Some Inspiration

I actually got a lot done today including (but not limited to) sweating in Abby's class, returning emails, responding to discussion posts from my students, meeting with Fiona to discuss production issues for our show (which is quickly approaching), hacksawing parts off the Keystone projector, brainstorming more fabrication ideas with David, putting the helmet cam on skaters at derby practice, rounding up OHRG merchandise for easyriders (we're the "rock-em-sock-em Women's Roller Derby action they're referring to in their sound-bite), gearing up for our first OHRG home bout of the season (which is THIS SATURDAY!) and finding some new inspiration from this video:

Weekend in a Cabin

As a Christmas gift to ourselves, David and I rented a cabin in a northern Ohio state park over the weekend. We mostly ate, drank, and kept warm by the fire inside the cabin. Of course the laptop made use of its namesake and stayed pretty much in my lap. I worked on curriculum ideas based on my MFA project and chugged through some design issues with my website. We managed to take a nice long hike with Pai. It wasn't too cold, but it was pretty muddy. I had a couple of fun slips and falls and I even ripped my jeans on a tree. I ended up just throwing those jeans away. (That one rip was among many.) Pai had a great time but is pretty tuckered out now as I suppose David is too since he's taking a post weekend trip nap. It was great to get out of town and I look forward to another weekend trip when I'm out of grad school!

Methinks I Had a Weekend

It's going on 1am, but I'm not my usually dogged-self at this hour. I had a pretty good weekend. I actually spent time with David! Aside from a few hours at Sullivant Hall for rehearsal Saturday, I hung out with my husband - go figure. It was a welcomed change.

Today I got some work done in preparation for the week. I still have a lot more to do, but I'm having faith that I'll find time for everything important. (I'm learning that NOT everything is important. I'm picking my own personal battles in other words.)

Here's the video I worked on today for the Media in Performance class.

Pictures from New Year's Eve Party

The Super New Year party was fun!

Here's a look at the Super Heroes and Villians who showed up:

The Last Post of 2009

The final day of the year is upon us. I guess I could do a little retrospective of the year, however, I'm currently filled with excitement of the day. I keep seeing so many possibilities for 2010 and am happy that I don't know what will happen. That's what thrills me the most - anything can happen! I'm hoping for positive outcomes of course - whatever that means.

For today, I will be busy will little mundane tasks interspersed with creative ones like figuring out my Super Hero costume for Erik's party. Right now David is creating his death ray gun...

Ah, Christmas Day!

Here's a slideshow of our house (now that we have all the rooms finally set up and decorated for Christmas) and a few things we've been up to during the holiday break. Hope you're having a wonderful holiday too!!!!

The Fun Continues

Another wonderful day off! I'm really having a hoot! This morning, Pai and I played outside in the snow.

After a nice lunch at Northstar with some co-workers, I went home and decided to finally deal with the window in the "hobby room."

The window is opposite this wall.... This is David's banner by the way....

I was able to get a new picture with David - we just got our hair cut last week at Lucky 13. I highly recommend it!

I corrected some code for Jennifer's website and then I decided to manipulate some pictures for an art project. What an awesome day!

Website for Jennifer and Holiday Happiness

After creating several samples of website layouts for Jennifer, I received a call this morning. The above screen shot is her selection. Progress! Next on the agenda is creating a collage for her home page and setting up her blog and other media sites. I hope to get this done for her by the end of the year.

On a completely non-technical topic, being home has been absolutely wonderful! I've enjoyed the luxury of seeing my husband and remembering why I got married in the first place. Today we took the day in at a leisurely pace, eventually planning out our holiday meal and stocking our refrigerator with all the food we'll need for the rest of the week. Life is abundant - even without a turkey!

Holiday Break

The quarter finally finished and I am at last enjoying a break from my part-time job as well. Last night around midnight David and I looked out the window to see the ground blanketed in snow and beautiful powder flying all around. We put on our coats, gloves, suitable shoes and - after calming Pai down - walked outside for a midnight winter wonderland stroll. Pai loved it! And we did too!

I'll be posting more now that I've had a chance to catch my breath. Look for updates soon on projects!

Till next time~

An Interesting Turn of Events and the rest of the characters

Today proved unexpected. Eight of us from the Dance and Technology class met with Robert Wechsler of Palindrome. Check out his website: http://www.palindrome.de/ Wechsler will perform a solo at Automaton II this weekend and we'll be performing a group piece orchestrated by him as well. We had no idea that working with him today for a few hours would lead to a performance in a few days. I'm psyched!

David and I finished the cast today. These are really rough, but they'll be molded more during the shoot. It's been fun!

First Figures

David and I started making the first figures tonight. Here's a preview:

Getting on to the Good Stuff

This week's been a good one. I feel like I turned certain things around for myself. Lisa Waugh and Kate Warren must have rubbed off on me. Lisa has always been so positive. Kate has always been proactive in taking care of herself as a dancer (and as a regular human being). Every night for the past four evenings, I have been taking time for extra stretching and reflection in order to absorb all the things that I'm asking my mind, body and soul to keep up with lately. See my yoga blog if you're interested in what I mean: http://rashanaworksyoga.blogspot.com.

David and I are working on the next video chapter about the move to Ohio. It's coming up, so stayed tuned!

I'm also excited about working on Jennifer Micallef's website. Images coming soon!

Performance at The Wexner Center tomorrow!

Life's moving right along in Columbus and OSU. My first improvisation performance is tomorrow, Sunday, November 1st. I'm excited about it and glad I could get these wonderful dancers together!

Thursday was "Trick or Treat" time. David did an excellent job making himself look creepy. Some kiddos declined to take candy from him.

Eric Nordstrom, a fellow first year grad, has been gracious in organizing several improvisation jams on Saturday afternoons. Yeah! I'm so glad to have improv back in my life on a regular basis!

The Healthy Side of Urban

David and I have been marking time till the last move into our more permanent residence. Last weekend David went to Chicago for his high school reunion and to spend time with life-long friends. He came back with a bike that he and his friend Chuck spruced up after finding in a dumpster. Good find! Once we get settled and I establish myself a bit into the rhythm of school, we're getting me a bike as well. We like to see how long we can go without driving the car. So far we haven't gotten past two days at a time - but that's still good. It's nice to only fill the car up with gas once a month!

Sunday Hike

We went on another hike today. This time, a little shorter - although it was much hotter. This weekend we had temperatures in the 90s, a little closer to normal summer temperatures for Columbus. Today's hike was a 3.5 miler at Highbanks. The pet trail is more wooded than at Glendon and is overall, a larger park. I'm looking forward to going back again, but also going to the next park. This discovery thing is pretty cool!