Fri 16 Sep 2011 It's now college enrollment month...

I woke up today thinking to myself it's college enrollment month; and, I still haven't made up my mind which college course I'm most interested in going for...???

I also feel though, that whilst I'm still able to afford it/and, also, able to mentally/physically attend; then, there's no reason why I should not be in college studying towards obtaining a qualification; as opposed to just staying at home and studying on my own; with no possibility of gaining any qualification in that way?!

After quitting going to the class which I've attended for 5+ years long at Morley College, Lambeth North in London, UK; called, Arts for People with Learning Disabilities; I quit mainly because it wasn't giving me any 'official' qualification; and, also, the class based work wasn't truly demanding enough; which made me go off and do my own thing, instead.

I next completed doing 12 weeks of Art Pre-Foundation. Right now, the Art Foundation class has already started, Mon/Fri...and, this is now the end of the 2nd week, Fri; but, still not too late for me to be able to join in. Only the cost is £1,622.00; and, it lasts for a whole entire year long; from Sep 2011 down to July 2012. My problem there is, number 1, that sum is far too expensive for me to be able to afford...but, not impossible; however, as I see it...most 12 weeks courses costs around £100+...; and, for that same amount of money, I could buy 16 x 12 weeks courses!

Number 2, I'm really not sure I have it in me to make a commitment to doing just one same course for a whole entire year; because I'm pretty sure that, sooner or later, I'm going to feel, really and truly, bored doing 'fixed' course work! Instead, I prefer to do much shorter courses consisting of up to 12 weeks long; which will allow me a certain amount of FREEDOM to go change my mind, afterwards; for example, I could go off and do something else which is entirely 'different'.

What I'm actually aiming for is to be able to get into university one day; and, possibly, continuing with the Art Foundation course would be the fastest route to my achieving that.

Beginners Digital Photography, starts today; costing, £206.00; but, isn't certificated; however, it could later lead on to me taking a certificated course in photography.

I'm also thinking, though, of taking a few FREE courses such as basic English/Maths. I think, they said the test dates would be the 20/23rd Sep.; for them to find out exactly what level you are currently at; and, then, they would be able to direct you as to which course would truly suit you best.

There is another possibility, however; and, that is to chose courses which are starting not, right now; but, instead, next month/next year; and, pay for these really early to make sure I get a place. For this purpose, I'm trying to compile a list...of course code numbers/names/dates/times/duration/other details/-etc.

Furthermore, Morley College, is not the only college in London; instead, there are many more...; and, I haven't yet gone and checked out what all of these other colleges might be able to offer me?

In addition to which, as well as, external colleges; it's possible to go and study online, instead; and, there are various online schools which will allow you to do that; I need to do more research into this way of thinking, too.

100811 - Gambled at William Hill/Lost: £110

Unfortunately, I was tempted to try gambling at...

http://www.williamhill.com

...where, initially, I lost £10.00 whilst playing Black Jack.

I then allowed myself to get tempted to chase after my losses in order to recover all of my money back, again; by investing a further £100.00 into gambling. This time I decided to play Roulette; although, at first, I was winning by £120.00(having recovered back the £10 I'd lost, initially/and, won a further £10 on top of it); but, then, as usual, I found I just couldn't stop...the winning is so exciting...you just want to win more and more...! So, I went and made a further £30 bet which lost; followed by a £90 bet which lost; thus, leaving me with nothing but £0.44p. I had no other choice but to quit as the minimum bet is £0.50p.

Gambling HURTS! I've got to STOP this habit, and, the sooner the better. I'm an ADDICT; and, if I find myself doing any more; I will have to return back to go and visit GA-Gamblers Anonymous, located outside of Great Portland Street tube station/131 Cleveland Street, again.

080811 - Went Kingswood with Sharon

On Monday my cousin, Sharon, gave me a phone call saying she would be coming over to visit and collect me to go off to the country. She also brought along with her 2 kids in the car, both Domenic and Ryan. The car was red, big, new; I forgot the exact make; but, it was a luxury sort of many seater van...with seats in front/and, seats behind...which had built-in fridge/shopping trolley/tray/-etc.

