Today's ballet class started out as normally as ever. We set up the barres and started with pliés. Amy, the professor, interjected a new style to help prepare us for our quiz on Thursday: have the students create the combination for each exercise. All was moving along well...

Until my classmate was in the middle of counting off her tendu exercise. Another classmate sounded alarmed, "Um, Amy that pipe is leaking!"

Dillingham, the theatre building, is currently under construction (as are other parts of campus) and remodeling. Well, the studio we are in isn't the most conducive to certain moves due to architecture and a hard, non-bouncy floor. There is also, for some reason unknown to me, a large white pipe coming out of the ceiling and going down toward the floor.

Well, today in class, we learned unfortunately that the pipe is connected to the bathroom and was leaking dirty, brown, smelly water fairly quickly onto our dance floor.

We all ran to get our stuff and went into the hallway. We waited while Amy went to tell someone to call Facilities.

We ended up going into another studio, one in which I took my Modern class last fall, and which now has a temporary wooden wall, which is apparently not attached to anything. It is also like half the size that it used to be.

As there wasn't enough space for us all to actually dance, we continued the barre work in the same style of students creating the patterns. Afterward we practiced for the quiz by identifying steps that Amy did. We then got out early.

It was an interesting and disgusting experience.

So, today I went to turn in my film to PPECS (Park Portable Equipment Center and Services) so they could send it to get processed.

When I gave them the bolex I made an inquiry because the last night while I was shooting, I noticed a little black triangle in the viewfinder. At the time I couldn't for the life of me remember what that meant, in spite of remembering hearing about it. I checked and double checked the settings and was convinced that they were right. I even called three people I know have used the bolex, but no one answered. I went forward with shooting anyhow.

Well at PPECS today when I asked, most people were not film people and did not know anything about it. However, when a girl I know, Mary Kate, (she was in my Rome class actually) I asked her because I knew she would have used a bolex before.

The answer: apparently the triangle up means the variable shutter is all the way down.

What that means: The variable shutter is a shutter in the camera (additional to the main shutter) which is used for in-camera effects, such as fades. When it is down, that means it is closed.

That means none of my film was actually exposed and I am going to have to do it all again. Well maybe next time I'll have a flawless film shoot.

In other news, I can feel my body getting stronger. Not only did my ballet teacher compliment me after class yesterday, but I have been improving in Pilates. Both my Pilates teachers have complimented me and said that my work is much better than when I first started. I also was finally able to do a roll-up! This is an exercise I had previously greatly struggled with and failed to accomplish. Well last week I finally rolled all the way up. It is no simple feat, in spite of how simple it may look. If you don't believe me, try it. Look up a YouTube video for proper instructions.

Well now I must go write a paper, read a lot, write another paper... It's looking to be like another sleepless night. Joy.

Today I registered for classes for my last semester of college. That's such a weird feeling. It was also the first time I didn't have any trouble registering. I also got lucky in that there weren't really any major time conflicts for the courses I have left to take.

Here is the list of classes I ended up with:

• French Phonetics
• Intro to Linguistics
• Essentials of Biology
• American Visual Culture from 1690 to 1960
• Photo Workshop
• Ballroom Dance
• Intro to Culture and Communication in Dijon, France (mini-course for the Park trip to France)

Yes it looks like a lot of classes. Yes it is 18 credits. But, of the classes, 2 are worth 1 credit, one is worth 4, and the others are worth three. There are also a couple of lower-level classes that I'm hoping won't deceive me in workload.

The nice thing about my schedule is that I'm generally done pretty early. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I finish at 2:50, Tuesdays (when I don't have the Dijon class - every other Tuesday it is at 6-8 I think) I finish at 3:40, and Thursdays at 2pm, unless I take chorus which is roughly 6-8 on Thursday. It's not too bad.

The other important thing that I did today was start shooting my final project for cinema production 1. This project is an individual one. My film has one character and my actress is my friend Lizz, who also happened to be my roommate freshman year. I ended up shooting one third of my film tonight. That's a roll of 100'! It was pretty exciting because I don't think I did anything incorrectly this time. Though, we shall see when the film comes back.

Well that's all for now.

Over the last several weeks I have been involved in a TV show called, "Life".

Tonight I finished watching it. There are only two seasons, but that means I somehow crammed two seasons of a TV show into 18 credits and 2 jobs.

Well, I know that I watched it to procrastinate, but I also used it at the gym (thank goodness for video iPods) and to unwind on the weekends.

This show leaves me speechless. I don't have the words to describe how much I likeloveadmire it. It is brilliance.

Now, you may think of me as a nerd or something else when you read the next sentence, but... There have only been two major things in my life that have held my attention span this much: Harry Potter (the books) and Twilight. Both left me speechless at the end, but only one of those, however, left me in awe and feeling fulfilled, Harry Potter. This is the only way I know how to describe how I feel about this TV show. I don't feel like it was a waste of my time like Twilight was and like most TV shows are.

This show... my words are not enough.

That being said -- or not said, as the case may be -- I'm not so upset that the show was "canceled" after two seasons. While there are still questions unanswered, there is closure. It does feel like a good place to leave it and like the story is complete. There is definitely room for more to be done, but it's fine where it ended.

A basic premise of the show: It's a crime drama that takes place after one of the main homicide detectives, Charlie Crews, had been released on a settlement after having spent 12 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Thus, he offers a different perspective to the fighting of crime. He knows both sides of the system from being a cop before prison, and from surviving 12 years of the life sentence. Each episode has a different crime, and has interjections of interviews relating to Crews' imprisonment and shows Crews' own off the books detective work. Another aspect of his personality that gives this show a different feel is his following of Zen.

If you're still not convinced to watch it, I don't know what to tell you.

Film #1 is finally a wrap! By that I mean, we've edited it, screened/critiqued it in class, and re-edited. Now it's time to hand it in for real.

I also uploaded it to Youtube which apparently took over 3 hours (on Ithaca's free Internet connection). Though I wouldn't know how long it actually took because I let it go as I went to bed. It would have been much faster at home though.

Anywho, here it is:

It feels so good to finally have this one finished. I also finally came up with an idea for the final film -- a prospect that greatly stressed me out, as I am not really a filmmaker and don't think like one. The final project is an independent free-for-all. A bit nerve-wracking for me considering...

Second project is underway and going alright. I'm currently waiting for the professor to listen to it an give me feedback. See, we had to do this opposite of films that aren't music videos:

Start with recording sound and then add image later - but use found footage/don't film anything.

Should be interesting but I'm not a huge fan of the assignment.