september

It's been September for quite a few days now, and of course that means school has started. I was lucky to be able to schedule my classes into 2 days this semester. Both days, Thursday and Friday, I have classes from 10am to 1pm (along with an 8:30 class every other Friday). There is of course another online class, as well as all the online coursework for the other classes, but these are the only times I need to be on campus. I think it will work out quite nicely. At this school the main homework due dates are weekend nights (meaning weekends are far from days off). That's the best thing about this schedule - I can have a real weekend again; only it consists of Monday and Tuesday.

After the first week of classes I'm already tired of 2 of them. The 4th year Management of Technology class, the online one (and uberly difficult), and 3rd year Phyiscal Interaction Design (basically an identical course to one I took in 2nd year, that I have to take anyway). Then I have the Interaction/Experience Design class, "Context for Cultural Production" is the name of the first 5 week module, and an interdisciplinary Project Management class.

Of course the interaction design course is my favorite, and will prove to be the most useful to my future career aspirations - well even my personal aspirations. It's just so good. And now is when you ask "what is interaction design?" As a matter of fact, that is the first assignment for us. Russell (the prof) knows that it is a common question, and the answer that is received the best is "it's something to do with computers." often followed by an "ohhhh, that's a good industry to be in." We (the team) are to research the exact meaning of interaction design so we will be better able to communicate our position, and provide a presentation of the results.

I can't wait to see how many groups boot up a stock powerpoint template filled with misunderstood and unorganized data.

I also submitted the final portion of my student loan papers on Saturday. The first advance should appear in my bank account within a week or so. Now one would assume student loans are mostly used to pay for tuition, but the majority of mine will be going to a notebook computer. Just which? I have no idea. It needs to be high-end enough to run demanding visual software, as well as *cough* the sims 2 (out 09/17) while staying close to $2000... and basically to act as my portable PC. I won't be using anything else, as this PC I currently use is far too outdated to be used for much more than word processing and simpler graphical works.

I apologise for the 'downtime' I had these past few days - it was just as annoying for me as it was for you. Everything works, apart from the stylesheet switcher, and playlist updater - but those weren't crucial anyway. When I add a new design I'll make sure it's legible (as well as readible) so there won't be any problems.

And now for my weekend!