Not much to report. Nothing, really. I've finished some projects for school, gone to work, tutored, and that's about it.
Julie and I are going to the Symphony on Saturday if she got tickets. It's Irish/Celtic music and the guest conductor is the conductor of Ireland's National Symphony. Should be fun.
I've working on the Tri-Leader part of the site lately, if you haven't been over there.
And...um...yeah.
Monday, October 20, 2003
I went to Julie's birthday party on Saturday. It started at six, but I went a little early. Her sister greeted me outside and I was immediately tackled by the dog. Her dad, Uncle Russell, was in the hammock and he vaguely waved at me. Aunt Beth and Ashley (her boyfriend) were in the kitchen, and she was somewhere. Then she ran and met me at the door and sniffed my perfume. We discussed our plans for upcoming events. Then Grammies and Grampies arrived.
Julie also invited this guy we both know from school. His name is Kennae and he's from Nigeria. But he doesn't understand everything you say sometimes, and by 6:15, we were worried. So Julie and I got in her car (I was barefoot) and we drove down the road to look for him. It was a mission. Of course we didn't find him, so we went back to her house. By that time, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Mick, and Zach were there. We all said the prayer, got our plates fixed, and sat down. Then Kennae's car pulled up. He was wearing what I assume is traditional party wear in Nigeria. There were various comments as he approached. I think I said "Shut up, that's probably what they wear!"
Anyway, then we ate and had cake and ice cream. Julie and Grammies opened their presents. Then I showed Kennae the deck upstairs. It was completely dark except for the Christmas lights wrapped around it and the stars. It was perfect weather. Then almost everyone had to leave for various reasons.
Julie, Kennae, Kristy, Kristy's friend Tom, and I went to the comfy couches in the office upstairs and played Taboo for about an hour. And then everyone left except me and Julie. We sat on the deck and talked about nothing really. Then we went inside and looked up the Valdosta Symphony online to see how to get tickets. And we lounged around on the couches until 11:45. And then I went home. It was a fantastic time.
Wednesday, October 16, 2003
The-guy-whose-name-I-don't-know is named Jared. After sculpture today, I decided that I had to go to Ben's house. Ben is one of my good friends from high school. He said he had something for me that he'd actually kept for about a year and neither of us ever remembered that I had to get it. My other good friend from high school, Christopher, used to be the team mascot for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Yes, he was the bug running around on the field. He signed a picture of the mascot for me because I said I needed his autograph. It says, "To Margie, Love Buzz." And apparently Ben had it. I got it today.
Then I watched Ben trying to get through to the concert line at the local amusement park. He was getting his fiance some tickets to the Chris Kegel concert. Yes, fiance. He and Trina are engaged and I didn't know it! But it's absolutely wonderful and I'm very happy for them. After he finally got through on about the 57th time, we went to feed his rabbits. They were cute. One ate an acorn out of my hand. We went back inside and watched the Christopher Lowell show for a few minutes, but I had to go back to school.
In other news, our mayor died. Mayor Rainwater has been in office since 1986 I think, and it was a sudden thing. I heard on the radio this morning that the funeral procession would be from 10-11 on one of the streets, and I promised myself I wouldn't go that way. Guess where I was? Yes, stupid me was stopped in traffic by the procession for 20 minutes or so.
I finally made it back to school, fought for a parking place, and went to my meeting with my advisor. I found out that one of the classes I want to take in Italy won't count for my major and that's not good because I already signed up for it. Grrr. That means I can't take my fun history class, Revolutionary Europe (European history is my favorite and Dr. Byrd is the same teacher from the Greek sex class.) and I have to take ceramics. Which means I probably can't keep my job. I don't care about losing my job, but I have to find somewhere else to work and that's not good. I probably won't have the weekends off. But we'll see.
