Wow, uhh, hi there!
It's been a while, I know. I apologize profusely. For those of you who often watch my deviations you know that I do, in fact, still own a pulse. Hurray! I'm actually on spring break right now from student teaching, not like that means anything. I feel like I have so much work that there's no time for anything else. Including breathing. It sucks! And yet...I love it.
Must be a masochism thing or some lunacy that I cannot quite understand. My time has been divided, quite delicately, between lesson planning, teaching, false hope, applying for jobs that don't exist, and developing a portfolio that will sparkle with such radiance that mere mortals will not be able to help themselves with hiring me. Or so I would like to think.
I would like to profess that the delusion of my portfolio is completely false and a lie. It's mediocre, at best.
No, I'm not bitter at all.
YES OF COURSE I'M BITTER!!! I've busted my behind getting a Masters in Teaching and I might have to ship this tushy off to the Bible Belt or to South Korea to find a job...no offense to you Kansans out there...or the Asians...cause I love you all.
Seriously, though. It's like my whole little well-made plan of success is crumbling before my very eyes.
We'll see where this takes me. So far I've applied to NY, MA, VT, NC, VA, MD, DE, GA and FL. I'll be hitting up PA, NJ, NH, and outer space at some point. Going on the offensive here, goshdarnit. Did I get all my abbreviations correct?
So, in other news, I have these few precious minutes to update this journal of mine so I hope to make it entertaining and enlightening for all you readers out there that are curious about what is going on in the fanciful world of Diane. Hi. That's me.
Here it goes <insert drumroll here>:
My student teaching officially ends May 13th, but they don't actually mean officially. Because if I still have to grade then I have to do that and return such graded materials to my former students. So, really, it ends when I end it. Kind of cool, but not. I then plan to take that weekend to emphasize my learning and professional development by doing the exact opposite. Ohh yes. Ohh yes, I will.
I graduate in less than a month. With that lovely Masters of Uselessness. There will be parties celebrating that Uselessness over the weekend while I, in between finishing grading and graduating and parties, I will be planning to escape from it all. I am planning such amazingness that I am not quite sure you can handle it: a cross-country road trip.
This shimmering globe of excellence is the only thing keeping me from throwing myself off the deep end of the Tappan Zee Bridge while listening to Moonlight Sonata on my iPod. ...No, I am not so eager to be emo. I would probably just veg out in front of the TV and grow to be enormous. ANYWHO!!!
Yes, road trip!! It will take me through several states and two different countries. My savings will expire to naught and I will probably work at a McDonalds when I get back so that I might feed myself Ramen noodles.
What are the details you might ask? Well, I'm glad you did!! I will be happy to disclose them. I will also disclose that if chance makes it happen or if you otherworldly, cyber people are interested, I might be passing through your state. THIS MEANS HELLO TIEMZ!!!! I know, already, that
goofeegrins,
FiredancerAtrea,
ms-gigi,
Shye6686, and
EvilFire4321 have a whole world of Diane headed their way. Smaller worlds are being given to
noodle469 and
coryosterberg since they are affiliated with the Azn Persuasion and the Shye-bean. If I'm not mistaken, all of them are quite content with such news. Naturally, there needs to be a certain amount of trust involved or I'll use my mind-control abilities to make sure that life is peachy keen for me if I happen to visit you.
So, here's the deal. Time is optional. I'm taking my time with this business. As I go through each state I will be giving myself the opportunity not only to see the U.S., but to scope out schools that will still be in session (remember the sparkling portfolio that would make Edward Cullen jealous?), to photograph everything, to be with friends, to relax, and to celebrate my Masters of Uselessness.
Remember, time is optional. I'm not quite sure which day I'm leaving, or when I'll return. I don't know what days I'll be in specific states just yet and everything except for maybe a few arrangements is, to an extent, flexible. In a few words: I don't want to have to rush to some destination. Easy ridin' in my trusted Honda. Ohh yeah. Me and my iPod and the open road and a can of mace for creepers.
Outgoing Trajectory: New York, New Jersey (for all of 30 minutes homahgah), Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia (for about .2 seconds), Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma (YAY TORNADOES!), Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington state, VANCOUVER!!! Ultimate destination and rest time of gloriousness. Incoming Trajectory: Washington, Idaho, Montana (for a heartbeat, if at all), Wyoming (possible Yellowstone goodness? Maybe?), South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio (definitely visiting Akron), Pennsylvania, Jersey, New York! I have plans or ideas for almost every state, but they aren't listed here 'cause I'm a lazy butt. Round trip estimation on that evil thing called time? 'Bouuuuuut 9 weeks. Maybe 10.
