Living in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

Yesterday, I got locked out of my car while I was taking off several inches of snow that had accumulated on its exterior. I had to run down the block to get the house key from my landlord, then run back to my house so I could get the extra unlocker for my car. Maybe somebody saw me ploughing through all that snow, because later that night, when I got home, our very long sidewalk was completely ploughed and I didn't have to look funny walking through all that snow. I thought it was Joe, but he later told me that he'd found it like that when he was getting ready to shovel that afternoon. We looked around that night and noticed that everyone's sidewalk was clear. Thank you, Mystery Snow-Ploughing Angel.

In other news, I got the job as Web Content Editor for the school's website! I start this Friday! Whoo!

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

• Psychology Exam 1
• Phonetics homework for Linguistics (extremely difficult...well, not really)
• Lots of French reading
• Work
  

Huff, huff, puff

This morning, I woke up to Beyoncé singing "Irreplaceable" over and over again (I snooze a lot) in my ear. Joe woke up a bit later than usual...I don't know what happened to the alarm we usually leave on. We have 3 alarms: each of our cell phones and the alarm clock. The best (and worst) alarm is Joe's phone, because it doesn't have a limit on snoozes. It just keeps going off until you finally get up. I think that's a great idea, because for someone who loves to snooze, I tend to fall back to sleep for more hours than I should beause my phone's alarm only allowed 2 snoozes. What's up with that?!

Aaaaanyway, I got to school on time to figure out where I needed to go, make a phone call to Paul to tell him that we should go running at 11 instead of 12, then go and participate in a psychology department experiment for my class. When I was done with the experiment, I ate Hot Buffalo Wing flavored pretzels while walking to the gym. I got inside and I was so lost! They need directions in that place for newbies. I can't believe people actually work out. After a while, I got dressed, then Paul arrived, and we got lost for a few minutes before we actually found the track. How silly! I saw a lot of funny machines that I wanted to try and Paul said we (or maybe he meant just I) could try them one of these times. We ran 1/2 a mile, then walked 1/2 mile, then ran another 1/2. Huzzah! We walked after running, then we were pooped so we got dressed and left. I still can't believe people work out like that...haha.

I got almost everything done today. I just need to go get my cell phone account transferred over by the end of tomorrow, then I'm all set for a while. I've also begun studying for my Psych exam.

Oh! When I was at my parents' house, I found some really good photos from my large drawer of developed photos, and I think I will have the negatives scanned, then blown up to hang around the house. I wonder if that's possible at the store, since I know a photo CD costs roughly $1.99 and digital prints are much less than getting a reprint from a negative... smart... or not?

One of Many

...from Little Miss Sunshine:

This is quite possibly the BEST scene of any movie...EVER.

Unlimited Bowling and American Idol Rejects

Last night, we went to Casa Mare for some fancy dinner, then off to Key Lanes for some unlimited bowling. There were a couple of kids bowling in the lane next to us, one of which had the word "COLTS" shaven off the back of his head...I wanted to take a picture, but I didn't. You're just asking for attention with something like that to publicly display, though. I scored terribly at bowling, but oh, well!

We went back home and watched some recorded American Idol with Truc and Greg because we're rotten...but it was funny! We couldn't believe Simon said that kid looked like a bush baby. A bush baby!

Photojournalism: Assignment 3 - Lighting

1. Find a subject, such as a building or statue and photograph it early in the morning, at noon, and late in the day. Shoot the picture from the same point of view each time.
2. Shoot an example of indirect light.
3. Shoot an example of direct light.
4. Shoot an example of diffused light.
5. Shoot a silhouette.
6. Shoot the same subject you used as a silhouette, only this time expose for the subject and not for the background.
7. Have fun with the rest of the roll. Try some early morning or late afternoon shots, watch for the quality of the shadows. Think about your framing, think about your perspective and composition elements.

I am definitely going to start very early on this assignment so that I can make sure I am happy with my results. Hooray for photography assignments!

Try not to dance. I dare you!

