Manual Flash

I found the most wonderful little feature on my camera the other day - the tiny 'flower' icon which, of course, is exactly what you need to take good pictures of flowers. Wow. How did I overlook that for so long? Needless to say, I have spent much time huddled in flowerbeds hoping that no one that I know comes by. Want some sample photos? Click for full effect.

Bug + flower.








Sweet.








Again, sweet.








I have such a voluminous pile of pictures now that it's a little daunting. I'll throw them into a flickr album sometime soon and you all can peruse them in their glory.

In other news, work. Lots of Spanish. I'm learning more now than I ever had while actually taking it. My worst fear is that I'm going to tell them something really, really wrong and then they'll bring their test to me and say with big sad eyes, "but... you said this was how you do it!". Even though Lloyd is leaving tomorrow, I still have a steady stream of people very eager to get their limit of three hours in per week. Two of them are in the same class and thus I work on the same material twice. I've taken to making flash cards because I love them so.

Ratatouille is coming out tomorrow and I'm going to try and catch one of the afternoon shows as long as they aren't incredibly busy.

I missed dinner by accident today so I decided that I was in a pizza mood and I had just heard a recommendation about the everyday special at Canyon. Thus, I went up there to check it out, and it truly is the best deal in the world: two slices of any kind of pizza (even toppings!), a huge fourteen-inch breadstick, and a 32 ounce refillable soda for $3.50. Amazing! I was so unbelievably full afterwards, gah. It could have easily been split for two people.

I was sitting in the computer lab in the library the other day pre-tutoring and suddenly the fire alarm went off! It has been so long since I've had to actually file out for a drill that I just sat there for awhile, and just went, arggh, now I have to save my work and log off of the computer and find the nearest suitable exit and wait and wait and then come back in and hope I get the same spot. And that's exactly what happened. I miss the times in school when the fire drill was the most stimulating thing in the world. Even though they always said not to talk, there was always the buzz of excitement in the stairwells, like there was actually a fire somewhere. In the library you could have heard a pin drop, since people were just bothered that they were interrupted and wanted to get back to work.


Maestro: teacher

The teacher says my spurt in height'll
Show mama estrogens are vital.

It's Gonna Rain!

I've clocked about twelve hours straight of work today, and I'm too lame to construct a good entry. But here, enjoy this. It's Erin's deadly combination of a women's studies class mixed with an extra credit opportunity. Yet it doesn't hold a candle to the esoterically wondrous Back of My Head shot. What does it all mean?!?

For running on about three and a half hours of sleep, I feel miraculous. I don't know how that can happen. I had a Pepsi Jazz earlier and it was pretty good, so maybe it's the caffeine. I had some tasty popcorn chicken at lunch; maybe that revved me up a bit.

I don't know what's happening, but I've been inundated with quality entertainment lately. First was Pan's Labyrinth, then Little Miss Sunshine (I have an insane and heartbreaking crush on Paul Dano), then 1408 which was pretty fantastic. I finished e: a novel today and fluff read though it was, it was quality Britfluff. It was like an epistolary version of The Office (the BBC one of course).

Also, Juliette and I have been having much fun impersonating Ollie the Weatherman as much as possible. How's it feeling at Carmike, Alaina? It's hot! Real hot!

Wow, this entry has been linktastic. Enjoy.

Ike the Spike

Guess where I am now. Hmm. Yeah, I’m back in East Halls doing check-ins. This one’s for a basketball camp of high schoolers. I think they’ve been here before since no one has any questions and they pretty much have the swipe card thing down, which is usually the main problem. The singular amusing event happened when there were a ton of boys holding the door open and the alarm went off when the last of them were coming through and one of the wits in the crowd yelled ‘gaydar alert!’. Hee hee hee. The unfortunate one muttered something like ‘shut up you guys’.

The Spikes last night was awesome! Here are some highlights:

The field was looking good! The weather continued to be rain-free and luckily wasn’t muggy and hot. The State College Spikes were playing against the Williamsport Crosscutters, and we couldn’t figure out what a crosscutter was until we saw their mascot, which was a lumberjack. Oh, of course.

I had no intention of buying beer for $5.95 a cup but I wanted to wait in line anyway to get a Responsibility Matters wristband. Without said band, you could not buy any alcoholic beverage. I’m still wearing it because I’m a cool kid. And because responsibility does matter.

