NEVER! GIVE! UP! - When God Answers Prayer

I am back in school, this time for Graphic Art. I asked God to make it clear I am on the right path this time.

The grant money for my books has not come in the mail, and this is the second week of classes. I was thinking I might be getting my signal that this was not it. That was scary because otherwise I had no clue what "it" was! I found I had just enough to get what I needed for class tomorrow so that I would not get in trouble with my teacher. I still needed one more book, the one for Z-Brush, a 3D graphic art program.

A WORD ON Z-BRUSH: My teacher says that the way trends and demand in graphic art go, new things take off on the East and West Coast and then move inland until it is just expected and required everywhere. 3D, especially Z-Brush, is as important as Photoshop on both of the coasts already.

I am right smack in the center of the country, so for me to know Z-Brush is going to put me ahead. I am very thankful to be learning it my first semester here. Even the community college in Champaign, one of the best in the nation for graphic art, only emphasizes photoshop and the 2D industry standards like that. That gives me a lot more hope for employment when I finish here! 

Well, as far as an answered prayer, a dear friend came over and asked me how much I needed for my last book. I told him and he said he felt like God wanted him to help me get it now. He said not to stress about paying him back,do it when I am comfortable enough to do so. He was asking me questions and making sure I was on the right track before he helped me carry on with it. I said, "I asked God to stop me if this was not what I should be doing. So if you feel anything weird, do not help me. This could be my sign to stop." He said, "I had a green light all the way here. I was called to do this. Is this really all you need?"

Yep. Now there is absolutely nothing left that can stop me. The last day to drop without owing fees is this Friday. My friend coming to help me put an end to the very last possible obstacle. My sign for what I should be doing is set in stone now. 

I am thankful that I am studying this right before Z-Brush starts to become the standard and the bigger art school is still focusing on 2D only. I will be more desirable to hire if I can focus on Z-Brush for my portfolio, evidently. Good to know I am at the right place and on the right track.

Hopefully I can be sharing some screenshots of my 3D work pretty soon.

I also hope some of this info has helped someone else figure out what they need to do in the world of Graphic Art.

Godspeed.

~ Mother Star

NEVER! GIVE!UP! - Second Chances Sometimes Bring Unique Dilemmas

Job hunting, On unemployment. Sadly, on food stamps too. Hate that.
Turns out, four introductory courses that I need for the Graphic Art Degree are running in the Spring. It is not too late to sign up. I filled out the FAFSA and am eligible for full Pell Grant, Stafford Direct Student Loans, and Work Study. All my jobs were work-study jobs when I was in school before. If my overheads had been as low, and my prospects as high then, and if I had known then what I know now, things would have been much better for me during that time. I would have taken out a student loan and bought a car, so I would have tremendously better employment prospects.
In a two-year school, you don't get your funds from scholarships or financial aid until February or March, and classes start in January. You get just enough of your Financial Aid money to cover books at the start of the Semester. Then you get half of what's left of student loans in February and the other half in March. If anything is left of your scholarships or Grants, you get it in March or April. Classes start in January, this year it is on the 12th. It would be at least a month before I could start seriously car shopping, and it would still have to be a very cheap car. It would at least be a car though, and I could answer "Yes" to application questions about dependable transportation, plus I would be studying for a high-demand, high paying job that is creative.
I can do it all over again, and replace the car, which will also get rid of my obstacle for the investing I was to be doing. An ugly car keeps a person from being taken seriously, as does appearing not to have one, so wither way I was going to be toast. Going to school will also limit my availability to potential employers and narrow down my options in certain ways, too. On the whole though, it would probably still be better as far as forward progress.
Here's the dilemma: If I do it all over again though, and major in the right thing this time so I will be able to get a job and be creative, I will lose my unemployment and the other assistance. Treatment for depression and anxiety, which were aggravated very badly by the events of the past year, will stop because I will lose my health insurance. Taking six credits or more knocks out food stamps and medic-aid unless you are disabled or have children under 12. Going to school at all can knock out unemployment. 70% of people who apply for work-study jobs do not get them, because there aren't enough to go around. It will be a risk, because I'll either find a job very quickly or life will be asking much more of me daily, while giving me a lot less to do it with, for however long.
When I started school before, I gave up my food-stamps, which was my only income at the time, risking not being able to survive in order to hopefully live better. I thought, "If I don't do this, I will never find a good job, and I will always be dependent on someone. I will try this and if I don't make it, then at least I will die doing my best." That's what I thought. I did not major in the right stuff though, because I did not know any better.
If we go ahead and buy this house on CFD under the right terms, my roommate's rent will offset some of this but not all. So I have some investigating to do to verify that the right terms are indeed available. Either way it will still be a  risk to take.
My RCIA Class could be jeopordized if I take a full 12 credits, because the only possible 4th class will overlap it by 50 minutes. Even then, I could only do it if someone gave me a ride home on Monday and Wednesday nights. With 12 credits, unemployment would be guaranteed to be gone, but I am not sure if it would be absolutely gone if I took less. I will have to find out.

