FAREWELL

"Now we have to say goodbye to all our company...", Another school year has come to an end. I just want to say that I really did enjoy this blogging thing. I just might continue it who knows. Good luck to everyone on their finals, congratulations if you're graduating, and have a blessed summer. I just wanted to display one more piece before the class ends-it's a different type of calendar that I intended to have fold up but I'm still working on that.

JUNETEENTH

Have you ever heard of this holiday???? I HAVE! Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Observance of Juneteenth is June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day. This year a lot of places will celebrate the weekend before the nineteenth on June 16th. So this summer if you can remember see if your hometown or city commemorates such a day and attend. It will be a learning experience plus tons of fun.

Oh by the way I did mean to say I designed the poster to your left lol!

A FIRST FOR ME

Never in my life have I ever used chicken wire until now! For my final in 3D design we are studying pop art and are to create a household item reflecting the art period with chicken wire as the form. I chose to make a tube of lipstick and I'm putting paper mache around the wire. It's a process but I'm getting there. If you're in my class you'll get to see my finished piece and I hope it turns out how I want.

ROBERT MUGABE

I gave a presentation on Tuesday in my World History class with Professor Griffin, who I might say is a very difficult teacher, on a man named Robert Mugabe. Currently this man is the President of Zimbabwe in Africa. He's been in standing since the 80s and will be up for re-election in 2008. The information about this man I found to be very sad. For instance he called for Operation Murambatsvina, clean out trash, on his own people. It was an operation to destroy houses on lands that were once owned by white landowners that affected 2.4 million Zimbabweans. How can a man be so cruel and be so harsh towards his own people?!?!?

MAGAZINE LAYOUT

In my Advanced Page Layout class this was one of our assignments to create a magazine cover and a two page spread. I chose to hightlight a reggae artist, Gyptian, who I listen to. I have to say this was a fun project to create and even though I'm not too excited about how the cover looks I still like it!

CHECK OUT THE SKILLS

This was a realism project I created in one of my graphics classes my sophomore year. I was highly pleased with the results. Though there were a couple of problems I ran into trying to make everything look life like. The one thing I love most about my peacock is the gradient meshes I used for his feathers and his beak. Tell me what you think.

I DON'T BELIEVE THIS

My brain must really be in a coma. I've updated my resume so that it's in tip top shape to hand out to possible employers, but like a week ago when I tried emailing my resume for a summer internship I came across a problem. I listed what I thought was a functioning email address, but to my surprise it's not. Apparently it's just to use as an identity when I log onto my email account. It doesn't function as an email address. Am I right? Please someone tell me if I'm wrong. I've passed out my resume to a few companies at a job fair and now I feel so stupid because I gave what I thought worked as my email but it doesn't. No wonder why my inbox has been empty lol!

WHEW!

Making a personal web page is very challenging. I created one in Flash and thought I knew what I was wanting and knew exactly what I was doing, but it did not turn out to be so easy lol! I fell across many problems like my buttons and the maneuvering of my pages. Then I used some special downloaded fonts and did not know how to package it so my text would look the same on any computer. I just took many things for granted and it was a learning experience so I'll know better the next time.

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

I'm in the last month of my junior year and man am I excited! This entire school year flew by pretty fast which is always a good thing while in school. I tried something new this school year by taking 18 credit hours each semester. At first I didn't think I'd be able to handle it because I enjoy taking naps and my nap time became non-existent lol! But I've been hanging in there and am doing quite well I must say. I just started looking at the workload as a practice for me when I graduate and get an actual job that I'll be ready to work long hours and complete several tasks.

I'M EXCITED

In my Computer Art II class, my teacher gave us our assignment for the final coming up. Everyone in the class is to create a personal website. I already made one during my sophomore year in either Vector Graphics or Digital Imaging (I can't remember lol!), but I've grown as a graphic designer and want to start it from scratch. I've already decided I want to use Flash to create it and am looking forward to making it look like I've in dealing with graphics for 10 years plus! I've been researching flash based websites to get some ideas on things I want for my own website.

