1/4 of the way there. Now the fun starts.

The last 15 weeks were some of the most challenging I have ever had. Mentally physically emotionally and every other lly you can think of. There were all nighters editing video, shooting commercials. There were countless hours spent in front of blank documents on my laptop. I've slept 18 of the last 24 hours, and my cough will not go away, but I sleep so well.

I've never been through anything like that. The feeling though is that if you can survive the first one you can make it through the rest. God i hope so.

Now I'm not complaining that it was too much, well maybe a little, but it was worth it. I have a lot of respect for the people in this program, we are not normal people to be able to put up with this.

I have nothing that will ever make it into my book, or anything that will see the light of day. Thats not a bad thing. The work will get better. I finally feel like an art director though. And I'm beginning to really like this.

The classes the first semester were amazing and tough. They each challenged you differently. And each mind fucked you as well. The teachers know exactly what you're going to do and when. The best days are the ones when you spin it back around on them and show them something they didn't know you could do.

Don Just's business of advertising class was the beast of the first semester. I was not prepared in any way for what he wanted. The clients we presented for were terrible boring and killed you creatively. But now that its done it is probably one of the more important ones.

Visual storytelling was the most difficult class for me. I had no idea that I would struggle so much with concepting a commercial. Im not even close to good yet but Im miles better than where I started. The teachers said that after this class you wouldn't watch movies the same again. They were right. Oh and Final Cut pro is amazing software.

Fenske's class was interesting. He is a fountain of advice, and stories, and sarcasm. We sat for hours dissecting poetry and listening to NPR pieces. Our work was random and didn't feel like it was helping anything. I don't know when the benefits of this class will come into play but I'll appreciate it later.

Visual Executions was my bread and butter art direction class. It was more graphic design than art direction for me. I've gotten much better with my adobe. My concepting is still weak but better. I have solid work that will never see the light of day. The good news is that it can only get better.

Overall that was the toughest Ive ever worked in my life.

I don't ever know if I'll fully drink the cool aid here, but I at least take a sip here and there.