Today I went to see Shrek 2 with my parents, and there was a fire alarm during the movie. After everyone was let back into the theater, we all went and sat in the exact same seats as before. Is that a little odd to anyone else?
Tag Archives: observations
Outdoor classes
The weather is beautiful today, and as such the entire campus has decided to take advantage of it. In addition to the common student-napping-or-studying-on-a-blanket which pops up all over the lawns, many professors decided to teach their classes outside today.
As I walked across campus, the “outdoor classrooms” were all full (these consist of a big bunch of chairs and benches for professors who decide to have class outside), there was also a professor professing off the bug statue, as well as many classes grouped together out in the grass. Lectures in sidewalk chalk covered the walkways, from calculus equations to Hebrew lessons.
Of course, I observed all this as I walked inside to my computer science class, because we comp sci majors are doomed to the indoors on the nicest of days. Oh well, I’m sure if I’d had class outside I would quickly be whining about the heat and complaining of the bugs. ^_^
Mysteries Solved
So, remember when my parents’ computer had that problem with cryptic messages typing themselves out in text boxes? We discovered that it was the speech recognition function. See, I swapped monitors with them at the beginning of the school year, and my old monitor has a built-in microphone. So all those ghostly messages were just it trying to interpret various sounds: sneezes, coughs, mumblings, etc. Doh!
Today I was compiling a list of color that I need to buy to use for pieces for my senior show, and Holy Crap for Crap! Glass color is EXPENSIVE! x_x Even when I calculated the price for just half a kilo of each color bar I need, it was still quite a hefty sum.
Maybe I should sell/auction old glass pieces to raise money to buy color to use in new glass pieces. There must be some other things I can sell besides glass to raise money… *rummage rummage* …anybody want an upside-down running hourglass?
Creepy Bug! Bleeeeh!
So I found out those horrifying little bugs with a billion legs that move like lightning are not silverfish, as I once though. They are called House Centipedes.
I’m not really one to be frightened of bugs, even though I do find regular centipedes to be quite creepy. But these things, I dunno, there’s just something about them that strikes fear into the hearts of mortal men.
I remember once at school I found one scurrying across my floor, so I trapped it under a plastic cup. I was intending to take it outside, far away from my dorm, but was very busy, so “left it to do later” and then promptly forgot about it.
Three days later… “hey, why is there this overturned cup on the ground?”
I was quite startled when I lifted it up, as the creepy bug continued to scurry on in the same direction, as if being trapped by a cup for three days was merely a momentary obstacle. I suppose I would have felt kind of bad if it had died under that cup, and I admit I felt a twinge of guilt for making it sit under there for 3 days. The boredom must have been unbearable. Of course, it could have used the time to sit quietly and meditate on the deeper aspects of buggy life.
Regardless, I felt bad for not freeing it, but felt okay that I hadn’t killed it either. Then, of course, I couldn’t sleep for days, knowing that horrifying thing was loose and roaming around my bedroom.
Creepy frickin bug.
Must be Gremlins…
Today I went and used the art supply store gift certificate I got for Christmas. I picked up some colored pencils and some watercolors.
Now, I had purchased a set of watercolors a long time ago, and used them now and again, and then one day found they’d gone missing. Before buying a replacement set, I gave them a year to show up. I looked in every conceivable place, at home and at school, and gave it plenty of time to pull that “Oh, I’m going to show up now that you aren’t actually looking for me” stunt. A year later and still no sign, so I figured it was safe to buy some more.
I’d be willing to bet money that now that I’ve bought a new set, the old one will magically appear in a place I’ve looked a thousand times before.
In other weird news, my parents’ keyboard is acting very strange. Sometimes weird things type out on their own. You know how sometimes you type something and it doesn’t show up right away, then later it all types out at once? Kinda like that. Maybe there’s some ghost trapped in my parents’ computer, trying to contact me with secret messages. Very odd.
Whoosh!
Last night the wind was howling something awful, so *that’s* what a cold front sounds like. It was like November was late for class, and so ran as fast as he could to get there on time last night, and this morning he was all huffing and puffing and saying “See? Cold! It’s November now, heh heh…what?” Silly seasons.
I saw the Lion King (onstage) Tuesday night, it was frickin amazing. If my interest in puppetry was just a lingering possibility before, it’s now properly inspired to “life goal.” I will make puppets!!
I loved the Zazu puppet, the hyena suits, and the big Timon puppet the best. The cheetah was great, too. It took me forever to realize that its head was attached to to operator’s head with wires, I was sitting there and staring trying to figure out how it moved.
Art History paper: complete. Rock!
Inappropriate? What??
Oy, what a mess.