At night, I was endless hours of television while Joe is fast asleep next to me. I'm lucky enough to be able to watch MTV2's Subterranean sometimes, and the past few times have been extremely pleasant. They played Cat Power's video for "Lived in Bars," which reminded me of Chan Marshall's incredibly awesome (in the literal sense here) voice; they also played the new Bloc Party single, "I Still Remember," which showed me a different but very nice side of them; oh, and MTV2 introduced me to Asobi Seksu! Gotta love good, new music. Needless to say, I can't wait until Cat Power's new CD comes out so I can listen to the whole of "How Can I Tell You," from the Zales (?) TV commercial. I am also anticipating the release of Bloc Party's new album so I can hear more goodness. Asobi Seksu's CD, Citrus, is already out so I will just listen to the rest of it.

Right now, I am listening to music on last.fm's player. I always want to tell everyone about how cool it is, but no one ever wants to listen. They'll see once they get there, if they ever do. It was feeding me sounds I didn't like, but then it came right back and presented me with some Belle & Sebastian, Cat Power, and now, The Flaming Lips! I'm going to do this more often while the iPod is re-juicing.

Our Photojournalism prof. let us out early today (well, as usual) so I am hanging out here until it's time for my interview. I'm supposed to go running with Paul after the interview, but I am pretty sure I'm coming down with a cold and I am too lazy. I have to push myself to train for the 5k, though, I do...so maybe I won't be lazy today.

Total Bust

Today was spent walking/running/driving around in Joe's car like a chicken with its head cut off. I intended to shoot my photos yesterday, but I wasn't able to, so I had to rush around today to shoot a whole roll and hope that a photo lab would develop it in time for class tomorrow. I got it done, but my photos are terrible. I think I might ask to re-shoot this assignment.

Assignment #2: Composition
Your assignment for this week is to make pictures illustrating at least four of the compositional techniques we discussed in class. You may choose from the following techniques*:

• Linear Composition*
• Dominant foreground, contributing background
• Introducing disorder into an ordered situation
• Rule of thirds*
• Selective focus*
• Reflection*
• Panning
• Silhouette*

*the techniques I tried

I did, however, get 10 out of 10 right on my Psychology quiz. Huzzah! The test is on Tuesday.

When I got to French class, Chris and I talked about the reading. I thought we had to finish the text, but that was because I tricked myself into doing things ahead of time by marking my planner that way... so I'd read more than I needed to and I may have spoiled the next part of the text for him. Whoops! I was anxious to hear about the subject of our "Analyse," but our prof. had actually forgotten about it. That means we get an extra week to do it. Yay...I think.

I went to Target after class and a very nice lady processed my film and put it on a CD for me in less than an hour. She even printed a contact sheet for me because she's that nice. Too bad my pictures are hideous.

Cameron's 2:00 PM Surprise - 01/23/07

New semester = new classes = new friends. Emily introduced me to Cameron the first day we had Linguistics. I was excited that I was sitting next to two people who love languages just as much as I do. Little did I know that there would be so much more to come! Em and I quickly noticed that, after a while of endless questions from other people who preferred to talk, Cameron would slowly reach into his backpack and take out a couple of sandwiches packed neatly into sandwich or Ziplock bags.

After a few classes, Emily and I confronted him about this and we all decided that he should bring a surprise each time, mix it up a little for the two of us, since we had nothing else with which to entertain ourselves. Lately, it's been just plain peanut butter sandwiches. Today, however, he brought a large German dictionary and peanut butter and jelly on toast! I decided that I am going to document his surprises each class and post them here. There may also be polls on what he should bring next, or which sandwiches/surprises were the best.

...so with all that out of the way, I present you the first of many Cameron's 2:00 PM Surprise photos to come:

My Lobster

Today in Psychology, each of us were asked to write down characteristics we look for in someone we would date and intend to marry. I think most of the kids were writing about their invented mates while I was diligently writing about you:

• honest
• dependable
• agreeable
• understanding
• loving
• open-minded
• reasonable
• easy-going

...and then we ran out of time. It's amazing how things develop over time, non?

Week 3 - Day 1

Quiz in Psychology this morning. Extremely easy. Everything was word-for-word from the notes. I am grateful for classes like this; it'll give me more time to work on my harder classes.

Linguistics: I didn't do the homework. I was too busy and giddy to do anything because I have a job interview this Friday to work on the school's website! Emily probably got a good laugh out of it.

I think I'm coming down with a cold; my nose has been running around all day long and now I feel a fever coming on. Boo that.

Tomorrow, I need to accomplish the following:

• Shoot & develop a roll of film for Composition Assignment
• Go to Doc's house to pick up a straggler t-shirt for the guys' soccer team
• H-O-M-E-W-O-R-K
• Dishes

Ugh. I was going to post an awesome picture that would start a new section of this site, but I don't think my face will allow it (it's really hot right now, yet I'm cold...errrr). Later, I guess.

