Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Quick Request
Hey guys....
So i've been getting a little nostalgic for ConnColl/the east coast and was wondering if anybody had any pictures they took either around campus or new london (specifically the beach)?? Also, a lot of my friends have been asking what Connecticut was like and I have lots of great pictures of our parties at Conn, but very few pics of where we were, what our campus looked like, where we went around town, etc.
If you could PLEASE send them to ejbarry07@gmail.com that would be lovely! or i don't know if there's a way to just post them up here/attach them to a post??
It's been a really long week...you know those weeks when everything seems to be piled on all at once?? Well, yeah, all my professors decided it would be a GREAT week to have the maximum amount of reading/make-up classes, etc. possible. Thanks Law School...
Much love & appreciation!
Emily
So i've been getting a little nostalgic for ConnColl/the east coast and was wondering if anybody had any pictures they took either around campus or new london (specifically the beach)?? Also, a lot of my friends have been asking what Connecticut was like and I have lots of great pictures of our parties at Conn, but very few pics of where we were, what our campus looked like, where we went around town, etc.
If you could PLEASE send them to ejbarry07@gmail.com that would be lovely! or i don't know if there's a way to just post them up here/attach them to a post??
It's been a really long week...you know those weeks when everything seems to be piled on all at once?? Well, yeah, all my professors decided it would be a GREAT week to have the maximum amount of reading/make-up classes, etc. possible. Thanks Law School...
Much love & appreciation!
Emily
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Virgicolamento Flagantonio!
This definitely calls for a post. I want to start off by telling you about my afternoon today because a lot happened in a very short time. First off, I am on my way home from work and as i drive a black cat walks in front of my car. I wonder for the next ten minutes "Ohno what is going to happen? Am I going to get into an accident?" I gripped the wheel tightly for the next 10 minutes until i come to the Cuba Hill Rd and Kenneth Ave and see the result of a very recent multiple car crash. I pull over and hop out now being a certified Emergency Responder to assess the area, make sure somebody has called for help, and assess the victims. One woman in an older blue two door cadillac with no air bag was the worst injured with a possible broken nose from hitting the steering wheel. Judging from the look of her car it looked like she might have hit it pretty hard. I made sure she did not get out, the cars were turned off and everyone else was ok. Police soon arrived along with EMTs and I decided the situation was out of my hands but was having difficulty getting my car out with all the emergency vehicles around. The police officer was nice enough to move his car so i could get out.
Now the afternoon turns into evening and following dinner I return upstairs and see I have a missed call and a voicemail from an unrecognizable phone number. Automatically, I start to think "Is it a job interview for one of those places i applied for out west given the time of their call?" I begin to listen to the voicemail and find out that I am the winner of a cruise to the BAHAMAS. While picking up dinner with my mom a couple weeks ago at Po Lee, our usual Chinese food take out, i came across a sweepstakes box and figured what the heck it'd be so cool for me to win a something (doesnt happen to often with me...i scratched off 30+ lotto tickets during both my bday and christmas with no winners!) and we had a couple minutes longer to wait for them to finish getting our food together (not usually expected with chinese but thats ok). So I listen to the voicemail, which goes on for about 8 minutes about the prize, and learn that I have a 7 hour cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport and a 4 day/3 night reservation at the Bell Channel Hotel, all rooms with a view of the channel, a return trip on a moonlight dinner cruise, meals, and entertainment! SHABAMMM!!! I have 18 months to decide when i want to go and am super excited!
Quite a sequence of events today. On a somewhat less exciting note, my arm is doing better. No calluses on the x-ray last week (calluses are good for anybody that doesnt know) but there is no longer a cast and hopefully I can start fishing and tennis again soon. Doc's giving me a couple more weeks. Work is going very well...I am preparing to juggle two part-time jobs, one as a research/hatchery assistant with Cornell Coop Ext Marine Program near home and recently accepted a Part-Time education position at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. Its a bit of a drive (1:15 one way) but they do come to schools on Long Island and in the city as well as give some form of travel compensation. See how it works out for a couple months! Hopefully it will be an overall profit in terms of money.
My mom, while looking at my old orange shirt from HS (my class color) with the picture of a Knight (our school mascot) noticed that it is not a horse this knight is riding but a Grinning UNICORN! My brother sister and I are each four years apart and each worn my shirt(me--> brian-->elizabeth) because we have the same class year, ORANGE! take a look at our knight for yourself:
Well, I'm out to celebrate this awesome prize!!! Drew, I am looking forward to tomorrow night!!! Hope to see lots of you there too!!! Peace Love and ______ (you fill in the blank)
Glad to see lots of posts, by the way!
Now the afternoon turns into evening and following dinner I return upstairs and see I have a missed call and a voicemail from an unrecognizable phone number. Automatically, I start to think "Is it a job interview for one of those places i applied for out west given the time of their call?" I begin to listen to the voicemail and find out that I am the winner of a cruise to the BAHAMAS. While picking up dinner with my mom a couple weeks ago at Po Lee, our usual Chinese food take out, i came across a sweepstakes box and figured what the heck it'd be so cool for me to win a something (doesnt happen to often with me...i scratched off 30+ lotto tickets during both my bday and christmas with no winners!) and we had a couple minutes longer to wait for them to finish getting our food together (not usually expected with chinese but thats ok). So I listen to the voicemail, which goes on for about 8 minutes about the prize, and learn that I have a 7 hour cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport and a 4 day/3 night reservation at the Bell Channel Hotel, all rooms with a view of the channel, a return trip on a moonlight dinner cruise, meals, and entertainment! SHABAMMM!!! I have 18 months to decide when i want to go and am super excited!
