Summer is almost here!!!
One more final (ASL- Tomorrow night) and I will have completed my first year of college! HUZZAH!
I'm not too worried about my final. I almost have my summary of The Sound of Music memorized, and then I just need to go over the Culture and Grammar sections on Blackboard, that wonderfully confusing tool that colleges love to use.
Looking back on when I started my first semester at College, I wasn't sure how it would go. I wasn't sure about anything at that point. This school year put me at a totally "clean slate" time and it was both thrilling and terrifying. God has totally gotten me through this first year and I know He's got a lot in store for me in the upcoming months and next year.
I've proved to myself (homeschooler that I was) that I can study in a classroom setting and pull good grades, so far I haven't gotten a C grade in a class, so I'm happy. I aim for As in everything, but I've still got a few things about college and studying that I probably need to learn to make the straight A thing happen (and find all of the math and science classes for people who are not very adept at those subjects).
So what did I learn from my various classes?
English 101- 101 classes have a lot of slackers and half your class won't show up or even care half of much as you about the assignments. Especially English 101. You are at college for yourself.
ASL 101- All the crazy people take ASL, you make friends and almost all of the people who take ASL are prepared to study and take the class seriously, unlike other "foreign" languages.
Psych 101- There are no rules, recipes, or formulas when you deal with human beings. Also- we have no idea what we're doing when we diagnose mental disorders. This was possibly the most scary part of my Psych class.
English 102- If you get a good teacher who knows what he/she (in my case, she) is talking about, you will learn a lot, especially if you do things HER WAY. Also, respect the teacher and show her you care about the class, it's not kissing up, it's called being responsible about the money your parents are paying to give you a higher (and very expensive) education. Also- get the teacher with the wickedly sarcastic and slightly dry sense of humor, you will love this semester and be able to ignore the people in your class who are wasting their parents money by not doing their work and are sassing the teacher.
ASL 102- Is a lot like ASL 101, except that we can now speak in "complete sentences" and carry on simple conversations in Deaf Culture.
Pilates- IS THE BEST!
Yoga- Is is a lot harder than I thought, but even though it wasn't my favorite I still learned some stuff that I can use. I did get a lot stronger this semester and I think part of it was the exercises I did in yoga. It still isn't my favorite thing though (see Pilates).
Something about my college- it's freaking cold in that palace ALL YEAR LONG. Hence, the sweatshirts. Plus, I got a hand-me-over sweatshirt from The Doctor (my 哥哥 (ge ge)). Plus he introduced me to FIREFLY and I'm now learning a small amount of incorrectly pronounced Chinese. I'm very happy.
Plus, The Doctor helped me learn several knots after yesterday's Square Dance. I love Square/Line dancing so that was tons of fun! But maybe better was my face while trying to figure out a Monkey's Paw Knot. I'm getting better at it already! However, you should head over to my Anne-Drew blog to read about that (the post should be up later tonight).
Just a quick update- look for my Jim Henson post on Wednesday!
Showing posts with label Pilates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pilates. Show all posts
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
New Studio!
For the first time in months, I'm debating going to class because I'm so tired.
Emotionally, physically, mentally, I'm tired. I smile involuntarily when I'm talking to people, not because I'm happy. Even if I'm complaining, I'm smiling (trying not to complain much, my life is too blessed to be cluttered with complaints). It's kind of funny because I said something about life being a little stressful, and someone said "But you're smiling!" to which I wittily replied, "Really?" I don't even recognize when I'm smiling anymore! I find this funny, does anyone else?
Physical tiredness is the easiest and hardest to deal with in my opinion. Easiest because, well, it's not being emotionally drained or mentally unable to compute things any longer. Hardest because trying to keep your eyes open when all you want to do is fall over is kind of difficult.
Mental tiredness? I actually suppose that this isn't one of my problems at the moment. I'm probably fine as far as my mental energy goes. I don't think I ever really run out of mental energy. Now if only I can figure out how to make that mental energy turn into physical energy...
So last night I found a new studio! This one has a pre-professional class for ages 18 and up. It was amazing! A bit further than the one I have been going to on Tuesday nights (30 minutes vs. 15), but I think it will be well worth it! The class is twice a week too! Tuesdays and Thursdays! I loved it and can't wait to go back!
The only problem now is that I'm so tired today that I'm wondering if going to class at the HugeStudio is a good idea. Granted, I did work for five hours yesterday, then go to an intense dance class, then get up for a 9AM class today. Will I cut myself slack?