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Independent Photo Assignment #1

My dear friend - h - suggested that she and I participate in the following photo assignment; I agreed! I can't wait to see our results.

OBJECTIVE: to loosen up creatively. to be more mindful. to play.

MATERIALS: Digital camera. Printer. Photo album.

PLAN: Document your average day with snapshots… from waking up first thing in the morning with sleepy sand in your eyes and hair like a bird’s nest (I recommend leaving the camera on your night stand the night before) to the time you go back to sleep at night. You can be as creative as you want to be with this: First person view? Third person view? How many shots do you want to show? Any interesting angles? It’s up to you…

Then print them out and put them into a photo album labeled with the title of your project and the day it was conducted. (I think it will be neat to look back on it in a year or two and see how your average day has changed.)

The only thing we're changing about the project is that we'll be swapping our photos. I'm so excited!

...because we all need an excuse

Joe's Mom sent this to me tonight:

Is my brain making me buy things I don't need?

by Julia Layton

Introduction to Is my brain making me buy things I don't need?

January 20, 2007

If your jaw drops every month when your credit card bill arrives, as if you couldn't possibly have spent that much money and surely someone stole your card for a couple of hours and then snuck it back into your wallet without you noticing, you may not be that far off. Recent research reveals that the brain chemistry of spenders and non-spenders, in the moments before a purchase, is so different that scientists are able to predict with pretty much complete certainty whether a person is going to buy an item or walk away from it. In essence, if you're a chronic spender, your brain is stealing your credit card and then sneaking it back in your wallet after buying a new 60" plasma TV.

Okay, so it's not exactly like that -- your brain chemistry is part of what makes you who you are. But the results of the study, published in the January 4 issue of the journal Neuron, imply that spenders have a chemical propensity to spend; and the thriftier among us experience chemical processes at the moment of potential purchase that make them far more likely to return an item to the shelf and leave the store empty handed. It's not a "get out of debt free" card, but it does help explain why some people can't seem to resist the urge to buy, while others seemingly wouldn't spend the money if their life depended on it.

Most of us like to believe that we make rational, conscious decisions about what we're going to purchase (the author actually has too many pairs of boots to maintain this belief, but let's call her the exception), and that these decisions are based on a combination of desire for the product and consideration of its cost. What a group of economists from Carnegie Mellon and psychologists from Stanford discovered is that desire and cost are indeed prominent factors in purchasing decisions, but that these decisions aren't necessarily all that rational or conscious. They appear to be first unconscious and emotional.

The study group gave 26 subjects $40 in cash each and stuck them in an MRI machine one at a time. Inside the machine, the researchers showed each subject a series of product images followed by an image showing the price of the product. If the subject chose to buy the product, its price was deducted from the $40 and it was shipped to them. Whatever was left of the $40 after the MRI shopping session, the subject got to keep.

The results were so standardized that the researchers were a bit stunned. When a product image flashed, the area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens lit up if the subject liked what he or she saw. That means there was increased neural firing in that area of brain, which is the "pleasure center" of the brain with lots of dopamine receptors that make for feelings of happiness and excitement in anticipation of a nice event. This is the first result: The nucleus accumbens experiences an increase in activity -- an anticipation of pleasure -- when consumers like what they see.

The second image, the one showing the price, triggered a different part of the brain, and it's this brain activity that let researchers know if the subject would buy the product before the subject was even aware of having made a decision. When the price appeared, the insula either lit up, or it didn't. The insula is sort of the opposite of the pleasure center. Its neurons start firing when you realize you're about to slam your finger in a door, for instance. When the insula lit up, the subject ultimately decided not to buy the product. When the insula did not light up, and the nucleus accumbens had been activated on viewing the product, the subject eventually decided to buy it. This is the second result of the study: When neurons start firing in the insula, the decision not to make the purchase has been made on an unconscious level, based on the anticipation of pain. The conscious decision comes a bit later, and it always follows the unconscious decision made by the insula.

The problem for some subjects was that insula almost never lit up, and they went home with none of the $40 cash they'd been given at the start of the experiment. These, most likely, would be the people with the jaw-dropping credit card bills. Or 12 pairs of black pumps. The researchers plan to perform a similar study involving people with compulsive-shopping habits to see how their brains compare to the general population.