She explained the reason why she was late was because she had an accident; a guy had parked their shopping trolley on top of a hill; and, it was loaded up with goods; when, all of a sudden, the trolley ran all by itself straight down the hill, and, had come to a stop by striking hard against their car; consequently, the car was left with 3 or 4 dents in it. She said she would have to go and make an insurance claim, even though the car was 'new'.

We went off to Kingswood; and, were going to visit a special park for kids, Wesley(?); but, unfortunately, the time had gotten late; and, Sharon explained that Laura, Ryan's mother, was expecting him to be back soon in around a hour or two. So, the original park visit was cancelled; and, we went to visit a local park in Kingswood, instead; where they stayed inside of the kids play area. The kids had a lot of fun! For me, personally, it was interesting as it brought back precious memories of when I was a kid.

Later on, we went home to Kingswood; where I saw the twins Oliver and Charlotte; though, less than 1 year old, they seem to have grown really very big; and, are drinking loads of milk; I'm sure, they must ingested around 1/2 a pint to a full pint; which I helped to feed them.

I remember Sharon saying she wanted me to be the twins Godfather; but, I really wasn't sure that I would be an acceptable enough role-model. However, Sharon said she sees me as close like a brother; so, it was very difficult to not accept. She said the babies Christening would be 23rd October 2011, at 1 PM.

I stayed there pretty late leaving somewhere around 9:15 PM. Unfortunately, on the Sky TV news program it said that in West Croydon there was rioting including loads of looting/burning. So, both she and her husband Geoff advised me to go take train instead of bus; normally, I would take a a 166 bus from Banstead to take me back to Croydon; and, from there take a 68 bus to West Norwood; however, the 166 bus also goes very near to West Croydon area.

The train cost me £5.50 to punch a single 'all day' ticket from Kingswood to London; paid for using Debit card; so, I didn't actually need to use cash. I had to change at Clapham Junction; and, then, take a next train to West Norwood. My train journey home was uneventful; even though the train did pass through both South Croydon/East Croydon; but, I was already fast asleep on the train when I'd reached those destinations; conseqently, I saw absolutely nothing happening at all.

One other problem I had was, as I was rolling over on the ground, playing with the babies around me. I had a black Praktica 10 MP 1100z digital camera which I kept hidden inside of my trousers pocket. When I took the camera out, unfortunately, the view finder part was broken; thus, the camera no longer works. I'm going to have to buy another one costing around £40.00 from off eBay, again, once more. This is the 2nd Praktica digital camera (silver/1000z) which I broke; the last one broke when I was knocked off my bike in the street by a car.

Went Morley College to go collect my artworks...

Recently, I went and signed up for Morley College Fine Art Pre-Foundation course, lasting 12 weeks/1 day per week, from 10AM-5PM. The course finished last week(6th May 2011/29 July 2011).

NOTE: I decided not to bother with doing the follow on course Fine Art Foundation proper; as I'm low in funds(£800 is concessionary fee); I'm not sure I could stick with it for a whole entire year(especially, keeping up with doing the homework?!); and, the type of art I'm interested in learning is really 'realistic' as opposed to being purely 'experimental'.

http://www.morleycollege.ac.uk

9:30 AM Woke up. Realized I was already late to get to Morley College on time at 10 AM Friday; because this was meant to be the day when they take down pictures of our Morley College Landing exhibition. Anyway, I left home late, at around 11 AM. Still I got there on time to be able to take down and retrieve all of my printed out pictures/sketchbook.

12:00 I decided rather than go straight home; why not go and visit seeing the National Gallery, instead. I stayed there all day from 1PM-5PM.

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk

5PM I thought why not go and visit the National Portrait Gallery...which is located next door to the National. I stayed there until 9PM...as it was a late night opening.

http://www.npg.org.uk

12:00 midnight. I arrived back home. I did stop to go and buy some chips in Norwood.

CONCLUSION

Interesting day. Good fun going and visiting galleries/and, copying with pencil into my sketchbook.

Sat 9th July 2011 - brought 2 x 2nd hand chairs

Friday 8th July 2011, AOL sent me a wireless internet router box; only trouble is when I put the installation CD into my computer; I discovered that I had no USB wireless adaptor to connect with in order that my desktop PC could get to use wireless.

