My New Favorite TV Show

While I was on vacation for spring break, I stumbled upon a fabulous TV show. Its called "RuPaul's Drag Race" and its very similar to "America's Next Top Model." The winner will be America's next superstar Drag Queen. This show is amazing because its an experience and life that I get to experience first hand on the TV... what more can you ask from your television. I have also learned a lot about the men involved. They are MEN who impersonate women... they aren't men who want to be women they just have a job. Their make up and costumes are masterpieces that deserve so much attention.

RuPaul is such a beautiful woman when in drag and a very prominent presence when he is in a tie and suit. In the show he is just like Tyra. The hair is giant and BLONDE and his make up is flawless. He makes a gorgeous woman.

Out of all the contestants I like Nina Flowers and Ongina the most. Nina brings such a punk style to the show that you really just stare at her beauty. Ongina is a unique character because she does not wear wigs but when in costume she also makes a very high fashion presence. The other contestants are all gorgeous but the middle girl Tammie (spelling) was very interesting. Nina Flowers is still in the running but sadly Ongina is gone.. I'll miss his personality and her presence.

A Little Catch Up

When we were traveling through southern Utah we came upon this masterpiece. It was a house in the base neighborhood from our condo and whoever lived there really truly loved their artwork. Each piece was so huge that all together they overtook the neighborhood. My favorite pictures is the "never give up" piece with the frog choking its way out of the bird's throat.

In the end I learned the St. George loves to name their neighborhoods after nature. In Logan you can find Crestwood, Glennwood, and Maple Valley apartment complexes, but in St. George whole neighborhoods are named after landscapes that don't fit in the red rock.

Haven, St. George, Utah

During our very relaxing vacation, we were able to try some great new cuisine in St. George. The restaurant opened in October 2008 and seems to be a new favorite. The concierge at our hotel said that the decoration was very "hip". In fact that's all she said about the place. "Oh it is so hip, straight out of Vegas hip!" So if you ever want a hip :) place to eat in Southern Utah visit this new restaurant and you wont regret it. Chris decided on getting pork tenderloins that had a sweet cherry sauce and a spoon corn bread side dish. I decided to try their "comfort" food (a theme of home comfort food and chic style is prevalent in the menu) and ordered the meat loaf. It wasn't my favorite because the food was very heavy. But Chris' dish was very tasty. The pork was cooked to perfection and the sauce added a unique flavor to the meat. The portions were really large... just watching the spaghetti come out of the kitchen would make your jaw drop. We didn't try any appetizers or desserts because of money but the selections they had seemed very delicious. The decorating was very chic but the openness of the dining hall created a lack of privacy and you felt like you were in a fishbowl. The bar area seemed really exciting, but on a Tuesday night it wasn't open for seating. The owners are a very trendy couple, if you can't tell from their picture, but the head chef did come out with all of his red hair glory and asked how our food tasted. Overall I'd recommend the restaurant, but would suggest a different dish than the meat loaf.
I stole the pictures not from the restaurant's website, but from the owner's blog. It was really funny to see the blog because the pictures were very similar to the one just above... oh I'm judging.

The Gravedigger's Daughter

I've finished Oates' novel and I am impressed again and again with her writing style, sense of characterization, and most of all her ability to seem emotionally detached from her novels. I have always respected Oates for her bluntness. However, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Oates is blunt, very much so, but she isn't blunt in the manner of screaming in your face. She highlights the psychological aspects that most skim over, and the events that happen in the world that are plain and simply tragic. Without some form of analysis or contemplation how can we as a human race learn from such events. Oates doesn't focus on these things to depress the mood, instead she focuses on them to highlight possibility.

I was impressed by Oates' protagonist in this novel. She is described as an independent woman in a male dominated society. She overcomes so many trials as an individual but fails to include her loved ones in her emotional life. Hazel Jones truly is a near perfect example of an independent, successful, and hard working woman, but she is a horrible example of an emotional counterpart of a family. I am not arguing that the only way to live life is by marrying, but in this novel Hazel does marry and has a son. She profoundly affects her sounds happiness and emotional stability by being detached and only a figure of a mother. Hazel saves her son from an abusive father and a failed life but pushes him away as he grows up.

I was also very surprised by the ending. With the other pieces of work by Oates' I have read, I was really impressed by the stress the son feels and thought that it would catch up with him and the book would end in his tragic death or suicide. However, by adding an epilogue Oates sums up the lives of her characters in small details. We learn the son is married with his own children and Hazel is still married and reaches out to a long lost cousin. At the conclusion of her novel, Oates introduces yet again another side of Hazel Jones who reconfigures with her true self, Rebbecca Schwart.

The Chronicles of Narnia

I have owned the complete set of C.S. Lewis' The
Chronicles of Narnia for a very, very long time. I finally picked up and read the first three books... then I puttered out and my motivation to finish them has died. I enjoyed reading the first novel simply for entertainment purposes. The books were written for children and C.S. Lewis truly captures a child's attitude and perspective in the books. I'm excited to watch the movie sometime in the future and hopefully to finish the series.

This semester....SUCKS!

