IIT 101 - Naperville

Picture of the Day] Food and fun at IIT 101!

Mood] Sassy

Weather] Rainy.

Currently] In the basement.

Quote of the Day] "All phone calls are obscene."

There are some things that are good. Then there are some things that are better. I like to consider chain restaurant an interesting phenomenon. Chain restaurants are typically the same. You have the same or similar food, you have the same decor palette, the staff all wear the same uniforms or colours, there are regulations on hair and make-up or jewelry, but for some reason, when you step into that chain restaurant in a different city, it just isn't the same. It could be the layout. It could be the individual people. Is that all? I don't know! But I definitely liked the Naperville Maggiano's better than the Schaumburg one. >.> With that being said...

What is an IIT 101 you might ask? IIT 101s are like dinner and a movie hosted by the IIT staff at various suburban locations! We set up shop in Deerfield, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, and Naperville and are hosted at restaurants like Maggiano's and Buca di Beppo.

We begin the evening with check-in, delicious food, drinks, and some chatting! Then admission counselors welcome everyone and begin a presentation that details the benefits and break-down of facts regarding our university! We discuss how awesome it is to live in the city (not to mention the perks like public transportation, a plethora of restaurants and shopping, and tons of museums), what fun organizations and activities there are constantly on campus, as well as living in the residence halls, eating in the cafeteria, attending classes, and the opportunities students gain through research and practical studies like IPRO (Interprofessional Research Opportunities, see related post: http://www.inventingthefuture.iit.edu/journal/2009/9/30/ipro-101-breaking-down-the-ipros-at-iit.html). Afterwards we have plenty of time for a question and answer session.

The IIT 101 Sessions are a great way to get acquainted with real IIT staff, faculty, students and alumni!

Full,
~Jaye

Halloween Promo Ads!

Picture of the Day] Ads that will go up around the school for Halloween! Watch for them in a week or two.

Mood] Blah

Weather] Sunny!

Currently] In the cube.

Quote of the Day] "Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for and you will succeed."

So I went to the office of student life today totally thinking I would give them some of these snazzy posters to put up around the dorms and the mtcc, but I realized that the posters are up for about two weeks and I didn't want to do that now because then they would already be taken down at the beginning of October! NO GO! I wanted to have these posters up and going for the whole of October leading up to Halloween! In that case, I might even have to do two rounds of them, which of course will cost more to print. :/ Maybe I'll just stick them up there at the beginning of October and hope that no one takes the m down until three weeks. Ha ha ha. Still, I need to make more Halloween stock ANYWAY so I guess it's better not to promote as much until I have that stuff up there.

The sister has just finished a few more Halloween aprons which I am totally psyched about! I think they're gonna be great for people who are chillin' at home waiting for trick or treaters. I also have a few Halloween pillows I wanna throw up there to see if anyone bites. I don't know if they will. I figure most people like to decorate for the holidays and like having special pillows or ornaments to be festive. Maybe? EH?

Hopeful,
~Jaye

Narrative Model & Review

Picture of the Day] As promised, pics of the model!

Mood] Dead tired.

Weather] Hazy/Drizzly

Currently] In the basement

Quote of the Day] "Praise youth and it will prosper."

Sleeping felt so nice after pulling an all-nighter. Ha ha ha. I could barely get up this morning to go to industrial psych. I will admit though that what people say is true. After the initial all-nighter (which was absolute *ell for me in 3rd year), all subsequent all-nighters have been a LOAD easier to do.

Still, I'd say it was worth it. Getting this model done was nice. I also enjoyed looking at everyone's projects. It was a good change. I hadn't really noticed what other people in my studio were working on until this review. Now that I have an idea, I can see that none of us have taken it the same way, which is cool. Each of us chose different approaches, even different regions of the world to emulate. A few of the students did Korean, Spanish, or Mexican inspired designs. I for one will probably always be in love with the plains, though mountains are quite nice too.

My model is a conceptual model that attempts to express the experience of being in the Midwest prairie. Can you see it in the model? I hope so!! I'm too tired to explain now. Ha ha ha. Sorry!

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep~
~Jaye

DeviantART & Model

Picture of the Day] My DeviantART account

Mood] Snappy

Weather] Perfect!

Currently] In the basement

Quote of the Day] "I never put on a pair of shoes until I've worn them at least five years."

Whoo. I feel like I've done this before. Have I talked about the DeviantART? Maybe not in detail? Anyway, here is a screenshot of my page! I put the link on the top of the navigation here in the blog. I uploaded a lot of my etsy stuff on there, so it's pretty cool, but I also started uploading my drawings, random photography, architecture things, etc...I'm really glad that I started networking with people there. It's really fun favouriting things and seeing all the amazing stuff that people can do. I am constantly astounded by how many great artists there are. I wish I could meet them all (is that creepy?).

Model model model. Architecture has proceeded as always. I had to make a 'narrative model' which I will be presenting to my professor and then to a guest critic. I'm nervous about it since I am not sure how it will turn out, but I am hopeful that everything will be okay. In addition to getting feedback I think the best part is meeting people who actually have firms and can give solid reviews. I'm looking forward to putting up some pictures here of my "final" product!

