What happens when Chinese nerds have too much time on their hands? I'll tell you a bit later on when I get to earlier today, but I don't want to get ahead of myself (besides, if I tell you all of the interesting bits now you'll just stop reading.)
Since we got back from the beach I've gone back to job hunting, still unsuccessfully. I'll keep going, but I'm beginning to think my only choice soon will be falling in with the mafia side of my family and performing contract hits for money. Anybody know where I can get a garroting wire? In all seriousness I have a possibility at Macy's working in sales, but that's starting to dwindle as they still haven't contacted me about the interview they said they wanted. So until then I'll keep looking (oh, and if you need someone disappeared... I'm here.)
Beyond job hunting the first couple of days this week were rather dull. Wednesday I went over to Josh Bernitt's house, where we caught up and played a game about a man in Texas in 1911. Think John Wayne meets the slow-mo action sequences of the Matrix.
Last night I was both in charge o making dinner and in getting my sister to a birthday party. To do so, I had to use the GPS for the first time. It took some getting used to not knowing where I was going until 6 feet before I had to turn, and this wasn't helped by the fact that our GPS system likes to mumble. This does not bode well for my upcoming car trip to VA. More on that later though, first, as I promised, I will explain the Chinese thing. Well, today, after helping my neighbors move most of their possessions into storage (they're moving) I checked my e-mail, and found a strange e-mail from Blizzard Entertainment, telling me that my password for World of Warcraft had been successfully changed.
Now, this was odd both because I had not requested a password change and because my account has been inactive and unpaid for months. I don't play WoW anymore, so this raised alarm bells. Five minutes later, they sent me another e-mail telling me that I'd been suspended for conducting "real world cash for gold" transactions. Que??? I didn't even have the game installed on my computer. Thus, I checked my recent e-mail activity and found that China had been accessing my e-mail account remotely. This led me to one of two conclusions:
a) My old World of Warcraft account is of national importance to the Chinese government.
b) I was the victim of a bunch of nerds from china who wanted to use my account to sell non-existent money to people dumb enough to want to pay for fake money instead of playing the game they pay real money for access to to get it.
I figured the latter was more likely. I changed my password and locked them out, so no harm was done. Basically what happened was that someone in China hacked my e-mail account, sent a password change e-mail to my account, changed my password for WoW, and then started using my characters to sell in-game money for real money to nerds. (or people who own this) The really weird thing is that in order to do this, they had to re-activate my account, which costs money because you buy game time, and as I don't play the game I didn't have any. Instead of using my billing information which was in the account, the Chinese guy paid for it himself. Basically, the only practical result of all of this criminal activity was that he gave me $15 worth of game time for a game I don't have. What a nice hoodlum!
So aside from international nerd crime today's been relaxed. Tuesday I'm heading down to Virginia Beach to help judge at the National Speech and Debate championships for the league I competed in in High School. I learned this morning that I'm also going to be in the Alumni program/skit thing, which basically means that Wednesday night I get to get up in front of a large crowd of assembled homeschoolers with some other league alumni and essentially put on an episode of SNL. Fun!
Until next time, or until some Korean dude hacks my e-mail and starts blogging about his kimchii collection, see ya!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Hmm...Crispy?
Well, I'm back from Topsail Island, NC, where I've spent the past week baking in the sun, swimming, reading, and walking on the beach. Overall, great fun, want to specifically mention a couple of events which stand out against the sandy backdrop.
We drove up Saturday and arrived late in the afternoon at "Beach Coma" a rental house halfway down the island. Upon entering we discovered that the house had been completely remodeled since the last time we were there, which was quite cool. In addition, we found that as usual, my mom had come prepared with a plan of how things were going to work. This was not just any plan, however, this was a color-coded excel spreadsheet complete with dates, food to be served at each meal of the day, who was to prepare said meal, and who was in charge of cleaning it up. This would have worked great, had it not been for the fact that my mom was the only person who consistently forgot to read the chart before starting in on a meal. As a result, (quite humorously) the plan was pretty much obsolete by day two. Mom did manage to cook/clean whenever she was supposed to, but the rest of the schedule was thrown into disarray by the maternal instinct to just tell me and my sister to do it. :) She would always apologize for it afterward, but I'd was more amused than anything else. (and we really didn't mind doing in the first place)
The next day my aunt, uncle, and cousins came down for the day and we managed to get some good time in the water as well as head down the beach to look for shark's teeth. (Which are everywhere on Topsail, as I may have mentioned before, due to currents in the Atlantic. Seriously, it's like walking in a giant mouth. 9 times out of 10 if you crouch down and look at the ground, there will be a shiny, black tooth sitting right there in front of you.)
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were mixed between rain, overcast weather, and the occasional patches of sunlight. While some of my family was rather cantankerous about it, (my swimming-addicted sister) I actually enjoyed the excuse to just read. Over the course of the week I managed to catch up on all the reading I meant to do over the course of the second semester at Covenant. All told, I started and finished:
"The Kite Runner" By Khaled Hosseini: Tells the story of Amir, an Afghan boy who grows up in Kabul, and then emigrates to America with his father during the Soviet occupation.
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini: Tells the story of two women, Leila and Mariam, who both end up married to the violent middle aged shoemaker, Rasheed.
