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| I have been hooked on a new game....well, new for me. It's called Human Age (see the banner above), and what you do is you adopt a caveman or cavewoman to "raise" through prehistoric times! You can have your caveperson hunt, have a job like a water gatherer, buy or sell stuff at the market, and build up their hut. It's in real time, so it's not a game that you can "win" really quickly. You just spend a few minutes a day getting your person set up to continue their life. It's really fun and interesting! Your caveperson has to learn tasks like starting fires and building stone weapons before it can finally progress to the next level and become a Celt (one of your ancestors Dusty :)...After that level he/she will be an Egyptian, but that level's not finished yet. So check out the game! It's completely free, and its very interesting. But if you decide to sign up, make sure you mention my name (or my email). I'll get a reward ;) See ya in the next life, brotha! | | |
| Yes, it's still late winter...sigh...in Oklahoma I would write "Early Spring Update". But it's been pretty cold here until yesterday. Earlier this week it was still in the 20's! But yesterday it finally started to warm up and it got up to the 50's! Wow! We were all so pumped :) Then grandma tells me it was in the 70's yesterday... :( I sure miss Oklahoma weather! Well, I had my birthday last month, and I had a great time! I didn't have a party, but my good friends here took me out to a surprise location. When I got there, I found out it was a production of Oklahoma! A local university was putting the musical on, and my friends thought that would be perfect for me, since I NEVER stop talking about Oklahoma (the state) :) Two of them had never seen it before, and they liked it. One of these days I'm gonna get them to watch the movie with me. Spring break is coming up at the end of March, and these friends and I are going to New York City!!! Yay! I've never been, so I'm really excited and scared all at the same time. haha. 'We're gonna try to catch a Broadway show, but I don't know what else we'll do. Maybe we'll go to the museum from "Night at the Museum" ! That's a great movie. But our hotel is right off of Times Square, so that should be fabulous! Other than these lovely goings-on, I've been grading and grading, working and working. Nothin too interesting. Oh! I just got elected president of KentLingua, a student association for the translation graduates. We didn't have nominations, candidacies, campaigns...they just gave us ballots and said "Write someone's name down". And a ton of people thought I'd be a good president! That's very flattering. I wouldn't say I would've run for this job, but now that I have it I might as well do my best. And the other officers are all people I get along with really well, so it should be a fun experience. Well, I think that about covers it for me. You'll probably see another update, oh...in May! :) | | |
| Ok, so I finally have an Ohio update :) Of course, Ohio is colder than Oklahoma. And it gets more snow. But until recently I haven't had many problems with it. However, this week it has been under or around freezing most of the time. This gave me the opportunity to discover something called the Lock De-Icer. What is this strange and completely unfamiliar object, you say? Well, it just so happens that people up North use Lock De-Icers when the locks on their car doors become frozen! Whoa! I know! How bizarre!! ;) I know this because MY car doors froze up on me THREE TIMES IN TWO DAYS! Argh.... The first time it happened, I was flabbergasted. But I kept working on it, and the lock finally turned. Later that night, it froze for the second time. Luckily, I had a friend from Minnesota with me! This is when I learned of the mystical Lock De-Icer. (My friend from North Carolina had never heard of it either.) With their help (blowing warm air onto the lock and the key and some deft lock-turning) it opened. Still, it was too late in the evening to go buy a Lock De-Icer at the local Wal-Mart that stupidly closes early!! (Where are we if Wal-Mart closes by 11? That just ain't right, people). So I took my chances. And lo and behold, the locks froze again the next night. That time I was by myself, and the situation seemed hopeless!! But the passenger door finally opened. I got in and drove straight to Wal-Mart (it was before their bedtime). Thankfully, the rush on Lock De-Icers left a few for me. I bought two (to be safe) and promptly inserted it in my car locks! YAY! It's been two days so far and they haven't frozen yet. God bless the Lock De-Icer!! Other Ohio weather concerns: ---Antifreeze - I did check that in December, but only because my teaching coordinator mentioned it! Thank goodness she did, or I wouldn't have known! But luckily, my car dealership took care of that before I even bought my car. ---Snow on the Headlights - Haha, silly me, when I removed those inches of snow from my windshields and windows, it didn't even occur to me that there could be snow on my headlights! So it took some weird nighttime driving (depending on the headlights of the car in front of me) for me to realize that the headlights need some loving too. Who knew?? :) ---TV Weather Alerts - Okay, so I'm definitely used to TV weather alerts, with their beeps, maps, and scrolling words. So when I saw one while watching TV last night, I paid attention. What's going on?? Is it a tornado? ;) A freak blizzard that's on top of us right now?? AHH!! NO. This alert that interrupted my peaceful TV watching wanted to inform me that other counties would be experiencing snow TOMORROW NIGHT!! What?! I assume it's a lot of snow, or they wouldn't be all urgent. But tomorrow night?? Please. I'm sure these people watch the weather channel or at least the weather report on the local news. Don't scare me with a TV weather alert that does not present immediate danger. I hope you've enjoyed my first update from Ohio. I especially hope that you people in warmer climates have learned something from my experiences and will be prepared if you ever visit the cold North. And finally, I hope I will soon be writing another update from Ohio. Cross your fingers! :) | | |
