Everything is wonderful

Just left my 5th grade class absolutely beaming. Sign of a class well done, I think. I've been working on teaching numbers the last few days and today was the first day I went nearly 100% in the target language and the kids really picked up on it! By the end of class, we had counted up to 100 and they were even using plus, minus, and equals auf Deutsch. :'] I've got a 40 minute break at the school so I figured I could squeeze in a blog post!

It's needless to say I've been busy. But this past weekend was especially fun. I've had so many great music experiences lately! Friday night WUD Music brought Astronautalis and Why? to the Sett and they all put on a fan-freaking-tastic show. Front row-ed it, got a set list, great concert. On Saturday, I finally got my game together and saw Argo (just in time), which I thoroughly enjoyed. I feel like Argo was Ben Afleck's taste at filming an Ocean's movie. It's produced by Clooney, Alan Arkin plays the Sol-character, and the whole plot is basically a human heist. I dug it. On Sunday, I super cleaned my apartment and did loads of laundry (heheheheh) because we've got inspections and showings today and tomorrow, I hate my landlord, but I also want random people to be impressed by my beautiful massively decorated living space :D Bess and I kicked ass at our intramural basketball game which was super fun, then we quick changed in the locker rooms and headed to the WUD Film Oscar Party. I thought it was a great event, great Oscars, great everything. I'm really glad Jennifer Lawrence won (she's so great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7SFtdOjcUw&feature=player_embedded), and William Shatner was there, and Michelle Obama!, and the Avengers boys, and I got free dinner. Awesome night.

This morning I was back up again bright and early to pack into our Cohort clown car, where we proceeded to belt out N*SYNC's No Strings Attached the whole ride to Leopold. We're leaving in a half hour and I'm super pumped because we were just at the Lisa Left Eye Lopez verse in Space Cowboy haa. You know that's what's up.

What's on my horizon? Film meeting tonight. my beautiful Bonn buddy is here on Thursday (!!!!), got my radio show heute Nacht, and uhhh an exam tomorrow whoop.

Oh, the other day, a kid in my class got a haircut with two lines buzzed into the side of his head and when the teacher asked why he did that, all he said was "swag." I speak the language of 5th graders, yo.

swagswagswagswagswag

Semester update

There at times during the year when everyone has their canned small talk responses down pat. We've just finished the "How was your break? What are you taking this semester?" phase and moving into the "How are classes going?" part of the year. I, personally, love small talk and hearing details about peoples' lives, so here's my beginning of the year update! 

My main job is the WUD Film Committee Director. I've been in this committee since freshman year, ranging from 'personal assistant' to Associate Director to Summer Coordinator and finally Director. I love the group of kids in this org and we're in the process of putting on another busy exciting semester of film programming. I also get to be a part of Directorate as a whole, along with all the other committee directors and presidents of the union. We're a really really attractive bunch. 

You know we're classy because it's in black and white

I also very recently got hired as a media assistant at the Instructional Media Center in Vilas. So far, working at the IMC kicks ass. There's no real set list of tasks for each day. I'm either running a screening for a comm arts class, checking out camera equipments and editing suites, running various engineering equipment all over the building, or rocking out to Spotify. I hope to be working there for the next year and a half. 

But wait, there's more! I rock out during my radio show at WSUM every Monday night from midnight to 1 am. My show concept is the first and last song from an album, and I'm really enjoying it. I want to give people a taste of an album as a whole, because in the modern era, I feel like people rarely purchase a whole album and stick to just the radio single, or forget to ever listen with shuffle off. (I know I used to be guilty of that second one). Besides, I absolutely love when the first and last songs correlate and are perfect bookends (See The Way Out by the Books and Mirrored by Battles). Here's my show site: http://wsum.org/shows/Monday/2400/start-and-finish/

Now that I don't have that pain of a 3-hour Wednesday night class, I can make AHA meetings again. We're the UW Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics, and the only secular student group on campus! Last week's discussion centered on whether you can reconcile being religious and being scientific. I love how tangential and serious and funny we can be.

Can you spot me? 

Improv is still going. We've got a show this Friday, actually! I had to miss our first shows of the semester due to being away for Sundance, but I'm really looking forward to performing again. The has changed, with Ethan graduated and Emilio back from studying abroad, so I wonder if our style/humor will change again.

Class wise, I'm taking a 600 level German seminar 2.5 hours once a week about Literatur, Kultur, und Migration, a comm arts class about the history of documentary film, and an education policies class about school and society, and an ed psych class about adolescents and development, along with my practicum student teaching out in the field twice a week. My first lesson plans are due on Wednesday :3  Very exciting. Very busy.