college

Work Work Work

Leave a Comment / Work / December 20, 2022 / By

So it looks like I’m going to need a new job.

Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with my current job. They actually just gave me a pretty chunky raise that I’m thrilled about. The sad fact of the matter though is that the company isn’t currently allowing remote work from the state of Kansas, which as you all know if you’ve been keeping up for a while, is where I’ll be moving to in a little over a month. I’ve discussed the matter with HR, and they seem to be discussing whether or not any kind of exception can be made, but they aren’t sure if a decision will come before I’m already gone. So at this point, unless I hear otherwise, I’m pretty much under the impression that I’ll be jobless by the time we move.

I’ve been searching for new remote opportunities since receiving that news, but it’s hard to find anything remote that isn’t a call center, something I’m vastly not qualified for like software engineering, or just an outright scam listing entirely. I would love to find something in social media or community management, but I’ve got no experience doing either of those things outside of my personal social media reach, which according to MediaKits reaches less than 700 followers across all platforms. That’s pretty small potatoes in the internet world, all things considered. My last week of school here in Indy was last week, and part of a final assignment was to start an online portfolio of our work. So I did just that! I created an account on Behance and included items to showcase that I created for school projects in Photoshop and Illustrator as well as two photo series from my Photography class. I also marked the option that I was “available for hire” should anyone really surprise me and find themselves interested in those offerings. I’m definitely a novice but I’m more than happy to take on any graphic design needs! I’ve also got a little bit of web development experience (hi, I made this website you’re reading right now!), layout experience with InDesign, and video editing in Premiere Pro that I would be happy to work on with anyone!

Mostly, I’m hoping to find a job where I can use some of these new skill sets a little bit more. The closer that we get to the move to Kansas and my need to find anything that will pay me may wind up taking precedence, but I’ve been creating things on my own and went to school for a while to learn how to do these things that I enjoy and would really love to be able to do them for a living, too. If you happen to have any leads or know someone in an industry who might take a chance on a total newbie, please let me know!

Until next time…

 

 

Thanksgiving

2 Comments / Life / November 26, 2022 / By

American Thanksgiving was a couple of days ago, and it occurred pretty quietly here in our household. We feasted upon turkey and mashed potatoes, as I’d say a large majority of Americans do on the day, and just generally had a nice time without any of us having to be anywhere else. The most important thing was that Dad came home from the rehab facility on Monday and was able to spend the holiday with us here at home as well. That’s probably what I was most thankful for this year. He’s doing well and is able to walk again and fully function more or less like he had prior to his hospitalization. The only difference now is that he’s to be permanently using his BiPAP machine and taking his medication regularly.

Photo of Sheila’s father before and after restoration!

The photography class that I was enjoying came to an end and my raster graphics class is underway. This is my last class of the semester and likely the final class that I’ll be taking at Ivy Tech. Since it looks like we’ll be moving out to Kansas at the end of January, I’ve put school on hold yet again and plan to enroll at a community college or university out there once we get settled. Raster graphics have been pretty cool though. Photoshop has some incredibly powerful tools that I didn’t even know about. Our project for the third week of the class included restoring and colorizing old and damaged photos. I was impressed with how well my restoration project was turning out that I even told my friendly co-workers about it. One of them, Sheila, asked if I would try my hand at restoring a photo of her father. I was more than happy to do so, especially once I blew my own mind with how well the restoration turned out! Granted, most of the work here was done by Photoshop’s neural filters, but I still couldn’t believe what happened! The new version is so much clearer and cleaner and almost looks like a photo that could have been taken recently. Just like the photography class that I took at the beginning of this semester, I’m thankful to be learning this new skill set that’s truly opening my mind.

Though my ability to live stream lately has been hindered by a multitude of other things going on in the world around me — work, school, holidays, packing for the move, etc. — I have to mention that it has been a fun hobby lately. Though my viewership is nowhere near where I’d like for it to be, I know that I need to provide more consistency and dedication to the craft in order to truly grow. Once the move is finished and I’m able to get set up in my new office/studio space in the new house, I hope to start really putting my best foot forward with my digital presence and get where I want to be. So hey, if you aren’t yet following me on Twitch, make sure you do that so you don’t miss a thing!

Lastly, I just want to say that I’m thankful for the most essential parts of my life, too. I’m thankful to have somewhere warm and dry to live and sleep. I’m thankful to have food in my belly. I’m thankful for the clothes on my back. And I’m perhaps most thankful for my family, my friends, and my kitties, all of whom I would be lost and lonely without.

Until next time…

Take A Picture

Leave a Comment / Education / October 2, 2022 / By

Well, September came and went, didn’t it?

Work has been somewhat stressful, school has picked up, and I discovered an addictive life-sim game called Disney Dreamlight Valley that has consumed basically any of my free time that isn’t spent working or schooling. And I guess just somehow, some way, the entire month slipped away from me without much to say about it.

