I'm soon going to be doing some things in Illustrator for my work experience program. The first project I was assigned was this sheet that has a picture of the sun, a picture of the earth, then each phase of the moon spaced around the earth. I remember in class doing a project where we had to have this item (it was actually bars of a ship's wheel) equally spaced apart in a circle so I thought I should pull out my old notes and see if I had written anything down about that. As I begin looking through them I notice a paragraph at the bottom that reads:

"Make sure you select all the units.
I go to round the corners; they're already round! There's nothing to round! You can�t round more!
Come on, machine, hurry-up!
Just think of a button you push on the wall"

Haha! I remember writing that down but I can't remember if it was because I was so bored that I was using it as entertainment, or if it was because I was hoping I'd come back to it one day and find it funny.

The instructor who taught the Illustrator course I took at the college (that I was quoting up there) is also the instructor for the web design class I'm taking right now. Something very strange has happened to him though.

I took the Illustrator class last summer. I remember the first day of class he said if you get behind, tell him. Don't just sit there because all that will happen is you'll get more and more behind. Also, he required that your tools be set up a specific way. He made it very clear that you MUST have your tools set up the way he said, or don't even bother asking for help. Structure! I like structure and I like people who know what they're talking about.

So there's this girl sitting next to me and she's getting behind. I try to help her a couple times but when I help her I start falling behind and she doesn't seem to be catching on. She doesn't say anything to the instructor. Finally he comes around and notices she's not doing what the rest of the class is doing. He tries to tell her how to catch up but she's not getting it. Slow learner or something. So he YELLS at her. "NO! YOU�RE DOING IT WRONG! LISTEN TO WHAT I�M SAYING!" And goes over the steps again. She's still not getting it. He throws up his hands in the air and yells, "you don�t even have your tools set up the right way!" and walks away. Needless to say she never returned to that class again. I guess that's his way of weeding out the weak ones. He was obviously in the military for many years and had that very strict and harsh attitude. I was a bit scared of him but he was a good teacher and as long as you didn't fuck up, he left you alone.

This semester when I saw his name next to the web design class I inquired about shifting my hours around at work so I could attend that specific web class. So first day of class comes and I notice that there's another guy in there acting as if he's the instructor. I wonder if I'm in the wrong class but I know I'm in the right room number and soon he walks in. Right away he looks different. He's gained maybe 40 pounds, his hair looks slightly disheveled and there's a distant look in his eyes. When he speaks the words just kind of leak out of his mouth rather than burst out as they used to. He says that he'll be mostly just helping out in the class and that the other instructor will be doing most of the teaching. This didn't seem completely odd because I guess web design just isn't his area of expertise and perhaps he was having a bad day or something. But every class now I see him the same and I wonder what the hell happened to him.

This week my work experience facilitator told me that I should hit up this particular instructor and ask him for advise regarding what classes to take to figure out if the field is really right for me. In class at our break I approached him and asked him. He looked away and stared at the wall for a while then starting reciting off all the Graphic Arts classes. I tried to rephrase my question to make it more specific "I mean like, what classes would I take that would help me figure out if I would be right for a certain career, like maybe the Business of Art class?". He then inquired as to what classes I�ve taken and said, "well, if you�ve made it this far or with a couple more classes, you�ll know". I said okay, thanked him and walked away feeling kind of spooked. Poor guy. This huge change in him took place within a matter of 6 months! It's the strangest thing.