Blog On

Waiting for my Student

I've been tutoring a student of cinematography since the beginning of September. His midterm exam is this week, and I feel lots of compassion for him. The required readings are unbelievable, well, maybe not for university study.

One of the books is somewhat readable, but the other is lengthy, and reads like a technical manual. I kept his book, and one of the last chapters he ciovered in class. It took me about 9 hours to read the chapter (not at one sitting, of course). I know he's read a portion of the assignments, because he's read them aloud to me, and we've discussed. I expect an intense session on sound today, and cramming reading if it's possible. He still has terms to memorize, and he's hung up that the test is on concepts. If you don't know the vocabulary, you can't discuss the concepts, but I'm not sure he understands that.

It's great if you're into it, the cinematography stuff. I see that Arthur Brown of (perhaps New York Univeristy) is putting his Cinematograph 101 on television as an entertainment course. I'll probably watch this Friday because George Clooney will be on. But I don't see myself befing a director.

I guess it's good if I ever decided to write a screenplay. But I worry about my student's grade. The test is all writing, with no multiple choice. He's got to write, and he has a learning and reading comprehension problem. I do what I can to help, and I'm learning a lot on my own time about cinematography.

I haven't snagged an "academia-research' job yet, although I'm getting a half a dozen notices per day. I've been responding by replying to the e-mails, and I found out I need to attack it from the site's control panel. I really wanted the 20 pager that came up today on the history and culture of Kuwait. That one got away from me, but I'm ready to pounce on the next one that gets my interest. Now, one essay needs a PhD in the UK, another has to do with automobiles in Japan. If one writes best what they know, I need to stay away from some topics. It's only been a week. I'll keep trying.

I applied at four other places, and only one has has any contact with me. One wanted to charge me $79.00 for a year of free lance postings. That's not what I want. I want to get money for writing.

Wish me luck, and wish me to call Dell and get my dadgum printer working. It has a paper jam and I need to call technical support. The machine is only a couple of months old. I'd rather send it back for one that works, but Dell doesn't do that.

It's all gonna come to pass just fine. We have 90 degree weather in Dallas today, with a 40 degree wind chill predicted for tomorrow. Somethjing to look forward to. Find the long jeans and a couple of layers of sweater, and maybe a hat!!! I love hats. I have a hat head. It's the real first day of fall in Texas, when it finally starts to cool off. It's been an awful hot summer. We had 14 days of temperatures over 100. That's too hot. But we cool off some in the winter--seldom get snow, though one never knows.

And the blessings of Ramadan on our Muslim friends. I admire your dedication to the fasts of your traditions.