a place of solace and proceed into another locality. Now, I know Augusta is the town where I spent the years of my adolescence. Whether it was waiting on my friends who had their license to make me their passenger to so-and-sos house, scrutinizing a new release, bagging groceries at my first big money-making scheme, or looking out my bedroom window as I spent a Friday night grounded because of that inefficient report card. But the person I was when I drove away from Augusta in 2005 was completely variant to the person I was when I returned. The other day, some long-time friends and I were discussing the 9 years between now and when we were taking our first steps into our high school. It feels like a million years ago and yet it feels like yesterday. I was so unaware of the life-altering events that would occur in a period shy of a decade. When I left Augusta, I learned to be a responsible adult, where there were no more disciplinary procedures when I bombed a test besides the idea of inadequacy to why I was there in the first place. Acquaintances came and went, and then I met life-long friends. I learned how to fall head-over-heels for a girl, and that a broken heart can honestly make you believe your world is going to end. And most of all, I learned that I wanted to succeed while I do have God's gift of life to be here. Succession can have different meanings to different people, but for me, I do not intend to waste my years in distress and unhappiness. The things you experience in life chisel you down to be ready for what life really is all about, being happy and having no regrets. It's what makes it worth living.

So now as I complete this chapter of my life, I find myself again unaware of what possibilities, opportunities, and misfortunes that may cross my path in the next nine years just to continue developing me into the person I am intended to become. I am stepping completely out of my comfort zone, and am leaning on the support of my family, God, and the faith that I can achieve my main goal, and that is to be happy. One of my chief support systems and the best sibling any person could wish for reminded me the other day that you have to take risks to find something extraordinary. And with the anxiety and fear aside, I can honestly say now that I am ready as I ever will be!

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.
 - Henry David Thoreau