~:[CH4 - Day 340]:~ Out of this World

~:[CH4 - Day 340]:~ Out of this World

I worked on cross country most of the day as per usual around this time of year. The banquet days are coming closer and surprisingly, I ended up ahead of the game with the video 1/6 of the way done already with all my footage converted and my titling almost done. It was a pretty mellow day. Since I had the day off of MUN, I had to get text updates from the conference. Yesterday, our advanced delegates were doing well and it was confirmed today as we had twelve receive gavels on the day which earned them a delegation award! I don't remember a time when we collected so many gavels, but regardless of the awards, I was pretty proud of how hard everyone was working in committees yesterday. Of course my night got interesting when on the drive home from Riverside, I saw about 15-20 cop cars with their lights on, flying along the freeway and exiting near the Galleria at Tyler. I found out later that there was a robbery there and there was thought to be gun shots, which there was not. In any case, the best part of my day however, was the show put on by my former student Danni (Angel) Wei. Here performance piece, Star Maps, Earth Codes was a very intimate setting with just me in her "theater." It takes someone who is brave to do a performance piece as you must get past the fear of performing in front of others and must be right on cue. I was impressed by the growth she demonstrated through her piece since she was in high school. I had here on my cross country team, but my connection with her is the fact that I advised her with her AP Studio Art portfolio. From the very start, she demonstrated an amazing ability in technique as an artist and with this piece, she demonstrated her ability to synthesize complex ideas and portray them in a fashion that engages the viewer and forces them to be apart of the performance. The entire time I was in the piece, I thought to myself, it feels like I'm stargazing and exploring all that exists in the universe above. At points, I got lost in the narrative or even at times forgetting where I was. It was definitely a piece that has many layers of meaning that can be drawn out of it and definitely shows mastery on behalf of Danni. I am so grateful that she remembered to invite me to her performance and while the drive was quite a trek, it was worth every minute and every mile and more. I look forward to all the great things that will come your way as while your skills in art are extraordinary, you as a person are truly out of this world. Congratulations on a masterful piece.