Tuesday, February 15, 2011

More love thoughts, and randomosity

I read another great thing about love today... this time a talk given at BYU-I. You should read it too.


No phone call from the guy yet. I think there's another day or two left in the turn around time. Guess we'll see if that hand hold last night truly translates into a call. Wow, someone's got trust issues? Truly, though, mistrust is not my nature. If that first impression is good, the general impression will stay good. On the upside, I connect well with people; on the downside, its easy for me to get hurt by people I shouldn't trust. Thankfully, those are few and far between. Sometimes people treat you in a way that changes things too, like how much personal info and sharing you'll entrust to someone else. 


Is it weird that I write on my blog like a journal, trusting potentially complete strangers with inner details of my life? Nah, I always filter on here. It's gives an accurate read of me, but it doesn't tell the whole story. My life as Reader's Digest. It takes commitment to hear "the rest of the story" (as Paul Harvey would say. You had to be committed to hear his "rest of the story" segments... each day at a certain time and if you wanted it, you were there for him). Can I be any more random today?


I taught class tonight. Despite a great day, I wasn't really feeling the classroom today. Neither were the students..... I felt like I was teaching crickets a few times. There's important questions to be addressed!!


Photography: there was a general lack of discussion, but I got the feeling that my class didn't see photography in the same category as fine art. Take this last photograph by Rodney Smith. It replicates a Rococo painting by Fragonard, The Swing. While perhaps the original painting is more compelling, there is still a vast amount of artistic value in this image. I theorized to them why I thought they were discounting photography. We talked the very first day about fine arts and techne arts (root word of technology, anyone?). Painting definitely falls into the fine arts and is viewed as something that requires talent and individual inspiration. Photography falls more into the techne side, being highly influenced by science in its origins and development. So there's arguably a built-in bias given our modern culture and understanding of what "fits" in the art category and what doesn't qualify. Additionally, there's a very strong perception that anyone can take a photograph. We live in the digital age, full of point-and-shoot cameras. Do we require the artist's name to call it art? What are they doing in the form to distinguish themselves from the masses to be called artists? 


We didn't finish the discussion today, largely because it was about 3 or 4 people offering their viewpoints, alleviating the burden of the rest of the class to chime in. I warned them that we would finish our discussion on Thursday and that I'd be calling on people by name to contribute. Time to finish memorizing names... and perhaps time to look at some teaching books and find some classroom techniques for inspiring conversation and participation. If any professors or teachers have recommendations, let me know!


Two new photographers I stumbled across... similar to Rodney Smith





Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Day of Love and Chocolate (formerly known as Saint Valentine's Day)

Love Is Not Blind

That's a good talk. In other news, I ran into someone today that I completely did not expect to see at this venue. It went well. While I might have chosen a less-ironic day, it's good to know that the past can generally stay where it belongs. 


Also. Apparently another guy was totally checking me out for a while (says my friend Jenelle), although I didn't notice it obviously until a minute or two before he joined our dance circle. Props for his gutsiness on just joining us, because it really was kind of obvious.... especially when he promptly danced next to me, leaned in and asked my name. He thought he knew me from somewhere, but I don't think we really did. Anyways, we danced, then talked, then he suggested we depart the dance floor in order to facilitate actually hearing each other. (Yeah, the DJ wasn't the best one I've heard.. no offense.) We talked for a bit and had a fun time interacting. You'll never guess what his name is. No, really, never ever. Yet another irony of my past, but his name is Erik. Not Aric, not Eric, but Erik. Yeah...... time to re-watch "The Importance of Being Earnest" again? Anyways, the music was getting good so he got my number and we rejoined the dance floor. Ready for more overlaps? He graduated in finance from BYU, although given his mission dates I'm pretty sure it was with his undergrad degree, not a master's. 


Suffice it to say, tonight was a most interesting Valentine's Day evening. 

Friday, February 11, 2011

My Loves

Cute nephew that called me on the phone today!

Wonderful family who loves me and thinks I'm pretty okay

KINDLE!!!!!!!!

Treats for while reading. And for while grading. And for every other part of life that could use a hint of chocolate/peanut butter. 

Please. Self explanatory.


Sunshine days, and spring/summer around the corner!

I know, I need to take some more pictures with my camera. Until then, I'll borrow :)

Monday, February 7, 2011

Random video of me dancing!

So one thing I love about teaching is that I get to look through different art clips and find ones I like. In my searching tonight I found a few great clips, and then I decided to look up Clog America. Lo and behold there is a full-length video of our (now retired) dance, "High Horse." Even better than that? You can see me!! I'm in the second row on the far far right. Most camera angles don't keep me in the shot, but this one does! And it helps that I'm dancing next to one of the sons of the shooter. Filmer. Whoever. Anyways, if you look beyond a flub or two and the fact that my feet do in fact look like lead (which they felt like at the time), it's not so bad of a performance!


Enjoy!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

BYU vs UNLV

So I wasn't expecting to have a very exciting Saturday. I left the Valentine Benefit last night with a massive headache that only got worse. I finally got to sleep, and ended up sleeping for a very long time. Thanks goodness I woke up around 11:15, because about ten minutes later I got a phone call from an old friend, David McMillan. How glad am I that I decided to answer and not let it go to voicemail? SO GLAD! Dave had an extra pass to today's basketball game, so I hurried and showered, got ready, and trucked it up to the Marriott Center.

The game was awesome! I've heard a lot about Jimmer Fredette this semester (who hasn't!), but I had yet to see a live game. It was amazing! UNLV put up a tough fight and certainly made all the BYU players work for their points. But you can't keep a good team down! We had some great shots from the field, including several 3's, some great dunks, and great shooting from the line. Jimmer broke the MWC scoring record, and overall it was just a great game! I'm so glad I got a chance to see our team play live! 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Art Quote


It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance…and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.
Henry James (1843-1916)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Just around the corner

Happy Groundhog's Day, everyone! According to Punxatawney Phil, spring is just around the corner. Thank goodness, because I don't know how many more of these super-cold days I can take! I got to campus today and it was about 9 degrees... with a "feel-temperature" of -1. At least it is bright and sunshining outside. 


So I was reading a friend's blog. She is doing a different goal each month in her quest to find greater happiness this year. I really like that idea! President Hinckley used to encourage us to be just a little bit better; we don't need to change every single thing right now, but just make little steps towards improvement. Personally, I've also been working to find the secret to happiness. One thing that has helped me has been to keep a gratitude journal (of sorts). While it hasn't been a daily thing, it is in the back of my mind as I go through each day. I have been able to look at the day and find good things about it, and because of that I find that my days have been happier in general! It has nothing to do with anything going on in my life, because nothing has really changed. But I am happier, and I love that feeling. To tie back to the beginning of this paragraph.... that change has helped me in one of my goals for the year: to complain less. 


I had a better point to make than that... but I sort of forget what it was. So I'm going to finish this here and work on writing my exam. 





Don't limit yourself and don't let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Believe in yourself and then so as to reach your possibilities. You can achieve what you believe you can. Trust and believe and have faith. ~ President Thomas S. Monson