For The First Time

this past friday, for the first time, i volunteered at children's medical center. i was with a group from the art institute of dallas, which i'm an alumni of. the art institute of dallas has started a new program is which students, facility, and alumni can participate in a monthly art project in which those who volunteer go and work with the children on arts and craft projects. the projects are largely theme based. so for november we helped the kids with thanksgiving art projects. i'm told the number of kids varies greatly because of many different variables. such as time of day, the schedule of procedures for a child, or the child's mood and energy level. previously we were told that children are more active in the mornings. i guess friday wasn't typical because we only had 6 children for 6 volunteers. never-the-less it was a lot of fun helping the kids make hand turkeys and place mats for thanksgiving. i too made a hand turkey.

saturday, for the first time, i was THE photographer at a wedding. i must say that i was nervous at first and i didn't totally know what i was doing, but i had a lot of fun and i believe everything turned out well. especially when i consider this was my first ever wedding to shoot. i'll be posting some of the wedding photos on my photo blog over the next couple of weeks. the only disappointment for me was my camera. though it is a nice camera. there were a few shots that would have been great if the picture wasn't blurry.

on saturday i also carved my first turkey. i attended a thanksgiving party at a friend's house and evidently no one knew how to carve a turkey. a group of ladies in the kitchen came up with the idea that carving a turkey sounded like a "jlay job". i don't know exactly why they thought it was a jlay job? maybe it is because it involved a big knife? either way it was evidently a job for me. while i was standing on the back patio drinking a beer i heard the hostess call out my name from the kitchen. i proceed to make my way to the kitchen where i'm asked if i can carve a turkey. i quickly thought to myself, "i've seen my dad carve a few turkeys. how hard can it be". at this point i agreed to carve the turkey. i took off my nice shirt (leaving me in my white undershirt), put on an apron, and proceeded to carve the turkey. i started by tearing the legs and wings off the bird. after that i sliced the meat off the bird and placed it on a platter. while i'm doing this a couple of people commented on how great of a job i was doing. at which time i proceed to let that cat out of the bag. that being that i've never carved a turkey before in my life. i've only seen my dad do it a couple of times. which made my turkey carving abilities even more impressive. what can i say...it isn't rocket science.