And randomness: I love my VeggieTales Gospel songs CD, "Oh Veggie, Where Art Thou". *sings along* Julie's having a birthday party this Saturday, that'll be fun. My sculpture looks really good. It was intended to be a Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter guy in robes, but it looks sort of like the statue of Mary on the Reims Cathedral. So for the critique, I think I'll say it's supposed to be like that and keep the LoTR/HP thing to myself. ;) My new Tri-Leader logo looks really good, too. My computer teacher says I can do whatever I want for the website project (because I already know advanced html) and I'm gonna re-do the Tri-Leader part of the site. Fun!
Saturday, October 11, 2003
We had an odd conversation in Sculpture yesterday. The-guy-whose-name-I-still-don't-know was working at the same table as me, and Mr. Barnett came to see how we were doing. I said I was fine, and so was the Guy (let's call him that) but this is the conversation that occurred:
Guy: "Hey, Mr. Barnett, did you see Trading Spaces 100 Grand last week?"
Mr. Barnett: "No, but I meant to watch it. How was it?"
Guy: "They made this great table out of solid mahagony. You would have liked it."
Mr. Barnett: "I bet it was nice."
Me: "Yeah, until Doug stained it black."
Mr. Barnett: "What?!"
Guy: "Yeah, that ruined it. They usually don't build out of wood that nice."
Mr. Barnett: "I know. They always use MDF."
The point of this is that everyone in our Art Department, including the guys and the teachers, watch Trading Spaces, because the rest of the class (well, those who were paying attention) knew what we were talking about. Odd.
I have done nothing today but redesign this site. No homework, nowhere to go. And I've been up since 8:30. I was supposed to go to town and tutor one of the many people on my list, but she called and cancelled. It's great that she called me, I didn't waste a trip to town, but did she have to call at 8:30 on Saturday morning? By the time the ring scared me to death, I jumped out of bed, and ran to the phone, I was awake for the day. Grrrr.
Thursday, October 9, 2003
Yesterday, I visited my old stomping grounds. Yes, I went back to high school. I talked to Mrs. Allen, my dad's cousin, Mrs. Pearson, Mrs. Ray, and Mr. Todd. Mr. Smith was nowhere to be found, of course. Then, I watched band practice and was almost run over by the saxophone section. They practiced their act for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I'm glad that the band from a little town in South Georgia got invited to be part of it. But I'm also glad I'm not going. Hooray!
We went out for dinner after that. Mommy, me, Marc, Matt, Matt's girlfriend, and her two kids. It was a suitable time had by all, I think. And that's about it.
Sunday, October 5, 2003
I have a lot to say, I've just been too busy to update. So, let's go back to last Sunday. We had a priest visiting our church, and he had a special program for the Sunday School classes. To start with, he told the story of Moses, but he did a theatrical version. You know how, in Lord of the Rings, when Bilbo tells his story at the party and all the kids react at the same time? It was like that. The priest said something like "Moses threw down the Commandments because he was so angry. And they all broke!" I swear, the kids were paying such attention that they all gasped. We laughed at them. After that, he taught them how to make balloon hats, dogs, and swords and/or Harry Potter wands. Yes, the priest was advocating Harry Potter wands. My church isn't against them like so many others are. I asked him to make me a Professor Snape wand with a black balloon. I was proud. It broke on the way home, though.
Monday was fairly normal. I had an extra person to tutor, though. The new one. I like her a lot. She asked me intelligent questions and her mom was nice. We met at the library. The library has a new Harry Potter display with a life-size Dobby sculpture. I didn't see it until we were on the way out, and I said "Look! Dobby! I want one!" The girl's mom said, "Hmph. I don't read Harry Potter…..but I don't have any problem with people who do! It's just not for me!" She thought she'd offended me or something.
