Day in the life of a Dayna

Art of storytelling

Eric Zimmerman, author of an electronic essay about gaming., brings up a very interesting point that much of gaming revolves around a good story. He says, " game developers increasingly rely on filmic story techniques in the design of their products, turning present-day computer and video games into a kind of mutant cinema." I have never thought of gaming in this manner before, but it is incredibly true. Everyone loves a good stoary, so in turn, a goood story is a good game. I beleive the art of storytelling is incredibly powerful and overlooked. Many people do not realize teh power a story can have over them. They can make a happy person sad, or a sad person happy. I truly believe stories can be life changing. I believe that we need to pay more attention to story telling, even encouraging it more often in children. Storytelling is an art that undoubtably needs to be preserved.

Papa's got a brand new bag

I promised I would update all of you on the adventures of Dayna and Kate while she was here visiting. Not much was in store, but we still had fun. We went to Pizza Luce on Sunday night for half priced bottles of wine. It was fun, but Kate and Axel made me drink red wine, and I could barely stand it. Then on Monday me, Kate, Axel, and Sam (Axel's roommate) went to R.T. Quinlin's. For those of you who do not know of Quinlin's. Well you're missing out. It almost hidden, like you have to have a treasure map to find it..even though it's located on Superior St. Once you see the tiny neon sign for the bar..you enter and go deep downstairs in to a dark cave,AKA R.T. Qinilin's. Inside you'll find an extremely weird mix of hippies, jazzy people with beanies, and town drunks. Here deep in the cave...they are safe. Well, while we were there I ran into a special little drunk man who told me he was a dancer. So, he put some money in the Juke Box, and this is what came of that:

Good day mate

Well..I'm off to Sawtell, New South Wales Australia. I finally got my student teaching placement. I'm pretty excited. It is a beautiful town of 13,000. It is a little touristy, but not too bad. It is right on the coast, and the school I'll be at is only a football field away from the ocean. But, the average temp when I'll be there is about 100 F. I'll manage. Here are some pictures of Sawtell and a map of Australia. Sawtell is just below Coffs Harbour. Coffs Harbour is located on the east coast on the right-center of the map.

Friends in low places

Well...my good buddy Kate is here from Arizona. She is a UMD graduate who will soon be attending med school in Tulane...if it still exists due to Katrina. I think that we'll be up to some good fun and craziness these next few days. She doesn't leave until Wednesday. I'll be sure to take my camera places to catch some interesting moments. Stay tuned!

Ha Ha Ha

Try this out for a good laugh. You've got to see it before a lot of people find out and they fix it . You need to go to Australia's Google search at :
http://www.google.com.au/
Type in the word Failure in the search box and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Just wait to see the magic!

Wedding Pictures & My Brats From the Boys and Girls Club

My handsome BF

Two good lookin people

Brats, but I love em

Here's just a few of last week's madness

Good, Bad,and Ugly again

Fictional

I really like Maddy's letters to the editor. They could easily be true. I used to work for the Duluth News Tribune, and let me tell you....there are people who do read newspapers cover to cover, and they are never satisfied. I used to have the same crazy guy call me every week with some error he found, or something we should have included in the paper. I wanted someone to make one special paper with a bunch of errors and on the front page it would say "GET A LIFE" and deliver it to his front step.

Nice day for a white wedding

So, I was at a wedding this weekend. It was your typical wedding, but it was still fun. My BF was one of the best men, so he got to look good in a tux. All went well until I realized that I had forgotten my license, or at least thought that it was lost. We were at a very nice country club, that had the nerve to ask me, a clearly 22 year old, for my license at the open bar. Needless to say, I had to have people, including my boyfriend's parents steal extra drinks for me. I still had a lot of fun and danced until I was grossly sweaty, and then later realized that I had not left my license at home- I had lost it. I applied for a new one this morning, and now have to wait 2-6 weeks for a new one, whiel some 17 year old lush roams the bars with my license.

I'll have pictures from the wedding up later!

Please....oh please!

Well....if you check the Great Lakes forecast wavemap for Lake Superior....you might just wet your pants!. Or, maybe that's just me. My magic crystal ball says that there is going to be surf...pretty big surf starting tomorrow afternoon, and building all the way through Thursday!! This means Professors....If my seat is empty in your classrom Tuesday through Thursday, sorry! I have to do what I have to do. Maybe you could bring the class on a class field trip to see some Great Lakes surfing?? So please, if you read this...do a wave dance for Dayna and the rest of those who are praying for good surf! I do not know how I will be feeling when the actual surf gets here since my recent tango with Vertigo. Hopefully all will be well.

We're Dayna's Good, Bad, and always Ugly.

What's in my Fortune Cookie?

Today I went for my usual weekend $4 lunch special at Bei Jing. I highly recommend it. They have excellent Sweet and Sour Chicken. Although...this was unlike any other time I've gone for lunch. Outside of Bei Jing was a man asking people walking by for money for lunch. I thought it was odd that he was on the East end, but didn't really pay too much attention to him as I said sorry politely and walked by him. Later, as I sat down and ate my lunch with a friend, I saw the man come in with a woman. She wrote out a check and handed to the man behind the counter and said, "This is for him," and then walked away. This nice woman paid for his luch when she wasn't even eating in there. Anyways. The man waited for the lunch that was purchased for him quietly. When the small man behind the counter called his name and handed him his bag he yell, " You don't come back again." "You don't pay." "You don't come back." Then the two began to argue. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It turn out that the begger had walked in the restaurant and ordered food without paying for it. He than walked outside and proceeded to beg for money until he found someone who would buy his lunch. I guess I can see why the man behind the counter was so mad. Well it was an interesting lucn to say the least. I guess that's what I get for eating a $4 lunch special.

A good laugh. Funny Commercials lead to good halloween costume

http://www.adjab.com/files/2005/06/starbucks-hank.mpg
This Starbucks one was funny, but I think that I'm going to be the King for Halloween instead of Hank.

The King:
http://www.dhadm.com/mediaHolder.php?id=101

ER

Well, I spent yesterday in the wonderful St.Lukes hospital. The verdict was that I had the ever-so mysterious vertigo. I still don't know how it works, but what I do know, is that it was bad. So, to make a long story short, they pumped me full of valium and let me leave the hospital really messed up. I then proceeded to passout, because of the drugs, on a bench outside of St. Luke's. This is where I layed for an hour until my ride came. Can you believe that? They just let me go, all drugged up, and I passed out outside. Those jerks. What if a bum had come and kindnapped me. I mean I know I'm probably too big for someone to run away with, but they might have tried. Anyways, it's Saturday night and I'm feeling alright. All I've had to eat for two days is a basket of fries and a piece of cornbread. Needless to say, I didn't go out tonight, and don't have any fun pictures from Shooters for you guys...maybe next week. Stay tuned!

Oh, by the way, here's a link to a site about thw weird thing called vertigo:
http://www-surgery.ucsd.edu/ent/PatientInfo/info_bppv.html