Photo week 3

I'm back in class. Our topic of the week was landscapes, which the teacher explained didn't have to just be shots of the mountains, but could include close-ups as well. We are showing our pics to the class right now. There are a couple of people with much better pics, but most of the class has no idea what they're doing. Here are a few of mine that I turned in. The first two are the ones I printed out this week.

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Journal 2/27/08

Today was busy at work. For the second day in a row, three people called out sick. Another one is new and was in training all day so she didn't really count. Since all eight of us are usually there Tuesday-Thursday, we schedule as much as we can during those days. I was able to get some of the big afternoon projects done in the morning, but I have no idea how they were going to manage at night. Only one person scheduled past 6pm was still coming in.

Our lunch today was the annual "Black History Month Celebration Lunch". What's the menu like for a Black History Month celebration you ask? Fried chicken, mac and cheese, cornbread, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and watermelon for dessert. The place was packed though, so maybe I'm the only one who thought it sounded a bit wrong.

Now I'm in my photo class working on some of my pictures of the week. The first one is the one I printed out. The rest just get turned in on a flash drive once we edit them. Next week's theme is landscapes which I think is one of my strong points.

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School days...

Yesterday was the second day of my photo class. We had to turn in 4 pictures we've taken and show them on the overhead projector. I was very nervous about this because I always think my stuff is going to suck. I was telling Amy last week that I don't want to be like the people auditioning for American Idol. You know the ones who go in and think they're hot stuff because everyone they know has told them they were great just to avoid hurting their feelings? That is until they sing for the judges and are shocked to find out that they're really horrible. I fear that.

So anyway, one by one everyone in the class went up to show their pictures. There were some really good ones, but then a few people in a row went up who had very boring or even out of focus or whitewashed pictures. I knew I had them beat so I went up. The professor commented on 2 of them. An older one I took of a flower was his favorite of my bunch, but he liked my river picture I took with my newer camera. Next week I have to have 6 new pictures using some of the techniques we went over. I really hope it stops raining though, because it's going to be real hard to get good shots with all the gray skies.

Here are the two pics I got comments on (click to make bigger):

Back to School

Today, on my 4th attempt, I finally got accepted to East L.A. College. Don't laugh...I hear it's the Harvard of Aztlan. I'm taking Intro to Digital Photography and from what I saw, I probably have the best camera in the class. Most of the class is older though there are enough actual college students in there to make me feel young again. So far I haven't been invited to any frat parties, but I'm sure that'll be coming up soon.

Since I'm not from the area, I had to attend an orientation before my actual class started. You can see some of the highlights here:



Once I proved I could fit in, I went off to find where I was supposed to be. I was 20 minutes late to class because I had to run around to different offices to become official and then get the flash card we needed for today's lesson. However, I did get all the extra credit during class so that should have made up for my attendance issues.

Most of the class time was spent getting people used to using the Macs. Then we watched some DVDs about how to get started with digital photography. The camera they raved about the most in it was the one I have so that was cool. We were given time at the end of class to take pictures around campus and have an assignment to take several different types of pictures throughout the week. I have finished my other assignments without any trouble so I got to leave 2 hours early.

Quick before its Friday again

Last Friday I headed down to SD for Homecoming. It has now been 10 yrs. ago that I was in H.S. and attended a game as a student. It was fun to be there I just wish more friends could have joined me for the experience. The band played, the cheerleaders cheered, the football players, well ...they tried. After the massacre happened the marching band took the field and played their show which featured songs from Little Shop of Horrors. We thought it was fantastic.
Here is the sad, sad final score.
Saturday Erin, Tif and I were able to get it all together to meet up for lunch at Oscar's and had a nice time hanging out for a couple hours. I am glad it all worked out for us to meet up. Sunday mom and I went to church had a nice lunch and then after my laundry was done I had to head back home to finish up my work before the school week started again. On my way home I took a minute to stop and reflect on the fires and all the families that were affected by them.

