Sunday 21 Aug 2011: The Walk
It was my first day in new ward: the Glenn Dale YSA Ward. The chapel is about 6 miles from where I live. My father recommended that I find the bishop's number and ask for help getting a ride. I refused, explaining that I had my own plan and that I would take care of it. I intended on taking the bus. It turns out that neither the MetroBus routes nor the Prince George's County bus systems operate on Sundays. By the time I figured this out (late Saturday night) it was a bit late to call and ask anyone for a ride. So I decided to walk to church.
Turns out Greenbelt Rd is also Route 193. It lacked a sufficient amount of sidewalks.
Luckily there was a generous bike lane.
Google Maps estimated that it would take about 2 hours to get there. And that was about right. I listened to some talks from General Conference and a podcast called Hard Core History. Learned quite a bit about the Roman Republic and the Gracchi brothers on the way to Sacrament. I got a ride back home after church.
Monday 22 Aug 2011: FHE Dada
Among other things, I attended FHE at the Institute building. Oh I hope things look better at institute in way of interesting people otherwise I'm doubting that my church community will be a source of great friends out here. Not very lively people. Maybe it was just a low energy day? Anyway, I had planned to wear one of my Legends of the Hidden Temple shirts to see what reactions I might get. Sort of a precursor to my adorning my Captain Hammer shirt. I figure if I wear these items and someone responds with enthusiasm, the exchange will reveal the higher likelihood that a friendship is probable.
Blue Barracudas Represent!
One person asked me about the shirt, but that was it. On the plus side we did create some Dada poems. Unfortunately no one knew what that meant. I was the only that responded with any form of enthusiasm which meant that the person who decided that Dada would be the activity asked me to explain it. I gave a one minute explanation rather than my 25 minute lecture, thinking she'd give more background. Not so much. So mostly, it just frustrated people. And when we were making poems, the woman who planned the activity was not exactly creating poems by chance herself even though she was working off the whole idea of Tristan Tzara's chance poetry. I liked the poem I made. Would have copied it down, but it was dada. I made it, appreciated it, and then it was done. Why hold onto it? I did like that some random words I pulled made the line "Books, Books, Read." That was cool.
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011: The Day the Earth Did Not Stand Still
I attended some beginning of the year meetings on campus starting at 11 AM. First meeting with all the graduate students and faculty in our department and then just our individual program. There are 4 graduate programs in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland: MFA in Dance, MFA in Design, MFA in Performance, and MA/PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies. So yeah, after all of our meetings the new PhD students were waiting to meet with Frank Hildy and while we sat around the conference room table, the room started shaking. back and forth. To me it felt like a motion ride . . . like Star Tours at Disney's MGM Studios in Walt Disney World.
Luke faced Vader and the Death Star on his first adventure; this earthquake isn't some sort of allegory or omen is it?
I should probably be less glib--I know that it was very terrifying for many people--but I thought the whole earthquake things was a hoot. I had fun . . . and then I went to get food with some of the other grad students. It was a nice day.
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011: A New Home
Not much happened. The big item on the schedule was dinner at Dr. Hildy's house with other students and faculty. I went there before when I came out to visit the school; it was nice to go back because Frank's wife Cindy and her brother are both amazing cooks. Before the dinner, I spent a lot of time on campus wandering around the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center or CSPAC. I decided to take some pictures of my new home. When I first saw this building I think my jaw dropped. It's so beautiful.
Eat your heart out, HFAC!Thursday 25 Aug 2011: Allan Davis and the Temple of Gloom
Spent the whole day on an adventure to see and worship in the Washington, D.C. Temple. When I saw gloom, I refer not to the edifice, but to the terrible weather. When I walked outside of my house, it was raining, so I grabbed an umbrella. I realized that I had the wrong time for the bus and returned home. When it was time to catch the next bus, the weather looked fine so I left behind my umbrella and rain jacket. That was a bad decision. It rained a lot and I got soaked.
It took a few hours but I finally made it to the beautiful D.C. Temple.
After I attended a session, I walked outside into a wave of humidity that I have not experienced since I was in the greenhouses at Kew Gardens. I tried taking pictures, but the air kept fogging up my camera.
I had to keep wiping off the lens, but I got some decent pictures.
It took another few hours to get home, but on my way while walking from the Metro Station I saw a frog in the dark. I tried to get a picture of it, but this was the best one I could get. I found him quite cute.
Jeremiah? Seems appropriate given the day's journey.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 26-28 Aug 2011: Hurricane Irene
These three days were pretty much all the same. Everything was so frantic because of Irene. We didn't get any rain on Friday. A few showers on Saturday. Some wind early Sunday morning. And two sustained blackouts. One for 4 hours on Saturday evening and one all of Sunday until around 10 PM. It sounds like Irene did some serious damage, but luckily that impact was not really felt in Greenbelt, MD in significant ways. My church meetings were cancelled. I finished reading Antonin Artaud's The Theatre and Its Double, read a lot of a Sookie Stackhouse novel (the books HBO's True Blood series is based on), and played cribbage and Uno with my roommates. A simple weekend for me.
And that my friends was my week before school: an earthquake, a hurricane, and dada. Who could ask for anything more?
1 comment:
Sounds like an interesting week to me. Glad the hurricane did no major damage. The Washington D.C. Temple looks beautiful I hope to see it some day.
The Sookie Stackhouse novels are some of my favorite light reading, hope you are enjoying them.
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