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So Close I Can [Taste] It…

Previously: So Close I Can [Smell] It…
Previously: So Close I Can [Feel] It… 

Prior to beginning to write this final installment in my coffee-themed road to graduation chronicle, I decided to go back and read the previous two entries, and I can’t believe that 8 months have passed since I decided to start this. Looking back at my journey so far, it was most definitely not a cakewalk.

This past quarter was most likely the roughest, with the most stressful finals, that I’ve had to endure along the way. Having four studio classes with no gen. ed. classes to act as a bit of a buffer, my plate was always more than full and it was not easy. I mentioned previously that I was going to need to take care not to burn myself and I must say, I definitely had some close calls throughout that quarter. Overall, my outlook on the results of my classes are pretty diverse.

There were two classes that I came out of with some pretty good work that I’m proud of and I’m currently developing further to become solid portfolio pieces.
One class that I had to work with a group for the first time ever to develop and design a project over the course of the quarter. For this class, I was happy with my personal results from my contributions to the project, but the project as a whole was a bit lackluster.
My last class was the one that gave me the most trouble, as it was my only early morning class (which I have not had to deal with for over a year, thus was out of practice). In the end, I came out with a few projects that I’m proud of in that one as well, although I was not necessarily proud of my contribution as a whole.

All in all, aside from a few potential portfolio pieces, the most valuable thing I gained from this past quarter was knowledge from a teacher I had never known before. He’s been around, though he teaches in a different field so I’d never had him for a class in the past. However, this quarter I had two classes from him and ended up learning a lot about logo designing and web design in particular (since he is primarily a web design teacher). Although we didn’t necessarily develop a close bond or anything like that, I developed enough of relationship with him that I could bring my portfolio to him and trust him to critique it honestly.

Still, although I’m so close to graduation, the one thing that’s been stressing me out the most over the past few weeks is that I need an internship to actually be able to finish out the quarter. Over the past few weeks, all I’ve seen are a few missed opportunities, but earlier today I got my first chance to actually land something that sounds fun and like something that would be a valuable opportunity. All I need now is to wait for my advisor to give it the thumbs-up and I’ll be ready to go.

So, I got through the quarter without any major injuries, I have a potential internship right before my grasp, and now here I am, settled down and ready to enjoy my drink. I took the first sip today and as expected, the beginning is still sweet, light, and fluffy. From here, the quarter is looking entirely manageable; it’s all a matter of taking control of it and not letting it control me (which I have been known to allow to happen in the past). As I continue to drink, I know things will quickly go from sweet and light, to bitter and maybe a bit harsh. The most important thing for me to remember is that I can’t let up on the work, this is the home stretch and I need to put in 100%. 

Relax, take it one sip at a time, work hard.

This is will be my mantra for my final quarter. It’s all right in the palms of my hands; 6 years of hard work has led me to this, and I am not going to drop this spill everywhere. I will to do everything I can to see this through to the very last, bittersweet drop.

So Close I Can [Feel] It…

Previously: So Close I Can [Smell] It…

Eyes half open with my mind in a zombie state, bitter black coffee trying to kick my brain into gear, grumbles of hunger emanating from my neighbor’s stomach as if it was a guard dog trying to shoo me away… it must be the first week of a new quarter. 

And that it is, the beginning of my second to last quarter till I graduate in fact. Each day I feel like I realize more and more of what I have to do and I can already feel the stress building ever so little at a time. I need to take heed of this and actually make attempts to catch it before it builds too much. The good thing is that last quarter helped do a lot to get me starting on my preparations for this last stretch.

As I had previously mentioned, I had to take a Portfolio Prep class; I came out of that class with an immense amount of new knowledge from the graduating seniors as far as preparation for the end and with a good amount of my own work prepared for my portfolio show and graduation. Still, I am only a fraction of the way done with where I need to be in the upcoming months. Right now, I have a preliminary idea of my print portfolio layout (which is likely going to be changing quite a bit) and a revised version of my website (which is still a work in progress). With these in place, I still need to think about doing informational interviews with potential employers, start researching print prices and techniques, business card printing, designing give-aways for my portfolio show table, getting an interview for my last quarter… at the moment the list appears to be never-ending. The most important thing is to take a deep breath, take a step back, and take my time. I know I have a lot to do, but the reality of it is that I still have two quarters worth of time left, rather than only one. So, I can’t let the gravity of the situation overwhelm me; I need to take control and steer it, one thing at a time. 

Previously, I was only as close to my Cappucino as to be able to smell it. The bitterness of the espresso was fresh in my nose and I was ready to grab it and go. Now, with the beginning of this new quarter, I’ve taken a step forward; I’m closer now to the end and the coffee is in my hands. However, the mild warmth of the cup is deceivingly hiding the scalding hot contents. I have to handle the next quarter carefully, as I mentioned, and go one step at a time. With care, I’ll make it through, with the inevitable lost drop here and there, but if I’m careless with my time, I could lose control and only end up getting burnt.

