Madeline finished up her second day today at her new preschool. I can not say enough how happy I am with her new preschool! I was worried that Madeline would be sad about not going back to the old one, or that she would miss some of the kids but today when she hopped in the car after I picked her up she told me, “Mommy, I like my new preschool.” I didn’t even have to ask her any questions to get her to say that. I guess she just had so much fun that she wanted me to know how she felt.

When I dropped her off on Monday she had no problems going in to her classroom and didn’t seem apprehensive at all. Her teacher showed us around and helped us figure out what to do. Some of the parents came up and introduced their kids to Madeline and themselves to me. It felt so warm and welcoming, kind of the opposite of Madeline’s last preschool.

Her teachers have told me that Madeline has been doing great in her class and has fit right in with the kids. I’m sure it helps that Madeline already knew a couple of the girls from a gymnastics class.

This week the theme has been International week and they have been learning about different countries. Today when Madeline got in the car she started explaining to me how to say hello and goodbye in all sorts of different languages. Again, it was one of the first times she willingly told me about preschool without me having to pry it out of her. They also had the kids wear bathrobes and towels today to pretend that they were kimonos since they were learning about Japan. For their snack they had oranges and rice and used chopsticks to eat them. The chopsticks were a big hit with Madeline.

One of the biggest things I’ve heard about Madeline’s teacher is how organized she is, and I have to agree with everyone on that! The school has a website that she keeps updated with all of her lesson plans, song sheets with the lyrics to the songs they are learning, and photos that they have taken during class. It’s so much fun to be able to see the pictures of the kids and what they are doing, and it’s also great to know what they are talking about so I don’t have to rely on Madeline to give me that information. One of her favorite lines these days is “I can’t remember” which, when translated means, “stop asking me questions!”

Here are a few pictures of Madeline’s first week.

Here are the kids modeling their “kimono’s” and hats they made.

Eating with chopsticks

Madeline working on an art project.

Madeline playing (apparently having her eyes open in pictures is completely optional these days).

Playing a game.

Looks like she’s having fun, huh?

I am very happy we made the switch. I felt bad about it initially, but after only 2 days I know this is the right place for Madeline. I could go on and on about everything I love about the preschool, but I won’t bore those of you who don’t have kids and aren’t really interested in preschools. For those of you who do have kids, I highly recommend it! I can say that now, because we get to do early registration so I can recommend it to everyone and feel pretty secure with Madeline’s spot for next year

Continued …

6. Injuries. I hate international week because of injuries also. It’s like reluctantly inviting a long lost relative to stay in your house, leaving them alone for a day… only to find they’ve taken a huge dump down the back of your piano. Oh, and by the way, the present can’t be power retrieved for 3 months.

What a joke. Robin Van Persie, deadliest striker in the Premiership, is out injured for 3 months. Fabulous. I trust the Dutch FA will be underwriting his salary over that time period?

An injury to a key player is never good news, unless of course you are an understudy to a good player.

Who now steps up to take that central role? First thought point to Eduardo who bagged to goals for the Croats yesterday. That then gives an opportunity to possibly Carlos Vela to make an name for himself, and give Theo a way back into the team. As gutted as I am for Robin, lets be thankful it was a position we’ve an abundance of cover for.

* Geoff and I were invited by the Guardian to apply to write for their fans forum for next summers World Cup. I had to write 200 words about why I love international football. I think I’ve written 600 words in the last two days about why I hate it. How two faced of me.

So yesterday, I went out and got myself a brand spanking new hair cut and I mulled over a few things of a footbalistic nature.

Goalkeepers. Where did all the world class one’s go?

It’s apparent to me that there used to be an abundance of superb keepers around. Tim Flowers, Nigel Martyn, David Seaman, Peter Schmicheal to name but a few (David James used to be a laughing stock and is now regarded as one of the best!).

Now we’ve entered a period of time where apparently the only world class keeper is the pricey Italian manning the sticks in Juve.

Now, has the world entered a poor period of keeper production? Or have Lucozade been putting something dodgy in those blue bottles? Or could something more sinsister be at hand… something more corporate?

The way I see it, the ball has reduced keepers to a laughing stock. Years ago, if someone fired a ball at the top corner, it took a reasnobly straight path towards the top corner. These new balls have made it far tougher for keepers to make a judgement. All keepers can’t be bad can they? They didn’t lose the ability to stop rocket shots over night, did they?