It’s pretty hard to make a deer look fierce, especially on top of a Moon Bounce.

I was afraid that we were going to be relegated to the peanut heaven but it turns out there aren’t more than two levels and people pay more to be up in the top seats. So we were lucky enough to get seats right on the edge of the left field area.

Which was also next to the Crosscutters’ bullpen.

Check out this nice view. Rrrowl.

Pitcher warming up. Go team.

Here’s an assembly of all the free things we got for the night: the ticket, a Pepsi product (I got Sierra Mist Free, because it was … free), the Responsibility Matters wristband, and the orange wristband which Erin wore since I gave her my buffet pass since I’d just wolfed down a ton of food and didn’t want any more.

Our ticket with the bleachers and Tussey Mountain in the distance.

We couldn’t figure out what these enthusiastic fans were doing with the hats and the waving until …

They came down and serenaded our section! They called themselves the Boys of Baseball and said “arrrrr” even though we’re the Spikes and not the Pirates. I guess we are an affiliated team, though.

The one shot I have of an actual play. It was exciting at times even though we lost. It really did seem like a Pirate game after all.

There was an announcement near the end of the game by an excited-sounding man that said that we had an all-time record for attendance at a Spikes game …. with standing-room only, the night's count was………

5,671!

Erin couldn’t believe it! Over five thousand! Good lord! Where did they find so many people! Golly gee! Call up Guinness! I think we have a world record!

I think Erin’s just jaded after repeatedly seeing attendance records of over 100,000 at the Penn State football games. She really needs to lower her standards.

Even though they lost, us lucky fans were still treated to a fireworks display!

Oooh, fireworktastic.

I think I have a new favorite picture! Wow!

We had enough energy left over afterwards to hang out in my dorm room and watch Pan’s Labyrinth which was an excellent excellent time. I’m sad that I have to return it or I would have watched it again.

Today’s actually ending up to be pretty sweet time-wise. I have to stop by the ULC and drop off my tutor log, then to the library to deposit books as well as pick up new ones, and meet Lloyd for some more Spanish fun. I like tutoring him since not only does he not think I’m a huge fraud, he believes that I’m fluent. How did that happen? I can imagine him learning more and more and figuring out that I don’t know half of what he thinks I do and then he’ll descend slowly into cynicism and feel betrayed by the Spanish language.

Tonight I think Travis is going to come over and watch Volver since I have to be on duty at 8:00. Hopefully we can catch the Hoyt lounge with the big TV before the Upward Bound kids grab it.

Lanzar: to hurl, throw

Lon, Sartre hurled the javelin of thought

Against a world halfway to madness wrought.

Wow, the 'javelin of thought'. I like it

More Update

Erin is much smarter than I. We were puzzling over the photo once more and she figured out why there were two random newspapers thrown in there - it's to show how old the bacon is! Wow! So this meat has been hanging out there for almost two years now. We'll have to celebrate its anniversary by not eating in the commons.

Update

Erin just figured out what the mystery food object was in the display case out of Pollock Commons. While I was guessing things like 'banana', she immediately identified it as 'bacon'. Wow! Way to go! I'm glad that State College has its very own Nancy Drew.

But now it leads to more questions like 'who put bacon inside of a display case?' and 'why hasn't anyone taken it out by now?'.

Not Sleuth???

I wasn’t really sure how much I was signing up for when I agreed to work at the Commons desk from 10 until 4, but it turns out not much. It's like my CA job in reverse. Instead of checking people in, I’m now taking the keys from people that are checking out. Super! Football camp! Everyone that comes by gets my “Envelope all filled out? Key inside? Okay. Drop it in” speech. I’ve also lost two pens. I was a smart cookie and thought to bring my laptop with me so at least I have a good source of entertainment, even though the wireless doesn’t extend this far.

Hee. A lot of the boys seal the envelopes before realizing that they need the number on the key to fill out the form.

There’s this kid stuck in the elevator on the second floor, and they have OPP and a police officer here trying to get him out. He’s been in there a while, too, and everyone’s complaining about how they have to use the stairs.

