I actually rented a laptop for a month to be able to work on my homework, which involves using several Adobe products that are RAM-intensive. I had to return the laptop, and now I'm using a desktop that belongs to my sister, but it should be able to handle the software. I'll find out in a few minutes.

I had used my student loan money to pay bills, and didn't have enough left to buy a new computer. That will come when I get next semester's money. I'll also have to get the software, which will set me back several hundred dollars. But my time is so constrained with school and work that I've got to have my own copy to work with. And I'll have to get a laptop, so I can take it to work.

So I'm going to have to really focus the next few weeks. I've got a month before semester finals, but about 2 weeks before major class assignments are due for peer review. Two websites, a banner and a brochure are part of what I've got to develop. I missed out on a fun and potentially great portfolio entry when I didn't get a design for the web technology or graphics technology t-shirt designs. What I saw from other students in many cases didn't inspire me, but I had to vote anyway. The lesson there is to do it, even if I don't think it's going to be good enough.

On the plus side, I did get mostly good peer reviews on my menu/table tent design for Basic Multimedia Design class. I used all green fonts and the only graphic was a shot of pea pods. The assignment was based on a real organic vegan restaurant in Los Angeles. I was pleased with the design, so I'm kind of dismissing the vague criticism (too much green, one person said - another person didn't like the peas, but more people did like them). Anyway, time to install the trial version of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver and get to work.