"The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell: A look at why social epidemics (from crime waves to fashion trends) get started and what is necessary to cause a given idea to "tip".
"Blink" by Malcom Gladwell: An examination of the power of unconscious thought, from first impressions to the tiny, involuntary facial expressions we all make which often betray when we lie.
"Outliers" by Malcom Gladwell: A look at how situations, cultural legacies, and blind luck conspire to overthrow our traditional view of successful individuals.
"What the Dog Saw" by Malcom Gladwell (I did read other things than just him, I promise.) A collection of articles from the New Yorker, ranging from why late-night infomercials work to how the dog whisperer handles hopeless canines.
"The Topsail Island Realty Brochure" by unknown office drones: A catalog of houses available for sale or rent on Topsail Island.
"Nutrition facts for Honey Bunches of Oats" by Gen. Mills (presumably retired if he's writing for a living): The nutrients and amounts of said nutrients contained in one serving of Honey Bunches of Oats, both with and without 1/3 cup of skim milk.
Thursday the weather cleared and we were able to head back out to the beach and bake for a while. Although mostly I successfully avoided sunburn, I did manage to scorch my chest a bit, which is an odd feeling. Thursday evening my mom, sister, and I went mini-golfing. Despite the best efforts of a small, flightless, sleeping infant bird to terrify my competitors into taking 5 stroke penalties to skip the hole it was snoozing on, I still lost to my sister and tied my mom. I blame irregularities in the Earth's rotation as I putted.
Friday we soaked up the last bits of sun we could before packing up in the evening to come home. Whether due to the amount of sun which my cabeza absorbed or due to some strange phenomenon, Friday night I had a BIZZARE dream where I was Freddy Kreuger running away from myself (David P.) wielding a "Wet Floor" sign and chasing Freddy-Me through the hallways of a middle school we used to use for church meetings when I was a kid. Needless to say, waking up was a pleasant and welcome change.
This morning we packed the rest of the gear up and hit the road. My sister and mom traded turns at the wheel as we drove back so that Em could get some time logged towards completing the requirements to get a full driver's license. Once home, I moved a TV around so that our neighbors (who've sold their house but can't move till December) will have one to watch while they rent out our basement apartment. Then I finally got back onto my workout schedule and now I'm writing about everything. Phew! That brings us up to now, as I sit in front of my computer and listen to "Back in the U.S.S.R." by the Beatles. I have a job interview as a stocker at Macy's on Tuesday (and yes, I know what it sounds like if you read that sentence aloud.) Hopefully that goes well, and I can finally stop worrying about finding a job.
Till next week: shalom!
We drove up Saturday and arrived late in the afternoon at "Beach Coma" a rental house halfway down the island. Upon entering we discovered that the house had been completely remodeled since the last time we were there, which was quite cool. In addition, we found that as usual, my mom had come prepared with a plan of how things were going to work. This was not just any plan, however, this was a color-coded excel spreadsheet complete with dates, food to be served at each meal of the day, who was to prepare said meal, and who was in charge of cleaning it up. This would have worked great, had it not been for the fact that my mom was the only person who consistently forgot to read the chart before starting in on a meal. As a result, (quite humorously) the plan was pretty much obsolete by day two. Mom did manage to cook/clean whenever she was supposed to, but the rest of the schedule was thrown into disarray by the maternal instinct to just tell me and my sister to do it. :) She would always apologize for it afterward, but I'd was more amused than anything else. (and we really didn't mind doing in the first place)
The next day my aunt, uncle, and cousins came down for the day and we managed to get some good time in the water as well as head down the beach to look for shark's teeth. (Which are everywhere on Topsail, as I may have mentioned before, due to currents in the Atlantic. Seriously, it's like walking in a giant mouth. 9 times out of 10 if you crouch down and look at the ground, there will be a shiny, black tooth sitting right there in front of you.)
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were mixed between rain, overcast weather, and the occasional patches of sunlight. While some of my family was rather cantankerous about it, (my swimming-addicted sister) I actually enjoyed the excuse to just read. Over the course of the week I managed to catch up on all the reading I meant to do over the course of the second semester at Covenant. All told, I started and finished:
"The Kite Runner" By Khaled Hosseini: Tells the story of Amir, an Afghan boy who grows up in Kabul, and then emigrates to America with his father during the Soviet occupation.
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini: Tells the story of two women, Leila and Mariam, who both end up married to the violent middle aged shoemaker, Rasheed.
"The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell: A look at why social epidemics (from crime waves to fashion trends) get started and what is necessary to cause a given idea to "tip".
"Blink" by Malcom Gladwell: An examination of the power of unconscious thought, from first impressions to the tiny, involuntary facial expressions we all make which often betray when we lie.
"Outliers" by Malcom Gladwell: A look at how situations, cultural legacies, and blind luck conspire to overthrow our traditional view of successful individuals.
"What the Dog Saw" by Malcom Gladwell (I did read other things than just him, I promise.) A collection of articles from the New Yorker, ranging from why late-night infomercials work to how the dog whisperer handles hopeless canines.
"The Topsail Island Realty Brochure" by unknown office drones: A catalog of houses available for sale or rent on Topsail Island.
