It's actually a ribbon, like a horse would win.

Well, Friday night sure made up for Friday afternoon, I tell ya. I went into the art show thinking I had placed and came out with THREE FREAKING AWARDS! Holy bajoley. First off, the caliber of work that was in the show was outstanding. People knock community college but you really can't get that diverse of a group of people in a regular university and the diversity is what made it so dang awesome. There were some AMAZING paintings and charcoal work, and I know that many of the painters that were there are 50+ and that is so cool. The whole function was way nicer than I expected and they really classed it up with a nice food spread. You go FoPo! They began with the awards for Fine Arts and then Graphic Communications was second. I was getting kind of nervous during the fine arts portion because they made you walk up in front of everyone to get your award and there was a high probability that I would trip or walk into a post or something considering I walked in the bedroom door jamb Thursday and still have a bruise. How does that happen? The walls aren't moving and yet I veer into them. Strange.
Anyhoo, Evann announced our category and I first got an Honorable Mention for my Cocktails calendar, which was pretty cool and which I thought was it, but then she called my name AGAIN for another honorable mention! WOO HOO! They gave 4 or 5 of those total, one of which went to my friend Tiffany, and then they moved on to the cash prizes. My friend Johnny Virus won 2nd place for his Agua del Sol stuff, which was AWESOME and then she was going to call the first place and I looked on the screen and IT WAS MY STUFF! Holy shite! First effing place. I never win anything, let alone first in anything so I was feeling pretty good. My other friend Yi won Best in Show, which was not surprising because the guy is incredible and already has two degrees in art he got in China and his work is spot on. It was a big victory for our little group and I was so proud of us and I got really kind words from both Evann and from Mark, who is the head of the art department. He taught me in my very first fine art class and he was such a great influence on me. All in all I won three Adobe books, a giftcard to Artmart, a hat and $100.

VICTORY!

I have a lot to digest right now. I'm feeling a bit anxious about graduating and what the hell I'm going to do going forward. I'm not sure what will come of the internship, and quite frankly my gut is telling me that it isn't the right place for me but my brain is telling me to take it if they offer it so I'll have to get back to you on that one, and I'm thinking that maybe I need to just jump off the ledge and try to get my foot in somewhere that will actually pay me money. I have argued the whole "experience is priceless" argument in my head regarding the UNPAID internship and with $4/gallon gas, it might end up costing me money to do it and I don't know if I will get enough experience to really be worth it. I just don't know. I'm trying to be all open ended since I have no clue what's going to happen but it still makes me very anxious. Regardless, the fact that I won, even though it's a small victory, makes me a little more confident that SOMEONE out there will like my style and want me to work for them. If not, I'm gonna have to get all scrappy and start to try and freelance. If anyone has any advice, please share. I NEED IT.