This season has seen record goals being scored in the Premiership. Is that becasue the skill level has been upped, or the is it because the ball maufacturers are purposely making it easier for strikers to score? I’d say it was the latter.

As a fan, how does that make you feel? Are you all about an abundance of goals? Or are you of a more purist nature, preferring team efforts over 30 yard screamers?

How far are we going to go with ball tech? Will they stop improving the pace of the ball when it starts breaking nets, or games start averaging 4-5 goals? Maybe the ball manufacturers see the only way of appealing to the biggest untapped market, America, is to increase the ‘excitement’ levels with more goals?

I love to see great goals being scored. I like to see them scored because of great technique and a high skill level, not because a ball is so light, it moves three or four times enroute to the goal. I think there has to come a point, like there was in golf, when people say enough is enough. We’ve made the ball fast enough.

The World Cup is fast approaching, there will no doubt be a newer, faster, rounder ball released. I just hope it’s not detrimental core value of the game… skill.

I’m off out to play football in the pissing rain. Have fun, and maybe drop a comment if you haven’t done so before… the Grove pit is a welcoming place, I can assure you!

Yesterday marked the beginning of International Education Week with the deadline for submissions to the essay contest with the theme, “Sustainability:  The Key to Global Citizenship.”  Check back next week for the winning essay!

This weekend is when all the exciting events begin for International Education Week at UNT, starting with the annual celebration of Diwali put on by the India Student Association.  I’ve gone every year for as long as I can remember, and I highly recommend it!  The music, dancing, fashion shows, and FOOD are excellent.  The event will be held in the Auditorium Building on Saturday from 5:45pm to 8:00pm.   For tickets, please go to the information desk on the third floor of the Union.

Ba ngày trong khuôn khổ diễn ra tuần lễ văn hóa ở ABAC ( International Week 25-27, at CL plaza Bangna campus) đã kết thúc, tham gia cùng nhiều nước bạn khác trong International Week, Việt Nam chúng ta đã có được một kỉ niệm đáng nhớ và đấy ý nghĩa. Lần này dù chúng ta tham gia khá vội vàng, không có nhiều sự chuẩn bị, nhưng kết quả tương đối tốt, xây dựng được hình ảnh Việt Nam trong mắt bạn bè, một đất nước đa sắc màu dân tộc, yêu ca hát và lễ hội, và đặc biệt hiếu khách.

Lần này do sự chuẩn bị gấp gáp nên đoàn mình chỉ đăng kí để tham gia 2 ngày đầu tiên. Tuy nhiên cũng khá thành công. Ngày đầu tiên với mục đích tuyên truyền về “Vietnamese food”, Việt Nam mình mang đến bánh chưng, giò, nem chua và nem rán. Mọi người đã phải chuẩn bị mọi thứ như rán nem, chuẩn bị đồ dùng trang trí… từ tối hôm trước. Sáng 25, 7h30 xuất phát lên Bangna chuẩn bị mọi thứ cho 11h bắt đầu. Đội quân hôm đó lên tham gia và giúp đỡ rất đông, ai cũng nhiệt tình dù mệt, có lẽ vì ai cũng nghĩ mình đang tham gia một công việc bận rộn nhưng có ý nghĩa, giúp quảng bá và giới thiệu về hình ảnh đất nước, con người Việt Nam với bạn bè quốc tế .

Ngày thứ hai, chúng ta mang các loại trang phục truyền thống trưng bày và cho bạn bè quốc tế ướm thử, chụp ảnh, hôm đó thực sự là một ngày vui… Mọi người đến, ngạc nhiên về những bộ trang phục rực rỡ nhiều sắc màu của chúng ta, và khi được mời ướm thử chúng để chụp ảnh, mọi người rất hào hứng. Hầu hết họ đều được hỏi đã đến Việt Nam chưa và hầu như 100% câu trả lời nhận được là họ sẽ đến trong một ngày tương lai gần, có người còn rất yêu thích các bộ trang phục và hỏi có thế mua chúng không, ở đâu…

Sự nhiệt tình của họ làm cho những mệt mỏi của hai ngày tất bật chuẩn bị mọi thứ dường như biến mất. “Đội quân” còn không quên lên tham gia tiết mục văn nghệ với bài hát “Như có bác Hồ trong ngày vui đại thắng” (có quay lại, sẽ post lên blog ngay cho mọi người xem^^), chúng ta dùng ngôn ngữ của chúng ta để hát, nhưng có lẽ sự hào hứng trong lời hát (đặc biệt mỗi lần hát vang Việt Nam Hồ Chí Minh ), cách thể hiện mới lạ và rất trẻ trung khiến mọi người tập trung khá đông và ủng hộ.

