Maxime

Seattle?

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:41:29 -0800

Today was a beautiful day again in Olympia and everyone seemed to be enjoying it. This gave me the chance to go out and explore around town for a place to shoot photography. My sponsor Bob emailed me the other day to ask me when the next time I was available to meet with him so he could see some of my recent work. We'll most likely meet early next week so I need to get back down to the dark room and keep printing. I decided to drive out to Tug Boat Annie's, a restaurant out on the water, where there's some construction going on, as well as bunch of abandoned trucks and work supplies. If all goes according to plan though, I’ll be heading up to Seattle for the weekend to hang out with some friends. They’re from Seattle and want to get out of Olympia for the weekend. It’s so great to be in between Olympia and Seattle, so a cheap bus up to Seattle or down to Portland is not a bad idea. You can take a public bus that’s pretty cheap but takes a couple hours or, like me, find friends with cars that want to go and pay them for gas. If that doesn’t end up working I know there are a couple events going on in downtown Olympia, as there always is! Le Voyeur always has some type of show happening on the weekends, I remember last weekend there was a guy in there with his own mixing boards rapping about sneakers. He wasn’t too bad, too bad there weren’t too many people around at the time to watch him.

All These People!

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:57:14 -0800

Today was Freshman Advising Day, so campus was swarmed with tons of new students running around getting acquainted with what would be their new academic setting. I met with many new students that asked me all kinds of questions about what campus was like, as well as questions like what was fun to do in downtown Olympia. My friends Abhi, Holly and I went down to the Greenery, the campus cafeteria, and had hamburgers and hot dogs. The cafeteria just bought a soft serve machine and I know that has been really popular. I think one of the best parts of today was the fact that it was beautiful out and it felt really great to have a ton of sun. It was funny watching all these people stand outside waiting for the computer center to open so they could register for the program they wanted. Most people came out looking excited for getting into their first choice, if not their second as they headed down to lower campus to check out housing. When this one guy came up to me to ask where the housing office was he leaned over and asked me "So what are the chances of me getting a single?" I smiled and laughed a little bit as I told him that there was no need for secrets considering 80% of Evergreen's housing was single occupancy, so it wouldn't be hard for him to get what he wanted. He then asked me about my experience in the dorms and I told him about the great times I had with my friends that lived on my floor, as well as with friends that lived on the floors below and above me. I had a fun day hanging outside and meeting all these people that were excited to be starting college in the fall as new geoducks!

So Much To Do

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:11:13 -0800

I have so much work to do it's not even funny. I have a bunch of printing to take care of before I meet up with Bob my sponsor in a couple days and then an essay to write about a movie I just watched in my French class. The name of the movie was Kirikou et la Sorcière. It's the story of this little boy who knows how to talk and walk when he is born. He insists to his village that all though he is small and young that he can fight off the sorceress and restore unity among his people. It was an amazing movie and I highly recommend it. Now the next step is to write a paper, in French (bien sûr), about all the different themes I observed. As far as the printing goes, I just need to get down to the darkroom and print my best shots. The really nice thing is that Olympia is finally getting sunnier and warmer, and it's about time! This of course makes for some great natural lighting for any photo opportunities I get. For dinner, I'm making burritos with my roommate and he should be home any minute so I'm going to start preparing so that when he gets home we can start cooking.

French Animation

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:12:02 -0800

I'm currently working on a presentation for my French class on animation. I've been researching cartoons like Tintin and Asterix, two famous cartoons that all Belgium and French kids grew up reading and watching. It has to be a 10 to 15 minute presentation and I'm doing it with a friend so it won't be too hard and I'm excited to talk about Tintin because I've read and watched all his adventures. I think the most interesting part about it, is that I've been learning about all this criticism that Herge (the author) got for his first story, Tintin in Congo, because of its blatant stabs at race, class, and animal cruelty. Herge fired back by saying it was to get his audience to be more aware of these issues that too many were ignoring. Jordan, my partner in crime on this project, is researching the actual film we'll be watching in class on Thursday, Kirikou et la Sorciere, which I've heard is great.

The Farmer's Market

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:25:36 -0800

This weekend I spent a couple of hours at The Farmer's Market downtown which is always a fun thing to do in town because there is a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables that are sold. As well as produce, you find vendors that are selling fish and meat and even toys or tee shirts. Since you're surrounded by all these different things you're bound to run into someone you know, whether it be a classmate or a professor. While roaming around for something good, I ran into an older man who was selling some great smelling apples and we ended up having this really random conversation about how good apples were and how healthy they were for you. I told him that apples always makes me think of my grandmother because she eats one almost every afternoon. The market also has a stage for live musicians and today there was a local bluegrass group playing. There were a few kids and their parents dancing around which was really funny to watch. These kids were really into it and I could see the connection that was being made between these musicians and the kids. I also some some really good fish for sale too but I am not the most amazing cook so I figured I'd save the fish for a restaurant or at least until I've taken a cooking class or two.

A Little Theatre

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:58:42 -0800

This weekend my girlfriend, Erin, and I, went out with some friends downtown where we got some dinner and then went to the State Theater in downtown Olympia where we saw some one act plays put on by Saint Martin's University, another school from the area. It was the same four or five actors that played in each of the acts and they all did a really amazing job at playing their different roles. Olympia's downtown area always has something fun and exciting to do downtown and now that the bus to campus runs till 3 in the morning, people that live on campus and don't own a car have a chance to take advantage of nightlife activities in the heart of Olympia. The nice thing about these new transit hours is the fact that on Sundays they used to stop service at around 7:30 in the evening and now run till midnight so if you want to go downtown for dinner you no longer feel rushed to finish and get on the last bus. The reason I mention all this is that even though I don't live on campus it still affects me because I don't own a car and I live on the bus line off one of its main streets Division.

Tracking Down Bob

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:19:46 -0800

Today was a good day considering I finally tracked down my professor, Bob, who said he would sponsor me in my black and white photography independent contract. I tracked him down by calling one of my friends whose in the class he's teaching and asking her when his open office hours were. When I got a hold of him I told him I could meet up with him within a half an hour so we could finalize the rough draft version of the contract that I had previously submitted to him. In this 15 minute meeting he showed me a book entitled Criticizing Photography by Terry Barrett that he wanted me to read as well as On Photography by Susan Sontag which I had already described in the contract that I first submitted. After I typed up the final draft of my contract I went over to Registration and Records to submit it so it could become official. Now it's time to turn my camera on and start printing.