On a whim, Travis, Erin, and I went to see Nancy Drew last night because it’s only had about twelve people all week and we’re getting rid of it tomorrow. Verdict – funny, but only if you have someone else to laugh at it with you. The best line was when the police sergeant heard that Nancy had to give up detective work and replied with, ‘Nancy Drew – not sleuth???’ in an unbelieving chortle. It was full of Disney stars from the past – Tate Donovan (Hercules) was the dad and Pat Carroll (Ursula) was the obnoxious real estate agent. Oh, and Livingston Dell was an easily-bought hospital employee. We were close to being the only people in the theater because it was so muggy and humid. They claim that the air conditioning is going to be fixed within the week, but frankly I don’t believe them. Travis received a free Executive Courtesy Pass because he went to carmike.com and complained about the uncomfortable environment.

After that, we looked all over for an area with wireless and eventually ended up in Pollock commons playing the Wikipedia game. Some of the combinations we had were “Lemonade stand to blood sports”, “Hokey pokey to ingrown nail”, and “Numa numa to refrigerator magnet”. It’s harder than you’d think.

So I got home from work at around 1:15 in the morning the other day, and I'm tired and barely conscious and I see something near the garbage cans next to my door. 'Oooh, cat!' I think, but no!






Aaarrgh! A possum! What in tarnation is that thing doing next to a dormitory? It was the scariest rodent I've ever seen in my life. It even looks mean. Oh, god. It freaked me out.

I managed to get pretty close by going into the hall behind it and taking its picture through the window. It didn't really move; it just kind of shook and dribbled a little bit. Gross. By yesterday afternoon it was gone, and I hope it doesn't come back.

Tonight is the Spikes opening game, and the combination of a free ticket plus free buffet is making me happy. I hear that there’s a band and fireworks, too! Party! I hope they have the big slingshots that hurl shirts and hot dogs into the stands. It’s a good thing they didn’t have it last night or a lot of people would be wet and angry.

Two other girls have contacted me to set up time for a tutoring session. ULC really pushed me to hold a ‘group session’ of two or more, explaining that you get an EXTRA DOLLAR per hour. Well, I would rather do two sessions and get twice the pay than just one for a measly dollar more.

Oh, I am hungry! I woke up too late to go to breakfast this morning, lunch is going on right now except I can’t leave my post, and by the time dinner starts I have my weekly CA meeting. So the next opportunity I have to eat is going to be around 6:00. My stomach is going to start digesting itself. But I have that free buffet! If I eat at 6 I won’t be hungry for it.

All right, it’s solitaire time.

dichoso: happy

I've spread each oh-so-dainty cracker
With guava jelly smooth as lacquer;
And now you see a happy snacker.


I wish I were a happy snacker.

Fruit Pickins

Finally, finally, I get home at 12:45 in the morning rather than 1:45, so I'll use this time of leisure to catch up on a day long past - strawberry picking day! No way I actually went out into a field and picked fruit, right?

Way!








Great day for field work, I think.








I was sidetracked before we even began by this sign for Gummos Butcher Shop, which featured a picture of... a caribou? A deer? Something with antlers, at any rate.





I was surprised the sign didn't feature cows in some way. There were a ton of them in a neighboring pasture.






Just looking at this picture makes my sinuses itch uncontrollably.








Oooh, a nice looking strawberry!








There's Erin over on the other side of the field. She was a lot more successful than I was.







However, I had a good-sized amount in my box. They were delicious indeed.







Do you know what else I had a good size of? Hives! Check them out! At this point I was frantically scraping my inner arm against the box to alleviate the itching.






Eventually I was forced to gather up my things and scurry to the porch so I could sit down and scratch myself in peace. Notice how I am now blotchy and red in addition to the hives. This was not awesome.









I did get to brush up on my strawberry picking tips, so that was a bonus.











After the gathering and sneezing and itching we made a trip to the new Creamery (new to me, anyway) and bought a half-gallon tub of Death by Chocolate. This was the same price as two cones.




Mmm... the very first bite. It was superb and refreshing. And that was the end of that day.










I keep seeing this train putt putting its way around campus. On the back it says, "La Societe de 40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux", which means "The Society of 40 Men and 8 Horses". That's a mysterious name for a group.


I have to mention how delighted I am when I wake up to know that I'll soon be able to make fruit choices from a selection like this. How wonderful does that look? Despite the OAS I love fruit like a maniac, so this alone gets me out of bed in the morning. I learned the hard way not to have too many strawberries or any cherries at all, but the pineapple, grapes, and oranges seem to be safe.


