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In about 14 hours I’ll be 24-years-old.

In 8 days I’ll be attending the final critique in Alternative Photography. It will be my last undergrad critique ever.

In 10 days I’ll be graduating from the University of South Alabama with a BFA in Graphic Design (Photography minor).

I’m trying not to freak out at the thought of the whole new world that’ll be opening up. I’ve been a student practically all my life, probably about 22 years, including pre-school. (I went to an awesome pre-school.) I will be completely out of my comfort zone of an academic environment. Must. Not. Freak. Out.

*Sigh* I’m ok. It’s like getting a fresh start. I’m just most nervous about being in an unfamiliar environment. And I’m realizing that that’s ok, as long as I’m willing to learn and adapt.

I picked up my graduation announcements yesterday. My cap & gown will be in next week. College graduation is kind of a big deal in my family, but I guess I haven’t really considered the significance. All my life I’ve known I’d get to this point, or rather, it was understood in my family that that’s what me and my sister’s would eventually accomplish. That has a lot to do with my socio-cultural background, some generations feeling that a college degree is the only way to have an sort of status. I don’t agree with it, but college is good for me personally.

I feel a ramble coming on. . . Anyway. Lots of changes all at once for me. All I can do is smile and embrace the braces.

Well, I’m stranded at school, waiting for my ride, so I’m killing time in the University Library. I thought I’d post some more of the work on my soul-powered piece.

I’m using Photoshop CS2 to color this. I did the line work in pencil. I have to have this finished by tomorrow, so there’s much work to be done.

Also, I’ll be getting braces tomorrow. *Gasp*. I know. It’s gonna be fun. . . Really. I’ll try to take pictures if I’m not too annoyed from the anticipated pain. I’m definitely overdue for another photo dump.

Yeah. I’m at the university right now, blogging from the Student Center. The PTB (powers that be) were gracious enough to leave the place open, offering free coffee to students until 2AM. I’m happy to be done with my finals, so I’ve just been surfing the net.

I’m actually here to keep my younger sis company while she studies for her exam in Financial Accounting II. (I just asked her what class it was, and she replied, “It’s the hardest accounting class in the school.”) She’s seriously been stressing all this week that she’s gonna fail the test, but now everything is falling into place, and she’s more confident, which is great, because I was getting tired of her whining. ;).

There are quite a few Japanese students here.

I’m just really tired. I finally got some sleep yesterday, 12 hours actually. When I woke up my body ached, but my legs no longer hurt from all the standing I had been doing. It was replaced by a crook in my neck, however, from sleeping in a weird position. It’s all good though.

I do actually have a point to this entry. My Senior Portfolio review went really well. I was so out of it from lack of sleep that it didn’t really sink in until later. My instructors only had positive things about my work, with a few critiques on technical aspects of my work. My Senior Portfolio instuctor told me, and I quote, “You’re a good designer, but you’re a great illustrator.” Can you say, “squeee“?. That’s friggin’ awesome. Especially since it was coming from a veteran designer/illustrator. So, I have something to be happy about. It’s not that I didn’t know that I was a decent artist before, but it feels good to have validation from someone with experience.

I’ll try to get the work from my portfolio posted on my site finally. It’s seriously lacking. I also have many pictures to post, but I’m tired right now.

::Sharon paused to take a few shots in the Student Center::

I’ll try to have pics up in the next post.

::update::

Two views outside of the library.

Nicole works on a problem.

Motivation.

some japanese students

Laura sleeping.

finis.

Photos as promised. I’ve had classes with these people for a good while now, and I thought it was about time I took pictures of them, me being a photographer and all.*

Our humble photo lab. That’s my stuff on the desk in the foreground. That passageway in the back leads to the darkroom. Someone left the light table on. . .

Hannan photographs Mary, who is looking at Hannan’s contact sheet.

Jason, meticulously matting his prints.

Travis, doing something with his phone. Maybe he’s texting his girlfriend. She’s in the class, too.

These bottles are from Travis’ edition from last semester. People have yet to take theirs home with them. I got mine. They were Polaroid transfers of his hand with some song lyrics. Very cool.

Finally, we have Sohil, the lab monitor. He’s an awesome photographer. He also likes to take pictures of himself. A lot. Now I have a photo of him. ^_^

*All images shot with a Canon Powershot A60 (digital), except for the last image, which is a negative scan. That image was shot with my Olympus OM-1 (35 mm).