Getting up to speed

As always, it's been a while.  As always, a lot has happened since the last time we spoke.  And as always, I silently vow to be a more diligent blogger.
I decided long ago (as is *quite* obvious), that I was only blogging for me and my own purpose, and that the pressure of trying to have consistant updates for my readers was not the reason I started this in the first place.  I started blogging to make friends and connect.  To help myself emote.  And if we're going to be really honest, to help me out of depression.  Though I didn't really know that last one was going to be a side effect, I'm glad it was.  That said, I've had a few moments lately that I've thought "oh, I should blog about that" or "I should write that down somewhere" so perhaps I might get a post or two down before I drop off again.

All that said, here's a brief rundown of where I'm at in my life:
I just passed the year mark at my job...officially the longest job I've had since I was 17.  There was a lot of stress, pain, and tears between the start of my job and where I am now, but everything has leveled out nicely for the most part.  My coworkers and my boss are awesome, the work is not thrilling, but it's fine enough for me to go and not hate my life every time I enter the building.  I'm the most financially stable I've been in YEARS...which is a weird feeling.  I'm still not exactly where I'd like to be with my finances, but I'm getting there and it's a bit of a relief.

The biggest and most recent development though, is my decision to go to grad school.  I started last month in the Media Arts department, and I'm terrified.  Or was.  The terror is slowly becoming excitement as I remember how much I've wanted to do this for so long.  And it's not a little excitement either.  It's the kind of excitement that's bigger than your body and you realize that this, right here, is something amazing.  I will be very clear in saying that I am a looooong way from making any movies just yet, but man am I excited to get there.  The road to get there is slow: two classes a week, still working 40 hours, and paying out of pocket (long story there...I won't bore you).  But all of that will just make it so much more worth while when I'm done.  The two classes I'm currently taking are Digital Technology in the Arts and Principles of Cinematography.  The former is a researched based class, where we as the students go out and compile information on a specified topic, then the following class we all have a discussion about what we found and how it's all relevant to where we are now and how things are progressing.  The latter is at it's heart a film lighting class.  Learning how to set scenes, use cameras, adjust settings to get the right exposure, etc.  Both are a lot of fun.
This last week I actually learned a couple of things about myself because of my classes.  I'm calling them Grad School Epiphanies, and that's one thing I'd kind of like to keep going on here, just because I know there's going to be a lot over the next 3 years.

Grad School Epiphanies:
1) I really love Cubism.
One of our research topics this week was Picasso, who I have known about and seen works of for quite some time.  I mean who hasn't?  For whatever reason though, this time I was just like, "WHOA.  That. is. AWESOME!"  Reading the theorietics behind the art and understanding some of the inspiration made it that much cooler.  I would highly recommend watching "Picasso and Braque go to the Movies."  It's on Netflix.

2) I am not as dumb as I thought.
Which truthfully in and of itself is kind of a dumb thing to say, but sometimes I forget.  The cinematography class I'm taking scared the snot out of me the first couple weeks, I felt like I was way in over my head.  Today though, we assembled set lights, which I am familiar with due to my theatrical background.  And then suddenly, things clicked.  I felt better.  This was something I knew!  And that's all it took to make me say in my mind, "Yeah, I can do this!"

So that's my current life in a nutshell.  I keep pondering making the move to Wordpress, starting a new blog...we'll see how things go.  Anyway, until next time!

Edit: In blogging, I made a bestest best friend.  He has a blog too.  You should go read it.  :)