New Photography Assignment

This week, I was supposed to take pictures of "figure ground" relationships. Meaning, whatever objects I took pictures of, should have something in the backgrounds to help explain what they were, without taking away from the pictures. Here are the pictures that I think turned out the best:



I think that this picture of Kjersti and Kameryn is really sweet. I really like the way that it turned out.




Mr. Quackers, (or Squakers depending on who you talk to) fully explained with Kameryn in the back. :)



And don't worry Danae, this time, the eye test is supposed to be blurry. ;)





I would also like to thank Kjersti and Jay for helping me out with this assignment. I really appreciate all of the thought, time and effort you guys put into this even though it was my assignment. Thank you! :)

And The Winner Is...

The Departed... of course. I TOTALLY called that. Martin Scorsese also won Best Director. I called that too. I was really disappointed with the nominations this year, and even worse was that I didn't feel like anything was a real surprise. I think that the Academy Awards are getting more and more political every year, so the winner isn't always the person that most deserves it.

This year was also the first time in a long time that I didn't see all of the Academy Award nominations for Best Picture. That has been a tradition for me for a long time, but I just couldn't bring myself to go see Letters from Iwo Jima. I had already seen the Departed and Little Miss Sunshine. I liked the Queen, and we just finished Babel right before the Oscars started. I don't really know why that one was nominated at all. There were things that I liked about it, but I definitely wouldn't have said that it was one of the top five of the year. When I was renting it, the man told me that it was really good and it was like the Constant Gardiner. For anyone else that had heard that, know that the Constant Gardiner is MUCH better.

Anyways, there is my rant for the night. All in all, I am pretty disappointed with the Oscars this year. Although, I am proud of myself for guessing what would win AGAIN this year.

Kameryn

While taking my photography assignment pictures, I couldn't resist taking some pictures of Kameryn too. That kid is just so darn cute!! I didn't turn them in for my class since "babies" have been ruled out by my teacher, but I think that he is seriously missing out!

Pictures from Trolley Square

As Kjersti mentioned, for my last photography assignment, I went to Trolley Square to take my pictures. Our assignment was on composition, and nothing specific was assigned, so I decided to do something personal to me. Here are some of the pictures that I took at Trolley Square:

I also had a test today in my class. I got 100% on it. I actually missed one point, but my teacher said that anyone who could tell him what the second rule of light was would get an extra point. The only person in the entire class (all five of us) who knew the answer was me. So, in case you are wondering, the second rule of light is the angle of incidence... meaning that whatever angle the light is being reflected off an object will be the same angle as the light that is falling directly onto the object.

Anyways, I think my teacher liked my pictures. He didn't say as much about them as he did about other people's, but I think some of that was due to the fact that he did mine last. I would also like to think that maybe there was less to say about them. I think that they turned out rather well. I will find out what they were actually scored in a couple of weeks.

You Know You Work Too Much When...

You know you work too much when:

-You buy groceries and leave them at work because that is where you are going to be eating them. And it's easier to just leave them there then to take them all home, and bring them back again.

-You know what at least 80% of the customers want before they even come into the store, and you can usually have it ready for them by the time they walk in.

-Even the customers comment that you need a day off.

-Friends and family start calling you on the store phone because they know you will be more likely to answer that way.

-You start wondering if you should just sleep at work, since you just have to go home to sleep and then come right back again.

-You have over 120 hours on your last paycheck. (Can you say overtime??)

-Your family goes days without seeing you, even though we live in the same house.

-You haven't blogged in a week!!