If I don't go through with it, then I may have very little chance of much improvement until Spring or Summer. It could also be longer, because there would be a huge gap in my employment by that time if I can't find something right now.

I will update when I have my answers.

Godspeed.

~Mother Star

NEVER! GIVE! UP!: Drive, Drive, Drive, Drive, Drive

You gotta know what you want before you can know how to succeed at it.
I know what I want and my dreams are as big as my obstacles have ever been, much bigger than they are now.

I have been writing, writing, writing. I have also done a lot of studying. There is lots to learn. Always lots to learn. There  will never come a time when that is not the case. No matter how much learning one has done, there is always so much to learn.

The landlord has offered to sell us the house on CFD. We would just pay the same amount we pay for rent,just like normal, until it is paid off. At this rent rate,that would be just under three years. My roommate doesn't want it,but I do. I do not want to take on that kind of responsibility in this situation though, so I have to wait.

I am still planning to study graphic art, but am no longer sure which institution to study through. I am considering the local community college here, just because it will be a lot more stuff, including some multimedia and 3D animation classes, plus hand-drawing which I want to get back into. It also offers an internship,which I could put on a resume and would go a ways toward building the all-important portfolio. The online one is cheaper though, is all online, and self-paced so it would not put any constraints on my time or miles on my car. Decisions decisions. Registration for the local school,which I already have a A.A. degree from and do not much care for, does not open until  late march or early April. Registration for the online one is always open. At least I am not under pressure to make a decision immediately.

I am getting through a MOOC creative writing class, little by little, as I can. It is going pretty well, I think. I am getting more serious than ever about my blog - well,there are two blogs actually. This one and one I only poston once or twice a week. I have done some research on SEO (search engine optimization) and learned some new techniques to try.

I also recently ordered a course for real estate investment. It checks out with the BBB and has pretty positive ratings and checks everywhere I have looked. So, I took the plunge a couple days ago and ordered it. I have been reading the e-book and am on page 16 or so out of 119. I hope to start seriously putting it to use in early January, maybe just a bit later.

I find myself pretty much where I most did not want to be. Living in Decatur in Winter without a job. However, I am holding my own for the most part, and am putting this time and disappointment to good use to make what REALLY want a reality. Decatur,IL does not have a lot of job prospects,especially in winter. The place that laid me off was in Champaign. The main reason I wanted to return to this region - not to this town, but oh well - was to be nearer to people that are far better family to me than my biological family. I had to escape my biological family, but I just had the best Thanksgiving Day I have ever had, despite my living in Decatur.

I am anxious to see some of this hard work pay off monetarily, but I know that is not going to happen in two weeks or anything like that. It takes months to get projects like these off the ground - especially for ones where the full course for how to do it has not even arrived in the mail yet!
In the mean time, I have gotten a couple of really short temp jobs lined up for December, a somewhat regular client expects to have more writing for me to do next month ("freelance" is usually never steady), and have unemployment coming in every couple of weeks (I do report anything I make to them, of course, and recommend doing so to anyone in that situation). Progress is actually moving at a pretty good clip, perhaps that is the reason why it often still feels like it is standing still....

Until next time, don't you ever give up on your dreams. And I will not do so either. :)

Godspeed.