Done and bored

Finals are done, the semester is over. Now I'm bored out of my mind. Still no job yet =_=, but I haven't gone all out on my job hunt quite yet so I'm sure when I get my engine running I'll be able to snag something for the summer.

<3 

It's been a few days since I finished my last final, I didn't do well in one class and it ended up tainting my GPA for the term. I'm pretty bummed out by it, but it's too late to beat myself over it now. It feels pretty weird. I thought I would be so preoccupied with playing video games and whatnot but instead these days have been incredibly stagnant. I went to a LAN party with my fellow comrades on Saturday which was pretty awesome, nothing better than having some beer and dro with your best friends while playing some games. I was actually supposed to go to a family friend party that night as well, but I absolutely cannot stand them anymore. I don't really know any of the people my age there so I was already way outside of their social circle. I probably could have made an effort to fit in but the process of doing so would be pretty damn awkward.

The random shit I draw when I'm bored

I've been drawing a good bit on my bamboo. It's typically a lot of random stuff- hands, arms, legs, torsos... I've found that I needed to go back to my foundations and work on them even more. I don't have a lot of variety when I draw people. Usually it's just a guy or a girl standing doing nothing in particular. Not only that but I also unconsciously avoid trying to put more than one character in the same image. Its odd, but I figure that I'm just not comfortable enough to draw out people like I draw faces. 

More Coloring

Progress is slow with coloring. I'm still a big noobie with the software itself, and then with the concept of coloring it's difficult to make everything go together well. I decided to go back to reference drawings and copy over the way they color in and shade their images. It really depends on the lighting in the drawing, I've seen some super advanced toning and shading done to some images and it looks amazing, trying to copy it is  one hell of a job. 

But practice makes perfect. I like singing as well. It took me like 2 years singing alone in my car before I realized that I was starting to recognize different tones and octaves and began to mimic them. I began understanding what sounded right, and what didn't. In fact it was really easy once I realized that I could just copy the exact notes in a song on the radio to know whether or not I was singing the right note. If it sounds like I was singing in the same voice as the artist in the song then I'm doing a good job, if I clearly hear my voice separating itself from the song, then its awful lol. Now I'm pretty confident in my singing ability. It just kind of happened, because I and probably everybody else enjoys singing their favorite songs. So if I keep working on drawing different things I'm not so good at right now, I'll eventually get better at it.

Finals are almost done, and I bought a Bamboo

Just finished the toughest final for this semester. I breezed through my business ethics and advanced statistics courses easily earlier this week. The real final boss was my accounting final. I hate accounting with a passion, of course it is REALLY important to businesses but it's just an awful subject to study. I really don't know how accounting majors deal with having 2 - 3 courses of it per semester. But alas I studied for a week in advanced, took careful notes to review, and finished it like a boss.

I did every single calculation without second guessing myself, so I'm really confident of at least getting a passing grade for that course. On the other hand, there were a few curve balls on the exam I wasn't expecting. The exam consisted of just a handful of chapters we had gone over at the end of the semester, but the professor had included some material from the very beginning of the semester. It was some sort of debt to asset ratio problems so if I divided the right numbers I should be fine... but again you just never know. You can study your heart out and then end up with a mediocre grade.

Wacom's Bamboo

I seriously don't know why I didn't go out to buy this thing sooner, especially during my artsy phase when I was so motivated to draw and practice my craft. The bamboo is basically a tablet that let's me sketch and draw stuff right onto my computer. So I no longer have to constantly scan and upload my sketches. Plus by doing this it opens up a whole new opportunity to actually add color to my drawings, giving it a finished look. 

Very first sketch with the bamboo

It's pretty difficult at first to try to adapt and adjust to drawing with a tablet. First of all you're no longer looking directly down at your pen or pencil while you draw. It was so awkward to crane my neck up to the computer monitor, my neck actually began to ache a bit too after an hour or so. Also using the pen and maneuvering around the screen is a very tricky endeavor. I spent a good hour just doodling random stuff before settling down to draw out this small picture of this girl. A lot of this is credited to the program I used to sketch in, AutoDesk SketchBook. It did a really good job to simulate how the marks I made would look if I had used a real life medium. So my nice "sketchiness" can be seen even on the image rather the typically dark hard lines you would get if you had used paint. 

