nathan chow:

tuesday 2/26:

i’m directing a 3-minute short film based on a scene in a little-known 10-minute play that was produced on stage only once. the project is for a 500-level film directing class, and the teacher is emphasizing director-actor relations and emotional realism more than technicalities. later when we film the projects, we’re using only consumer-level video cameras.

my actors jim and kelley performed the scene in class today. we’ve had only 3 meetings together, but i think they’re doing great. to “toughen us up” and to motivate changes for the actual film, my teacher (who has directed episodes of Law and Order) heavily criticized my direction, the scene, and the performances.

the scene is about two college kids who recently broke up. the guy goes to the girl’s dorm just to pick up class notes, but the girl wants him to stay longer – and she wants him back, regretting her decision to break up. she shows him her new belly button ring, which throws him off-guard because when they were going out, he was always telling her to get it. he’s lured into gently touching her belly button’s bruise, but he also tells her that she should take the ring out even if she “wants it now.” the film is an exploration of confusing desires, the ways we change after breakups, and bruised relationships.

wednesday 2/27:

i went to the monthly Student Activities Office (SAO) consortium meeting to represent the juggling club. one of the few meetings i missed was the one where we listened to people pitch ideas for clubs and voted on which would make it. i really wanted to do that, but i don’t think they’re gonna have it again until the beginning of next year.

thursday 2/28:

marisa: nathan, what’s your middle name?
sarah: it’s scott.
marisa: no it’s not.
nathan: why not?
marisa: it really is?
nathan: yeah.
marisa: but you’re chinese, right?
nathan: are you saying i have to be something like nathan mao zedong chow?

later in the conversation:
marisa: guess what my middle name is.
(her parents are from italy)
nathan: bella.
marisa: no.
sarah: just tell him. he’ll never guess it.
marisa: magnifica.
nathan: wait, what?
marisa: magnifica.
(i burst out laughing.)

later later in the conversation:
kayla: guess what my middle name is.
amy: it’s very black.
sarah: no, her first name is black.
nathan: shoniqua?
kayla: no.
sarah (singing): it’s kaaayla. kayla celeeeste. all the men waaant her… (sorry, i can’t capture the catchiness of her personal theme song here)

friday 2/29:

i had a very international dinner. it was with two guys from italy, one from bahrain, one from serbia, one from puerto rico, one from china… and one girl from.. illinois.

i love friday night naps after busy weeks.

saturday 3/1:

i went to the chinese student association’s spicy food contest. i didn’t compete because you had to pay a small fee.. and because it was as much a speed-eating contest as it was a spicy food contest. and you all know i’m THE slowest eater ever. but i was there for free samples.. and to root for some of my friends in it. my friend rahul ahuja actually won (juggler pride!). and while i was sitting in the audience, i met one of his friends ken, an old man who was his neighbor over the summer. we had a nice random conversation about epic filmmaking, Citizen Kane, and the Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski.

sunday 2/17:

dinner with sarah, kayla, and kayla’s sister briana. kayla: “nathan, you write everything in your blog.”

and that’s why right now i will tell the world that my fly was open during that whole dinner – and no one told me! people, please.. do me a favor and stare at my crotch more often. you need to tell me about these things!

thursday 2/21:

for the BU admissions overnight program, i hosted jon, a prospective student. after dinner, we went to the GSU to watch a freak talent show, but it was cancelled. we played ping-pong and pool until some random girls asked if we wanted to play “mafia” with their group of friends. i’ve never played it before, but it was a pretty interesting role-playing game.. and i met some cool people.

saturday 2/23:

dinner with giselle, josh, arjun, a (yes, A is his name..), sara p., stef, and fernando.

i was planning on watching the opera “the magic flute” put on by CFA tonight, but it was packed. my friends maria and betsy got in on the waitlist but had to sit in the handicapped section. giselle and i were turned away and decided to watch stage troupe’s “the wind in the willows.” we had a nice walk and talk from the huntington theater to the agganis theater. i like it when people prefer walking to places. the play was funny, and i saw michael from last semester’s acting class in it. (well, he was sorta in the class..)

sunday 2/24:

kelly and i saw the play “waiting for godot” directed by david gram, our teacher. i especially liked lucky’s character, played by sam perry.

i went to the oscars party at the GSU’s BU central with sarah. my predictions for winners this year were waaay off. i had only 13 out of the 24 categories correct. two years ago and the year before that, i had 19 and 20 correct and was once ranked 3rd nationally on oscar.com’s prediction contest.

i saw marisa on my walk back from the GSU. we talked about semi-colons all the way to the hojo!

tuesday 2/12:

lunch with carolyn. we brainstormed ideas on how to stop people from having sex. i have no idea why. it was very random. maybe because it was lunch with carolyn. yeah, when maria and betsy joined our table later, they were pretty confused.

