Back at last.

by Dom on November 18th, 2008

So I’ve finally made it home. Finally. And no run-ins with cops besides some parking tickets. Now I’m watching the fantastic four cartoon, they’re battling psycho-man. Classic and intense. It was a good time seeing everyone again. Learned a lot about those schools. I guess the party is over now though, time to get to work on the applications and my portfolio. Maybe I’ll nap instead. I guess either way I should probably turn off the tv.

The Finale

by Dom on November 16th, 2008

Driving was horrible today. Amazingly bad. It was rainy most of the time; then the sun came out for a bit and made a blinding glare on everything. It was great conditions to find out how stupid people are about driving. Many people forgot or didn’t seem to know that the left lane was for passing. I passed people in the right lane who must have just had cruise control on or something and they were looking at their cell phone. Ridiculous. I couldn’t handle it and when people wouldn’t notice the people coming on from the on ramp until they were right beside them and then cutting other people off. People just cruising right beside other people when there’s a line of cars waiting to move on. It was just absurd. 6+ hours of abusrd driving. I’ve never not enjoyed driving so much. Eh.

RISD was cool, except the first time I went it was just a bad day. I forgot my wallet and I couldn’t get breakfast, or a battery for my bike light. The building I needed to go to was locked. So I sat around and followed some kid in. Then the floor I needed was locked, so I knocked. Found out I that they had no time for me that day. So I drove back to my friends house where I was staying. The next day was much better though. RISD was cool, they had some great facilites and a real intense program. I spent some time at their museum too, that was real cool. It is nice to see some old friends and meet some new ones too.

Pratt was interesting. They had a three year program that really seemed to give a solid foundation in design. It was in a pretty neighborhood in brooklyn too, lots of brownstones. Their campus was fun too, there was art all over it. New York was cool, but it was weird. It was just miles of store fronts and apartments with random spots of glitz. It almost all looked the same so much that it almost tricked you into thinking you’ve really just been hanging out on the same four blocks the entire time. There was some good stuff there though. Glad to be on the way home though, it’s time.

NYC

by Dom on November 10th, 2008

I’ve been hanging out in New York for a few days. Expensive is the word. It works out with the budget a bit though because I spent a lot less than I thought I would earlier in the trip. It’s been a good time indeed. I’ve been staying with a friend from the Peace Corps; and the first night we met up with a friend from Augusta. It’s been real nice being able to see people again. New York is a lot of walking. This girl I’m staying with claims to have been too busy to really get out much so she doesn’t know where many things are and so we end up wandering a lot looking for stupid things like bars or breakfast places. It’s fun though. I finally made it to a guitar store. Guitar Center actually. I checked out some of the local ones and was a bit disappointed. I did find something at the Guitar Center though, something that turned out to be just out of my price range and not even close enough to fudge. A 1972 Gibson Hummingbird acoustic, it was real sweet. I learned a lot from talking to the guy though so it isn’t a total disappointment. I rode around all yesterday too. Riding with traffic here seemed a lot easier than in Atlanta for a number of reasons, cars are used to you, the land is flatter, things aren’t as sprawled. It’s still fun to pass drivers and taxis during rush hour too.

Through the Middle

by Dom on November 7th, 2008

So I made it out of Notre Dame after four overtimes. If only they could have punched one through and not lost…Oh well the past is in the past and we all know how much I care about sports anyway. Notre Dame as a school though was quite interesting. Super small program, taking only one a year. A whole lot of freedom and support. That seemed real cool.

Continued on over to Columbus. Hung out with both sides of the family the first day. That was nice. Had an early Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house. All the food was quite excellent. Especially the sweet corn. Two years without it is one thing but two years only being able to eat the corn flakes equivalent really made me appreciate it and miss it that much more. I piled like three extra scoops on my plate and because I didn’t see it until last it was all on top of my salad and potatoes and all that business. I’m not a mixer but some things just have to be done. In addition there was goose and duck and sweet potato pies and all kinds of other pies; like pumpkin. It was excellent. It was nice to see great grandma again and all the children and spouses of the cousins that are all grown up now. These times they are a changing.

Cruised over to Philadelphia yesterday. Supposedly a seven hour drive. I didn’t time it, I don’t know. It was pretty great because there was like no traffic. The weather was pretty fantastic yesterday too. Kind of warm but a nice cool breeze with all the green and orange and yellow leaves overhanging the highway. Every now and then it would hit me how different it was from the Malawian scenery but for the most part it was just some colorful leaves. Staying with a family friend here. Got some more Yuengling and some hot wings for dinner last night. It’s good to be in America.

Went to see the school here today. That turned out to be a bit ridiculous with a couple reschedules and rain. It seems to be a really awesome program though. I talked with a professor and hung out with some of the current grad students while they worked on some projects. The program seemed to really be connected to the city; which is real cool. Coming back was a bit of a financial fiasco because I’m not good at managing my money here yet and got on a $6 train with only $3. The guy just took the other $3 out on me. Whatever though, I got home. ATM tomorrow though.

I keep thinking/dreaming of a nap, and I keep postponing it. Tomorrow will probably just continue the cycle. Heading North again tomorrow. Oh so I just realized I forgot to talk about OSU. Their program seemed solid, but very teaching oriented. As in that’s pretty much the only new doors that would be opened for me from obtaining their degree. Since teaching is pretty far down my list right now I’m just not so interested in it. They had a very classical approach to the masters. Where I choose a topic and spend three years researching it and then present my findings as a thesis and defend it. All the while only formally meeting with my advisor once a year. I want something a bit more hands on and theoretical if that makes sense.