Though I was in the midst of prelims and stress, I really, really wanted to paint. And I’m so glad I did. I love the options that were provided to us to paint on: canvases, frames, little boxes, etc. Though I just stuck with a canvas and paper for this time, I also saw people making cute designs on their boxes and frames. I decided I just wanted to paint a landscape since I had been watching some Bob Ross videos earlier, and I decided to paint a sunset or sunrise over a river and the fall foliage. Since I had a lot of paint leftover, I made my second painting by using all the colors I had leftover. I really enjoyed doing this, since it didn’t require any precision or attention to detail and I felt more carefree making this painting. I didn’t try to blend out any streaks and just left it as it was. I decided I wanted to make this rainbow flow of colors some kind of water where something would swim in, and added in the little sting ray at the end. Now these two pictures are on my wall in my dorm!
Author Archives: ah842
Charmander Pumpkin!
Though I was worried about a test I would have the next day, pumpkin carving just sounded so fun that I still attended anyways. Since the last time I carved a pumpkin was probably over ten years ago, I only vaguely remembered the procedure on cleaning out the pumpkin and how to carve it. It was really fun scraping out all the fiber-y stuff inside and the seeds and I ended up bringing the seeds home to roast them. I wanted to try a more difficult design and ended up really liking the idea of carving the image of Charmander, the flame-type Pokemon. I found a picture of someone else’s Charmander pumpkin online and tried to mimic their shading by cutting out varied thicknesses out of the pumpkin. It was somewhat difficult because I didn’t have a scraping tool and was just using the same knife that we used to cut into the pumpkin which didn’t have much maneuverability, so despite the fact that my pumpkin definitely didn’t look as clean-cut and well-shaded as the one I based mine off of, I was really proud of how it turned out!
Playing with Clay
I used to do pottery when I was younger and I was never very good at it, but I loved the feeling of clay and working with it. Although this type of clay couldn’t be fired, I still really like what I made and will definitely use it to hold small items. It was a lot of fun seeing how different people took the simple idea of the mug and gave it their own creative spins. This event was a great way to relax a little and I’m also glad we got to see an exhibit in the museum and learn a little more about art.
Learning How to Market Myself
I thought SA Beverly’s talk on Personal Branding came at a very opportune time, as I’ve been starting to reach out to people for internships and her advice came as a reminder for all the things I still need to do (like update my LinkedIn Profile). I’ve never given the idea of a “personal pitch” much thought, but after she talked about it, I can see why it’s extremely necessary when talking to potential employers at career events. Last year, I went to IFT 18, a conference/food expo for food scientists, and I didn’t think I did enough to market myself to all the companies whose booths I visited. This next summer when I attend again, I’ll definitely keep Beverly’s tips in mind and go a lot more prepared with print-outs of my resume, a list of my top ten companies I need to visit, and prepared questions and my personal pitch.
As someone who is not really active on social media, I’m glad that I don’t really have to worry about embarrassing or damaging stuff on my Facebook or other platforms. Still, I think it was a good reminder that anything put on social media is something that can follow you into your professional life.
First Time Using Hockey Skates
When I first saw the event for ice skating, I was excited but a bit apprehensive because in the past, my feet have started hurting within minutes of wearing the figure skates that Lynah Rink has. I’m really glad I still went, because although the figure skates still hurt, I got to try out hockey skates! Though I definitely still need to practice skating in them, I think I like hockey skates a lot more. It was fun skating in slow circles with the other people that went, though we all felt like extreme beginners compared to GRF Sam-in the time that it took us to make one loop of the rink, we saw him whoosh past us three or four times. It was nice to go with someone actually good at skating who could give me tips on how to use hockey skates; I probably would have fallen a lot more times without any instruction.
I’m not sure why, but I always push off of my left leg and so the workload each of my legs do is very unbalanced. I tried to also use my right leg to push off, but I think it’s something I still need to work on a lot before it feels natural. My goals for the next time I go ice skating is to use my right leg more evenly and maybe to try moving backwards. I had a ton of fun!
The Importance in Companionship
I had no idea what to expect when I watched God’s Own Country. I thought maybe it would have some themes regarding religion from the title. From the beginning, I could feel the oppressive loneliness that Johnny felt, trapped by his duty in life at a young age with no solace of companionship. His life seemed so bleak, and the grey and cool tones of the movie before Gheorghe’s appearance really emphasized the feeling of emptiness. Even so, I could see the kindness in him from how he spoke to the animals when no one else was watching, but his simultaneous hatred for them due to the pressure he felt from his father and dissatisfaction with his life.
When Gheorghe was introduced, I felt that simply the change in the depressing routine made Johnny more lively, even though it was expressed through rudeness, as he tried to assert his dominance over Gheorghe by insulting him. I loved that Gheorghe did not do what Johnny assumed he would do; he fought back and did not get pushed over. When they went on their trip, I thought the lack of dialogue felt very realistic, and just made their every glance and motion so much more significant. The first time they had sex reminded me of Brokeback Mountain because of the feeling of pent-up lust, desperation, and want for dominance. I thought that the fact that their sex was depicted in this way could have to do with them being in the wild, just as the characters in Brokeback Mountain were, far from civilization and with no boundaries on appropriate ways to love. I thought that the awkwardness after their first night portrayed that what had happened almost seemed like a dream and that it was very well contrasted against the comfortableness they had in a later scene where they sat, naked, after sex as well, showing their increasing trust in each other.
I was pleasantly surprised by each of the characters. Though both the mother, father, and Johnny himself first only showed their unpleasant sides, each character’s personality was gradually developed and each showed increasing softness and humanity. Though the scene where the father finally gives Johnny approval was very touching, I actually found the role of the mother more beautiful. She worked un-thanked and she was strong in the way that she thought was best, admonishing Johnny out of worry and not showing her tears from the father’s condition to Johnny.
Belief in a Better Future
At the Rose Cafe last week, Judge Scott Miller talked about his path to where he is now. His first job right out of Cornell Law School was to defend an African American man who was the passenger in a car that had been pulled aside for an extremely petty offense; however, was found to be in the possession of firearms without a license. Though Scott Miller was told by the judge that he would be sure to lose and that it would be a valuable first case for him to learn from, and though even he himself didn’t think that he could help his defendant, he still tried to the best of his ability. He was able to find an obscure law that stated that his client had done nothing wrong given that he had only just gained possession of the arms, as well as convince the initially uninterested and skeptical jury. I found his belief of the good of the American justice system and his strong feelings of his role in it as someone who simply follows the rules and carries out his duties to be refreshing and good to hear in today’s uncertain world. I also found his thoughts on how as young people, right now we should be glad that we have something to fight for because we have the knowledge to do so. And I found it reassuring when he made the comparison of the current chaos in politics to the American Revolution which ended in independence of our country and to the Civil War which ended in the abolishment of slavery. It was nice to think that perhaps right now is simply the madness before a progressive movement for the better, something to wake us all up and make us vote and do our parts in changing the world.