Quite a sequence of events today. On a somewhat less exciting note, my arm is doing better. No calluses on the x-ray last week (calluses are good for anybody that doesnt know) but there is no longer a cast and hopefully I can start fishing and tennis again soon. Doc's giving me a couple more weeks. Work is going very well...I am preparing to juggle two part-time jobs, one as a research/hatchery assistant with Cornell Coop Ext Marine Program near home and recently accepted a Part-Time education position at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. Its a bit of a drive (1:15 one way) but they do come to schools on Long Island and in the city as well as give some form of travel compensation. See how it works out for a couple months! Hopefully it will be an overall profit in terms of money.
My mom, while looking at my old orange shirt from HS (my class color) with the picture of a Knight (our school mascot) noticed that it is not a horse this knight is riding but a Grinning UNICORN! My brother sister and I are each four years apart and each worn my shirt(me--> brian-->elizabeth) because we have the same class year, ORANGE! take a look at our knight for yourself:
Well, I'm out to celebrate this awesome prize!!! Drew, I am looking forward to tomorrow night!!! Hope to see lots of you there too!!! Peace Love and ______ (you fill in the blank)
Glad to see lots of posts, by the way!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The emotional patterns of first year Teaching Fellows
They say in their first six weeks Teaching Fellows experience the highest highs. They are on top of the world.
They say from mid-October until Christmas Teaching Fellows go from the highest high to the lowest low.
I'm at week 8.
Let me tell it like it is:
The Teaching Fellows did not prepare me for this trial by fire. That said, I'm managing the heat.
In terms of behavior management, I am blessed with very few problems. The worst day in my most challenging class began with tug of war over journals, a student winding up to swing his back pack at a peer, an apparently painful pinch in the back and lots of high pitched shrieking. Luckily, those days are rare.
In the mean time we have had amazing high-level discussions around issues of racism. We read DuBois and Baldwin, listened to and analyzed the song Strange Fruit, and examined the Jena 6 trial. We have argued about the validity of the law. They have debated issues of loyalty and honesty (one scenario: am I loyal to my heroin-addict sister, or do I tell my dad?) . Sometimes they blow me away with their insight.
I am constantly frustrated by the day-to-day at school. The photocopiers upstairs weren't working so they locked us out of the room. Then they took away our access codes so we couldn't use the one working photocopier. It takes forever to get a request for a ream of paper filled. We're asked to come in early for meetings and the meetings get cancelled. We have no ESL services and I have English-Language-Learning 9th graders who are struggling at a 4th grade reading level. I have different people in my classroom observing me all the time. They all claim they want to help me. I have yet to feel helped. We're a science and technology school and all of the overhead projectors are broken and no one knows how to fix them.
Today was a frustrating day. I had an aggravating department meeting that left me feeling more annoyed and unsupported. That said, when I left everything behind and started teaching class, it all went away. Suddenly, memories of beauracracy were replaced by my freshmen and their immature giggles, their need to always be touching each other or talking to someone, the drama in the cafeteria, and the look I sometimes see in their eyes when a topic we're discussing excites them. Today in my 8th period Global History class I just stood there and smiled at them, because I love these kids and all of their craziness. Despite all of the days when I feel like an awful teacher, I am so glad to be doing what I am doing.
My favorite mentor at school is self-appointed. She is a math teacher who wants to teach me the ways of the school. She taught me that there are secret, unlabelled, locked bathrooms on the second floor that are clean and essentially private, because no one knows about them (and I have the key!). She lets me use the fridge in her room and she always makes me laugh. Her most important piece of advice is to have a REALLY GOOD HALLOWEEN COSTUME, because apparently everyone dresses up on Halloween. She's a mother of three and she has decided to go as Britney Spears this year (though she agrees that at my age "dressing trashy might be in bad taste").
So my question for all of you is: WHAT SHOULD I BE FOR HALLOWEEN? I need a school-appropriate costume. The physics teacher was a robot last year and was decked out in a costume he could barely move in and he painted his face silver. Apparently, it's a big deal.
IDEAS?
Ok, I've got to get back to planning for social studies tomorrow.
Love you all,
a
They say from mid-October until Christmas Teaching Fellows go from the highest high to the lowest low.
I'm at week 8.
Let me tell it like it is:
The Teaching Fellows did not prepare me for this trial by fire. That said, I'm managing the heat.
In terms of behavior management, I am blessed with very few problems. The worst day in my most challenging class began with tug of war over journals, a student winding up to swing his back pack at a peer, an apparently painful pinch in the back and lots of high pitched shrieking. Luckily, those days are rare.
In the mean time we have had amazing high-level discussions around issues of racism. We read DuBois and Baldwin, listened to and analyzed the song Strange Fruit, and examined the Jena 6 trial. We have argued about the validity of the law. They have debated issues of loyalty and honesty (one scenario: am I loyal to my heroin-addict sister, or do I tell my dad?) . Sometimes they blow me away with their insight.
I am constantly frustrated by the day-to-day at school. The photocopiers upstairs weren't working so they locked us out of the room. Then they took away our access codes so we couldn't use the one working photocopier. It takes forever to get a request for a ream of paper filled. We're asked to come in early for meetings and the meetings get cancelled. We have no ESL services and I have English-Language-Learning 9th graders who are struggling at a 4th grade reading level. I have different people in my classroom observing me all the time. They all claim they want to help me. I have yet to feel helped. We're a science and technology school and all of the overhead projectors are broken and no one knows how to fix them.
Today was a frustrating day. I had an aggravating department meeting that left me feeling more annoyed and unsupported. That said, when I left everything behind and started teaching class, it all went away. Suddenly, memories of beauracracy were replaced by my freshmen and their immature giggles, their need to always be touching each other or talking to someone, the drama in the cafeteria, and the look I sometimes see in their eyes when a topic we're discussing excites them. Today in my 8th period Global History class I just stood there and smiled at them, because I love these kids and all of their craziness. Despite all of the days when I feel like an awful teacher, I am so glad to be doing what I am doing.
