SOI - Bake sale

For the SOI bake sale I originally planned to bake a gingerbread cake, but upon looking at the box I realized that the baking mix was not organic. Now I could have baked the cake and claimed that it was organic since I had organic eggs and oil to make it with, but I did not wish to compromise the integrity or the goal of the bake sale. I went out and bought some brownie mix and organic chocolate chips to make some double chocolate brownies. I feel that my dedication to the cause was due to the watching of food inc.I also think that it was better for me to give the people true organic baked goods in order to show them, and the community, that Organic goods can be just a tasty as other food.

Final DI project.

Over the week I finished my final contribution to the DI team. I made the "gun". My original plan of the pinball plunger like mortar fail dismally since the spring wouldn't produce enough force to propel the ball forward. I could have just called it quits right there since I had already left the team and really had no other reason to continue using my time to help them out, but that wouldn't be fair to the team to just leave them flat with less than a week to come up with something else, so on tuesday I got some more PVC pipe and got to work building something else. Since I had very few materials left I made a makeshift compressed air gun. The gun took a lot of work to plan and build, but I eventually got it done with a lot of hard work and some WD-40. I know that the design was far from perfect and it was a little thrown together, but it was a challenge to make especially since the only physics class i took was back in sophomore year and I have never made a cannon of any sort before.

DI leaving

Recently I got my progress report, and it was not good. After a lengthy discussion with my team and family we decided that it would be better for me to leave DI. The competition is on this saturday, but my schoolwork needs to come first. Now that I am on a very tight schedule I need to finish the cannon like I promised as soon as possible. This will be an extreme challenge for me now balancing more work due to my over commitment to the team.

SOI - Bake sale plans

Today at SOI we plan to have a bake sale on next Friday. After watching Food Inc. for the last few days we have been discussing how we plan to raise awareness of non-organic and industrial foods. I loved Food Inc. since it gave us some great talking points about organic foods. The film itself made me feel disgusted about some of the ethics and sanitary standards of the food industry, and it did open my eye to a lot of things, like how the food industry is controlled by 4 or 5 corporation, not the 10-15 that I originally thought. This meant a lot to me since getting some facts and outside and inside opinions really helped renew our faith in the cause and give us a greater body of people to relate to, and work with. Hopefully our watching will give us some good incentive to continue on our mission, and help win the hearts and minds of people in and out of Sturgis.

Tai Chi - Break and Individual

Unfortunately early in February Tai Chi classes were postponed for lack of total interest. However my instructor gave me a sheet of the moves for the rest of the form. It was incredibly difficult to do the form with only my memory and string together known moves with unknown combos. With a lot of hard work and dedication I was able to complete 2/3 of the form. I was extremely happy with this result, since it would be almost impossible to do the whole form in an entire month, but my progress is fantastic for training without an instructor.

DI Vacation

Over Vacation we had two DI meetings. It was a great time where we focused on set building. Prior to this I had done little to build anything so I was a bit rusty with a hammer. As a team up to this point it was hard to get together, but I made sure to go to every meeting I could. At this meeting we got all of the materials and started building our set. I was placed in charge of building the cannon. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I had never built a pinball-like hammer before. My plan did work after I did a little research on the internet and made some modifications. It was a hard process, and more than once I wanted to just put the thing down and go back to my relaxing, but I stuck with it and made sure that I made sure the launcher works. Now that I do have the launcher completed I can begin building the rest of the cannon.

On Monday we had a meeting after school. Unlike the other, it was not as productive and it was very trying with our tempers flaring do to our return to school. While I did not have any ill will to direct it was hard for me to keep my cool and not make things worse the way that we all did last year. The meeting ended abruptly, but we did get a small amount of set work done.

DI Year 2-1st meeting

For our first official DI meeting I could not attend, but I made sure that I was there in spirit. I told my team to call me if they had any questions for me or needed my input on a decision. Given the circumstances I saw this as the best way for me to communicate with the team. We decided that we were going to do a plot based on the college application process. There was discussion of having me as the main character. I would personally enjoy being the main character since I have never done a "major" role in DI before so that I can tackle a more challenging role in the future.

Tai Chi - New year New perspective

I missed about a month of Tai Chi, but thankfully I had not missed much. My instructor and I talked about new ways for me to get closer to mastering the form. I focused on my breathing mostly. I originally thought that focusing on my breath as I moved through the form would have no effect, but to my surprise as I paced my breathing my balance improved and I found that moves which had caused me trouble before are now as easy as the first moves I learned when I first started. The hardest part was finding a breathing pattern that made me feel comfortable, but that came with time and practice.

