Assignment: Brain Games

I'M ADDICTED TO THE COLOR GAME THINGY. And I got 100% the first time :) It's easier when I talk out loud, so I challenge myself to do it silently. Really hard! I'm used to talking to myself when I'm working out a problem.

http://www.fireworkspop.com/colortest.htm

Assignment: Corporalita - Cultivate Ambidexterity

Reverse Crossing

Lol!!

Interlocking my fingers in reverse doesn't feel funny; I've often done it just to do it when I'm bored and playing with my hands, and I've held hands with people that way.

Crossing my arms in reverse takes a few minutes. I think I've got it, but I actually don't... I really have to watch my arms and what they're doing and really make them go the way I want them to go.

Crossing my legs in reverse is something I already do normally. I switch regularly in church so that my circulation isn't cut off.

I can wink with either eye...

but I CANNOT roll my tongue to the right!!!

Use Your Nondominant Hand

Yeeek! I had to pause and do a double-take before I did anything. I had to catch myself accidentally using my dominant hand. And trying to brush my teeth with my left hand is ridiculous. Is my left hand really as weak as it feels, or is it simply not used to those motions?

Experiment With Writing

Wow... my left-handwriting is terrible. I skipped the stream of consciousness activity because I really don't think I'll get anything out that I'll actually be able to read...

Experiment With Mirror Writing

MUCH much easier than trying to write with my left hand. I think this is a skill I'd like to cultivate just for the fun of it :)

 

 

Assignment: Arte/Scienza; Self-Assessment Checklist

[x] I like details. --> Perhaps a bit too much. Gets me into trouble sometimes ;)

[x] I am almost always on time. --> I got that from my dad. Always plan to be ten to fifteen minutes early, at the very least. Two hours early for a flight.

[ ] I am skilled at math.

[x] I rely on logic. --> I like knowing that I'm being entirely logical -- or that I completely understand that I'm being totally illogical yet still consciously choosing to be.

[x] I write clearly. --> Depends. My journal's a mess. So are my school notes. But my composition journal is something I'm proud of.

[ ] Friends describe me as very articulate. --> I wouldn't know.

[x] Analysis is one of my strengths. --> Oh, information can be such a curse at times.

[ ] I am organized and disciplined.

[x] I like lists.

[x] I read a book starting at page one and go through in order. --> How else would it make sense?

Within limits. I am highly imaginative about things I make a point of being imaginative about. --> I am highly imaginative. [x]

 I highly enjoy brainstorming exercises. --> I am good at brainstorming. [x]

'Unexpected' usually being synonymous with 'politically incorrect.' Which may or may not be unwelcome depending on the circle I find myself in, but that doesn't stop me. And then I'm just a strange person who bursts into song while doing anything and everything except reading and writing, I also like to dance and reminisce and totally random times, I'll keep quiet when I don't feel like it and pick a fight where you least expect it, or maybe you do if you know me well enough. Oh, and I like to do crazy epic things that I've never done before, on purpose. --> I often say or do the unexpected. [x]

I love to doodle. [ ]

Oh yesss. --> In school I was better at geometry than algebra. [x]

I read a book by skipping around. [ ]

I prefer to look at the big picture and leave the details to someone else. [ ]

I often lose track of time. [ ]

I honestly believe that this does not, in any way whatsoever, deny or contradict the above "I rely on logic," point. --> I rely on intuition. [x]

Hmm... leaning towards left brain, it would seem. Yet I would like to note that

• My math teacher wants me to switch to a math major. It seems I have a thing for numbers, but don't tell him that I just lose it when I don't do math for a while, so when I'm done with Pre-Calc, I have no intention of going back to it.
• I've been applauded for finding the right words, and someone told me just this past Thursday that I speak well and could almost be British without the accent, whatever that was supposed to mean. Maybe that counts as friends describing me as articulate? but I don't necessarily believe them, considering how often I get frustrated with not being able to say exactly what I want to say the way I want to say it.
• I am organized and disciplined in some things and completely chaotic in others. It's a so-so thing. 
• I would love to doodle if I thought I was any good at it!
• When I've already read a book and it has become one of my favorites, then I read it by skipping around to the parts I love best.
• Maybe I'd leave details to someone else if I weren't such a stickler for control, and if I didn't feel guilty about being lazy. Huh, that's precisely why I was chosen to lead Youth Camp.
• I lose track of time when I'm lost in a good book or a nice warm shower after a really long tiring day. But otherwise, I rarely get surprised by the clock when I look at it.
  