"Nutrition facts for Honey Bunches of Oats" by Gen. Mills (presumably retired if he's writing for a living): The nutrients and amounts of said nutrients contained in one serving of Honey Bunches of Oats, both with and without 1/3 cup of skim milk.
Thursday the weather cleared and we were able to head back out to the beach and bake for a while. Although mostly I successfully avoided sunburn, I did manage to scorch my chest a bit, which is an odd feeling. Thursday evening my mom, sister, and I went mini-golfing. Despite the best efforts of a small, flightless, sleeping infant bird to terrify my competitors into taking 5 stroke penalties to skip the hole it was snoozing on, I still lost to my sister and tied my mom. I blame irregularities in the Earth's rotation as I putted.
Friday we soaked up the last bits of sun we could before packing up in the evening to come home. Whether due to the amount of sun which my cabeza absorbed or due to some strange phenomenon, Friday night I had a BIZZARE dream where I was Freddy Kreuger running away from myself (David P.) wielding a "Wet Floor" sign and chasing Freddy-Me through the hallways of a middle school we used to use for church meetings when I was a kid. Needless to say, waking up was a pleasant and welcome change.
This morning we packed the rest of the gear up and hit the road. My sister and mom traded turns at the wheel as we drove back so that Em could get some time logged towards completing the requirements to get a full driver's license. Once home, I moved a TV around so that our neighbors (who've sold their house but can't move till December) will have one to watch while they rent out our basement apartment. Then I finally got back onto my workout schedule and now I'm writing about everything. Phew! That brings us up to now, as I sit in front of my computer and listen to "Back in the U.S.S.R." by the Beatles. I have a job interview as a stocker at Macy's on Tuesday (and yes, I know what it sounds like if you read that sentence aloud.) Hopefully that goes well, and I can finally stop worrying about finding a job.
Till next week: shalom!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Radioactive Apples on the Beach
As of now I'm still job hunting, though that may change in the next twenty minutes. My friend Adam's working for a contractor, and he said he'd talk to his boss, who's looking for more help. Otherwise I'm still unemployed.
Since I last blogged....not much has happened. I've been applying/nagging just about everyone I can find to get a job. In addition, I've been chilling out with my sister quite a bit. Next week my family's heading off to Topsail Island, NC (you're not allowed to say "top SAIL" its pronounced "topsal".) to chill at the beach for a while. Topsail is home to both the largest deposit of shark's teeth in the general East Coast region as well as the best frappuchinos in the world. We'll be there till next Saturday, so it should be a good vacation.
Actually, I was writing this post Adam called, and while his boss might hire me, he's not sure if he's going to hire anyone at this point. So, I'm still looking for a job. Phooey.
I've been a bit ADD this go round, sorry. Earlier this week I actually cooked something. Hmm... I don't actually know what it was called, but it involved apples. I don't think it tasted bad... and nothing exploded, or mutated... there was a bit of geiger-counter wackiness, but what's a bit of gamma radiation, eh?
Anyway, until something interesting happens, I'll be available by skype: my skype name's "davidjpick" (and that's actually right for all the people whom I told differently). Adios, goodbye, and make sure to keep in touch.
Since I last blogged....not much has happened. I've been applying/nagging just about everyone I can find to get a job. In addition, I've been chilling out with my sister quite a bit. Next week my family's heading off to Topsail Island, NC (you're not allowed to say "top SAIL" its pronounced "topsal".) to chill at the beach for a while. Topsail is home to both the largest deposit of shark's teeth in the general East Coast region as well as the best frappuchinos in the world. We'll be there till next Saturday, so it should be a good vacation.
Actually, I was writing this post Adam called, and while his boss might hire me, he's not sure if he's going to hire anyone at this point. So, I'm still looking for a job. Phooey.
I've been a bit ADD this go round, sorry. Earlier this week I actually cooked something. Hmm... I don't actually know what it was called, but it involved apples. I don't think it tasted bad... and nothing exploded, or mutated... there was a bit of geiger-counter wackiness, but what's a bit of gamma radiation, eh?
Anyway, until something interesting happens, I'll be available by skype: my skype name's "davidjpick" (and that's actually right for all the people whom I told differently). Adios, goodbye, and make sure to keep in touch.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Homeward Bound
Well, I'm home again after the completion of finals, may they rest uneasily and have a terrible afterlife. Anyway, they didn't go as bad as that makes them sound, things were actually okay. After finals ended I said my goodbyes to everyone on the hall, specifically those who aren't coming back, like Robbie or Will. Friday my mom came to pick me up, and we got the chance to go to dinner and catch up. It was good to get to talk to her. Saturday we went to graduation, said goodbye to a lot of graduating seniors, and hit the road home. Well, hit the road home after the obligatory haircut, which mom photographed and then e-mailed to several people. Grr.....
The drive home took about 11 hours total, but it was made less boring by the fact that Mom and I had a lot of things to talk about, since I'd missed a lot of things back home during the year I was gone. We chatted and caught up, and then listened to a couple of books on tape. Finally, we got home Sunday afternoon, and found that Dad and Em had prepared a fantastic dinner, with more of Dad's bread (he still makes a ton of that apparently.) Em also told me that last week, during the final cooking class, she fell off the pier, which I found amusing.
