Esse y esto.
Friday, January 17th, 2003 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flwydIt's been a while, and I'm sure all my adoring fans are gettings antsy and hoping I'd post a several-page entry. I just know it. Those of you who weren't looking forward to such a mamoth can observe that I've started posting RMCS strips again, and read the separate entry I'll post after I'm done with this one. (Since it describes in some length a specific issue.)
I got back to school early for RA training. The first order of business was to take all of the posters, state cutouts, and informational fliers off my bed and hang them back in the hall. It took me only about half as long to put everything back up as it did to take it all down. Maybe in part because I didn't have to cut off any super-strength industrial metal tape. I put the map of the US upside down to challenge people's assumptions (and make reading tough -- people have complained). I also finally got around to putting up most everyone's picture (and names for those without pics) with string from their name to their home town. It looks pretty cool.
RA training had some good aspects and some bad aspects. I got a chance to bond with the staff that I hadn't really had during the semester, so hopefully people understand me better and we'll have better interstaff relationships. I was an actor again in Behind Closed Doors -- simulated situations so that RAs get practical job experience and we can give constructive feedback. For some reason, they made everyone go through BCD this semester, even people who've been on duty all fall. Returners learned nothing, especially since the training was held in Hellems, which doesn't let you set up any nuances available in a dorm room. And since returners were acting as RAs, new folks didn't get as much experience. Diversity training (at 8 in the morning!) had some good stuff, including a panel of students with various disabilities (including a blind RA who's really cool), but it also had some pretty painful parts. One of the participants' disability was test anxiety, so after listing all her accomplishments, an RA in the audience asked what her disability was (she hadn't said). The guy from Disability Services got offended by the question, which was perfectly legitimate -- there's no point being on a disability panel if you don't tell us what your disability is and how we can help students like you. There was also an interactive theater presentation where RAs could get up and take the place of the RA and deal with a situation (two residents having a problem with a schizophrenic resident). The problem was, the actors forced us to spend most of the time dealing with freaked out residents and we didn't have a chance to learn anything about dealing with students with mental disabilities (so it was essentially a helping skills lab, which is part of Behind Closed Doors). Grr.
I also interviewed for the open Hall Director Assistant positions. I was ambivalent about the possibility, saying "I think I'd make a good HDA, but I'd be perfectly happy not to as well. Put me in the position you think I'd better fill." I also didn't think my floor ought to get a third RA this year, now that they're just getting comfortable with me. I didn't get hired, which is probably a good thing as far as my school performance is concerned. I rather didn't want to move last weekend.
Our staff lip synch performance was of Aretha Franklin's Respect. I was the Weed Fairy, coming in before the song started and giving everyone in the "room" "beer" and "joints." We then did a documentation situation based on the song featuring confiscation ("What you want / Baby I got it"), attempted bribery ("I'm about to give you / All of my money"), and a sexily-dressed RA giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation ("Your kisses / Sweeter than honey") and our hall director doing The Worm (breakdance move). We then cleared the stage as Kyle walked out, opened a beer, and stood there in a hoodie as Respect segued into the beginning of "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta." The whole crowd loved it, but the Residence Life Coordinators who were judging the contest gave us 2's and 3's for no particular reason. Probably because we were too risque. (And I wasn't even involved in the planning, unlike my performance of last year's You Sexy Thing...)
![[Dali Clock Face]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/ea8e57c239dd/2740657-24016/www.trevorstone.org/satireimg/daliclockface.jpg)
My door tags are really cool. I microwaved a bunch of CDs, then wrote numbers on them and pasted them onto tagboard with residents' names and pictures of Cat, Girl,, a melting clock, and Dali's face qua clock. I then stuck a paper arrow in the center of the CD with a brad and, voila, "Trevor Stone will return at..."
Classwise, I'm taking two. Natural Language Processing from 4-5:15 on Mondays and Wednesdays and User Interface Design on Mondays from 5:30-8. How's that for a class schedule? I am getting myself up a little after 11 each day so I can try to be productive. I've got lots to read, I ought to start working out, etc., etc. Another plus is that I only had to buy one ($70) book. Jim Martin (teacher of NLP and co-author of the book) said it's not worth what we pay for it, and it's bristling with errors and typoes... one every page or so. The book for UI is available online for $5 shareware. Rock on.
I finally got my replacement ethernet card for the Cube. I've downloaded and installed over a gig of software (free to some degree) in the last couple days. I {heart} my connection speed. I've been using Apple's new browser, Safari lately. It truthfully touts super-fast loading pages, but its preferences is rather lacking in degrees of freedom. There's also a few funky things, like logging into RMCS doesn't work, so I'm certainly keeping iCab in the dock. I also discovered that Apple's got a public beta of their own X11 system. Haven't had a chance to run it yet, but I think I'll wub it. I also updated my start page and posted my browser buttons for searching Google and other helpful sites based on current context. The highlight searches don't work on Safari, unfortunately. The start page updates include, in large part, a freedom section with links in large part thanks to the Salon article on the Supreme Court's approval of the Copyright Extension act. Fair use, public domain, and all that may be my first activist activity after graduation.