Assignment: Sfumato; Self-Assessment Checklist

[x] I am comfortable with ambiguity. --> Fairly, but it depends on the situation. I daresay I'm comfortable enough with it because there are times when I do consciously choose to remain ambiguous where I could clarify. It's not always the best choice, I've found, but there.
[x] I am attuned to the rhythms of intuition. --> Something like when I just "get it," and then I can't articulate it exactly as I would like? Too often.
[ ] I thrive with change. --> So-so; but in general, unless I already meant for things to change, I don't respond well to it. I would like my little brother to stay a baby, please =)
[x] I see humor in life every day. --> Oh, I daresay I'm good enough at that =) especially with the family I have.
[x] I have a tendency to "jump to conclusions." --> Ahaha. I am in a state of self-denial. I know I do jump to conclusions far too quickly, but this is probably the one time I've ever admitted it.
[x] I enjoy riddles, puzzles, and puns. --> Although it depends on who I'm talking to and where I am and what it's all about.
[x] I usually know when I am feeling anxious. --> Yes, I've gotten plenty of practice recognizing when I am anxious about something... ohoho yes.
[x] I spend sufficient time on my own.
[x] I trust my gut.
[x] I can comfortably hold contradictory ideas in my mind.
[x] I delight in paradox and am sensitive to irony. --> Oh, Lord, Catholicism is a paradox.
[x] I appreciate the importance of conflict in inspiring creativity. --> Funny how I'm most inspired when something is bothering me. 

Assignment: 42 & Dance For The Dead

Those who are dead are not dead

They're just living in my head

And since I fell for that spell

I am living there as well

This is the dance that brings the dead to the living

They say, "I miss you every day, you know."

Ahaha so morbid. My apologies.

Frankly, I haven't been to a lot of cemeteries. Which is strange on some level, now that I think about it... They're all over the place in St. Louis. Haha. But the one experience that I do remember in detail concerning a cemetery was one in the Philippines. We were visiting the graves of my great grandparents. There is a bridge a story higher than the cemetery, and if you walk across it and look down, all you'll see are graves.... and graves... and more graves. And not laid out in rows with green between headstones... there was no green here. Not on the ground, anyway. Trees outside the cemetery walls. Maybe small patches of grass like you see growing between cracks on the blacktop. Graves and graves and more graves, narrow paved walkways in between, and these graves are stacked up on each other. I was brought to my family's plot and given to understand that a member from one generation was buried (well... wrong word, since they were above ground) above someone from the previous generation.

Homeless people live here. Some harmless enough, some you have to watch out for. I was told to be careful and keep close. They'll follow you around, begging for a coin, offering to shine up your plot. It's different from the cemeteries I see here... in that... it felt as if there was no breathing space. You were surrounded by the dead, and not even living grass to remind you that you were still in the land of the living. I was happy to visit my  great-grandparents' graves, I've heard so much about them and seen pictures and stuff... and it stays with me as an experience that I was glad to have had... but it did feel so... dead. And depressing. And the homeless that live there... who have only the dead as their constant company... only depress me more. To the world, they are already dead. Unless they're awfully lucky, they will make no mark on any part of the world save on the graves they are told to clean... and no amount of such work will ever be enough to have their own place to be laid out... in the company of people who loved them.

Assignment: Reflection on In-Class Activity

Here's what I wrote down for each chocolate:

• Chili ~ color/appearance: dark, jagged, intimidating, shiny; feel: soft yet hard, cold, rebellious; aroma: winter, white, overpowering, innocent, walang hiya; taste: spicy, challenging, red, explosion, ripples linger; connections: Blood, Eucharist, Italy, kyamoi, Save the Last Dance for Me
• Orange ~ color/appearnace: bumpy, smudged, dreamy; feel: forgiving; aroma: subtle, tangy; taste: orange, green, envious, asking, fading, jumpy, hurried; connections: Gabe, Tinikling, jamm session @ Hopewell, Kimberly
• Mint ~ color/appearance: perfection, inviting; feel: pointy; aroma: minty, Spring, life, new life, clean, refreshing; taste: nostalgic, reminiscent, slow, unhurried, you have to seek it; connections: Christmas trees, Neiderman's Farm, Festival of Lights
• Raspberry ~ color/appearance: surprise party!; feel: ouch!, doesn't want to melt!, unwilling; aroma: doesn't want to give; taste: empty, disappointing, small bursts, hints, uncooperative; connections: Paolo, Gabriella, Ate Candice, rap music

Ahaha. I forget now why I made some of the connections that I did. It was such an interesting activity! I'd love to do this again from time to time at home. I think I'll copy the form format and do it randomly every now and then.

It was really difficult to come up with non-food words, especially general ones. I remember that the 'connections' space was easiest to fill, and the color/appearance was the hardest.

Assignment: Sensazione - Drawing Music

Listening to: John Mayer, Weezer, Coldplay, Paper Route, and Jason Mraz

Listening to: Coldplay and Sophie Hawkins

Listening to: Kelly Clarkson

Listening to: Death Cab for Cutie

Listening to: Evanescence

 

 Listening to: Sara Bareilles

 Listening to: Sarah McLachlan

 Listening to: Within Temptation