Jump to Wednesday. I stayed after class to tutor a girl in my computer graphics class on how to use Freehand. Speaking of which, my Freehand project is a new Tri-Leader symbol. I'm keeping the one Ann made us as part of the design, but it's altered a little. For my website project in that class, instead of learning how to use html and making a simple page like the others, I'm gonna redesign the site with the new logo. Anyway, after I tutored her, Julie met me at the sculpture studio and I gave her a tour of the art department. I think she was impressed. Business and accounting majors don't get to see the art department very often. ;)
Now jump to Saturday. Okay. Anyone who has read the Tri-Leader themesong in the past should know that it's based on a song by Ray Stevens called the "Shriner's Convention." His song basically talks about this little town called Hahira and the big convention that the Shriners have. One line is "Coy, you the only one's got a fez with a propeller on top…now dag nabbit, that ain't no way to act." (Ray Stevens' songs are parodies and he has very much of a Southern accent. He's from around here, he's popular.) Back to Saturday. Hahira is a real small town. It's about 35 minutes from my house, if you take the interstate. Lots of people I know live there. The Shriners are real. They actually do wear fez. Fezes? Mostly, they do charity work and raise money for their hospital. And they do have a convention, sort of. On the first Saturday of October. Every year. It's called the Honeybee Festival.
I've been going to the Honeybee Festival, oh, let's say….forever. Hahira is one of those cute little towns that has a main street with some tiny shops and that's about it. You part in people's front yards, because it doesn't matter. Then you have to stake out your spot on the sidewalk for the parade. They have those cotton candy booths, crafts, games, that sort of fall festival type thing. Yesterday was the perfect day for it. One of the coolest days we've had in a long time. It was sunny, the sky was blue, it was great. Daddy and I dropped off my brother and stepbrother because they're in the marching band. The band is the highlight of the parade, by the way. Then we parked in someone's yard, really, and walked around the different booths. I got a silver ring shaped like a butterfly. Then we snuck into the fire station because my dad used to work there and he still had a key. We sat in the air conditioning until it was time for the parade. We didn't bring chairs and were planning to stand at the back.
Julie's family, however, do bring chairs and get the good spots early in the morning. So I went to talk to them for a few minutes, and Uncle Russell asked where my dad was. I stole his chair and he went to talk to Daddy. Grammies handed me a plastic bag and ordered me to catch candy that the people on the floats would throw. Julie, holding an umbrella over Grammies' head for her, told me to just humor her. So I got to sit at the front for the whole parade and I only caught one piece of candy for Grammies. Anyway, after the band walked by and everyone clapped for them, I had to go find my brother so we could leave. And that was that. Except that some people really did have propellers on their fez. Inside joke.
So finally we get to today. You've heard nothing until you hear your priest start a homily (sermon) by saying "Has anyone read any good books about sex lately?" You could just see people start paying more attention. The homily was about marriage and such. Then, at Sunday School we discussed Halloween costumes for the Halloween Festival at church in a few weeks. Stephen and Thomas were being odd and said that Sarah, who has long hair should be a "hairball." Me, being the responsible teacher I am, brushed all of my hair in front of my face, put my glasses on over it, and asked if I could be the Hairball instead. Stephen said "No, Miss Margie. You can be the goofball!" Ah, children.
And I think that's about all. The two-hour 100,000 dollar Trading Spaces is on tonight, I'll be watching that. Oh, and I need to ask the following people a question, if they happen to see this and I haven't asked them personally. Ann, Holly, Liese, Tina, and Lori, email or IM me and choose two of the following colors: Purple, pink, brown, peach, white, yellow, red, turquoise, orange, and green.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
I'm testing out the ftp program at school. *test* *test* Hooray! It works! Success!
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
It's time to play: "What Stupid Thing Has Margie Done Now?!" So let's guess. Has she:
A. Chosen the most difficult wood to carve for her sculpture project? B. Told yet another person she'd tutor their child, bringing the grand total up to three? C. Told five people that she'd paint watercolors for them as soon as possible?