Looking Back on Dino

Learning outcome 1. Perhaps my greatest sign of growth was in my improv skills, which one year ago I couldn't do to save my life. Twice in the performances there was an incident that required me in particular to Improv my way through until the scene could go back on track. My directors commented that in both instances the Improv was fluid enough that the mood of the scene was not broken and no one broke character, which are great assets to have as an actor.

Learning outcome 4. Evan and I had great chemistry on stage, which was largely do to our close friendship off-stage. The mutual trust and collaboration that we had in developing our characters greatly effected our relationship with the other character, but also added an interesting friendship dynamic to the show which was only seen in one other pair of characters, Pat and Sylvia, but their characters were shyer which lead to a more interpretive friendship while ours was more explicit. Thanks to my real life friendship with Evan as well as my high comfort level in the other Actors on stage I was able to work very well with others with no actual incident. This has helped my teamwork skills tremendously since I have struggled in the past with collaboration due to my stubborn desire to be independent. With any other group I would have most likely been uncooperative due to the aforementioned reason.

Waldorf Winter Fair

At the winter fair I was confronted with the new challenge of dealing with young kids. While intimidated at first by the prospect that I would not know how to deal with small children, my fears were put to rest since I was assigned to the Ginger Bread Gnome room. Using my prior knowledge of baking from my job I was able to relax a bit and take some charge when it came to making sure that both kids and volunteers knew what they were doing. There were no problems when dealing with the kids, and I found that I had a somewhat naturally kind reaction to them after a short time with them. Thanks to this I was able to make a small connection with the kids hopefully making them feel more comfortable when making the cookies. None of the children had any forms of breakdowns nor did any of them ruin anyone else's time. With that said I feel like I did my part to ensure that a fun experience was had by all. Towards the end of the day we realized that we did not have enough cookies or decorations to continue through the rest of the day. With some quick thinking I realized that if we could not give them any cookies that we could at least let the people come and use what little we had left to decorate any baked goods that they had previously purchased. Afterwards we had little left thanks to the popularity of the room and my quick suggestion.

STAGE - Off book, getting more in depth

For the last few weeks we have been working without our scripts. Because of this it has freed up our hands and heads allowing for better blocking and character development. Mrs. Botsford has been working with us on our characters so that we have back stories in order to make the characters more believable. This worked well since Evan and I were confused as to who our characters were on a deeper level, but with some prompting of Mrs. Botsford we created two different, but still similar, characters with different traits and mannerisms. Through these exercises I was able to see how I create a character, but also how I need a little motivation to creating them, which I will need to work on in the future.

After we all created our characters our "relationships" took on new meanings which has both tested us and strengthened us as a cast.

SOI - Bake Sale failure and SOI potluck plans.

Last week we had planned to work a "bake" sale of healthy organic foods and tea. We were all assigned to different days to work and different foods to bring in. I was assigned to bring in tea and work on Monday. Since we had plenty of left over tea from our first sale that counted as my contribution. Because of this I forgot about the bake sale completely and when Monday came around I was not there for the sale and i missed out. If I had talked to anyone in SOI, wrote the schedule down, or bought more tea, I would have been able to remember the bake sale.

Today at the meeting I found that overall the sale was a bust, and that we were going to scrap the idea for now so that we can focus on a SOI pot luck for us so that we can see if we can branch it out to the greater Sturgis Community. Through this preparation we hope to be sure that we can work as a "separated group" to create enough food for us so that we know what needs to get done for when we have the Sturgis wide one. Hopefully through these pot lucks we will be able to increase awareness of organic products.

Assistant Instructor?

Today in Tai Chi we had a new student just in for her first lesson. So Maureen spend about half of the class with her while I led the other students in perfecting the form. It was the first time I had ever taken charge in any martial arts class. Thankfully not only was I skilled in the form enough to lead everyone through it, but also still learning so that when confronted with specific questions, such as what move follows which or how a certain move needs to be performed, I had to truly think about what I was telling the others. This hard thought reminded me of how I was beginning to slip in some of the more technical parts of the form and reminded me what i needed to do in order to do the form correctly.
Being an assistant instructor reminded me not only of my own growth, but also how I didn't have everything perfect yet.

Stage - Character Development and Blocking

Over the past few weeks in STAGE we have been working on our character's backstories, interactions, and blocking. As of right now Evan and I have been working very well as a team, and our interactions with the other characters have been great so far. Our flirtatious yet obnoxious character development has been clashing nicely with the sassy and nosey Jackie, while making the character Pat and Sylvia cringe at what our "next move" will be. We have also been playing up the cockiness factor too, making our mutual dislike for Dino feel truly believable. With this great effort along with our mutual support for each character has made the Danny and Steve duo two of the more dynamic characters in the show. Mrs. Botsford has also been impressed by my work. I have received no "negative" notes, only constructive notes. I also have been getting notes praising how well the character is coming along and how natural the movements and blocking seem.

