SuperQUICKupdate.

It is amazing. The school is amazing. Everything about it and THEN some.

Think of every metaphor for starting something that will change your life, that is this feeling I have.

Mark this moment as the first time I have been scared in 2012. Not for my life, health, or well being. But for my future. 

I am scared because the looming cloud of Art Center that has been over my head since I opted to move, start the blog, and document as much as I could, is about to clear and the curtain of mystery that is the experience of Art Center College. I debated at length doing separate entries all last week during orientation to document the process in as much detail as I could. However, when I was thinking about the aforementioned mystery, I would inadvertently cheapen the experience at my expense. How classless of me. So for those of you who have come here for me to do that - just apply and get accepted so YOU can experience it. Trust me its worth the wait. 

I will go ahead and touch on different points though that don't cheapen the deal but are a nice dynamic of orientation though. 

-I am glad myself and my partner in crime for the past 2 years have separated ourselves from the pack a little and took care of the business that administration wanted us to do before first week. Like parking pass info for car, after-hours passes for working on campus, and completing financial information ASAP to free up any outstanding questions the Admissions or financial aid department may be requesting. 

Tuition PER TERM (14 Weeks) is $17,000.

There will be 8 terms total.

While you're letting that number digest (trust me I wanted to throw myself down a flight of stairs) Ill throw some other neat information into the mix. 

Out of 350 people who applied for the Spring term semester, 175 were accepted across all the majors Art Center offers. 

22 Students will be in my class including myself. 

16 of those are from out of the country. Those 16 do not speak American English well (the only way that it matters is because when it comes time for a critique, keeping the dynamic moving forward will be difficult.) For the record I am not against an international classroom setting, because it is a true test as to being malleable for different business relationships and environments. 

only 20 showed up to orientation, so there is a possibility that only 20 will be the final number. 

The initial class load given is 7 classes and 19 credits. It was recommended that I drop one class in order to maintain a pulse. 

The average student takes a term off for either a break away from school or internship past the fourth term. 

So why am I scared? 

A couple of reasons are that I will probably not update this blog for the next fourteen weeks and because my first class is tomorrow and so starts the first of eight (to nine) terms of me becoming an actual car designer. An individual who, for lack of a better way of saying it, can dictate the buying decisions of thousands of people who make purchasing decisions on their modes of transportation based on looks alone. That is insane. That is the business. 

Also, I love that I have been able to be honest. To be raw and sometimes even emotional about subjects and difficulties of doing this. The toll 2 and a half years of full-on stress can do to your body and the fact that I have 3-4 years left. With that, the only amount of honesty I can provide is that I had a business project formulate last fall that I had to sign my very first NDA. An NDA is a Non-Disclosure Agreement. 

A NDA means that once you sign it, you cannot talk about whatever you had to sign it for. Its almost humorous that you're bound to secrecy for business sake. The reward is the networking and, hopefully, financial gain that you can get from it. Good luck to those who have the opportunity to sign one and hopefully work on wonderful projects. 

The NDA is what has kept me from sharing stories with you. I will say that success is best enjoyed in the moment and looking forward to the next step. So, Its with an honest apology that I can't share with you an event that would be made for this blog.  (holding my glass of coffee up) To the future!

Onward I go then, into my night of sleep, waking up to the morning of the greatest single change of my entire life. I hope my grandfather will be with me in spirit tomorrow. I hope my grandmother will think of me when she wakes up, instead of the confusion I am sure she normally feels. I hope my mom proudly tells her friends and her networks that her son is making her proud, and I hope when my dad is flying across the globe, he knows his son listens to his advice and tries to create a path that hasn't been created yet and that I am working hard to set in stone my future. I hope my friends know that, although I may be flawed, that I have their back and I hope they have mine. Now and in the future. 

This is the first post of 2012. The year I start Art Center College of Design.

To cover everything that I did while I was home would take probably 5 posts and one dedicated to me crying for some reason or another. Ill hop over the most important things that happened.

When I landed there was a huge windstorm back in Pasadena, to which I have come to the conclusion that only major weather events happen when I leave destinations.

I of course started back up at the Honda store I worked at long ago. I say it a lot on here but I have been incredibly blessed to have a job at my convenience and for them to keep me on the payroll. Theres a thousand things I did do while I was back there, but just like every past break I have spent there, things lead up to a lesson that I learn. That lesson was to accept that people will not like me, or the decisions I make. I did a lot of things to try to make day-to-day routines easier on those who worked with me. For reasons unknown to me I felt resented. The best way I can describe the response to me coming back to work with some of my co-workers would be icy.
        I was told towards the end of my month long stay that one of my co-workers whom I would confide my agitations with finally blurted out

"Honey, you make them look bad!"

and with that the lesson hit and hit hard. I was upset. I was more upset at the fact that I had walked into this place with the confidence I did to assume that when I started back doing this on my break I also started just working the way I did before without the care that two others worked with me. I had to endure working by myself for so long that is all I knew before coming back. I have a method that worked and before I came back they had hired two people in the 40 plus age group. Nothing against the ages, but they are set in their ways and would loudly announce in my presence that they did no like the changes I was doing. Which consisted exactly of the job I was originally hired to do. You know what that lesson was that I learned? Work your ass off. Work it off because you'll stand out. The people you make look bad will piss and moan, and while they're doing that you're creating change. Change for the better. As long as your intentions are good and you have been guided by the best to go above and beyond in your job, you'll shine.

Hate to say it but if only I was the manager there. Id fire and hire a new crew STAT to save some money that is clearly being lost.

Next week, I start Art Center. I have to get back into that mindset. Im excited and scared.