Unfortunately for Matt, I have been constantly using the term “street cred” while talking to him. Thus, in the hopes that he is reading and in my continuing desire to annoy him, I will use the phrase once more. Today in the gym, my ab workout receieved street creds. (Notice the plural for variety, Matt!) This was a good thing, because sometimes it’s sort of an uncomfortable exercise to do. Anyhow.
This past Sunday was the Gala, which featured food and dancing lessons. I learned a little more about dancing, and while I did not double my dancing knowledge, I certainly expanded it. I did my first real tango (I use the word tango loosely), and wished there had been more swing dancing time available. I’d like to get to the point where I am not thinking about the steps and can have fun. Wabasha Caves dancing, I think.
We decided to put on our prom faces for this picture, complete with awkward pose and fake grins/grimaces. I think it turned out quite well. Crest tells me I should whiten my teeth for the holidays, and I am starting to try to stop looking at my teeth. Must … triumph over … advertising …
That random picture above was recently sent to me by Nils and is part of the group at the Taste of Minnesota this past summer. We all certainly look happy and summery and significantly less bundled up than we are now. Good memories, hope to make some more this coming summer as well. In the meantime, though, it certainly will be fun to go back to Woodbury for the holidays and enjoy some slow time. I finally feel at home here at St. Thomas, but a change of scenery never hurt anybody. I would imagine you all are feeling the same, with homework soaking up everyone’s time.
You will be finding more and more updates here as I head into the break and try to break last year’s post count of 140. I was on track for 200 easy, but got delayed by school. I guess I will go for 145 posts this year, and 200 some next year. Not a New Year’s resolution or anything, but it should make your tumbledry experience better.
To those of you still reading, wish me luck tomorrow on my Biology lab and Art History exam. While my sentence structure might indicate that the two tests are combined in some sort of bizarre team-taught environment in which we learn about the biology of art, that is not that case. They are simply two tests I really do not want to take; thankfully they should fall on the low end of the difficulty scale.
Roads Gone Wild - “Monderman tucks his hands behind his back and begins to walk into the square - backward - straight into traffic, without being able to see oncoming vehicles.” (via kottke.org)
Turns out my coat pocket is rather mischievous and fooled me into thinking that the Christmas concert tickets I placed in it were in my pocket. In reality, they were between the pocket and liner, and fell through my jacket somewhere. I frantically searched for them in the minutes before the concert, but forgot to check the bulletin board in the hallway, where someone had kindly placed them so I could find them. What lack of luck. I would imagine, as in years past, that the Christmas concert was incredible, complete with the bell choir that so many people enjoy. There are these big silver bells, with spring-loaded rubber mallets inside each one, and they are played by handlers in white gloves. The more advanced players handle three or four bells at once, deftly muting each one at the appropriate times, sometimes running through all the bells in a couple of measures, switching from tone to tone with amazing precision. Also, they performed “Riu Riu Chiu” last year, and I do not think they repeated that amazing song this year. I’m just trying to convince myself that I did not miss much.
Later this evening, I saw The Incredibles, which was even more fun than National Treasure, but had the bonus of memorable characters and a very strong plot and so many other good things that made the two movies incomparable. (Not entirely sure why I compared them, then.) I hope they don’t ruin it with a sequal - it was excellent the way it was. I love the way the houses looked so typically 50’s in the treeless subdivision of suburbia, and the furniture styles scattered throughout. I had read an article before that pointed out the situation comedy of the small fashion/superhero designer against the monumental architecture of her house - and that worked great as well. I really liked to watch the hair of the characters move - it wasn’t that it was so convincingly real, but it was stylized in such a way that it just looked cool. For a while, I think that is where computer animation should stay at - a stab at complete photo-realism as in The Polar Express simply does not work right now. Also, I loved the way the fire, water, and ice looked - but was especially blown away at wet hair. That is a first in CGI films as far as I know, and a very cool one at that. If you have not seen this movie yet, I recommend you see it as soon as possible - otherwise, you are missing one of the best of the year.
I am working on this art history report, and I really can not seem to find good book information on “triptychs.” You would not think it would be that hard. Thankfully, the work is not that bad partly because the piece is really cool looking.
You can find more information about it at its webpage at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Where is this now? Aha, Triptych with the Madonna and Child, saints, and prophets. If anybody out there does find a book that even has two pages about triptychs, that would be fantastic. I am not above buying things on Amazon.com - in fact I think I will go check that out now.
Countdown to winter break: 5 days of class, 1 study Monday, 1 final, 2 normal tests, 1 project, and 1 take home exam. As they say in The Emperor’s New Groove right before they tumble down a gigantic waterfall while tied to a floating log, “Bring it on.”
