Tag Archives: centre

Stomp….and volleyball??

Monday I got a break from the manual labor of building the furnace to instead take part in the manual labor of the prehang for Stomp. I love working in electrics, and I loved having a separate day for hanging the lights. It was much more lightly paced, and I didn’t have to worry about tripping over the carpenters.

I was plotting to sneak up to the catwalk to watch the show, since both nights were sold out before break even started (curse my procrastination). However, a nice girl in my furnace class gave me her ticket, because she was unable to go. It was still as amazing and energizing as when I’d first seen it several years ago with my mother, and I still plan on sneaking up to the catwalk tomorrow night to catch another show ^_^

Of course, tomorrow in the dining hall there’s bound to be a slurry of rhythmic playfulness from table to table. It’s addictive. If anyone *hasn’t* seen Stomp, I highly recommend it.

In other news, we were informed by Steve on Monday morning that our furnace building class was also on a volleyball team (much to our surprise). It seems that Steve suggested the idea of class intramural volleyball for the winter term, and “couldn’t just suggest the idea and not sign up.” At first, we were a little miffed about being “volunteered” to have a team, but that soon wore off.

Our first game was that night, and we won! Sort of…Dr. Miles’ team didn’t accumulate enough players. We played a game for fun, though, and it *was* fun. Surprisingly, too, because I am horrible at volleyball. Next game tomorrow night! Then the load out for Stomp. A busy week already.

Mario Paint

The first week of furnace building has drawn to a close, and I think we’ve gotten a lot accomplished so far. We seem to alternate between a day of getting lots done and a day of disaster and error and getting nothing done. But, we’re almost completely finished with the substructure, yay!

The other day, elwe was explaining his experience in practical applications in math. Coincidentally enough, I had a similar experience this week, though it mostly involved figuring out how many insulating fire bricks we’d need and at what angles they’d have to be cut to fit in the circular glory holes. It served as further proof that the easiest facets of math–like adding and multiplying–slip beyond my grasp.
“Let’s see…12 x 7…uhhhhhhhhhhhhh………..::gets out calculator.” Oh well, at least there were some math majors there to help me out.

In other news, D Flo is a musical genius. Well, that’s not really news, but we were playing with Mario Paint last night. D Flo whipped out this amazing little piece, even under the limitations of only having quarter notes, only three notes together at a time, and replacement of traditional instruments with mushrooms, geese, and airplanes. I was amazed, so I made a little animation for him (a dancing kitten, to be specific). I’d forgotten just how fun Mario Paint can be.

Plus, the collaboration reminded me of how I need to get crackin on my entry for the film festival. It’s almost all storyboarded, and since Flora’s also writing music for Patrick for Chalk Circle in the spring, I need to give him as much time as possible to help me out.

For now, I’ll just get my laundry done…

Day 3

Furnace building good so far. I think a lot of the heavy lifting is winding down, as Tuesday I was tossing bricks out of a dumpster, and today I was merely mortaring them.

(Regarding the dumpster tossing bit. Our dumpster was so heavy after we’d thrown out bricks from the old furnace that the dumpster truck man couldn’t lift it. Yes, we shut down the dumpster guy. Curiously enough, whenever I tell someone about this, the general response is of enthusiastic congratulations, often accompanied by a cheer, as if the dumpster man were some great symbol of human repression, and we defied him by making the dumpster too heavy. Our reward was to have to climb back in the dumpster and throw bricks out to lighten it ¬_¬ )

Projected results of this term:

good–I’m going to be so buff that I’ll be able to lift cars over my head on a regular basis

bad–I think I’m going to end up with permanent respirator lines in my face.

Day 1

Well, the first day of the winter term is over and the second one beginning, and so far my judgment is…it’s going to be a loooooooooong three weeks.

Don’t get me wrong, rebuilding this furnace is going to be awesome, I learned so much in just the first day! But it’s going to be physically taxing, and I can see myself thoroughly exhausted by the time it’s all over.

On the upside, my theory about all physical labor and no outside work was correct. I work from 9-12 in the morning, and often 1-4, but after that, nothing else. No homework or papers to fret about, and the evenings are devoted to rest and play. That time will probably fill up with my stage management duties to D Flo’s plays, but I have no real worries there.

In other news, someone is visiting Centre this week, someone I’ve missed very much since they graduated. Everyone’s favorite demon-llama, the one and only Ian Jones is back on campus for awhile, and I got to see him again for the first time last night. It was a joyous reunion.

Stay tuned!

Home again…er…no wait…

The move back to school was successful, and my room is clean for perhaps the first and last time in a term. Yesterday kicked off with an enthusiastic reunion between Brendan, D Flo, Ken and myself, and we celebrated with many hugs, since the heat in Rodes was out and it was frickin freezing.

We then proceeded to rearrange the living room, and skipped off to see Eric Abele, who had returned to us from a long fall term in Strausbourg, complete with residual German accent.

It was a perfect time, as we were all together back in the safety and convenience of the college bubble, but no classes yet with which to worry us. It’s my favorite time. D Flo is trying to corrupt me by getting me to start Final Fantasy Tactics, even though I’ve not finished Chrono Cross yet and already broke my oath by starting Legend of Dragoon (I’m one of those one-rpg-at-a-time people), and Brendan brought back the next volume of Bone, hooray!