Monday I started in earnest to try to land a job. I had an interview at the Lego store, and I'm still waiting on them to tell me whether they want to hire me, they said they'd call me this week. I'm also waiting for a call from Red Robin, to set up an interview. They also promised to call this week. Calling other places hasn't produced any results. Hopefully one of the two places which expressed interest still wants to hire me.
That brings me up to this morning. Umm... I took a shower and walked the dog....my laundry's done...Oh! and I wrote this blog entry. It's been an exciting morning. Ok then, until next week (I promise) I'll see you later.
The drive home took about 11 hours total, but it was made less boring by the fact that Mom and I had a lot of things to talk about, since I'd missed a lot of things back home during the year I was gone. We chatted and caught up, and then listened to a couple of books on tape. Finally, we got home Sunday afternoon, and found that Dad and Em had prepared a fantastic dinner, with more of Dad's bread (he still makes a ton of that apparently.) Em also told me that last week, during the final cooking class, she fell off the pier, which I found amusing.
Monday I started in earnest to try to land a job. I had an interview at the Lego store, and I'm still waiting on them to tell me whether they want to hire me, they said they'd call me this week. I'm also waiting for a call from Red Robin, to set up an interview. They also promised to call this week. Calling other places hasn't produced any results. Hopefully one of the two places which expressed interest still wants to hire me.
That brings me up to this morning. Umm... I took a shower and walked the dog....my laundry's done...Oh! and I wrote this blog entry. It's been an exciting morning. Ok then, until next week (I promise) I'll see you later.
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Final Blog Update While You Can Still Call Me Freshman
Well, it's been a while, but I've been busy! With finals approaching and Math class still a pain in whichever part of the body you prefer I've had my hands full. Let's see, since Niada closed (a pretty spectacular success for Alysha, I think :) ) I've been acting in the Directing class finals for both Liz and Alysha (although getting shoved over is about all I did in Alysha's. Does that count as method acting?) For Liz's I got to play Oberon the fairy king in a scene from Midsummer Night's Dream. It was fun, and I hope we did well enough to get Liz an A.
After Niada closed, we had the Cast Party. This time we headed to Issac Spiecher's apartment and had pizza while watching Iron Man. Fun stuff. Issac threw Hershey's kisses at our car as we left (he explained later that he was throwing them at me... another "fangirl" reference.) Later that week directing class rehearsals started in earnest, so in Liz's scene we had Katelyn as Dewdrop the fairy, Winter as Titania, and Chloe Payne as Puck, although about a week before the we presented for Liz's grade she had to re-cast Jordan as Puck. Kudos to her for learning all her lines in a week! It went pretty well I think. Alysha did an earlier scene from Midsummer, and we had the hilarious duo of Mitch and Justin playing Oberon and Puck, respectively. I played Demetrius, a love-struck stooge chasing after Mary Simpson's character, Helena. Basically I just run on stage, back into her accidentally, ask why she doesn't love me, get pushed over, then run off after her. She had way too much fun with that, I think.
This week went by fast, with much work being put into Math and Arabic. I came to realize that if you summarize the "stories" that accompany each chapter of my Arabic textbook you get quite a jaded picture of the world our two characters inhabit. Check it out.
Story One: Maha
Maha is an Egyptian girl living in New York. Her dad works for the United Nations and her mom is a prof. at her University. She never sees her parents since they are so busy, she has no friends because she dislikes people in general, and she hates New York for a variety of reasons. I dub her a whiner.
Story Two: Khalid
Khalid is a twenty-something teaching assistant at the University of Cairo. He wasn't allowed to study literature like he wanted, so he had to go to business school because his dad thought that business had a better future. Now, since his mom died and his grandmother won't let him sleep past six A.M., he has to raise his brother's, because apparently Dad can't be bothered. Khalid spends most of his free time in sports bars playing chess and smoking, a habit he hides from his grandmother. Reverse Cinderella?
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Khalid and Maha are first cousins, and that later on Maha apparently goes to Egypt and they get romantically involved.
What???
Anyway, after the parade of homework and studying and putting off studying by writing silly articles, we arrived at the weekend. Friday night we had the dueling events of the Sock Hop hosted by the ballroom club and the Invisible Children presentation in the Chapel. I went to the dancing lessons at the Sock Hop first, reasoning that I could come back after the Invisible Children presentation. Invisible Children is an organization working to put Ugandan children orphaned by AIDS and the war (which until recently devastated the country) through school. They showed a very powerful video and then two Ugandan people (the grandfather of the boy who was the main subject of the video, and an IC employee on the ground in Uganda) spoke to us. It was very good, and I was about to donate some of the eighteen dollars I have to them, when I realized I couldn't find my wallet. I spent about an hour and a half looking for it before I finally found it next to the sink in the Sanderson Men's room. How it got there I have no idea, I'm just glad I found it. Later that night Isaiah and I watched Blade II and enjoyed riffing it at every opportunity for taking itself WAY to seriously.