My favorite mentor at school is self-appointed. She is a math teacher who wants to teach me the ways of the school. She taught me that there are secret, unlabelled, locked bathrooms on the second floor that are clean and essentially private, because no one knows about them (and I have the key!). She lets me use the fridge in her room and she always makes me laugh. Her most important piece of advice is to have a REALLY GOOD HALLOWEEN COSTUME, because apparently everyone dresses up on Halloween. She's a mother of three and she has decided to go as Britney Spears this year (though she agrees that at my age "dressing trashy might be in bad taste").
So my question for all of you is: WHAT SHOULD I BE FOR HALLOWEEN? I need a school-appropriate costume. The physics teacher was a robot last year and was decked out in a costume he could barely move in and he painted his face silver. Apparently, it's a big deal.
IDEAS?
Ok, I've got to get back to planning for social studies tomorrow.
Love you all,
a
Sunday, October 21, 2007
well, if we're all updating...
deutschland is....
-amazing bavarian beer and wurst
-embarrassing myself speaking german in class (which is 6 hours of religious studies theory in german)
-spending a lot of down time in my room, lonely, although trying to make friends
-realizing how time starts and stops, speeds up, and slows down
-planning trips to berlin, vienna, mallorca, prague, istanbul, cairo, casablanca, moscow
-learning how day to day things work- the hard way
-playing in the snow. yes. SNOW. TODAY.
-missing home. sometimes.
I'm picking up anna meyer at the train station in one hour. small world, huh?
love rose
-amazing bavarian beer and wurst
-embarrassing myself speaking german in class (which is 6 hours of religious studies theory in german)
-spending a lot of down time in my room, lonely, although trying to make friends
-realizing how time starts and stops, speeds up, and slows down
-planning trips to berlin, vienna, mallorca, prague, istanbul, cairo, casablanca, moscow
-learning how day to day things work- the hard way
-playing in the snow. yes. SNOW. TODAY.
-missing home. sometimes.
I'm picking up anna meyer at the train station in one hour. small world, huh?
love rose
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Red Sox Kick Ass
I got a flu shot today which (of course) made me actually feel like I have the flu, so I'm keeping this short. But here are some Amanda updates:
1) Friday was my first day off in two weeks
2) I found a place to live that is nice and not too expensive
3) I'm adopting a kitten (and she needs a name, so any suggestions are welcome)
I could probably go on for a long time about one thing or another, but I won't. I miss you all, and seriously, come visit. You can all stay in my family's house, which is big and lovely and near the beach. And the weather was nice enough to wear shorts the other day. And if you're into shopping, everything is on sale right now. And if you're not, it's the perfect weather for bike rides, kayaking, hiking, etc.
Love you and miss you all.
1) Friday was my first day off in two weeks
2) I found a place to live that is nice and not too expensive
3) I'm adopting a kitten (and she needs a name, so any suggestions are welcome)
I could probably go on for a long time about one thing or another, but I won't. I miss you all, and seriously, come visit. You can all stay in my family's house, which is big and lovely and near the beach. And the weather was nice enough to wear shorts the other day. And if you're into shopping, everything is on sale right now. And if you're not, it's the perfect weather for bike rides, kayaking, hiking, etc.
Love you and miss you all.
I too have felt remiss for my lack of posting...
Hey all - how's everybody doing? I only speak to a few of you regularly so I guess I should give those of you who don't hear from me a basic rundown of how my life is here in good ole virginia as I sit in my kitchen having my morning tea.
- First of all, I LOVE my apartment - it's so spacious and comfortable and I love living alone even more than I thought I would. I'm actually the only one of most of my friends who are living alone. I guess I'm the kinda person who can be happy alone, and yet still be motivated to have a social life.
- Second: School. This semester has been a lot less work than I expected, but because of how the credits are with the classes I was required to take, I'm only taking 11 credits (the average class is 3 here, not 4 like at Conn). Next semester my schedule is gonna be pretty packed and I'll be taking a more difficult course load (including a class that meets on weds, thurs, and fri at 8:45. Ugh.) As for the classes I'm in now, my favorite class is probably classroom staging which is essentially a class on how to teach shakespeare actively in the classroom. The professor is incredible (He's the one who started the American Shakespeare Center, built the Blackfriar's, created this grad program, etc.) I also really like Ren(renaissance) 500, which is the intro class that all the first years have to take. The required reading for the class is the complete works of Shakespeare - approximately 4 plays a week. (I've already read em all, but I've been sometimes going to the reading groups that my classmates have organized. They generally include lots of good snack food, and getting drunk - either INSTEAD of reading the play, WHILE reading the play, or AFTER reading the play, lol.) My classmates are a pretty fun bunch. I also didn't think it would be possible to find people who are HUGER Shakespeare dorks than I am, but it has happened. Casual mealtime conversation often includes rhetorical devices, contentions over the First Folio, and making fun of anti-stratfordians (basically anyone who cares enough to assert that William Shakespeare did not write the plays accredited to him. After all, who really cares?) So yeah, it's fun to finally NOT stand out in my Shakespeare dorkdom. I can bring up Shakespeare without inciting people to giggle at me! It's great!
- One of the biggest highlights from this semester so far has been 24 Theatre Project. Basically the participants were split into 4 groups - each having a couple writers, a director, and 4 actors or so. At 7 PM the writers began writing a short one-act play. At 7 AM the writers meet with the director to discuss the play. At 8 AM the actors (I was one of those) arrive, and we had all day to memorize and rehearse the play which went up at 8 PM that night. It was such an incredible experience. I ended up making my best friend here through it. All the plays were ridiculously funny (though it was pretty much decided that ours was the funniest.) I played slash from guns n' roses. It was pretty priceless. We then proceeded to party hard afterwards. I was up for almost 24 hours.
