VISI, day 24/IMC, day 1

Sunday was crazy on several levels.

The airport in the morning was terrible.  I arrived an hour and a half before my flight - cutting it close, but who's flying early on a Sunday morning?  Answer: everyone who takes forever to go through a line.  I waited in lines and got rerouted until 9.10 ... which was ten minutes before my plane was supposed to take off.  During that time, I had to make a frantic phonecall home, as I was going to be stuck if I couldn't pay the fine for my extra bag (which was more than I had originally been told to pay, which was the number I had planned for).  I ran to security, waited another five minutes, and then of course had my bag searched, because it was full of electronics.  I bolted to the gate.  They'd held it over for me.  I boarded the plane a few minutes after it was supposed to take off, and of course I happened to be sitting in a wing seat, so they had to take a minute to explain the emergency exit procedure, and then we finally took off.

The flight was uneventful, apart from the very friendly Japanese man beside me who thought that everything in the movie he was watching was hilarious, and therefore never stopped laughing or sighing or making little noises of approval ... you know.  Which is fine.  In moderation.  He never stopped.  I had my headphones on most of the way, but it was still a bit of a sticking point ...

Upon arriving in Winnipeg and greeting my family (and friends who had come), I was informed that my luggage had not made it onto the plane that I had boarded, and was coming on the next flight from Vancouver.  Sigh.  I decided to wait, rather than have it shipped to me out at the border, so we waited until six ... and then left Winnipeg at seven ... for a three-hour drive.  My boyfriend had agreed to take me out to the camp I was working at for this week, so that we'd have time to talk - that way, my parents didn't have to pile the kids into the car for a six-hour drive, nor did they have to use extra vehicles ... it worked out.  Also, my boyfriend lives relatively close to the camp (closer than my parents anyway), so there's that, too.

On the drive, he and I had a two-hour conversation about the ethics, philosophy and theory of artificial intelligence - from a purely theoretical, mostly non-scientific standpoint, since neither of us are experts in the actual scientific field.  Ethics made up a large part of the conversation - questions about the ethics involved, questions about human-AI interaction, and so on and so forth.  Not many answers to the questions, but plenty to think about.  Lots of hypotheticals thrown around, and many references to various science-fiction scenarios, ranging from the inimitable Asimov all the way to Mass Effect, Halo and Portal.  Fascinating, fascinating stuff.

Upon reaching the camp, I checked in at the main office and found my little room.  I unpacked as quickly as possible, as my roommate was rather tired, and went to bed.  I'm rooming with the creative writing intern.  She's far more qualified than I am.  XD  Oh well.

VISI, day 16

Another late night means another morning post.

Yesterday was mainly uneventful, though I sent an email or two that needed sending.  After posting about Friday (in which I forgot a story, which I shall have to tell in a minute or two), I hung out for a bit on the Internet, then did laundry.  I also made lunch.  After lunch, I scurried off to participate in the art and conflict resolution workshop, which was interesting if perhaps a bit esoteric.  We examined art and conflict resolution through the lens of the four ancient alchemic elements (fire, air, water, earth).  This actually wasn't that weird as it might sound - it was really just categorical names for passion, mind, emotion and the world, all of which come into play in conflicts (and therefore their resolution).  There was not a lot talked about that I didn't already know, instinctively or not, but there were interesting bits and bobs tossed around.

I have been thinking about typing out all my notes and posting them here, as attachments.  I don't know if that would interest people.  I would scan them when I got home, but I worry a bit that they would be illegible to other eyes.  I write well, but ... not that well.  Anyway.  If you read my blog, and you'd be interested in reading notes from lectures, or coachings, or performance psychology/Alexander Technique sessions ... give me a shout in the comments (here or Facebook or Twitter or whatever).

After the workshop, I went back to dorm to get ready for the Schubertiade - an evening of music and song and fun, in fancy dresses, with alcohol.  Except I couldn't have any alcohol.  sigh.  I wore my bright-red grad dress, which was a serious hit - I was told by a complete stranger that I looked exquisite, and several students of the VISI program thought I looked really good, too.  As I mentioned on my Twitter, though, strangers telling you that you look exquisite are only ever time travellers ... I wonder why someone came to the Schubertiade simply to tell me I looked wonderful?  Hm ...  :P

The VISI singers sang at the beginning and the end of the three-hour concert (Im Abendroth and An die Musik), which was a good way to open and close the evening.  The first hour was a sort of Schubert 'séance', where the artistic director was purportedly from another planet (not the only time traveller, it would seem), and they had technology enough to bring people who had passed from this dimension back for brief periods of time ... except there wasn't good enough reception in the hall, so we had to settle for someone in the audience channeling Schubert.  This resulted in hilarity as no fewer than ten people claimed to be Schubert, but they were winnowed out (all plants, of course, from the Songfire Theatre program) by means of a Schuberti-off (yeah they went there) with Schubert-testing questions.  The remaining Schubert gave some small tidbits of information in between performances of Schubert Lieder, and it was an amusing time, if a bit boring by the end of it.  It could have been much more interesting, somehow ... 

The second hour was the Canadian-content portion, and I was not certain whether or not it would prove interesting ... but I needn't have worried.  Many of the composers and poets of the repertoire were actually there that night, which was an experience I had never really had before - not just applauding the performer, but actually applauding the composer and the poet, sitting right there in the audience.  Very neat.  Plus there was some hilarious repertoire, including a pair of love songs written by a composer-poet couple who had gotten married the day before, and the songs had been performed by the same duo performing them that night as a wedding gift.  The first song was called Something Like That, and was this wonderful little musing on "you're beautiful ... or something like that, anyway".  It was just so sweet.  The second song was called Hanky Panky, and was an ... well, I'm not sure how to describe it, but you can only get away with that sort of a song if you're over 60, which Stephen Chatman is.  It had the house rolling on the floor laughing, it was so funny and risqué.  Not even trying to hide it, either.  There was also a performance by Chincilia Bartoli and Sumi Jaw ... yes, yes, I know, it's Cecilia and Jo, but not in this case - this was a pair of singers who laid on a table with their heads to the audience and had dresses on the top half of their heads and sunglasses on their chins.  Take a minute to imagine that.  Yeah.

The third hour was a performance of Brahms' Liebeslieder, a set of 18 songs about love and all sorts of little tangents, all performed by the same quartet.  It was a lovely way to end the evening.  I walked home after (the theatre was on-campus), and basically went to bed.  

Today is gray and rainy, so I will not be going to the beach after church - instead, I will play games and read, and perhaps write, and maybe even have a nap.  There is a premiere performance this evening of art songs written this week, so I will find my way over to that for eight o'clock, but from 11.30 till then, I shall relax.  What a concept!