Portrait of my father.

I will say that my photography class has been great. Learning how to actually use my camera in manual mode rather than just shooting everything in automatic has been incredible. We’ve taken on several assignments so far including blurred motion, short depth of field, high contrast, and all kinds of other technical projects that have occasionally made me go, “Wow, I can’t believe I did that!” Without a doubt though, the series that I was most proud of and that I impressed myself the most with, was this most recent assignment where we had to do a little bit of low-key, high contrast, black-and-white portraiture. I chose to photograph my father for the assignment. For posterity mostly, but also because he just so happened to be nearby and available, so why not utilize him as a subject model? As of this writing, the assignment is still ungraded, but I already know these will be photos that we hang onto of him, whether the academic world likes them or not.

Photography isn’t exactly something that I was looking into doing professionally. I wouldn’t necessarily mind it as a career choice, but taking this course wasn’t really my decision. I had taken Photography in high school and, with the exception of the awesome field trip to shoot in Brown County, I hated developing prints in the dark room and trying to find interesting things to capture. I like taking photos, but I’ve always pretty much been an amateur. I take selfies and photos of friends and maybe a landscape or two. I’ve never been great at the “art” of anything and that definitely includes photography. Plus, I really didn’t want to have to shell out the money for an expensive DSLR camera. But since it turns out that Photography is one of the requirements in the Visual Communications program that I’m enrolled in at the college, I didn’t have much choice. Surprisingly, the subject has been way better and more interesting this time around. No more dark rooms with smelly chemicals with digital photography, for starters. And I guess just generally taking it more seriously this time around and learning what different settings do has been an eye-opener.

It kinda makes me glad that I bought my camera after all. Assuming I don’t break the thing somehow, it should last for years and definitely provide for a new hobby. I don’t know whether I’ll ever pursue any professional photography gigs or not because, quite frankly, I’m still learning and I don’t know how good I am at the whole thing, objectively speaking. I’ll need to put together some sort of portfolio or something. We’ve scratched the surface a little bit in this class, but later this semester, I’m also taking a course learning how to work in Photoshop, so I’m excited to learn how to not only take the picture but also do more interesting things with them later on in the editing process.

That’s where my head’s been lately. Now unless you want to learn how to maximize your island’s profits growing canola in Dreamlight Valley, get on outta here! But remember — just in case I disappear from this blog for another month or so — Twitter is probably the best place to keep up with what’s going on with me. I’m the most active there so be sure to give me a follow.

Until next time…

The Miseducation of Jiggyflyjoe

1 Comment / Education, Life / June 5, 2022 / By

Since my previous post was a little bit of a downer, I thought I would take today as an opportunity to share what is hopefully a little bit brighter news: I’m going back to school!

That should actually say that I’m trying to go back to school.

Until around this time last year, I was enrolled at a local community college as a part-time student studying Visual Communications. I was actually quite enjoying it and was looking forward to completing my Associate’s Degree and maybe even transferring to a university to finish a four-year degree when my time was cut short by the financial aid department. For whatever silly reason, they have rules in place where, if you’re a student for so long and still haven’t graduated, they place you on a hold where you can no longer use financial aid to pay for your classes. I tried to reason with them, but they weren’t interested in hearing anything unless I went through an “appeals process” in which I had to prove that I had some extenuating circumstances as to why it was taking me “so long” to complete.

Keep in mind that I was only going part-time because I also have to work and sleep like a normal functioning adult. I had also changed my program (I was initially going for Software Development), which slowed my progress down a touch. But I was very nearly complete — I think I still need to take my college-level math courses and a photography class to finish up. Now that it’s been a year, I’m hoping that they’ll let me re-enroll and actually use some financial aid to finish up. If not, then perhaps figuring out a “payment plan” for my last couple of classes won’t hurt my wallet too badly. I have a meeting with my advisor this evening, so hopefully, I’ll be able to figure it all out then.

I really enjoy going to school so I’m looking forward to the possibility of going back. The last couple of semesters were especially fun since I got to learn how to do a lot of the basics of filming and editing video in Adobe Premiere Pro and graphic design in Adobe Illustrator, both of which were really up my alley and were taught by a couple of really cool teachers. The photography class that I still have yet to take sounds like it would be a blast as well, though I don’t look forward to having to finally complete my college math courses. Math is the one class that gives me the biggest anxiety — and I’ve already completed two remedial math classes to catch up to being college-level. I’m looking forward to it being finished though so I never have to take another math class again!

All things considered, I know we live in a society based on capitalism, but I’ve really got my fingers crossed that the government decides to cancel student debt. The thought of eventually having to pay all that money makes my stomach hurt. Why is college so remarkably expensive, anyway? That’s a story for a different day though, I suppose.

Until next time…