I think Nikita is a pretty cool guy. esh fights the governemt and doesn't afraid of anything
So despite the whole feeling slightly behind thing, I'm starting to feel settled in at uni. (Even though tuts only started this week.) Particularly in my major departments: I'm a lot more comfortable going and hanging out and, amazingly, actually getting work done in the green room now than I was last semester; I'm also a lot more comfortable there than I ever was hanging out and studying in the classics library (though maybe part of that was because it was a library and so people there were studying more often than hanging out). And so many people from 203 are also doing 204 so we can have actual conversations now and and we're getting to know each other more, which is really nice. So many more new friends on Facebook than in first year *_* Heck, more often lately my hanging out in the green room's also been leading to actual conversations with a couple of my lecturers from last semester (the green room is also the closest kitchen to the classrooms in this building) that aren't teacher-student, centered around "hey can I do this on the assignment", like the other day my lighting tutor was telling me about how much he loves Filipino food once he found out I'm Filipina, and his wife the theater director briefly joined in a conversation a friend and I were having on the way history's taught here and American history. Feels awesome, man.
With film, the head technician (also one of the lecturers for film production but we only tend to have him for the more, well, technical stuff, like when instead of a lecture we have a workshop on something) has learnt my name (it's only week two! I realize it is a small class but still :D) and is totally chill with my wandering in to use the editing suites without booking them though this may be due to the fact that they haven't made booking sheets for this month herp derp film dept. It's nice being trusted like that from a few brief conversations and my not paying attention in class.
English was off to an average start because I adored the first text we looked at (And What Remains by Miria George) and the playwright's lecture on it was a lot better than her lecture on Maori theater last semester, and then I promptly disliked the lectures and the poetry we're looking at now (Hone Tuwhare and James K. Baxter; I should obviously just rescind my citizenship now). But I really like the tut already: The tutor is really laidback (had no problem going with my random "someone should like perform it" suggestion when he wanted to read a scene aloud), people actually talk instead of having one of those awkward silent tuts, and I'm not the only brown kid in the room. So maybe I shall do my readings in the name of looking forward to the tuts. /o/
Second language education, my one wildcard (seeing as that English paper is actually also a theater paper; I think I just call it English because I enrolled in it under English), had me feeling off balance for a bit because I was feeling like the only one who isn't A) Malaysian (slight exaggeration: while I do seem to sit with Malaysians most of the time in lectures (simply because there are so many of them and I sit pretty randomly), half our tut is Pakeha) and B) doing a BEd. But it seems from our tut today that my instincts are right for it :) The notes I miraculously took on a reading turned out to be almost exactly an activity we did in the tut and I was pretty solid on picking stuff up in an activity on a different case study. I guess now the only confirmation I really need is actually doing this assignment due Monday (which, as it turned out when I actually looked at it, is structured exactly the same way I took notes on this week's reading). :D The only thing that rubbed me wrong was when the tutor said something about film analysis "requiring some academic rigor", haha; I was like, "take that back; that's my major". :P She did take it back, and seemed kind of interested that I major in film and theater; must be a change from having a class full of future teachers.
First major assignment is half in (pretty sure we were never told how to hand in the soft copy o_O): That film assignment where you tell a story in ten still photos. After blanking for a week, I shot a story based on this song:
Basically: Character A receives friend request on Facebook and is HORRIFIED, flashbacks to a relationship with this person which started out well but went horribly wrong, and they then click Not Now (does anyone else feel like this isn't nearly as satisfying as "Ignore"?). (We were given themes to base the story on, one of which was "no way out", so if asked to justify it I'll talk about those breakups that never end and those exes you can't stop thinking about (this is how the idea started, and then I suddenly remembered the song) and how with the Internets these days there isn't really a way to escape people; there was even a poster on the wall by accident that said "Over-Exposed" hurrhurr.) One of my [female] theater friends played the main character and grace_face48 played the ex for me, which I'm sure will get me "why are they lesbian" questions in class; totally planning to go on a "I'M SICK OF HETERONORMATIVE MOVIES" rage and/or joke about lesbian breakups never ending, but really they were just the only people available :D;;;
Also, I wrote that song for The Tempest (setting Juno and Ceres' blessing of Ferdinand and Miranda to music), taught the girls (I was especially nervous about this because they both claimed they can't sing so I was trying to keep it easy and they have both managed it well) and to my surprise, the class and the tutor (read: director) liked it! Someone said it had a 90's grunge feel to it, which I find hilarious because it's not like I listen to much; I was kind of just aiming for A) a rock rather than pretty and delicate feel (not that the two are mutually exclusive, of course) and B) something the girls would be able to sing easily. Perhaps I shall record it myself for y'all. xP It's also really cool to see something I wrote performed. I was playing the guitar part at rehearsal last night but as I won't be here for dress rehearsal, someone else will be playing it for the actual show, which is going to make it more exciting because I'll be able to watch instead of concentrating on the performance. (Well, okay, I'll still be performing as my character, but I won't be playing.)
In irritating news, I was signing up for a Student Card (a student discount card) yesterday and forgot to put my gender in. What error message does the site give me?
You may be gender confused, but we need an answer!
After thinking about it for a day I wrote them a polite e-mail trying to explain why that's offensive (non-binary gendered people are not confused, folks; well, maybe those who are still trying to work that stuff out are because that shit can get confusing but not everyone). I'm sort of curious about what their response will be.
