classes begin

first off, let it be said that it is a huge encouragement to know people are reading. it's even cooler to have people actually interacting with each other via the comments--oh WOW. yes. let's have more of that.

first day of class today. well, it's school. it's odd to be going back in july. photography is going to be challenging but good--the entire class seems to be on a similar skill level and without pretension. our prof is young and looks like a grown up version of young goob from meet the robinsons.



i mean, without the black eye and a better sense of self-esteem.

it's late, i'm tired, and i've been having a really interesting conversation with people in the house about politics and culture. less charged than the other, you'll be happy to know, but still interesting.

and i had no idea that e.e. cummings had rules about his capitalization. good show. i'm aware that it's kind of post-counter-culture move, and it doesn't bother me. just a style i tend to like.

have a good night. hopefully there will be more to say tomorrow.

class schedule, scuba, and capitalization

two required programs:
monday:
8:45 am-12 pm: the view from australia/ indigenous history and culture
3-5:50 pm: photography II
tuesday:
6-8 pm: video production
wednesday:
1 pm; the gathering (chapel)
4-5:50 pm: arts and culture
thursday:
9-11 (am): multimedia II
3-4:30 pm: bellydancing*
friday:
all day**: the view from australia/ indigenous history and culture

*a friend of mine convinced me to take this with her. don't misunderstand me. i'm excited about it, but if it seems out of character, that's why.
**classes won't typically go all day. some fridays will be used to get a head start on weekend travelling, others will dismiss at half-day.

... ... ...

thoughts on scuba.
i have never gone scuba diving, so much of this will be speculation. but it works for the metaphor.
i feel like i'm culturally scuba diving. i've been plunged into a different world. everything is new and slightly surreal. the water is slightly foggy. the ways to go and options are still yet to be realized, and breathing normally is a challenge. but breathing normally is possible: the surroundings will become commonplace, the bus and train systems will be as familiar as the backroads at home, i will develop favorite shops and restaurants and church, and i will stop feeling like a sore thumb with my accent.
speaking of accents, i've visted two english-speaking countries with different accents in the past six months. both times, i feel that we, the travelers, brought more attention to ourselves by being self-conscious of our american accent than the accent itself. there is something about the way we think our nation is percieved that makes us (me) so aware and nervous to be that american: stupid, fat, loud, obnoxious. in reality, i only know a few americans actually like that, certainly not enough to stereotype the entire country. i/we would do well to just be ourselves, human, instead of worried of where we come from. (although i talked to an young lady today who spoke for all of australia: "we think bush is an idiot." to which all i could answer was, "yeah, a lot of people in the states think that too. but it's interesting how split the nation is--there are people who can't stand him, and people who stand behind him." personally (as if you asked), i'd say i don't know enough to say either way for sure. i do think that the nation has been ready--nay, looking--for a new president since 2005. there are other more educated reasons, i'm sure, to explain why the race has started so early, but that's my two cents.

sorry to get political.

... ... ...

a note on capitalization:
the pretentious explanation: capitalization gives respect. i like to give that respect to the God's Three Persons, and a few other case-sensitive (oh, forgive that pun) situations. that's about it.
the practical explanation: when i was first learning how to type, it was tough for me to coordinate several fingers to push two buttons at once. i got in the habit of typing without caps, and grew to like the way it looked. i do it now as a personal style, even though I Can Coordinate My Fingers Better Now. sorry if it's hard to read.

opera house! opera house! opera house!

this morning we finished orientation around the school, and in the afternoon took off for a scavenger hunt. we ran around the city taking photos of various imoportant buildings for two hours.







then, we went on a tourboat around the harbor and took this video. i have not played it back, and i know the quality isn't very good (i don't even know if you can hear me or anything on it, for goodness sakes), but it's the closest thing i can do to remember a sense of that moment. it was cold but amazing.



after the cruise, we had mongolian barbecue together. the sun sets around 5-6 pm (did i say that already?), so for those of us coming off daylight savings time, 8-9 pm feels about 11-12. we're all exhausted by 7:30.

oh! also: this photo goes out to wyomians:


and this is me and my roommate, becca. she's as genuine and friendly as the day is long, and i think we'll be good friends. (in case you need telling, this isn't a flattering picture of either of us. we're on the boat: it's windy, it's cold, i have a double chin and she thinks she looks bald.)


also, as long as we're uploading pictures: i wuv mah brudder. i'm bummed i couldn't see lindsay as well, but circumstances are circumstances. much love to you both!

the travelling story

(all times very approximate.)

12 pm CST: i leave my house for the airport
330 pm CST: plane leaves from XNA
630 pm CST/ 430 pm PST: plan arrives in LA
800 pm CST/ 600 pm PST: meet brian for dinner at panera
930 pm CST/ 730 pm PST: meet most of fellow ASC'ers at air new zealand check-in desk
(recieve tickets, go through security, arrive at gate, grab light sustenance wait)
1230 pm CST/ 1030 pm PST: plane leaves from LAX
1 pm CST/11 am PST/ 6 am ST (7/19/06): plane lands in auckland.
(cross international date line during 12.5 hour flight. confused yet? so were we.)

that's where it all goes to pieces in my head. we somehow ended up in sydney between 1000 and 1100 am on the 19th. in all, i had three flights to deal with:
XNA to LAX: 3 hours
LAX to AUCKLAND, NZ: 12.5 hours
AUCKLAND to SYDNEY: 3 hours.

i'll leave the mysteries of crossing the international date line to the physics masters. my brain explodes when i try to figure it out.
i'm finding i recover from jet lag quite well, as i am able to sleep almost anywhere and keep myself awake when i really should want to sleep. things get pretty funny when our group can't figure out how long we've been travelling.

thursday was a day of "keep the kids awake" with basic orientation, games, and food (um, TIM TAMS? where have you been all my life?). today was more intense orientation, covering classes, facilities, procedures, etc. after that, a handful of us decided to go downtown. nutshell: opera house, harbor bridge, beautiful, and tons of places to spend money, plus cool history i can't wait to see in the daylight.

upcoming posts!
-daily schedule (classes, etc)
-tour of housing
-opera house pictures
-service placement, etc
-straight-up stories!

