Author Archives: tc575

Outdoor painting experience

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This was one of the most fun events I’ve gone to this spring and was a great way to end the semester! I really like painting but there’s not much of a chance to do it when I’m on campus so I thought it would be a good way to destress, especially with the mountain of work left to finish up before classes end. It was a little chilly with a looming threat of rain but I’m glad it didn’t. Painting outdoors was a new experience for me and I enjoyed the breeze, and it was really fun to chat with people while doing so.

My painting of the area seen from Founders Hall benches.

Virtual museum tour

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This event was a little early on a Saturday (for me at least) but I did enjoy listening about some of the works at the Johnson Museum. I was only familiar with one of the works shown (the Walking Man sculpture), but I found the selection to be varied and interesting. Some of the history portions I felt like I didn’t have enough knowledge of to fully understand but I’m kind of proud of myself for still remembering bits and pieces of the art history that was mentioned. It made me want to revisit the museum again when it opens.

Following a guide dog’s journey

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This blog post is slightly… late but please understand that it’s been a hectic month. I thought the way the documentary went into the logistics of how guide dogs are trained was super interesting. I didn’t expect them to kind of let the dogs live with people outside of the training center for a good chunk of time. I’m not sure why I had the idea that they’d be raised from birth in some sort of controlled environment but it makes sense that the dogs need to be familiar with all parts of the environment outside the testing area as well. Speaking of which, it was interesting to get a glimpse into what kinds of things the workers keep an eye out for, although it was kind of sad when some of the dogs had to graduate. The doucumentary really made me appreciate how much work went into making sure the dogs are trained up to a really high standard so that they could finally become guide dogs.

We walked to a point where I wasn’t sure if we were on campus anymore

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The botanic gardens hike was a lot of fun! I think we were pretty lucky to have the weather be nice especially since it was a bit unpredictable last week. It’s been a while since I’ve really had the chance to walk & talk with people longer than like, 10 minutes. Admittedly, my legs were kind of feeling it by the time we had gotten back but it was a nice chance to be active and get some sunlight. Personal highlights of the hike: The sculpture garden (relevant to one of the classes I’m taking), the bell (I did not expect it to be that loud when I struck it), Chumley (fantastic dog chilling in one of the ponds) and on the walk back, the greenhouses on the edge of campus (I’m not sure what was going on in them but it was a part of campus I hadn’t really seen before). It was a really nice way to just take a break from work for a few hours and just enjoy the outside for a bit.

Post-exam destressing: Kiki’s delivery service

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This was such an enjoyable film to end a week filled with exams with! A lot of the aspects of the film resonated with me, such as feeling isolated and not really knowing what to do/what path to take. Kiki ends up making a bunch of mistakes throughout the story but ultimately it turns out okay for her. It isn’t the most realistic but it’s also heartwarming in the sense that the characters she meets feel very real. Even if some of them don’t get much screentime I liked how their personality still showed (like the baker trying to impress Jiji). I also liked how Kiki starts off carrying this huge weight of responsibility that she thinks she needs to tackle all by herself but slowly starts to have more fun and starts being less hard on herself, which leads to an overall improvement. Personally, I felt it was reassuring to be reminded that it’s ok if things go wrong sometimes and to not get discouraged because I didn’t live up to my own expectations.

Queens Gambit 4

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I’m not sure if this was just me but this episode seemed to be all over the place in terms of plot, or just that a lot of stuff happened? I think my favorite part was where Beth plays against Georgi because it almost felt like a throwback to the start of the series, where Georgi is in the place Beth once was. I thought her question to him “What will you do after becoming champion?” was interesting because it almost felt like it was directed at herself rather than Georgi. Her loss against Borgov and Alma dying right after was a lot to process, and I felt really bad for Beth and how numb she seemed at the end of the episode. I’m curious as to who’ll end up in her social sphere now that Beth is, for the moment, pretty alone.

Queen’s Gambit Ep 3

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This was the episode where I felt like things were starting to pick up speed. Once Beth starts participating in more and more tournaments it at first seems like she can’t be stopped. I thought it was interesting how people in her life treated her differently once she started gaining more fame, such as the students in school and the chess players around her who at first weren’t taking her very seriously at all. It felt a little forced, and the show did a good job of creating that uncomfortable feeling, I think. We see Beth’s relationship with her mother develop a bit more but it isn’t super great? On the one hand, Beth is enjoying herself more, but it doesn’t feel like any real parenting is going on which felt kind of foreboding. I kind of related to the end of the episode where Beth experiences her first big loss, and how sometimes things can go smoothly but suddenly end in a bad way. I think it’s interesting to see how Beth deals with that in the next episodes.

Queen’s Gambit Part 2

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We got introduced to a bunch of new characters in this episode (the parents, the students at school, the tournament competitors, etc) but I felt like it did a good job of characterizing them in the short amount of screen time they were featured in. I thought it was really interesting to see how Beth’s relationship with her parents changed especially after Allston leaves them. The way the show used facial expressions and small movements to show how most of Beth’s opponents weren’t taking her seriously was also well done. I’m interested to see how Beth’s relationship to chess changes in episode three, especially now that she’s starting to win prize money from the tournaments and is also dependent on it after the dad leaves.

Learning About New Orleans

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I signed up for this week’s Friday Film because the documentary was on something I wasn’t too familiar with and I thought it’d be interesting to see what it was about. I really liked the way it switched between old recordings/videotapes, interviews, and historical background because it felt much more personal and engaging. One of the important points I took away from the documentary is to keep in mind that history is a continuous thing rather than something to be categorized and shelved away. The interactions with people in the community that still clearly remembered historical events and parts of culture such as dance that are still present today even though their origins may have been largely forgotten show how much of an influence the past has on the present that we don’t usually pay attention to.

Revisiting Chess, Kind Of

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I’ve played chess before but never in a competitive way, so I thought it would be interesting to check out The Queen’s Gambit based on the description. There uh, wasn’t as much of a focus on chess as I had expected going into it but not in a bad way, although maybe at least a basic primer could have been included as setup. I thought the way they set the atmosphere using music and long pauses/nonverbal scenes made the episode engaging. I’m excited for the next episode especially after the way episode one ended.