Shooting at Trolley Square

Monday night, as I am sure you all know, an 18-year-old boy went into Trolley Square and randomly started shooting anyone and everyone. I was still at work at the time, so we saw all of the response vehicles racing to Trolley Square. There were so many ambulances, firetrucks and police that we thought that they were just circling the block. We didn't know that they were surrounding the entire mall. We had no idea what was going on, until other people called us to see if we were okay. Melissa's sister, Tarilyn called to check on her and tell us what was going on. Kjersti, Allison, mom and Geoff also called to check on me. So, I had heard what was going on, and I thought that it was terrible, but it didn't really hit home until I saw this picture on deseretnews.com. The scariest thing about the whole thing to me is that there was no motive. This guy didn't know any of those people. He just randomly started killing people. And I thought, "That could have been me..." Since Kjersti and I are supposed to go see all of the Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Trolley Square was one of the places I was thinking about going. There are only two reasons that I wasn't there, and that is 1) I hadn't gotten off work yet and 2) Kjersti would have been mad at me if I had gone without her. That scares the shit out of me.

07/21/07

Allie officially declared me a losser. :*( She called me to ask when the new Harry Potter book was supposed to be released, and I told her that it didn't have an official release date yet. Then I was talking to Kjersti about it, and she told me that she had already seen the release date, and hadn't said anything since she assumed that she would be the last one to know. So, the good news is that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is to be released on July 21st. ( A week before my birthday) The bad news is that I failed as a Harry Potter fan. Even though Allie did declare me a losser, she also said that she would buy the Harry Potter book for me for my birthday.

CUTE :)

In Will's last e-mail to me, he wrote this at the bottom of it:

Thanks again, you are nice, sweet, cool, awesome, and a
really good friend.
Com Amor (i.e.-with love)
E. William

That made me really happy. It was very nice. Also, Natalie brought me flowers one Wednesday since I was having a hard day. They are really nice! It was very sweet of her. :)

Congratulations Tasha!

My friend Tasha just got engaged today! They are planning their wedding for August, and she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. I am so excited for her!

I also feel like I am getting old! I can't believe that my friends are all getting married, or already having kids! Wendy's daughter is already 4 1/2 months old!

Anyways, congratulations again Tasha. I am really excited for you. I wish you every happiness!

And the Nominees Are...

BEST PICTURE
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Babel

Martin Scorsese
The Departed

Clint Eastwood
Letters From Iwo Jima

Stephen Frears
The Queen

Paul Greengrass
United 93

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio
Blood Diamond

Ryan Gosling
Half Nelson

Peter O'Toole
Venus

Will Smith
The Pursuit of Happyness

Forest Whitaker
The Last King of Scotland

BEST ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz
Volver

Judi Dench
Notes on a Scandal

Helen Mirren
The Queen

Meryl Streep
The Devil Wears Prada

Kate Winslet
Little Children

BEST SUPPORTING
ACTOR
Alan Arkin
Little Miss Sunshine

Jackie Earle Haley
Little Children

Djimon Hounsou
Blood Diamond

Eddie Murphy
Dreamgirls

Mark Wahlberg
The Departed

MOVIES
ART DIRECTION
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man’s Chest
The Prestige

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige

COSTUME DESIGN
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

DOCUMENTARY
FEATURE
Deliver Us from Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands

FILM EDITING
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93

MAKEUP
Apocalypto
Click
Pan’s Labyrinth

VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man’s Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns

ORIGINAL SCORE
Babel
Gustavo Santaolalla
The Good German
Thomas Newman
Notes on a Scandal
Philip Glass
Pan’s Labyrinth
Javier Navarrete
The Queen
Alexandre Desplat

ORIGINAL SONG
“I Need to Wake Up” (An
Incovenient Truth)
Music and Lyric by Melissa
Etheridge

“Listen” (Dreamgirls)
Music by Henry Krieger and
Scott Cutler
Lyric by Anne Preven

“Love You I Do” (Dreamgirls)
Music by Henry Krieger
Lyric by Siedah Garrett

“Our Town” (Cars)
Music and Lyric by Randy
Newman

“Patience” (Dreamgirls)
Music by Henry Krieger
Lyric by Willie Reale

ANIMATED SHORT
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

LIVE-ACTION SHORT
Binta and the Great Idea
Éramos Pocos
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