Saturday night we had a double feature in Jordan's room: Zombieland and Hot Fuzz. Gareth Jones, myself, Liz Brink, Liz Simpson, Alan Cheney, and Jordan herself spent the evening laughing and (at least I) enjoyed the fact that since Jordan hadn't seen the movies, I could have fun keeping her in the dark as to what was about to happen, kinda like watching LOST with Josh Bernitt. :) Needless to say it was awesome.
Sunday was pretty quiet, although I did finish my penultimate math assignment and started on the final one. It's almost done, and then my nightmare of a class is mostly over. We went to the Founder's picnic, played cornhole and frizzcup, had hamburgers, and generally had a good time.
That brings us up to today, and pretty much the only memorable thing was dinner. Me, Ann, Jordan, Lauren Hartzell, Zach McElrath, Laura Vickery, and briefly Chris Musser had a great time telling stories and eventually Jordan literally dragged my chair (with me in it) about fifty feet away from the table. I can't even remember why, but it was hilarious.
So, that's it for now. I'll try and update again on the flipside of finals. Oy vey...
After Niada closed, we had the Cast Party. This time we headed to Issac Spiecher's apartment and had pizza while watching Iron Man. Fun stuff. Issac threw Hershey's kisses at our car as we left (he explained later that he was throwing them at me... another "fangirl" reference.) Later that week directing class rehearsals started in earnest, so in Liz's scene we had Katelyn as Dewdrop the fairy, Winter as Titania, and Chloe Payne as Puck, although about a week before the we presented for Liz's grade she had to re-cast Jordan as Puck. Kudos to her for learning all her lines in a week! It went pretty well I think. Alysha did an earlier scene from Midsummer, and we had the hilarious duo of Mitch and Justin playing Oberon and Puck, respectively. I played Demetrius, a love-struck stooge chasing after Mary Simpson's character, Helena. Basically I just run on stage, back into her accidentally, ask why she doesn't love me, get pushed over, then run off after her. She had way too much fun with that, I think.
This week went by fast, with much work being put into Math and Arabic. I came to realize that if you summarize the "stories" that accompany each chapter of my Arabic textbook you get quite a jaded picture of the world our two characters inhabit. Check it out.
Story One: Maha
Maha is an Egyptian girl living in New York. Her dad works for the United Nations and her mom is a prof. at her University. She never sees her parents since they are so busy, she has no friends because she dislikes people in general, and she hates New York for a variety of reasons. I dub her a whiner.
Story Two: Khalid
Khalid is a twenty-something teaching assistant at the University of Cairo. He wasn't allowed to study literature like he wanted, so he had to go to business school because his dad thought that business had a better future. Now, since his mom died and his grandmother won't let him sleep past six A.M., he has to raise his brother's, because apparently Dad can't be bothered. Khalid spends most of his free time in sports bars playing chess and smoking, a habit he hides from his grandmother. Reverse Cinderella?
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Khalid and Maha are first cousins, and that later on Maha apparently goes to Egypt and they get romantically involved.
What???
Anyway, after the parade of homework and studying and putting off studying by writing silly articles, we arrived at the weekend. Friday night we had the dueling events of the Sock Hop hosted by the ballroom club and the Invisible Children presentation in the Chapel. I went to the dancing lessons at the Sock Hop first, reasoning that I could come back after the Invisible Children presentation. Invisible Children is an organization working to put Ugandan children orphaned by AIDS and the war (which until recently devastated the country) through school. They showed a very powerful video and then two Ugandan people (the grandfather of the boy who was the main subject of the video, and an IC employee on the ground in Uganda) spoke to us. It was very good, and I was about to donate some of the eighteen dollars I have to them, when I realized I couldn't find my wallet. I spent about an hour and a half looking for it before I finally found it next to the sink in the Sanderson Men's room. How it got there I have no idea, I'm just glad I found it. Later that night Isaiah and I watched Blade II and enjoyed riffing it at every opportunity for taking itself WAY to seriously.
Saturday night we had a double feature in Jordan's room: Zombieland and Hot Fuzz. Gareth Jones, myself, Liz Brink, Liz Simpson, Alan Cheney, and Jordan herself spent the evening laughing and (at least I) enjoyed the fact that since Jordan hadn't seen the movies, I could have fun keeping her in the dark as to what was about to happen, kinda like watching LOST with Josh Bernitt. :) Needless to say it was awesome.
Sunday was pretty quiet, although I did finish my penultimate math assignment and started on the final one. It's almost done, and then my nightmare of a class is mostly over. We went to the Founder's picnic, played cornhole and frizzcup, had hamburgers, and generally had a good time.
That brings us up to today, and pretty much the only memorable thing was dinner. Me, Ann, Jordan, Lauren Hartzell, Zach McElrath, Laura Vickery, and briefly Chris Musser had a great time telling stories and eventually Jordan literally dragged my chair (with me in it) about fifty feet away from the table. I can't even remember why, but it was hilarious.
So, that's it for now. I'll try and update again on the flipside of finals. Oy vey...
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
"I think you are confused...there's no one there."
It hasn't been a week, but I wanted to blog about the brush up rehearsal we had tonight while it was still fresh. For anyone unfamiliar with the way theater works at Covenant, we usually have one rehearsal, very informal, right before the second weekend starts, just to get everyone back into the show and make sure they remember their lines. Since Niada was in pretty good shape last weekend, the pressure was off and we could have some fun with it, especially because Alysha was a good sport about all the joking.
