penn

101 things: month 2

It is somehow hard to believe that I've only been doing this for two months. Maybe it's because I've been staring at Zandria's list for so long. Maybe it is because my last few months in Ann Arbor seem to be zooming by. In any case, I think I've achieved a lot this month. Pretty soon here, I'll have to start on some of the multi-month goals; I'm worried that I'll knock down all the easy ones and then take forever to finish some of the more difficult goals.

6. buy a bike

I bought a bike on Thursday night. I found it on Craigslist, and it was only $5! Of course, it needs a bit of work. I bought some WD40 to start greasing it up. The back brakes don't quite work properly. If I can't figure it out, I'll take it to the bike shop on campus to get a bit more TLC. A bit sad that I have to do work, but you can't beat $5 for a (mostly) functional bike.

15. Visit the Detroit Zoo

Done on the 28th of May!

16. Visit the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA)

As detailed here, I visited the DIA. It was even cooler than I expected.

44. Donate (or attempt to donate) blood three times

1/3 completed. Sadly, I was unable to donate -- my iron level was too low -- but I did try. I've been eating a lot of Total raisin bran in hopes of getting my iron up high enough to donate. I technically did this in April (4/30), but I guess I forgot to mention it in last month's tally, so I'll just include it here.

71. Get a job

I got two jobs!

75. Make three mix CDs and mail each one to at least three friends

2/3 completed here. Today, I sent out two separate mix CDs to people. I made one called "new voices," which consists of some of the more obscure folk singers and whatnot that I listen to. I sent that one to Andrew, April, Sus, and Jodie. I also made a fun mix of some random other music, and I sent that to April, Andrew, Jodie, and a few other internet people I know from livejournal.

90. eat a sit-down, order from a waiter dinner by myself

I've actually done this a few times recently. The first time was a dragon roll at a local sushi place. I was walking home from work and decided that it was just a sushi kind of day. Since then, I've also gotten Korean food by myself. I notice that it is getting easier to sit and eat by myself. The very first time I ordered a restaurant meal by myself, I got something in Granada, Spain. I felt supremely awkward during the entire meal, as I was in a tourist town and it seemed like everyone else was having a grand ol' time. Now, I just view eating by myself as a personal treat where I actually get to spend time tasting my food and processing thoughts. It's really not that bad, and I think I may actually like it.

Tally:

2 more in progress for 5 total in progress
5 more completed for 8 total completed

Detroit Zoo

Still working on the 101 things: 15. Visit the Detroit Zoo now complete!

A slideshow of the highlights of the Detroit Zoo, including my new "boyfriend." I went with my friends Katie and Jason, and we had a grand time wandering around and visiting the sights. It turned out to be a beautiful day in Detroit and not too crowded at the zoo. Hint for avoiding too much of the crowds: go from 2.30 pm to 5 pm on a weekday. Parents won't be off work, so there won't be too many individual families. Since it's near the end of the school day, groups will be leaving. You'll be left with the teens playing hooky and the 20 somethings between jobs who realize just how cool it really is to spend your day at the zoo rather than worry about job searching.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

DIA

I'm trying to get all my "Michigan Local" goals wrapped up as soon as possible so that I won't have to scramble for them at the end of the summer. To that end, I completed #16 when I visited the Detroit Institute of Art a week or so ago (woah, okay, May 16th. Man, time flies). We had a pretty awesome time wandering around the museum. On Friday evenings, the museum stays open late (we were there from 6-9 PM) and has special events going on.

I've created a slideshow to showcase some of my favorite photos from the museum. The one piece of art I show is The Nightmare, by Henri Fuseli (1781); I like it because it reminds me of the movie Rosemary's Baby. The Dutch exhibit had a setup where the viewer could make their own "Vanitas" painting. Vanitas paintings consist of elements that remind you to seize the day; skeletons, snuffed out candles, globes, and books are common themes. I took a few shots of one sculpture of a dancing couple, as this was my favorite sculpture and sculpture is probably my favorite type of art. One of the special events was drawing in the sculpture gallery; they had drawing benches, easels, paper, and pencils so that anyone could try their hand at sketching. My friend Katie did an excellent sketch of a sculptured horse head. After that picture, there are a few shots of the huge mural Diego Rivera specifically did for Detroit. It features a lot of scenes from the auto industry and is not a flattering picture.

Finally, there is a picture of the painting that still has Katie and I talking. We affectionately call the subject "Rappy McRapperstein," but the painting is really "Officer of the Hussars" by Kehinde Wiley (2007). Katie loves horses, so we've decided that it would be the perfect addition to her home collection (though there is the small problem that the painting is probably larger than her house). After returning home, we realized just how awesome the painting is. Turns out it is really a pastiche of a much older Officer of the Hussars from 1814.

I ended up really enjoying the museum, so I hope I get to return someday. Right now, it's super easy to visit, as Michigan libraries in this area are giving away free passes to visit the museum. The only thing better than art is free art.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Philtrum

In reading this weekend, I came across the word philtrum. I consider myself a savvy person, but I'd never heard of it. A body part never covered in various kindergarten and science classes? Color me amazed.