- Next week will be quite possibly one of the most exciting experiences I have ever had. It is what is called the Blackfriar's Conference. Basically Shakespeare scholars from around the world (Many of them rather notable) all come to Staunton and all week long there are tons of paper presentations, parties/banquets, little plays (of which I am in one of them. It is called The Fortunate Exploits of Sir Ferdinando Gorgeous in the Land of Pentameter. It's about an evil tyrant who has taken over the land of Pentametria and forbidden all of its inhabitants from speaking in verse. Yes, we are just that dorky.) But we get to make asses of ourselves in front of the top people in our field. Who else can say that??
- So I got a job here working at a really old and charming movie theatre called the Dixie (www.thedixietheater.com). It used to be a huge auditorium, that got broken up into 4 theatres. The projection equipment is 50 someodd years old and it's really fun (and basically useless) that I know how to use it. It's basically run by MBC (Mary Baldwin College) Grad students, so it's a lot of fun - especially when we have our highly illegal midnight showings of movies after the theatre is closed for the night, hehe. We're gonna be doing Rocky Horror there the weekend before Halloween which should be a lot of fun.
Ok, well I think that is a prettfy sufficient update for now. I think everyone else needs to post too!
Hope y'all are doing well,
lots of love...
- First of all, I LOVE my apartment - it's so spacious and comfortable and I love living alone even more than I thought I would. I'm actually the only one of most of my friends who are living alone. I guess I'm the kinda person who can be happy alone, and yet still be motivated to have a social life.
- Second: School. This semester has been a lot less work than I expected, but because of how the credits are with the classes I was required to take, I'm only taking 11 credits (the average class is 3 here, not 4 like at Conn). Next semester my schedule is gonna be pretty packed and I'll be taking a more difficult course load (including a class that meets on weds, thurs, and fri at 8:45. Ugh.) As for the classes I'm in now, my favorite class is probably classroom staging which is essentially a class on how to teach shakespeare actively in the classroom. The professor is incredible (He's the one who started the American Shakespeare Center, built the Blackfriar's, created this grad program, etc.) I also really like Ren(renaissance) 500, which is the intro class that all the first years have to take. The required reading for the class is the complete works of Shakespeare - approximately 4 plays a week. (I've already read em all, but I've been sometimes going to the reading groups that my classmates have organized. They generally include lots of good snack food, and getting drunk - either INSTEAD of reading the play, WHILE reading the play, or AFTER reading the play, lol.) My classmates are a pretty fun bunch. I also didn't think it would be possible to find people who are HUGER Shakespeare dorks than I am, but it has happened. Casual mealtime conversation often includes rhetorical devices, contentions over the First Folio, and making fun of anti-stratfordians (basically anyone who cares enough to assert that William Shakespeare did not write the plays accredited to him. After all, who really cares?) So yeah, it's fun to finally NOT stand out in my Shakespeare dorkdom. I can bring up Shakespeare without inciting people to giggle at me! It's great!
- One of the biggest highlights from this semester so far has been 24 Theatre Project. Basically the participants were split into 4 groups - each having a couple writers, a director, and 4 actors or so. At 7 PM the writers began writing a short one-act play. At 7 AM the writers meet with the director to discuss the play. At 8 AM the actors (I was one of those) arrive, and we had all day to memorize and rehearse the play which went up at 8 PM that night. It was such an incredible experience. I ended up making my best friend here through it. All the plays were ridiculously funny (though it was pretty much decided that ours was the funniest.) I played slash from guns n' roses. It was pretty priceless. We then proceeded to party hard afterwards. I was up for almost 24 hours.
- Next week will be quite possibly one of the most exciting experiences I have ever had. It is what is called the Blackfriar's Conference. Basically Shakespeare scholars from around the world (Many of them rather notable) all come to Staunton and all week long there are tons of paper presentations, parties/banquets, little plays (of which I am in one of them. It is called The Fortunate Exploits of Sir Ferdinando Gorgeous in the Land of Pentameter. It's about an evil tyrant who has taken over the land of Pentametria and forbidden all of its inhabitants from speaking in verse. Yes, we are just that dorky.) But we get to make asses of ourselves in front of the top people in our field. Who else can say that??
- So I got a job here working at a really old and charming movie theatre called the Dixie (www.thedixietheater.com). It used to be a huge auditorium, that got broken up into 4 theatres. The projection equipment is 50 someodd years old and it's really fun (and basically useless) that I know how to use it. It's basically run by MBC (Mary Baldwin College) Grad students, so it's a lot of fun - especially when we have our highly illegal midnight showings of movies after the theatre is closed for the night, hehe. We're gonna be doing Rocky Horror there the weekend before Halloween which should be a lot of fun.
Ok, well I think that is a prettfy sufficient update for now. I think everyone else needs to post too!
Hope y'all are doing well,
lots of love...
Film School is my LIFE
I’m going to have to echo Emily a little bit: film school consumes your life, too!
Tomorrow night, I start on my third set so far this semester. By the end of the semester, I will have been on five.
My first set was a graduate thesis film called “Eli Vs. The Rope.” It’s cute comedy about an 11 year-old kid who decides that the way to win the girl he loves over is to climb the rope in gym class. As I mentioned a while ago, I got to be the 2nd 2nd Assistant Director on this film, which meant I was in charge of the extras. This got particularly tough on the weekend that we had 13 kids under the age of 13 – I was in charge of being aware of exactly where each of them were at all times… and kids run. A lot. But it was a really amazing film to be a part of, and I learned a ton on set.
My second set was another graduate thesis film (tentatively) called “Little Men.” This set was completely different, and totally ambitious – it’s a war epic set in the 50’s, and set in both Korea and in the U.S. It was really hard and really exhausting, but very rewarding to be a part of. The director and producer comprise an award-winning team, and there’s talk that this will be a Sundance film. I was an Art Assistant and PA on this film, which meant that, along with running countless errands (I really know what the term go-fer means at this point in my life), I helped the Art Director to completely reset a house so that it looked like it was in the 50’s, dress and equip soldiers so that they looked like they were really at war, and build a hut which both needed to be strong enough to actually have people inside of it and also be exploded. The explosion was realllllly cool to be a part of.
