Make It or Break It Again

This guy is fantastically hilarious. At about 2:00 he does a summary of the first episode of Make It or Break It, and it’s one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This guy really knows about gymnastics–cowboyed knees, tucked Tsukahara, the extreme danger of moving the vault board. Anyway, it’s HILARIOUS. Warning, though, the entire video may NOT BE APPROPRIATE. In fact, er, it’s entirely inappropriate. The part about Make It or Break It isn’t too bad.

 

Ahead By an Ear

So I’ve been wasting my time drawing again when I “should” be studying for finals (don’t worry–I’ll be fine, I’m still in good shape with all my finals and classes). I was getting a little frustrated with the following picture becasue something just didn’t seem right. It looked like her face was scrunched up somehow. So I broke out the ruler and figured, finally, that her ears and the top of her head were off. The ears were in the wrong place and the head wasn’t wide enough. And all this after I had shaded the entire thing, including the hair! I had to do a lot of erasing of what I’d already done in order to fix it. Once I fixed it, I was amazed at what a difference the ears can make. In my experience, eyebrows and ears are two of the most critical parts of a face, pieces that people often don’t think about. She still needs a tad bit of work to clean her up here and there, but I fixed her right up and am pretty pleased with the results.

 

Cum Laude

SO, I’m graduating from college in about a week and a half (I think I hear Handel’s Messiah), and I am graduating cum laude. That means that I was in the top x% of my college as far as GPA goes. Which is great, but naturally I’m a little irritated that I’m not summa cum laude–because I don’t think I really deserved any of the B’s I got, except maybe in statistics. Other than that, the B’s I got were bogus. But anyway.

I’m pretty proud of myself. I get a red tassle and they will announce me as graduating cum laude–with honors. I’m pretty pleased with myself. All of my very hard work for the last four years has gotten me something if it got me nothing else: a pretty red tassle.

 

Whatever Happened to Free Speech?

It’s a little bit disheartening to listen to some of the reactions to the honest answer the Miss California gave to a question about same-sex marriage. She could have articulated herself a little better, but that isn’t what everyone is harping on. It’s the fact that she espoused an opinion that is, to some people, unpopular.

Well, too bad. Is she not allowed to have an opinion that differs? It’s political correctness gone berserk. Since when is it not okay to have an opinion, even an unpopular one. And, as this article points out, it isn’t even an “unpopular” opinion. Proposition 8 was passed in California, meaning that the majority of voters in the state agree with Miss California. Even if they didn’t, why should she be raked over the coals for disagreeing with them?

Not to mention that it was Perez Hilton who gave the question. He was fishing for this kind of response and reaction, which is pretty deplorable. And as the author of the same article as above also says (and I agree): don’t ask a question if you’re afraid of what the answer might be. Only, in this case, I’m pretty sure he had an idea what the answer could be and was quite pleased with himself when he got what he wanted, that is a reason to rant, rave, and make himself seen all over the media for a controversy he drummed up.

At least many people have the decency to recognize that she has a right to her opinions, and that it isn’t “freedom of speech unless you disagree with me”. 

At least someone has the guts to be honest.

 

The ROTC Doesn’t Have Its Own Building

I was asked for directions. I’m going to try to keep track for the next year or so of every time I’m stopped for directions. It’s Open House on campus, so there are herds of people who don’t know what they’re doing or where they’re going. On my way out of the Architecture Building, I was asked where the ROTC building is. I don’t think they have their own building; I tihnk they operate out of Cole. So I told them that and how to find Cole [Field House].

Direction count: 2

 

NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships

Because I’m paying attention and I think you should be, too:

schedule:
Today, Thursday 4/16, session 1 at 2:00 p.m. EST and session 2 at 8:00 p.m. EST
Tomorrow, Firday 4/17 the Super Six finals at 7:00 p.m. EST
Saturday, 4/18 individual events at 7:00 p.m. EST

Live stream at least for prelims (it’s live NOW): http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=ncaa&media=113213

Enjoy! I’m rooting for UGA, particularly for the Courtneys (Kupets and McCool).

 

I Lost Him at “Perpendicular”

As I was walking from the parking lot to the library for work, a man driving by stopped and asked me where “Hornback” was. (Just a note: I’m constantly being asked for directions. I must look like I know where I’m going.) I told him that to get to Hornbake he would need to turn around and go right and it would be on his left before he got to the traffic circle. Then I said there was a courtyard outside the library perpendicular to the road. He gave me a blank look. “So, I go that way and go right?” Sigh. “Yep,” I say.

 

Montage Series #7–a new montage!

This is my newest creation. Nastia was such a big focus of the past quadrennium, for good reason. She always had the talent. She had the genes with two amazing Soviet gymnasts as parents. During the long four years from her senior debut to the Olympics, she went through a lot of ups and downs–a LOT of them. From time to time, she made big mistakes even though it was obvious she was the best gymnast on the floor. Then, around the time of the 2006 Worlds, she injured her ankle. She had a long, frustrating recovery. By 2007 she was still not 100% but pulled it together for the 2007 Worlds. She won the beam title and a bars silver along with team gold. But in the all-around, she fell on beam. Certain people (*cough* NBC’s Al Trautwig *cough*) implied she was old and washed-up. But come 2008, she was looking so strong. She avoided injury and peaked at the perfect time for the Olympics. She put on a stellar show to win the all-around title and take silver in team, on beam, and on bars, and bronze on floor. I love the girl. I set the montage to White Houses by Vanessa Carleton because it seemed to fit.

We should be seeing Nastia back in competition again. 2009 Worlds, look out. London 2012? I sure hope so!

 

The Display Case

So, I work for our Office of Information Technology’s communications department.  We put out newsletters, deal with the media, and promote the technology store (among other things). For a February promotion, the idea was to a basketball-themed ad in one of the displays in the Student Union. My boss wasn’t totally happy with this and asked my opinion about it to get a student perspective. This is a basketball school, but at the moment our men’s team isn’t doing so hot and there had recently been some friction at the top of the program. Anyway, she thought maybe Valentine’s Day would be better. I agreed and she wondered (aloud) what would be a good tag line (or whatever you want to call it). I just out with, “Get a sweet deal.” It was flippant, but apparently was a fairly good idea, because it ended up in the display case. I’m pretty proud of that, haha. Here’s a pic:

 

Snow

It snowed about two inches today. The weather reports didn’t prepare me for the first real snowfall of the winter (it’s been plenty cold enough, but it just hasn’t snowed). Finally it snowed. Here are some nice photos. Enjoy!