Less than a week to go and then it will be October. 
I have settled into a new routine. On Mondays and Wednesdays, when I have classes, I get to campus around noon and I can usually find a parking spot in the main commuter lot. Then I walk, IF it's not too hot, across campus and get to the art building. Once there I settle into the computer lab and do some work for the Digital Fab class at 5 pm. Around 1:30 I go the Metals classroom and get settled there for my 2 pm class. Having packed "dinner" I eat something as DigiFab gets started. When class let's out around 7:45 pm, I then walk back to my car (gotta get those sets in) and drive home. Once home, as it is now 9-ish, I make a cuppa tea and have it with a protein bar and watch a bit of TV, to unwind. Then it's to bed by 10 pm.

Over the past few weekends I have been making some simple earrings, bracelets, key fobs, and trays, in the hydraulic press to sell through the Metals Guild at school. The guild will have a booth at the Art Squared show(s) at the courthouse in San Marcos once a month.

The semester, so far, has been going well. I am glad I am only taking 2 classes because at times each has a project due at the same time so I am spending my weekends in my studio either doing metals or working on the computer. With just two classes, I have more free time to attend to chores and less stress. 

This weekend I am attending to the 30,000 mile maintenance on The Warrens (the car), having dinner with friends, laundry, and grocery shopping and maybe some knitting while watching a move tomorrow night.

Yes, the first week of school is done, for me.
I was, so I thought, ready on Sunday night after putting my digital note tablet in my messenger bag; packed up my food, for quick dinner between classes, and put in the fridge; ordered the tool & supply kit for Beginning Metals; and put my tool box with other tools & supplies in the trunk of my car.

I decided to buy the kit so I don't have to haul tools back and forth to class, that's why I bought it. The items in my tool box were my prescription safety glasses, other small tools I like to use, extra pens and pencils, rubber cement, Loctite, flux brushes and more. I planned on getting to the Art building well before class and sign up for a locker on the first floor, where my classes were, and then after my last class, on the drive home swing into the teacher parking lot and put the tool box into my locker. Ahhh, the best laid plans... this year instead of filling out an online form with the locker we want and then immediately putting our stuff in it NOW we filled in an online form and waited to hear back with our locker number. Well, I was assigned a locker on the SECOND FLOOR and wrote back to the person doing the work and requested that it be changed. I did not hear back by the time I was ready to go home so I was not able to get the toolbox out of the car. 

But let's backup and talk about the buses, parking, and getting onto campus. What a CF!
First while driving onto campus I was caught behind on bus that broke down and the Police were directing the traffic around it because the bus was blocking an intersection. Then a second bus side swiped a pickup truck and the police were there too doing there thing. I arrived at the main main commuter lot at 10:30 and it was full so I headed over to the stadium lots and they were almost full and did not want to spend a lot of time looking and so I headed over to the Bobcat Village on Mill Street lot. Yes there were lots of car but I found a spot easily, parked and went to the pickup spot. A bus soon arrived but when exiting the lot we stopped and had to wait because the road to turn right on was now closed for utility work and the driver could not proceed until the dispatcher told him the new route.  While waiting 2 people wanted to get off since they were now late for class and wanted to walk (the walk was going to be over 1.5 miles to campu) which the driver was not allowed to do. When we did finally move and got to the next stop there were sooo many students they couldn't all board.   Finally I arrived at the student center. 

Since my last class let out at 7:50 pm and I was in the far lot I had to take the late bus back. These buses make some additional stop and do not run as often. By the time I got home it was 9pm. 

I was tired so I had a cuppa tea and went to bed. Welcome to the semester.

Well, I do know - it was school which completely took over my life as I was working on big homework/projects. As a result I not only neglected writing on this blog, the house chores were not attended to and so now I get to spend time cleaning, doing laundry, and getting the place back into a good clean condition.

In review, the semester was very stressful and having assessed the situation I think, for me, taking 3 art classes while trying to take care of a house, a cat, and all the other adult things in life is a bit to much for me. I am scaling back to 1 or 2 classes per semester and this will allow me to enjoy things more and not stress.

As for my grades - I am certainly getting A's in Core 2 and Studio 2, and in Beginning Drawing it could be an A or a B... so I wait.

My plans for the summer are to clean and even purge more stuff. There is still stuff I never gave away last year and having not used lots more things over the past year I feel it's time to pass it on.  There is a second reason for all of this too. I would like to move into New Braunfels. There's several reasons - the first is that the house is now just too big, there are several rooms that aren't being used; secondly being in NB would cut my commute distance to school in half; third I would then be closer to my friends; and lastly the new house would be a single story which is important as we get older and live alone... and being in NB puts me closer to a local hospital IF something would require the use of one. 

I also plan on sewing 2 quilts, one for Elisa of Scotland as she's not been gifted on in over 10+ years. The second quilt will be for my niece's son who turns 1 year old soon. 