Turns out the philtrum is also known as the infranasal depression. In all my years of photographing myself, I've never concentrated on that area (as evidenced below). But now that I'm aware of what the Greeks consider the most erogenous spots on the body, I think I might pay a bit more attention to how the philtrum looks on different individuals.

It's so hard being me

I've been meaning to post for awhile, but I've been having a bit too much fun to sit down and write anything out on the computer. The weather has turned gorgeous here in Ann Arbor, and it definitely inspires me to be outside. Last Friday, I went kayaking with one of my day camp coworkers; as part of our job, we get free boat rentals to encourage us to know the river really well. We had an awesome time. Over the weekend, I also watched movies with friends and learned the cha cha at Sunday ballroom dance lessons.

The flow of time is actually quite baffling to me. I can't believe how quickly it's going by. I actually feel like I've totally missed spring, as summer is almost in full swing already.

I'm going to go now and enjoy my memorial day (hitting the gym and then spending some time at my friends' place for a barbecue), but I'll try and get better about posting again. I have more pics to share and plenty of thoughts. But for now, it's time to spend the day outside, and I hope you guys are all enjoying the day too.

Job(s)

In the past two years of teaching, I've continually stated that I love the teaching but hate the grading. This semester, I'm teaching lab, and the whining has gotten bad. Since there are only 200 points in the whole class, my students are obsessing over every single point I take off their grade (going to be a real treat when I give them participation points, I'm sure, as not everyone will get a perfect grade for their participation in class).

In applying to jobs recently, I've diversified my focus and applied to quite a number of positions. Some involved teaching, but a good many went in other directions. Maybe it's my experience, or maybe it is a message from the universe, but the only interviews I received were for teaching positions. I've had several interviews in the past couple of weeks.

Therefore, it is with great delight that I announce that I have completed #71 on my 101 things list; at least, this is completed for the next year. I actually received two jobs in the past week, and the jobs dovetail nicely.

For the summer, I'll be teaching canoeing, kayaking, and environmental education at a local canoe livery and day camp. As a side benefit, I get free boat rentals, so I've got to start hitting the river sometime soon. I was hired for my environmental knowledge, so I am already starting to do some reading so that I can put together activities that educate the kids while we're having fun. This job goes right up until Labor Day weekend. Over Labor Day weekend, I will be moving . . . to Minnesota.

I realize this is in the opposite direction I intended (I was hoping to move to the DC area or somewhere on the east coast in order to be closer to family and friends), but the job is too awesome to pass up, and the area looks lovely. I'll be working as an naturalist educator intern for a nature center south of the Twin cities. It's a 9 month position, so I will have to look for a job for next summer (maybe that's my chance for east coastish?), but it will allow me to try out the job and build the necessary experience to continue forward.

As I said above, I've always loved teaching, and it is super important to educate everyone about science. If we can bring that education in with other fun activities, like exploring ponds or outdoor sports, so much the better. I hesitate to overthink, but it might be fun to work at an aquarium or zoo someday in the education outreach department. For now, I'm taking this one step at a time, and I'm glad that I've got this one item crossed off the list. Definitely a weight off my mind and an exciting opportunity for learning.

Mass transit

I've always loved riding mass transit; how much nicer to read a book or people watch while traveling than it is to pay attention to the road?

In Portland, Oregon, I particularly enjoyed riding their light rail, the MAX. One of the more enjoyable parts was the inclusion of art amongst the advertising panels. Almost every train had at least one poem up somewhere on the walls. Here, I share one I found this evening while browsing through some old photos. If you can't read it at this size, you can click through to my flickr page, and it should be readable there.

Random bits

yeah, yeah, shamelessly lifted from Zandria

1) I had to take a drug test this week, as I just got hired. I'm working for the city of Ann Arbor over the summer. I'll be teaching a kids day camp at a canoe livery, so we'll be doing environmental ed with a boating/aquatics spin. The drug test was really nifty, actually. You do the standard pee in a cup, but it's a special kind of cup. It has a little thermometer, so they can verify it's actually from your body. Then, I had to peel a big strip off, and it exposed a bunch of meters. Two lines means no drugs, and I had two lines straight across. Woot! (side note: this was the expected result.) In retrospect, I really should have taken a picture. It was really sweet. It's an instant drug test, and the lady never had to touch the cup. Once I was done, I poured out the urine and tossed the cup in the garbage.

2) I'm still working on my 101 things, but I've been lazy about crossing stuff off. I'm starting to think I'll just cross stuff off at the end of the month unless I write a specific post about it. Recently, I've had plenty of stuff to write about, so I haven't written about the mundane items. For example, I tried to give blood a week ago. My crit was too low -- a common occurrence for me -- so I couldn't donate. But I did try!

3) I got a Nikon D40 as my graduation present. It is pretty rad. I used it to take all my Chicago pictures. I anticipate lots of fun with this little baby. I'm still in the market for a compact little point and shoot I can use for the everyday carry type of camera.

Millennium Park

The famous bean of Millennium Park:

me and my new baby (a nikon d40!):

the skyline in the bean:

As seen from the top of the Sears Tower:

Love through art

As seen at the Art Institute in Chicago: