When I read, I hear the character's voices in my head. Probably everybody does this when they read. Anyway, today in Adv. Creative Writing Janelle brought her drama from Creative Writing last semester and Robby read it. It was awesome because he used voices. They were different than what I'd imagined when I read her drama months ago, but they also worked. It's interesting that the voices you hear can be different than the ones other people hear, but both can be right.
Also, I did something today that I wanted to do last year, but didn't actually try out to see if I could. It looked hard and I didn't want to get physically injured so I didn't even try. But this evening I did and it turned out to be not as difficult as I'd thought it would be. It definitely helped, though, that I had a spotter and I knew I wasn't doing it all on my own. Oh, and the view from the top was exceptionally amazing!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
John Glenn
*Warning: Unless you're in Literary Journalism class or have read "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe, you probably won't get this post. I'm just writing it so I won't forget the scenario since it was such a funny class period. Just know there's a lot of inside jokes in our class from that book about the Mercury seven (first men in space).
At the start of Literary Journalism class today Audrey came in to interview us and Dr. Nash about the class for an article she's writing for the Communicator (the SJ&C's newsletter). Before she could ask any questions, Dr. Nash showed us his new iPad he just bought on Monday night. He passed it around the class, or tried to. He gave it to Emily and she had it for most of the time Audrey was interviewing us. The most amusing part of watching her try out the iPad was when she played some marble game (I don't know the actual name) and had to use her whole upper body to keep the marble moving right. "Wow, this is a lot harder to play on here than on an iPod," she remarked.
Audrey's questions were pretty easy to answer and we took turns giving her quotes. Rainey answered one question and did so very eloquently. She's got a great way with words, both written and spoken (which is a real skill, in my opinion). When she was done her answer, Chris smirked at her, "Thanks John Glenn." Every person in the room burst out in laughter, except for Audrey who smiled while looking a bit confused. "Chris, stop it," Rainey said sheepishly. Chris grinned down at Rainey while raising both his hands in the air (like elementary students do when they REALLY want the teacher to pick them) and then made his hands into "thumbs up." Then suddenly Dr. Nash said, "Oh, John Glenn! Oh, that's funny!" and really started laughing, which made us all laugh even harder. It's always amusing when people laugh before they actually realize the joke. Emily joined in, while still keeping her eyes glued to the iPad screen, "We should get a picture of Rainey with her hands up like that." "Ya," Dr. Nash added. "Just a picture of Rainey beside the story." "Wait," I said, "There's seven of us and there were seven of them. We could all pretend to be one of the Mercury seven at the press conference." Dr. Nash turned to Chris, who had started the whole thing. "Who would you be? Al Shepard?" "No," Rainey countered. "Emily would be Shepard since she's always been ahead of the rest of us in getting her drafts done." "I think Chris would be Yaeger even though he wasn't one of the seven," Angela said. Aimee added, "OK, we really need to get this picture taken before the school year ends."
Poor Audrey must have felt left out. "Well, my next question was going to be, Because this class is so small, are the dynamics different?, but I think you've already answered that one," she said. The six of us students looked around the table and realized what an awesome class we were in. "I think so," Angela pipped up. "I feel like we're a family in here. We all help each other out about our articles. I mean, Rainey and Alison have fixed me up with dates for my project. We've talked together about each person's topic and I think we have a special bond." I agreed with Angela and I think the other four students and Dr. Nash did too.
I love having small classes where everyone knows everyone else and gets along and helps each other. Emily and I had that last year in our six-person, all-girls Adv. Reporting class with Ms. Chamberlain and now we have it again with Dr. Nash in Literary Journalism. LJ (Angela's acronym for our class) class today just made me realize again how much I'll miss the SJ&C once I graduate and leave.
PS - After Emily had got to level 4 of her marble game, she passed the iPad to me and Angela who worked on a Mad Lib game. We got all the way to the last word and just needed to put in an adverb when Dr. Nash needed his iPad to read us an e-mail he'd gotten. So we never got to see how our Mad Lib turned out, but it was going to be good. Like Angela said, "We used the word gobbleygook. How could it not be good?"
At the start of Literary Journalism class today Audrey came in to interview us and Dr. Nash about the class for an article she's writing for the Communicator (the SJ&C's newsletter). Before she could ask any questions, Dr. Nash showed us his new iPad he just bought on Monday night. He passed it around the class, or tried to. He gave it to Emily and she had it for most of the time Audrey was interviewing us. The most amusing part of watching her try out the iPad was when she played some marble game (I don't know the actual name) and had to use her whole upper body to keep the marble moving right. "Wow, this is a lot harder to play on here than on an iPod," she remarked.
Audrey's questions were pretty easy to answer and we took turns giving her quotes. Rainey answered one question and did so very eloquently. She's got a great way with words, both written and spoken (which is a real skill, in my opinion). When she was done her answer, Chris smirked at her, "Thanks John Glenn." Every person in the room burst out in laughter, except for Audrey who smiled while looking a bit confused. "Chris, stop it," Rainey said sheepishly. Chris grinned down at Rainey while raising both his hands in the air (like elementary students do when they REALLY want the teacher to pick them) and then made his hands into "thumbs up." Then suddenly Dr. Nash said, "Oh, John Glenn! Oh, that's funny!" and really started laughing, which made us all laugh even harder. It's always amusing when people laugh before they actually realize the joke. Emily joined in, while still keeping her eyes glued to the iPad screen, "We should get a picture of Rainey with her hands up like that." "Ya," Dr. Nash added. "Just a picture of Rainey beside the story." "Wait," I said, "There's seven of us and there were seven of them. We could all pretend to be one of the Mercury seven at the press conference." Dr. Nash turned to Chris, who had started the whole thing. "Who would you be? Al Shepard?" "No," Rainey countered. "Emily would be Shepard since she's always been ahead of the rest of us in getting her drafts done." "I think Chris would be Yaeger even though he wasn't one of the seven," Angela said. Aimee added, "OK, we really need to get this picture taken before the school year ends."
Poor Audrey must have felt left out. "Well, my next question was going to be, Because this class is so small, are the dynamics different?, but I think you've already answered that one," she said. The six of us students looked around the table and realized what an awesome class we were in. "I think so," Angela pipped up. "I feel like we're a family in here. We all help each other out about our articles. I mean, Rainey and Alison have fixed me up with dates for my project. We've talked together about each person's topic and I think we have a special bond." I agreed with Angela and I think the other four students and Dr. Nash did too.
I love having small classes where everyone knows everyone else and gets along and helps each other. Emily and I had that last year in our six-person, all-girls Adv. Reporting class with Ms. Chamberlain and now we have it again with Dr. Nash in Literary Journalism. LJ (Angela's acronym for our class) class today just made me realize again how much I'll miss the SJ&C once I graduate and leave.
PS - After Emily had got to level 4 of her marble game, she passed the iPad to me and Angela who worked on a Mad Lib game. We got all the way to the last word and just needed to put in an adverb when Dr. Nash needed his iPad to read us an e-mail he'd gotten. So we never got to see how our Mad Lib turned out, but it was going to be good. Like Angela said, "We used the word gobbleygook. How could it not be good?"
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Full office
Seems like all my Tuesday posts are about the Accent office. Forgive me, interesting things have happened there in the past few weeks. Besides there's only one week left of the Accent after today, so you won't have to read about it for too much longer.
Today Andrea came in and told us that there would be a group of people coming in to look over our shoulders and watch what each of us does - her next year staff. She had told them that they should come around 8 or 8:30 since that's when most people are in the office. Usually that's true for me, but tonight was Jonathan's bass recital so I had to leave before 7:30 and run to the music building. I didn't get back to the office until just after 9, and by then it was filled with students who are in News Reporting right now (and one graphic design major). They had taken all the extra seats in the office and were sitting in a circle (some people were even sitting on the floor) in the middle of the office. I grabbed a page off the board and started reading through it standing up. But that got uncomfortable really fast so I went out to the student center and pushed one of the chairs into the office, making it more crowded. Anyway, the point is that we usually have six or seven people in the office at a time, but tonight there were six extra bodies filling the not-really-huge room. It was pretty cramped. And then the next year staff were having a big discussion about who else they should get for the positions that weren't filled yet. It was kind of hard for us current staff to communicate with each other. And also hard to objectively look at the news articles since most of the people in the office had written them and were listening for any hints about what we thought of them.
After most other people had left, the potential next year news editor stayed around to ask me all about my job since I wasn't around earlier when he'd first come in. So I had to stop editing and tell him about that, which was fine but meant I couldn't leave as early as I thought I'd be able to. Oh well, I'm glad that Andrea's getting her team together now and having them come in and talk to us. I wish I'd had that opportunity last year because then I wouldn't have just come in cold at the start of this school year. I'm really curious what the Accent will be like next year with all these sophomores running the operation (well I guess they'll be juniors by then). OK, I'm done now.
Almost. Just wanted to add that Jonathan's recital was great. It's always interesting to hear bass solos cause you usually just hear them play in orchestras on jazz ensembles.
Today Andrea came in and told us that there would be a group of people coming in to look over our shoulders and watch what each of us does - her next year staff. She had told them that they should come around 8 or 8:30 since that's when most people are in the office. Usually that's true for me, but tonight was Jonathan's bass recital so I had to leave before 7:30 and run to the music building. I didn't get back to the office until just after 9, and by then it was filled with students who are in News Reporting right now (and one graphic design major). They had taken all the extra seats in the office and were sitting in a circle (some people were even sitting on the floor) in the middle of the office. I grabbed a page off the board and started reading through it standing up. But that got uncomfortable really fast so I went out to the student center and pushed one of the chairs into the office, making it more crowded. Anyway, the point is that we usually have six or seven people in the office at a time, but tonight there were six extra bodies filling the not-really-huge room. It was pretty cramped. And then the next year staff were having a big discussion about who else they should get for the positions that weren't filled yet. It was kind of hard for us current staff to communicate with each other. And also hard to objectively look at the news articles since most of the people in the office had written them and were listening for any hints about what we thought of them.
After most other people had left, the potential next year news editor stayed around to ask me all about my job since I wasn't around earlier when he'd first come in. So I had to stop editing and tell him about that, which was fine but meant I couldn't leave as early as I thought I'd be able to. Oh well, I'm glad that Andrea's getting her team together now and having them come in and talk to us. I wish I'd had that opportunity last year because then I wouldn't have just come in cold at the start of this school year. I'm really curious what the Accent will be like next year with all these sophomores running the operation (well I guess they'll be juniors by then). OK, I'm done now.
Almost. Just wanted to add that Jonathan's recital was great. It's always interesting to hear bass solos cause you usually just hear them play in orchestras on jazz ensembles.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Research and posters
This week already stinks. I can't wait until next Monday is over and my Mass Comm. and Society research paper is finished and turned in. My life will get a lot better after that. Meanwhile, I'm currently sitting in the Mac lab making Bryn's senior recital poster. It looked iffy for awhile (yeah, I'm not a designer), but we finally found a way to make all the words fit and I think Bryn's pretty happy with it now. Yay, something new to put in my portfolio, along with Jonathan's poster that I helped him make last week. It's been about a year since I put my Pub. Tools skills to good use so it was definitely time to remember how to use InDesign.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Mattress move
On Friday, Jonathan helped me set up a new experiment. He moved the top mattress out of my bedroom and set it on the living room floor next to our uncomfortable couch.
(Oh, time to explain. We have two couches. One, the beige couch, came with the apartment and, for about a month, was our only couch. But we found it rather uncomfortable. It only has two cushions and they each start high on the ends but get more depressed into the hide-a-bed underneath as they run toward the middle of the couch in kind of an open-edged funnel. The whole couch is quite uncomfortable to sit on. So Bryn and I went to the Samaritan Center in October and sat on all the couches there before deciding on a pink, floral-patterned one. After getting it home, we sprayed the cushions with Febreze to get rid of any strange smells that might be lingering in the material and positioned it in a prominent place, along the main wall of our living room. The couch was much more comfy than our beige one and it immediately became the primarily-used couch in our house.)
Anyway, back to my experiment. On Friday afternoon I was completely fed-up with the lack of a window in our bedroom and also the unrelenting boiling-ness. So I thought that sleeping out in the living room, beside our only window to the outside, might heal my aggravation. The air vent nearby, blowing cool air across the room, was an added perk. So that night I tried out my new sleeping arrangement and loved it. The cool air drifted over my mattress as I slept, and, in the morning, the light edged around the closed window blinds and nudged my eyes open a few minutes before my alarm went off. It was heavenly.
I slept out there last night, too, and that sleep was just as enjoyable. So, the experiment is over. My mind is made up. I'm going to leave my mattress out here in the living room for the rest of the school year (unless, of course, we have friends over for a Sabbath meal or a game night. Then I'll move it back into the bedroom so people can walk around freely). Other than those instances, though, my mattress is staying out here. I kind of wished I'd thought of it months ago.
(Oh, time to explain. We have two couches. One, the beige couch, came with the apartment and, for about a month, was our only couch. But we found it rather uncomfortable. It only has two cushions and they each start high on the ends but get more depressed into the hide-a-bed underneath as they run toward the middle of the couch in kind of an open-edged funnel. The whole couch is quite uncomfortable to sit on. So Bryn and I went to the Samaritan Center in October and sat on all the couches there before deciding on a pink, floral-patterned one. After getting it home, we sprayed the cushions with Febreze to get rid of any strange smells that might be lingering in the material and positioned it in a prominent place, along the main wall of our living room. The couch was much more comfy than our beige one and it immediately became the primarily-used couch in our house.)
Anyway, back to my experiment. On Friday afternoon I was completely fed-up with the lack of a window in our bedroom and also the unrelenting boiling-ness. So I thought that sleeping out in the living room, beside our only window to the outside, might heal my aggravation. The air vent nearby, blowing cool air across the room, was an added perk. So that night I tried out my new sleeping arrangement and loved it. The cool air drifted over my mattress as I slept, and, in the morning, the light edged around the closed window blinds and nudged my eyes open a few minutes before my alarm went off. It was heavenly.
I slept out there last night, too, and that sleep was just as enjoyable. So, the experiment is over. My mind is made up. I'm going to leave my mattress out here in the living room for the rest of the school year (unless, of course, we have friends over for a Sabbath meal or a game night. Then I'll move it back into the bedroom so people can walk around freely). Other than those instances, though, my mattress is staying out here. I kind of wished I'd thought of it months ago.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Sorry and Battleship
Lots of stuff happened today. First, because of unforeseen circumstances, Bryn, Jonathan, and I made it to the 10:30 showing of SonRise with only a couple minutes to spare. Jonathan's mum had our tickets and was waiting outside the church to give them to us. We ran all the way from where we parked my car and got inside the sanctuary just before the doors closed. Other than that, we traveled through the pageant without any other major dilemmas or delays. I got to see Tyler just as he was heading through the market place to join his group and made him stop to get a picture with me. Then I got to watch him act out his part of Judas masterfully, which was fun to see.
Second, after SonRise we went to Jonathan's grandparents place for lunch and then watched their DVD of "The Adventists." I had wanted to watch it at the convocation last Tuesday, but I was working then and couldn't. So it was nice to be able to see it today.
Third, when we got back to our apartment, Bryn and I went to seek out places to take her senior violin recital pictures. We found a simple but nice looking place just across the street from our cul-de-sac. Then I took lots and tons and hundreds (probably) of pictures while Bryn tried out different poses. Then we went back to our apartment and ate supper.
Fourth, we journeyed back to campus where Bryn, Jonathan, Josh, Danielle and I got free smoothies and played table games in the cafe. Jonathan and I played Sorry while Bryn and Josh dueled in Battleship and Danielle waited for her smoothie. Then we all played Set and Rummikub before going our separate ways to sleep. It was a good day, but really busy.
And now, here it is. The best quote of the day:
(During game night)
Ali: (reaches to set the Sorry box on top of the Battleship box) Can I put this here?
Josh: (grabs one end of the Sorry box) Sorry, you can't.
Ali: (glances at the games and thinks super fast) Well, (sets down her end of the Sorry box on top of the Battleships box) Battleship, I can!
