Personal Space Project

         My personal space project consisted of students fighting for their hopes and dreams in a game of tug of war.  The battles were not about strength, but about willpower!  More often than not, many people share the same hopes and dreams you do.  However, there's only so much room on this earth for those same hopes and dreams.  So you must fight for them.
         This piece was more light-hearted and geared towards de-stressing more than anything else.  I wasn't trying to prove a point.  And everyone had HUGE, FAT smiles on their faces when they were playing, so I think I did my job :)

Response to Michael's Project

          Michael's Project was really funny.  So the students that he interviewed didn't know that the arguments were staged?  That's really awesome and funny!  Good job Michael.  People react so awkwardly when couples are fighting.  It was interesting to see them trying to avoid eye contact and sort of just let the argument happen.  Haha, you guys were totally wasting their time and they couldn't say anything about it.  I really thought Michael did a great job interpreting 'personal space,' because he invaded other people's personal space and made the results public.
          Michael's assistant also deserves some credit for this one.  She was really funny and a great instigator. Awesome!

Weekly Progress/ Documentation

          Soooooooooo we presented our alternate personas this week.  Here's a link to that blog: Alternate Persona.  I've also completed preparation for my personal/public space project.  Everything is all set and ready to go! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?

Least Favorite Place

          My least favorite place is definitely my middle school back in Chatsworth.  Thinking about that place makes me sick.  You're supposed to be in a good, healthy environment when you're growing up.  That place was a big, festering pit of despair.  I know that probably everyone's middle school experience was somewhat shitty, but I'm just associating my experience with the actual school I attended.  I'm sure that no matter where I went to middle school, I would have hated that place too.  But since I attended that school, I hate that school.
          I just had so many bad, confusing, weird, and blatantly terrible experiences there.  I'm going to blame most of it on puberty, but still, that place sucked.  I did have some really great teachers, like Mr. Horosny, but everyone else pretty much sucked.  Oh, and I got detention for hugging a boy one time.

Favorite Place

          My favorite place in this whole wide world is the beach.  And the San Rafael Wilderness.  And Heritage Park.  And the third reclining bench to the right in my back yard.  Mainly, I love being outside.  I can't pick a favorite spot, that would do injustice to the rest of the places I love.  Each of these spaces hold really vivid memories, some ridiculously awesome, some terrible, some both.  But just the fact that the mere thought of these places evokes some sort of gut feeling in me really stresses the significance of them.
          I've lived near the coast my entire life.  For the beach not to be a major part of my life is sort of insane.  I've been to beaches up and down the central California coast and experienced some of the warmest, most amazing weather in Malibu to some of the most terrible, windy, sand-fliningest beaches in Pismo.  But looking back, I'm glad to have those experiences.  Same with the San Rafael Wilderness.  I went backpacking one weekend on a well-traveled trail with my boyfriend and our friend, and it was forecasted to rain heavily the next day.  Our two day trip in April was cut short based on our judgment of what was safest.  On our way out, we passed by a troop of boy scouts who were really intent on moving forward and didn't seem to care that we said there would be heavy rain.  They ended up having to be air-lifted out of there, and I watched all of this on the evening news that night with my mom. Crazy!
          Oh, Heritage Park.  So many good times.  So many firsts, so many lasts.  The tower, the pirate ship, those swings, and the booze.  'Nuff said.  And the third bench to the right in my back yard, you ask?  Well that is my designated poolside spot.  That's where I lay in the sun and refuse to swim in my lake of a pool because it's so damn cold all the time.  Seriously, who needs a 75 foot long pool that's easily 4 lanes wide? It never gets to a reasonable swimming temperature.  So I hate it.  When I buy a stand up paddle board I'm just gonna paddle around in it.

Free Form

          My new job is going really great.  I recently got hired on as a Reservation Specialist at Channel Islands Outfitters a.k.a. Paddle Sports of Santa Barbara.  My office is located in Ventura, though.  So the drive has been pretty exhausting thus far.  But once I don't have class to rush back to, it will be sweet.  I don't understand why new jobs have to be so nerve racking.  I lost so much sleep before my first few shifts.  I let anxiety get the best of me sometimes.  I can proudly say that I am recovering and have not lost sleep for a few days.  Go me!
          I think I'm kicking ass at this job, too.  I'm getting people stoked on their kayaking trips out to the Channel Islands, and I'm learning some really great communication skills.  I get a few perks as well, including free kayak and stand up paddle board rentals out in SB Harbor and the company is paying for me and the rest of the new hires to hop on a boat out to Santa Cruz Island for a kayaking day-trip.  I'm scheduled to go out this next week. Hopefully the weather doesn't suck and everything goes smoothly!

Review of Alternate Identity: 2

         I thought Natalie's alternate identity of the Australian naturalist was a really great idea and very entertainig to watch. She incorporated humor into her whole project, which was awesome. I liked that Natalie seemed way into this project. It showed in terms of quality and thoroughness of her documentation. She videotaped stuf going on all over campus that I had no idea existed. So even though this project was poking fun at UCSB, I still learned a little bit.
          I really didn't find any project today particularly disappointing. Everyone did a great job, I think. The alternate personas that everyone came up with were generally pretty awesome. Good job everyone, way to wrap up this quarter.