Coloring...

My biggest challenge right now is learning how to color... I failed to make myself practice at least painting out random scenery like your typical art student would. It was really embarrassing when I was in my art courses when I had to do some painting with various colors. Coloring and drawing are two huge skillsets. Coloring requires a huge amount of knowledge of how different tones work with each other, and how colors  can be combined in many many different ways to give your image different themes and moods. Like for example you can any image and color in a way to make it either look super realistic or very comically. Plus there's also the technical aspect to this as well since I'm using the software to color in my drawings. Being a complete newbie to both aspects makes coloring a very daunting task... but I'll work on it bit by bit. I was terrible at drawing when I first started but I slowly worked my way up, so it's not an impossible thing to do.

Latest drawing

I'm starting to understand how to use layers... which I believe are one of the core fundamentals to coloring on a computer. I'll have to take a new approach when it comes to doing hair. I tend to include a lot of visible hair strands because I like the look of it but it's not so great when I add color to it. When you look at anime characters they always have their hair filled up with solid colors and only variate when there's a need to show what areas of the hair are affected and not affected by sunlight. That and just learning how to use the software is probably the first step I need to take... 

It's a nice motivator, and it's really fun and fulfilling to draw again after not having done so for so long. I'm also glad my skills haven't decayed too too much haha.

Productive Day

This is what I felt like today.

There are different phases people go through when the Finals week is coming as I have described before. The worrying, the procrastinating, and finally the acceptance and real work. Thanks to my group members being very forward about our final project, I actually got some real work done early for once. I mean I've done work early before, but it's always a nice spectacle to be seen when it does happen. I even wrote out two more cover letters to send out for a job as well, I just haven't actually sent them yet lol..

It's funny how some of the things you need to do are prioritized in such bizarre ways. My applications for internships and jobs are by far more important than preparation for an exam, because once you get your foot in the door- you're set for life (unless you screw up of course). Since I'm a Information Systems Major, I had to do case work and develop a system proposal for a company. I like the project since it seems pretty legit. I mean according to my senpais (grads) the work we've done in class is very very relevant to work in the real world. Hearing that from an actual analyst at a financial investment company is very promising, but of course landing a job like that will be tough.

So while I'm working on that project with my group mates, there's also an odd Sudoku paper I've got to write where I need to explain how I systematically pick apart the puzzle and solve it. I never really liked Sudoku but at least now I can finally say that I've completed a Sudoku puzzle. What I'm particularly worried about right now is my Statistics and my Accounting courses. The grading that was done in my stats course is so weird that I just don't know where I stand in that class anymore. The professor tells me that I'm doing fine, but my grades don't look that way, unless the values are all different. As for Accounting I just need to do very well on this Final in order to get by safely, because I bombed my last exam miserably ;_;. Accounting is so painfully boring, it's probably the most tedious thing to prepare for this semester. 

Besides that my friends have gotten so restless that they've decided to try out another game. One of my friends bought Aion in the past but none of us thought it'd be any good (we thought right) but now that its Free to play we figured it would be a fun way to burn some time. I honestly don't know how I got caught up in it but why not... I need to take breaks and try to have some fun anyway so I guess this will be my outlet for the end of the semester.

Busy Finals Week

Distractions... Distractions everywhere!

It's that time of year again, the few weeks before finals where everyone starts to become a recluse and do nothing but either worry, complain, or actually study for the finals. Honestly I'm not quite too sure what exactly I did this past week either. It felt like an entire month with what I've been doing.