This lackluster display is right outside the Pollock Dining Commons. It features moldy-looking newspapers that don't seem to have anything to do with spectacular Penn State events.




This disturbs and distresses me. What is it? Obviously it's dessicated quite a bit from its original state, so I would guess... pickle? Zucchini slice? Eww. Who hasn't noticed this yet? What are the food services people doing if this can remain in a display case for so long?


Back with the espanol, because I need the practice. PS: Blogger doesn't like the word 'espanol', and instead recommends 'lifespan', 'timespan', or 'bespangles'.

ave: bird

Rely on my word; Bob ate our bird.
You say he's a bird lover? Simply absurd!

More Later... I Hope

Carmike has been working me like a migrant laborer lately and I have either been at the theater or unconscious. Both of which options are unfavorable to blogging, sorry. All I have are humorous work stories, so now I'm becoming That Girl that just talks about people from work that no one else cares about. You're just going to have to deal.

I finally got my first encounter with No Ice Man yesterday night. I've heard much talk but never actually had him before. He'll come up and order a medium drink, and when you try to upsell to a large he'll always say "No! Shouldn't even be getting a medium! Too much liquid!" Then, when you're about to scoop, he says "No ice! I never get ice!" After fulfilling his request (Coke, original), and asking whether he'd like to try some popcorn or candy, he then grunts "Shouldn't even be getting a soda!". And then he leaves. He's like the most negative guy on the planet.

We also had a funny character around 11:45 PM, this guy that came in high on life who said that his son had taken off in the car and left him just walking around downtown State College. He bought a ticket to Hostel II because it was our latest movie. He had a great Jamaican accent and when I sold him popcorn he called me 'mon'. Then he said I looked like a girl from an Agatha Christie movie. Then he asked me to go to Tampa with him. Who could say no to that?

In painful news, I dropped one of the case covers right on my toe because there aren't hinges or anything to keep these heavy things from falling directly on sensitive body parts. Oh, I wanted to die. I felt like my toe was going to fall off. It was like giving toe birth. I stopped what I was doing without hesitation, got a bag of ice, sat down on the bench, took of my shoe, and sat there for a good half hour in agony. Luckily it subsided and today it only hurts if I push on it.

I started my volunteering job at the Schlow library on Friday and it's the best position ever. I sit in this tiny check-in room that has two drop box slots and I take the various media when it slides in, scan it, make sure the components are there, and then reshelve on carts. Sometimes I got an influx and it took awhile to get sorted, but other times it was slow goings and I could read some of the stuff that people returned. My favorites were the Golly Sisters books that I remember from when I was a wee child. I need to keep a notebook with me while working so I can write down all of the interesting books that catch my eye. It's a shame I don't get paid.

Spikes

Housing has been going to town lately with their renovations and hall derbies so I bested them this morning by waking up at 5:30. Ha! Who's awake now?

There's a myriad of things I have to do today; a ton of DVDs came in for me at the library, so I have to go pick those up, then I have a meeting with my internship adviser (separate from my French, study abroad, transfer, law, mentor, and library science advisers) which hopefully will set me up with a sweet job and then at 3:00 I have ... a tutoring session. Yikes. This kid from Spanish 003 emailed me yesterday because he has an exam on Friday I believe and he is probably cramming in desperation. Luckily he attached his review sheet so I could look over it and then do a frantic search for the use of the subjunctive in adjectival clauses. I hope he doesn't expose me as a Spanish fraud.

Then there's the CA meeting for which I get paid for an hour and a half and then nothing. I bet that will be DVD time. In a note of sadness, I finished Deadwood's second season last night and Penn State still hasn't bought the third so I'm stuck.

In naked news, I went to the indoor pool yesterday and the locker room was full of elderly, Asian, portly, nude ladies. One was sitting right next to my locker. I had to keep major tunnel vision. They weren't even changing, just sitting around feeling the breeze. Maybe that's their Tuesday morning thing.

While working (airquotes) in Tener hall yesterday I noticed a poster that said that if you go to the HUB at 11:00 on Wednesdays and Fridays and show your student ID, you get free Spikes tickets. Plus, the first hundred people get something cool like a shirt. And everybody gets a free drink! That just seems too good to be true, but I'm certainly going to check it out. Why wouldn't I want to go to a baseball game where the motto is "Fear the Deer"?