Research for art history demands the exclusive use of book resources. Having found one I thought might help, I stopped by the circulation desk on my way out of the library to check it out. The librarian was not the usual old woman, but a guy in his late twenties, with large dinner-plate type earrings. “Ah, Limoges - that’s some very interesting stuff.” Slightly thrown off by a circulation desk employee making conversation, I managed to reply, “Yeah, I have this paper on an object from there.” His knowledge on the subject was explained when he replied that he was an art history graduate student; he asked who my professor was. “Oh … ummm …” I hedged, tossed about by the unpredictable waters of unexpected conversation - I couldn’t remember her name. With no other option, I was forced to admit that I couldn’t recall the name of my art history prof, after having been in her class for almost a full semester: “I’m pretty tired, I honestly can’t remember.” As I was leaving, he recommended I get some coffee and then start on the book. On my way out the doors, the name magically popped into my head - Cynthia Becker. Her name is Cynthia Becker!
Yesterday, we were taking a bio exam, immersed in that long silence that falls over exams. The quiet was sporadically perforated by gentle rustling of paper, or exasperated sighs of test-based frustration. Suddenly, we heard a rush of water at the front of the lecture hall, and a quiet yet unmistakably clear shit! from our bio professor. By the time we looked up, the water had been turned off and a pile of bubble tests lay soaked in water. I left the bio test with a 10 dollar gift certificate (for making copies), and the bizarre image of drying tests scattered all over tables.
In other news, I am going to see George Winston in concert (there are two tickets) at Orchestra Hall. As solo artists go, he is my favorite because he has inspired my piano playing for many years. I really feel “prepared” to see this concert, because I have heard, as far as I know, all of his recorded piano music. Incidentally, I have also heard his concert content is usually a surprise and doesn’t necessarily stick to the albums. It will be unmic’ed as he likes to perform totally acoustic - I think it could be amazing.
Oh, and thanks for the comments lately, it’s good to see the system working - sorry that filling out the form security stuff is a little involved, but it makes tumbledry a little safer for everyone. God bless all of you.
P.S. In these past two weeks I have had three moments of absolute serenity. They were brief, but their effects certainly were not fleeting. One was driving back from Lifetime on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and the others I can not recall exact times. But to have that feeling wash over you, that everything is ok, and will be ok, that you are fine — that is something I wish for everyone.
While a lime green cast is not what I would wish on a dog, it is better than massive (massively expensive) reconstructive surgery involving pins of the metal sort in the joint (the sort of thing endured by your sister). So I write to you Joe, a formal “Get Well Soon” card, wishing you the speediest of recoveries from your furniture inflicted mishap. I know the rough terrain of your home means bumps and bruises are unavoidable, but do try to avoid breaking bones in the future. If you do choose to continue as you have, however, I think you’ll be fine for a while because you and your sister have split the nine lives of a cat. You each get 4.5 - use them well.
This is a possible texture that will be used in the redesign of the site you are reading. Goodness knows when I’ll have time to redesign, but I have found that scanning in things (notebooks, books, drawings) is a great way to expand my design horizons - it provides a very organic feel to the graphics, and it was a method that was employed heavily on the current layout you see here.
This week I will be busy taking tests, making one last try for a spring schedule, wrapping Christmas gifts (I will disclose gifts later), going to a Christmas concert at the Chapel, goinig to a Gala Sunday (dressing up, no less), and generally trying to sleep enough to stay alert and with the program. Who knows how that will pan out, but I will be sure to catch everyone here on the other side of this week. As always, feel free to give the comment system a workout (I am sure there are still bugs to figure out), and share what’s in store for you all between now and the Christmas break we all need.
Since we added this large drop caps thing, I have not written or posted poetry at tumbledry. So for the time being, I have to preface poems with paragraphs so they don’t look bizarre with a huge first letter. The following is off the top of my head, no revisions, no second-guessing.
Pushing the hair back from my forehead
I search in the mirror
For what I’ve become
Faces, you know, tell the true story
For those who have time to search for the pieces
Time doesn’t march
It hops and skips
Slow, then fast, blurred, then clear
Peak to peak, gaining speed through the valleys
Free form in life, in writing too
Doesn’t have to clash with more rigid demands
Two can temper one another
One and one, more than two
Friday saw me seeing my first Ballet (The Nutcracker, which is a good first, I think). The overall experience tended more towards vignettes than I would have originally thought, but I think this worked very well. Miss K(B)J Lind (I just invented that name code) performed flawlessly: I think dancing with the Moscow Ballet would be an incredible experience. In an analagous situation (me playing in an internationally known orchestra), I would have fainted.
Earlier in the day, I saw National Treasure, which I recommend to everyone reading - it was funny, fast paced, and incorporated some of that “old Egyptian treasure” theme I always like in my movies. I wish someone would make a movie centered around the building of the great pyramids at Giza - those things must have looked so cool when first completed. There’s my art history talking again.
Today, it is snowing for the first time this season. The flakes are those big wet ones that fall early in the snow season, perfect snowball snow if there were more of it. Though, there is some lovely white accumulation on the ground; I think we will have a White Christmas this year.
