back from vegas

[intertribal]

Me and the headless, armless Goddess of Victory in front of Caesars Palace (I named a character after her in high school, before I realized a shoe company beat me to it).  Uploaded more photos here. 

It was 105 degrees and amusing, for the most part.  I did think the Moving Statues at Caesars were ridiculously kitschy, but the volcano at my hotel (the Mirage) was surprisingly awesome, as were the Bellagio fountains (maybe that's not so much a surprise).  The Venetian was really, really fragrant, the Luxor was lolzy, the Excalibur had a lot of fast food joints (I see why Jennifer wanted to die when she was assigned the Excalibur as inspiration on Top Chef last season), and the MGM Grand was confusingly large.  We were sharing the Mirage with the West Coast Dance Explosion's national finals, so the casino floor was half old people on slot machines and half pre-pubescent girls in really heavy makeup and glamour bikinis. 

The food was good. 

Comments

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

nice picture!

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

thanks! did you have class today?

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

yes, and more tonight

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

fun fun... how's yours going so far?

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

TA was cute and seemed friendly but bored. Hopefully discussing readings will be more exciting for him? Classmates...hard to say. At least one seems like she doesn't want to be there, but everybody was paying attention. Syllabus seems like not a lot of work, but basically reading, discussion, papers, exam, which isn't really all that different from what I'm used to, if like, taken down a few notches.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Yours?

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Better than I expected. Smaller class than I expected too (10 students), and hopefully that will be good for discussion, which instructor is very enthusiastic about. He's interesting/moody, mildly intriguing (lol). All the students are seniors except for one junior in advertising whose sole contribution was asking if instructor would help her write her reaction papers. They were all pretty dead today. Same on the coursework, but the dude picked interesting, critical contemporary readings, so that's good.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Same as what on the coursework? Pretty dead, moody and intriguing, better than expected? Guessing the last one... What does intriguing mean? Moody how? It's funny that you say contemporary readings are good, because that's kind of the opposite of my attitude (though I know it's necessary and beneficial at least for practical, professional purposes). The students in your class are probably much better, it not being an intro level course and all. But there aren't too many of them (guess phil courses don't attract big numbers?).

I saw you and your mom on my way to class! But I was in my car, and I don't think you saw me. That's when (well, shortly before) I called you, btw. Do you know a good place to park near campus, or do you guys just use staff parking (not that those are mutually exclusive)?

My second class's instructor is much more...there. He's really respectful, offering extra help at office hrs and via email, making sure every question gets answered and line of thought pursued. This made four hours of almost-lecture bearable and not sleep-inducing, if intense. He got a little impatient a couple times, but I kind of understand--there are a couple really insufferable, not-too-bright types there (not that one causes the other--it's the combination that does it). Next year will (hopefully) be his last year as a doctoral student, and he's taught the course before, which helps. He's not bad-looking either, haha.

I'm thinking it's best not to mention questions I have related to Peirce, but I do seriously want to be able to connect up where he stands in relation to all this, because I know he's somewhat outside the mainstream in the US today, for a # of reasons. In that sense, among others, I think the courses will be good for me. Right now both classes are all about God and his/her/its existence and/or commandments (depending on the class).

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Same as your assessment of your coursework, lol! I have reaction papers, discussion, a final exam... a debate. And I mean, I definitely don't think you should only have contemporary readings, but I think there's more of a purpose for it in poli-sci - and I get frustrated sometimes when I feel the readings are stuck in this "US hegemony: Agree or Disagree?" framework that goes into system failure when even terrorism is brought up. It's possible what I really mean here is that the readings aren't totally US-centric.

You called? Sorry I missed it... huh. I often miss calls if I'm plugged into the ipod. We use the parking garage on R Street (R and 17th, I think?), and I'm not sure if students can park there. I think they have to have a permit of some kind - and then you have to make sure it's the right sticker, blah blah. There's also metered parking around the loop behind Memorial Stadium, but that's harder to get.

4 hours of lecture? Holy crap. Does it meet twice a week or something? At any rate, I'm glad you think the classes will be good for you. I feel the same way about my class, so huzzah.

BTW, I am totally listening to "Are You Washed in the Blood" on repeat right now. I'm putting it in my book, lol. I thought that would amuse you.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Yeah, both my classes are discussion-centered--today was just like, lecture day b/c it was the first day. But there was lots of time for talking about what was presented at least in the ethics class (Patrick's, the 4-hr one). No reaction papers for us, grade is mostly based on 2 papers.