So Close I Can [Smell] It…

Wait… what?? The title sounds a little odd and maybe kinda gross when read out of context, but I’m actually referring to my graduation day. I’ve mentioned it a few times, and I suppose that it’s not actually all that close time-wise, (I still have three quarters, around 8 months) but I keep thinking about it. This is why I’ve decided (and hopefully will stick to this decision) to make a multi-part series, chronicling my experience of finishing up these last few quarters leading up to the big day.

The end of last quarter brought up a lot of changes in my life as far as priorities and decisions go, and it leaves me at a bit of a crossroads. For the last few weeks, I made a huge shift of priorities as I dedicated a large portion of my time to doing schoolwork and ended up having to sacrifice a lot of the time I previously spent on hanging out with friends. While this ended up putting a larger stress than I had anticipated on my friendships, I can’t say that I regret or would change the decision I made. Those last few weeks really showed me that I know how to work hard, prioritize my assignments, and get good results and I’m really happy about that. Most importantly, they showed me that it’s possible to have a low-stress finals week! (please note that it was still only low-stress, I’m not sure the no-stress finals week is possible). This is something that I’ve been striving for for years ever since my academic career began taking a downturn, and it’s something that I am very proud of achieving. I was even able to carry that through my week break from school and finally start working on my portfolio website which I have been putting off for the longest time. It’s still in its very early stages, a work in progress, but I’m hoping that within the next few weeks, I’ll be able to present a functioning website (we’ll see what happens, that might be wishful thinking). 

Now, I feel like I’ve gotten a bit ahead of myself; I suppose I still haven’t explained the awkwardness of my title. As I said, I’m still three quarters out from my graduation day, so I didn’t feel quite right saying that it’s “so close I can taste it”. Rather, I say I can smell it because it’s close enough that I have some sense of it, but it’s still fairly faint. As of right now, I think I’d say it smells kind of like… a Caramel Macchiato (or some other type of sweet coffee drink, pick one you like). Now how does this make sense?

A Caramel Macchiato has the sweet smell of caramel (obviously), the creamy smell of the light foam on top, but it still has that faint bitter scent of the espresso underneath all of the fluffiness. And that’s kind of how I see graduation at the moment. The fact that it’s so far away allows it to seem so sweet and easy; I think about it and that it’s coming up, but I don’t feel the stress of anything quite yet… at least, not that much. There’s still the faint idea that I know it’s going to be stressful, I know it’s not gonna be easy in the time leading up to it, trying to prepare and finalize my portfolio, but that time’s not gonna be coming for a little while, so I try not to think about it.

In these next 8 months, I’ll be getting prepared as much as I can to get out there into the real world. I’m already planning on dipping my feet in the water and trying out some logo design projects I’ve been following for a while; just to get myself into freelancing and hopefully get some extra cash in my pocket. For graduation though, I look forward to having to get my portfolio pieces chosen and finalized, finishing up work on my website, finding an internship, and starting to market myself out there as an upcoming Graphic Designer. But for now, while I still can, I’m gonna take the time to kick back and smell the coffee.

UPDATE: Considering I never actually posted this earlier when I first finished writing it, I guess it doesn’t really seem like an update to anyone other than me. Anyway, after finishing my first day of this new quarter, the reality of graduation has sunk in a little more… actually, it kind of sunk in the way a fist punching me in the face would sink in to my cheek. My last class of the night was my Portfolio Prep class, getting me ready to create my online and physical portfolio for presentation at graduation, and I gotta say, that class was intense. The amount of work that we need to get done and the time frame it’s scheduled in, the teacher, the level of work that’s expected, everything was very in your face. Coming out of the class, I took two things from it…

A reality check of what I need to get done… and that it needs to happen sooner than I expected. As you could tell from what I wrote prior to the update, I was fully prepared to set this ride on cruise control for a while and let it happen. But I’ve really come to realize that that it’s not gonna work that way; if anything’s gonna happen, I need to make it happen.

A defibrillation to my brain, jolting it with new found excitement and energy. Not only have I realized I need to make things happen, I’m ready to make them happen. Seeing some of the work of students I’ve been looking up to for the past years, I’m ready to be that for someone else. These guys don’t realize I’ve been seeing and admiring their work, and I only hope that I can be the same for someone else.

After tonight, I can definitely say the air has changed a little bit. I don’t know if I’d necessarily call it a Caramel Macchiato anymore, maybe we’ll switch it over to a Cappuccino… dry with an extra shot of espresso (still fluffy, but a little more bitter, I’m glad I can still make some use of my old Starbucks training).