Tomorrow night, I start on my third set. It’s a dark comedy called “Soulmates,” and the script is really good. I’ll just be a PA on this set, but I’m really excited anyway – it has a totally kick-ass crew, and once again, I’ll be working with an award-winning team. I’ve definitely been attaching myself to the right projects. I’ll also be experiencing my first complete night-shoot tomorrow – It’s a 6pm-6am shoot! I’ve done one that was 12:30pm-12:30am (though I ended up having to be there until 3am), but this will be through the night.
I’ve spent the past week preparing for the other two sets I’ll be working on this semester. For the cycle film (a step below a thesis film, so a pretty big deal here), I’ll be working as the Line Producer, which means I have a ton of responsibility – I’m in charge of getting food, finding locations, scheduling, and budgeting for the film, among other things. So far, I’ve been location scouting in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, among other wealthy Orange County towns. That’s been pretty cool, though I have yet to find a place that will work. I’ve also been calling around to local restaurants and such to ask for donations and discounts. That’s been humbling.
Finally, today I got to go to Los Angeles to help the last film I’m working on for the semester (as a 2nd 2nd AD again) – another grad thesis film called “Suppressant,” which is a post-apocalyptic film. Casting was interesting, and LA wasn’t really what I thought it’d be. But two rumored things are true: the smog is gross and the traffic SUCKS.
Anyway, the social scene is still pretty cool here, though now that we’re all so busy, we go out a lot less. I told you guys about how my friends and I were called the “producer girls” – and I’m glad to say that this is no longer. First of all, Christina (the one I didn’t really like) now has a boyfriend and doesn’t hang out with us that often anymore… which is pretty much fine by me. Rachel has become my best friend here, and Ashley, my roommate, is a really good friend of mine, too. The three of us hang out all the time, and usually it’s with a bunch of other people. I love all of the other people here. Everyone is really chill, excited about film, and passionate about what they want to do with their lives. They’re also just a lot of fun.
Ryan, the boy I have fallen completely head over heels for, is who I spend the majority of my time with. We are somewhat inseparable and act like we’re in a relationship. Everyone else thinks we’re in a relationship, too. Somebody just needs to tell Ryan that he’s basically a in a relationship, because he’s a little slow on the uptake. Or something. I’m pretty sure he likes me (I mean, how could he not?), but he came here thinking he didn’t want to be in a relationship and I don’t think he knows what to do now that he finds himself in what could really be a pretty perfect match.
Any thoughts on the matter? I’m having trouble making something happen.
Anyway:
PLEASE UPDATE! Mollie, I’m dying to hear how grad school is. Amanda, how are all of your lessons going?! Amanda and Drew – what’s going on with Plum stuff? Allison – how is school? Rose, let’s hear some detail on Germany! Justin – how are your arm and job search progressing? And Rachel? Seth? Boston! Jess, I know I talk to you all the time, but not everyone does. And anyone else that still reads this – you too! I want to see you guys updating. Seriously. I miss you all too much to know so little (aka, nothing) about what’s going on in your lives. Don’t you guys want to stay in touch?
Love. Lots of it. I’ve really been missing you guys lately.
Tomorrow night, I start on my third set so far this semester. By the end of the semester, I will have been on five.
My first set was a graduate thesis film called “Eli Vs. The Rope.” It’s cute comedy about an 11 year-old kid who decides that the way to win the girl he loves over is to climb the rope in gym class. As I mentioned a while ago, I got to be the 2nd 2nd Assistant Director on this film, which meant I was in charge of the extras. This got particularly tough on the weekend that we had 13 kids under the age of 13 – I was in charge of being aware of exactly where each of them were at all times… and kids run. A lot. But it was a really amazing film to be a part of, and I learned a ton on set.
My second set was another graduate thesis film (tentatively) called “Little Men.” This set was completely different, and totally ambitious – it’s a war epic set in the 50’s, and set in both Korea and in the U.S. It was really hard and really exhausting, but very rewarding to be a part of. The director and producer comprise an award-winning team, and there’s talk that this will be a Sundance film. I was an Art Assistant and PA on this film, which meant that, along with running countless errands (I really know what the term go-fer means at this point in my life), I helped the Art Director to completely reset a house so that it looked like it was in the 50’s, dress and equip soldiers so that they looked like they were really at war, and build a hut which both needed to be strong enough to actually have people inside of it and also be exploded. The explosion was realllllly cool to be a part of.
Tomorrow night, I start on my third set. It’s a dark comedy called “Soulmates,” and the script is really good. I’ll just be a PA on this set, but I’m really excited anyway – it has a totally kick-ass crew, and once again, I’ll be working with an award-winning team. I’ve definitely been attaching myself to the right projects. I’ll also be experiencing my first complete night-shoot tomorrow – It’s a 6pm-6am shoot! I’ve done one that was 12:30pm-12:30am (though I ended up having to be there until 3am), but this will be through the night.
I’ve spent the past week preparing for the other two sets I’ll be working on this semester. For the cycle film (a step below a thesis film, so a pretty big deal here), I’ll be working as the Line Producer, which means I have a ton of responsibility – I’m in charge of getting food, finding locations, scheduling, and budgeting for the film, among other things. So far, I’ve been location scouting in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, among other wealthy Orange County towns. That’s been pretty cool, though I have yet to find a place that will work. I’ve also been calling around to local restaurants and such to ask for donations and discounts. That’s been humbling.
Finally, today I got to go to Los Angeles to help the last film I’m working on for the semester (as a 2nd 2nd AD again) – another grad thesis film called “Suppressant,” which is a post-apocalyptic film. Casting was interesting, and LA wasn’t really what I thought it’d be. But two rumored things are true: the smog is gross and the traffic SUCKS.