First SOI Meeting

For the first meeting I was regrettably late by a few minutes. I didn't miss much and I had several ideas that I feel helped. This meeting was mostly brainstorming but we seem to be branching out from the school and onto main street with our ideas. Jade set up a blog for SOI to use and brainstorm out of meetings. I have yet to use it yet, but I have talked with some members about possible ideas. This thursday we have another meeting. We will hopefully be able to narrow down what we want to do.

Stage - First Rehearsals

At STAGE we started rehearsals off with a total read through of the script. At first glance my character is little more than a joker, and while he is very flat it is a different role for me which is good. In the play I work very close with another character named Danny, who was originally played by Daniel Verbank. Unfortunately Daniel left the school and his character was replaced with Evan Griffin. Evan and I are friends which makes our chemistry on stage make our characters seem that much more believable. I also have begun to get somewhat close to the two freshman girls who play Pat and Sylvia, who are two girls that Danny and Steve flirt with throughout the play. All of the cast that my character interacts with are people who I know which makes working with them much easier. I have been noticing my strengths as an actor in this role as well as several weaknesses. Hopefully by next rehearsal I will be able to pinpoint them by next week.

Tai Chi - Private lesson

At Tai Chi I ended up having a private lesson because none of the other students showed up. I was allowed to work full the first third of the form that we are working on. I worked well with the instructor, and I discovered that with one small tweak that I had the entire first third memorized even with my month absence. This made me extremely happy and I could tell the Maureen the instructor was surprised and proud. My goal of getting to the same place that the class is was set very high, but I feel very accomplished that I was able to reach it in such a short time, and I had reassuring proof that through hard work and perseverance that I could reach new heights even if I am behind.

Nursing Home Concerts - First Show!

I finally had my first show at Atria Woodbriar Healthcare. I was nervous at first, but I quickly got over these worries once I started. The residents were all very happy to have me. Many of them sang along with several of the songs. After my show most of the residents came up to me and said that I did a wonderful job and several asked me if I had a business card. Those congratulations reminded me that music bring joy back to people who are in seemingly endless cycles of life.

Also my contacts with Heratige have been going well, but we have yet to set a date.

Tai Chi - Return after 1 month absence

After one month I finally returned to Tai Chi. I was extremely happy to be back as some of the muscle tension I have been feeling over the past few weeks will hopefully go away soon with my return. As it turns out despite my absence the rest of the class has been flying through the rest of the third form. Because of this I was very open to what people had to say in order to perform that part of the form easier. After only three times I had it almost perfect. If it hadn't been for everyone helping me it would have taken much longer. This made me feel immediately comfortable with the rest of the students despite their advancements over me.

Nursing Home Concerts - More Troubles but New Successes

After sending out letters to three nursing homes in the Falmouth Area I got two call backs on Tuesday the 4th of August. Atria Healthcare asked me to come in the next day to do a short 45 minute concert for their resident's ice cream social. Happily I agreed. When I got to Atria I met with Karen, the Activities co-ordinator for Atria, and she gave me a quick run down of where I would be performing and what time I should start. I set up my speakers and Ipod where she wanted me to, but the system wasn't turning on. Frantically I scrambled to two other outlets, but the system still wouldn't turn on. After a little frustration I talked to Karen. She was supportive and called the home's technician in. He was also baffled as to what the problem was since all three of the outlets I used were working. Then we realized that the power chord of my system was broken even though it had worked perfectly the night before. I informed Karen of this and we decided to scrap this concert, but schedule another once I got a new power chord. Karen told me to introduce myself to the residents and tell them a little about myself. As I did this they seemed genuinely happy that even though I didn't do anything that I eventually I was going to perform for them. They were also very supportive of me and thanked me fore taking the time to try and perform for them.

The next day I had a meeting with Christine Davidson, The activities director for Heritage at Falmouth. During the meeting I reiterated to her what I was planning to do and how I was going to accomplish it. She seemed very gung-ho about it, and asked when would I be able to start the concerts. I told her my schedule and explained that I was waiting on a new power chord that I had ordered the night before. She then gave me her business card and told me to send her an email when i got the chord. She also asked for me to send a short bio of myself so that she could advertise the concerts to the residents. That night I put together the bio and sent it to her. Both of these activities were valuable to me because I learned that sometimes checking your equipment is not a fool-proof way to know that it will work on the day of you performance. I also learned that sometimes you need to make sure you have you credentials all ready to present.