Maybe I just will take Jazz and not Pilates today. Make up for it by stretching and doing some exercises at home. Take out a few Pilates DVDs from the library. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
Funny story from yesterday.
Got a visit from the Mayor of the town I live in at the shop I work at (Bath and Body Works). Totally didn't recognize her. One of those "I definitely should know who you are but I can't place you" moments. Of course, she was very nice and pleasant, read my name-tag and joked about loving sales tax. I kinda guessed that she was the mayor once she joked about the tax, but I still wasn't sure. So she left the store and my co-worker turns to me and says "You know who that was right?"
Once again, my witty remarks surface. "Um...I'm not sure."
Of course I felt a little embarrassed that I didn't recognize the mayor, but at least my co-worker was really nice about my little bought of forgetfulness. Now I will always recognize the mayor-of-the-town-I-live-in.
Emotionally, physically, mentally, I'm tired. I smile involuntarily when I'm talking to people, not because I'm happy. Even if I'm complaining, I'm smiling (trying not to complain much, my life is too blessed to be cluttered with complaints). It's kind of funny because I said something about life being a little stressful, and someone said "But you're smiling!" to which I wittily replied, "Really?" I don't even recognize when I'm smiling anymore! I find this funny, does anyone else?
Physical tiredness is the easiest and hardest to deal with in my opinion. Easiest because, well, it's not being emotionally drained or mentally unable to compute things any longer. Hardest because trying to keep your eyes open when all you want to do is fall over is kind of difficult.
Mental tiredness? I actually suppose that this isn't one of my problems at the moment. I'm probably fine as far as my mental energy goes. I don't think I ever really run out of mental energy. Now if only I can figure out how to make that mental energy turn into physical energy...
So last night I found a new studio! This one has a pre-professional class for ages 18 and up. It was amazing! A bit further than the one I have been going to on Tuesday nights (30 minutes vs. 15), but I think it will be well worth it! The class is twice a week too! Tuesdays and Thursdays! I loved it and can't wait to go back!
The only problem now is that I'm so tired today that I'm wondering if going to class at the HugeStudio is a good idea. Granted, I did work for five hours yesterday, then go to an intense dance class, then get up for a 9AM class today. Will I cut myself slack?
Maybe I just will take Jazz and not Pilates today. Make up for it by stretching and doing some exercises at home. Take out a few Pilates DVDs from the library. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
Funny story from yesterday.
Got a visit from the Mayor of the town I live in at the shop I work at (Bath and Body Works). Totally didn't recognize her. One of those "I definitely should know who you are but I can't place you" moments. Of course, she was very nice and pleasant, read my name-tag and joked about loving sales tax. I kinda guessed that she was the mayor once she joked about the tax, but I still wasn't sure. So she left the store and my co-worker turns to me and says "You know who that was right?"
Once again, my witty remarks surface. "Um...I'm not sure."
Of course I felt a little embarrassed that I didn't recognize the mayor, but at least my co-worker was really nice about my little bought of forgetfulness. Now I will always recognize the mayor-of-the-town-I-live-in.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Black Swans, Strong Queens, and Bus Rides
So...I'm kind of using the BNRC for movies and music too. Movie Nook Review Corner just sounds weird. So The BookNookReviewCorner is branching out!
Movie- Black Swan
Major actors- Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
Rated- R
My rating? One pen \, \, \, \, \,
As a dancer, I was really looking forward to fantastic cinematic dance sequences and a really good physiological thriller.
The dance sequences were very disappointing. I know that the stars in the movie haven't had year of training that you need to make the dances look good, but these dance scenes were just disappointing. The camera was swirling around the actors whenever they danced so you felt like you were on a merry-go-round and couldn't actually see the dancing.
The "Thriller" part of the movie was weak too. The characters felt really phony and shallow and the motives didn't feel well portrayed. Plus, you never really could tell what was going on with Mila Kunis' character...
My two BIGGEST beefs were actually the lack of good time lapses. I couldn't tell that a couple weeks had gone by between the time Nina had been chosen for the swan, and the night of performance. It felt like a few days. That's not logical.
Also- SO MANY ballet stereotypes!!! Over the top stereotypes! Most ballerinas don't wear their hair in a bun all the time! Usually they just put it up for class. Nor do dancers start stripping off all of their warm ups when the director walks in the room at the beginning of class (found this out by reading a couple dance blogs).
