Other things

So I've given into peer pressure. I'm glad people are using these blogs again. They offer me a wide variety of distractions when I'm supposed to be doing homework. And they let me maintain the illusion of connectedness with my friends. Double fine.
Since my second term at ACAD has started, I have realised a few things. 1. Design class is friggin' impossible and may kill me. Every week we are assigned new projects that everyone looks at and goes "there's no WAY I'm going to be able to pull that off". And every week people come slumping into class, exhausted and a little giddy from working so close to heavy-duty glues and permanent markers, and produce something amazing. I don't understand it. I wish there was some way to describe just how insane these projects are. One required us to do 240 drawings--40 describing each of 6 words, 20 using only dots, 20 using only lines. And these 240 drawings were supposed to be done in 2 days. TWO. DAYS. And 240 was the minimum required for this project. Every one of our assignments is at least that intense. It just doesn't let up! Plus, I found out the hard way that if you hand in an assignment late, there is no leeway. You get an automatic F.
Awesome.
2. My painting prof is, as dad so aptly put it, a fixture with tenure. He's been there since the world began, he's on the hiring committee, he's earned the respect of the other faculty, and because of all this, it seems like he's stopped caring about his classes. He'll just come and go as he pleases. On the coldest day of the year thus far, painting class was unofficially cancelled because he never showed up. Which would have been fine with me if he didn't live 5 blocks away from the school. I wish I didn't harbour grudges for stuff like this, but that morning I took a taxi that dropped me off at the wrong building, so I had to walk outside in minus Hell Freezes Over degrees, carrying a briefcase, a portfolio, a toolbox, and my bag. That was a sucky morning, and because my brain still operates on the reward system, I thought it might pay off. It didn't. I said a few things I probably shouldn't have.
Oh, and I have heard that this particular professor doles out marks based on gender. I'll just leave it at that.
3. I have met the centre of the ACAD community. Her name is Crystal-Lee and she is everybody's best friend. Seriously. She knows all the first years, half the second years, and a few of the fourth years. It's intense. For the first little while, I was being introduced to people left right and centre. It felt like I had sneaked into some kind of exclusive club, and everyone was secretly wondering what I was doing there. But the paranoia leveled off, and now I just smile and nod at a lot of people.
4. Apparently, the freshman 15 works in reverse sometimes.
Also, if you are in Calgary, I think you should take some time to check out the Woodrow exhibit at the Illingworth-Kerr gallery at ACAD. It's got little models of places in Woodrow, Saskatchewan, and each one has something exciting inside. There are stop-motion movies and animatronics! It made me smile for days.