So if you came, or saw via the ODU Art Dept. blog, we had a visiting artist in the ceramics studio last Monday and Tuesday (10/20 and 10/21). Erin Furimsky is an incredibly cool lady; she teaches at Illinois State and brought her insight and techniques down here to ODU and was a surprisingly informative and entertaining presenter! She annecdoted her instruction with bits-of-life stories and allowed us a small peek into an artist’s mind at work. It was lovely (and reassuring) to hear about how much she toils over the details of her work; it always makes me feel better to know someone else has spent 3 hours trying to achieve a certain shade of celadon blue.

I took some notes which may or may not be legible, but feel free to poke through them here, here, and here.

I also took lots of crummy shots with my BlackBerry camera, which you can peruse here. On Thursday I snagged a few decent shots of her tiles with my Canon, and in the set, those shots begin here.

Needless to say, it was an inspiring and fun demonstration. Unfortunately I had class during Monday’s and had to show up at the ODU gallery on Tuesday at noon, but I got a good 3 hours of awesome ways to apply printmaking and other techniques to ceramics. Thanks so much, Erin!

You can view her portfolio here.

When I was in the ODU Gallery, being counted for attendance in 279, I was looking at the wall of text written on the glass of Stephen Sagmeister’s exhibit. There was a lot of Korean writing (none of which I can read), and I saw some Japanese, so I decided to leave a message in Japanese myself. It’s down in the left-hand corner (if you are inside the exhibit, facing the lobby), and written in white and red. Here are a couple photos:

Here’s what it says, in my really awful Japanese grammar:

???

?????????????????????
????????????????????

???
????????????

It roughly translates to: “Hey; The English alphabet has 26 characters, but they are all boring (that’s what I think). Regards, “Those Damn Kids” (Manard-Jini).”

I hope sensei doesn’t see this…she just gave me a 94 on my JAPN395 midterm, and I don’t want to lose any of it!!!

That’s about all for tonight. I need my beauty sleep (as you can clearly see in my Flickr……)

xoxo
that damn kid

Yes, it’s been a month…

Yes, this semester is harder than it looks….

Yes, I’m posting this for my own self-reference because I have the memory of a bowl of jello.

Second Annual Haunted Stables Theatre!

(as if that place wasn’t creepy enough…eugh)

ODU’s Departmental Theatre Organization, The Starving Artist’s will bring you campus’s scariest activity for another Halloween season! To those who came last year, bring friends, and don’t tell them how many days it took you to recover! Watch out this year for a completely different experience with just as many thrills and chills to get you in the Halloween mood. Have carnivals and circuses ever given you a creepy feeling? Then STEP RIGHT UP!
This event is not recommended for anyone 13 years of age or younger.

This year we’ll have 2 full weekends, Thursday through Sunday night!
Thursday, October 23rd through Sunday, October 26th - 8:00pm to 10:30pm
Thursday, October 30th through Friday October 31st - 8:00pm to 10:30pm
Saturday, November 1st from 8:00pm to 9:30pm
Sunday November 2nd from 8:00 to 10:30pm

Please note: prices are $3.00 for students with valid ID and $5.00 for general admission.

Come see us at the Stables Theatre, campus’s oldest and most haunted building, on Monarch Way between 46th and 47th street…. if you dare!

Flu Vaccine Clinic!
(yaaaaayyyy~!)

Student Health Services is offering its annual Flu Vaccine Clinics on Tuesday, October 21st and Thursday, November 6th from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The location of the Vaccine Clinic is in the Student Health Center, 1007 South Webb Center (behind the Food Court).

The cost: $18/students, $25 faculty/staff.

Payment can be made by check for faculty/staff. For students, payments can be billed to student accounts or Monarch Plus card.

You may fill out the attached consent form and bring it with you for even faster service!

Please visit our website for further information.

Please click here to print out the Flu Vaccine Information Sheet.

New on-line tutorial for Praxis I writing assessment on ODU.edu
(..cause professors don’t hound you enough about utilizing WTS……)

Attention ODU future educators - there is now a free on-line tutorial for the Praxis I writing exam. If you are planning on entering an “approved initial licensure teacher education program” at ODU and need assistance with the writing portion of the Praxis I exam, this tutorial is for you.

For more information contact Dr. Leigh L. Butler or Ms. Arminda Israel at 683-3348

Please go to www.odu.edu/tes. On the right hand side of the webpage you will see a box that says “announcements”…the 2nd item is the Praxis I Writing Tutorial Online - please click this item. You will be directed to the tutorial. Good luck! The other Praxis I titles will be available in the near future.