Optimistic,
~Jaye

First Week of Class & Halloween Stock

Picture of the Day] Halloween Magnets! (part of the Halloween Stock)

Mood] Relatively good

Weather] Relatively good

Currently] In the cubicle

Quote of the Day] "The secret of all success is to know how to deny yourself. Prove that you can control yourself, and you are an educated man; and without this all other education is good for nothing."

So the first week of class has been alright. I mean, it's sort of like the first day of high school. You don't really do anything except for go to every class and receive the syllabus, talk about expectations, and get a feel for what the teachers are like. The majority of my professors in the past have all been very good-natured. I think that I will really enjoy this semester (less stress from having fewer classes!)

IPRO 353 has turned out to be interesting so far. We've started with a presentation about our site in Blue Island (a former landfill that now the city wants to turn into a mixture of industrial park, retail, and possibly wetlands park). The presenter from Blue Island is going to be our representative and help us through the semester. She was very nice and informative about what Blue Island wanted.

Studio thus far has been awesome. We watched 2 movies to explain some core concepts that my professor things are key to design. The first was Context. The second was Narrative. I highly recommend everyone watch north by northwest which is a film by Alfred Hitchcock that we saw for narrative. Basically the point was that the film keeps the viewer on the edge of his/her seat with a very direct way of moving the plot. There are no flashbacks or other gimmicks. By using similar themes and elements through the film and altering them slightly, Hitchcock is able to induce comedy in otherwise stressful situations and is able to create a thriller from the simplest of gestures. I think it's a great movie that definitely explains how later adventure/espionage (Indiana Jones, James Bond) films came to be. People saw this film, LOVED IT, and wanted more!

Hooray!
~Jaye

Fall Classes & Poster Promotion Around IIT

Pictures of the Day] These are the two posters that I made and put up around school! WHOOOO!!!! I hope people like them. They stand out a bunch now because not many posters are up and they are very simple in design and solid-ish coloured.

Mood] Chipper

Currently] In my apartment

Quote of the Day] "I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it." I know. I know. It's been forever. :P I should've been posting, but summer really caught up at last and then I had to get ready for school blah bah blah. BUT, I can officially say now that the etsy store is open and that I must begin with my traditional class update!

Class Schedule for Fall 2011:

• FINAL SEMESTER OF STUDIO!!!! Wintergarden (Landscape) - MWF 2PM - 6PM Brubaker
• IPRO 353: Blue Island Landfill - TR 3:15PM - 4:30PM Rohter & Beck (Prof. Beck was actually one of my 2nd yr architecture professors! Cool!)
• Industrial Psychology - TR 10:00 AM - 11:15 AM Ellington

Latest updates regarding the store:

• We've listed a great deal of items so far and made 5 sales! I'm very proud that the word has been spreading.
  
• I've branched out to as many mediums for networking as I can possibly handle, which translates to managing the Facebook Page, the Facebook Group, joining two Etsy teams (which are like groups where you help one another out and meet with others who have similar tastes, aims, etc...as you), and even making a DeviantART account!
• I've found that a lot of the networking actually comes from favouriting/watching/following/add circle/joining anything and everything everywhere. X.x It's hard to check up every day but it's also fun. (This is also the reason why I haven't been on here as much. :( I have been debating whether or not I should make a separate blog for only the store or maybe even a twitter. Who knows...)
• I have uploaded some content onto my DeviantART page, but really a lot of it is making sure that people see the stuff up. This is accomplished my linking the page elsewhere, so I have been trying to do so. It's been fairly successful adventure so far!

Well I hope that we make some more sales soon. :D
~Jaye

Vacation

Picture of the Day] 50s Prime Diner rootbeer floats. The waitress warned us to drink them fast. My brother didn't fast enough apparently. I added a caption.

Mood] Sticky

Weather] Sticky

Currently] In my room

Quote of the Day] "Realism...has no more to do with reality than anything else."

We went to both restaurants in Hollywood Studios. It was great. There was the Sci-Fi Theatre Diner in which we sat in faux cars and the whole place was set up like an old drive-in theatre playing clips of sci-fi movies (they were all pretty much like trailers) Then there was the 50s Prime Time Diner which focused on playing clips from old shows and the setting looked like a kitchen with polka dots and old appliances and everything! (You can tell in the pic)

OH MY GOD HUMIDITY. That has been the absolute worst part of the vacation. The best part has been everything else. Ha ha ha. I got a tan and also have been enjoying the water a lot. Mostly it's been wading around, not actually swimming, plus the water here is very warm (not at all like Lake Michigan in Chicago!). We also went to Blizzard Beach which is a water park in Disney. I haven't been to a water park in a long time. IT was great. :D I went on the single slider that was like 120' tall, no joke. It was freaky. The worst part was that sliding to a stop gave me a REALLY BAD wedgie. X.x

I am pretty satisfied with my bathing suit choice. I was debating between a great number of combinations, but I finally chose the bright spunky set (I matched myself. You can kinda tell they don't belong together because the styles don't match in some ways because of the diff ties. Ha ha ha.) I was thinking of getting just a plain black halter top, but the green is good and I put it to good use in Orlando and a beach trip just before school started. I know the best spot for hanging out on the beach (no people and lots of cold water!!! Ha ha ha ha). I packed a nice picnic for boy and me. It was very pleasant.

Bye bye summer,
~Jaye