For more information on the brain's "shopping center" and related topics, check out the following links:

• How Your Brain Works
• How Credit Cards Work
• How MRI Works
• BankRate: What will it take to pay off my credit card?
• The New York Times: The Voices in My Head Say 'Buy It!' Why Argue? - Jan. 16, 2007
• Reuters: Brain scans predict shoppers' purchasing choices - Jan. 10, 2007

I guess my insula lights up most of the time. Good for me!

Unbelievable

I would've gone to bed at a decent time last night, but there was a mini marathon of Degrassi: The Next Generation on The N, and I will admit that I watched every episode. I'm almost 23 and some of that stuff is almost too mature for me. Do the writers not realize that this is a show targetted to kids? I mean, seriously: drag racing, hit-and-runs, jail (and getting jumped in the shower), erectile dysfunction (I know!)... that's just too much for even me. I don't know why I watch it.

Currently, I'm watching a new episode of Psych that I recorded earlier this week. I just finished watching Hope Floats to have something in the background while doing laundry, and because I've never seen the movie in its entirety. The soundtrack reminded me of high school. I used to listen to country music and Garth Brooks' "To Make You Feel My Love" was one of my favorite songs. I also enjoyed "Forever and Ever, Amen" by Randy Travis. Haha.

I've also packed up Joe's paperwork and it's ready to go out as soon as the mailman comes. What's left to do?

• Work on website design for new client
• Take Joe's car to get an oil change
• CVS
• Homework (Linguistics exercises, Polyeucte for French)

I think I'm also going to work on a new design for the blog, since this one was a freebie and I am capable of making my own.

Exhausting vs. exhilarating

I had the great pleasure of learning the processes of screen printing from Doc yesterday. With much of his help, we were able to make some pretty amazing shirts for the guys' indoor soccer team., "Truc's Deluxe."

Not only did my favorite person in the world (and I say that without a morsel of exaggeration) help me with making shirts, he gave me work! I will be designing the website for a local civil engineering company and I can't wait.

So the shirts turned out great, and the guys who have seen them think so, too. Don't you love it when a plan works out?

We got bored last night (Friday), so we decided to go bowling. We got to Georgetown, but it was packed and there would be a long wait since a church group had reserved some lanes. We decided on checking out the other bowling alleys, and we finally ended up at the "dump" that is Key Lanes. The first thing I noticed was the smell of years and years of smoke that had collected, similar to the smell of my father's half bathroom. They had a $5 special for 2 hours' worth of bowling, $2 more if you need shoes. While actually hitting the pins was good for me, Joe, Truc, and Greg got strike after strike. Joe got 6 strikes in a row; Truc got 2 Turkeys; Greg just got a lot of really nice strikes. It was really fun and I think I've become addicted, as I usually do with anything new and exciting.

Saturday, I went out to Pizza Hut for lunch with the guys. Paul and I shared a Buffalo Chicken pizza (which wasn't that good for the first thing I ate after waking up), Truc and Greg had some other pizzas... and the conversation was great.

I went to Emily's house to see if I could help her sister find some files on her iMac, but playing with it wasn't even close to being the highlight of that adventure. I got to play with the ever-so-fluffy Rufus and very gentle Bradlee. I also got to meet little baby Stella! She was already stylin' at only a few weeks old. It was amazing.

Saturday night was spent running around to different restaurants just to end up at IHOP for their all-you-can-eat pancakes special. Butter pecan syrup is delightful. The waitress told us that there was a guy in there just the night before who ate 18 pancakes. We asked her what she would give us if we beat his record, and she said she'd buy us dessert. How nice! It was delicious, but we couldn't pull it off.

After dinner: Apples to Apples, at which Greg played mind games with me the entire time and I helped him win because I was under his spell; and Mythbusters.

Want: Nikon D40

Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens

I have decided that this is the camera for me. It's lighter , more compact (perfect for little hands and carrying around), and it's actually close to being affordable. The mere sight of it makes me squeal on the inside.