Kết thúc hai ngày tham gia, vui và thật nhiều ý nghĩa !

Cảm ơn mọi người đã tham gia rất nhiệt tình, rất vô tư, đã cùng nhau tạo nên hai ngày thật ý nghĩa. Hi vọng và tin tưởng chúng ta sẽ còn cùng nhau trong nhiều nhiều những hoạt động như thế này trong tương lai nữa nhé!

(28/11/2008, bài đã đưa lên blog 360 của Đoàn)

In order to facilitate discussion amongst IPSA members, especially as many of us are abroad for the summer, we have created the IPSA blog to serve as a forum to exchange thoughts, ideas and stories from the field.

IPSA would like to thank Chris de Veer and Arya Iranpour who set up and designed the blog!

Looks can be deceiving, especially when gastronomic artists skillfully craft a specific dish to appear as another. Other times, however, their less accomplished colleagues struggle with simply making the original dish taste like it is supposed to, leading to a much less welcomed surprise.

Like any other college student, I am a big fan of cheap Chinese food, especially the kind that leaves you starving thirty minutes after consumption. Then again, there’s a difference between inhaling an entire plate of lemon chicken and unenthusiastically playing with some slop labeled sweet & sour pork.

Still, I was somewhat interested to see what creations International Week would procure–I am sure these next few days will feature some memorable attempts of qualifying as being from distant corners of the world; sadly, I have a shrewd suspicion they will be more alien than anything else.

As I have come to expect from the Caf, one never receives a sufficiently large portion of food. I was setting myself up for an even larger fall: as I began to dig into the main course, I discovered that the sweet-&-sour-to-pork ratio was hugely skewed in favor of the former. After completely dissecting the blob, I removed two pieces of meat, both of which were of an uncomfortably chewy quality.

Now, here’s the kicker: it tasted uncannily like waffle batter. In my near vicinity, another student remarked, “This is pretty sweet!” before upgrading his critique to, “No, this is really sweet.” To make things perfectly clear, he was not using the adjective like most adolescents do.

Having finished my portion, I turned to the other main course that was being offered: lemon thyme chicken. It tasted like eggs–go figure.

by Rev. Enock DeAssis :: This next week (October 14-19, 2008) will be a special time in the life of our church. Four out of the five of our strategic partners will be here at Bel Air next week. In 2008 we sent around 200 of our team members from BelAir in short-term mission trips. Now, it is our time to receive our strategic partners here in Los Angeles. Bel Air Pres is partnering with five large churches around the world (India, China, Brazil, Venezuela and a country in North Africa by sending teams and supporting financially their missionary work. The leaders that will be visiting us are from congregation that together are shepherding more than 40,000 people in India, North Africa, Venezuela and Brazil.

The American Church is going through a process of discerning a new call from God. Instead of being “the one doing mission alone” we have learned the great blessing of working in partnership with God’s family around the world. In order to have a real strategic partnership we are working with nationals from different countries that are impacting their own context with the values of the Kingdom of God. When we partner with them, we understand that Mission is not a ONE way street: from us to the other. Rather, it is a TWO-way-street Mission. There are times that we send people. There are times that we receive people and learn from others. In the two-way-street Mission, we join our hands and resources to multiply the effects of our mission in the city and in the world.

During the next week, our strategic partners will bring us transformational stories about how God is doing amazing things in their countries. They will also challenge us to get more involved with the mission that God has given us here Los Angeles.

Here are the times they will be speaking at the church. Please do not miss it:

TUESDAY, 10/14/08:

• 9-9:30 a.m. :: Evans chapel
  
• 8:00 p.m. :: Sanctuary (Foundry)

WEDNESDAY 10/15/08

• 8:25 p.m. :: Discipleship Center Room 103 (College)

THURSDAY, 10/16/08

• 9:45 a.m. :: Discipleship Center Room 203 (Bel Air Women)

SUNDAY, 10/19/08

• 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. :: Worship Services
• 10:35 a.m. :: Discipleship Center Room 102 (Young Marrieds)
• 10:35 a.m. :: Discipleship Center Room103 (Open Word)

The whole church is invited! Please come even if you are not part of the specific discipleship groups that they will be asking to.