SOUND EDITING
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man’s Chest

SOUND MIXING
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man’s Chest

BEST SUPPORTING
ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza
Babel

Cate Blanchett
Notes on a Scandal

Abigail Breslin
Little Miss Sunshine

Jennifer Hudson
Dreamgirls

Rinko Kikuchi
Babel

ORIGINAL SCREEPLAY
Babel
Guillermo Arriaga

Letters from Iwo Jima
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis

Little Miss Sunshine
Michael Arndt

Pan’s Labyrinth
Guillermo del Toro

The Queen
Peter Morgan

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Borat: Cultural Learnings of
America for Make Benefit
Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Screenplay by Sacha Baron
Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter
Baynham & Dan Mazer
Story by Sacha Baron Cohen &
Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines
& Todd Phillips

Children of Men
Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón &
Timothy J. Sexton and David
Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk
Ostby

The Departed
Screenplay by William Monahan
Little Children
Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom
Perrotta

Notes on a Scandal
Screenplay by Patrick Marber

ANIMATED FEATURE
FILM
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
FILM
After The Wedding (Denmark)
Days of Glory (Algeria)
The Lives of Others (Germany)
Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico)
Water (Canada)

I finally found it!

This years Academy Award Nominations will be announced on January 23rd. And the actually Academy Awards are going to be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres on Sunday, February 25th! Get ready Kjersti!! We have some movies to go see!!! :)

The Homeless

I know this isn't the best picture, but it was taken with my camera phone from inside of my Baskin. This is a homeless woman that came in the other day. I wanted to take a picture since this is exactly how I picture homeless people. Deadlocks, and a HUGE heaping cart full of everything that they own. I was actually feeling a little sorry for her before she came in, and started talking to me about the harmful ESP waves that were coming from our radio. She really wanted me to call the police and help her with some problem. I had a really hard time understanding her, since she only had one tooth.

Today, I had another crazy homeless man come in. He just walked in and sat down at a table. He was normal enough when his eyes were open, but when he would close them, he would start yelling at himself, me and who even knows who else. He kept screaming and cursing and he kept calling me "little lady". I was terrified of him. There was actually another homeless man that comes in all of the time in the store at the same time. He told me that he would stick around until the crazy one left, like that really made me feel any better. A family came in to get ice cream and the crazy one stopped screaming while they ordered. (He had opened his eyes again.) Then, right as the father was about to order, the crazy one told him to sit down with him. the dad said no and that he was going to get some ice cream. The crazy guy asked him if he was scared, and the guy said no. the crazy one then got right up in his face and was talking to him. Then he suddenly gave him a big hug. The father asked the guy if he wanted some ice cream but the crazy guy wasn't interested. I was apologizing to the mother of the group, and she was telling me that I needed to call the police so that I would be safe, and so that he would stop harassing my customers. While the family was ordering and paying for the ice cream, the other regular homeless man pulled out his cell phone and called the police. The crazy guy followed the family all the way out of the store, and didn't leave them alone until they were driving away. Then the crazy man came back in. He sat at the table closest to my register. He kept thanking the "little lady" for the music playing. A little while later, he tried to come behind the counter. I told him he wasn't allowed behind the counter, so he walked back to the line.

He kept talking, screaming and cursing. I was so scared. I actually texted Sarah, who was coming in after me, telling her that there were some crazy homeless people in the store with me. She even came in early to be there with me, but the police got there before she did. They asked me what was going on, if he was bothering me, and if I wanted them to get him out of the store. I said yes, so they made him leave. They talked to him for a little while, yelled at them, and finally left when they told him that he could either go to the homeless shelter down the street, or go to jail. He left and didn't come back.

Getting Better...

