After I worked on my blog on Friday, we had another Maya course. I was unhappy with my virtual farm, and I think that’s because I thought that everyone else had put a lot more detail and better shaders into their farms. I consider myself to be artistically inclined, so I had exceedingly high expectations to produce better work than I did. I spent some time this morning changing up the shaders and some of the shapes on the house. It started to look a lot better, and finally it became something that I wouldn’t be extremely disappointed in if I was walking through it in VR. Unity seems to work very much like Maya with the lighting, shapes, and camera angles. I’m still a bit confused with the program, so I’m hoping that, with some practice, I can use my Unity skills to build something for my project.

Now I’m going to backtrack to the weekend —

We didn’t have any structured events for this weekend. I thought this was good, because then I would be free to use my time however I wanted. I’m learning now that I don’t use my time as wisely now as I did during the semester. I had to leave Freddy for the library or coffee shops to get any work done. I suppose that’s typical, however, because I usually can’t ever get work done at my dorm. Over the weekend, I worked on some personal/school projects, which I’ve been putting on the back burner for some time during this internship. I will articulate some of those goals here, and maybe you all can help keep me accountable.

• I really need to finish a risk management class for my student org, Painting Club, to be registered. I need to complete it as soon as possible. I’ve been putting it off because it’s a boring, university-mandated requirement. I’m not even an officer for the club anymore, but I was assigned to do the class for whatever reason or another. I’m not trying to write off the club by any means. I founded this club and I intend to make it sustainable, with the help of its future officers. I haven’t done this training yet because I would rather spend an hour of my time doing something else (a sad excuse, I know).
• I’m not very happy with my website, karinabhattacharya.com. It’s my professional portfolio. I’m partially unhappy with it because (a) I don’t have super complex projects or things to show and (b) I’m not sure if I like how its structured. A part of me wants to redo the website completely, but I know that will take a lot of time, and I’d just be bulldozing all the progress I’ve made. Right now, I’ll try to fix what I’ve got. I have also got to open the Adobe Suite often and make some graphics and image adjustments.
• I have got to read! Last semester, my professor told the class:

I’m assigning Ajax because I never do anything unless I have to do it, and I’ve wanted to read and teach this book for some time.

Dr. Terry Hallmark, 2019

• I thought long and hard about the “never doing anything unless I have to do it,” and honestly I find it true to myself. But there’s a catch. I impose requirements on myself, so that I actually have to do things (other than work/school). I started Painting Club because I really wanted to teach art to college students, but it wasn’t a voluntary thing in my mind. I made myself do it. I never tell myself that I can or cannot go to office hours. I decide that I will, then I read the book, prepare questions, make an appointment, and go. Last summer, I read Taming the Prince by Harvey C. Mansfield Jr., and I couldn’t stop thinking about some of the arguments for the ambivalence of the executive. This summer, I’ve decided to reread it, and then I’m going to talk to one of my favorite professors, Dr. Jeremy D. Bailey, who’s also an expert on executive power. I’ve decided that I am going to do it, and I’ve been getting a lot out of it. I’ve made some progress, but I have to keep working.
• I also told myself that I should do undergraduate research, so I’ve got to begin reading for that. When I brought it up that possibility of research to Dr. Bailey, he told me that I have to be practical, and not just study political theory. That wouldn’t help me get into grad school. He asked, “What if I could write on a design movement that was motivated by political theory?” My mind went immediately to Soviet Russia, and I went to the UH Honors College’s resident expert on Russia, Dr. David Rainbow. He helped me explore research options, and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s library to discuss possible topics with its director. I decided to go back to the Russia idea, but I’m a bit nervous about it. I haven’t studied Russia since AP Euro in high school, so I feel that I have a lot to learn to catch me up to speed before I get back to school.
• I need to keep practicing ID sketching, so that I can improve my skills before school starts.

Those are some school/personal goals of mine. On a side side note, look what I found in the trash can outside VRAC!

It’s blue insulation foam! I’m supposing that engineers throw that stuff in the trash, but industrial designers are the people who fish it out of the trash and make cool models out of it. You can even add on joint compound later and make it look like practically anything.

Anyways, I thought that was funny, and it made me miss studio, just a bit. Thanks for getting all the way through this post. If you do, please keep me accountable for all of these different goals!