Of this semester, that is. Not of life, that would be slightly more disconcerting (not to mention I probably wouldn’t even be writing this post then).
Surprisingly, this time, the workload has been slightly less strenuous, with me actually having spare time at the end of the semester to start idling around on Google Reader, trying to figure out what I should be doing instead of whiling my time away, much like everyone else is.
I’ve put off writing for quite a while, I realize, and it has, without doubt, had quite the detrimental effect on my ability to conjure up material quickly and efficiently. Usually by this time I’d have an entire diatribe all typed up and ready to go to press; now I’m struggling to decide how best to describe the entire run of my life in the United States thus far. While my association with a certain blue bird has served to provide a more convenient platform for me to whine ponder over the vagaries of my new life (and by extension, my dA and twitpic accounts), neglecting to properly document past events in a satisfactory manner this long brings me pause, when I can finally find the necessary spare time to sit down and bang it out.
Much like I do for every other post, really.
I’ll be flying back to my country in less than a week, and I’ll be playing host to a cascade of much more challenging problems, most of which involve the usage of the word “domestic”. It could also be more succinctly described as “domestic issues”, if a single word was not clear enough. Apart from that, I’m looking forward to actually being hot for once: even though it’s technically spring now in Seattle, I still cuddle myself in a heavy blanket and set the heater to Volcano before retiring for the night. And meeting my friends, I suppose.
You might then imagine (and in fact, most people do), that I am looking forward to returning to Singapore. In reality, there’s nothing I dread more. My work is all here now, shitty laptop(s) and all. My games are here, my resources are here, and more to the point, my INTERNET IS FASTER HERE (and infinitely more expensive, but let’s put that nagging point aside for the moment). There’s literally nothing for me to perform during my 2-week sabbatical back in South-East Asia, apart from sulking in my room. And eating a truckload of local delights. And playing LFS with a G25 and 3 screens, but I like to think I’d grown out of that phase of my life. Sort of.
Yes, apart from those, there’s literally nothing to do. How has my life come to this?
Anyway, it’s probably considered bad form to talk about school, tutors and anything related to your current education on a blog, much less one that is shared with a portfolio page. It’s also widely considered among my acquaintances and peers that I am insanity personified. So it shouldn’t be considered surprising, then, that I would talk about how certain tutors are, at best, incompetent, and, at worst, a complete joke that would be funny if not for the fact that their classes are costing me a significant amount of dough.
People tell me that some of the classes are useful for education, to have a well-rounded skillset, along with assuring me that the tutors are doing their best and drawing on their previous industry experience to structure the classes. Well, I can safely assure potential undergraduates that in the case of several classes (English, Acting For Animation, Film History and Analysis, to name the major contenders), that this is pure, unmitigated bullshit, and that anyone telling you otherwise should be shunned, like you would unbelievers.
And trust me, I’ve made my stance on these classes very clear. Unfortunately, either the school is unwilling to change the classes for the sake of a single naysayer, or perhaps they’re limited in what they can actually propose at the gatherings of all the bigwigs. Add that to the fact that I have noticed a certain disparity between the number of people who actually agree with me and those who don’t (i.e. I’m probably the only one who thinks this way), and it should be pretty obvious why I don’t publicize my findings to the nearest tutor. (I do include them when they hand out those class evaluation snot rags, but I imagine that the only humans who actually get to see them are the garbage people)
I’ve also noticed, that, disturbingly, it appears that this school gets its wonderful reputation from the Bachelor of Science degree that they offer, instead of the BFA degree which I am enrolled in, something I didn’t quite imagine would be the case when I first decided to stick out my neck for the executioners. In contrast, the BFA programme seems to have had quite a bit of drama involving the administration and the faculty for a while, and the results are pretty grim, both on the technical and funding aspects of it.
I was hoping that I would find like-minded artists here, who would be light-years ahead of me in terms of skill and competence, helping push myself to higher limits. On the contrary, it appears that only rare sparks of these are present within the cohort, and even then, they are dimmed somewhat by the lack of their technical expertise in many cases.
How then, does one stay motivated? By working on something completely different, of course. I’m hoping to complete a short project over the summer.
In time, as always. Maybe this time it’ll actually turn out different.
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