A Day in the Life

Thought some of you'd like to hear how a typical day of a Toy Design student is, so here is a detailed account of how today went for me:

8:30 bundle up in puffy jacket, leather gloves, pom-pom hat, and furry boots for 11-degree weather

8:40 run out the door to catch the uptown R train

8:45 get on train, start reading The History of Industrial Design for a quiz, struggle to turn pages with gloves on

9:05 look up to discover I just missed my street stop and am already late for class

9:10 get back on the downtown W train

9:15 run into class late, apologetically

9:20 set up my sewing machine and open up my MacBook Pro to show my teacher color studies of my plush squirrel

9:30 watch the teacher demonstrate how to revise a plush toy body to fit the desired shape, as my hunger grows and boredom increases, as I think she's going over what I already know how to do

9:45 sneak out of the class to feed my hunger rage; run to McDonald's to grab a sausage burrito meal deal, plus their tasty premium Hazelnut iced coffee

10am donate extra burrito to starving classmates (as I only ever really need one burrito and maybe one hash brown), start to sew a revised squirrel body in muslin (fabric), as I explain to my class BFF that I only eat breakfast, fish filets, and minty milkshakes at McDonald's

10:15 stop sewing, to show my teacher my color studies and decide on plush fabric colors and textures; we agree on blue-green-yellow striped accent patches, possibly a cuddly soft turquoise furry fabric, and a chartreuse fleece fabric

10:30 alternate bites of food and sips of orange juice and coffee with sewing, while asking classmates questions about the significance of the Singer sewing machine in 1876

11am grab stuffing to fill the new squirrel body, while listening in on classmates quiz each other on the significance of Wedgwood Queen's Ware pottery in 1790, the .36 Colt revolver in 1851, Thonet's bentwood chairs in 1836, Pugin's armoire in 1851, and James Whistler's Peacock room in 1876

11:30 Laugh at my classmates, as they start getting goofier and punchier by the minute, while studying for the quiz and deciding on lunch options

11:45 Adjust version 2 of my plush squirrel body with pins; cut up new sewing pattern shapes while laughing at the absurdity and gall of my sewing teacher as she shares some ridiculously judgemental anecdote about "Mexicans on the train"

noon Pack up sewing machines and supplies, choose the Szechuan bean curd over rice from a Chinese takeout menu

12:10 check email while listening to classmates quiz each other, gameshow style

12:30 write email replies, then notice when one of the dorm guys bizarrely brings up a pornographic term ("Babuke?"), to which we all respond with a resounding "EEWWWWWWW!"

12:32 get even more disturbed, when this same guy explains that "the girl usually throws up afterward," at which I say, "Usually??? What do you mean by usually? How do you even KNOW? Wait. I don't want to hear about it anymore, we're about to eat LUNCH."

1pm start to eat lunch, then realize it's not that tasty, and that I'm not very hungry

1:15 Get all excited telling my classmates how my internship interview went

1:30 Check email again, watch an awesome clip of Improv Everywhere, performed at Grand Central Station then post it to Facebook

1:45 Look over class notes to review last details for quiz

2pm Take History of Industrial Design quiz, delighted to find that it's about Wedgwood Pottery, which I remember the most about

2:15 Type notes on my MacBook Pro while enjoying a colorful and funny lecture, in which the teacher explains how two 19th century designers enjoyed the menage-a-trois, even in the staid context of Victorian England

3:45 class break, in which I check my Flickr and find updated photos from my favorite designers at Meomi, realizing that they were just in NYC

3:50 Suddenly remember that Vicki Wong of Meomi is Canadian and designed the 2010 Vancouver Olympic mascots; then realize I could probably stock up on mascot toys when I go to Toronto this summer, then show how insanely adorable they are to my classmates who all start to coo at them (–even the guy who knows too much about pornographic terms)

4:00 Agree with my class BFF that Christopher Dresser looks kind of like Edward Norton and was a way hotter 19th-century designer than William Morris; marvel at how Japanese influences were as big back then as they are now in product design, but for different reasons

5:00 hop on the 1 train downtown and delight in the combination of wierdos and fancy business folk I pass on the way home

5:20 check email, Facebook, Scrabulous, start blogging

5:45 catch up with my roommate who gets home from work, finish blog entry

7pm ponder whether I should nap or have a quick dinner and go to bed.