New year, new Me (hopefully!)

I suppose I say for everyone that the first semester has been difficult, having struggled to really get settled into the work the end of the calendar year really knocked me back and questioned whether I really wanted to carry on with the course, obviously I did its just when you feel low and really look at everything happening around you, wonder what the point of doing anything is really.

The first half flew by and even though I struggled with the first assignment I was optimistic that I could do the work and more effort on my part would see me rewarded with better grades and finding a lot more enthusiasm to do the work, I found that having got my first assignment in I could look forward more to the next and hope that I could improve on the grade that I got. The second half was a real struggle having never really settled the very end was almost a complete waste. I couldn’t concentrate and spent most of my time just meandered. I managed to get myself into a position that meant I had something to show for my somewhat poor effort at the end of the year. The New Year will hopefully bring more promise and more opportunities to get the grades I want.

Having not handed in two of the assignments I don’t really feel like last year has ended and worrying about being behind is making concentrating and getting the work done even harder. Trying to do 4 weeks work in 2 is hard enough and I must thank Julian for giving me advice and what he felt I could do to improve my work and valuable feedback that I had missed out on in college, I feel without his input I would be even further behind.

From the start of the year the direction I was headed was unclear, obviously a career in design but the actual direction is something very misty, I don’t honestly think that the first semesters work was going to give me a clear idea though having really enjoyed the photo restoration that will be something that I would love to look more into. I found out over Christmas that there may be an opportunity to make a Website for the Veterinary practise that my sister works at, that would be a great opportunity to test my early skills as a web designer and also be something to look forward to and to get my mind back on the right path of work and moving on with my life.

I am still sure that I made the correct choice in coming here, with everything going on at the moment I feel that being at home and being able to see my friends and family has kept me going and I feel had I moved away to university I would have struggled even more, with being an anxious person as it is trying to settle into a new course is tough but in an familiar place would have brought me running home probably.

Looking forward to the new semester, by finally handing in the two assignments left I can move on into the new year with a new purpose and new goals, quite what those goals will be remain to be seen as I have no idea how good my web creating skills will be just as yet, having made a very basic website before in college I feel that I know some of the errors that we made with that and I can identify areas that were good and that were incredibly poor and highlight what needs improving on.

I would like to say how I feel about going back and looking forward to seein
g what grades I may get and seeing what other people get, although it is a very tense time, I don’t think that people would deny that they get excited by the whole thing, I’m hopeful for everyone who has put the extra effort in this time that they can get the merit or even distinction grades they feel they may deserve and hopefully this time know what kind of thing that Steve is looking for, I would just like to think I can pass these two assignments and put an end to it as far as they are concerned and look forward to trying to get better grades in the next assignments.

End of the year

I suppose everyone else in the group is relieved that the end of the year is here and a further 2 assignments have finally been handed in and I wish that I was in that position unfortunately I have a lot of the hard work still do over Christmas, and I hope I never have to get an extension again.

I knew at the start of the week that my main task was to concentrate on getting as much done on A4 as I possibly could and I was relieved on Wednesday that I’d managed to get most of it done barring a few minors details, it was the first time in a number of weeks that I’ve really concentrated on work and settled into it.

I’m probably the only person in the group that is really looking forward to getting back in after Christmas and getting on with the next assignment and putting the end of this year to the back of my mind and getting on with everything.

Apologies (again)

First of all I must again apologise for my absence on Wednesday and to my tutorial group for missing the meeting I hope that the feedback you got was helpful.

Over the past few weeks I have really struggled to concentrate on my work and even getting out of bed some days has been tough so to try and then sit down to put a few hours of hard work is something I have found almost impossible. Unfortunately I just can’t seem to get my mind straight and turn off feelings that have dogged me the past few weeks and are still dogging me.

Having made a big effort on Thursday to get in to college I was really disappointed that I couldn’t get my mind on work as I thought once I was there I would be able to.

The comforting thing I have is that at least with being in the past few Thursdays I haven’t got too far behind with A4 and with a bit of luck that should be ready for next week.

I don’t know if its appropriate to say in a blog but what has troubled me for the past few weeks is that my Granddad died, and having never had to deal with this before its something that has really affected me badly. If you comment, please don’t apologise, I know you mean well but it really doesn’t help me in anyway, sorry.

Getting back to normal (ish)

I was delighted on Wednesday to get a full day to work, after missing so much it was good to get a chance to try and catch up as best I could. I spent most of the day trying to look at my goals, delivery requirements and typing up my competitive analysis; having had far too much to start with I got it down to about 1500 words, about the required amount.

These types of days are really useful and find them incredibly helpful when we get the chance to have them.