Here's some more Spanish loving.

vaso: drinking glass

Bah! So often empty is your glass,
I fear you always let the bottle pass.
- I had to give it up,
It gives me gas.

That second part isn't even necessary.

Awesome

The best line of Deadwood so far just appeared. Someone tried to buy off a man who took bets about how far he could ride on his velocipede. Indignant, he cried,

"Corruption will never blow stinky on my bicycle!"

Hee! I spit out all of my water after hearing that one.

Work Days

Carmike is taking over my life this weekend, so the only pictures I can put up are ones I took when I was weepingly bored in the slow, slow hours between films. Enjoy.

Does everyone realize that Friday was HOT? Like, 90+ hot? And muggy? And we don't have air conditioning? What theater doesn't have AC? It's like a law. We had at least a dozen patrons walk out because it was too much to bear, sitting in a cushy chair in a dark auditorium for three hours. They would come up to the box, ask me "is it this hot in the theater?!?" "Yes," I would say. Then they'd leave. I wish that would happen more often. Imagine how sweaty I got making the popcorn.


Now you can! Look at this loveliness. Golden, crunchy perfection. I've now worked at a movie theater for four years, help, and I am the Popcorn Master. It's a beautiful sight.




I can't take all the credit, though - it's quality, state-of-the-art poppers like these that allow me to practice my craft. They really lure people to my delicious popcorn. Ew. See that filmy brown line at the bottom? That's caked on grease, my friends. About three decades' worth. Mmm.


Thank god I am not required to wheel around a little pushy cart of popcorn or I'd go on a rampage and slam into customers and their children. Then the world would be deprived of tasty goodness when I was fired.



Wow, could you imagine a less attractive box office? That's Mason in the back, not working because we usually have a grand total of about one or two people in each theater at any given time. Our main amusement is the the charity coin race-y thing that doesn't have a name.






This is how I prepare for work. I went to the HUB beforehand and picked up every kind of newspaper I had at my disposal. I think I made it through Voices, the Center Daily Times, the Weekender, USA Today, and I had the NY Times but I detest the font for some reason and I don't like to read it. I gave that one away. Also featured is The Portrait of a Lady and Needful Things.


Does this look like a fun machine? No! This was our old cash register in concession. It was called the IQ Zero which was startlingly accurate and I hated its lameness. It would make these horrid squeals when it didn't like you and they were very hard to turn off. Plus, they were really ugly.


You can kind of see the new register here, the IQ 2000. Wow! I have to say, it is prettier and more up-to-date, but the technology that is less up-to-date than the IQ Zero has already decomposed. The one thing I dislike is that it automatically shuts off after ten minutes, so I'll be punching in an order and look down and go, oh crap, argh, and then furiously punch in my ID number.




Early on in the day we had these two army guys come in and set up this whole complicated display set, after which they left. After awhile they came back, hung out for a few minutes. I gave them free pop since I am generous when bored. I then asked coquettishly if I could keep one of the chairs, since they folded up and had cupholders on both sides of the armrests. He winked and told me I could take one home that night. SCORE. I'm amassing quite the collection in my tiny dorm room. At least it's collapsible.


Sometimes on Fridays we receive shipments of promotional materials, which of course the employees ravage first if there's anything good. This week was a colorforms-like window sticker that said "YIPPEE KI YAY M-", apparently a toned-down reference to Die Hard which I've never seen. The consensus was that they were pretty lame by themselves but hilarious when you could stick them on the charity posters we had posted in the windows.



After all that fun, there was really nothing left to do except stick things into the various fans we had scattered around the lobby.






Mason from the side. This is too fun for words.











Not for the straw, I suppose. This thing was mangled.








So I managed somehow to make my way through seven hours of crushing boredom, having to wade home through the mug, and what awaits me when I get home?

Two brand-new mattresses, baby! It was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled together. These things are firm! My old one was so saggy and old, it was pathetic. And they gave me two! I don't have to explain why I have an extra one in my room anymore! This put a wonderful spin on the afternoon.




What's on the agenda for this afternoon? Oh, going to see Ocean's 13 at the Carmike. And this evening? More Carmike work. And tomorrow? More Carmike work. I'll be dancing a happy dance come payday.