1. Reflect on everything you worked on this week for your senior mastery in school and outside of school.
2. Reflect on your internship for this week. What did you do? What did you learn? How do you feel about it?
3. What new web design things have your recently learned while working on your site?
4. Reflect on your spring break.
Mastery
I made my invitation card for my mastery presentation. I didn’t realize I needed a title for the presentation until I saw one on the example I used to show me what information I needed to put on the cards. The example’s title related directly to the artist’s goal for what she wanted from the project rather than the name of the piece she completed. I liked the idea of focusing more on the journey than the product because I knew, right away, what I would call mine, Icarus. Throughout my senior year I had high hopes and an abundance of ideas. Slowly ideas started falling apart and my hopes slightly fell with every dead end I met. I was given the ability to do something many people have tried themselves and despite me warning myself I might be in over my head or expecting too much from me, I continued to chase this idea of what I wanted in my head. I made little progress with high expectations; minutes of work became hours, hours of work became days, days became weeks, weeks to months. I was falling because I soared too high. Eventually I had to force myself to forget it for a while and focus on other things but I was so behind I barely improved anything. I guess my mastery taught me more about myself and what I want in life and why than it taught me about modeling or coding or really any other skill. I guess my intentions are a little different from others with mastery showcases but my presentation will be one of shortcomings and failure rather than development and incremental-success.
Spring Break
I worked a lot over spring break. I was promoted to co-manager and given a key to the business. I woke up, went to work, came home, and went to bed. Of course, I had my days off and stayed up until the sun told me to find some sleep before I had to be at work so I sketched some designs for my portfolio cover and business cards. My portfolio cover consists of a base made from stained wood and a lid constructed with four, one inch, pvc pipes connected by 3/4″ clear tubing. The piping creates a frame on which multiple sheets of wax paper, acting as a light diffuser, are pinned onto with push pins and electrical tape concealing the edges. Holes cut into the pipes on the inside of the frame allow LED’s to poke out and provide more light when powered by the four nine volt batteries cut into the exterior side of the shorter pipes on a slant with exposed wires soldered to the metal pins and concealed wires running throughout the pipes. The lid will lift up and be connected to the base with hinges and straps. I designed the container to exude a vintage steampunk look. I would’ve liked to used incandescent or more warm lighting but the yellow LEDs I had were too yellow and the smaller incandescent bulbs required too much power compared to the white LEDs. I might try and put a thin layer of a metallic bronze paint over the LED’s so they emit a warmer light and don’t lose too much intensity. It is not completely done but that is because I debating on if I want a different base and/or connection from lid to base.