]]> http://internationalstudent.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/remaining-events/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0000 jen http://internationalstudent.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/remaining-events/

The welcome week has only just begun, so don’t miss out on the remaining events.

Welcome to Southampton University!! 

The international student week has begun and there will be lots of events and campus tours that will help you settle in and make new friends. Check the University Website for an overview of all events.

Download Welcome Booklet here.

One of today’s events was the TEA QUIZ, which was very successful. We managed to fill the whole Garden Court!!! Everyone seemed to have had a great time, and the top 3 teams even won some University prizes! Well done everyone and thanks for having made this such a fun event!!

Now that I am done editing two of our biggest pageants for the year, it is now time to settle down on the other portions of our family of multi-media websites. 

Planet Q TV

I uploaded 12 new videos on Planet Q TV - representing Mr. EOY, Miss EOY and Mr and Miss International and International Plus.  When you get a chance, take a look at Skyler Styles (contestant – presentation category – Mr. EOY), Tasha Cole (Entertainer for EOY 08 – Finals Night), Sabin (talent category – prelim night – EOY 08), Octavius Rashad (Finalist – talent category – Mr. International), Mya Douglas (Entertainer for EOY 08), Marsean Devine (Finalist – talent category - Mr. International), The Lady Angelica and Anatasia Beaverhausen (Entertainers for Mr/Miss International), Kitty Litter (Entertainer for Mr/Miss International), Dashe Desmond Rose (talent category – prelim night – EOY 08), Chasity St Cartier (contestant – talent category – Miss International Plus), Adonis Diamond (Finalist – talent category – Mr. International) and Camille Simpson (talent category – prelim night – EOY 08)…  woa…yeah I was on a roll so I thought I would throw some videos out there.

Also, for those of you who have been with us for years – it’s coming – yes another website design change

Click Click Expose "New Logo"

 for Click Click Expose.  I know what you are thinking – NOT AGAIN.  This time however will be different, a more simplified website with a much better polished look – many people have told us they like our website but many have told us that it is extremely overwhelming and has so much information that it is hard to navigate and sometimes confusing.  So we are going to simplify things and polish things up.  We think of Click Click Expose as a “brand” especially as it relates to the pageantry community – but we are more than just pageants and pageant videos.  We want to be one of your gay multi-media destination sites of choice.  So rather its gay videos on our video sharing website “Planet Q TV,” whether its the nation’s only online digital download pageant pay per view service, internet radio, blogging or podcasting – we hope you will find something of interest that will keep you coming back for more.  So with any brand, their needs to be a “logo” that signifies the brand.  We really haven’t had that in the past but now we do thanks to our graphics and animation artist Eric who is working with us on the new website look.  The new website look should be up in about a couple of weeks.  We are excited about it and think you will be surprise – it will be our best look ever.

If you are look for Entertainer of the Year on pay per view (the miss division) – it will be up in about 1 week.  The Mr. EOY and all of the International pageants are up now online.

That’s it for now.  More coming soon.

Thomas

You ever have that feeling when you just want to throw your computer out a 5 story building?  There is nothing like pushing the limits of your computer and I have definitely done that with finishing up with International Week.  For those of you who was at the International Week pageant on Saturday, you know that was a lonnnggg night because the Plus competition was also with the prelim competition of the Mr and Miss.  Well I had over 5 1/2 hours on the timeline with 3 cameras and tons of color correction that eats up more hard drive space than termites eat wood.  I never thought I would be saying that 600gb of hard drive space is not enough but I think I would be happy with a couple of terrabytes – but I digress. 

For the news you want to hear….I am one day ahead of schedule and I should be finished with the DVD encoding for Plus competition within a couple of hours today (Saturday).  I have finished prelim of Mr. and Miss so the entire Mr. and Miss competition is now completed.  Later on this evening I will prepare everyone’s order who pre-ordered a copy and it will go in the mail on Monday (sorry no mail delivery on Sunday).  Everything will go by USPS priority mail so you should get it in 2 to 3 days.  We are happy with the look of the video – The Center Stage Theatre is a BEAUTIFUL place to film so the quality of the video in our opinion is excellent – we also are doing some new things with DVD menus and DVD packaging that we think you will like – nothing major but its the little things that we hope make a difference.

EOY is still on schedule for next week so EOY fans hang in there – you are next.

More news to come soon.

Thomas

Here is some updated information as of Wednesday Aug. 6th.