I've tried to put together a full, chronological list of the pranks we pulled, but I'm sure I've missed some, so I apologize in advance.
1. Wes Simmonds
2. In the first scene the "drowning" scene was exaggerated to comic heights.
3. Apparently the only really preplanned prank. As I walked onto the stage for my first scene, I heard a lot of screaming coming from the audience. Since I was in the scene, it didn't really register to me what they were screaming, or that they were coming on stage until Liz Simpson tackled me and Ann Jones and Jordan joined her in grabbing me and screaming. This was supposed to be the "screaming fangirls" that Alysha has joked would jump me ever since I started playing Kade.
4. Jacob Corbett pretended to be talking on a cell phone while setting up the scene in Istre's cavern.
5. Wes Simmonds got slapped.
6. The transformation of Merin from mermaid to human was apparently pretty funny, but I didn't see it since I was backstage.
7. Kade told Dorian to "king me" instead of "checkmate" during the chess scene.
8. Wes Simmonds some more. :)
9. Since Chris Hartwell wasn't there, instead of saying "I think you are confused, this is Aislyn" Kade said "I think you are confused, there's no one there."
10. The Sea King, when told what it will cost to save Merin's life, fell to his knees and screamed "NOOOOOOO!!" then after saving her muttered "she was right about you..." before leaving.
11. Kade carried Merin offstage instead of walking off with her.
Anyway, I'm positive I've forgotten a ton of them, and I know that we tried to get "Under the Sea" to play during Curtain call, but tech difficulties prevented it. We had a blast, and I can honestly say it was the most fun I've had at a brush up at Covenant.
After brush up we went to see the Senior Art Gallery in the Library, which was really amazing and I was thoroughly impressed. Among the pieces was a sculpture representing two ways people respond to God's calling and gifts, a set of hand-thrown pottery, several sculpted hands, a set of really cool paintings, a photo-stitched thing I wasn't sure what to call but it was cool, and a neat dresser/book/bunch of other cool stuff. There were a lot of people there, so I didn't get as good a look as I would have liked at some of the pieces, but it was still awesome. Afterward Liz, Audrey Brown, Jared Menard and I headed to the Blink and hung out for a while.
Well, only 2 1/2 more weeks left 'till finals. I'm really ready to be done with all of the classes (though I could hang out with my friends a good while longer). Just gotta push through!
I'm done.
:)
I've tried to put together a full, chronological list of the pranks we pulled, but I'm sure I've missed some, so I apologize in advance.
1. Wes Simmonds
2. In the first scene the "drowning" scene was exaggerated to comic heights.
3. Apparently the only really preplanned prank. As I walked onto the stage for my first scene, I heard a lot of screaming coming from the audience. Since I was in the scene, it didn't really register to me what they were screaming, or that they were coming on stage until Liz Simpson tackled me and Ann Jones and Jordan joined her in grabbing me and screaming. This was supposed to be the "screaming fangirls" that Alysha has joked would jump me ever since I started playing Kade.
4. Jacob Corbett pretended to be talking on a cell phone while setting up the scene in Istre's cavern.
5. Wes Simmonds got slapped.
6. The transformation of Merin from mermaid to human was apparently pretty funny, but I didn't see it since I was backstage.
7. Kade told Dorian to "king me" instead of "checkmate" during the chess scene.
8. Wes Simmonds some more. :)
9. Since Chris Hartwell wasn't there, instead of saying "I think you are confused, this is Aislyn" Kade said "I think you are confused, there's no one there."
10. The Sea King, when told what it will cost to save Merin's life, fell to his knees and screamed "NOOOOOOO!!" then after saving her muttered "she was right about you..." before leaving.
11. Kade carried Merin offstage instead of walking off with her.
Anyway, I'm positive I've forgotten a ton of them, and I know that we tried to get "Under the Sea" to play during Curtain call, but tech difficulties prevented it. We had a blast, and I can honestly say it was the most fun I've had at a brush up at Covenant.
After brush up we went to see the Senior Art Gallery in the Library, which was really amazing and I was thoroughly impressed. Among the pieces was a sculpture representing two ways people respond to God's calling and gifts, a set of hand-thrown pottery, several sculpted hands, a set of really cool paintings, a photo-stitched thing I wasn't sure what to call but it was cool, and a neat dresser/book/bunch of other cool stuff. There were a lot of people there, so I didn't get as good a look as I would have liked at some of the pieces, but it was still awesome. Afterward Liz, Audrey Brown, Jared Menard and I headed to the Blink and hung out for a while.
Well, only 2 1/2 more weeks left 'till finals. I'm really ready to be done with all of the classes (though I could hang out with my friends a good while longer). Just gotta push through!
I'm done.
:)
Friday, April 9, 2010
"You look like a...Patella?"
Well, I was accosted today about my failure to update my blog (and by accosted I mean that I am writing this blog post with a knife at my throat.) Anyway...
The last time I think I left off right before Easter break, which means that's probably where I should start... but I'm not going to. I'm going to back up and tell you about something that happened just before we left.