| Well! I'm finally back here on Xanga. I'm not having much luck at posting regularly, but I really haven't had a permanent Internet connection until now. I'm back on AIM, so I'm hoping that Xanga will benefit from my presence as well. I'm in Ohio, taking grad classes in French Translation...it's so exciting! ;) My classes are pretty fun, and the other students are great. Besides all my international friends, I have a southern friend (from NC), a midwestern friend (from NE)....and I've even made friends with an Okie (but he's a Sooner). But I'm getting excited about learning to write html in one class...maybe I can spruce up my site a little! I'm also teaching elementary French. It's pretty fun. I get to be a goofball :) I just hope the kids are learning! I did find a church: Grace Baptist. It's a pretty good church. They have their beliefs printed in their bulletin, so I found out right away that I agree with their core beliefs. The worship is generally hymns, but yesterday they sang Twila Paris songs and a straight-rhythmed "Trading My Sorrows" :) But they use a drum set with the piano, so it doesn't sound too old. And everyone sings really loudly! Evidently, the pastor preaches his sermons by going through a certain book of the Bible. We are in Revelation now, so every Sunday he preaches on the next 10-20 verses (that go together). It actually works pretty well. Ooh...and every Sunday they have a Moment in Missions where they highlight a couple, a family, or an organization in missions. So far they've all been related to their church in some way. Pretty cool! The college group is pretty good too. It's got about 20 people in it, and we just decided what we want to learn this semester. We started this Sunday with the reliability of the Scriptures, and soon we will discuss the Trinity. Then, we'll learn about gaining wisdom by going through Proverbs. I like the direction we're going. Really, it's the first church I visited, but I just like it. And the people are very nice and welcoming. It's right next door to an Assembly of God, so one day I might just pop on over and see what that's like ;) I've only been to one before (in Rapid City, SD), and I really enjoyed that one. But for now, I'm happy at Grace. In case you wanna know more, it's website is www.graceinkent.org | | |
| I just love to watch Project Runway, and this season is even better because one of the contestants in this fashion designing competition is from Oklahoma! Kayne Gillaspie is actually a Tennesse native, but he's lived in Oklahoma for at least three years and lists it as his home. I don't even mind the fact that he lives in Norman, because he is such a great, kind, friendly guy who refrains from any of those stupid reality show conflicts and actually has good relationships with the other contestants! Plus, he never went to OU.  He is a well-respected pageant designer in the state, and he owns a pageant/prom boutique called Southern Charm in Norman. So the latest challenge on the show was perfect for him!
Last night, the contestants had to design a dress for the gorgeous Miss USA Tara Conner! She agreed to wear the winning dress in the evening gown competition of the Miss Universe pageant (airing Sunday at 9pm ET on NBC). Kayne about hyperventilated when she appeared! He got to create his design with another contestant, Robert, as his assistant. (Everyone paired up in two's.) Those two are the nicest and funniest people on that show! I loved seeing them work together, and they created the perfect dress! It was the only one that looked like a pageant dress to me, but it wasn't all gaudy and overdone like many pageant dresses. It was truly elegant and inspired. I loved every bit of it -- from the color that shifted depending on the light and the angle to the poufs of organza on the bottom to the gorgeous crystal necklace/halter that completed the outfit perfectly. And what's even better is that Miss USA loved every bit of it too! She chose his dress to wear in the pageant on Sunday and she will look spectacular! Winning this challenge is a huge deal for Kayne career in the pageant industry, and it has fulfilled a dream of his. I couldn't be happier for him! I hope that he will continue to do well in the show, but I know that even if he doesn't, this challenge and this dress will do so much for him. Yay Kayne!
Everyone should watch the Miss Universe pageant and Project Runway to support our fellow Oklahoman! 
Here are some pics of his pageant dress (from www.bravotv.com):
Kayne is the redhead on the right, and Robert is the dude in the shades.
 
 
BTW, here's an article about him that appeared in the Norman Transcript: http://www.normantranscript.com/entertainment/local_story_195003610 | | |
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