Annnnd….pay attention to student announcements for more info that I’ve left out due to being obliterated with assignments a procrastinator a student.

Three personal announcements…

1. I moved! I am no longer living in the swampartment. I’m high and dry down the street now, and there’s open wireless internet networks a-plenty! Not that I’m into that kind of thing… Anyway, there’s plenty of room for Mac to run wild with an oven mitt in his mouth. Good times.

2. GO TO BORJO AND BUY THE MOST HUMONGOUS HOT APPLE CIDER YOUR PENNIES CAN AFFORD RIGHT NOW! Being an October baby (I recently turned a quarter of a century old, go me), I am a downright connoisseur of autumnal yummies. Since it’s still early in the season for buying fresh apple cider (although Farm Fresh Market has $5 bags of variously-spiced mulling spices), and the Starbucks on campus…whats the word… oh, SUCK, I popped into Borjo and got a yum-yum hot apple cider on one of those crappy rainy days a couple weeks back. LET ME EXPLAIN TO YOU IN CAPS HOW DELICIOUS IT IS. There is an entire stick (bold and italicized for emphasis, here) of cinnamon RIGHT IN THE CUP! I don’t know what your heaven looks like, but I’m damn certain mine is a honey-brown and smells like fall came right up and kicked you in the mouth. AMAZING!

3. Finally, the second best part of this fall has definitely been catching new episodes of House MD on Tuesday nights at 9 on FOX HD. I watched the other four seasons in SD or on my laptop, and OHHHHH YEAHHHH Hugh Laurie is about 900% more handsome in high-def. Shiza. Definitely more win than watching the debates of not-as-handsome-by-any-comparison politicians that you can just catch on YouTube in the same gross quality.
(Man I miss being able to watch british parliament in session on TV as a kid. Definitely superior in content AND humour.)

One more note on being a House-keteer with a recent upgrade in age… I went to New York City. Here’s some pics, but HERE’S the one you WANT to see. Recognize that building? You know it. I’m also really glad I don’t have to walk around Princeton’s campus…holy confusing hotdog lampshades. New York, eh, caught up with an old friend, AND, spent a lot of cash on gifts for my fellow Japanese sufferers students and other cool stuff for myself.

That about wraps up my been-up-all-night-got-something-to-say post. Don’t expect any more 6 AM postings. I hope…

School has been chugging along well; first exam today in Asian Art History and I did, eh… But I’ve gotten 100% on almost all of my Japanese work! Hurray!

This Thursday through next Monday I’ll be in New York City and then in Washington, DC for my annual I-wish-I-lived-here-not-Norfolk trip for my birthday. In an effort to not spend any money before my big trip, I’ve been staying in most of the time watching House seasons 1-4 on my laptop. The only thing I’ve really bought is the new Harvest Moon, Island of Happiness (I HATE THE STYLUS).

Unfortunately I’m still contractually stuck in my swampartment (which now has water coming up in no less than 4 places, and still more areas make a gushing noise when stepped on), even though I’ve found another place and moved a lot of stuff. Its really bad; there’s water damage and mold inside the bedroom closet now, and even more tiles in the kitchen are bulging up. I can’t do anything about it today (SOMEONE needs to take out the trash and pick up their stuff), but tomorrow I’m gonna bring the fury to the main office.

Good news, everyone survived the weekend Grams is doing well, and Gramps is already itchin to go try out his new motor.

Did you know the ODU Bookstore has Moleskine notebooks half off? I picked up one of the watercolor pads the other day; it’s really excellent paper with smooth tooth, and holds permanent fine-line ink really well. Maybe I’ll take a few pictures of my doodles and upload em on my flickr… If I remember!

There’s a coldfront coming, so enjoy the last day of gross! I’ll post a bunch of pictures from NYC when I get back in the swing of things next Tuesday. Cheers!

xoxo
Jini

Student Announcements Text:

If you aren’t familiar with Post Secret, well, where have you been?! The original blog is a gallery of anonymously mailed postcards that reveal a secret. I’ve loved this idea for years, even sent in a few myself. Anonymous art and mail art are just fascinating to me, and if you’re at all interested in things like this, definitely check out the lecture on Thursday night. I’ll be there, you can sit next to me

Cheers,
Jini

(P.S. New York in 9 days! Wooo!)

According to Ishibashi-sensei on Monday, the first meeting for the fall semester of Nichi-Bei Club will be held in room 3070 (end of the hall) in BAL on Friday, September 11, 2008 at 2:00 pm.

This will be my first semester during which I have time to participate in Nichi-Bei, and from what I understand there are lots of interested Japanese exchange students and first year Japanese language students. Lets have a good year, and study Japanese together! ????????????????????????