Therefore, Saturday 9th July 2011, I walked down the road with the intention to go and see if I could pick up a wireless adaptor cheap. I'd already searched on the internet, using ebay.co.uk web site; and, discovered you can get them at around £7.99 and upwards. The first shop I encountered at the bottom of Leigham Court Road in Streatham told me the cost was £32.00; I decided to look elsewhere, instead; going down towards Brixton Hill, Curry's electrical store. Before I reached the store going along Brixton Hill; I came across a 2nd hand shop on the left side of the road; I went in and looked through some artworks; then, came back outside where I saw there were 2 chairs. I decided to buy 2 of the spinning ofifice chairs; one, black/the other one, blue; both going for a really cheap £5.00. The only trouble was I had no transport to help carry the chairs home; after asking the vendor how much it would cost for them to transport it for me; he said something like £35; and, I just decided to carry both chairs home. First, I carried one/then, came back to go carry the other. That was some walk; carrying the seat of the chair on my head/and, the back of the chair on my back. Still eventually I got home; so, saving myself transport money.

NOTE: In the morning, before starting my journey, I found a small dead bird around 1 or 2 streets away from my home. I decided it would be good to draw; so, I took it back home; and, placed it into an orange Sainsbury's shopping bag tying it real tightly so no germs could get out; then, I left it on the floor, downstairs. However, when I came back home, I discovered my mum had already found the package; and, had immediately thrown it away, without bothering to ask any questions. So much for that drawing exercise gone all wrong!

Fine Art Pre-Foundation course, Morley College/London

Recently, I went and signed up to do a 12 weeks Fine Art Pre-Foundation course at Morley College in London.

http://www.morleycollege.ac.uk

Right now, I think, we are into the 5th week of the course.

Week 1 - Introduction to Abstract Drawing

Week 2 - Introduction to Life Drawing from the nude model

Week 3 - Introduction to Abstract Printmaking

Week 4 - Introduction to Abstract Sculpture

Week 5 - Introduction to Sculpture(2 weeks project/1 day per week)

I like being on the course; as I always find doing arts, fun; though, I dislike having to go follow any strict rules! However, I'm also willing to lose, at least, some of my sense of freedom, in order to join in and do a course which appeals to me, by forcing myself to follow the rules.

I'm way behind on not having gone and done any homework. There is so much still to do...

-Create a life size full head/body nude self-portrait using any materials...ranging from paper/pencil to paper cut outs/-etc.

- Fill up a sketch book from end to end.

- Write essays about certain artists.

- Go and visit, at least, 3 different art galleries...chose 1 work you like/1 work you dislike...then, write in detail about these; when was it created/by who/where/the paintings history/context/-etc.

- Do a series of random rubbings. Then, copy these using freehand.

- Create a colour wheel.

- Create some colour works which are based on using the colour wheel.

- At each stage, always remember to fully document your work.

-Etc.

My major difficulty has been that my mind, quite simply, refuses to keep still; instead, it just keeps on wondering from place to place...and, none of those places is thinking about getting on with doing the homework; thus, making it really hard for me to be able to fully concentrate on achieving anything. Maybe, they will drop me off the course, I really don't know?!

Worse still, even if I were to stay on the course right up to the end; and, then, I would be eligible for doing Art Foundation Proper; I'm sure, that course would last even far longer as in maybe a whole entire year. So, if I can't even keep up with doing the homework, now; I wonder how I'm going to cope with doing the increased homework, later?! On top of all this is the fact that I have some HUGE money problems to have to cope with; which are far too deeply embarrassing to be able to list here; and, so, it's far more important for me to find a paying 'job', right NOW! As opposed to staying in college which isn't paying me, at all.

Gambled and lost at williamhill.co.uk

Yesterday, as usual, I was winning money at...

http://www.williamhill.co.uk

...then, I started losing...letting myself get completely carried away without even thinking clearly about what I'm doing...I started betting far too high in order to chase after winning back all of my loses; and, thus, ended up losing £300.00 in a single bet! That's when I decided to quit; before I went and lost absolutely everything; I did originally deposit £600.00.

I have an awful lot of bills to pay; so, I was hoping to be able to, at least, double my money; but, instead, I went and halved it. Gambling just isn't a good solution when it comes to solving money problems; because, instead of making things better...it will often make things far worse!