MY CONDOLENCES

I didn't know anything about the Virginia Tech tragedy that happened yesterday til around 4:30. When one of my teachers were talking about it my mouth dropped wide open. I'll never understand fully what drives an individual to make such criminal acts. The link below gives information about the shooter and how he was a loner. It just goes to show that everyone needs to treats others nice even if you don't know the person. Try something new and say hello to people you don't know on campus. They might just be having a bad day or they might not know anyone around the university. Your simple action could mean a lot and make an impact on their lives.

http://www.news1130.com/news/topstory/article.jsp?content=20070417_155926_4884

COME ONE COME ALL!

Earlier in my posts I talked about a boat race my 3D Design class is having. If you're not busy Wednesday, April 25th, at 2pm out at the lake behind the Performance Arena, we will be having this boat race, SUPER HEROES!!!!! Come and watch as 4 teams battle it out in a race on the lake. Who will be victorious???? Be there to find out. And if you come, let me know because the more people our group invites and they attend, the more points we'll get. Be cheering for TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle).

WOW!

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."-Martin Luther King

I must have been sleeping under a rock here lately because I just found out last night about this situation. A man named Don Imus who has a show called "Imus in the Morning", apparently referred to the women basketball players at Rutgers as "nappy headed hoes"! After people began to take offense to the remark, Imus replied saying people should relax and not worry about "some idiot comment meant to be amusing." NOT WORRY?!? EXCUSE ME! Someone please tell me where the amusing part comes into play????? Then he was quoted commenting on his own comment on the Today Show saying, "that phrase originated in the black community. ... I may be a white man, but I know that these young women and young black women all through that society are demeaned and degraded by their own black men and that they are called that name." Originated in the black community???? Wonder where he's getting his facts from lol! I thought this racism thing was long put behind us but I guess there are just those select few who still wish to display their ignorance to the public. What actions are going to be taken? Right now he's on a two week suspension but all that's doing is giving him free time to come up with more ignorant remarks. To read more up on this story I've provided some links.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/11536642/detail.html

http://ncaabasketball.aolsportsblog.com/2007/04/07/don-imus-rutgers-controversy-not-going-away/

I'M WORRIED

If you read my blog some weeks ago, I posted about an upcoming boat race for my 3D Design class. Well I've been meeting with my group member in class discussing the boats design but everyone has different ideas and we're not getting anywhere. I wasn't elected the group leader so I don't want to step on their toes and tell them, "hey you need to step up your leadership skills and get everyone on one accord", because I wouldn't want for someone to do that to me. But their had to be a reason she was chosen as team leader right??? I'm looking around the classroom and the other groups are up and moving, and then I look at us and we're still in the discussion phase! I want to win this race gosh darn it, but I feel like my group is slacking. What to do-what to do?!?!?!?!?!?

BACK ALREADY

Welcome back! I don't think I'm alone when I say that spring break went back fast! It feels like I just left two days ago for break. Surprisingly I actually had a bit of fun on my vacation since there's not much to do back home. A lot of interesting things went on that don't usually happen in Hannibal like one of the banks got robbed and the robbers were caught. The last two or threes bank robberies the suspects got away-way to go Hannibal Police Department lol! And the other interesting thing that happened was a man was found dead in a creek behind our Auto Zone by some kids. Stuff like that just doesn't happen in my small town so you know it was the talk in the paper. Other than that.....not too much happened. How was your break?

SPRING BREAK IS FINALLY HERE

I've been counting down the days since January for this week to finally arrive! Though it's a time to relax and lay back and enjoy some down time I highly doubt that's going to happen. I'm have so much to do within this one week. I'll be applying for possible jobs and internships for this summer, working on my blog assignment, reading Coal, and researching boats for the boat race for my 3D design class. Whew!!!! I'll surely be busy. Hopefully I stay focused and finish everything early in the week so I'll be able to relax a bit before coming back. So stay safe everyone and bring me back something good!!!!

MORE FLASH ANIMATION

So Saturday I checked my Facebook and clicked on a link to the Caveman's Crib. You know the caveman in all those Geico commercials-hilarious!!!! I check it out and it's an interactive site for the viewer, but when I was looking around I was recognizing things like moving from frame to frame (if you know anything about Flash). I had fun and I believe you will too so check it out!

http://cavemancrib.com

DIGITAL PORTFOLIO

Wow! I had no idea making a digital portfolio was going to be so rough. I just finished a sample one for my Computer Art II class. I'm happy with what I have so far but I know I'm going to have to tweek it in the near future. But the good thing is I have a head start in creating one for my Electronic Resources class!!!!!

