So, today is the last day of July and I have just under 4 weeks left until I go back to university. Things have certainly been slow this summer, being without a job and all. I thought I would be working on a bunch of freelance projects, but it didn't turn out that way. I did, on the other hand, work on personal developments.

I went to the DMV two days ago to get my Driver's Permit, but that spoiled after they didn't accept my passport because it was expired. I should've known better. Tisk tisk. I was supposed to renew my passport last year but I lazied out - plus, the picture I took was terrible! I went and got a new one taken today which is much better! I know I live in NY and all, but having a Driver's License is important nonetheless.

Speaking of school, I am going to drop one of my classes in order to keep a clean schedule while maintaining fulltime status. I got in touch with one of my professors and he recommended that I drop it as well, and that I shouldn't be in a hurry to finish all the classes for the degree. I also received a textbook catalog from SVA (School of Visual Arts) and their programs are very intriguing! I'm consider a transfer after this semester. More to come as this develops.

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I recently redid my resume so I can send it off to some design agencies for part-time work. Hopefully I'll find something very soon - financial stability levels are dropping at an uncomfortable rate. I'm willing to do work in fields including graphic design, web design/development, interface design, and whatever my skills can earn me.

In terms of photography, I've been shooting more often. I recently went to the Bronx Zoo (in New York) and captured some great photos! I will upload them to my Flickr account as soon as I get a chance. I also need to send out my Canon 40D DSLR for service (dirty reflector mirror and CCD).

I also picked up a bunch of books on Photoshop, Photography, and CSS. I plan to write reviews of these books as I go through them! Here's the list of books:

  • The Digital Photography Book - Scott Kelby
  • The Digital Photography Book Volume 2 - Scott Kelby
  • The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby
  • Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop - Scott Kelby
  • The Moment It Clicks - Joe McNally
  • CSS Mastery - Andy Budd, Cameron Moll, Simon Collison

As you can see, I am a huge fan of Scott Kelby's books. These books are filled with the wealth of knowledge that every Photographer and Photoshop User should treasure. I also got Joe McNally's book because he's one of the most successful photographers out there, and he knows a thing or two about it all. I threw in CSS Mastery to improve my web development skills. It received awesome reviews and the material that's covered is very important to develop great Standards based websites.

Well, that's all for this August 1st update. I plan to do these updates on the first day of every month from now on. I'd be delighted to hear your stories and developments so post in the comments or drop me an email. I'm also active on Plurk, and Twitter so please feel free follow me on those. 🙂

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