Anyway, the social scene is still pretty cool here, though now that we’re all so busy, we go out a lot less. I told you guys about how my friends and I were called the “producer girls” – and I’m glad to say that this is no longer. First of all, Christina (the one I didn’t really like) now has a boyfriend and doesn’t hang out with us that often anymore… which is pretty much fine by me. Rachel has become my best friend here, and Ashley, my roommate, is a really good friend of mine, too. The three of us hang out all the time, and usually it’s with a bunch of other people. I love all of the other people here. Everyone is really chill, excited about film, and passionate about what they want to do with their lives. They’re also just a lot of fun.
Ryan, the boy I have fallen completely head over heels for, is who I spend the majority of my time with. We are somewhat inseparable and act like we’re in a relationship. Everyone else thinks we’re in a relationship, too. Somebody just needs to tell Ryan that he’s basically a in a relationship, because he’s a little slow on the uptake. Or something. I’m pretty sure he likes me (I mean, how could he not?), but he came here thinking he didn’t want to be in a relationship and I don’t think he knows what to do now that he finds himself in what could really be a pretty perfect match.
Any thoughts on the matter? I’m having trouble making something happen.
Anyway:
PLEASE UPDATE! Mollie, I’m dying to hear how grad school is. Amanda, how are all of your lessons going?! Amanda and Drew – what’s going on with Plum stuff? Allison – how is school? Rose, let’s hear some detail on Germany! Justin – how are your arm and job search progressing? And Rachel? Seth? Boston! Jess, I know I talk to you all the time, but not everyone does. And anyone else that still reads this – you too! I want to see you guys updating. Seriously. I miss you all too much to know so little (aka, nothing) about what’s going on in your lives. Don’t you guys want to stay in touch?
Love. Lots of it. I’ve really been missing you guys lately.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Hot date on a Saturday Night...
Or not.
I'm actually studying for a contract midterm on Monday and I'm extremely tired of shoving my brain full of facts/scenarios on offering/accepting/rejecting/counter-offering/revoking. Sounds interesting right??
It's nights like this where I wish I could briefly re-read my notes and bust down to Blaustein to take a self scheduled exam, or crap out a 5 page paper in a few hours and then go out...
SIGH
miss you guys,
emily
I'm actually studying for a contract midterm on Monday and I'm extremely tired of shoving my brain full of facts/scenarios on offering/accepting/rejecting/counter-offering/revoking. Sounds interesting right??
It's nights like this where I wish I could briefly re-read my notes and bust down to Blaustein to take a self scheduled exam, or crap out a 5 page paper in a few hours and then go out...
SIGH
miss you guys,
emily
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Law School Tends to Consume Your Life...
Hello!!!
I've been one of "those" people that checks the blog everyday and thinks...Hm, I should post. So here it goes...
I have been here at Michigan State for almost 2 months now -- it's crazy how fast the time goes; at least retrospectively. Sometimes when I'm in class/reading/studying it seems to crawl. So this is a pretty good summary of what my life has turned into post-ConnColl.
Everything for the Law School is all in one building, no more switching buildings for class. The library, cafe, administrative offices, faculty offices, computer lab -- all in the same 4-story building (my second home), which is good because you don't have any time to wander around campus anyway.
I'm taking five classes (the standard first year full-time curriculum) Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure and a Reasearch/Writing seminar. Mon/Wed is Torts & Contracts, Tues/Thurs is CrimLaw/Civpro and Friday is R/W Sem at 9am -- no more thirsty thursdays.
The entire 1L class (1st year law school students) is about 275 ppl with three sections of almost 100. I'm in section 1, we have all the same professors, same classes, etc. and it makes for an interesting experience, going from ConnColl classes to these huge lecture halls where professors have no mercy and interrogate you...at first its a little unnerving.
First is Torts, it covers negligence, battery, assault, trespass, etc. All that fun stuff. More importantly, this is the ONLY class i have where you can voluntarily answer; which makes the class great and not so great at the same time. As always there are those "all-star" people who just looooove to hear themselves talk and rarely think before raising there hand/"contributing" to class discussions. What makes it worse, is i sit next to one of them...needless to say, we don't speak to each other. I'm not very nice either about my dislike for his comments/existence in general and give a somewhat obnoxious sigh and eye roll every time he speaks. Moving on...
Then Contracts -- with a professor i absolutely love. He's just very real and good at his job, gives good advice and is just kinda like...a law school dad. Basically I want him to adopt me and help me with my law homework. He's found a good balance between scary and approachable. He will call on people to question them about cases/readings/etc...and take some comments from volunteers, very rarely. But contracts is probably the most confusing -- although i thought it would be the easiest to understand. Basically there are no rules, just general guidelines, but a lot of establishing "if a contract existed" is very subjective.
Criminal Law is definitely my most interesting and entertaining class. I have the infamous, very old and senile professor named Apol -- who has probably taught CrimLaw to 1L's for 7,000 years. He's at the point in his career where his goal in class is to keep himself entertained, so a lot of what we do is chant the elements of crimes very loudly in order to disturb the other professors/classes on the floor. Good times. He also has a theory that every crime takes place after 11pm, with the goal of going to the fair and alcohol/drugs are always involved. Which...so far according to our case book, has held up to be pretty true.
The cases for CrimLaw are pretty entertaining...while some are really horrible and disturbing, you get others that are from 1892 about selling pigs that belonged to a neighbor, taking clothing out of a salvation army box (does this count as a structure, who does the property belong to at the time its in the box...etc. etc). Obviously, I have no sense of what's really amusing anymore and I apologize for any further law school ramblings.
Civil Procedure is probably the scariest class in the world. Our professor has our names on a deck of cards, shuffles and has students draw the names from the pile. It's the most stressful minute and a half of my week. Then, if you are called on, you are one of X number of people that may be called on/questioned at any time for the 1.5 hours we are in class. More importantly, this guy is a total ass. He loves to see us squirm when we answer. The more your answers suck/the more clueless you are...the better for him. Basically, if you are 99.5% right or 2% right...he will find a way to make you feel like an idiot, question why you came to law school, and depending on the severity of his comments, make you want to die. He also had incredibly odd mannerisms which make him somewhat entertaining, and you laugh at his demeaning comments about other student's answers out of fear.