PACKAGING

Today I had a critique in my advanced page layout class on packaging. I decided to design a shopping bag. Making the layout for any package is harder than what I thought it to be, so I just went with a simple design that still works. Our teacher took photos of our pieces and here is my finished product. Hope you like!

BOAT RACE

This semester I'm taking 3-D Design and one of the requirements is that the class participates in a boat race. This means each team has to construct the boat, get in it, and race it across and back a lake. This year's theme is SUPER HEROES! Now I think I can do the super hero part with no problem. My problem is I don't wish to be one of the members in the boat. Why do you ask? Well #1. I don't feel safe getting into a boat I helped to make #2. I'm not the best swimmer #3. I don't do lakes and #4. Did I mention I'm not the best swimmer?!?!? I want to help my teammates out, but I just cannot get inside of this boat. I think I'll just do really really well on the super hero section and help out with the advertising for our team. But as far as super heroes to base our boat on, any suggestions?????

ANIMATION

Thanks to my buddy Wes from the Flash Animation class I took over J-Term, I can now show everyone my animation of Chiquita. When listening make sure to press pause on my media player at the bottom of my blog page. I hope you guys enjoy it because I had fun making it. It's my first animation, so please be nice!

http://msclaudia.zoomshare.com/files/Chiquita.swf

STREET ART

Since I was a youngster I've always admired graffiti. Although I must say that some I've seen is not good at all. I used to draw in my sketchbook graffiti sketches and thought maybe one day I'll actually put my work on the side of a building or train car or something. Well come to find out it's illegal so that shot my dream right then and there lol! So I went to the next step and had my mama buy me some sidewalk chalk. I didn't have the best luck with it though, but the point is I TRIED. There was one website I came across and boy was it cool. The man created these sidewalk drawing that looked real. Check it out to see for yourself. But if you find other works of graffiti let me know.

http://www.redjellyfish.com/fun/street-art.html

IT WORKED!

For some weeks now I've been trying and trying to load examples of my work to my blog, but when I did either the picture would not load or it would not show correctly. This is my clown fish who everyone calls Nemo I made in Corel Painter. My teacher made our class record the actual painting of our subject but the catch was we could not mess up when recording. The entire thing had to play through without any mistakes. So here's the finished piece and I was happy with it. I used oil pastels I believe for everything. Now that I got an image to load correctly, I'll post other examples later.

THE UGLY AMERICAN

So on Tuesday in my American Literature II class my teacher introduced us, well me anyhow, to what an Ugly American is. I had no clue of what she was talking about. In my head I thought it was some person who just was not very appealing to the eye, but of course I was wrong. She explained to the class that at times when Americans go to foreign countries they boast about how the United States is the best country of all, everything in the US is better than across seas, and rude attitudes. I exclude myself considering I've never been out the states. I have many friends from foreign countries who agreed with what the teacher had to say and I was somewhat shocked. Going to another country I'd compare it to being a guest in someones house. Since I'm the guest I govern myself accordingly and display the most respect toward my hosts. So to hear that my people go and "act a fool" is something I had to think on. It's because of my upbringing of how I act and treat others, saying "yes sir" and "no sir", "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am". If you treat others with disrespect expect to be treated the same and if you treat others with respect, respect will be returned.

I JUST WANT TO KNOW

I understand well that men and woman are very different creatures especially when it comes to dealing with emotions, problems, and almost everything. I've been trying to understand the how the male works here lately so I guess this post is for the fellas. Why is it that guys only tell their "female friends" selective things? Or why is she always the last to find out about something that's going on? And how come when guys deal with emotions they want to keep it all bottled up inside? I admit I bottle up a lot of my feelings but every now and again I'll talk to someone about what I'm going through. Communication is very helpful in life so use it! I just get really frustrated when I have to do brain surgery on a guy just to get some information out of him. So if you're a guy reading this please get back with me because I just want to know.