I drove down to dad's on Wednesday to get a camera that would work for my photography class, and mom grabbed my books for me from the Redwood Road campus. I don't know if it was beacuse it was snowing really badly, or because my instructor scared everyone away, but there were only five people in my class on Thursday. I felt the lesson went pretty good, but there is actually a problem with the camera that dad gave me. For my photograpy-literate family, the problem is that instead of being able to adjust my aperature to allow more light in, it is stuck at an F22. (which is TINY) So, it will work okay outside, or for now, I have to just adjust the shutter speed. The biggest problem with that, is that the longer that the shutter stays open, the more likely your picture is to be blurry. My teacher suggested that I go and buy another lense for the camera to fix this problem. I have no idea how much that will cost. (Oh, and Wes, my class is at SLCC.)

After I talked to that girl at work, she has gotten more done. However, I failed to mention to her that I would like her to start on my cake orders for the next day if she can see that I have a million of them... I guess that was another thing that was just self-explanatory... my mistake. So, even though it was snowing REALLY bad yesterday, we still made almost $700 yesterday. A lot of that was cake sales. So, today, I have to make the 12 cakes that sold out of the case, and do my 8 cake orders.... It is a good thing that I am getting a raise! Just kidding, I do still love doing cakes. It was just a lot to try and get done in one day with the steady amount of people wanting ice cream on a FREEZING day.

Also, yesterday I almost got into a car accident. In the morning before my class, I had to run the deposit to the bank, even though the snow had started sticking to the roads by then. I always slow down when driving in the snow, and I ws slowing down even more to make the turn into the bank parking lot, but I started sliding. I went up over the curb, managed to not hit a tree and stopped maybe an inch away from a wall. It really REALLY scared me!

Last night I also went to the gym with Natalie. I really want a gym pass now! I had a nice time working out there, and when I came home, I was able to sleep through the whole night, and I felt great the next morning. :)

Discouraged

Yesterday, I started school again. To ease back in, and since it was pretty last minute, I just signed up for one Photography class that I wanted to take. First off, I showed up at the building, and it is still HEAVILY under-construction. So, all of the classes have been shoved into the basement until they are finished. No real big deal, but... Second, my teacher started off the class by talking about all of the things that could make us want to drop the class, saying things like if you are on a tight budget, this probably isn't the class for you. We need a really nice camera, with all of the manual settings for the shutter speed, light exposure, etc... Then he added in the books that we need, and we HAVE to have them by the next class period. Then he goes off about how hard this class is going to be, and even though it is going to be EXTREMELY expensive, he says that you cant earn an A unless you work really really hard. He says showing up to class every day, putting in the time and money will probably get you a C. You have to go way beyond that to earn anything more. So, he told all of the class that if they need an A, and are tight on money, drop the class now. He also went on to tell us how to properly drop the class. I was really intimidated. I have never really done anything with a camera's shutter speed, etc... He also went on to say that he wants our puctures to be really personal. He said NO SUNSETS NO TEMPLE and NO BABIES. He calls these "safe" photography. I am going to stick with it a little longer and see if I can handle it. I would feel really dumb dropping out of my only class this semester.

Also, when I got home from Logan last night, I checked my MySpace and one of my co-workers told me that she was now the new manager of my Baskin. I started crying. I know it's dumb, since I said no when he first asked me, but that was about a year ago and I have since decided that it might be a good idea. Plus, with him having me talk to that girl, etc... I thought that we were heading in that direction. It felt like a slap in the face to have this other girl tell me that she was now the manager. More than anything, I felt like I was being replaced, and I have worked so hard to make my store run well.

So, this morning, I sent Justin a text saying, "I know this is going to sound dumb, but I am pretty irritated with you right now. You always said that my store didn't need a manager since I was already taking care of nearly everything. Now that you made Sarah the manager, I feel like you are going to be paying her for a job that I already do. Sarah is good, so I will get over it, but I want you to know that I am really hurt that you didn't even talk to me about it."