On the other hand, it is extremely rewarding when all the "all-stars" from the other classes get called on by Prof. Jackass and then get completely shut down for their stupid answers. That is thoroughly enjoyable.
In the mean time, when I'm not at class, I read and study a lot. I'm learning how to cook, so I can improve my diet of pasta, rice, chicken, macaroni and cheese, etc. as well as my dependency/addiction to take out and microwaveable meals.
I do go out thou -- I swear!!! Friday nights all the 1L's meet up and go out to the bars, which is a pretty decent scene considering it's Michigan. You meet new people from other sections, and get to bitch about ur week. So Friday, after class, is the day I do all those "normal" people things like go to the grocery store, do laundry, clean my apt. etc. Then it's bar time on Friday night!!! I pretty much live for Fridays at 10:40 am -- FREEDOM!!!
Also, being at a big 10 school of over 45,000 people is a really great change. I have season tickets for the home football games so if anybody wants to come out for one...let me know! They are really fun and crazy. Saturday mornings of home games are pretty much like...Floralia but w/ thousands students, adults, alumns, and locals. The stadium itself seats about 75,000 ppl so it's really impressive and fun. Needless to say, the games are a nice distraction, but we've lost the past two weeks...which sucks.
So that's a brief overview of what I've been up to out here in the Mitten. If anybody would like to come visit, you are absolutely more than welcome! I miss you all very very much, and for those of you who were at alumni weekend, I hope it was great to meet up again -- I wish I could have been there!!!
That concludes my essay of a post on law school.
Take care, every one!
Emily
I've been one of "those" people that checks the blog everyday and thinks...Hm, I should post. So here it goes...
I have been here at Michigan State for almost 2 months now -- it's crazy how fast the time goes; at least retrospectively. Sometimes when I'm in class/reading/studying it seems to crawl. So this is a pretty good summary of what my life has turned into post-ConnColl.
Everything for the Law School is all in one building, no more switching buildings for class. The library, cafe, administrative offices, faculty offices, computer lab -- all in the same 4-story building (my second home), which is good because you don't have any time to wander around campus anyway.
I'm taking five classes (the standard first year full-time curriculum) Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure and a Reasearch/Writing seminar. Mon/Wed is Torts & Contracts, Tues/Thurs is CrimLaw/Civpro and Friday is R/W Sem at 9am -- no more thirsty thursdays.
The entire 1L class (1st year law school students) is about 275 ppl with three sections of almost 100. I'm in section 1, we have all the same professors, same classes, etc. and it makes for an interesting experience, going from ConnColl classes to these huge lecture halls where professors have no mercy and interrogate you...at first its a little unnerving.
First is Torts, it covers negligence, battery, assault, trespass, etc. All that fun stuff. More importantly, this is the ONLY class i have where you can voluntarily answer; which makes the class great and not so great at the same time. As always there are those "all-star" people who just looooove to hear themselves talk and rarely think before raising there hand/"contributing" to class discussions. What makes it worse, is i sit next to one of them...needless to say, we don't speak to each other. I'm not very nice either about my dislike for his comments/existence in general and give a somewhat obnoxious sigh and eye roll every time he speaks. Moving on...
Then Contracts -- with a professor i absolutely love. He's just very real and good at his job, gives good advice and is just kinda like...a law school dad. Basically I want him to adopt me and help me with my law homework. He's found a good balance between scary and approachable. He will call on people to question them about cases/readings/etc...and take some comments from volunteers, very rarely. But contracts is probably the most confusing -- although i thought it would be the easiest to understand. Basically there are no rules, just general guidelines, but a lot of establishing "if a contract existed" is very subjective.
Criminal Law is definitely my most interesting and entertaining class. I have the infamous, very old and senile professor named Apol -- who has probably taught CrimLaw to 1L's for 7,000 years. He's at the point in his career where his goal in class is to keep himself entertained, so a lot of what we do is chant the elements of crimes very loudly in order to disturb the other professors/classes on the floor. Good times. He also has a theory that every crime takes place after 11pm, with the goal of going to the fair and alcohol/drugs are always involved. Which...so far according to our case book, has held up to be pretty true.
The cases for CrimLaw are pretty entertaining...while some are really horrible and disturbing, you get others that are from 1892 about selling pigs that belonged to a neighbor, taking clothing out of a salvation army box (does this count as a structure, who does the property belong to at the time its in the box...etc. etc). Obviously, I have no sense of what's really amusing anymore and I apologize for any further law school ramblings.
Civil Procedure is probably the scariest class in the world. Our professor has our names on a deck of cards, shuffles and has students draw the names from the pile. It's the most stressful minute and a half of my week. Then, if you are called on, you are one of X number of people that may be called on/questioned at any time for the 1.5 hours we are in class. More importantly, this guy is a total ass. He loves to see us squirm when we answer. The more your answers suck/the more clueless you are...the better for him. Basically, if you are 99.5% right or 2% right...he will find a way to make you feel like an idiot, question why you came to law school, and depending on the severity of his comments, make you want to die. He also had incredibly odd mannerisms which make him somewhat entertaining, and you laugh at his demeaning comments about other student's answers out of fear.
On the other hand, it is extremely rewarding when all the "all-stars" from the other classes get called on by Prof. Jackass and then get completely shut down for their stupid answers. That is thoroughly enjoyable.
In the mean time, when I'm not at class, I read and study a lot. I'm learning how to cook, so I can improve my diet of pasta, rice, chicken, macaroni and cheese, etc. as well as my dependency/addiction to take out and microwaveable meals.
