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…

All in all it feels like a good semester so far, except the fact that ODU feels way more crowded than any other semester! The parking sucks (as always), and getting through BAL between classes is like trying to get down Hampton Blvd during rush hour in a parade float. Good thing I’ve only got to pop down one floor and down the hall! The run between Diehn and BAL still sucks, but I’ve had a few semesters to pick out a good route, weather permitting

I’ve come up with a couple ideas of what I want to work on during my 3-hour block of computer access on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I’m looking into some undergrad and graduate scholarships to help me out a bit, since all of my cash in the spring is going to the big trip to Japan in May. I’m gettin all wiggly thinkin about it!

Other than the midday sleepies in the hour of time I have on Tues and Thurs between art and teaching, the 3 hour block of classes on MWF is really working for me. Can’t stress enough that parking sucks (especially for what they charge for a pass…that’s balls) but I manage to find a spot in the overflow lot near WHRO.

Anyway, it’s a three day weekend. Enjoy it while you got it!

xoxo
Jini

(That is… my preview!)

ARTH360: I’ve had Professor Whelan before for ARTH212. I know she grades hard on her papers, but her exams are relevant and she gives adequate review and heads-up info on them. I’m in this class with Macomber-san, and we accidentally went to the wrong room on the first day (whoops lol). It should be interesting, with lots of field trips and extra-curricular activities planned. I’m a bit upset that the second half of our schedule is off by a day or three…

JAPN395: Ishibashi-sensei is using us as guinea pigs! There’s only 9 people in this class, and the bookstore hasn’t gotten in a single textbook for it yet. Cripes, I know Japanese books are hard to order sometimes, but sheeez…get them in already! Looks like the trip to Japan is on for next May, too! YEEESSSS!

HIST338: This is my first time in Jin-sensei’s class. Jeni from work is in it, and so is Ashley and Victoria (?) from my last few Japanese classes! We have a whole row of Japanese goodness. Should make group projects easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

ARTS263: After a change in professors, I have Anna Freeman for ceramics. She’s really nice and organized, and gave us a great tour of the back half of the Arts Studio Building. Rick Nickel has a lot of cool stuff in his private room in the middle there! I’m kinda excited to go buy clay things tomorrow…and blow stuff up in that giant ass gas kiln YEAH! (kidding KIDDING!…….maybe)

ARTS279: LOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOL At least I explained to Ms Bousquet what I’d gone through prior to ODU, and the problems that arise from transfering from a private school, and she agreed to let me bring in a portfolio and let me work on scholarship and portfolio projects. Cool lady! I like her already. Just gotta make sure I get my ass in there to sit at a G5, not one of those crummy G4 plastic towers…muahaha…Maybe I’ll take that solo desk to set up my 3 portable HDDs and my tablet on. I’m kind of a space hog…

ESSE506: Dr. Baker is really knowledgable, and I feel like I’m in a psychology class. It’s pretty great…except for the fact we have one of the smallest classrooms in BAL (with seating for 20) and there were 27 of 30 registered that showed up to class…some people were on the floor or in borrowed chairs…Sigh. Textbook was expensive, but really good and thorough. I love the multi-color handouts!

Overall…parking will suck. Dried out clay hands will suck. Hauling a bunch of hard drives and a tablet around for 9 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays will CERTAINLY suck (I have shoulder and neck problems). Other than all of that, the semester should go pretty smoothly, and I expect some solid A’s and B’s out of it. Oh, and some awkwardly shaped coffee cups and ashtrays. But I’ll just call them “indie” and throw them up on Etsy. Cheers.

#1: Constant Hall, 2nd floor seating areas

Directions: Enter Constant Hall from the front or back, make your way upstairs. There are three seating areas: two on the right side, if you enter from the 49th street side, one on the left.

Pros: Remote printer on the right side of the building, in the seating area closest to 49th street. Vending machines (coke machine and snack machine) in the seating area on the left. Very quiet during the day, except when classes come in/go out.

Cons: Unless you’re in the seating area on the right side closest to Webb (the one without the printer, thats right above the advising office) the stairway doors will wake you up. They are loud and heavy, and people just blow through them. Can be noisy when you get people dressed up for class walking around in heels/with rolling attaches/etc.

Rating: 5/10

#2: Diehn Fine and Performing Arts Building, 2nd floor observatory nook

Directions: Enter Diehn from either side, head upstairs, turn right (or left if you take the elevator). Walk past the music department offices all the way to the end of the hall to the plum colored doors.

Pros: Four benches and a window seat. Nice long coffee table, and outlets on either side of the room. Quiet area, tile floor, great if you’re finishing an art project or eating a messy lunch. Lots of windows for cloud watching.

Cons: Quiet except during storms (the ceiling is a glass peak), and when music classrooms have their doors open (but you can close the doors to the observatory nook, bonus!). Benches aren’t comfortable (my ass is falling asleep as I’m typing this from the room now). The window seat isn’t as bad, but you’re up against a window, so if you have a fat rear, watch how you sleep. Air conditioner unit in the room, so it can get chilly (which can be a pro or con, depending on the season).

Rating: 6/10

If you’re lost, this is a link to the campus map. (Via ODU)

If you don’t know the shorthand code for the buildings, here is a link to find them out. (Via ODU)