Soooo, yeah… I’ve put up, what, two blog entries in the last month? And one of those wasn’t even a normal post about what I’ve been up to. I guess that’s what happens when I’m busy every evening, having fun and hanging out with friends. 🙂 I think I’ll do this in installments so that none of these blog entries get too ridiculously long. And after all, I need to get back in the habit of blogging somewhat regularly.
Digging way back into the memory archives, back when I was still in Wisconsin a month ago (has it really been that long?), on Saturday the 19th of July I went to the Science Museum of Minnesota with my younger brother Jake to see the Star Wars exhibit they had there. They had a bunch of the original costumes and props from the Star Wars movies, including the Millenium Falcon, TIE Fighters, Luke’s Tatooine land speeder, the three primary wookies from the storyline (Chewbacca, of course, plus Tarfful and Salporin), Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2, a bunch of light sabers, and much more. It was really cool to see everything in person.
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There was also an omnitheater show about special effects, but it was obviously pretty old, because all the movies they talked about were made prior to 2000, and also fairly limited in scope because they were only movies that George Lucas or his company had a hand in. So as far as it went it was pretty interesting, but it would’ve been really cool to see how they’ve advanced in engineering special effects in the last decade, as well as what other movie studios have done. I mean, do we really need 5 minutes showing how they did the effects in “Kazaam,” that awful Shaquille O’Neal movie? I think not.
After the Science Museum, Jake & I went over to Aaron & Eve’s place for dinner, and then a boat ride to watch some fireworks at the Spirit of the Lake Festival at Mound. While I have been spoiled somewhat by the State College fireworks, it was still cool to watch fireworks over the lake while on a boat. I haven’t done that since 1991 in Cumberland. It was definitely a lot tougher to take good pictures of the fireworks while on the boat, that’s for sure!
I wasn’t at all sure if I’d be able to go to the Science Museum or to my brother Aaron’s place that day though, because the day before I started to come down with a headache and a sore throat. I was glad to feel okay — not good, but well enough I guess — so that I could hang out with Jake and do that stuff, because I knew he had really been looking forward to it. I was pretty miserable the next couple days though, as my sore throat morphed into a humdinger of a cold. How did I come down with a cold in July? I really don’t know. After being so crazy-busy the first few days of my trip home (after being at a conference), and then really relaxing and not doing much when I got back to Cumberland in mid-week, maybe my immune system decided to relax and take a break too. That’s actually happened to me before, as I’ve gotten sick more than once right after final exams finish up. Anyway, I was pretty out of it at church down in Taylors Falls on Sunday, and then the day after that (Monday the 21st) when Carl & I drove the 17 hrs from Cumberland to State College (we left a little after 5am — UGH). A one-day 17-hr drive isn’t the most pleasant thing in the world anyway, but it’s pretty miserable when you have a bad cold in addition, making you tired, light-sensitive and just out of it in general. At least I was able to spell Carl a couple times though, for a couple hundred miles in Indiana and Ohio, and then the last stretch from Clarion to State College. We were both ridiculously tired the whole time we were in PA, but we were determined to make it back to PSU, even if it meant having to switch every 15-30 minutes. But we made it back safe and sound, so that was good.
Well, it’ll probably take another couple blog entries to catch up for the rest of the time in which I’ve been derelict in my blogging, but at least this is a start. Time to cheer on the American women in the gold-medal beach volleyball match, as Misty May-Treanor and Kerrie Walsh go for their 108th consecutive victory. 108!! No matter what sort of competition you’re in, that’s utter and complete dominance! Just one more reason why the Olympics are awesome!