Specifications from Digital Photography Review:

• 6 megapixel DX format CCD (1.5x FOV crop, as D50)
• Nikon Image processing engine (as D80 / D200)
• 3D Color Matrix Metering II, 420 pixel sensor (as D80 / D50)
• New Multi-CAM530 three area AF sensor
• ISO sensitivity range 200 - 1600 plus HI 1 (3200 equiv.)
• Custom Auto ISO (selectable maximum ISO, minimum shutter speed)
• 2.5 fps continuous shooting (as D50), unlimited in JPEG
• No status LCD, new LCD monitor based status / settings screens
• Help suggestions on LCD monitor (eg. scene too dark, try using flash)
• Large 2.5" 230,000 pixel LCD monitor
• Bigger viewfinder view (x0.8 magnification, 95% coverage)
• Short shutter lag and viewfinder blackout
• Support for SDHC (SD cards over 2 GB in capacity)
• In-camera retouching
  • D-Lighting (shadow / highlight enhancement)
  • Red-eye reduction
  • Trimming
  • Monochrome
  • Filter effects
  • Small picture
  • Image overlay
• USB 2.0 with PTP and Mass Storage device support
• Very compact, light body (smaller, lighter than D50)
• Improved menu user interface (as D80 / D200)
• New EN-EL9 Lithium-Ion battery (7.2V, 1000 mAh)
• New 'Version II' AF-S DX 18-55 mm kit lens

Update: My wonderful Joe got me the Nikon D40X! Even better!

Looking Ahead

Tomorrow, I have Photojournalism first thing in the morning...then, I get to screen print shirts with Doc! After that, it's Shuffleboard time with the rest of the crew at Walb.

Oh, what a day!

A recap of the day:

Intro to Psychology

• Personality test (we'll talk about the valid ones on Tuesday) from pig drawings; apparently, I am uptight and insecure because I included details on the body of my pig and I only gave him 2 feet instead of 4.

• Quiz on Tuesday (the following are from Professor Bendele's and my class notes, to help me study):

• Hypothesis: a prediction about specific behavior that is based on a theory
  
• Experimental group (Treatment): receives some treatment or manipulation in regard to the independent variable; a minimum of 2 groups are need (1. Control group & 2. Comparative group)
  
• Control group (Comparison group): receives no treatment or experimental manipulation (Ex.: Placebo given to members)
  
• Independent variable (Antecedent, input): a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable; manipulated by the researcher
  
• Dependent variables (Consequent, output): the variable that is thought to be affect by manipulation of the independent variable (Ex.: Number, score, grades, reaction times received by person in an experiment.)
  
• Extraneous variable: those factors in an experiment that need to be minimized or eliminated so as not to affect the dependent variable
  
• Confounding variable: a variable that varies systematically with the independent variable (type off extraneous variable), thus making a causal link difficult to establish
  
• Correlation: not causation; assesses a relationship between variables that an experimenter has no control over
• See if two events regularly occur together
• Measures the degree of relationship between two variables
• Is all about prediction
• Simply measuring, not manipulating
• Directionality problem: difficulty in determining the direction in which the causality occurs between correlated variables
• Third Variable problem: an unmeasured third variable may exist that is the causal variable influencing the two variables that are measured
  

• Found out that yes, my new Asian friend, Joe, is Vietnamese! (I peeked at his name when the attendance sheet came around.) I knew he looked familiar from somewhere.

After Psychology...

• Picked up photo CD from Stellhorn Photo
• Found job postings for Digital Media Assistant and Assistant Web Content Editor; went to Computer Lab, applied for the former via e-mail
• Ran out of time to eat
• Went to Linguistics class early to finish up homework

Intro to Linguistic Analysis

• Went over assignments from last class
• Listened to people pose ridiculous questions
• Stalked Cameron and his peanut butter sandwich with Emily
• Learned basic morphology for Malay/Indonesian and Persian ("Kuda ini bagus!")

After Linguistics...

• Ran into Ryan on the way to Walb for a late lunch
• Got full on a Crunchwrap Supreme and a weird-tasting Cherry Coke while reading up on Aristotle's rules for tragedy vs. comedy

French Theatre

• 3 choices for our individual presentations; mine:
1. Le Tartuffe de Jean-Baptiste Molière (my favorite French author)
2. Le mariage de Figaro
3. Rhinocéros
   
• La Farce de maitre Pathelin
• Aristotle

After class, I noticed that I'd missed 2 calls and had a voicemail from Joe during class.

Yeah, thanks for locking the top part of the door. I broke my key in it and now I can't get in. Call me back.

I felt terrible, but luckily, his parents live a few blocks away from us.

