I will try to simplify my experience back in Savannah so that it won’t bore everyone to death…
The Departure
The check-in terminals at the US Airways have these weird self check-in touch screens. Mine didn’t work. I think those machines confused more people than they did helping them. The red-eye flight really sucked; couldn’t sleep much the whole way. And I forgot to bring water with me — almost dehydrated.
Day One: Admissions
I picked up my rental (brand new Toyota Camry; barely 900 miles when I got it) at the airport at 9AM and was more than eager to be on my way to take care of “business”. After getting something to drink and exchanged some quarters, I dropped by Admissions and visited an old colleague and friend.
Day One: Alumni Services
But before I could do anything, I had to get parking permit, alumni access card and other documents so that I could access academic buildings more freely. So the next stop was Alumni Services (Lai Wa Hall). I showed Nancy (Tannenberg), who’s in charge of the department still, Brian and Birgit’s website and made her really happy. 🙂
Day One: Alumni ID and Other Things
The next stop was Student Services (Turner House) for my alumni ID. I had to drive all the way past MLK Blvd where SCAD erected a brand new residence hall right before Weston House. The building is a beautiful U-shaped structure that looks almost like one of those high-end NYC apartment buildings… The security guard was too busy talking on the phone to check my ID (!!), so I walked right in. To get an alumni ID, SCAD now has this new service called “Express Office” where one’s supposed to walk right in and out w/ whatever he needs done within minutes. And it lived up to its name. I was out of that place in less than 10 minutes with a spanking new alumni card in hand (but they took away my old-school, no puns intended, SCAD ID which I’d intended to keep and collect).
All kinds of paperwork I got while at SCAD.
Then I quickly rushed through Bursar’s (Propes Hall), Graduate Studies(Smithfield Cottage) and Graduation Services (Harris Hall) to make sure I didn’t owe any of them any paperwork, dues or applications (SCAD is big on forms and procedures).
Day One: Hunt for Professors
Next up was to get the signatures I came to Savannah for. The bearers of these signatures were having classes at the new Computer Art building (Montgomery Hall). Since the building was so god damn large, it was very tough locating Pat and SuAnne. Luckily, I found Pat first…. But not so luckily, she made me her guest speaker for the day for her entire class (or else she’d refused to sign my thesis paper). So I talked to the dozen or so sophmore/junior kids about my experience in the job market, about what I knew from what Jason told me about the gaming industry… etc. And I was the hero of the day…. Then Pat proceeded to ask if I was ready to return to SCAD to teach… {tumble weed}…
For the next hour and a half or so, Pat took me to interrupt, greet and meet almost every single professor teaching in the building at the time. I was so embarassed! And to everyone of them, she told them she’d asked me to come back to teach at the new SCAD Atlanta…. {Blushed}. Then I started to see more familiar faces — Joe Pasquale (he says HI to Jason Harlow and Mike Neely), Charles Shami, Greg Johnson, Malcolm Kesson, Becky Wible… etc. And FINALLY, I got to meet my Thesis Committee Chair, SuAnne, for the first time!
And then everyone had to go to some presentation from a game company, Midway, which by the way, was BORING. Yawn! I hope VV presentations were better.
SO… I got the last two signatures I needed!! What a relief. I went back to chat with Pat again but instead chatted with Greg for a lot longer. He suggested I should probably consider applying for a Ph.D program if I wanted to continue doing artsy fartsy stuff… Hmm… Ph.D in philosophy… “Doctor Chu”…
Day One: Murphy’s Law Fiasco
At 4PM, I calmly but excitedly drove back to the library to turn everything in. But then I remembered SuAnne said that “Works Cited” should probably go after “Referenced Figures” (I’d arranged them the other way around in my paper). So I wass in a frenzy to find a computer to print the last two sections of the paper in the right order. It was then that I found out the CD I burned was not compatible with PCs (DAMN PCs). So I had to pull out my Mac, rearranged the paper, burned another copy of the CD and used another Mac in the library to print the corrected version (before that, I tried no less than 4 different PCs which all had problems printing. I HATE Windows + PC). With a brand new CD and a paper fresh off the “press”, I finally turned them in. I looked at the clock. It was already past 5PM.
So I went back to my car and had the first meal of the day, a Mandarin Chicken Salad from Wendy’s (without the chicken).
I hate that Murphy guy.
Day Two: Sleep
Billy tried to wake me up a few times the next morning on Friday so that we could go out for lunch at Sweet Potatoes (Google cache). But I kept closing my eyes and falling back to sleep. I didn’t wake up until 12:30PM EST. The red-eye and the stress from the days before definitely took a toll on me.
Day Two: Daddy Time
When Billy and I arrived at the restaurant, his wife was still teaching her class. So we each held one of his sleepy kids, sitting in the restaurant, waiting for Billy’s wife to arrive. The imagery of two males with two kids sleeping on their shoulders in a crowded Southern restaurant definitely drew a lot of attention. But I think those were just curious looks. Now it’d have been quite a different situation if this was in San Francisco….
Billy and his beautiful kids!
Day Two: The Long Talk
That night, Billy and I chatted until almost 2 in the morning. It’s been so long since someone and I have such deep philosophical debates about art and other creative ideas. But mostly, we were trying to catch each other up on what’s been happening in the past seven years since’s he left for Japan. Almost everyone I know in Silicon Valley is too busy with his own stuff to be able to have this kind of talk in depth… Ironically, about the only person I can experience that in the Bay Area is also from SCAD — Jason!! I miss the creative types….
Last Thoughts
SCAD has changed…. but not really. Savannah smelled almost the same because of the damn paper mill. And I sweated like a pig after only walking for two blocks even though the outside temperature was still at around 68! And surely, I missed the hell out of this stinky little town. The biggest difference I noticed was how people on the streets looked “prettier”…. They dressed and looked nicer, almost New Yorker-ish. The old SCADie look is long gone. Now there are more preppy looking students driving nicer cars than when I was a freshman at SCAD.
I also missed how nice people can be in a town like Savannah. It’s hard to imagine administrative staff being so nice to students like they do at SCAD (except for Jeff Jones… who’s proven to be a useless prick to International students. Really… Ask any one of them).