Wake up -> Goto work -> Hit the bar

I think I mentioned it before in one of my blogs since I've come back, but my friend's awesome extravagant birthday party was last week. It was really fun. I don't even understand why it was so much fun, but I guess when you get so drunk with your friends things are more fun than they should be. I remember just chatting and playing a few games of beer pong. A few of my other friends opted to just smoke A LOT of weed. I mean they must have gone through like 6+ joints in that one night, crazy guys. Towards the end of the party I remember just walking around and eventually hung around my poker buddy who was playing heads up texas hold 'em with like $300 on two tables lol. I couldn't believe he was playing with that much money as he drank, but somehow he actual made a profit which was pretty mind blowing haha. Then once most of the crowd left I vaguely remember playing a 1v1 game of Starcraft 2 with him, and it only hit me then that I was probably going to pass out cold. To avoid sleeping on the floor I walked over to a bed and just fell over and passed out. I didn't know at first but as morning came I realized that I was sleeping next to a girl I hardly even knew, and she kept stealing the damn blanket... My buddies teased me for sleeping next to her the day after but it's really not much of a deal.

I wish I had played more beer pong, beer pong is a great way to get to know people and socialize since it breaks the ice for you. I remember just walking up to people and just talking to them at the last party, but it's a lot easier to do when you're more sober. Plus my Asian glow is very noticeable and I feel like it's kind of unattractive lol. But all in all it was fun, it's just a shame I couldn't get to know people more. There will be more opportunities at least.

Now I'm sitting in my school's library again, trying to study, but of course I am distracted by this and various other forms of media. I also still haven't heard back from companies I applied for internships for, so I hope they at least respond to me sometime before the semester ends.

Anime Boston 2012

So I just got back from going on a massive shopping spree during the three day duration of Anime Boston. I must say it is nice to have money at this point in life lol. Yes... I could have saved that money to pay off debts but man you just have to let go sometimes.

I bought a TON of stuff. I bought 4 volumes of Twin Spica, several artbooks, a bunch of T-Shirts, a few small posters, an autographed poster of Ito Kanako along with her latest album that literally came out a week ago, and three HUGE wallscrolls. I also managed to get a few charms here and there, an awesome Sena bag, specifically designed for convention life if I may add.

These wall scrolls were a lot bigger than I thought they were...

This year's convention was one hell of a harvest for me. My walls are completely decorated with stuff, it's really a great sight. The scrolls make up for their lower quality for their large size. I don't remember the exact measurements but it went along the lines of 44 inches x 30 inches, something like that. Having three of those around my room really made it much more colorful. At times like these when I want to take some pictures for whatever reason it is I wish I had a real camera (Canon). Because my camera phone just isn't all that great.

A medium sized high quality print

Besides the wall scroll I also had several of these smaller prints. They look just fantastic. I think this year I was just very lucky to bump into a dealer that had good connections to getting legitimate merchandise from high level circles in Japan. There was also a Sena artbook that I had bought with some amazing pictures. It really blew away everyone out of the artists alley here in Boston. I kinda felt bad for the artists next to the dealer because me and my friend were just raving about how high quality her goods were. I even got a free print because of my referrals =). 

A K-ON! Music Box

(lol @konata in the background)

The K-ON! music box that I bought was probably the most endearing piece of merchandise I took away from the convention. It plays a really melancholic tune with the traditional chimes from a typical old music box. That chime in conjunction with one of the tamer songs from K-ON! makes me feel really relaxed, it's quite nice. 

My gaming setup and MLG Mousepad

While I was taking pictures around my room I decided to take a picture of my desk as well. It's been a while since I took a pic of it, because I remember doing so a long time ago to post it on a teamliquid thread where everyone showed off their gaming setups haha. I'm pretty happy with what I have got right now. I've got an Insignia speaker setup for some awesome surround sound when  I play Starcraft or watch Starcraft. 

In fact on the monitor is the IPL tournament broadcasting live. I was in the middle of putting up my posters while I watched it. The keyboard is one of my prides as well, it's a mechanical keyboard. I bought it for $129, pretty hefty price for just a keyboard but it was well worth it. There are definitely better alternatives out there, but I just settled for the slightly cheaper Black Widow. It changed my typing experience forever, people's reviews for mechanical keyboards VS normal regular membrane keyboards are 100% right. You'll never want to go back lol. 

My MLG mousepad is stained with wine and various other foods unfortunately... I'm really disappointed in myself for getting it so dirty, but it's tough not to when you're drunk tbh. I have a ton of pro gamer autographs on it, if it weren't so dirty this mouse pad would be worth quite a lot of money.

Well that's it for now, it's starting to get late so maybe I'll put up the other stuff I bought later.