Josh and Jonathan: (uproarious laughter)
Ali: (grins in pride that she came up with a witty and game-night-appropriate comeback so fast)
Second, after SonRise we went to Jonathan's grandparents place for lunch and then watched their DVD of "The Adventists." I had wanted to watch it at the convocation last Tuesday, but I was working then and couldn't. So it was nice to be able to see it today.
Third, when we got back to our apartment, Bryn and I went to seek out places to take her senior violin recital pictures. We found a simple but nice looking place just across the street from our cul-de-sac. Then I took lots and tons and hundreds (probably) of pictures while Bryn tried out different poses. Then we went back to our apartment and ate supper.
Fourth, we journeyed back to campus where Bryn, Jonathan, Josh, Danielle and I got free smoothies and played table games in the cafe. Jonathan and I played Sorry while Bryn and Josh dueled in Battleship and Danielle waited for her smoothie. Then we all played Set and Rummikub before going our separate ways to sleep. It was a good day, but really busy.
And now, here it is. The best quote of the day:
(During game night)
Ali: (reaches to set the Sorry box on top of the Battleship box) Can I put this here?
Josh: (grabs one end of the Sorry box) Sorry, you can't.
Ali: (glances at the games and thinks super fast) Well, (sets down her end of the Sorry box on top of the Battleships box) Battleship, I can!
Josh and Jonathan: (uproarious laughter)
Ali: (grins in pride that she came up with a witty and game-night-appropriate comeback so fast)
Friday, April 2, 2010
Sheep vespers
Tonight the SJ&C had a vespers at Dr. Nash's house. He lives just across the Georgia line on a large patch of land with a small creek running through it. A few weeks ago his family decided to keep animals again (they'd had pygmy goats for awhile) and got a pregnant ewe and a ram. Dr. Nash kept our class informed about life with sheep, even passing around his phone so we could look at pictures of his kids with Lily the Ewe and Buddy the Ram. Last Sunday morning, the lamb was born and he reported the event to us in class, complete with a picture of his youngest daughter holding David, the newborn lamb. So tonight at vespers I actually got to see the sheep.
The whole night was a lot of fun, just hanging out with friends and acquaintances and teachers. We had an Easter egg hunt ("Extreme Easter egg hunt in the sheep pen," Dr. Nash told us right before we started.) followed by refreshments of cookies and other baked treats and lemonade. Some of the guys started a football game and then there was a bonfire and vespers. Dr. Nash's whole family trooped into the sheep pen (his wife clutching a long stick to keep Buddy the Ram at bay) and caught the lamb. Dr. Nash and two of his girls dashed for the gate as both Buddy and Lily raced to defend their offspring. Everyone sitting in the circle around the fire laughed at the sight of the usually dignified Dr. Nash shooing his daughters in front of him as they all squished through the gate seconds before getting butted. A minute later, his wife sauntered to the gate, holding the stick, but by then the sheep were more worried about the whereabouts of their lamb than butting humans. Dr. Nash's oldest daughter brought David the Lamb around the circle of comm. majors and their friends and family and almost everyone petted or held him. His mother, pacing in the pen, wasn't too happy about her lamb being gone and made that clear with many weird sounds before he was returned to her side. After vespers, Jonathan, Bryn, Josh, and I found the trampoline empty and jumped in the dark, under the clear sky and twinkling stars.
As we drove back to Collegedale, I realized how lucky I am that I transferred to SAU. I have had such a great time as a SJ&C student here, meeting other students who have a passion for writing or other communication-related fields, being taught by well-trained and caring professors, and getting opportunities (like working on the Accent) to try out my skills. I'm so thankful God helped me find the right major and the right university to finish up my schooling.
The whole night was a lot of fun, just hanging out with friends and acquaintances and teachers. We had an Easter egg hunt ("Extreme Easter egg hunt in the sheep pen," Dr. Nash told us right before we started.) followed by refreshments of cookies and other baked treats and lemonade. Some of the guys started a football game and then there was a bonfire and vespers. Dr. Nash's whole family trooped into the sheep pen (his wife clutching a long stick to keep Buddy the Ram at bay) and caught the lamb. Dr. Nash and two of his girls dashed for the gate as both Buddy and Lily raced to defend their offspring. Everyone sitting in the circle around the fire laughed at the sight of the usually dignified Dr. Nash shooing his daughters in front of him as they all squished through the gate seconds before getting butted. A minute later, his wife sauntered to the gate, holding the stick, but by then the sheep were more worried about the whereabouts of their lamb than butting humans. Dr. Nash's oldest daughter brought David the Lamb around the circle of comm. majors and their friends and family and almost everyone petted or held him. His mother, pacing in the pen, wasn't too happy about her lamb being gone and made that clear with many weird sounds before he was returned to her side. After vespers, Jonathan, Bryn, Josh, and I found the trampoline empty and jumped in the dark, under the clear sky and twinkling stars.
