Shawks blog

Went to a concert that was part of some degree requirement for a pair of instructors. The performance was quite good, though I don’t think I properly appreciated the white-Brit boy rappers. They seemed to have established the whole gesturing and strutting thing with the wardrobe but I think they need a bit more practice on the diction and synching. Otherwise for the other groups the instrumental work was good, lighting was passable, video playback was clever, vocals good (though couldn’t understand the rapper guest spots), overall audio for the setting was about right for the save of space and the clarity was pretty good. 
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I think I’m going to try my hand at some mercenary work when I return to the states. By that I mostly mean freelance writing, hopefully using a couple of online job sites. I’d have started already if it didn’t require a phone confirmation during its set-up process. I’m a bit rusty on some of the writing but with this site, a writing contest, and job inquiry I feel a bit better about it. There is a performance tonight at the Grimsby Institute that we’re going to attend. It may be one of the last times I cross paths with the people there as I’m headed back home Sunday. It’s been an interesting trip all through. I wish it had started a bit smoother but that makes a more interesting story anyhow.

Not feeling 100%, think I’m bordering on coming down with a bug that’s been making the rounds. Not much else to report. I spent most of the day looking at online job sites and grew disappointed how many of the writing jobs appear to be junk advertsing positions. Not going to do that. Did the dishes and played a little in the new WoW content, probably going to finish up today doing the same. Might apply for a couple things before calling it a night though. Might as well since I spent part of the afternoon updating the resume.

Today we went down to Sherwood Forest and wandered about under the trees that the legendary outlaws called home. Its a fair set of trails to wander on left to your own devices and a set of shops near the entrance to try to get more of your money. Three pounds for parking to start with. Ice cream stand out by the Major Oak which is supposed to have been a frequent meeting spot for Robin’s band. We found a fairly quiet patch of grass near there to eat a picnic lunch while dodging errant soccer balls from the youngsters wandering about with more enthusiasm than control. Walked the longest of the trails I think, it was a little hard to track as horse paths crossed it at angles and markers weren’t always present. Still a good day all around. Returned on a scenic route and watched Return of the King while I was uploading photos. I am looking at online job stuff a bit now thinking about what I’ll be doing soon. I think I’ll be figuring more into that tomorrow, now its nearly bed time I think.

Today went pretty well. Slept in a bit then started fiddling with this webpage stuff. Facebook I’m finding is a potent distractor though being 6 hours different from most of the people in my list means I tend to be going to bed when most of them are checking theirs. So I don’t get completely distracted by real time chatter. Uploaded a big chunk of photos to the gallery and then finally wrote up the adventures with starting this trip. Before that went out and mowed the lawn. Also finally went and mailed a postcard that I was meaning to send for a while now. I think this page is about well enough set up to release the link for but now I think its about time for bed.

March 6, 2009

Got up early after having fiddled around with packing until late including a trip to Walmart to buy an entirely new set of luggage.  Stared at suitcases quite a bit trying to decide if I had too much or not enough stuff in them. Mom came up and met me to haul me around. Realized I should have some better tags for the suitcase (things fell apart on landing) so picked those up on our way to lunch. We ate at my current favorite restaurant, Chinese Express on EP True / 50th in West Des Moines and chatted with the owner. Then we went over to the airport and had a coffee and waited for my flight. Being jumpy about the whole check in and security process since I hadn’t done it in nine years I said bye to mom and went through security and had about an hour to twiddle my thumbs. Ran into the first hiccup here, small plane with tiny overheads so they took one of my carry-ons and stowed it below. My laptop kit didn’t really fit below either so I had it between my feet all the way to Memphis.
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Well Friday was an interesting day. April talked me into running a workshop on a theatre piece I’d worked on in 2007 for the Des Moines Fringe Festival. It’s a bit, colorful, in language and appearance to which I wasn’t sure I wanted to expose to another country. The students however took to it with gusto and created their own versions of the title puppets and then performed scenes from the script. Between construction and performance they viewed the dvd of the show from the final night of the Fringe. Everyone had fun though some of that was from unintentional humor like the student trying to figure out how to turn the pages of the script with a puppet on each hand. Or interesting pronunciation of medical terms.
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Last night was interesting. One of the students in hospitality had contacted April to get some actors together to do a murder mystery dinner. This went down last night in the restaurant attached to the Grimsby Institute. One of the students had gotten tickets to the English football game and pulled out the night before so April got back into the show as one of the performers. It seemed to be recieved fairly well and they performed well considering the arrangements by the onsite staff changed right on into the show.

The meal was well presented in several courses, I am pretty sure that I’m going to be one of those blokes that never gets into the haute cuisine. I was pondering where the nearest burger joint might be as it didn’t seem completely filling. Also I knew they might do something to me during the show, and they did. One of the actresses dumped a glass of ice water in my lap about 2/3 of the way through. That was a bit unpleasant. Sat with Liz, Angie, and Franko. Not a bad night overall sans wet trousers. Watched the crew out back moving he excavator around to adjust the drainage of the field. Now I’m going to make something quick for lunch and see about posting some more blog posts covering the earlier part of the trip.

[googlemap lat=”53.51663422436193″ lng=”-0.09990692138671875″ width=”300px” height=”150px” zoom=”10″ type=”G_PHYSICAL_MAP”]53.516634,-0.099907[/googlemap]

Here I am. Playing with the map add on.

Greetings

I’m launching a new blog here to cover new material and my travels.  This will be part of the larger website update. Posts will be entered to journal the travel to get here on the day they occured not necessarily when it gets written up.  More coming as I get these new systems figured out. Thanks and seeya around.