So, this last week I had two midterms. This was, of course, after the blood sucking incident.
My first mid-term was really fun! We actually did the work ahead of time - a paper and a take home quiz - so we got to watch a movie about the life of movie producer Robert Evans. It was very interesting. He has led an exciting life! For example, I have seen the movie "Love Story," which he was in charge of, but I didn't know that when the movie was in pre-production he fell in love and married Ali McGraw! Granted, why would I have any reason to know that, since it happened before I was born, but still! It's neat to see the stories behind the stories!
As for the mid-term itself, we had to write a paper on someone in charge of a movie studio, agency, etc. I chose John Lasseter. He's Chief Creative Officer at Disney and is still also over Pixar. (I know, my topic was a real stretch for me.) Anyway, I wrote about how he is working to restore or at least bring up some of the quality at Disney Animation, and how he is going about doing that. As a side note, during my research I found out that Pixar, before it was Pixar, was the computer graphics department at Lucasfilms! Crazy, huh? George Lucas sold it to Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) and he along with Ed Catmull and John Lasseter relaunched it as Pixar! I wonder how long it was before George Lucas stopped kicking himself...
My second mid-term was for Disney Imagineering. It was kind of difficult! I don't think I aced the test, but I hope I did enough to show I have been in class and understand the material being taught. I really want to get into the smaller class next quarter, so I want to do especially well!
In my theater class, we have our midterm on November 7th. As a celebration of my last final (and for my dad's birthday) I will be coming home for the weekend upon completion of that test! Only a week and a half away! In the meantime, we have had to pick the topic for our final group project and research paper. Our job was to pick a topic of theater and talk about theater traditions. My group got really excited about and was approved to do "Romantic Comedy." Hmmm... I think that topic is going to be a lot harder than they think it is. Luckily, I have an awesome sister (a.k.a. Arnold) who happens to be a MASTER SCHOLAR in theater. So, hopefully she can, in her spare time..., point me in the right direction! :)
Last monday I bought a box of Kleenex to decorate our suite. Huh? Well, Last wednesday they had bus loads of Trick-or-Treaters come to the hill to have fun, dress up, and of course, get candy. All the kids they bus in are from the inner-city areas, so it's dangerous to go out and trick-or treat. I had wanted to be a room to hand out candy, but I didn't realize that you had to sign up ahead of time for the honor. Oh well! I still decorated! Here's a small sampling of what our living room currently looks like...
Ghosts!
I made about 30 ghosts and they are currently floating all around the room. My suitemate thinks we should keep them up all year, and just add to them. You know, hats at Christmas, horns on New Years...
Lastly for today, I wanted to tell you about my discovery!
So, a few weeks back they hung a sign on our door saying we had to be out of our room for a few hours one day so they could spray for bugs. It's ant season, so we keep finding scouters, and the nice bug guys come and blast them away. Well, since I had a little extra time, I walked through Westwood Village, past Wilshire a couple blocks to one of my favorite stores - Borders. Ah, BOOKS!!! It was cool and breezy in there, and I had a great time making a mental list of all the books I want - many of which will live forever in the store. :)
Ok, now back to sunday. Sunday, I got picked up for church like normal, but the car that I went in took a different way to church than the car I normally end up riding in. The car I went in on Sunday went straight down Westwood. I have been having a little difficulty with rides. They are GREAT at picking us up, but I often end church wondering if I am going to get a ride back to my room. See, the people who drive often make plans to do stuff after church, during church, and then they have no plans to go straight back to campus. If you know me, you know I am not one to just hang around after church, so having to wait is a bit of patience I have not yet mastered, nor do I have any current desire to try.
So, when my sunday driver started driving straight down Westwood my thought was, "Great! Now I can figure out a direct path to church so if I end up having to wait again, I can just bring my sneakers to church and WALK back instead of standing around waiting. Perfect!"
I started watching... Westwood Village - yeah, I've walked there... Wilshire - yup, been down here too... dum dee dum... walking, walking, walking,... Borders should be coming up - yup, there it is... oh! What's that?!
And there it was... half a block past Borders... sitting just a little back from the edge of the street, like a mirage trying to be aloof... sweet nectar of the Gods!!!
A 7-11!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Cold slushy goodness so close, and I had not known!! Travisty!
Needless to say, a mile or two detour on my way home from class seems to be completely logical all of a sudden. I mean a 7-11 and a Borders on the same block? It's like a little piece of heaven in the middle of LA...
surrounded by smelly homeless people...
In the meantime, I am getting prepared for my overnighter home. This time tomorrow I will be on a train, or in a car on my way home. I am going to be at the Vince Gill concert tomorrow evening with my dad! It will be fun, and I am excited to go home, even if it's only overnight. It will be a prelude to my longer weekend event a week later. Plus! I'll get to have a slurpee - sans the smelly homeless people.
Woo Hoo!