If you guessed all of the above, you are correct! Sorry, no time to hand out prizes. ;)
Yeah, in sculpture I've started carving my wood. I didn't like the way the cedar looked when it was finished, so I'm going with cherry. Cedar is easy to carve, it's a soft wood. Cherry is the hardest. But it's going to look great. The other girls were all inside, in the air conditioning with their pieces of wood. Me? I was outside with the guys. We're all using hard woods and they have to be carved outside to avoid cracking. Robbie had the power stripper, Jason had the axe, Guy-Whose-Name-I-Don't-Know-But-It-Might-Be-David-Or-Daniel had the Lancelot blade, and I had the hammer and chisels. We had a fabulous time hitting each other with flying pieces of bark. And by the end, we were all covered in sawdust. So then we helped each other sweep up. And then I took an Environmental Issues test, which was not bad at all. The essay questions were the exact ones from the study guide. I hope all his tests are like that.
We didn't have art history today, so I went to the post office and applied for a passport. And I met my Mommy at Walmart. I got Elijah Wood's newly released movie, All I Want, in which he has sex with Debbie Harry, Mandy Moore, Franke Potente, and himself. It was very...odd... Anyway, I also got a poster frame for Colleen's going away picture, and a new wallet. Mommy got me a really nice sable-hair paintbrush. Then we had lunch and I went to the dentist. She went to Target, where they had Slytherin legos on sale, so she bought me some. After being tortured at the dentist (where he proudly showed me the print I gave him all framed and hung in the hallway), I went to tutor Rachelle. We didn't do very much, just reviewed plate tectonics and Ancient Egypt. Now I'm home! Finally!
I like the first question on this quiz: Do you feel yourself to have a firm basis in a fictional world, not readily understandable to those who aren't familiar with it? That's a big Aye, captain.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
I have five minutes and a lot to type!
Okay, at school, things are great. Here are some quotes from art history.
Dr. Davis, regarding Donatello's David and the biblical story behind it: "So King Saul was like, 'Oh Lord, don't die in battle, someone will sue me.' And David's brothers were like 'Daddy's gonna kill us when we come home without him.' And you see that look on David's face now? That's saying "Oh, look what I did. I beat the giant and now I'm going to Disney World!"
At work, Colleen is leaving. I'm glad I left before she gave the doctor her three-week notice. I heard there was much screaming and slamming of doors involved.
*runs away to watch Queer Eye*
Sunday, September 7, 2003
Today was the first day of Sunday School. My four-year-olds are great, they're very talkative this year, but they're really smart. And they listen. But it's only the first day, so we'll see how that goes. Two of the kids from last year tried to come with me today, so I had to make them go with K5. Oh, and Father John is doing a Teaching Mass next week. That's when, instead of just going through all the traditional practices, he lets people ask questions, or explains why we do something. I've never been to one, but I'm going so that I can learn more.
Taking some quizzes:
BLUE
You give your love and friendship unconditionally. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive.
*shriek!* I watch Inside the Actor's Studio every week on Bravo. And guess who's going to make an appearance on the fall season? The cast of Lord of the Rings! *waits impatiently*
Friday, September 5, 2003
New Quotes! Lots of them! And our new picture! Go see!
Mr. Barnett demonstrated how to cast something with melted bronze today. He wore his aluminum fire suit and looked funny. My turtle turned out just fine. Now I have to polish him. In that class, because of the tools and stuff we work with, we have to wear these really stupid looking face shields. But it's interesting. We all know how stupid we look, but no one says anything about it. The entire art department, in fact, has some unspoken agreement that you don't say how stupid you look in sculpture class. It's great.
In watercolor, Beau brought a Bob Marley CD for us to listen to. (This is the same Beau from photography class, if you remember him) I suppose he was tired of our daily sing-a-longs to the oldies station. That's my favorite class. Watercolor is backwards from other styles of painting, but I enjoy it.
Thursday, September 4, 2003
New layout! I know everyone was tired of bright red.
Classes are good, work is good, everything is good. Oh, and watercolor paper smells really bad. That is all. Check back for a new look and new quotes in the Quotes section this weekend.