He called me back a little later and asked me why I was so upset about the whole thing. I told him that I felt like I was being replaced, etc. He told me that he was making Sarah the manager so that the night people that she would be training would actually listen to her. He said that I would be amazed at how much of a difference that title made. He said that I was doing such a great job with cakes, and he knew that I loved it, that it didn't make any sense to have me try and stop that when Sarah hates doing cakes but loves managing. He said that she isn't over me, and she doesn't get to tell me what to do. He said that only he will do that. He said that he wasn't going to be taking anything away from me by making Sarah the manager. He still is going to have me do everything that I have been doing. He says that my store ius busy enough that it basically needs two people, me in the morning and Sarah at night. He is also giving me a dollar raise and said that I can still move up from where I am. I told him that I was worried that people wouldn't listen to me anymore since they will know now that I am not the manager. He said that he wasn't worried about it, and if it became a problem, he would deal with it. All in all, I am feeling better about the whole thing. It sounds like Sarah and I will be running the store together. He said he thinks it will work out really well as long as the two of us don't bump heads, which he doesn't think would happen anyways. Since I trained Sarah, he says that she already respects me and knows how much I do for the store. And since I think she does a good job running things at night, and we are friends, he thinks it will work. I think it will be pretty much the same as how things are now when he puts it like that. I do run things at night, and Sarah and I do get along because of how hard she works at night. She is pretty good. Plus, this way, she will be the one who has to hire and fire people. Justin says that I am already doing so much, that it didn't make any sense to make me do more. He says I am doing a great job and he needs me where I am at. He made sure that I was feeling better about it. He sais that he was glad that I would talk to him about having a problem instead of just being mad at him and not letting him know. He told me to make sure I come to him if there is anything else that I am upset about.

Harry Potter DVD's removed from shelves

The first three Harry Potter DVDs are set to be removed from US shelves today, with the Goblet of Fire DVD coming off on January 22nd. Some companies, like Disney, do this so that longer and higher quality versions can be released later on.

- Sorcerer's Stone
- Chamber of Secrets
- Prisoner of Azkaban
- Goblet of Fire

Get them now before they're gone!

Freedom Writers

Geoffrey and I just went and saw the movie Freedom Writers. It was amazing! It isn't a war movie like it sounds like. It stars Hilary Swank. She is a school teacher that starts teaching at a school that has incorporated all sorts of racial kids into it. She has hear about it and thinks that it is a wonderful idea and wants to help out. When she gets there, she finds out that they are in the middle of a gang war between the races. She takes it upon herself to show these kids what they all have in common and to listen to their stories in order to unify them. It is very, very good and really touching. It is based on a true story and I am thinking about buying the book that they wrote about it. This movie made me cry, and I almost NEVER cry in movies. If anyone goes to see it, please let me know what you think!

Update

I have been informed by several people that I have disappeared and need to update my blog. Last Saturday, my friends Ben and Molisa got married. I had a great time celebrating with them. It was also interesting since Molisa is Indian, she got married in our traditional white wedding gown, and then afterwards went and changed into her Indian dress and was re-introduced. There was also both kinds of traditional dancing, Indian food, rice pudding AND wedding cake. It really was a lot of fun. I only wish that all of my guy friends on their missions could have been there. I took 4 rolls of film and got copies so that I could send them pictures of it though! I also thought it was very nice of Ben to invite his friend's parents since they couldn't come themselves. I was happy to talk with each of them too, especially since they had all just talked to the missionaries on Christmas. Probably my favorite picture I took at Ben and Molisa's wedding is this one:



That night, since most of my friends are mormon, everyone was having their New Years Eve parties. I hang out with VERY different groups of people, so I was invited to three separate parties. I made it to two of them, and then just got too tired to party anymore! I also had to be to work the next morning.