Pre-School Graduation

On Friday June 10th Janette Sousa graduated from Preschool! She will be a Kindergartener next fall. =) Afterward we went to Jose's Mexican Food for dinner. I enjoyed the food there and of course the company.

Our waiter Elvis was hi-larious

Paul and I during dinner at Bobby McGee's

Me and my parents

Graduation Photos... Late is better than never

Reflecting

I had class tonight and before I begin my homework I decided to post on the blog. It is really bitter sweet as I finish my last two classes at Biola. Partly because I am not sure what the next stage in my life will bring and partly because I will miss going to school at BU. I have enjoyed my time at this University even though it has been tough and difficult at times. I am glad I have had this experience and that I have met some really good friends that I will have with me forever. Well that is just what is on my mind right now. I do need to stop procrastinating and go do my homework though.

Ohhh Back 2 School

So three days after I graduated with my MA I have to go back to school this time for a certificate from the state so that when I recieve my CLEAR credential I will be hirable. So I am taking two classes this summer. The first one deals with research in cultural diversity. We watched part of Spanglish on tuesday and on thursday we watched Hotel Rwanda

This was a very well done movie. I was only 13 when the genocide was going on in Africa and being a person who was not interested in ever watching the news or what was going on the in the world when I was younger I only remember hearing a tiny bit about Rwanda. I am so glad that my professor decided to show us the whole movie. It was really eye opening. This class has a lot of work but it is managable which is good since it is only a three week course and we are already done with the first week!

MA Dinner

On Wednesday Paul attended the MA dinner for Education with me. There are 33 people recieving their MA's on Friday from the department. All of the professors spoke and one student from each capstone path were honored for their superb work. Dinner was delicious. The night was really whelming. There were two class speakers one who was moved to tears. A really wonderful night. One to remember and scrapbook of course. =)

Dr. Claire Sibold

Dr. Sibold announcing Kerri Wooten as the recipent of the award for those students who took the Comprehensive Exam

Dr. June Hetzel

Dr. Hetzel sharing some words of wisdom

RANT

Graduation is coming up this Friday and it is frustrating me that Biola has it on a "work day". So many of my family and friends cannot come down because they have to work on Friday! I dont understand why they are having it on Memorial Day Weekend either. Such a bad combo. It makes me angry to not be able to have all of my friends and family around to celebrate my finaly graduation. Dont get me wrong I am so excited for the day to come and I am so glad to be able to have those who are able to come with me I just wish Biola had choosen more wisely! Oh well it will be great to see Amanda and Bill, Moe and Nick, Ric and Jeri, my mom and dad, curly, pauls family etc. Wahoo. I cant believe it is already the week of. =)

Bobby McGees

My mom spent Sunday night at our apartment and we went out to eat a yummy breakfast at IHOP this morning and then shopping during the morning. Once Bobby McGees in Brea opened we finalized my graduation party reservations for May 27th after graduation at Biola. Wahoo! I am excited for the day to come.

Hello everyone this is Cyndi. Well I started school yesterday, not because I wanted to but because I want to graduate. I think it is too soon to go back, I am taking a Children's Literature class. This class is supposed to teach me how to teach little people about reading and to try and show them a love for reading. I like the professor but it is going to be a lot of work. Lucky for me it is only 6 class sessions but unfortunately every class is 7 hours long for 3 weeks. We finally got a night out together this past weekend and went to see "Catch me if you can." in the theatre. It was a great movie. I recomend it to all of you. After the movie we went to the Biola Mens Basketball game, they won. It was an exciting game. We will be going to another game on Tuesday evening. It is a great way to get out but not spend any money. We are finally recovering from Christmas and getting our apartment back to looking normal. I would also like to say congrats to Ric and Jeri on their recent engagement. I guess that is all for now. I hope to read some comments from you all soon. Just drop us a line and tell us how you are doing, or what you are doing. Later.