Finally I will be doing stuff in my studio - some metal work, possibly some more drawing and coloring.

Here's the last thing I drew and colored for my beginning drawing class - an Amonite​

The past two weeks were stressful for me because for each of the 3 classes I had at school, I had big assignments/projects due.

First I got stressed over the assignments because I was having difficulty grasping what I needed to do for the assignment(s). Then I stressed over coming up with ideas or "concepts" as they are being called.  And then it was creating what was required for the assignments.  This is supposed to fun, right??
I did get them done on time and as the grades are coming in, I am getting A's on them but... For each assignment we did class critiques; I am looking at the other students work and now I am thinking "oh, that's a good idea" or "hmmm, I had not thought of that". 

The gist of this is I am still trying to break out of the stoic, engineer box that I have lived in for the past 40-50 years were I was told not to act strange, crazy or weird or ..... well, you get my drift. Trust me, it's in there and has started to come out of it's hidey-hold but I need more of it.

I am also having trouble getting a grip on the drawing. Once again, I will say, I have not done much creative drawing over my life. Last semester in Studio I I did start to explore it and in Beginning Drawing we are, in the class, spending each session discussing and playing with proportion, perspective, measurement, shading/tone and shifting subjects. It's supposed to be fun (where have we heard this before) but I am putting pressure on myself to draw better than I am currently able to.  ​

After a long drawn out reassessment I have decided that getting the B.F.A is not what's important. To me, learning what I WANT TO LEARN is what is important. I have also realized that THREE art classes at the same time is also too much as the classes are, for 3 credits, over 6 hours of class time in addition to the homework - I actually don't have time for me, Boots, and taking care of chores when home. I have gone through the course work and identified the classes I want which are not just metal but also include Printmaking, Ceramics, Sculpture, and 3D Printing Technology. I am NOT going to take 4 classes in Art History, Modern Communications, 2 classes of American History - Before and After the Civil War, or 2 classes in Political Science - Principles and Function of the American Government. I will sign up for 1 or 2 classes a semester and I might take the summer off if there isn't a class I want offered.  

I feel better already.

Another thing I did this week was to delete my profiles on LinkedIn and Dice. I am not going to go back into the workforce and IF I do, it's not going to be a full time Sr. Engineer so why have that information out there.

I also reassessed what I was watching on the streaming services I have been using since cutting the chord over a year ago. There are several shows that the Shop Elf and I would watch together along with pauses and discussions on what was being presented. For example we would watch the various Gold Rush shows. I have still been watching then but over the past few months I find I am doing something else, and I am not watching nor listening. I decided to cancel my subscription to that streaming service; I can alway come back to it but for now, why waste the money. I also canceled/deleted my accounts to a few other "free services" like Pluto and Sling because I never find anything to watch on them.

Here is a gif I made for Studio II, it is called Surfing with Dust Bunnies - Yes I am in an orange outfit with orange yarn on my feet to aid in the sliding around the floor.

The semester is over, one down and another 11 semesters to go until I graduate - that's taking a reduced load in the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters.

​How did I do? Let's just say I am beaming because I am quite proud of my grades and the extra work I did certainly paid off! 

But first let me tell you about College Writing I. I really did not want to take this course; despite not being required to take the majority of the Texas State Core Education requirements I did have a Core set of classes as a Post-Baccalaureate student and so Writing I and Writing II were part of it. I found it odd because I did excused from a Foreign Language which was taken 50 years ago in High School. I took English all through High School and I had to take an English class and a Technical Writing class for my Undergraduate degree. Go Figure. Well, I figured I would do the work and just put up with it only to discover the teacher was really good and the majority of the course was learning to write four different types of Essays with little lessons on grammar and MLA style. I was actually enjoying it and spent quite a bit of time on the essays. For the first 3 essays I received grades in the high-90's having lost points on stupid things like missing periods, formatting, and other minor grammer things.  I was determined to get a 100 on the last essay. Oh, the essay was supposed to be about our our career goals but because I am retired and don't have any, the teacher gave me permission to write about what I wanted. I decided to write about my love of learning and how I arrived back at school to get the B.F.A. I wrote the essay the weekend after it was assign and I did 10 revisions on it. The work paid off, I did get that 100!! The final, for the class, was to talk, 4-6 minutes, about our essay with some sort of visual aide but NOT a PowerPoint presentation. I brought in some of the products I worked on, as an Engineer, and some of my metal work. I volunteered to go first because I knew the other students would be nervous and reluctant to be first. Well it went smoothly, and no I did not prepare nor did I have notes, and every one was interested in looking at my items as I passed them around. 

​I have now checked and my final grades are:
Studio I: A
Core I: A
College Writing I: A
Semester GPA: 4.0

WTF, I completely missed posting in October but I did post, over on The Adventurous Silversmith. 