Anyway, how was this prof moody and intriguing? You did not answer!

Are the meters by Memorial Stadium longer than 90 min. and less than $2? That's really the question.

and yes, nice about the song. how are you using it?

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Discussion-centered classes don't seem so intimidating at UNL, I must say. Oh, I missed the question. Uh, he just seemed cool/like he had an interesting life/probably had smart opinions. My "type," esp. in professors. "Cool" being of course subjective.

I think they're 2 hr meters? I'm not really sure, but I think that's what my co-worker Jackie uses so she doesn't have to get a parking pass. And it would be a quarter for half an hour, everywhere. I can ask around tomorrow if you want more help. Where did you park today?

It's my parishioners' favorite hymn! I just spent like two hours listening to hymns on youtube. OMG WTF is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8RLeRExqMs

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm if possible more intimidated, but I am trying to talk anyway, and I think it will wear off as I get used to my classmates. You'd think it'd be better after teaching for a year...

I dunno if I have a 'type' in profs (I guess devoted to teaching & intellectual pursuits, interested in and good with theory, respectful like (s)he is no better than the students, cynical and/or amusing (not necessary, but a plus), and honest/straightforward), but I can tell you neither of mine are probably your type.

Yeah, it's just that if I park in a lot, I can stay longer but it's $1/hr. I'll look into the other meters...all the ones close by are 30-90 min., often 60--which is a touch too short. I parked on R st. today (90 min).

I have no idea, but disturbing...didn't make it to the end of the vid, though (it kept having probs loading and i gave up).

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Really? Why?

I like the things you mentioned too - but I'm not usually able to gauge that (except for the last two) within the first day. What I listed are sort of superficial impressions I can get - and of course this "type" =/= "who I think will be a good teacher" or anything.

R Street is 90 minutes? Damn, I thought it was longer. Er... yeah, I'll ask.

I had problems loading it too. I think that was Jesus going, "do not watch torture porn about me! :(" Uh, you probably shouldn't take me too seriously right now.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I was most nervous about making a comment about sex/sexism. Maybe it has something to do with my impressions of what views my classmates hold (more Christian, more conservative). But I think it's partly just that I've psyched myself out about philosophy, and I have to just let everything go and focus on the class. Or it's just been awhile. Some combination of the above?

yes, but...i guess just what i like in a person overlaps with who i think will be a good teacher. because it has a lot to do with intellectual passions and theory and scrupulous honesty.

haha.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

The psyching yourself out about philosophy bit wouldn't surprise me, honestly. We haven't really had any discussion, so I don't really know how I will feel about it yet. I tend to get intimidated in poli sci discussions pretty easily at the start of classes, so we'll see.

Yeah, that makes sense, and I'm not saying if someone seemed "cool" but was clearly a bad teacher I'd still like them - I was more just trying to say that just because I have this "type" that I'm describing doesn't mean that if a prof doesn't fit it, I dismiss them. Although a fair amount of the "type" really is wrapped up in the cynical/amusing bit, I suspect. I'm sounding like an idiot now, I'm pretty sure. I'm going to go get my writing quota in and then go to bed, lol.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I think it will get better...and the more it's real discussion, not lecture-tangents, the better I think it will be.

Uh, I didn't think you were saying that. I just added that b/c I understood what you meant by type, but what I wrote seemed so teaching-centered.

Ok, sweet dreams!

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

You can park on 16th street at 2 hour meters, it turns out.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

sweet.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Nice to *see* you! You look gorgeous!

I don't think you could get me into Vegas unless it was to rescue a kidnapping victim or something, but it's fun to read your description. I love the image of the old people on slot machines combined with the pre-pubescent girls in glamour bikinis. That totally, totally says Vegas to me, somehow.

Off topic, have you ever seen the movie Opera Jawa? sovay has a review of it (here), and it sounded cool to me--and also like something that possibly you would have seen.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you!

Yeah, I don't blame you, and that is kind of what it's like (except for the high-roller Super Cool people, who are mostly invisible unless you're eating at a $50/steak restaurant). I'm planning on going back next summer with some friends, but I'm still at the age where "let's-go-get-drunk" is an actual activity. But when I was there I kept thinking, wow, if aliens were doing surveillance of us they'd be all "desert, desert, desert, nothing to see here - whoa, what is that tiny cluster of extremely high activity? Is that their research center? Oh, no, wait. It's an amusement park." And they'd be like, "let's go to the next planet."

I think I read a review of that once (the person was like "I don't understand anything!") - it does sound interesting.