That’s the thought I had the afternoon after passing my test. I now have my evenings no longer dedicated to needing to study for a test and I had to figure out what to do with myself. Getting time back is always great, like when a meeting is canceled at the last moment; however, when it is time back from an extended project it can be a little disorienting.
The test I took, and passed, was for SQL Server 2016, it was database development. Because I took the test I did last year, by passing this test, I earned my MCSA. Which is a big deal in the computer human world. I admit, it really didn’t cross my mind to try to reach that until a couple of years ago. Those are not easy tests. And though I did pass, because they are so hard, and I felt so unprepared when I started answering the questions, I suspect there is something missing from my study strategy.
I am not the ideal role model when it comes to studying. I don’t tend to immerse myself completely in only that topic. I tend to work on it consistently and have some balance with other things, like Taekwondo, some art, and some music. So though my main focus these last few weeks has been studying for that test, I have done other things as well. And last week was no exception.
There were two conferences that I signed up for, one is still going on, so I watched some or all of those. The short one was the Bcon2020. That was more of a get together and it was great to see. The Blender community is really diverse and world wide. They are doing some really amazing things with Blender. I waited until the day to open my comfort box and then I opened it in the morning because I knew there was a t-shirt inside and I wanted to wear it all day. There was some other fun stuff too. The whole package was a great treat.
The other conference is a festival. It’s the Spark Animation Festival. Wow. That has been fantastic. I managed to watch all the entries that won something and there were some really good stories and animations. I think, at least in the US, most people think of animation as cartoons for the kids. And that’s too bad because animation really is an art form. And it is an incredibly powerful medium for telling really hard stories. Some of the stories told were of police brutality, domestic violence, the plight of a refugee, autism, and deforestation. And those are the ones I remember.
Another thing about animation that I think gets over-looked, again, at least in the US, is the rich history of animation in other countries. The US tends to dominate the commercial market with many of their feature length animations and because of that we don’t always think about other countries having their own culture of animation and animated story telling. So far I have seen a lot of animations from France. I have watched one from Russia. Also, Japan, Spain, Iran, South Korea, Canada, Ireland, the US, and more that I can’t remember. I like that. I like seeing that diversity.
One of the things I did as one of my breaks from study time was to finish up a sketch or drawing I have been working on in Procreate on my iPad. When I first got the iPad and Procreate I wanted something to work on that would give me good feel for what it was going to be like to really create in the software and on the iPad. I chose a Llama because of my nephew. Earlier this year, I had a stack of blank greeting cards that had these whimsical paintings of Llamas on them. My nephew was the recipient of several and I got a great response from him. So when it came to testing out Procreate on the iPad, I thought of him and the Llamas. I will say, it isn’t like drawing with a pencil or charcoal. It does take some adjusting. However, I think Procreate is a really good program. It handles well and behaves more or less how I want. There are a few things that I’m still figuring out. Working digitally requires some skill adjustment. The few things that I struggled or fought with, I think I’ll get worked out or I can find more brushes that might do the job more to my liking.
While trying to get the SQL stuff to settle properly in my head the Adobe Max conference triggered a mental tornado around what to do about my current desktop, and wanting to use the new Creative Cloud apps that won’t play well with my current desktop because it doesn’t have Windows 10, and then what about the other software I use and on and on. Nice little tornado. The apps will play well with my laptop because it has Windows 10, and I can use the iPad apps. So after much mental back and forth, I installed the Creative Cloud suite on my laptop and can now use the latest and greatest of the available apps. Yay. I also installed the iPad version of a few of the apps and gave them a test drive. I think I’m going to need some tutorials. The new Fresco is fun and so are Adobe Draw and Adobe Sketch. I made a fun snowman in one of them.
Yes, the saga of my desktop still continues. I had made a decision as to what to do about it and then did some research and talked myself out of doing anything at that moment. Partly because it wasn’t what I had originally been planning to do and I was having trouble letting go of that original plan. That was before the test. Now that the test is done, I’m once again looking at the whole situation and trying to decide what is really going to be the best for what I need.
I’ll be resolving the computer situation soon I don’t doubt. I will also be taking a break before I start studying for the next test. Just a few weeks. During this time I have a some projects I hope to finish, or start and maybe finish, and a class or two I want to finish, or start and hopefully finish, I also have some stuff around my home to get caught up on, and a few books that I want to read. So that’s the plan and this week’s excitement. Check back again. Oh, I have included a small group of pictures for your enjoyment this week.