OH! i forget this is about stories some times. i'm sorry about the length, but here's a quickie.
i live in student housing. it's neat, but not always the cleanest. some fellow ASC'ers from down the hall found a roach in their room and started flipping out. it was quickly killed. however, that made my roommate, becca, and i are squeamish to investigate our room, but investigate we must. while putting a suitcase inside an upper cupboard, we found one.
of course, our initial response was to flip. a few deep breaths and screwed up courage later, i climb on a chair with a shoe in hand to investigate further. the roach is still, and doesn't move when i blow on it. i squeak, thwack it with a shoe, and it bounces onto its back-- still no movement. blow again. nothing. becca hands me a pamphlet to scoop with and a grabs a trashcan for immediate disposal of said roach. i scoop, she holds, the vermin is away. we vanquished the (proabably already dead) roach! yippee for us!

all is well. leave some love!

the henry rollins story

first off, i look back over the pictures i just posted and miss chicago a little bit. if anyone from saatchi is reading this, would you just comment a "hey!" or something and let me know? it would make me quite glad.

secondly, my plane from arkansas to LAX takes off in a little under 24 hours. a good friend of mine commented on saturday that a week from then, i'll have everything figured out. it's so odd how true that is. by next saturday, i'll likely be unpacked, know at least three names (my roommates for sure--hiya katelyn, rebekah and carmen--yay facebook), know how to get to and from school, and all that crazy jazz. all in a week from now. a week ago i hadn't started packing.

but now! the story of henry rollins.

it's my first week at saatchi. i'm so jumpy and eager-to-please and do something good and right, i'm sure i'm annoying the office. andy, someone in the right rank to tell just about anybody in the office what to do, comes to me one afternoon and asks me to find a downloadable version of the theme song from the henry rollins show. simple enough, i say. i start searching, and realize this is going to be harder than i thought. i know then that rollins was a musical artist, spoken word artist/standup comedian, author, show host, etc., not to mention physically imposing enough to make me more than my fair share of nervous, but all around, a reasonable and cool fellow. what i didn't realize was how big his body of work is and how difficult it would be to just get the opening of this show--which i have never seen--isolated, considering anyone wanting to watch an online segment isn't interested in how it starts. i'm bouncing around from site to site, and i come across one that lists contact information to rollins himself. right. i think. this email address goes to henry rollins. just sitting here on my desktop. plain as day on this webpage. riiight..
but, i'm running out of options and it's getting late in the day. i keep the window open as a hypothetical last-ditch effort if nothing else pans out. i mean, even if the email goes to some crazy fan, the fan might be able to help me. as the time dwindles out, the email looks more and more viable. on my way out that evening, i shoot an email to him, briefly stating who i am and what i'm looking for. i log out and go home.
the next morning, i check my email first, almost forgetting the previous day. much to my surprise, there's an email waiting for me from the rollins address. exactly what was said will be lost to future generations--it slipped through the internet cracks when i switched email addresses. but he wrote me back, and the whole office was pretty convinced it was legit. i emailed him back how impressed i was that he actually answered my questions, and his response was pretty much that it shouldn't be. awesome.

and that is the story of how i emailed henry rollins.

chicago pictures: round two!

i'l try to keep this as light as possible.


one north state: it's odd-- this address lays just off madison street. madison is the street that goes most directly from the train station to millenium park, the street i would most commonly walk making trips into the city during the school year. i've passed by it almost every time i've been in chicago. i always wondered what was actually inside it, and now i know.


me and charlie hanging out in front of "the bean", a large, reflective sculpture in millenium park. more formally known as cloud gate.



this is charlie, my bike. it's a 1970 (or '71) schwinn collegiate. i bought it at a used bike shop called working bikes for fifty bucks. charlie's a little squeaky and the breaks could use some help, but it's in very good shape for its age. plus, a previous owner attached a wheel-generated light to the front--it still works. i can thank charlie for my newfound knowledge and confidence while navigating the city.
and just how did it get named charlie? well, just look at him. doesn't he look like a charlie to you?

and, just to gloat some more: the view from the apartment.

to the south:




to the north



fourth of the fireworks downtown (the red white and blue-topped building is the hancock tower. i can assure you that i could see the navy pier fireworks a thousand times better.)


still to come:
-expectations!
-the story of how i emailed henry rollins--and he responded back!
-a brief explanation of why i don't capitalize things!

now to return to packing.

mailng address- EDIT 7/21/07

mailing a letter:
(my name)
Wesley Institute--ASC
PO Box 534
Drummoyne NSW 1470
AUSTRALIA

mailing a package:
(my name)
Wesley Institute-ASC
5 Mary Street
Drummoyne NSW 2047
AUSTRALIA

"Australia ’s remoteness created an environment unlike any other on Earth. Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service helps protect it. Food, plant material and animal products from overseas could introduce some of the world’s most serious pests and diseases into Australia, devastating our valuable agriculture and tourism industries and unique environment."
-Australian government.

yay! i like letters!

expectations to come!