So let's catch up. 
Things are going well with school. The semester is two-thirds done and for each of my three classes I am pulling grades in the 90's; for one I have a 100.  

In College Writing I,  I am really enjoying the class and so far I have had 2 tests, written 3 essays, and done 10 reader responses for various essays, op-ed's, and articles we have had to read.

In Studio I we have done small and large collages, more sketching and drawings. My drawings skills have drastically improved because I am doing extra work during the weekends; I have even done extra work with colored pencils. I have set the water color paints and pencils aside; I will get back to them during the Winter break when I might be able to squeeze in a private lesson with a teacher from the New Braunfels Art Guild.

In Core I, we have moved from 2D and 3D art into 4D (video). I have finished a 5+ minute video that will be critiqued on Friday.

Then last week I registered for the Spring Semester. I plan on taking Beginning Drawing, Studio II and Core II. I figured the sooner I take the drawing the class, the better I will get and correct any bad habits I have picket up and it would be good to take it before I take Painting I. 

Lastly, I found out that my advisor has reviewed my transcripts and gave me a pass on College Writing II because I did take a writing course for my B.S. degree 50 years ago. I don't get credit but that's one less non-art class I have to take, I still have to take 2 History classes, 2 Political Science classes, and 1 Communication class. I plan on taking them during the summer semesters and remotely so I don't have to drive to campus

Here's some bark and lichen I drew and colored today

Let's just say being back at school is interesting. Oh, how things have changed since I started college 50 years ago; did I mention that the day school started at TxSt (Texas State) it was actually 50 years to the DAY!! that I started at Case. 

First, let's set the stage for the three classes I am taking:
Art Studio I:This course emphasizes a hands-on experience with drawing and two-dimensional design. Students engage in a series of short exercises and longer projects that incorporate contemporary art-making methods such as collage, photography, sculptural exercises, digital technologies, collaborative processes and interdisciplinary activities. 

Core I: This course introduces practical and theoretical content in disciplinary and interdisciplinary art and design practices. Through thematic collaborative projects, students will engage various 2D, 3D, and 4D materials, methods, tools, and concepts independently and in relation to each other.

College Writing I: Expository writing as a means of exploring and shaping ideas. Emphasis on critical reading and the improvement of essays through revision.

I have Writing and Studio on Tuesdays and Thursday; Studio meets for 3 hours each day and Writing meets for 1.5 hours each day  and Core on Fridays (4 hours all at once).  

I leave the house 2 hours before classes start since the drive is about 50 minutes long. Note: I leave Boots plenty of food and water so she can nibble through the day. I park in the commuter parking lot on the far east side of campus. Due to all the construction on campus many other lots are closed so they gave us the shitty lot. I then walk just under 10 minutes to get the shuttle stop to take the bus to the Student Center, this is in the middle of the campus. From the there I walk to the Arts building on the far West side of campus. The bus cuts the morning walk in half and a lot of it is uphill. I have time before class starts to get what I need from my art locker and finish the coffee I am carrying with me. After Studio, I walk to either one of the dining halls or the food court restaurants for lunch and I relax before Writing I starts; I have a 2 hour break for lunch and then walk to Writing which puts me about a quarter of the way back to the parking lot. After class I walk downhill and through the park, by the San Marcos river and eventually to my car for the drive home. On Fridays, after Core I, sometimes grab dinner in the dining hall, but walk all the way back to my car.
​
Here are my FitBit stats from last week. Yes it is a lot of walking! At the end of the first week, I fell asleep in the chair, watching TV, on Friday night.  Yes, I am kinda out of shape so that's why I take the bus in the morning; I am aiming to walk both directions in a few more weeks. 

How for my thoughts on the classes and school in general.

I found Studio and Core to be frustrating at first because we are sketching things and some of us in class have NO formal drawing experience; there are students who are making wonderful drawings. I spoke to both teachers and they said we are not getting graded on the quality of the drawings but on class participation, grasping concepts, and getting the assignments completed, participating in peer reviews and more which made me feel much better.  Below the FitBit picture are some of the drawings I have done; the last one is single point perspective which I had no issue making since I learned this back in Drafting and Mechanical Engineering classes at Case. Writing I, which I have to take because it's a core requirement for Post-Baccalaureate/Graduate students, and which I thought I would be bored in is actually quite enjoyable. We are reading various essays and articles and writing responses, summaries, and whole new essays along with peer reviews.

