Rau

Today, rather than taking the time to pack properly, I threw everything together before dashing off downtown. Mom and I went to see the Rau exibit at the TN State Museum. For mom, the chance to see these 95 european paintings was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For me, it was almost as thrilling, but tinged with a little nostalgia. It made me miss the art museums I trudged through weekly in Europe.
Dr. Rau was a rich doctor / art collector whose collection spans across Europe's 15-20th century art. There's a little in the collection for everyone, if you can endure wading through everyone there. It seems like the entire state waited until today, the last day of the exhibit, to come see it. Between the strange BO, the rude people, and the occasional screaming children, the people were almost as interesting as the art. It amused me to watch people pass by a Monet just because there wasn't audio commentary on it. Plug them in and watch them go.
Dance, puppets. Dance!
Poor humor aside, it was a nice afternoon. I found a few new names to look for prints of, and learned a little more of my own style in the process.
Plus, I got to go downtown one last time before disappearing into the country fields of Murray for another semester.

Art Appreciation Miracle

So here's another little college story.
Tonight I was all flipped out because I didn't have my notebook done for Art Appreciation. I know, I know, slacker. Anyway, He didn't check mine, and when I asked him about it said he'd checked them all already. He looked in his little grade book and it turns out I got notebook credit for correctly answering what DaDaism is. I learned it from Samurai Champloo (an awesome anime). Samurai Champloo just saved my A in that class.
I love being a geek :)

Holiday Cheer

Rudolph's on. That radio-whine noise of his nose woke me up from his nap. Turns out Tiff's a fan. A BIG fan. Now, before I get a massive list of comment's about what a Scrooge I am, let me assure you that I have no problem with the classic Rudolph movie. I just happen to be somewhat grouchy after Monday's all nighter and yesterday's lack of sleep. I'll probably be fit for human contact again by tomorrow.
So, yeah, Rudolph's on. The digital remastery looks good. There's texture now, and the sound is 100% better (that whine in stereo is scary). Way to go CBS. Or whoever did it.
Murray State's Hanging of the Green is a week from tomorrow. 1 week. There's 10 fake trees in the back of my shiny new red truck (THANK YOU GRANDDAD!!) just waiting for the event to roll around so we can put them up. There's a list of 30 groups that are gonna be hosting booths or sending decorations or both. The community is actually participating in a MSU event, which is always a plus. Even if no one comes, at least there'll be 100 or so people to keep eachother entertained.
So, what is Hanging of the Green? It's your typical Holiday festival. The student center on campus is covered in garland and greenery and wreaths and whatever else conveys particular winter festivities (we have Kwanzaa - can't spell it - and Hanukkah stuff blending right in... or something like that). I think it all went up the day after Thanksgiving. Anyway, Hanging of the Green is when the switch is thrown on the big 12 foot tree. The president typically does it, but since ESPN's going to be at our basketball game that night, and we couldn't reschedule, he'll be there.
So we're having our much-loved, soon-to-retire food services director do it instead. He's getting spoiled anyway.
This'll be the first time in quite-a-few years that the whole Christmas Market is brought back. I'm praying it goes well, because that'll mean a tradition reestablished. More importantly, it'll mean RCA established it. And RCA needs all the good name it can get.
That's life right now. Lots and lots of Christmas.
I love it.
Happy Holidays everyone.

BONFIRE!

I just got done cleaning up after the homecoming bonfire and it was worth every ounce of stress. We had the football coach, the cheerleaders, the Racer Girls (another cheering group), the Homecoming court, and about 200 people. We ate, a lot. The fire took a while to get let because no one thought to douse it. Yeah, we're amateurs. Live and learn. Anyway, we got it torched eventually, along with painted copies if the rival's mascots.
For the Murray State people out there, Hester won the spirit flag. Clark and Lizo tied for most spirited, Richmond got most school spirit, White earned the most violent demonstration, Hart was most artistic, and Springer/Franklin was the distinguished host.
I was thrilled to see that many people there. I did what I love to do most at big events. I ran around behind the scenes and did my best to keep everything going smoothly. Yeah, I know, you may see that as not very "Residential College Association President" of me. Personally, I think it was about the best thing I could do. This is an RCA event, if something goes wrong, it's the RCA's fault. I want to make sure that doesn't happen, so I'm gonna do my best.
Let the people who are good at talking do it the most.
Anyway, I'm thrilled, it was awesome, I'll link pictures as soon as I get them.

Bestseller

You will be famous for writing a national bestseller You are very observant and tend to be the wallflower at parties. You are intuitive and know just how to communicate everything that you are feeling to those around you. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Yes, I'm still out there

People have been asking. Lots of people. Yes, I'm still posting. No, it's not here.
Come visit me at InsideChris.
Thanks for everything!

So this is it...

The plug gets pulled in 40 minutes. Our rooms are shining, our floors are mopped, our bags are packed, and we're ready to go.
In a week.
Confused?
We're going to Vienna tomorrow, and will be there until Sunday. Then we zip back through here, grab our things, and hurry up to Brussels to catch a train through the Chunnel to London. We'll do some really quick sight seeing in London, sort of a "this is what we'll pay more attention to whenever we get to come here again", then it's off to the airport to come home and see all you nice people again.
I'll be blogging the whole time, of course. You just won't get it until after Christmas.
So thanks for all the reading you've done, I hope you've enjoyed most of it. Sorry for the abundance of grammar errors, they'll be eliminated when I have time to edit this thing in the Spring. Oh, and the missing sections about Paris will make it on here someday. Maybe.
Finally, don't think this is goodbye. I'm going to be adding pictures, cleaning up code, and generally making this site better over the course of the next few months. Come by every so often and see what I'm up to. I might even link you to my personal blog ;D.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!