Well, I suppose the cat is out of the bag. Or, more accurately, the cat never really got in the bag in the first place. I’ve probably talked to each of the people who would normally read this page already but for those of you who are viewing my life from afar, I called to ask Lauren’s father’s permission to marry her. I guess traditionally I’m not supposed to say anything and that the entire ramp-up to actually proposing is supposed to be kept a secret. Well, that just wasn’t feasible in this case so it was let slip that I made the phone call. I haven’t proposed yet, although I plan to do that soon, but I’ve made the first step by asking her father for his blessing. And when I say “soon” its a relative term since I first have to save for a ring. I guess I did things a bit backwards and asked permission before I actually had the ring in my hand but I just wanted everyone on the same page, myself included. I’m usually pretty clueless when it comes to formal things if you couldn’t tell already. So, there you have it, I’m almost engaged. I suppose you can take that as a pre-announcement if you wish, or you can just hang out and wait a little while for the real one.

So, that’s whats been on my mind (and my stress level) for the past few days now. Besides that I have to shoot at least 4 different and interesting photo shoots this weekend. One of myself (aka: a self portrait). Then print all of them. Wheee! I need to have the self portrait and a work-in-progress shoot for Portrait class a week from today, next wednesday, and 2 more work-in-progress shoots for personal vision by next thursday. This weekend is going to be busy.

Besides all the business there’s not much going on. I’m starting to look forward to spring break. Chip might come down and hang out and traditionally Nagle comes over and hangs out for most of the week. It should be fun.

I should also be thinking about my job search. I’ve already started looking at places to send my resume and portfolio and if these next few shoots turn out well, I’ll have all I need to complete my portfolio and start sending it off. It’s an exciting time. A very stressful time as well.

I’m also mid-redesign of this half of the site so that it can be more appealing to prospective job opportunities. People who aren’t going to look at the Photo side of the site but instead are interesting in an interesting design. I’m also thinking about taking a shot at some charity work and helping one of Jason’s friends with their site. Maybe I’d just pass an empty page template on to them. We’ll see. I’m also thinking about putting up flyers around campus and offering Photoshop and web design services. I’d be interested to see how receptive the other students would be to something like that.

That is all. Matt out.