So I’ve been having weird access problems to my site. Someone’s server blocked it for adult content, which was really bizarre. I wasn’t sure if it was the domain name–if wertle.com was once the domain name for an adult site, or if it was the host, or what. Strother, however, through some research, discovered my suspicions to be true. Apparently, wertle.com was at one time the domain of a site boasting, ahem, “inappropriate” content, and the link to the domain is still present in many link directories.
Sure enough, I look up wertle.com in archive.org, and there it was. DOH! >_< I suppose, ultimately, the worst this does is redirect pornography-seekers to my happy little art site, which may cause a bit of confusion, but nothing else. However, it does make me sad that people's servers are blocking my site for adult content. Alas! I suppose that's not something I'll be able to shake the residual effects away, but I don't suppose I should go applying for wertle-dragon.com or some such, either. Ugh. x_x
This and That
So the usual crew braved the elements Monday night, traveling through frightening thunderstorms to go to the usual American Chopper night hangout. We were all excited about the newest episode of American Chopper (Mikey was gonna build a bike! What’s not to love). However, we found out that when they say “On next week’s episode…” at the end of the show, they really mean “the next time we show a new episode…” Alas, reruns. To add insult to injury, next Monday they’re having a Monster House marathon. What’s up with that??? Nobody watches Monster House!! Yeesh.
Dynasty Warriors 4 is quite possibly the most fun I’ve ever had playing a video game (it’s nearing Halo as my favorite multiplayer game! Eeek!). I highly recommend it.
Yesterday, Matt (my boss) and I had to drive to Connecticut to return some prop furniture we’d borrowed from another theater. It was a nice little trip. Being in New England for the summer has made me realize a few things about my own home region that I would have never noticed before. Granted, the existence of full service gas stations was a new thing for me when I got up here, but we’ve found a few other things. To go on this trip, we had to take the shop truck, which is a clunky old thing with no AC and only a tape deck. We thought it would be amusing to get some tapes to play on the way. Now, I am from Kentucky, and Matt is from Georgia, and so we were always used to the fact that when you go into a gas station, there’s always a rack of really obscure music tapes up near the counter, with such favorites as “Ultra 70’s Funk,” “Cowboy Songs,” and “The Best of the 80’s” type music. Apparently, though, this commodity (or oddity) does not exist in New England, as we were unable to find any gas stations that sold tapes! How sad! Perhaps it is a southern thing? At any rate, we had found a Primus tape in the Prop Shop, so that kept us entertained for the ride.
No more days off for 3 weekends, it’s going to be hard core! I think I’ll survive nicely, though. If I am lucky, I may be able to work in another internet update before the summer runs out! I miss my computer.
the Brendan Phenomenon
Based on some of Jeff’s stories, the Berkshire Theatre Festival seems to have a history of lengthy summer prank wars. I think I just experienced a first strike of sorts.
Theater people, especially tech people, always baffle me with the supplies of tools they seem to have instant access to. So, when I woke up at 4:30 this morning to the sound of drilling in the hall, I wasn’t overly surprised.
I wandered out into the hallway in my pajamas, only to find the Master Carpenter screwing sheets of plywood in front of my neighbor’s door. He seemed quite startled at being found out, but I think I sleepily shook my fist and muttered something along the line of “Pesky carps and their confounded pranks!” and went back to bed, unconcerned that my neighbors were now boarded up inside their own room.
This brings me to a new addition to a strange phenomenon in my life, the Brendan series. I knew two Brendans before this summer. The first Brendan was my Kempo instructor back in Louisville, who was inadvertently poetic and insightful, if not a bit silly, and was a great teacher. The second was our very own Brendan Adkins, a multitalented and very close friend of mine. Now a third Brendan has been added to my series, one who boards up his crew in their own rooms in the dead of the night. I’m considering referring to him as #3, to avoid confusion in conversation with all the Brendans I seem to be acquiring.
Anyway, things are going well. We had a day off yesterday, but I don’t think I’ll have another for a good long while. No matter, I’m still having fun.
Hello Moon
The Matrix Reloaded has become a new and easy way to pick out exactly who speaks French among a group of people gathered in a movie theater.
I watched the eclipse tonight, it was nice and clear (save a few wandering clouds), and it was fun to rouse up others in the vicinity to go and watch. It started out as a large group of students and professors lounging on the side of the road to watch. As the eclipse lingered in totality for a bit, people wandered back in to study for their respective exams, or get sleep or some such.
I chilled out a bit longer outside, watching the moon with Sheldon’s cat, and took Inky’s departure to go do kittie night time things as a signal to head on in. By in, of course, I mean Rodes. Brendan, D Flo, and Alison left long ago to do a scene rehearsal, and have not been back. I fear Grant has eaten them. I hope they got to see the eclipse also.
Discrete Math exam tomorrow, then I’m clear until Monday. Although I feared the speed with which the year was ending, I forgot how everything seems to sloooooooooow down during finals week. It’s a good thing.