Feb 7, 2014

I got to sleep in a bit today because I wasn't subbing. I had to be in Philly by 1 to get ready for Temple University's winter graduation. I got a nice free parking spot and met Derrick, NaTaza, and the new guy whose name I've forgotten now. We got set up, I went to do PR shots in the garage and then ran in to get ready to shoot the degree/handshake. The president and the other hand-shaker were annoyingly moving around the whole time making it so hard for me to get my shot right. They totally ignored their marks on the floor and kept getting in my way. Come on!

After finishing work I came home, packed up all my ski stuff in a short time, and went to Ryan's to head to Vermont. After getting snacks we headed north. We didn't hit much traffic through Jersey so that was nice. It was also nice not driving. We did take a weird back road route to get there, but we did eventually make it to our hotel. We were happy to lie down and get to sleep once we got there.

Jan 12, 2014

I was up early and on my way to the Legacy office in Bridgeport while I ate pizza for breakfast. I was the first one there so I checked all the equipment until Katie and NaTaza got there. We double checked that we had everything and loaded into Katie's car for our ride to Albright University in Reading. It was a good time.

When we got there and found out where the ceremony actually was (it was moved because of being postponed from December) we got in and set up, facing the next set of challenges over where were should set up our degree/handshake shots. After some tests we made a decision and then went to shoot the graduates getting ready and processing (proceeding?) down to the gymnasium.

The rest was just like usual; photos of people talking, singing, then photos of every graduate shaking hands with the president, getting confused about where to walk next, smiling at me after I already took the picture, and then waiting, waiting, waiting until we can pack up and leave. And then we got food at Wawa and headed back to the office, where Dave surprised us (not really) by coming to go over the photos with us. Surprisingly, we got almost all positive feedback. He's actually pretty nice, just very good at running a business. I think.

Once I got home it was still early, but it felt late so I was ready to zone out watching shows. New episodes of Girls helped with that, but unfortunately I was too tired to watch the new Sherlock. Just putting off the sad end to the three episode season that we all waited sooo long for. 

Dec 16, 2013

I ended up getting up and ready very early to go work at Vineland High School. I don't have a good idea of exactly how long it takes to get there yet. I went in for Child Study Team meetings and got my schedule then proceeded to sit in the teacher's lounge watching Burn Notice on the school WiFi that my new sub friend gave me the password for. She was very chatty but nice. I ended up only covering two classes the whole day and I was out an hour or so early. Pretty sweet deal.

I came home to eat and relax for a short while before leaving for West Chester's graduate studies graduation. I got there a little late, but I still managed to be the second person of the four of us to show up. No big surprise I guess, but I like being on time. We did our setup, but we added a spot for shooting because Masters program graduates get hooded. I got to shoot the hooding since it was something I hadn't done yet.

It was not hard really, but the timing had to be precise, and some people were not cooperative. One of the dignitaries would always whisper something congratulatory into the grad's ear and they would end up looking to the left in all the photos. Another dignitary always took a huge step to the left when he put their hood on so he was always out of frame. Those things were just annoying.

Once we finished, cleaned up, and said goobye I was off to a coffee shop downtown near the Iron Hill we ate at yesterday. I met Jess, who was walking down the street with a slew of Santas behind her. I asked the barista for a suggestion and she mentioned some caramel thing that sounded fantastic so I went with that. She made a good choice. We sat in there enjoying our beverages while we talked about travel plans and working for Cirque again sometime.

After the somewhat long drive home I went to Johanna's to finally watch Live Free or Die Hard. I wanted to wait to watch it for her, but she was renovating her space and that took a long time. We watched and had a few beers. We did more talking than watching, but the movie itself seemed hard to follow anyway. I guess I'll need to watch it again while I'm paying attention, but I think it wasn't that good. It was fun hanging out with her again though and now we need to plan to watch the other ones in the series again.

Dec 15, 2013

The drive to West Chester was nice since there is very little traffic early on a Sunday. I listened to a few episodes of The Moth podcast and I was there before I knew it. And before anyone else. Once the others got there we set up our flag backdrops, got our cameras together and I started shooting PR. That just means I go around shooting everyone I can for bonus photos until the ceremony begins and then I have to shoot everyone who walks up to the podium and award things. It wasn't too bad, but the commencement speaker went on for way too long. At least he was funny.

We hid our stuff away quickly and headed to Iron Hill Brewery for lunch. They happened to have a sour called Funkadelphia on tap so I immediately decided to get that. I was not disappointed. It is a fantastic beer, and it made me wish I could find sours more often. We got an appetizer and I got this awesome quinoa salad. It was a rejuvenating lunch to set me up for the rest of the job.

The next grad was definitely easier since I didn't have to do PR. I sat in back waiting until the graduates walked to do their posed flag pictures and then I was done. Nice and easy. On my way home I stopped to drop off DVDs from the Thanksgiving dinner I filmed. It was well-received and they plan to use me for future jobs so all good! I came home and couldn't decide for a while if I wanted to nap. When Ryan asked about going for a walk I had my answer. He brought Anya over and we walked around my neighborhood. It was a chilly but nice night, and that woke me up just enough to keep me up longer than I wanted to be.

Dec 14, 2013

We got up early, got all pretty, and got breakfast on the way to Kutztown University's field house. We did the usual setup, which seemed a lot faster and easier this time. I shot PR photos this time, which meant I went around shooting people before the ceremony and then all of the speakers at the podium.

