Why did I think it was going to be so easy taking Photoshop classes? It's only the second week and I'm wrung out. The chief problem is it's not the version I own, so I don't know where everything is anymore, and the professor is rattling on, "Open this, pull down that, use this tool to do this bitty bit, save as a transparent .gif which I'll tell you how to do in a minute," ad infinitum. I have yet to figure out how I can keep my eyes on the overhead screen while simultaneously following along on my own computer and complete the actions and, lest we forget, be creative. I'm exhausted, and all we did tonight was assemble various vegetables (okay, photos of vegetables) into a face. Cut, paste, free transform, reduce, enlarge, name each layer, merge, and then save in three different formats. I barely finished by 10pm.
I haven't read any of my California State history homework, so I guess I'll be taking that on the plane with me to Seattle this weekend. It's too bad, I've got my two books by Nancy Mitford which I'm dying to read, the Michaela Rossner book Vanishing Point which is fascinating and cannot be rushed due to the interesting physics and clever writing, and tonight I received my belated Christmas present from Kymm: the fabulously Gothic Zofloya and the second in a mystery series I'm reading about a 5th century eunuch in Byzantium.
Did I mention that I found out my favorite mystery writer, Margaret Frazer, is actually two mystery writers? I always have such mixed feelings when this kind of information comes up. It shouldn't lessen the pleasure of the books, it's foolish beyond permission, but it makes me feel as though I've been deliberately misled and I hate that. I know co-authors often create a single name for their novels, and I know the marketing reasons behind a writer using a different name for each genre they're published in, but still, it makes me unhappy.
Well, that's just my little quirk. The book was all right. I should say the mystery part of it was all right, I didn't guess at all who murdered the chap, but good lord above, the crappy copy editing irritated me no end. I almost feel like taking it back and getting the second edition when they've fixed everything. The earlier books are better, anyway. I am afraid Sister Frevisse may be beyond her natural life as a character, much the way I feel about Gordianus the Finder, another series I loved. That makes me sad.
I must say, between the mailing list I'm on, a constant flow of work at work, keeping up with the Journalcon 3 forum, and answering my normal amount of email I am very busy at the computer these days. Nonetheless, I worked out two days in a row and have stayed within my points all week, kept up the household chores, dealt with daily dog-cat issues (Jasper goes after the cats at least once an evening and I'm not happy about it), and fit in dinner last night with Koroshiya. I gave her her plane ticket to Las Vegas and she brought me her copy of Photoshop 6 so I can do my homework at home. There is no way I'm going up to the college on nights when I don't have class. Computer labs give me the heebie jeebies.
However, I have got to practice or I'll never do well in this class. At least my teacher thought my Veggie Gal was quite clever with her radish-leaf hair and bowtie pasta hair bow. Since I hadn't had dinner because my train was late and I had to rush right to class with no supper I found it particularly cruel to have to work with photos of food.
I must remember to eat a bigger lunch on school nights.
The Index
Next Incarnation