In also irritating but at least not offensive (except if you don't like first world problems which yes I can see where you're coming from) news, my main laptop (I'm using a netbook for school) is having the same old "LOL I'M NOT PLUGGED IN" when it totally is problem again. :/ So no instant messengers (I dislike Meebo) or my beautifully organized Firefox or Photoshop for me until I can get the power cord in at the right angle to charge it. (I realize I could install all that on the netbook, but I'm trying not to install too much on here to keep this baby running fast and long because a four hour battery life while still running Chrome with several tabs open is a new thing to me.)
Apart from that, life is good. \o/
With film, the head technician (also one of the lecturers for film production but we only tend to have him for the more, well, technical stuff, like when instead of a lecture we have a workshop on something) has learnt my name (it's only week two! I realize it is a small class but still :D) and is totally chill with my wandering in to use the editing suites without booking them though this may be due to the fact that they haven't made booking sheets for this month herp derp film dept. It's nice being trusted like that from a few brief conversations and my not paying attention in class.
English was off to an average start because I adored the first text we looked at (And What Remains by Miria George) and the playwright's lecture on it was a lot better than her lecture on Maori theater last semester, and then I promptly disliked the lectures and the poetry we're looking at now (Hone Tuwhare and James K. Baxter; I should obviously just rescind my citizenship now). But I really like the tut already: The tutor is really laidback (had no problem going with my random "someone should like perform it" suggestion when he wanted to read a scene aloud), people actually talk instead of having one of those awkward silent tuts, and I'm not the only brown kid in the room. So maybe I shall do my readings in the name of looking forward to the tuts. /o/
Second language education, my one wildcard (seeing as that English paper is actually also a theater paper; I think I just call it English because I enrolled in it under English), had me feeling off balance for a bit because I was feeling like the only one who isn't A) Malaysian (slight exaggeration: while I do seem to sit with Malaysians most of the time in lectures (simply because there are so many of them and I sit pretty randomly), half our tut is Pakeha) and B) doing a BEd. But it seems from our tut today that my instincts are right for it :) The notes I miraculously took on a reading turned out to be almost exactly an activity we did in the tut and I was pretty solid on picking stuff up in an activity on a different case study. I guess now the only confirmation I really need is actually doing this assignment due Monday (which, as it turned out when I actually looked at it, is structured exactly the same way I took notes on this week's reading). :D The only thing that rubbed me wrong was when the tutor said something about film analysis "requiring some academic rigor", haha; I was like, "take that back; that's my major". :P She did take it back, and seemed kind of interested that I major in film and theater; must be a change from having a class full of future teachers.
First major assignment is half in (pretty sure we were never told how to hand in the soft copy o_O): That film assignment where you tell a story in ten still photos. After blanking for a week, I shot a story based on this song:
Click to viewBasically: Character A receives friend request on Facebook and is HORRIFIED, flashbacks to a relationship with this person which started out well but went horribly wrong, and they then click Not Now (does anyone else feel like this isn't nearly as satisfying as "Ignore"?). (We were given themes to base the story on, one of which was "no way out", so if asked to justify it I'll talk about those breakups that never end and those exes you can't stop thinking about (this is how the idea started, and then I suddenly remembered the song) and how with the Internets these days there isn't really a way to escape people; there was even a poster on the wall by accident that said "Over-Exposed" hurrhurr.) One of my [female] theater friends played the main character and grace_face48 played the ex for me, which I'm sure will get me "why are they lesbian" questions in class; totally planning to go on a "I'M SICK OF HETERONORMATIVE MOVIES" rage and/or joke about lesbian breakups never ending, but really they were just the only people available :D;;;
Also, I wrote that song for The Tempest (setting Juno and Ceres' blessing of Ferdinand and Miranda to music), taught the girls (I was especially nervous about this because they both claimed they can't sing so I was trying to keep it easy and they have both managed it well) and to my surprise, the class and the tutor (read: director) liked it! Someone said it had a 90's grunge feel to it, which I find hilarious because it's not like I listen to much; I was kind of just aiming for A) a rock rather than pretty and delicate feel (not that the two are mutually exclusive, of course) and B) something the girls would be able to sing easily. Perhaps I shall record it myself for y'all. xP It's also really cool to see something I wrote performed. I was playing the guitar part at rehearsal last night but as I won't be here for dress rehearsal, someone else will be playing it for the actual show, which is going to make it more exciting because I'll be able to watch instead of concentrating on the performance. (Well, okay, I'll still be performing as my character, but I won't be playing.)
In irritating news, I was signing up for a Student Card (a student discount card) yesterday and forgot to put my gender in. What error message does the site give me?
You may be gender confused, but we need an answer!
After thinking about it for a day I wrote them a polite e-mail trying to explain why that's offensive (non-binary gendered people are not confused, folks; well, maybe those who are still trying to work that stuff out are because that shit can get confusing but not everyone). I'm sort of curious about what their response will be.
In also irritating but at least not offensive (except if you don't like first world problems which yes I can see where you're coming from) news, my main laptop (I'm using a netbook for school) is having the same old "LOL I'M NOT PLUGGED IN" when it totally is problem again. :/ So no instant messengers (I dislike Meebo) or my beautifully organized Firefox or Photoshop for me until I can get the power cord in at the right angle to charge it. (I realize I could install all that on the netbook, but I'm trying not to install too much on here to keep this baby running fast and long because a four hour battery life while still running Chrome with several tabs open is a new thing to me.)
Apart from that, life is good. \o/