Lots of that time will be in Vancouver. Who's excited? This girl, right here. Elated, even.
And you wouldn't think for a moment that I'd be going on this trip with just a point-and-shoot would you? Of course not! The Nikon D7000 is now mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. I need to read the manual 'cause it might as well be a Martian Cloning Device, but I'll be bringing that bad boy along. I have to thank
KirlianCamera for helping me choose and for consistently recommending lenses for me. He is my idol and I would give him sacrifices of livestock if that was permitted or socially acceptable. ...C'mon, people, no I wouldn't. I love goats and bovine like the next person.
I'll probably even photograph a few on my trip.
So how about that for a mouthful, eh? I think I outdid myself. I was considering waiting until the end of my student teaching to make such a declaration, but if there were any lingering supporters of the trip out there that live in the aforementioned states I would want them to know sooner rather than later. And remember, I'm not going too far off the beaten track here. If you live in the far corners of the state I'm not going to consider the extra gas. The people I'm visiting I either already know or have a certain amount of trust in them based on prior experience. Okay, so that's my disclaimer. I'm not adverse to you buying me a sandwich, though. I'll be famished.
Err, all other news is not worthy of such a journal and I will keep it to myself. Yes. And as abruptly as this began it shall end.
Thanks for reading!
Movie Review:
District 9 - So what would happen if aliens came to our planet? And what happens when they are potentially dangerous, but happen to need us? District 9 happens. Of course we would create a quarantine, try to control them, and wind up exploiting them as much as possible. Especially when there are weapons that they can use against us. We would tromp around in the disguise of good will only to keep ourselves safe. It's not a surprise. It's self-preservation and one of the reasons us humans have gotten as far as we have. Still, it's important to critique these ideas and District 9 does just that.
It is a story of alien life coming to this world. Their broken mother ship hovers over the city of Johannesburg. The government there eventually gave the go ahead to break into the ship and what they found were the starving masses of aliens living in refuse. They needed help. Unfortunately, they are not like us. They are also potentially dangerous. This mixture forces the government's hand to make District 9 where the aliens, nicknamed "Prawns" because they look like and "act" like the bottom feeding aquatic namesake, live relatively separated from the human world. The only contact they have are with dangerous gangs or with the committee created by the government to control District 9.
The story gets complicated as one of those committee members, Wikus Van De Merwe, gets "infected" with a substance that systematically begins to transform him from human to alien. The committee wants nothing more than to harness him, examine him, and in the process, kill him. He begins, therefore, a journey taking him straight into District 9 where he finds himself entrenched in the life of one particular alien named "Christopher" and his little boy.
Wikus is initially a rather hard character to like, but through the transformation of his body we also transform our view of him. This does not come easy or quickly. He shows his human colors by working with self preservation throughout the movie, making us doubt what we should feel about him (as we should). One thing is for sure, our view of the aliens is steadfast.
With the context of the movie heavily steeped in how we, as humans, deal with differences in our society this film becomes a critique of all living life, not just aliens. How we treat, view, and act to those who are different than us can never be fully understood until we take their places. When we do, it is only then, that we can grasp the gravity of the situation. Even so, some of us recognize these issues, but they are too big for individuals to handle alone. The movie continually examines this societal norm while giving us an action packed, interesting, and very different film from the regular box office hits.
My main upsets with the film is its seemingly desperate cling to gore. They put so much of it in! It feels as if they were worried the story itself would not carry the movie well enough so they added the grotesque to make it more interesting and likable. Though I am not one to shy away from the occasional cringing moment I got bored with the extensive use throughout the movie. Because of this heavy handed use of violence Tania seemed oddly out of place with her continuous love for Wikus. It's touching, but completely out of place in the broad spectrum of the film. If they had developed that relationship further by giving them more screen time or scenes I believe it would have fit better. Otherwise, this film is a diamond in the rough. Rare and original. It remains open ended, as most movies these days do, but it is a good stand alone film as well if not for the critiques it provides.
www.mapservices.org/myguestmap… <---Just do it.
Supporters of The Dianeness: (alphabetized individuals, 'cause it's orderly)
Features!!!
:thumb123044397:
:thumb133976901:
Watcher Feature
"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, as long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime."
Fahrenheit 451 by: Ray Bradbury
