Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Second semester swoops in

Ack, we weren't even done with the work from Winterim, and second semester already started yesterday!

Well, today we finally finished our idea books, which was an enormous relief. So tonight I'm going to get a full night's rest to recover, yet again.

This semester is more focused on learning about actual toy production. I have seven toy design classes and one liberal arts class:
  • Soft Toy & Doll Design
  • Model Making I (aka Hard Toy production)
  • Motor Learning
  • History of Industrial Design
  • Marketing for the Toy Industry
  • Computer-aided Drafting (Cobalt)
  • Computer Graphics in Toy Design
  • Ancient to Medieval Art History
Plus we have required lab hours for the soft & hard toy classes... which include Saturdays.

The senior class has told us this semester will be easier than the last, and the classes sound like lots of fun. But, I'm still wary, because it's looking like it'll still be a ton of work! I was looking forward to having a social life again, but I think maybe now this just means I'll actually get some sleep.

Every year, the hard toy teacher chooses a toy design that the whole class has to build in the model shop. Last year, the seniors learned to build a simple preschool-level toy bus, with Fisher-Price-like people inside. We were eager to find out what our class would get to make.

So on our first day of hard toy class, the teacher showed us ten or so drawings of similarly simple toys. One was a simple horse, pulling a wagon. One was a turtle with wheels, and another was a cartoony, clear teapot with popper balls inside.

Then he showed us this old, literally tattered drawing, of a really fun-looking boating dock. It had a little house-like shop, surrounded by 3 docking sides, with a lighthouse, a pelican, a diving board, a person riding in a boat, a person swimming in an innertube... a fire-hose, a shower room, and lots of cute details that we "ooh-ed" over.

Then he said, "Sooo, I was thinking you guys could make this one!" At which, I think most of us gasped inside. This one looked 10x as complicated as the other designs!! The teacher had mentioned that the Dean had said nice things about our class. She must have told him we were some hyper-ambitious freaks! I mean, I guess it will be really cool to have made such a neat bath toy... when we're done...

Meanwhile, the majority of my classmates were half-conscious, fighting to keep our eyes open, because we were still running on just a few hours of sleep to finish our portfolios.

After that class ended, the Dean stopped by and made us all go home to sleep, so we'd be alert for our first day of Soft Toy class.

Unfortunately that didn't work so well, because four students were incredibly late to class the next morning. That was upsetting to the Dean, who had even provided us with boxes of Dunkin' Donuts as a treat.

(BTW I had my first French cruller donut, and it was SO delightful!!! I am totally getting that one next time I go to Dunkin Donuts. It's like a cream puff, with glaze and no cream.)

Tomorrow we start Motor-Learning class. I'm not sure what that's about. Also, I already missed my first Art History class, but I heard that the prof talks like Dora the Explorer– with that overly enthusiastic and vaguely condescending affectation. She says things like, "Do you know what 'PRE- HISTORIC' means? 'PRE' means beFORE!!!" and such and such. It could be incredibly amusing... orrrr really annoying. I'm fine as long as the class is easy, cuz I gots too much to worry about with the Toy Design coursework!!

Ok off to bed! Nighty night.

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