Friday was technically the first day of Easter break, which meant that there was no Great Hall for me to go and get food at. Thus, I woke up, learned this, and resigned myself to a diet of Jolly Ranchers, water, and Icebreakers. That is, I was resigned until Katie Jenkins saved my by having my come down to her apartment, where she provided me with pizza, fruit salad, and someone to talk to. I am extremely thankful and so are the roommates I was planning on eating before long.
This year Mitch invited me to join the group heading to his house for Easter break (he also managed to get me to agree to marry one of his sisters before I realized what I was saying. Nothing wrong with either of them, I just hadn't met them at the time.) So, come Friday afternoon we loaded up Jon Davis' car and drove down to Katelyn's apartment to pick her up. By the end of the five minute drive, I was sufficiently (and justifiably) terrified J.D.'s driving to switch over to ride in the car with Katelyn and Mitch's friend Michelle. This wasn't much better. Finally, I car hopped again to Angela's car at the florists shop she works at and found that thankfully Alan Cheney can drive smoothly.
The car ride was pretty uneventful, except for the time we formed into a V formation on the highway and the last hour of the ride when Alan got a nosebleed and drove the rest of the ride one handed... in a stick-shift. After we got to Mitch's we met his mom (who is awesome!) and debated taking out the Golf Cart for a spin. We didn't all fit, so Mitch introduced J.D. and I to Prince of Persia until the girls got back. After dinner, we played a late night game of Pictionary, which was hilarious because J.D. was mildly buzzed and had trouble drawing the things on the cards. In addition, even though we won, Angela and I had a roller coaster ride getting to the end of the board since she's a graduated art major and I can't draw a straight line.
Saturday Alysha and Liz came and hung out with us for the day. We spent a bunch of time at a strip mall looking into various stores and letting the girls try on dresses. While in Books-a-Million, we found a rather amusing book: the Serenity Roleplaying Game. Anybody who knows Serenity or Firefly will understand that reading through this provided us with a good couple of laughs. Since everyone in our group had been "dubbed" a certain member of the cast we each got pictures holding the book open to our character's entry. I'm still trying to get them off my phone, so look on FB for them once in a while, they might show up. For those of you who don't know Firefly... shame on you.
Sunday we went to Mitch's church and everyone but Alan and I sang in the choir. Sunday afternoon I actually met Mitch's sisters who I supposed to marry (a fact Mitchell made sure to remind me of before they got there) and we had a hamburger cookout provided by Mr. Mitchell. Oh, and in case this is confusing anyone, Mitch's last name is Mitchell, he doesn't go by his first name. So when I say Mr. Mitchell, I mean his dad. Anyway, we had a great time and by the time we got back to school we were all sufficiently rested and ready to start again (at least, as ready as one can be...)
Since Niada opened last night I should mention tech week. By now, if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know what tech week is, but just in case, tech week's when everything comes together for a play and we start running the full show with lights, costumes, sounds, and scene changes thrown together just like they'll be when we're doing the show for an audience.
So, opening night was last night, and things went really well! Everything came together, we had a pretty good crowd for a Thursday, and we got some unexpected publicity from the Student Development Office. About two hours before the show, they sent out an e-mail which proves that they don't always read things before they send them out. Mitchell had sent in an e-mail to them asking that they send an e-mail out advertising the show, and he provided an example ad to get them started. Rather than read it, they simply e-mailed out his example. I've pasted it below, and keep in mind that this is being sent out by an official school department which usually writes things that sound like this: "The music department will give a free concert tomorrow evening – Friday, April 9, 8 PM – Manhattan Piano Trio – to students with their ID card. This is to replace the concert in January that was cancelled. This is the final Covenant Arts concert for this year."
Instead we received this:
"Come see "Niada" - a play written, directed and produced by one of our finest.
The last time I think I left off right before Easter break, which means that's probably where I should start... but I'm not going to. I'm going to back up and tell you about something that happened just before we left.
Friday was technically the first day of Easter break, which meant that there was no Great Hall for me to go and get food at. Thus, I woke up, learned this, and resigned myself to a diet of Jolly Ranchers, water, and Icebreakers. That is, I was resigned until Katie Jenkins saved my by having my come down to her apartment, where she provided me with pizza, fruit salad, and someone to talk to. I am extremely thankful and so are the roommates I was planning on eating before long.
This year Mitch invited me to join the group heading to his house for Easter break (he also managed to get me to agree to marry one of his sisters before I realized what I was saying. Nothing wrong with either of them, I just hadn't met them at the time.) So, come Friday afternoon we loaded up Jon Davis' car and drove down to Katelyn's apartment to pick her up. By the end of the five minute drive, I was sufficiently (and justifiably) terrified J.D.'s driving to switch over to ride in the car with Katelyn and Mitch's friend Michelle. This wasn't much better. Finally, I car hopped again to Angela's car at the florists shop she works at and found that thankfully Alan Cheney can drive smoothly.
The car ride was pretty uneventful, except for the time we formed into a V formation on the highway and the last hour of the ride when Alan got a nosebleed and drove the rest of the ride one handed... in a stick-shift. After we got to Mitch's we met his mom (who is awesome!) and debated taking out the Golf Cart for a spin. We didn't all fit, so Mitch introduced J.D. and I to Prince of Persia until the girls got back. After dinner, we played a late night game of Pictionary, which was hilarious because J.D. was mildly buzzed and had trouble drawing the things on the cards. In addition, even though we won, Angela and I had a roller coaster ride getting to the end of the board since she's a graduated art major and I can't draw a straight line.