New Years Eve was a very un-eventful work day. Although, there was one homeless guy who kept coming in. The first time he came in, he said that the ice cream was too expensive and left. He appeared again about five minutes later and bought some. I said "appeared" because I didn't hear him come in the store. He scared the shit out of me when he started ordering. He left for probably about half an hour and then came back for another kid scoop of ice cream. He was raving about how Jesus is coming back because he is angry with everyone. Another car with two ladies pulled up and as they were coming into the store, he said, "That is another reason Jesus is angry. I am surrounded by ugly women." I didn't know what to say to that since he seemed to be including me in that too, so I just looked at him. He then apologized and left. He showed up again probably an hour later and got another scoop and a pepsi. He then asked me if I read the Bible and knew what the Bible code was. I said no, and he left me alone. He was sitting at a table, randomly started laughing, and left. I haven't seen him since, and I really can't say I am sorry about that.

After work on New Years, I just came home, ate and went to bed. Mom invited me to go hang out at with the rest of my family, but I had just been up so late and was so tired that I stayed home.

I saw three new movies this week. One was given to me for Christmas, called All the King's Men. I really wanted to see it, but I am still thinking about whether or not I liked it... The second movie was DreamGirls. I thought the acting and singing was very good, but the story actually made me kind of sad. It is one of those movies that you have to think about for a while. Then the third movie was The Good Sheperd. I wanted to cry through about half of this movie beacuse I thought it was so depressing! All three movies were acted wonderfully, but the stories were definately not uplifting to me at all.

The only other new thing that I have to report about, is that I finally talked to the girl at work that doesn't do anything! Justin had asked me to stop by and talk to her about turning down all of the freezers. (Two of the freezers had ice cream so soft it would barley balance on a cone. The freezer with the sherbets was so soft that you could barely get it into a cup!!) When I got there, she hadn't done tubs or partials, the store was a mess and she had only finished one cake. Her sales were only at $175 for the day, so basically she just didn't do anything. I called Justin and told him about it, and he asked me to talk to her about it. I didn't want to do it at first. He said that he could do it, but then she would know that I had ratted her out since I was there. Plus, since I am there more, I also knew better what to talk to her about then he did. So, I did, and it actually went pretty good, I think. She knew that it had been coming since she hasn't really worked for about three weeks. She was very apologetic and listened to me about what I said she needed to improve on. So, HOPEFULLY, know that I have talked to her, she will get something done.

Oh! One last thing, I might be starting school next week. So far, that is the plan, but I haven't gotten my letter yet, so I can't offically sign up for any classes. I have gotten work off just in case I can get into the class that I want though! Everyone wish me luck!!

Ben and Molisa's Wedding Pictures

I am sorry that I haven't been blogging lately. Last Saturday my friend got married. Here are some of the pictures that I took at their wedding! :)

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SHE CRAWLED!!!

Yesterday, Kameryn crawled all by herself!!! I was watching a movie, and Kameryn was on a blanket with some of her toys. One of her toys went out of her reach, so she flipped over and crawled to it. Luckily, Kjersti had come into my room to talk to me for a minute and so she saw it happen. She went and told Jay, and Jay said that I wasn't allowed to watch Kameryn anymore since I was teaching her how to crawl. Kjersti told him that I had had nothing to do with it. He then came in and we made her do it again. It still takes her a little while. She isn't zooming around yet, but she is definately getting the hang of it down!!!

SPOILED ROTTEN!!

Christmas this year was a complete sucess! Both babies were thoroughly spoiled with presents ranging from high chairs, to books, to Disney movies to toys. The Christmas tree was almost covered in the Christmas presents piled under it and after Santa came, there was barely enough room for all of the family to be in the same room as all of those presents! It took two full hours to unwrap and then dig our way out of the room. We filed up three garabage bags just from wrapping paper! And, as usual, once the stockings were unloaded, there is no possible way to get everything that came out of them back into it! Even the babies got great stockings! It is always a lot of fun to spend the day with the family, and I think that the babies first Christmas turned out rather well. Thanks Mom! You did an excellent job!!!