Expect the Unexpected.

So.

As of today, school is officially out.

And let me tell you, I am so glad that Tuesday is over and done with! (That was the day that my three projects were due.) Monday night was one of the most stressful nights of my entire life, -- not even kidding. (**Note: You should probably read my previous entry before this one, because this is an update regaurding that particular entry. Hence, the reason I'm about to link a whole lot of words to that page.)
I was up until 1:30AM running a one-man circus in my bedroom, by which I mean that I had an insane, yet somewhat productive process going to get things done. I slaved over creating the different scenes of my animation video, and while each scene was rendering, I would run over to my bed and work on my self-portrait, and then run back once the scene had saved and could start a new one. (Which allowed me between 1 and 6 minutes of drawing time between scenes.)

Now just because I was up until 1:30AM does not mean that I finished both of these projects at this time.
I actually finished neither before passing out from exhaustion. And as you may have guessed, I strongly regretted my ambitious decisions.
To make a long story short, I "finished" my self-portrait a minute before I had to leave and drive to school.

My computer animation project? Was completed 10 minutes before class, which caused me to be 10 minutes late.
I nearly finished it that night, but still needed to do two more short scenes and add in the sound effects. Since I was so exhausted I just decided that I would complete it during my 2 1/2 hour break before class the next day (The day it was due). So during this break, I got all of the scenes done, but then realised that there were SO many mistakes in the animation. Things were disappearing and reappearing in the background, and the eyelashes and eyebrows on my little robots would vanish from time to time. Not only that, I didn't have enough time to put in the cute little sound effects that I had taken so much time to find and download. So what I desperately did instead, was just extend the first of the 2 songs that I had originally intended for just the beginning and the end of the story, throughout the whole animation. --Which I must mention that this particular song I had never heard before, but upon typing in "Greatest Love songs" In Google, this one was in the top five and the title was appealing, so I used it only after hearing just a short clip of the beginning.
So after putting this mess together, without even watching the finish product, I headed off to class.
---Which meant that I would see my project for the first time along with my fellow peers. Very comforting, indeed.
& for the next hour and a half, while my professor was going through the animations, I was contemplating what excuses I could use while he beats me down about my animation.
Finally after he has gone through everyone else's final project, he asks the dreaded question, "Are there any more projects left that we haven't seen?"

I sheepishly raise my hand, "Mine."
And he clicks on my animation.
My palms are sweaty, my mind is racing, and could swear that my pounding heart could be heard by the guy sitting in the back corner of the room.

Now what happened next I couldn't believe.

During my animation there was laughter and enjoyment being expressed, and an overwhelming vocalizing of manly "Ohhhhhhhhh!'s" at a certain scene that I had created, then at the end? Applause.
And my professor? Happily exclaims "This is fantastic!"

What the heck?


Am I missing something?
Not that I am ungrateful, but seriously?
Isn't this guy supposed to be some sort of animation professional?


I guess my strategy worked much better than I thought, and my genius can now be determined as more than just a mere hypothesis.

My storyline was so great that it surpassed and distracted from my awful animating skills.
I am telling you, pure genius, my friends, pure genius!

Oh, and I must note the equally intriguing results regaurding my Basic Drawing class and final project that I had mentioned earlier. Upon my late night drawing escapade I came across the written assignment that was tucked away in my art box, never to be looked at. So I decided to look it over and make sure that I included all that was expected of me with this drawing.

And my discovery?

We were to use only the mediums that we had used in class this semester, which were: Charcoal, graphite, this crayon type pencil, or ink. -- so pretty much it was to be black and white.

-Gulp-

My whole portrait was done in colored pencils.

If I were ever the head-banging-on-the-wall type of person?
This would call for some serious self-inflicted pain of the head sort.

So the next day I go to class and dread hanging up my drawing on the Critique wall, but I pin it up anyway, and it stands out in it's colorful glory amongst all of the black and white portraits. When I first arrived to class I spoke with my professor and let him know that I failed miserably at following the requirements, and surprisingly, he told me that it is okay and not to worry. However, when I nervously went up to the wall to point out my portrait, he said, "You broke the rules."

Um, excuse me?

Did I just hear what I thought I heard?
I believe you just told me that it was okay?

Thankfully, he continued, "But it's okay. I had wanted you guys to use what you had learned throughout the semester, but it's not that big of a deal."

Major sigh of relief.

Now, as for the winner of this unsaid drawing contest?

Not the girl to the right, and not the girl to the left...

And most certainly not me.

"So who?!" You ask?

It seems as though there was an unanticipated contender in this competition.

But the victor was actually the girl across the classroom.

Yes.

I was flabbergasted.

Her self-portrait was utterly AMAZING.
My professor even commented that he was not even as good her age.

-Sigh-

Why do I even try?