As we drove back to Collegedale, I realized how lucky I am that I transferred to SAU. I have had such a great time as a SJ&C student here, meeting other students who have a passion for writing or other communication-related fields, being taught by well-trained and caring professors, and getting opportunities (like working on the Accent) to try out my skills. I'm so thankful God helped me find the right major and the right university to finish up my schooling.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Prank day
Yesterday evening I walked out of my room to see Jonathan sitting at my desk, gulping down a glass of water. For a second watching him drink made me thirsty. I glanced around the room and saw my water bottle sitting on the desk where I'd left it earlier. But it was empty and I didn't feel like filling it. I asked Jonathan about his day and, during the ensuing conversation, forgot about getting a drink. A while later, though, I suddenly realized I was still thirsty. Instead of having to navigating around the pile of dishes in the kitchen sink, I decided it would be quicker to fill up my water bottle in the bathroom sink. When my bottle was full, Jonathan decided to let me in on his attempted prank. He brought me over to the kitchen sink and showed me the elastic band he'd wrapped around the lever of the faucet sprayer. "Turn on the tap," he said. "Slowly!" I reached over and cautiously pulled the faucet handle as if a snake was going to wriggle out of the tap. A trickle of water dripped from the sprayer, while no water came out of the faucet. "That's a sneaky little trick," I remarked, imagining the scenario that could have happened. Jonathan laughed and explained that he'd tried to get me to use the sink earlier by emptying my water bottle and then drinking a glass of water, but it obviously hadn't worked. After confessing, he started to unwind the elastic band, but I stopped him. "Let's leave it and see what happens," I said. "Bryn's bound to turn this on at some point."
This morning, I had just finished my shower when Bryn came home from organ lessons. Right as I ambled out of our room to say hi, a bloodcurdling screech pierced my ears. I dash the few steps into the kitchen, certain that a kidnapper had entered our house and grabbed Bryn. The scene that greeted my eyes was quite different than what I'd imagined. An astonished Bryn stood in front of the sink, staring wide-eyed and shocked at the sprayer. Small puddles of water dotted the tile floor around her. "I just turned on the tap and look what happened!" she pointed at the front of her dripping green button-up shirt." Laughter burst from my lips and, a second later, Bryn, realizing how funny she looked standing there all soaking wet, started laughing too. "What in the world happened to make the water come out of the sprayer instead of the tap?" she asked through giggles. I worked to control my amusement, then showed her the elastic band and told her about Jonathan's plan from yesterday evening. "Wow, well, I guess I got pranked today," she said with a grin. "But I'm leaving that puddle of water for Jonathan to clean up. It's really all his fault."
This morning, I had just finished my shower when Bryn came home from organ lessons. Right as I ambled out of our room to say hi, a bloodcurdling screech pierced my ears. I dash the few steps into the kitchen, certain that a kidnapper had entered our house and grabbed Bryn. The scene that greeted my eyes was quite different than what I'd imagined. An astonished Bryn stood in front of the sink, staring wide-eyed and shocked at the sprayer. Small puddles of water dotted the tile floor around her. "I just turned on the tap and look what happened!" she pointed at the front of her dripping green button-up shirt." Laughter burst from my lips and, a second later, Bryn, realizing how funny she looked standing there all soaking wet, started laughing too. "What in the world happened to make the water come out of the sprayer instead of the tap?" she asked through giggles. I worked to control my amusement, then showed her the elastic band and told her about Jonathan's plan from yesterday evening. "Wow, well, I guess I got pranked today," she said with a grin. "But I'm leaving that puddle of water for Jonathan to clean up. It's really all his fault."
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