As for home work - in Studio I we have to do 2 sketches, at home, each week and we share them in class on Tuesdays. We do a larger drawing on Thursdays which we have to finish at home and upload into the assignment web page in the CANVAS system ( Canvas is a learning management system (LMS) used by universities and colleges worldwide to support online teaching and learning). Core hasn't really had homework unless you don't finish what we are working on in class and then you bring it back to class. Next week in Core we are doing peer reviews of all the work we have done for the first three weeks (I don't have pictures) such as Cyanotypes, Negative drawings, and Contour Drawings.  For Writing I, we had to read an essay each week and write either a response or a summary. This week we have to write a full essay with sections that are summary, illustration, and response, based upon one of the three essays we have already read. The draft was due Tuesday and the final version is due this week; which we upload into Canvas but have to hand in the draft and the final version too. Let's just say I am busy and glad I did not take more classes.

And finally, here are all my other thoughts.
OH, these kids are sooooo young. There are a few students in my classes that are in their later 20's but most are right out of High School.  Even walking around campus there are very few "older" students. I am even older than my teachers; I overheard one student in Core say "my grandfather was born in the 60's.." let's just say I kept my mouth shut. And on the bus the other day, a girl sitting in one of the front seats marked for disabled riders offered me her seat; I thanked her but declined.  Now, let's also discuss what these kids are wearing around campus; lets just say OY-VEY. I see people wearing long sleeved sweatshirts with hood up but short shorts barely showing below the sweatshirt; tube tops covered in rhinestones or spaghetti strap t's and all sorts of baggy, ripped, shorts and pants; gym shorts, sweat pants; if you can imagine it, it's here. There are crocs everywhere or slippers, flip-flops, Doc Martens, high top sneakers, Birkenstocks and more for footwear.  As for me I wear a T-shirt and shorts with socks and sturdy shoes because with flat feet, I need good arch support for all these miles I am walking. 

It's time for me to get some homework completed. 

I don't think I have been this excited about going to school since I went to Case for my Engineering degree which is 50 years ago - 4 weeks. 

So much is happening and has been done

• I registered for classes
• I got my Student ID
• I paid for my commuter parking pass
• I took a field trip to campus to figuring out where the buildings were for my 3 classes. Two will be on Tuesdays/Thursday and one on Fridays. One on T/Th and the one on Friday are in the art building on the west side of the campus and the other T/Th class is along the central quad which will take me a good 15 minutes to walk between*. Luckily I have an hour and a half between them so I can also eat lunch during this time too. 
• I have an appointment with the Office of Disability Services who will review my request for physical printed books vs. all the ebooks that are now used. Because of my dyslexia I have issues reading books, web pages, and the like on-line due to the scrolling. 
• On the field trip, I found the commuter parking lot which is on the north east side of the campus by the sport fields*

*Let's just say with all this walking 2 days a week for 15 weeks I will be getting my exercise.

I also decided to splurge and get myself a new messenger bag. My existing bag is lime/yellow/purple by Timbuk2 which I bought when I started doing Big-Six consulting over 20 years ago; its dirty, stitches are popped and the waterproof liner has cracks making it not very waterproof. It has had a good life.
This is the new custom color bag I just placed an order for; I got the large size that can hold a 17" laptop and the extra padded divider for the laptop (I don't have one but when I travel I can carry lots of stuff) and I also got the water bottle sleeve that goes inside the main pocket.

I missed writing in June, sorry about that. 
Here's a recap of the month - 

• The grief hit me really hard last month and so I spent a lot of time just sitting, missing Erich and crying.
• Other times I spent on the cleaning/purging/reorganization of Erich workshop which is now done. 
• I went to the Tobin Center to see a lecture by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, my second time, and treated myself to a nice dinner beforehand. I paid extra to attend the after Q&A session; there were some very good questions and of course answers too.
• I took the quilt I made in May to the quilter and got it back; it's now on the couch to snuggle under while watching TV. Then I made another quilt which is now at the quilter. I have been collecting Asian themed fabric for 20 years and I thought that since I need a new quilt for my bed why not use ALL the fabrics. I went with a scrappy pattern called Turning 20 which uses 20 fat quarters but I had not only fat quarters but YARDS so I used fabric from all of it and ended up with a King sized quilt.  See the pictures below 

Now I cleaning my studio which has been sitting idle since the start of the pandemic. It's important this get done NOW - see the news below.  Before and after pictures will be posted when it's done. 

Now for the big news. 
I am now in the Class of 2028 at Texas State University - San Marcos.
I am going back to school to get a Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) in Studio Art with an emphasis in Metals.

I investigated this when we moved here, for when I retired, but of course some much has happened over the past year it just got delayed. I started to pursue it at the beginning of the year -I I filled out the application, I wrote 2 of the 3 optional essays, and then had my H.S., B.S., and M.S. transcripts sent in. Then there was a delay because the M.S. transcript never arrived and I had to have it sent again with verification of receipt.  Three weeks later I received the email that I had been accepted (now you can understand why I am getting the studio in order).

I will be a 3/4 part-time student with 3 classes in the Fall/Spring semesters and 2 classes in the Summer so I can still finish in 4 years but have more free time to take care of me, my hobbies, and the house.  

​I start classes at the end of August.