Thursday, August 16, 2012

Top Gun

I have something to report: I have finally watched Top Gun for the first time in my entire life. I know, I know, it's shameful. Somehow, I missed a significant number of classic movies during my formative childhood years, including Jurassic Park, Sandlot, The Matrix, and Harry Potter. I watched Jurassic Park for the first time in the past year, but I have yet to see the others. *dodges rocks* Ahem - in any case...

To be perfectly honest, before last night I knew very little about the movie besides the fact that it involved Tom Cruise and really fast planes. I attended a movie star costume party while I was in England, and one man came dressed in the flight suit and aviators. I thought he was dressed as a janitor. I only figured out my mistake by seeing the same costume in a package labeled "Top Gun" somewhere else, and my response was, "oh, is THAT what that was?" *facepalm*

Moving on....
 
Top Gun was pretty awesome, I do have to say. Tom Cruise was amazingly attractive back then, and I'm still trying to figure out what happened between then and now. Was it his nose? His teeth? Did he get in a fist fight and just never recover? Help me out here...

Bottom line: I can see why it is a classic and why engineers love it. It earned a thumbs up from me as well!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Move In!

Today I move in to my new apartment!! I'm very excited to be starting this next phase in my life, with ONE roommate only. We grabbed our keys this morning and sauntered over to take a first peek. We had been warned that there was new carpet going in, but that the workers were probably finished. We arrived to find about seven men attacking our apartment with paintbrushes, new carpet, new blinds, and several other things I'm sure. I'm grateful to know that our carpet will be brand new, as well as our door trim, and that the apartment managers pay attention to detail. My last experience was dominated by a rather large lack of attention to detail, so the future is looking better. Onward and upward!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Austin Photo Shoot

Last weekend, one of my friends from church mentioned that he was looking for photography models later in the afternoon. He is apprenticing with a professional photographer, and he wanted a chance to practice his model-posing skills. If you know anything about my personality, you know that I rarely pass up a chance to be in front of a camera lens. So, we headed out to a scenic shopping venue place in Austin. He came armed with an internet site on his smartphone containing sketches of pretty female poses. We would consult the sketches, pick one to try, play around with the pose until we hit on something we liked, then move to the next one. In previous photoshoots with other photographers, I have not been able to see the pictures until there is a major break in the shooting. In this case, my friend would let me take a look every couple of pictures, so I was able to make improvements in my pose right away. What follows are my personal favorites from the shoot - thanks goes to my friend for the free photoshoot and the permission to post these!