Saturday Alysha and Liz came and hung out with us for the day. We spent a bunch of time at a strip mall looking into various stores and letting the girls try on dresses. While in Books-a-Million, we found a rather amusing book: the Serenity Roleplaying Game. Anybody who knows Serenity or Firefly will understand that reading through this provided us with a good couple of laughs. Since everyone in our group had been "dubbed" a certain member of the cast we each got pictures holding the book open to our character's entry. I'm still trying to get them off my phone, so look on FB for them once in a while, they might show up. For those of you who don't know Firefly... shame on you.
Sunday we went to Mitch's church and everyone but Alan and I sang in the choir. Sunday afternoon I actually met Mitch's sisters who I supposed to marry (a fact Mitchell made sure to remind me of before they got there) and we had a hamburger cookout provided by Mr. Mitchell. Oh, and in case this is confusing anyone, Mitch's last name is Mitchell, he doesn't go by his first name. So when I say Mr. Mitchell, I mean his dad. Anyway, we had a great time and by the time we got back to school we were all sufficiently rested and ready to start again (at least, as ready as one can be...)
Since Niada opened last night I should mention tech week. By now, if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know what tech week is, but just in case, tech week's when everything comes together for a play and we start running the full show with lights, costumes, sounds, and scene changes thrown together just like they'll be when we're doing the show for an audience.
So, opening night was last night, and things went really well! Everything came together, we had a pretty good crowd for a Thursday, and we got some unexpected publicity from the Student Development Office. About two hours before the show, they sent out an e-mail which proves that they don't always read things before they send them out. Mitchell had sent in an e-mail to them asking that they send an e-mail out advertising the show, and he provided an example ad to get them started. Rather than read it, they simply e-mailed out his example. I've pasted it below, and keep in mind that this is being sent out by an official school department which usually writes things that sound like this: "The music department will give a free concert tomorrow evening – Friday, April 9, 8 PM – Manhattan Piano Trio – to students with their ID card. This is to replace the concert in January that was cancelled. This is the final Covenant Arts concert for this year."
Instead we received this:
"Come see "Niada" - a play written, directed and produced by one of our finest.
This play - based on a fairy-tail classic - features a mermaid more beautiful than a moon-rise, a witch more graceful than melted butter on a bald monkey, two men so manly they make Xena-Warrior Princess look like a woman, a small army of magical sea-creatures with strange fascination with shiny objects, and a masquerade more sophisticated and enjoyable than a box of Godiva Chocolates!
It happens tonight (4/8), Saturday(4/10), and all next weekend (4/16-18)! Don't miss it! Buy tickets in the great-hall at lunch!"
And with that: I've screwed up the formatting and can't get it to return to normal. Thus the rest of this blog will be typed out in "Font" font. Fortunately nothing else has really happened since last night, so I really don't have anything else to blog about. Except that I stole Jordan's jacket a lunch during a friendly dispute over a chair and forgot that I was wearing it until I had walked all the way back to Founders. I gave it to her roommate, so hopefully she won't have too much trouble getting it back. With that, I'd like to turn my blog over for a moment and remember someone near and dear to all of us: Alysha McCullough's Patella.
Alysha's Patella has been a great friend and a hard worker for many years, but has struggled with identity issues and feeling out of place. Last Sunday, the pressure became too much, and he snapped. Believing himself to be a part of the Fibula, he lunged sideways, out of his usual position between the Femur and the Tibia, and around to the side of the knee. After much icing and anti-inflammatory, it's still touch and go. Adding strain to the problem is that Alysha has revealed a hidden passive-aggression for her poor Patella, taking every opportunity to stand on it and walk around, causing him great stress in his hour of need. Please pray for Pat... and that Alysha will come to forgive him, and me for writing this paragraph.
Until next time. :)
And with that: I've screwed up the formatting and can't get it to return to normal. Thus the rest of this blog will be typed out in "Font" font. Fortunately nothing else has really happened since last night, so I really don't have anything else to blog about. Except that I stole Jordan's jacket a lunch during a friendly dispute over a chair and forgot that I was wearing it until I had walked all the way back to Founders. I gave it to her roommate, so hopefully she won't have too much trouble getting it back. With that, I'd like to turn my blog over for a moment and remember someone near and dear to all of us: Alysha McCullough's Patella.
Alysha's Patella has been a great friend and a hard worker for many years, but has struggled with identity issues and feeling out of place. Last Sunday, the pressure became too much, and he snapped. Believing himself to be a part of the Fibula, he lunged sideways, out of his usual position between the Femur and the Tibia, and around to the side of the knee. After much icing and anti-inflammatory, it's still touch and go. Adding strain to the problem is that Alysha has revealed a hidden passive-aggression for her poor Patella, taking every opportunity to stand on it and walk around, causing him great stress in his hour of need. Please pray for Pat... and that Alysha will come to forgive him, and me for writing this paragraph.
Until next time. :)
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