I do go out thou -- I swear!!! Friday nights all the 1L's meet up and go out to the bars, which is a pretty decent scene considering it's Michigan. You meet new people from other sections, and get to bitch about ur week. So Friday, after class, is the day I do all those "normal" people things like go to the grocery store, do laundry, clean my apt. etc. Then it's bar time on Friday night!!! I pretty much live for Fridays at 10:40 am -- FREEDOM!!!
Also, being at a big 10 school of over 45,000 people is a really great change. I have season tickets for the home football games so if anybody wants to come out for one...let me know! They are really fun and crazy. Saturday mornings of home games are pretty much like...Floralia but w/ thousands students, adults, alumns, and locals. The stadium itself seats about 75,000 ppl so it's really impressive and fun. Needless to say, the games are a nice distraction, but we've lost the past two weeks...which sucks.
So that's a brief overview of what I've been up to out here in the Mitten. If anybody would like to come visit, you are absolutely more than welcome! I miss you all very very much, and for those of you who were at alumni weekend, I hope it was great to meet up again -- I wish I could have been there!!!
That concludes my essay of a post on law school.
Take care, every one!
Emily
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Resurrection numero due...
Okay, so this is my attempt at getting this thing going again. I keep commenting on everyone else's posts (and i appreciate everyone else who does the same thing) and now I have something to ACTUALLY update everyone on. Its nothing exciting but its funny...sort of.
So the past month and a half I have been studying for the GRE, having scheduled back in august my test for October 6. I have been doing tons of vocab review, learning new random words like bucolic (pastoral, rustic) and chicanery (trickery, subterfuge), taking practice tests, and doing math problems straight out of 8th grade algebra and trigonometry. Sooo...this past week was overtime week, doing some more practice tests and studying to get ready for this Saturday. I was pumped! I was gonna kick that GRE's ass so hard.....and then i got the email.
Wednesday morning, while studying on the couch and relaxing, I check my email and there is an email from the GRE board. So, I open it, assuming that its just a confirmation email for Saturday. But no, how wrong I was. Scanning the email, I'm in shock. Rather than saying "October 6 at 8:00 in Hamilton, NJ" it says "November 6 at 8:00 in Baltimore, MD"...NOVEMBER?!?!?!...BALTIMORE?!?!?! So I commence freak out mode. I wanted to scream fuck at the top of my lungs but I can't since my brother, who works nights, is sleeping upstairs since they are doing construction near his apt. I am ripping mad at this point since i scheduled this thing a month and a half ago. I call the Hamilton office and am told, via a message service, that there was a fire and that I need to reschedule my apt. Okay, so great. Of course the office ten minutes from my house HAS to burn down. So I go online to reschedule but am guided, once rescheduling to an office in Toms River NJ an hour away, that I need to pay $50 dollars. Right, I'm gonna pay $50 to reschedule because of a fire some disgruntled college grad who bombed on their GRE test started...not gonna happen!! So I call the GRE board and finally talk to an actual living breathing person who reschedules me for October 10th at noon in Toms River NJ AND I don't have to pay for it thank the lord. I'm a little miffed that now I have to drive farther away and wait a couple days longer but its a hella lot better than having to go to Baltimore in November. Later on that day I talked to my friend Katie who took it on Monday and she had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM. So it turns out this place has been burned down for a while now and they just keep telling people in waves (though she had a worse experience bc first she was directed to a website to certify her fire safety license, then her confirmation number told her that she was an Indian girl taking the GRE in India).
This has brought me to the conclusion that the GRE IS BULLSHIT!!! That is all....
...oh and i had an interview for a job today. It went well. Hopefully I get the job. Fingers crossed. I'll make that a separate post lata.
So the past month and a half I have been studying for the GRE, having scheduled back in august my test for October 6. I have been doing tons of vocab review, learning new random words like bucolic (pastoral, rustic) and chicanery (trickery, subterfuge), taking practice tests, and doing math problems straight out of 8th grade algebra and trigonometry. Sooo...this past week was overtime week, doing some more practice tests and studying to get ready for this Saturday. I was pumped! I was gonna kick that GRE's ass so hard.....and then i got the email.
Wednesday morning, while studying on the couch and relaxing, I check my email and there is an email from the GRE board. So, I open it, assuming that its just a confirmation email for Saturday. But no, how wrong I was. Scanning the email, I'm in shock. Rather than saying "October 6 at 8:00 in Hamilton, NJ" it says "November 6 at 8:00 in Baltimore, MD"...NOVEMBER?!?!?!...BALTIMORE?!?!?! So I commence freak out mode. I wanted to scream fuck at the top of my lungs but I can't since my brother, who works nights, is sleeping upstairs since they are doing construction near his apt. I am ripping mad at this point since i scheduled this thing a month and a half ago. I call the Hamilton office and am told, via a message service, that there was a fire and that I need to reschedule my apt. Okay, so great. Of course the office ten minutes from my house HAS to burn down. So I go online to reschedule but am guided, once rescheduling to an office in Toms River NJ an hour away, that I need to pay $50 dollars. Right, I'm gonna pay $50 to reschedule because of a fire some disgruntled college grad who bombed on their GRE test started...not gonna happen!! So I call the GRE board and finally talk to an actual living breathing person who reschedules me for October 10th at noon in Toms River NJ AND I don't have to pay for it thank the lord. I'm a little miffed that now I have to drive farther away and wait a couple days longer but its a hella lot better than having to go to Baltimore in November. Later on that day I talked to my friend Katie who took it on Monday and she had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM. So it turns out this place has been burned down for a while now and they just keep telling people in waves (though she had a worse experience bc first she was directed to a website to certify her fire safety license, then her confirmation number told her that she was an Indian girl taking the GRE in India).
This has brought me to the conclusion that the GRE IS BULLSHIT!!! That is all....
...oh and i had an interview for a job today. It went well. Hopefully I get the job. Fingers crossed. I'll make that a separate post lata.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
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