I'M CHANGED FOR LIFE!!!

Alright so have you ever learned something and after you learned it you couldn't look at things the same way again? In my case I can no longer look at street signs, billboards, magazines, anything that has letters on it the same again! Last semester I learned about typography. For example serifs and san serifs--serif means having tails (like that in the typography image) and san serifs means no tails. Now everywhere I go I pay close attention to things such as that. Also in magazines I'm starting to pay attention to the indents, paragraphing, font sizes, font types, and just how magazine stories and pictures are arranged. Before I just used to read magazines you know! Am I alone on this? Please let me know if you do the same so I don't feel like a psycho? Check out the link also. I think I'm going to attempt it. If it works out, I'll post the image.

http://www.artext.co.uk/html/tutorialtwofont.html

LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO BE SERIOUS ALL THE TIME

I understand that I'm growing up and need to be serious about life and work and all but you can't be serious all the time. "Don't get your panties all in a twine grandma! It is going to be okay." Take time away from being serious all the time. For instance I played double-dutch with some classmates yesterday. I was somewhat rusty on my jump roping skills but we still had a lot of fun. Later I did finish my homework so don't think I didn't. I challenge YOU to do the same---go out today and do something fun with a group of your friends and take a break from the homework, school, work, or whatever. Believe me it will be worth it!

"SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY$"

Okay so I'm not getting paid.....as of yet, but I have been working hard since last week. I've been working my tail off on a couple of tasks to attempt to get a summer internship with a St. Louis company, ZIPATONI. Quinine Jeans--for the Ultra-Sophisticated Her. Do you like my tag line? I like it. They asked for me to make the logo for the high-end denim company (which is made up by the way), a poster that will be displayed in the store or handed out to consumers, a catalogue cover and a possible two page spread telling the consumer where to purchase the apparel. Sounds like a lot huh?!? It was! I was somewhat pleased with the final results but you know what they say, "You are your toughest critic." So I'm very nervous about whether or not my work gets accepted considering Zipatoni is only accepting 15 interns or what they're calling Zipterns. If accepted this will be a very good experience of how life and work are in the "Real World". I set high expectations for myself and coming up short will only push me to work harder the next time around. So look out world because CLAUDIA is ready to take YOU on!


http://www.zipatoni.com

ALL IN THE KOOL-AID AND DON'T KNOW THE FLAVA!

So on Thursday Ms. Anna Nicole passed away. Let's take a moment of silence to pay our repects..............alright. Please someone tell me why it is that everyone is up in everyone's business but their own??? Everyone is saying that she was on drugs and OD'd on them which come to find out is wrong. Do you want to know what I believe? I believe she died of a broken heart. Five months earlier her only son passed who she had a very tight bond with. I can't imagine what she must have been going through. And on top of that the public is all up in her kool-aid over who is her baby's daddy!!!! Why do they care? And then there's her mama. The person who she should always have been able to go to for anything but she couldn't. Yesterday on the tv Anna's mama said she's worried about her granddaughter in Nassau, Bahamas (who she's never seen by the way) and was going down there to get her. Anna and her mother didn't have a strong relationship so I think that the grandmother was going down there just to try and get the baby because the baby is heir to Anna's $400 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!! It's sad but you know it's true. Anna Nicole's relatives and the public lead her to those anti-depressants so she was just a wreck. I pray that her daughter Dannielynn grows up with a normal life and doesn't have to go through what her mother did. So what's the moral of today's story????? STAY OUT OF OTHER'S BUSINESS AND WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN OKAY.

Do You Know What Month It Is???

February is recognized as Black History Month. An entire month to bring national attention to the large contribution of African-Americans in history. It has been celebrated annually since 1926. Carter G. Woodson, an African American, Harvard-educated historian, first conceived the second week in February as what was then known the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson selected the week in February that embraced the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. If you are reading this and are an African-American embrace your culture, your skin, and your heritage. But if you're not...go out and research the contributions African-Americans have made for this country through out history.

http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/

"Step outside yourself, then look back, and you will see how human, yet how beautiful and black you are, how very black, even when you're integrated." -Langston Hughes