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I totally rode a unicycle tonight!

Oh, the things you'll do in college. . . :~)

P.S. By rode, I mean I sat on it and clung to the couch and the hallway walls. The guy did say I'm braver than most people who won't even try!

Art

I went to the Art Institute of Chicago this weekend. Not being a huge art fanatic, I wasn't overtly excited or anything to be there. Things were fine to look at, though. There were fun looking machines in the corners of rooms, though, that were recording the temperature and humidity of the rooms. I felt a bit rediculous enjoying the scientific machine more than the art, but whatever.

There was one thing there I really really liked. Go here to see it: http://www.afterimagegallery.com/blind.htm
The quality isn't the best, but it gets the point across.

Everyone I've shown it to is really creeped out by it, but I really like it. It's titled "The Blind Musician" by Linda Connor. It's a photograph of an Indian man playing some instrument. What I love is how, from far away, he appears to be immersed in his music, with eyes closed, focusing on the sound. But when you get close, you see his eyes are really wide open, but he's completely blind. The combination of the two just strikes me as something incredibley beautiful. I love it.

A Paraphrase

"When was your conversion?"
"When a cop pulls over a drunkard, he doesn't ask the drunkard, 'at what point did you become a drunkard,' he says, 'you're a drunkard.' I used to feel ashamed that I couldn't recall the exact date I became a Christian like so many other Christians can. I can't tell you when my conversion was. Just know that I am drunk."

I concur.

Microwaves

Have you ever wondered what it looks like when an egg explodes in a microwave? Well, I most certainly have. Luckily, some friends had a microwave that was misbehaving, so they didn't mind exploding an egg inside of it. The problem was, they had already removed the lightbulb from the inside so they could watch the arcs from the metal they were also microwaving. So I got to see and egg explode while watching by the light of a coat rack knob arc.
Microwaving metal has been something that's interested me before. So we put all kinds of stuff in there: wires, a light bulb, a penny (not that cool), a cd (very, very cool), part of a switchboard thing, and finally, a can of spray paint.
Don't worry. We had a fire extinguisher standing by (but unfortunately, I did not get to fulfill the part of my dreams where I spray a fire extinguisher; that'll have to be another adventure). It was so much fun. It was really scary, and my roommate and I were really anticipating the door exploding open at any moment, and all of us getting sprayed with melted metal and radioactive carcinogens. The door ended up melting a little during the spray paint, but no big explosion. Just a lot of fire and some horrific smelling smoke.
It was the highlight of my evening. Maybe even the weekend. :~)

A song about a Misfit

I've been listening to Sufjan Steven's Seven Swans a lot here lately. I really like the song "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," but I wanted to know the meaning. So I searched google just to see what would come up, and it was talking about a short story by Flannery O'Connor by the same title. So I came to the library this morning and decided to read it. I really liked it. If you get the chance, check it out. I won't say anymore for fear of ruining the ending, but it's a good one. It makes me like the song more since I know what was intended as meaning.

So I concussed a girl today. . .

It was during cheerleading (I know, I know, don't hate/judge me). We tried something Kirsten had never attempted before. We were rushed. When we threw it up, it was uneven. I fell on her side, but I actually didn't land too heavily on her. I did happen to knock her in the head with my elbow, though. She was just laying on the floor. We were checking to see if she was ok. She was breathing heavily with her eyes closed, and we all assumed she was putting herself back together so as not to break out into tears because of pain. She opened them, looked around, and said, "what happened?"
She has a minor concussion, and is currently sitting though a 3 hour class with Larabee. Not the medicine I would have prescribed. [sigh]
So this is a very abbreviated version of what happened. Check with me for more details. I just found it kind of funny that I knocked out a girl on my floor. :~)