End of Spring 09: A Quarter Left

Is a seasonal thing...I end the semester with a note; recollections.

Grab some pop corn if you're actually going to read this.

Class Summaries:
AD307 Electronic Visualization II: 305 was an awesome class and Daniel is an awesome professor; should take his class if you're in A+D, but if you don't like coding this isn't your piece of cake. The class discusses information aesthetics and I think it is a topic worth exploring. Wish there were more active participant in the class, would had made the class more interesting.

AD309 Advanced Topics in Modeling and Animation: If there were only more time to work on projects oppose to tutorials the class would had seem like less of a hell. Sabrina still needs to up her enthusiasm in the class. She doesn't have the most captivating voice. Though, I would say I learned a lot in the class, just not how to be productive in that class.

AD230 Painting: I did not know painting was such an expensive (and toxic) hobby. I knew it was time consuming, but that's about it. Other then the heckle of the over-hyper TA didn't make the class all that enjoyable. I did like building stretchers, but the class took too much time, more than required. However, on a side note, Julia is the sweetest old lady I've met.

AH236 History of Design: The same old routine, a long Friday morning of hearing Robin speak super fast. Though, a lot didn't stick compare to last semester. After she left for maternity leave over Spring Break the guest professor (don't even know her name), did even less so to captivate the class. I know the TA still suck too. The class seemed so crunched on time when it came to exams compared with last semester.

COMM 140: Communications in Media: Have I ever hated a class so much? Maybe MUS 107. The class seem redundant and remedial in the way that the people in class regurgitated the information. Things in the media I'm already aware of. It wasn't a stimulating class for me, being in there just made me want to get out. I hate it when people think things that come out of their mouth are the smartest thing they've said; it isn't.

So, I'll begin here.

This semester was probably the hardest semester I had to deal with. A lot of things didn't really go my way, and what more can I say, "things happen." Though, during the semester I come to judge the quality of a lot of characteristics of people, though in the end I spent the last couple weeks judging the validity of characteristics. I'm not better than the next person, and that's exactly what made this semester, so, hard. I wish I was able to juggle a couple obstacles that were presented this semester more effectively, but I didn't. When I tell some people that I'm just having a hard time, their response would be, "You're David Mei" as if I'm some what extraordinary; in the end I'm nothing special. I found myself making a lot of compromises this semester, mainly on projects and maybe my own leisure time. Sorry, if I might seem dodgey about what I'm talking about, I just am about certain topics.

A certain fear I have when I meet people is how is a good thing. Not to sound emo, but good things in my life usually turn sour pretty quick, or at least I somehow slip up. Maybe, I'm not much of a people person. Makes me wonder why I try; maybe I just want to learn and stop making the same mistake with people. I think I was able to append old relations with people, but along the way I think I broke a few this semester.

Though, one of the greatest thing I learned about myself this semester is that I set up certain boundaries in places I made mistakes in. Recently I realize it was all a psychological thing, and I've been holding myself back in some silly childish fear. As of now, I think I'm going to make it my goal to crush existing borders I placed on myself. I must admit I'm still hesitant and restrain from doing so. I've been telling myself the last couple days that I have to GET OVER MYSELF. I'm my own biggest obstacle and I'm just being stupid holding myself back.

Overall, I think there were a couple great instances throughout the semester that reminded me that there are people and things that I can still look forward to, despite simultaneous events that were going on. I am always thankful for the people that has made me smile, laugh, and felt welcomed. The last couple years had made me realized there is much others can do for you, and I can do for them. I'm still learning to reciprocate by my own means. This is still all a learning process, I'm bound to mess up along the way.

All in all, I hit more walls then I had ever hit in one semester. It wasn't the best semester, I'll admit it was a pretty shitty semester; shittiest one to date. It had is highlighting moments and I'm extremely grateful for that, but still this semester was very hard to get through. I compromised a lot and I'm not happy with a lot of end results (ie projects). Hopefully, next semester will be something to look forward to.

Speaking of which, I'm 3/4 complete with my time at UIC and I've grown quite attached with everyone. The last 3 years has definitely been the most enjoyable part of my life, and I hope the coming years would be enjoyable as well. I hope beyond this following year that I am able to maintain these relations I made. I've been so bad at keeping in touch with people, I'm a bit fearful about it. Not as fearful as I am of the real world however.

Thanks for reading,

-David M.