Golden Gate Bartletts: study

I cannot believe the first week of January has gone. WHERE IS TIME GOING?!?! We've been living here for almost a year! WHAAAAT?!?! It's been an amazing year, though, and as it draws to a close, I'm literally counting down the hours I have left of NOT being a student! My degree begins on Monday and will take me a few years as I'm doing it part-time (it's meant to take two years full-time). The two subjects that I'm starting with are Drawing I and Photoshop I. I like to think I know quite a bit about the basics of drawing and Photoshop, so I'm hoping I do alright in them! That said, I can't believe I'm doing this to myself again. I swore to myself in 2008 when I finished my teaching Masters that I'd never study again, yet here I am. My 20s were a decade of experimentation for me where I tried basically ever career path under the sun (OK, well maybe not that many!). But now as I move closer to my mid-30s (oh God, WHAT?!), I figure it's time I finally make a career for myself and my family. So here goes... wish me luck! LOL.

Meanwhile, the three of us finally got to the Hiller Aviation Museum today. We've driven past the place lots of times on the way south anywhere. I've also seen their events pop up on Facebook and always think we should go because Mr 2 just loves vehicles and has "discovered" planes in the past months. Anyway, we finally made it to one of their somewhat-regular "open cockpit" days where kids can hop into the driver's seat (pilot's?) of various planes and helicopters. Some friends met us there which was awesome as well. The place was basically a big warehouse-ish place filled with planes, plane memorabilia, models and play areas for kids. There was also a simulator area upstairs, but we didn't get that far as Mr 2 was tired and getting to be quite tantrum-y. But he managed to sit in a helicopter and a few planes (please excuse my lack of plane knowledge. I'm sure that each plane had a type, but I really have no idea of these things!) and also played in the play area for a bit.

If my family had stayed here a bit longer than a week, we would have taken my dad there as he just would have LOVED it. Dad, if you're reading this, we'll go here next time you're here! It's great for plane enthusiasts. But like I said, I am not one, so I have limited things I can say about its details and features...! But despite my sad lack of knowledge in this area, I've been really impressed by museums here. I feel like museums are sort of boring places in Sydney; they're places you go to for school excursions to look at random things and complete worksheets given to you by your teacher before you catch the bus back to school. Museums here are so much more interactive, and many of them run lots of events for kids and families that actually seem fun. They have areas where kids can play and touch things; they're not just places where you look-but-can't-touch. They're still places of learning, but the learning experience is much more enjoyable. They're also smaller which makes them feel a little more accessible for random outings.

Anyway, here are some pics. Pictures of planes can say a lot more than my words can! LOL.

Cars. Because cars and planes just go together, right?

It has been cold and windy here. Rain has been coming and going and I've had a cold for about the past week. As much as I love Winter, I'm definitely still adjusting to Winter being in January! But I'm certainly not missing Australia's Summer heat!

And if you're on Facebook, you'll be very much aware that I've been acting as Kathy Mata's unofficial graphic designer and photographer. It's been awesome combining things I love in one ongoing project. Anyway, if you're not on Facebook, she posted some photos that I took last month just now here. (Excuse me while I just give my own work a shoutout. LOL.) I am very grateful, though, for the opportunities she's given me to pursue things I enjoy before I've even begun studying!

Anyway, thank you, again, for reading! I should go and get an early night in the hopes of getting rid of this cold and maybe getting some sleep in my own bed before the toddler wakes and needs me to sleep next to him. Sigh...!

xoxo

Lately this blog has been all about weekend adventures outside of SF, and doing things that aren't a part of our everyday. I thought I'd post about some things a bit different.

Today, for me, has been spent primarily on the phone to universities ("colleges" as they call them here). Since before we moved here, I've been wanting to go back to studying in the next year or two (ideally when Mr Toddler begins pre-school). I've tried so many different things since finishing school, but I feel it's time for me to finally begin building a serious career for myself. I've come full circle and am hoping to go back to graphic design (which is what I began straight after school). Unfortunately, I stupidly didn't consider a lot of things when we moved here, mainly the fact that I don't qualify for student loans as I'm not American. DUH. But thanks to the beauty of the Internet, I was hoping to study online from an Australian private college. They got back to me the other day and said I can't do that (even if I'm willing to throw money at them). So, in typical me-fashion, I panicked and freaked out and tried to imagine myself working jobs that drove me to suicide in place of a career I cared about. Thankfully, in typical Robert-fashion, he calmly found me some options and spent a good day explaining our finances and that we might be OK to "just" pay for a course from an American university, even if it means we may need a loan or so along the way; there are options available and apparently we're not as close to living on the street as I perhaps thought.

So, in short, I should be able to study from an American uni. Yay! I'm very excited by this. As much as I love motherhood (most of the time. HA!), Mr Toddler is growing so quickly (he turns two on Sunday! WHAAAAT?!?!?!), and he's obviously not going to be little for much longer, so I've been thinking about my future a lot. And I'm just not someone who can continue doing something I don't like or care about for a long time. So here I am: pursuing an arts career which is ultimately what I've wanted since I was born.

As I said, I've been on the phone a lot today to some universities. I sent my details to them over the weekend requesting further information. They've all called back today, all wanting to give me rundowns of their courses, how they work etc., etc. As great as this is, I can't help but feel that there's always the sales-y side to these calls, regardless of how useful the information is. (I guess that shouldn't be surprising: they stand to make a mint off every student.) It's been tough getting my head around the American university system here. A few things:

~ There are SO many universities here. As I'm hoping to study online, I'm able to look into places from all over the country, and there are just SO many. Australia has Sydney uni, UNSW, Macquarie (in Sydney), Monash in Melbourne and a few others of note. As well as TAFE and some private colleges here and there. America has countless places all over the place, from universities to smaller colleges to community college, there's so much! AND they're all vying for your money and desire to not be asking "would you like fries with that?" for the remainder of your days.

~ Getting used to the terminology. Aside from them not knowing what "uni" is here, the most confusing thing was working out how much a whole course is going to cost. A lot of websites say that things cost $xxx/credit hour. I looked up what this meant, and thankfully, after a quick explanation from a friend at ballet, it just means it's $xxx/credit per subject (or "courses" as they call them). So it adds up really quickly as you do anywhere from 30-200 credits for a degree! Post-graduate degrees are also called "graduate degrees" here.

~ I need to get my previous degree/s evaluated. Not 100% sure why. I'm hoping we can find them amongst all of our stuff/in boxes that have yet to be unpacked!

So anyway, that has all been very interesting! I think my next step is to get my degree/s evaluated and to build up a portfolio! Eek!

*****

It was also my birthday the other week, and Robert gave me a new lens for my camera. (Yay!) In case you hadn't realised, I love photography and taking photos. I stupidly pursued it professionally a few years ago (one of the stupidest things I've ever done. And that says a lot!), but even though I'm not doing that anymore, it'll always be something I love. Moving to a new place has provided lots of chances to take photos outside of portraits and babies, and to give me a chance to test out the new lens, I took it out for a couple of days ago and just shot random scenes/things while the toddler and I were out. I still haven't finished going through all of them, but I thought I'd post some now. :-) So here's an example of our everyday. There are more to come, but here's a day in the life of me. LOL!

This street is one of my favourites. LOL. It has: an arts supplies shop, a tiny Korean food shop, a stationery shop, Ghirardelli (chocolate shop) and the Moleskine shop is right around the corner on Market St!