ALRIGHTY.... ITS MID-SEMESTER HERE AT USU AND IT STARTED GREAT! I HAD ESL CLASSES (WHICH SERVED AS A CHANGE) AND A GRAMMAR COURSE. I HAD MOSTLY NEW PEERS IN CLASS AND I HAD SET MY TWO JOBS UP CORRESPONDING WITH THE BEST TIME TO WORK, THE WEEKEND. I GOT ROUGHLY 30-35 HOURS A WEEK, ONLY HAD 16 CREDITS, AND I EVEN DECIDED NOT TO PLAY RUGBY. SOMEHOW, ALONG THE PATH, I GOT SCREWED YET AGAIN.

THE ULTIMATE "SCREWER" WAS A PROFESSOR BY THE NAME OF DR. ORTIZ. HE'S FROM CHILE, SPEAKS 3 LANGUAGES, HAS EXPERIENCE AS AN ESL TEACHER IN HIGH SCHOOL AND REALLY CAN TALK ABOUT THE SUBJECT FOR HOURS... JUST GET HIM STARTED. I HAVE TWO NIGHT CLASSES WITH HIM (4:30-7:20) AND HIS FORM OF "TEACHING" GOT PRETTY BORING QUICKLY. HE STARTS EVERY CLASS WITH THE STATISTICS IN IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS, THEN CONTINUES TO TELL ALL THE STUDENTS THAT 85% OF US WILL NOT TEACH ESL, BUT ARE ONLY GET ENDORSED TO HAVE A BETTER LOOKING RESUME. THIS IS JUST THE HONEST TRUTH, MOST STUDENTS WILL TEACH IN SUBURBAN SCHOOLS AND WONT SEE ANY TYPE OF CLASS BESIDE WHITE AND MIDDLE CLASS. BUT WHY DOES HE HAVE TO DEGRADE EVERYONE'S PURPOSE FOR TAKING THE CLASS??? ESL PROMOTES AN "EDUCATIONAL PARENT" FIGURE FOR TEACHERS... WHAT PARENT SAYS YOU SUCK TO THEIR CHILD?

SO SINCE ALL EDUCATION PROFESSOR ACTUALLY SUCK AT TEACHING FOR BOTH OF MY CLASSES I HAVE THE EXACT SAME PROJECTS, REQUIREMENTS, AND DUE DATES. DOUBLE THE LOAD FOR WHAT SHOULD BE TWO DIFFERENT CLASSES, BUT DR. ORTIZ HAS SIMPLY LUMPED THEM TOGETHER. WHILE PREPARING FOR MY SECOND PRESENTATION IN CLASS A, I DECIDED TO CHANGE THINGS UP AND STEER CLEAR OF THE POWER POINT PRESENTATION. I CREATED A GAME IN WHICH THE STUDENTS WOULD ANSWER QUESTIONS THAT I TRIED TO CREATE TO SPUR SOME SORT OF DISCUSSION. AFTER BEGINNING THE CLASS BY GIVING THE STATS, AND THEN TELLING US WE ONLY WANTED A GOOD RESUME I BEGAN MY PRESENTATION AND IT WENT FINE... STUDENTS WERE DISCUSSING THE QUESTIONS AND CLARIFYING ANY CONFUSIONS THEY HAD WITH THE TEXT. UNFORTUNATELY DR. ORTIZ DOESN'T LIKE CREATIVITY SO HE PROCEEDED TO INTERRUPT MY PRESENTATION AND ASK IF I HAD DONE A CRITICAL READING OF THE CHAPTER. I SAID SOME QUESTION ARE BASED ON VOCABULARY, THEORIES, AND SO FORTH BUT THERE WERE INDEED QUESTION THAT CRITICALLY LOOKED AT THE READING. UNFORTUNATELY HE CONTINUED TO TELL EVERYONE THAT YOU NEED TO PRESENT WITH ENTHUSIASM, AND COMPLETE A CRITICAL READING OF THE CHAPTERS WHILE CONTINUALLY LOOKING AT ME. I FAILED IN MY PROFESSOR'S EYES AND HE MADE IT APPARENT TO EVERYONE IN CLASS.

I MIGHT BE A LITTLE BITTER, BUT I'LL ADMIT I SHOULDN'T HAVE STRAYED FROM THE COURSE. DR. ORTIZ ONLY LIKES POWER POINT AND WILL NEVER ACCEPT A DIFFERENT FORM OF A PRESENTATION. SADLY I HAVE ANOTHER PRESENTATION IN CLASS B TONIGHT... AND I'M GOING TO HAVE TO FACE THAT MAN AGAIN. DON'T WORRY ITS POWER POINT BUT HOPEFULLY I WONT FAIL YET AGAIN AND HAVE IT ANNOUNCED TO EVERYONE!!!!

Hell's Kitchen

God has blessed the minds of NBC or some other network and created hulu.com its a free website that offers television programs for anyone's viewing pleasure. Since we are too cheap to actually pay for cable we turn to hulu to watch just about everything we would want. We recently discovered the show Hell's Kitchen and are watching season 4 together. Now we come upon the real reason for this post, a man named Matt. He looks like a normal individual when he is smiling but in every scene in the show he looks like he is about to cry...... and its painful to watch. I pray that he gets kicked off pretty soon because I can't stand his physical appearance. These are some lovely pictures I found on the Internet and it seems that our opinion is universal : )

Another interesting point about this show is that every chef we have gotten to know smokes... heavily. When I think about this fact I compare it to doctors smoking. They know the health risks that comes with smoking, and chefs should be aware of the effect smoking has on the taste buds. Maybe I'm just not educated enough or empathetic to the stress, but to be a "top chef" you need to taste food.