You Know You're Getting Old When...

...you talk about going to the grocery store, then you fall asleep before Gray's Anatomy comes on.

JOUR J210 - Assignment 1

Fujifilm Superia X-TRA Color Negative Film
400 ISO, 24 Exposures
(Click on image to enlarge)

Objective: Shoot as many circles as possible, at f/16 and f/2.8. I found out that I don't have a steady hand, but I love playing with depth of field. Photos were shot at two different park playgrounds and around the house. Some of them turned out great; others, not so much. Processed at Stellhorn Photo for a little over $6. Not bad!

Coffee vs. Tea

I think tea works better for me when it comes to waking me up and keeping me up throughout the day (and night). My favorite:

Cold Honey Chai Latté

1. Brew tea in 3/4 of water in a cup or mug
2. Add a splash of cold milk
3. Add a lot of honey

That's all! It's so good, and you can decide on the consistency. (I've had a few bad experiences with bland Chai Tea orders because they were so watered down.)

Uncomfortable and alone on the playground

That's how I used to most of my roll of film today for my first Photojournalism assignment. I will post pictures tomorrow night (probably), after I pick up the CD from Stellhorn Photo. I hope it doesn't cost a million dollars. Anyway, our assignment was to shoot as many different circles as possible, at F/16 and at F/2.8 for each circle, just so we could familiarize ourselves with our cameras.

I took photos of:

• Play train tires on the playground; I also messed with the depth of field
• Train steering wheels and speedometers
• Round monkey bar things at another playground
• The inside of a slide
• Crazy '70s mosaic in our kitchen
• Pegboard in our laundry room
• '70s electric heat knob in our bathroom

It took almost 2 hours because I am a wuss and I couldn't stand the freezing cold for more than 15 or so minutes. I kept having to get back into my warm car, warm up while driving to a new location, and then continuing. I know, I'm pathetic! I feel so bad for anyone who has to be outside for such a long time in weather like this.

Girl Fights?

CBS is currently discussing the new trend of "girl fighting," and they're showing a video of some 13-year-old girls kicking another 13-year-old girl on the ground. I haven't heard about this new fad, but then again, I've surpassed them by a decade and I don't think kicking someone while they're down is cool. What's going on in their heads?

Photojournalism and my empty pockets

I think my Photojournalism class is going to make me drown a whole new pool of debt. I already had to buy 10 rolls of film (I actually bought 25 rolls in bulk from a seller on eBay Express -- and received them in 2 days! Enough time to shoot a roll before my class on Friday.); now I have to take each roll to a specialized photo developing place because we need to have the film processed and scanned onto a CD, without prints. UGH.

I will continue to speak of my empty pockets until I have some real money!

Discovery: Post Secret

I guess everybody and their Mom already knew about this, but I'm just excited that I finally found Post Secret. I check it every Sunday for new posts.

Other websites I've been enjoying lately:

• Obsessive Consumption: visual documentation of daily purchases
• Treats & Treasures: ornate, hand-drawn/-written/stamped journal entries

Maybe one day I'll be able to afford a place of my own. Sorry for whining!

Operation: Get This Girl A Job!

I've been applying online to several transcription companies' websites. There is one in which I am very interested, a Foreign Language Transcription/Translation/Interpretation company. This is what I've been slaving away (haha) at school for these past 5 1/2 years. At least, I deserve a rejection letter.

Exhausted; $5 in the hole

I only won $1 back at poker tonight, but Giff was nice and gave me another $2 so that I could eat tomorrow.

I'm exhausted now, searching for jobs online and trying to find some sort of easy telecommuting job. I'm just hopeful for something easy and profitable at the same time. I just really need more than 6 hours' worth of work each week. I need to make some real money. I need to contribute. I feel terrible.

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go

I woke early enough today that I will have time to do what I to do, and then some.

• Namaste yoga
• Shower
• Clean litter box
• Laundry
• Dishes
• Visit Mom
• Finish black & white roll of film (only a couple more shots to go!)
• Start & finish color roll of film for Photojournalism assignment (Shoot circles at different shutter speeds and F-stops, preferably outside)
• Learn to screen print with Doc; make a dozen shirts for the guys' soccer team
• Homework
• Work
• Come home from work for Poker night!