1)  Mr. and Miss International Finals night is done.  DVD prep and duplication will occur this weekend.  If you ordered finals night only, it will go in the mail on Monday August 11th.

2)  I am currently uploading all cameras for Friday and Saturday night (Mr/Miss Prelim and Plus competition).  I will work on the Plus competition next and then the prelim for Mr/Miss.

3)  Trailer for Finals night of Mr/Miss International should be up by next week.  Sorry for the delay.

4)  EOY editing begins next week.  If you were a constestant and you have the actual video for your presentation and/or talent and you want that original footage included in the final DVD, please email us at: ccevideo@empirevideoproductions.com or give us a call at: 305-695-0095 so I can give you instructions on where to send the video.

5)  If you attempted to get on Planet Q TV within the last couple of hours, the database server was down.  That is why you did not see the home page.  The server has been restarted and all is well now.  Make sure you check out the trailers for EOY and International Week – also check out the new videos uploaded by one of our content producers – Drag Queen Posse.

6)  There are 3 customers out there who still need to call our office to confirm their order they placed with us at the night of EOY.  I have emailed each of you.  Please give us a call or email us or we can not process your order.

That’s it for now pageant fans.  More coming soon.

Thomas

Hey everyone,

Here is a quick update on a variety of things concerning our most recent filming productions.  Things are pretty hectic around here as I am trying to update the new pageant pay per view site, upload hours upon hours of video clips, modify the website, put together orders and process orders.  It’s crazy…..but here we go:

1)  The pre-order special has ended for EOY videotapes.  It ran longer than expected as I did not have a chance to update the website – so for all of you people who ordered in the last 3 days – Merry Christmas (LOL – just kidding)  – glad you were able to take advantage of the pre-order.  I still have 4 people who ordered at EOY this year with Blossom – your orders have not been processed for various reasons – you will still get the pre-order special as soon as we clear up your payment questions;

2)  I am about 3 hours away from the first draft of Finals night Mr. and Miss International Week.  This was a 3 camera shoot so uploading 15 hours of video for one night took some time.  Then I have to sync all cameras together from all tapes (so many tapes) and then sit through the first viewing of the pageant.  I am almost done with that.  Then I will go through and edit the tape down, add in the names and effects, put some special backgrouds in, color correct some camera shots and put the 2nd draft together.  I hope to have that done by Sunday.  Saturday I am filming a wedding so I won’t be editing all day Saturday.

3)  I have started uploading and capturing Thursday night and Friday night of EOY.  Adrian will be editing parts of EOY starting with the Mr. Competition.  I still have to drop the 2nd camera down but the 1st camera is almost complete.  I will have that done within the hour.

4)  Many of you have already seen the preview clips of International Week and EOY.  But if you haven’t, you can check them out at our all gay video sharing website called Planet Q TV.  We hope you enjoy them!!

5)  The Pageant Soup Podcast Show was cancelled today as well as the other updates to the Podcast network as I am too swamped to do the show today.  The network will resume its normal programming next week.  We are looking forward to inviting Nina West & Savion Simpson Black on the show.  Be sure to check out episode #41 of the Pageant Soup Podcast Show as we talked to Danille Revlon who won the Miss International Plus competition.

6)  If you ordered DVDs from us in the last couple of days not related to EOY, your order will go in the mail tomorrow.  Sorry for the delay.

That’s it for now.  I am off to finish the first draft of International Week.  Everyone have a great day and thanks for your continued support.

Am 16. März ist es so weit…der Studiengang IMA 1 von der Merkur Fh fährt auf die International Week nach Brüssel und wird dort die Stadt für 5 Tage unsicher machen..

Dort werden wir an einem Workshop teilnehmen mit dem Thema “Children around the world”. Allerdings müssen wir mal noch schauen wie wir da alle hinkommen, ob Bus, Bahn oder mit unseren PKW`s .. Ich bin schon gespannt wie das alles wird und freue mich schon darauf die Stadt mit allen Leuten zu erkunden .. Natürlich werde ich euch dann wieder berichten wie es war ..

today we performed at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach, CA., as part of their International Week Celebration.

another “day in the life” of Steel Parade.

pho
piano
bubbles

our thanx to Kevin Fairman for another fun event at Ocean View High!

visit the Steel Parade Facebook Page.

today we performed for International Week at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach, CA.

the celebration featured authentic food and dishes from all around the world!

on stage

Kevin Fairman

thanx to Kevin Fairman and Mr. Raschke for having us perform for the event!