wednesday 2/13:

i went to BU’s Redstone Film Festival, sponsored by sumner redstone, the CEO of viacom. i sat with chang, isabella, sandy s., and her friend rachel. pigeon-kicker andrea and non-pigeon-kicker emily were nearby too.

the 6 short films selected for tonight’s screening were very diverse. i wanted my screenwriting TA jenny alexander’s documentary “detained” to win, but it came in second place. first place went to alex scigliano’s “fratelli breaks,” which i thought was by far the best in technical achievement but whose content and story were on the weak side. congratulations to all winners and finalists anyway.

thursday 2/14:

happy valentine’s day!

mmm.. desserts from Finale in the dining halls. my friend aziz and i have an inside joke with one of the myles dining hall managers about blue food. aziz’s favorite color is blue, so he wanted more blue food. last semester, i helped him ask the manager for it. ever since, every time we saw the manager, we’d jokingly ask if anything served that day was blue. so today when they finally had blueberries that went with the fancy desserts, the manager purposely put a crapload on my plate before giving me the actual dessert.

after dinner, kayla and i went up to sarah’s room. we distracted her from studying. or was it the other way around? she showed us funny photos and videos. afterwards, i told kayla to put on her coat..

friday 2/15:

dinner with miguel, sarah, kayla, marisa, amy, ed, and vivian was quite entertaining. we even talked about “arthur” the tv show!!

saturday 2/16:

karan from high school came to visit me for 10 minutes “biz” (that was his way of saying “because” in 7th grade) he was in boston for harvard’s model UN conference.

friday:

went to the fitrec and super88 with connie, kristin, and vivian. connie tried to teach me how to dance hip-hop in one of the dance rooms lol. i tried to learn. i think we both failed. but she kept trying even when we got back to the myles hallway.

saturday:

i turned 21! thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, whether in person, on the phone, or on facebook! after just hanging out in the dining hall for lunch and dinner, i went to sunset cantina for appetizers and a legal drink. will, thanks for paying for the two pina coladas (yes, i only like the girly drinks). and titi, thanks for coming out.

later at night, i played mario kart 64 with miguel, allen, will, christian a., stephanie s., and one of the twins.. (crap, i forgot which one already). thank you to rebecca and caroline for letting us borrow two controllers.

the dining halls served chinese food today for chinese new year. the spring rolls, shui mei, and dumplings were good, but the chicken and beef were just ok. i wish they had duck, roast pork, and soup with black mushrooms, cabbage, and bean curd sticks (which is best when made by mom).

after dinner, i spontaneously followed sarah w. and marisa to the BU choral society’s “Spring POPS Concert” at CFA. we ran to catch the bus. well, actually we walked really fast. well, actually that was only me and marisa. sarah was probably busy preparing her next post-it weapon to use against me.

at the concert, i heard kayla, amy, and kelly sing (twice, cuz i was the only idiot who walked in on the rehearsal lol). all of them were awesome. i sat with sandy s., sarah, erin, marisa, and scott.

on the bus ride back to east campus, i had a staring contest with kayla and marisa. they couldn’t come close to winning. =P

later in the evening, miguel helped me videotape my juggling for a video project. i used my 3.2 MP digital camera’s video function and windows moviemaker to make a video for a 500-level post-production class… sad but true. i was mac-less, footage-less, and camcorder-less and couldn’t borrow a camera from COM or find time to use an editing suite. nonetheless, thank you so much, miguel!

BU hosted a superbowl party at our big sports arena. the game was on the jumbotron screens while there was also free food and ice skating.

i only care about real football (soccer), so i ate first.. then i skated the entire 5 hours. i left with a slightly bruised knee, a little scratch on my palm, and – of course – still a hungry stomach.

i went to the korean culture show tonight, which was organized by BU’s korean students association. my friends connie, dan, and jin were awesome in it – except for the fact that dan didn’t see the signs his fans held up.. lol

after the show was over, some of us decided to go to the latino “climax” afterparty, which followed the latino culture show we didn’t go to. yeah, the korean and latino culture shows AND afterparties ran at the same time. we tried to share our love by mixing and matching.

i didn’t like the music and the type of dancing there (did it even qualify as dancing?), but the party was still fun because of the people i was with (maria, betsy, miguel, and most the same people from the salsa gala a week ago: jacqueline, jen, erika, giselle, andres, kendall, shu-lin, clarissa, and nayeli – i hope i didn’t forget anyone). i also bumped into sandy o., greg l., and his friend will there.

“nathan, you have to rescue all of us from shady guys” (that was my job the whole night)

after dinner with jen and erika, the crazy chicas i met the other night, i gave them a tour of my dorm building (myles standish hall, which used to be a hotel that was babe ruth’s favorite place to stay). then they gave me a tour of the spanish house on bay state: everything from the “louis xiv” furniture (which they made up) to the aerobics girls in the basement (who i joined in with..) and from the laundry/sex room to how close their beds are to one another.

end of tour.