In between speakers I helped Katie by showing grads how to hold their degrees in the photos. It seems easy, but people manage to hold it upside down or mess it up in one way or another. I wasn't totally comfortable with the PR shots in the beginning, but everything seemed fine with the stage photos. I guess we will see if I get any criticism about them. We packed up as quickly as we could after the shoot and headed out into the snow to head home. Luckily, the snow subsided as we got farther south and it didn't affect traffic.

I met Ryan at the gym later where we did a lot of jumping rope and then a lot more hand stands. We were there for quite a long while and it was fun. We went to his aunt's after that to play a game called Pandemic. There were a lot of rules to follow, but once we started playing it all made sense. I really liked that game.

We played a few rounds of darts, which we haven't played in a very long time. As usual, Ryan won a game and I won the next. We also broke out the chess board for a game. I would like to play more often now. I came home to do laundry and burn the DVDs to drop off in Delaware tomorrow. I should really be sleeping already.

Dec 7, 2013

I left before dawn heading to Delaware. It was a decent drive in the dark listening to Nick Offerman talk to me. I got to the rest stop early and the others from Legacy were running late so I went inside and actually bought myself an EZ Pass! It's about time, but this is the first opportunity I've had in Delaware. Dave, Derrick, Caitlyn, and Katie arrived shortly after to pick me up. I squeezed in the back with the girls and we went to the arena in Baltimore where Strayer's graduation was being held.

We set up our cameras and backdrops and then started shooting PR photos of the dignitaries and students before they came in. Once the place filled up and the faculty filled the stage the event got started. It was the same as the last Strayer grad I shot, down to the stupid speech the president gave listing things that are not as old as the university. Quite enthralling.

I shot the handshake/diploma presentation this time. It was much harder and fast-paced than the easy single shot in front of the banner. I had a hard time framing some of the photos as the people walked by quickly. I definitely messed up a few of the shots. My arm was hurting halfway through, but it seemed to stop pretty soon after and I just got used to it.

After we finished and quickly packed up our stuff we were back on the road. We went into the rest stop where I left my car and Dave bought us all lunch. I got an awesome salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts with raspberry vinaigrette. So good. I had a great time working with these guys today so I hope I get to work more grads with them.

I came home and was lazy for a while instead of going to the gym or being productive. Ryan came over and we met Chuck, Alex, and Kate at Matt's for games. We played Taboo first, which was a lot of fun and ridiculous. We played a bunch of Scattergories next, which is a game I'd really like to play more often. We hung out for a while longer after Chuck and Alex left, playing some Scene It, then Ryan and I went for a walk around that neighborhood in the cold night before heading home.

Oct 26, 2013

I slept as long as I could in the morning and met the crew downstairs for a quick breakfast. I finished getting dressed and dragged all my gear downstairs to the truck and we headed to the arena. There was a lot of traffic coming into the parking garage when we got there so we jumped out early and took the gear in while Derrick parked. Our setup wasn't bad. We put up a backdrop on either side of the stage, put the cameras and flashes together, taped our marks, and then tested everything out. It went pretty smoothly and then we just had to sit and wait for the first speakers to go through their speeches before the graduates started coming up.

The whole room seemed smaller than I expected. The graduates came down the line, one by one, stepping up in front of the backdrop and I shot them quickly and they moved on. It was a well-oiled machine and it worked out perfectly. It seemed like we got through the whole crowd really fast and suddenly it was time to break down. Pretty easy and still fun. After breaking down, we headed back to the car, said goodbye to Kevin and Max, and were back on the road to PA.

We dropped Rena off at home once we were back in Maryland then Derrick and I stopped for something to eat in the car for our remaining few hours. We made good time until we got to 476 in PA, of course. There was an insane amount of traffic on a Saturday afternoon for some reason and we inched along, knowing that if it was clear we could be at the office in twenty minutes. Finally, we made it back and unloaded the gear and took it upstairs. Then I was home free.

I listened to a few podcasts on my drive home and then fell happily into my computer chair where I remained for the evening until I was ready for bed. The long drive really took it out of me even though I wasn't behind the wheel. It was just nice not being in a car seat for a while.

May 13, 2011

The day had finally come and I started it out at the only logical place: Westby. I tried on my cap and gown for the first time, and they fit as well as those things can fit. Alex met me there and we headed over to the field in front of Bunce to join the rest of the graduates.

We stood in line for a while and talked until it was time to shuffle slowly to our seats on the lawn and then wait for everyone else to find their seats.

There were a lot of speakers that made us wonder why they were there.. besides the donation of money to the university. A lot of boring, off-topic speeches later, Farish finally got up there to announce each of the colleges, complete with personalized puns for each section. It was a nice way to remember him as he's moving on as well after this semester.

Once we turned our tassles to the other side of our caps we were set free.. sort of. We broke up to the separate colleges to have our small ceremonies. The Fine and Performing Arts department had theirs in Pfleeger Hall. There were a few musical performances, some dramatic pieces and Alex gave a speech about her time at Rowan, her graphic design work and the Gallery Publication. Aside from tech difficulties it was really good.

We all dispersed and talked to people in the hallways. Maybe the last time I'll see some of those people that I used to see on an almost daily basis.

I went with my mom and sister to Olive Garden for a good lunch. Tracy turned out to be two tables away from us. We had a good time talking and spending time.

I met Christy for some tennis at Bethel Mill. I couldn't tell you how the game went, but I'm sure it was fun and followed by a walk around the park.

I went for a run around the park myself after she left and then found this nice little spot by the water with a seat on the tree roots to sit and read for a while.

Finally graduated. Don't feel any different.