Overall- cool make-up and costumes. That's about it.
On the other hand- I have a great book review!
A Reluctant Queen: the love story of Esther by Joan Wolf.
Rating- Four Pens! \,\,\,\,\,
Loved this book! Esther is one of my favorite of the women of the Bible. I love her story and always go back to reading her story.
This book really brought to the life the time that Esther lived in. She was much more real than I expected when I started the book. Also, the king was really well written. I would most definitely recommend this to anyone. I'm not a huge chick-flick romance person, but this is not a chick-flick romance. The book doesn't just focus on Esther, but also on the king (who's name I can't pronounce) and the politics of the day. Personally, I found that really interesting. The author made her characters have motives and emotions that made them into interesting people. I even understood why Haman acted the way he did. The author made him a person, not just a mustache twirling villain. Esther got angry with Mordecai, which I had never considered before.
I wish there had been a little more to the book. Things seemed to move pretty quickly, but I enjoyed it and it was a fantastic retelling of the story of Esther in 375 pages.
On a completely unrelated note- I took the bus by myself in pouring rain yesterday! My jeans got totally SOAKED on the way back to the train from the Huge Studio! I was freezing, but I love going to dance on Wednesday. I wish I had more time (and money) to dance. I would love to add on a bar class and some tap. Right now I'm taking Pilates to help a hip injury that's been plaguing me for a while, and it's KILLER. I love it! It helps so much! Hopefully I can start taking ballet again soon. Can't take both because they are at the same time. Praying that I find a Pilates studio closer to home.
That's about all that I can think of. I hope I'm doing a good job of keeping this blog up.
_Until next post_
Movie- Black Swan
Major actors- Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
Rated- R
My rating? One pen \, \, \, \, \,
As a dancer, I was really looking forward to fantastic cinematic dance sequences and a really good physiological thriller.
The dance sequences were very disappointing. I know that the stars in the movie haven't had year of training that you need to make the dances look good, but these dance scenes were just disappointing. The camera was swirling around the actors whenever they danced so you felt like you were on a merry-go-round and couldn't actually see the dancing.
The "Thriller" part of the movie was weak too. The characters felt really phony and shallow and the motives didn't feel well portrayed. Plus, you never really could tell what was going on with Mila Kunis' character...
My two BIGGEST beefs were actually the lack of good time lapses. I couldn't tell that a couple weeks had gone by between the time Nina had been chosen for the swan, and the night of performance. It felt like a few days. That's not logical.
Also- SO MANY ballet stereotypes!!! Over the top stereotypes! Most ballerinas don't wear their hair in a bun all the time! Usually they just put it up for class. Nor do dancers start stripping off all of their warm ups when the director walks in the room at the beginning of class (found this out by reading a couple dance blogs).
Overall- cool make-up and costumes. That's about it.
On the other hand- I have a great book review!
A Reluctant Queen: the love story of Esther by Joan Wolf.
Rating- Four Pens! \,\,\,\,\,
Loved this book! Esther is one of my favorite of the women of the Bible. I love her story and always go back to reading her story.
This book really brought to the life the time that Esther lived in. She was much more real than I expected when I started the book. Also, the king was really well written. I would most definitely recommend this to anyone. I'm not a huge chick-flick romance person, but this is not a chick-flick romance. The book doesn't just focus on Esther, but also on the king (who's name I can't pronounce) and the politics of the day. Personally, I found that really interesting. The author made her characters have motives and emotions that made them into interesting people. I even understood why Haman acted the way he did. The author made him a person, not just a mustache twirling villain. Esther got angry with Mordecai, which I had never considered before.
I wish there had been a little more to the book. Things seemed to move pretty quickly, but I enjoyed it and it was a fantastic retelling of the story of Esther in 375 pages.
On a completely unrelated note- I took the bus by myself in pouring rain yesterday! My jeans got totally SOAKED on the way back to the train from the Huge Studio! I was freezing, but I love going to dance on Wednesday. I wish I had more time (and money) to dance. I would love to add on a bar class and some tap. Right now I'm taking Pilates to help a hip injury that's been plaguing me for a while, and it's KILLER. I love it! It helps so much! Hopefully I can start taking ballet again soon. Can't take both because they are at the same time. Praying that I find a Pilates studio closer to home.
That's about all that I can think of. I hope I'm doing a good job of keeping this blog up.
_Until next post_
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