It has been over a month since I posted.  The last month of school was busy beyond belief. Here is an unnecessarily long update:

P H O T O G R A P H Y

I put my camera away at the end of March because the little line that I would see in the viewfinder was bugging me.  Well, I picked my camera up in about 2 weeks ago because I was asked by the Communications and Media Director at my school to photograph the baccalaureate ceremony for the class of 2009.  I figured I needed to get used to it again.  When I first picked it up, the little line in the viewfinder was gone.  However, after a few days of use, an even bigger and more frustrating squiggly line was right there in my viewfinder.  This still frustrates me to no end, but it is not showing up on my pictures, which is a relief.  I will have to figure out how to fix that and prevent it from happening again.

The assignment was my first.  They actually paid me to photograph the baccalaureate ceremony. I had no idea what I was doing and no time to prepare myself.  I took over 900 photos and after two days of editing and sifting, I am ready to submit 280.  I think that 1/3 of the photos being viable is an excellent rate for my first job.  Even though the pay was just hours of my workstudy money, it was amazing to actually have people take my art seriously.  When I got the email saying that the Dean of Finances reccommended me as an “excellent photographer,” I was ecstatic.  I can’t wait to do something like this again.

When I got home after a very grueling year of college, I was reminded that I had packages waiting for me.  I had completely forgotten about the packages that I ordered from Amazon.  I am excited to be trying out all of my new toys in the next few days.  The polarizer filter seems really fun and will definitely be tested thoroughly in the next few days.  The cleaning set made me lens super shiny, although I still need to figure out how to get rid of the line in my viewfinder! I will use the UV filter to keep my lens clean and protected.  I am not sure about the fluorescent filter, but we will see.  The hard drive I bought is simple and easy to use.  I am dreading the process of downloading all of my pictures from my site to my backup drive, but I am excited to have an easier storage system.  I figure with all of my photos on a website, on a hard drive, and (soon to be) on compact disks, I will never have to worry about losing this precious art.

Another wonderful item that I bought from Amazon is the Digital Photography book.  Considering I am dedicating a large part of my summer to developing my photography, I figure this book is a great way to start.

S C H O O L

Ughhhhhh! The last month of school was bittersweet.  I realized way too much about myself and the people around me.  I met some awesome people and lost some not so awesome friends.  I put up with way too much crap but pulled through a victor.  I experienced the full scope of college life in one month.  Even through all of the fun and drama (I will not torture you nor myself with the insane details), I came out a victor.  I am friends with one of the most amazing people in the world: Michelle.  I have a semester GPA of 3.933 and a total GPA of 3.851.  I also am an RA whose entire room expenses are going to be paid for next year.  I met lots of totally nice girls and guys to hang out with (most of whom I met in the last two weeks).  I would say that I was living the good life.

I am sure glad the good life is giving me a 3-month break.  It is mighty difficult having a successful academic, extra-curricular, business, and social life.  I need rest!

H O M E

I also need to spend time with my little brother. Now that I am home, I have plans to: clean, play, organize, prepare, and play some more.  I also received in that package two video games but forgot to buy a memory card for them (playstation 1 games).  I bought my favorite movie, Girl Interrupted, and plan on watching it multiple times.  I am ready to play the new Nintendo Wii that my brother bought himself.  I am so ready to relax.

Speaking of relaxing, I think I need to do that now.