Trick or Treat!

When I finally got everything together today and drove to class and made it to my classroom, I found it empty and dark. I went to work on homework, assuming that class had been cancelled, and when I logged onto our school's system I found an email tucked away in my school's system telling me that class was instead online and I was now 20 minutes late! I "went" to class, then worked on a big assignment that was due at midnight tonight after class finished, and got dinner at Subway. By the time all of that was finished, I was nearly an hour late to my next class, 3D Modeling.

I seriously considered just going home and missing today's class, but instead just barely decided to go in.

I COMPLETELY FORGOT TODAY WAS THE MIDTERM EXAM! So, I was an hour late for my exam, but what we had to do was pretty straightforward. We had to make a 3D model of a thumb drive (the EXACT one I use, which may have given me a slight advantage since I could hold it in my hand rather than look at the singular photo of the device that we were given) and texture it if we had the time. I got done just in the nick of time as class ended at 10pm. I'll post pictures of my model later when my copy of Maya is working again.

When I went up the the professor to hear my grades so far for the semester he said all of my major projects so far were 9//10, 10/10, 10/10, 10/10, 10/10, and 10/10...and that I'd have a chance to improve my one 9/10 score. I guess this is one class that I really don't need to worry about! :-D

When I got home nobody was up, but I did still have some creativity left. I felt like making something 3D, so in about 30 minutes' time while I watched Chuck I came up with this:

Huszzah for creepy Trick-or-Treating!

Wonderland

I missed class today (chose not to go, really) and just did a lot of minor housekeeping things, but my siblings did dress up in their proto-Halloween costumes! I say proto because they're not entirely complete yet (and mine is FAR from complete so I didn't even try to dress up) but they still look great!

Caroline is Alice of Alice in Wonderland, Joseph is the Mad Hatter, Libby is the White Queen, and I'm going to be the Cheshire cat when all is said and done.

These are also the first photos I've taken with my loaner camera.

Oh boy...

Today the only thing I got done was to take in my camera for repairs. The people at Fry's have given me a very reasonable and expedient 4-6 week turnaround for the repairs (the zoom and focus are getting a bit off), In the meantime they offered me a loaner camera...a dinky $60 GE point-and-click. I told them that was unacceptable and they gave me a much better camera as a loaner, but it still stinks compared to what I'm used to. This month is going to suck for photos!

Pray for my camera! :-(

Long Day!

Today started out with a volleyball game for the girls. They spent a while warming up and Caroline served her first two serves clear over the net! Unfortunately she stepped over the line both times and her serves didn't count because of it. That screwed her up for the rest of the game and it took her a long time to get back into gear. Libby got a lot of great hits in as well minus the absence in the middle. They didn't win but it was still super-cute to watch. :)

After volleyball we drove straight south to Lancaster for this year's last German dancing dance (and in fact my final dance with the troupe). Lancaster's Oktoberfest is still a baby in its third year but it has managed to grow slightly since its first year. I got a ton of good photos of Cameron and Landen today, but not may good shots of my own siblings.

Before we made it home, the girls were dropped off at their friends' house for a sleepover and the rest of us went straight home and sat around finally (it was a 10am volleyball game and we got home after 6pm.)

Old Times

Today I got up early to go with mom and the kids to Old City Park in downtown Dallas. It was about the same as every time we go, but still pretty cute. The kids had a lot of fun making crafts and the old fountain was running for the first time in forever! (Sadly, as I took a photo of it, a markedly out-of-place truck drove up and the man inside it shut the fountain off again.)

We stopped by US Toy on the way home for birthday presents for  a friend of the kids. I caught this photo of Caroline doing an excellent jump-shot while we were there.

Band Again!

There's been a few weeks' dry spell for band and it finally ended today! I was back at practice and having a blast with the music! Sadly, though, the blog class still sucks...a LOT.

I also spent a while tonight trying to get some photos of water droplets. I got a lot of neat shots, but only one or two of them really turned out to be usable for my purposes.

Alright so this one's not a drop of water. You caught me. :-P

Today was a good day for money.

Well today I finally started getting my financial aid stuff worked out! My video production class ended incredibly early so I went over to the financial aid offices to see what the hold-up was with my final loan (I should have another unsubsidized loan but it's still showing the one for my parents that we denied months ago). It turns out I needed to fill out another application that my parents had to sign since it involves their loan. The people at the FinAid office never bothered to tell me this.

Anyhoo it's one step closer to finally being resolved! I also resolved the eBay dispute over the camera I sold a while back so the money from that sale should be releasing to my bank account soon as well!

While I was over at the brand-new TODAY financial aid offices, I was also taking in the beautiful new architecture. It's not 100% complete still but they've really done a fantastic job on the new buildings and the re-working of the common areas. Just look at these!

Two sides of the outside of the new student services building

Two views of the MASSIVE terrace, reflecting pools, and a bunch of other projects they're wrapping up near the student services building.

For comparison, here's a shot from *almost* the same spot about 8 months ago.