LOG #7

Tues 3-18-11

Today we met in the library at the naked lady and Eric Fisher took us through the library's different resources. He showed us there were a number of specific databases that would help such as Access World News, CQ Researcher, World Cat, Communication and Mass Media Complete, and Sociological Abstracts. With these databases and the ones Mr. Fisher had already taught us about we can pretty much be guaranteed to find at least one thing on our subject and if it's not able to be found in the databases, try card cat. It could be on print in the library and if Ball State doesn't have it, then through inter-library loan you are bound to find something related to your topic. 

LOG #7

Tues 3-15-11

Today McArdle had everyone get into groups of two, or three and use what we experienced on spring break to form an adequate research question. He stressed that the question should not be one that could be answered using yes or no, and that the question did not have to be all that complicated. The class came up with some really good workable questions that McArdle used to help clarify what a research question was and how to tweak the question to say exactly what you wanted it to say. Some examples of the questions included: Should people under the age of 18 be allowed to go on spring break without a chaperone?, How is the welfare system being abused?, Should you be allowed to operate a golf cart while intoxicated?, and Why do people choose to study in Boston? This took up all of the class period and seemed to really help a lot of people who may have been unclear as to what, or how to use a research question. I know it helped me.

Spring Break and My Father

Thank goodness that we have spring break. It's always at the perfect time for me so i can de-stress myself and brace for the home stretch to the final weeks of school. this past spring break is one that i'll remember forever. The time i got to spend with friends was unimaginably amazing and I am thankful for them. Something that I'll remember more is the time that I got to spend with my dad. My dad is basically my idol. Picture Harrison Ford and Mark Harmon put together and that's my dad; both in action and physical looks. He's always pushing me to be more and I will never be able to thank him enough. So when people ask me if I had a good break... my answer is definitely going to be yes.

Closing

Closing a show can be one of the hardest things to do; ever. Especially if the cast and crew really meld to create something that can affect people's lives on an extreme level. It's both the good thing and bad thing about theatre. It is always changing, no two shows (even if they are the same show) are alike. Once the show is closed, that's it; you can't go back.

Joseph and His Damn Coat

Tonight was the first rehearsal that was held for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. I learned something... I really need to relearn how to read music. nothings more awkward than butchering a song when the musical director is 4 feet away. I finally got the music down, but I really need to learn how to read music.

Stage Combat

One of my favorite passions and hobbies is stage combat. I have been choreographing fights for shows ever since high school and when I got to college I finally learned how to do it properly. I am now trained and have experience in contemporary violence, unarmed combat, broadsword, rapier/dagger, roman short sword, and knife fighting. My most recent projects have included two short films, WHITEHAND- a feature length film, SILENCE- a three act play, LIFE X3- a one act play, and A BACKWARDS FAIRYTALE- a one act play. It is through working on these shows that I continue to hone my skills. I have also been the coordinator for setting up two different Theatre Education stage combat workshops.  My next project is choreographing a unique production of HAMLET done by the freshman theatre majors. Stage combat is one of the most rewarding experiences I could have ever been introduced to. It is my hope to one day be an accredited fight choreographer along with being a high school theatre teacher.

Auditioning

Since high school I hadn't had any real need to audition for shows. Even though I am a theatre major, I have focused mainly on backstage things and directing, however this weekend I auditioned for Joseph and the Amazing Techni-colored Dreamcoat at Muncie Civic Theatre. It was an experience to say the least. I wasn't at all nervous until I was called to the stage. Then the nerves hit like a mac truck. My knees started shaking, but I ended up having a great audition and surprising not only the directors, but myself. When the cast list was posted that night I found out that I had been cast as Simeon, one of Joseph's brothers. I have a great feeling about this show and I am really glad that I screwed up the courage to audition.

Homesickness

I'm not usually one to be affected by homesickness, but I'm sure everyone has at one point and time felt the pang associated with it. Maybe it's not just homesickness, but maybe you miss your sibling or your significant other. Either way, you feel a longing to be near to that person or environment. A very effective way to get over homesickness is to keep really, really busy. It usually helps me and hopefully it can help you too.

People

It has been a long held belief of mine that people are stupid. I truly believe that people are stupid, however persons may or may not be depending on the situation, but in general, people are stupid. For example, the ice storm. I had to go to Walmart to get some food for super bowl sunday because god knows if the time to do so would manifest itself later in the week, so I jumped on it. Big mistake. There were people everywhere and they were buying everything. The bread aisle was completely decimated and there were no goddamn bananas! Also, as a side note, why the hell does everyone find it pertinent to go a buy milk in a time of "crisis"? Everyone is gathering supplies and the item that seems to be on the list is milk. What the hell?! Milk is an extremely perishable item. Why would you stock up on milk?! Why not juice, or beer for god's sake? No, milk is the item of choice for people. Which, consequently, brings me back to my main point; people are stupid.

Architecture

For some reason I thought that Ball State was supposed to have a really good architecture program yet, when you look at the buildings on campus it looks like they have no clue what they are doing. Even in the architecture building itself the layout is dungeon-like and really inconvinient. Why is this?

Pot Roast

Through my mother I have discovered food gold and would like to share the wealth.

Pot roast:
1 beef or pork roast
1 large white onion
3 potatoes
6 whole carrots
Basil
Lawrys seasoning salt
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups water

Take the basil and Lawrys and rub on roast. chop onion and potatoes and place roast, chunked onion, and chopped potatoes in crock pot/slow cooker and set on high. Take can of soup and put on top of the roast. fill up the soup can with water and put two can fulls in the slow cooker. Let cook for 5 hours. Then peel and chop the carrots and after the 5 hours place in slow cooker and let it cook for two more hours.

Then the meal is done. You can shred the roast so as to make easier to serve, but you don't have to.

Tuck in and enjoy!

Friends

Does anyone else find that they have too many friends? Well it's not that I have too many, but more like I have so many that I cannot give all of them the time that they deserve. What ends up happening is I tend to have a full social calendar for weeks in advance and if some of my friends make a surprise visit I find myself busy with another group of friends. Case in point, the other night I got a phone call from a good friend of mine from Indy. He said he was in town and wanted to hang out. Unfortunately I already had plans with another group of friends so I couldn't see him. It made me feel like a jackass knowing my friend came up here hoping to see me, but I was already committed elsewhere.

Judgment

I frequently find people telling me that they don't judge others. Personally I find this to be total bullshit. Judgment is a necessary part of life. We as intelligent beings can't help but judge others. Now you might find yourself saying that you try not to judge people, but let's face facts, we all do.
Before you get all defensive think about what judgment is and how you use it. If a stranger walked up to you in class or on the street and asked you for the time, what's the first thing you do? You judge them. You may be consciously grabbing for your phone or looking at the nearest clock, but like it or not the first thing you do is judge the stranger. Then after you tell them the time, or not,  you end up judging them again. Did you like them? Were they nice? Was that smell them? What were they wearing? Nice haircut... etc, etc. Judgment could potentially be bad especially when getting into stereotypes, but it is originally meant to be a good thing. It is meant to help protect us from bad situations and/or bad people. For example if someone walked up to you on the street and they were about to rob you, your judgment would tell you that something's not right.
I'm not saying that everyone's judgment is correct all the time, but think about how you yourself judge other people and how this effects your reaction to that person. Maybe you are judging that person unfairly. Maybe you give them more credit than they deserve. Either way judgment is a part of it.