"First day of school! First day of school! First day of school!" Nemo, Pixar's Finding Nemo

I'm sitting here in the coffee shop at the library (two of my favorite places) reflecting on my first on campus college course in years. It is strange. In summary this is what I have so far: it is still inappropriate to make out in public places, cousin it needs to cut his hair, I am so not cut out for carrying 40lbs of books on my back anymore and my professors glasses are absolutely rad. Yes, I said "rad", the 70's slang for the 80's "cool" and the 90's "awesome". Hopefully I have that in the right order. The point is, I can smell old skool illustrator/designer emanating off of him and can't wait to see what the recesses of his brain have in store for us.

As a designer I am constantly looking for sources of inspiration, images to make that creative spark go off like fireworks at the grand finale on the fourth of July. Today I saw a visual representation of the word "IBM" that I had never seen before. I'm in awe of the simplicity of it and the brilliance behind it. EYE - BEE - "M". Really! Brilliant.

So, the affirmation I had today in class is that, even though I've been operating as a freelance designer for the last four years, I am exactly where I need to be right now. I have friends that I've worked with in the past that are outstanding designers and we bounce projects off of one another, but I truly feel a sense of community and am really looking forward to the next few months of this class and the journey before me.

I also learned that an iPad is a nice accessory, like matching shoes or a handbag, but I'll never leave my computer home again. Ever.

Until Tuesday!