Military Science in Spring 2008?

Today on campus I observed one of the military science lab courses (ROTC Cadets at drill/instructional practice) on the field in front of Cato Hall. I watched them for several minutes and analyzed their behavior, attempting to figure out what it is that intrigues me about military guys, and I found it… the pure precision of execution of movement, as well as their ability to still seem human while doing it. It is likely that because of the way my life is, I will not ever get a chance to have military experience. It is because of this that the Military Science/ROTC courses have always intrigued me. I believe that it would be very beneficial to me to take the introductory course, if for no other reason, just to get some leadership experience.
Course Descriptions in bulk: http://www.provost.uncc.edu/Catalogs/2007-2009/MSCI.htm
I’m looking at the following course pair to satisfy my curiosity:
MSCI 1101. Introduction to ROTC. (1) Preprofessional corequisite: MSCI 1101L. Introduction to ROTC and the U.S. Army including the rationale of the national defense structure and the mission and the role of the Army. Participation in the physical fitness program is optional. (Fall, Spring)
MSCI 1101L. Introduction to ROTC. (0) Leadership lab. Practical application of the material learned in the corequisite course. (Fall, Spring)
file photo:

First Few Drawing Works

A few of my drawing works have been scanned. They are a bit too big for the scanner bed, so they will appear with lines where they have been patched together.






First Aid

In the absence of other exciting news in my life, I am happy to announce that last Wednesday, September 12, 2007, I completed the requirements of the American Heart Association to become First Aid certified. So, there is my big news for the month, I am licensed to use band-aides.

ARTC3273: Body of Work Proposal

Body of Work
Body of 4 to 6 pieces in stoneware. Each piece will be no shorter than 18 inches, and will not exceed 54 inches in height, with the mode of the group being around 25 – 30 inches.
Subject
The subject of the body of work will be plant forms. These plants are not to resemble anything on Earth. The pieces will have distinguishable geometric forms, as well as some forms that could be identified as being “parts” of other known organisms or structures. These “parts” will range from components of thrown vessels to figures from human anatomy (bicep muscle, abdominals, etc).
Form
A majority of the work will be performed on the wheel. When it is possible, shapes will be formed on the wheel, or cut from thrown pieces. Texture will be just as important as the shapes in this body of work. I desire the final product to be a tactile experience as well as a visual one.
Objective
The objective of this work is to have an experience of the imagination, while leaving the viewer with familiar images arranged in unusual ways. This work will take on a final form of being something to be experienced, with minimal usefulness

What happened to Fall 2007?

A lot has happened that I haven’t reported here (I think I forgot that I have a blog) with the Fall 2007 semester.
First, for a short period of time I considered taking a break from my BA curriculum and working on some general ed stuff at the community college level, just to give myself time to refocus and determine my academic path and perhaps force myself to dive into my interests and emerge with a clue as to what I want to be when I grow up. At some point, I decided that I really didn’t need that time and that I would always have time to work on new areas of interest once I get one (or two) out of the way first.
In June I was assigned to a new adviser. In July I met my new adviser for the first time and a detailed plan for my Fall semester was constructed. The new objective is full steam ahead towards degree completion (just the requirements, I can decide whether or not to petition the registrar for graduation clearance once I finish the requirements). My new adviser seems to be more accepting of my academic interest in things like art, writing and social sciences. Bruce Long was never this supportive of anything outside of SIS (even though SIS requires a minor). Dr. Lejk (pronounced Lake) almost forced me to declare Studio Art as my minor.
Next came the course selection. I had decided early in the summer that I wanted to take Drawing. I found a section available at Gaston College with a time slot that seemed good to me. I had already missed the early registration period, so I went to be advised on July 5th. On July 16th I registered for my first course at Gaston College in over 2 years. At some point during the summer, I registered for Advanced C++ at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC). At one point during the summer I was registered for 24 credit hours during the fall semester, including 3 studio courses (for a total of 33 class hours per week, normal/sane is about 18 class hours). When registering at UNCC I was supposed to be registering for Ceramics Studio, but was unable to do so because of an instructor hold on the course. I contacted Tweedy to request a permit to enroll, she denied my request (which shocked me). After a meeting of Tweedy and Roy Strasberg (the Art department chair at the time), I was permitted as an overflow student to Tweedy’s hand-building course.
Before the semester began I evaluated my course load and dropped Advanced C++ as a result of it seeming unnecessary and excessive to the schedule. It is likely a course for a future semester. On the first day of Ceramics Handbuilding, I was asked if I want to go to Ceramics Studio. I was asked why there was a sudden change, after my request during the summer. I was informed that Tweedy thought I would be “with a better group of people” in the studio course. Hence, I was asked to perform a drop/add with the registrar’s office. Later that same day, I went to the first meeting of my Photo Media 1 course, which I also decided to drop, due to excessive demands of studio courses on my time (and the desire to explore the topic more when I have time to dedicate to it).
Now I have 5 courses at UNCC and 1 at Gaston. I am perfectly content with my schedule and very happy that I don’t have the spare course at UNCC and the other at CPCC, that would have been 8 courses total, YIKES!

Internet Pizza

The Internet has changed many thing in our lives, some for the worse, some for the better. I once thought that the only reason I didn’t like calling to order pizza, either for delivery or to pick up, was because I was nervous with the phone conversation portion of the process. Last Saturday I placed my first Internet pizza order with Dominos while staying at my cousin’s house.
The reason I decided to pursue the option was quite simple, I was in a foreign location and was wanting to look up the number for the place, and the “Online Order Now” button just looked too inviting. I gave it a try and was pleasantly impressed with the number of options that were availible, as well as the depth of customization I could do. I usually think of pizza as boring, because I usually place the same order over and over again (because its easy). I had a lot of fun customizing my pizza, and found it refreshing that I could make my pizza any way I wanted, even it I wanted a pepperoni and sausage pizza with banana peppers on the left and jalapenos on the right.
My favorite feature of online ordering is the same as my aunt’s favorite feature of it, you don’t have to scream at a person who can barely hear you and then pray that they get the order right. I find that it makes ordering more simplified, and because of the strong existing connection between phone and pizza, I’m not worried about the added complication of having to locate a WiFi hot-spot to place an on-the-go pizza order any time soon.
Why did I write this? I don’t know, I am easily amused.