I'm a terrible blogger.

No, really.  I've gotten truly lazy about updating my blog.  My apologies.

So first of all, to tie up the loose ends from the last time I wrote, that quarter actually turned out pretty well grades-wise, and I was able to pull through it without completely losing my sanity.  And that fatalistic attitude toward my future?  Well, you know how those things go.  Sometimes you get in a rut and you feel like you'll never get out and everything's going to hell in a handbasket, but then something happens or maybe you just have a nice day and you feel ok again.

The summer was not as productive as I'd hoped (there are a lot of projects I spent a lot of time thinking about, but which I never actually started), but some good things happened.  I have a car now, which is... AH I can't even begin to describe how liberating it is.  I can't imagine how I ever got along without it.  I no longer have to wait for a roommate to go grocery shopping in order to stock my shelves, I can drive myself to friends' houses instead of having to be picked up, I never have to bum rides off people anymore, and I can actually do photoshoots without having to raise the embarrassing question of how I'm going to meet up with them.  I can now sympathize with all the people who grumble about gas prices, but whatever, it's amazing being able to get myself from place to place.

Speaking of photography, the biggest success of the summer was my new job as the photographer for SLO Life Magazine.  One of my boyfriend's friends is big into film and cinematography, and he's quite talented--I've seen a few of his projects (I've been in one of them as well), and he's very good.  His footage looks great straight out of the camera, but he also knows his way around AfterEffects and other movie editing programs, and some of his movies are very impressive.  Anyway, he's an admirer of my photography, and every now and then, when he sees ads on craigslist that might interest me, he'll send them my way.  One day, he sent me a post that was only a day old or so for a photographer position at a local magazine.  I emailed the publisher right away with a link to my website, and later that day I had a response from him asking when I'd be available for an interview.  About a week later, I went to the interview, and he sent me on my first mission.  It's not a paid position unfortunately because it's a free magazine (it goes to every home in San Luis Obispo), but I do get a half page ad as compensation.  It hasn't brought me any business yet, but I am hoping that it might at least be making people aware of me.  The main thing I'm getting from this, of course, is experience.  And a pretty good looking line on a resume--after all, I'm not just some intern, sweeping backdrops and fetching coffee... I am actually THE photographer for a magazine.

The photography I do for SLO Life is mostly journalistic.  They have a staff of writers and some freelancers, and once they decide on subjects and people to write about, they send me out to take the pictures for the article.  I've had practically nothing but good experiences so far.  Everyone has been very friendly and accommodating, and it's been interesting to meet local people and learn about what they do.  Even subjects that I did not think would interest me, such as urban farming, turned out to be eye-opening experiences, and many of the farmers were kind enough to send me home with goody bags full of fresh produce.  This job is also not too time intensive, and I basically make my own schedule, which is perfect because it means that I can still do school and work at my other job, and then do shoots for the magazine whenever I have time, so long as I'm able to get the pictures in by the deadline.

I know it's sort of crazy, but I actually just got a THIRD job.  Back at the end of spring quarter/the beginning of summer, I sent out resumes to a couple of places around town, hoping to get a second job (this was before SLO Life came along) so that I could make some extra cash.  The place I was most hoping for was SLO Art Supply, a small art store downtown.  The owner seemed cool, and I liked the atmosphere, and plus, it just sort of felt like it would make sense for me to work at an art store.  Shortly thereafter, I got the SLO Life job, so I didn't come in again for a while because I figured I'd have my hands full.  The next time I came in, he had already hired, but he seemed disappointed that he hadn't heard from me earlier and told me that if he wound up with any room, I might hear from him.  A few weeks ago, he called me and told me that he did need to hire one more person, and that my resume stood out from all the others.  We arranged a time to meet, and since then I've been doing training sessions when I have time.  I love the owner's philosophy; he sells all the art supplies he has in stock as cheap as he can and still make a bit of a profit (some of his prices are around half that of the prices at the Cal Poly bookstore, and that's saying something because the bookstore usually tries to give student discounts on supplies).  He also provides a fun environment for people to come in and work on their projects.  The place attracts a lot of regulars who just come in to chat or work on their art.

Oh, here's something that was ALMOST awesome...
I befriended a couple of wedding photographers at a wedding for some good family friends about a month and a half ago, and we've kept in touch since then.  She also graduated from Cal Poly, and she loved my favorite professor as much as I love him and hated my least favorite professor as much as I hate him, so we spent a while gossiping and bonding over stories about the art department.  She was generous enough to send me a copy of her contract (which she worked with lawyers to get right, and which is totally indispensable for a wedding photographer) and she also told me that she'd send me overflow if she and her husband ever got overbooked.  About a week ago, she referred a bride to me who was willing to pay $1500 (that's like 4 times as much as I normally charge for craigslist weddings).  She had already seen my website, and told me that she had a few other photographers interested but that she wanted to go with me because she liked my style.  The problem was that the wedding is on the 23rd--not just the day I was planning on having my birthday party, but more importantly, a school day.  And it's an all-day event in Carmel, which is about a 3 hour drive from here.  I told her that I'd have to contact my professors first (especially since it's the first week of classes, so it's important to secure my spot), and she said that she could wait a couple of days but that she wanted to find someone quickly (understandable, as her wedding is in less than 2 weeks).  I heard from one of the professors almost right away, and he told me that it was fine if I missed class so long as I made sure that I caught up on what I missed.  But I never heard from the other one, and that was the class I had been most worried about because it's the class I'm actually going to be trying to crash.  The professor had told me earlier that there would probably be room for me, but my spot was tentative as it was, and I didn't quite feel comfortable with going ahead with the wedding gig without hearing from her.  Three days passed without a word from her, and finally I decided that I'd just tell the bride I'd do the gig and I'd figure out everything else later... but by that point, she'd already found someone else.  Major disappointment.

In other news, I turn 21 in 10 days!!  I'm excited.  :)
Oh, we also just got a new roommate.  He's a bio chem major, but he's also very artistic.  I saw some of his work in his room (he does painting and sculpture) and it's really good.  Way better than I've ever been able to do... sculpture especially has never been my forte, but the stuff he had in his room was actually quite impressive.  He gets along with all of us really well too, and I feel like we've all hung out more as a household than we ever did with the girl who lived with us before.  Also, he has a dog.  At last!  I live with a dog again!  She's a boston terrier and she's sort of derp, but she's super cute and very friendly and well behaved.  She and I are already fast friends  :) she spent a couple of hours curled up in my blankets while I cleaned my room yesterday.  Happy days.

Aahh what else.
School starts on Monday... 8am classes FTL.  It's gonna be a tough quarter.

Ech.  I'm boring myself.
You know who has a fun blog?  This guy --> Books Of Adam
I'm a little obsessed.  He's really good at taking little vignettes out of his life and making fantastically funny posts about them.  Almost every single post makes me literally laugh out loud.  This one's my favorite: Poor Stupid Cat--ever since I introduced the comic to my roommates, it's been a joke in the house that maybe our cat, Jennie also ingested antifreeze and that's why she is the way she is.

Anyway, I feel like I'm rambling now so I'm going to stop.
Toodles!