Overall, the night was exquisitely joyous, as I’d missed everyone immensely over break. In fact, the only downside is that even though we went to Walmart, I was so excited about the fun of the reunion that I only bought a box of Clementines and a Pomegranate, both of which I left over at Rodes…and I’m STARVING x_x

2002

2002, what a weird year. Well, I suppose I’ll do a little recap, for me more than anything, I suppose. I have a tendency to think in terms of ‘school years’ as opposed to real years, so it’s helpful to do little things like this.

– 2002 kicked off with my study-abroad trip to England, where I traveled from Manchester to London and many places in between, and saw 30 plays in 3 1/2 weeks. My birthday had its ups and downs, the down being I had to sit through a Pinter play, the up being that I got to go to Riki Tiki Tavi’s, the most awesome restaurant in Manchester, and have the best vanilla milkshake in the world.

– Spring term of 2002 was a rough one for me. I’d flown in from England late one night, and the next day had to move back to school. The lack of rest and busiest term I’d had so far wore me down quite a bit. I was really unprepared for the stresses of taking 2 studio art classes at once, but I managed through.

– On the up side, I had a lot of fun that spring term. I remember my Monday night 9-midnight glassblowing slot with Ian. Neither of us had class the next morning, so after our blowslot we’d drive over to Jen’s apartment, where I would make pancakes and Dr. Mario tournaments would take place.

– I got to be really good friends with Andrew that term. Seeing my beloved senior friends graduate was tough. Ian, Andrew, Liz, Nate, Sara…everyone, I really missed them, but had great times with them

– Summer 2002. Not quite as eventful as the summer before. I did manage some visits to see my friends, and it was the first summer I actually sold art. I did rather well, selling quite a bit of my glass, I was very excited!

– Fall 2002. Junior year started off rather strangely. I solidified and grew strong friendships with different people, namely D Flo, Brendan, Ken, and Squirt. This year has been eventful and fun-filled, if not DRIPPING with DRAMA. I remember being terrified of having an independent study in glass with Woody, Arijan, and Ken (who are all way way talented), but it turned out for the best for me.

– 2002 wrapped up with New Year’s with friends. I’m glad I got to see kenmoore before he goes off to Italy. My resolution this year is to expand on my other talents, especially getting over my fear of playing the piano.

Have a great year, everyone!

Hooray for dinner parties!

Last night was great fun! I had belladonnarosa and elwe over for dinner. Last minute plans are always the most fun! I have found that I love very much to cook, and have resolved to do it more often. In addition to the tasty curry-chicken-potato-rice-and-chickpea dish, we roasted marshmallows on my parents’ new outdoor fireplace (better known as the large metal cage….OF FIRE!!!). It was an enjoyable experience.

if you want the curry chicken recipe..

Christmas-y Goodness, part III

I found out this morning what was in the big, mysterious box, and it wasn’t a sweater.

It was a digital camera! Talk about unexpected ^_^ It was a great surprise. Also, as a Christmas gift to the world, I gave my site a major overhaul. I did it very late, though, and was quite exhausted when it was all uploaded, so I did not have the energy to double check for mishaps. Perhaps I’ll have time for that tomorrow. Anyhow, here it is!

About Me

Christmas-y Goodness, Part II

I came home tonight in a great snow. Big, gigantor-flaked snow that makes you giddy and disoriented to walk through, I love it!

Anyway, I was finishing wrapping a few pieces of glass and putting them under the tree, when I noticed a rather large box with my name on it! This has me totally baffled, I have *no* idea what it could be. I didn’t even really ask for anything this year, I was so busy this term that I couldn’t think of anything I wanted…anything I *needed* even, just gift certificates when i was pressed to come up with something.

(I like gift certificates, because if I get money as a gift, it goes straight to the bank. It’s a result of habit, and having too many options to buy something and not being able to settle. I suppose, in the long run, it’s a good thing, hehe).

So this Christmas I am experiencing some of the excited curiosity that I held when I was younger. It’s great, just the sensation. I mean, it could end up being a sweater in a big box, but I would still be grateful that it inspired such childlike giddiness in me for this next day, it’s a feeling a really miss around the Christmas season.

Family celebrations start tonight, have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas-y goodness

Being home on break, I was afraid the lonely bug would get to me, but it has been sufficiently squashed this weekend. Some old high school friends came over for some catching up and fun and games, and tonight Dave and I kidnapped each other to go see Spirited Away.

I have many a piece of glass to wrap up tomorrow (it seems that 30-60% of fall term glass ends up as Christmas presents, of the rest, most is snatched up by my parents as soon as I unpack them, leaving 1-2% in my personal collection x_x).

Unfortunately, I found a set of pieces I intend to give away that I forgot to sign! Dooooh!!!!!! >_< If only I had an engraver. I'm trying to think of something else I can use to sign them, because I'd like to wrap tomorrow. At any rate, the Christmas busy-week begins tomorrow, after that I'll find another lull in activity. If all goes well, I'll have my big site re-vamp finished and up after Christmas. We shall see. Have loverly holidays everyone!