As of tomorrow morning, the first roll of Holga film will be sent off to Dale Labs for processing. I tried not to take any OMG-I-hope-that-turns-out shots, as this is more of a “control” roll: no mummifying the Holga in gaffer’s tape to eliminate light leaks, no mods, nothing fancy. I just want to see what this bad boy will turn out with no help from me.
I’ll scan and post anything that comes out particularly interesting… but don’t expect much beyond artsy, square-shaped pictures of my cat. o.O
Oh. Mah. Gawd.
OMFG. This is so, SO cool. I feel like an uber-nerd, but I’ve totally seen the light. After years of explanation and geekitude from Dan (and, more recently, from this tutorial), some support from Sheryl, and of course, an initial introduction from Jamie and from Colvey, I finally have created a functional MySQL database.
It’s still pretty simple, and it’s definitely not secure yet. But that’s OK. I’m just testing my newfound skillz on my own stuff, then I’ll worry about security measures to implement when I work on the actual LSM page. For now, though, all my craziness is over that little module in the index sidebar (visible only on the main index page and on the full listing of all entries) labeled, “Keeping Busy.”
It’s probably one of the simplest things I could have made, but it works. It even sorts the events in date order, and only shows events that happen after today. I’m damn proud of myself.
This has virtually unlimited possibilities. OMG. I should have *made* the opportunity to learn this *years* ago.
*shakes head*
I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Since faxing my Independent Contractor Agreement back to the company for which I will (hopefully) be doing some new media contracting, I’ve decided that I need to devote a two-hour block each evening specifically to design projects. This is because 1.) I need to get back into the swing of working on a given project without distractions, and 2.) I need to get some of my own projects done before I start accepting freelance projects.
So, my Friday evening and my Monday evening were much the same: make dinner, check e-mail while dinner is cooking, eat dinner while reading a book, finish that chapter. Then come downstairs and finish my e-mailing and blogreading and general crap. Between 7 and 8pm, start designing. Don’t stop until at least two hours have passed, or until I reach a good stopping point (usually after two and a half hours).
These past couple of days, I’ve been working on making more comps for the LSM site redesign. I finally decided that five will have to be enough for a start, and I emailed the Executive and Assistant Directors with the URL to start a discussion of the designs. I think they’ll be duly impressed. My current favorites are #3 and #5, I think.
Next step: learning MySQL and figuring out a database structure to make News and Schedule tables. I’ll do that during tomorrow’s design time. I’m done for tonight.
The Lomo appears to be working at specifications once more. The post-op test roll came out A-OK, if a touch boring.
In other photo news, the Holga has arrived and is now loaded with film. I’ll burn through this first roll quickly and post the results when I get them processed.
In a word, great!
My contact appears to be in his mid to late 30’s, energetic, excited—one of those people just *made* for recruitment, although he’s a designer, too. He’s also the one-man New Media team of the company in question, wrangling the undiscovered new media talent of Toledo (like myself, apparently) to do some contract work.
It’s just what I need: a chance to prove myself, to get some “real world” design experience, and to make a little extra cash on the side. Oh, yeah, and to give me a confidence and ego boost, which I always desperately need. At the same time, though, this doesn’t require me to quit my current job in favor of some unknown, and it won’t dump oodles of work on me all the time. The projects will be spaced out amongst the various contractors, and we’ll all have the resources of the company at our disposal (although to what extent I can utilize that offer, I’m not precisely sure).
I’m geeked. I’m stoked. I’m glad to be out of that suit.
OMFG, yay for using my degree and my talent.
[An aside: someone I’m downloading from on WinMX just asked me what I do for a living. I could honestly answer him that I’m a graphic / web / new media designer with a day job at a bank. !!!]