I was thinking that I would search the Internet for Photography projects to do after I'm done with Photojournalism, just so that I can improve myself and possibly have some good photos in the end. Have I mentioned that we don't get to develop our own photos for this class? It nearly breaks my heart.

Time to let the dogs in and do yoga before the day gets out of my grasp.

He Told Me I Could Be His Apprentice for Life

My favorite teacher ever, Doc, is going to teach me everything I need to need to know about anything. Sometime this week, he will teach me to screen print shirts for the guys' soccer team. I can't wait! I've been eyeing the Print Gocco ever since I first heard of it a few years ago, and I really hope I'll be able to make some decent money so I can get sometime. I probably won't ever use it once I get it, though, which is sad, but also the truth. I've been doing better with the motivation thing, though! I can do it! Here's a picture of the Print Gocco. I kind of want it NOW. Haha.

On the agenda tomorrow:

• Try to wake up early so I can work out
  
• Take the rent check over to our landlord's office
• Classes from 10:30am-5:45pm, with breaks inbetween
• Work
• Go home and pass out

I also need to finish shooting the rest of the roll of film in my camera so I can start on my assignment for Photojournalism sometime. I think I'll just carry my camera with me wherever I go. (Nerd alert!)

laziness and discoveries

First, an e-mail from my dear friend, Scott:

Han, at 11:19am you wrote "Today, I'm taking Joe's car to Grease Monkey for an oil change, then I'm going to do all of my homework for tomorrow (there's a lot), mail some stuff out, do stuff around the house"

at 5:19pm you wrote "I still haven't gotten up from the sofa."

Secondly, Photojojo led me over to Obsessive Consumption, where Kate Bingaman draws and takes pictures of her daily purchases and credit card statements. I'm looking forward to new drawings everyday!

smoke and 1/2 baths

Today, we went to Joe's parents' house for a taste of his Dad's chili. It was too spicy for Joe, but I loved it! They sent us home with a bagful of goodies: frozen shrimp (we've been needing some); Hershey's Kisses (some with almonds, some raspberry, some more with almonds); individual cups of chocolate and vanilla pudding, diced pears in a light syrup, and applesauce with cinnamon. Spoiled, aren't we?

After dinner, we headed over to Wrigley Field to play some Shuffleboard. We actually sat around, ordered food, and watched football for a good amount of time before playing Shuffleboard, and it made me antsy. I came there for the Shuffleboard and I was ready to go! We won some, we lost some, but the guys were more interested in the game, so we just watched it until the end, then went home.

At home, I helped Joe with some of his paperwork while we amused ourselves with MTV's True Life: I'm in an Inter-faith Relationship. There was a pregnant couple that was comprised of a Jewish young man and a Christian young woman; they wanted the baby to believe in both of their religions, and the young woman said the baby would be "Jewstian." Way to create your own religion, lady!

I woke up too late today. I am going to try my best in working out for a little bit everyday in preparation for that 5k. I'll make it happen, I will!

When Want Turns into Need

My motivation for this semester: I get a pair of a shoes and a purse if I get straight A's. You know I've already started looking at my choices!

Blogger's not letting me add photos right now, so I guess you'll have to wait.

Taking Care of Business

Isn't it amazing that you don't even have to leave the house to mail a package these days? Here are the easy steps that I took to mail Joe's package; the Postal Service definitely caters to my laziness:

1. Placed contents into manila envelope
2. Securely sealed envelope with packing tape
3. Filled out Shipping Label and paid for postage on U.S. Postal Service's website
4. Printed shipping label, then taped label onto package with aforementioned packing tape
   
5. Opened front door, placed package into mailbox

That was it! The USPS website mentioned scheduling a pick-up date with your mail carrier, but I thought I'd see if he or she would pick it up anyway since there was postage on it...and it worked! This was so effortless, I may just make a habit of sending things out on time. This may mean that I'll never leave the house, though.

Aside from sending out the package, I also got a load of laundry started, then I washed some dishes. What's next? More laundry, more dishes (the endless cycle), and maybe get some studying done.

Oh, I also just bought some film from seller jybball on eBay Express. 25 rolls of 24 exposure, 400 speed film for only $22.00 shipped! I can't wait!

Truc was talking about running a 5K this summer for the Three Rivers Festival and I'm really excited about it. I want to start training, since I haven't done anything physically challenging for the past five years. Greg's going to do it, too; maybe we can be the slow partners of the group. I'm pumped!