Thursday was the start of looking at the banners, it was a pressure morning with only being given a few minutes to start with and then only a few seconds to come up with and draw an idea. It was hard work and something in the future will be helpful when trying to come up with ideas and get them down quick.

The afternoon was then an opportunity to get them down in Photoshop and carry on working on the restoration. I was quite pleased with my ideas and I was also quite pleased with my first attempt at the restoration. I found the tutorial meeting really helpful as we were given some really useful hints and tips for the restoration, as Steve saw something’s on mine that I possibly wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, I think I will start it again and print out when I feel it’s at a decent stage and try to see any areas which need going over.

The banners were also quite poor in regards to which text I had chosen although there isn’t a great choice of “jazzy” styles also putting the type close to the edge is something I believe that a few people had done.

I think in future remembering these tips is something that will certainly improve my banners as well as getting feedback and other good ideas from people.

Catch up!!!

A somewhat peculiar week this week, Having had some bad news last week and subsequently missing the presentations on Wednesday then all of Thursday I was again somewhat relieved to find I wasn’t that far behind.

Having missed the last week and found it difficult to get any self study work done I was really worrying about Wednesday, I was considering asking to work from home and try to crack on with as much work as I could but I found that just being in college with everyone else in more or less the same position of having to do the content I thought I might as well stay and do what I could.

Wednesday was a difficult day trying to concentrate, its not easy listening to a lecture when all you want to do is go home to bed though having the talk with Steve in the afternoon was a weight off my mind. In future I know now I will definitely try and crack on and get as much work as I can early on and not leave quite large parts until almost the last minute.

Thursday was an enjoyable day as we got a full day of working on Photoshop and restoring the photograph. This was something that I think most people were looking forward to and it was something I really enjoyed and cheered me up no end. I know in future this will be something that I should be able to get on with and hopefully not have so many problems.

I’m a little worried about my self study time again this week as I’m hoping I can concentrate enough to do a full 16 hours and document it. I wonder what other people think of documenting it if they haven’t done it before.

This has certainly been the hardest blog that I’ve written, having struggled to do any work at all over the past week I was wondering exactly what I could possibly write about.

Apologies.

First of all I would like to apologise to Steve and all my peers for what has been 2 really bad weeks, being ill most of last week made self study really hard and also getting into college hard. I apologise for missing the presentations on Wednesday afternoon and I apologise to Scott and hope he found doing the A4 sheet for everyone not too much trouble on his own.

After Steve gave the presentation lecture it wasn’t really a surprise to then be given a few hours to create and give one. I have to say that at first I was a bit nervous about it but after 5 -10 minutes of thinking about it I grew in confidence thinking well I cant pass the course without doing them and thought that the more the practise we get the better.

I hope everybody’s went ok and strangely I’m quite looking forward to doing mine and I suppose in a way getting it out of the way. The worst feeling is the nervous tension knowing that I have it still to do when I get back in.

I also apologise to everyone and especially my tutorial group for missing Thursday, I know how useful the sessions are or at least I find them really useful for feedback and a benchmark for my work. All I can do now is use my self study time for this week to the full and catch up on everything.

Once again I apologise for my absence, I don’t feel that it could have been avoided.

Feedback, Help or Hinderence?

After missing Wednesday through illness I was relieved to find out that I hadn’t missed out on too much. Things could have been a lot worse had I missed even more. In future though I really will try and drag myself out of bed to get into college.

Thursday was a day of hard draft and a new lecture. I’m starting to find note taking easier in lectures, whereas before I was trying to get everything down I’m now trying to get the main points from what Steve says and the highlighted parts of the lecture. John gave insight into his note taking that he only highlights the important words, I can understand how this may work for certain people, I would find just trying to learn about something from a word really hard, especially if I didn’t know what it was from before, I also find reading full notes makes a lot more sense than just words.

Julian and I were discussing how feedback can sometimes be less helpful and how sometimes it’s not always valuable and sometimes some is better than other.

The late morning and afternoon were taken up with the next part of the Picture This assignment. Julian and I found the first real task of this rather time consuming and monotonous; I wonder who else found it like this? I’m not saying that it was pointless as I do believe it will be invaluable information in the future.

Now that were in full swing of 2 assignments I don’t feel as I’m under as much pressure as I thought I would be, I really feel that I’m managing to use my time well and use my self study time to get the best out of the work I need to. I feel that I’m finding some good “inspirational” pieces to stick in my sketchbook. I find that studying at home to be more productive now that I have managed to put aside all distractions, such as the TV and computer games.

At last I managed to get webpage sorted and managed to put a coming soon page on, after about 2 hours of constantly trying on Dreamweaver. I finally managed to get it up on there.