I think that about summarizes my last two weeks. As always, if you want to chat in real time, bug Flwyd on AIM. I'm sending everyone The Moldy Peaches - Steak for Chicken, the funniest song I've heard in ages. Stay tuned (this evening or tomorrow) for my exciting post, Sex, Truth, and Bulletin Boards.
I got back to school early for RA training. The first order of business was to take all of the posters, state cutouts, and informational fliers off my bed and hang them back in the hall. It took me only about half as long to put everything back up as it did to take it all down. Maybe in part because I didn't have to cut off any super-strength industrial metal tape. I put the map of the US upside down to challenge people's assumptions (and make reading tough -- people have complained). I also finally got around to putting up most everyone's picture (and names for those without pics) with string from their name to their home town. It looks pretty cool.
RA training had some good aspects and some bad aspects. I got a chance to bond with the staff that I hadn't really had during the semester, so hopefully people understand me better and we'll have better interstaff relationships. I was an actor again in Behind Closed Doors -- simulated situations so that RAs get practical job experience and we can give constructive feedback. For some reason, they made everyone go through BCD this semester, even people who've been on duty all fall. Returners learned nothing, especially since the training was held in Hellems, which doesn't let you set up any nuances available in a dorm room. And since returners were acting as RAs, new folks didn't get as much experience. Diversity training (at 8 in the morning!) had some good stuff, including a panel of students with various disabilities (including a blind RA who's really cool), but it also had some pretty painful parts. One of the participants' disability was test anxiety, so after listing all her accomplishments, an RA in the audience asked what her disability was (she hadn't said). The guy from Disability Services got offended by the question, which was perfectly legitimate -- there's no point being on a disability panel if you don't tell us what your disability is and how we can help students like you. There was also an interactive theater presentation where RAs could get up and take the place of the RA and deal with a situation (two residents having a problem with a schizophrenic resident). The problem was, the actors forced us to spend most of the time dealing with freaked out residents and we didn't have a chance to learn anything about dealing with students with mental disabilities (so it was essentially a helping skills lab, which is part of Behind Closed Doors). Grr.
I also interviewed for the open Hall Director Assistant positions. I was ambivalent about the possibility, saying "I think I'd make a good HDA, but I'd be perfectly happy not to as well. Put me in the position you think I'd better fill." I also didn't think my floor ought to get a third RA this year, now that they're just getting comfortable with me. I didn't get hired, which is probably a good thing as far as my school performance is concerned. I rather didn't want to move last weekend.
Our staff lip synch performance was of Aretha Franklin's Respect. I was the Weed Fairy, coming in before the song started and giving everyone in the "room" "beer" and "joints." We then did a documentation situation based on the song featuring confiscation ("What you want / Baby I got it"), attempted bribery ("I'm about to give you / All of my money"), and a sexily-dressed RA giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation ("Your kisses / Sweeter than honey") and our hall director doing The Worm (breakdance move). We then cleared the stage as Kyle walked out, opened a beer, and stood there in a hoodie as Respect segued into the beginning of "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta." The whole crowd loved it, but the Residence Life Coordinators who were judging the contest gave us 2's and 3's for no particular reason. Probably because we were too risque. (And I wasn't even involved in the planning, unlike my performance of last year's You Sexy Thing...)
My door tags are really cool. I microwaved a bunch of CDs, then wrote numbers on them and pasted them onto tagboard with residents' names and pictures of Cat, Girl,, a melting clock, and Dali's face qua clock. I then stuck a paper arrow in the center of the CD with a brad and, voila, "Trevor Stone will return at..."Classwise, I'm taking two. Natural Language Processing from 4-5:15 on Mondays and Wednesdays and User Interface Design on Mondays from 5:30-8. How's that for a class schedule? I am getting myself up a little after 11 each day so I can try to be productive. I've got lots to read, I ought to start working out, etc., etc. Another plus is that I only had to buy one ($70) book. Jim Martin (teacher of NLP and co-author of the book) said it's not worth what we pay for it, and it's bristling with errors and typoes... one every page or so. The book for UI is available online for $5 shareware. Rock on.
I finally got my replacement ethernet card for the Cube. I've downloaded and installed over a gig of software (free to some degree) in the last couple days. I {heart} my connection speed. I've been using Apple's new browser, Safari lately. It truthfully touts super-fast loading pages, but its preferences is rather lacking in degrees of freedom. There's also a few funky things, like logging into RMCS doesn't work, so I'm certainly keeping iCab in the dock. I also discovered that Apple's got a public beta of their own X11 system. Haven't had a chance to run it yet, but I think I'll wub it. I also updated my start page and posted my browser buttons for searching Google and other helpful sites based on current context. The highlight searches don't work on Safari, unfortunately. The start page updates include, in large part, a freedom section with links in large part thanks to the Salon article on the Supreme Court's approval of the Copyright Extension act. Fair use, public domain, and all that may be my first activist activity after graduation.
I think that about summarizes my last two weeks. As always, if you want to chat in real time, bug Flwyd on AIM. I'm sending everyone The Moldy Peaches - Steak for Chicken, the funniest song I've heard in ages. Stay tuned (this evening or tomorrow) for my exciting post, Sex, Truth, and Bulletin Boards.
