5 things that made me smile recently

1. Simmons has decided that the geese on campus are a nuisance, and have brought in a dog to scare them away. It's a friendly-looking black and white border collie, and I saw it on the residence campus yesterday afternoon with its handler, apparently having just scared away all the geese.

2. The geese were back again today, and just as calm as ever. Most animals make me smile, but for some reason, seeing a goose in the middle of a city just really brightens my day.

3. The electronic sensors placed in the swimming lanes for meets (or, in this case, the day before a meet) are made by Daktronics. I finished my laps today swimming toward that familiar name.

4. Last night I auditioned to play a concerto for this semester's orchestra concert. I have no idea when the decision will even be made, but I feel better for having tried. Also, the entire rehearsal last night was even more fun than usual, possibly because our director was "dancing" as the explained the mood of each movement of "Swan Lake." Plus, I had a pocket full of M&Ms, and coasted through the rehearsal on a constant sugar buzz.

5. In Collective Memory we have to do a final project, in groups and give a formal presentation. Our instructors made the groups for us, based on interests we submitted through email. I had been worried I would be placed with intimidating people and forced to work on a topic I cared nothing about, but was pleasantly surprised today. Our group, brought together under the subject heading of "dead white English men." The only other person in the class who I knew, Tiereny, is in the group, and our other member isn't intimidating at all, and we ended up, after quite a bit of discussion (mostly on literary subjects), deciding that we want to do our presentation on King Arthur. That's right--we are going to trace the historical significance and societal remebrance of a fictional character. But it's going to be fun! The point of this class is to see how groups of people remember things, and how those memories change over time, so why not explore one of the most enduring legends of our time and see just how interpretations have changed over the centuries. With all the different versions available, we'll have more than enough material to trace the developments. Quite frankly, the most difficult part is going to be nailing down what the original memory was, since it's debatable how old the legend really is. So, it's time to dive into some research, but at least it's research on a topic I love!

-Kim