Random Observations from Dallas

A bit of a photoblog this week, of weird and wonderful things from my time here so far. Also, I have a surfeit of work to do and this is quicker to write than a full blog entry. 

Also, cheeseburger soup.

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A bit of a photoblog this week, of weird and wonderful things from my time here so far. Also, I have a surfeit of work to do and this is quicker to write.

It has been another lovely week here in Dallas, it’s been a little bit lonely now that my brother has gone back home, but the large amount of work has kind of made up for that. Two mid-term exams this week, along with a couple of class presentations and an assignment for arts administration have made life nice and distracting.

It was topped off by a visit to the Dallas Opera on Friday to see their production of Carmen. We organised a group of students from the program to go along, and in the end 43 of us from the school came to see what was a fantastic production to a packed house. It was a great excuse to bring out the black tie outfit.

Winter is on its way, the days are getting shorter and cooler. Apparently it will get below freezing point one night this week, which goes to show how quickly time has passed since starting the program. It seems only yesterday that I left the freezing Canberra winter to bask/wilt in the Texas heat.

Along the way, I’ve accumulated some observations of random interesting and strange things, and I thought I’d show a few of them to you.

Some opera humour spotted in the Meadows School of the Arts. Good advice.

If you look closely in the window you can see a pair of handcuffs in the van. Frankly, a bit scary. I’ve seen this a few times now around Dallas, so I assume it’s meant to represent something.

A parking ramp that ends in a wall. I assume there’s a Harry Potter style portal at the end or something, but I’m not game enough to find out.

Again, good advice. Those pesky adults always want to hang around and talk about postmodernist interpretations, the zeitgeist, dialectic and other waffly self-inflating nonsense like that. The kids need to pull them into line and make sure they’re enjoying things on a visceral level. ;)

Speaking of which, my viscera hurts just looking at this. Cheeseburger soup. The archaeologists of the future will judge our cultural output based on things like this, you know.

Voodoo flavoured chips. They taste tangy and salty, which I assume is what the tears of the damned would taste like. 

Mmmm… infernal.

An Andy Warhol series of paintings from 1985. This wasn’t hanging in a gallery, but on a wall at the local mall. I walked past it twice before I even noticed it.

Any reference to a certain dystopian literary masterpiece is purely coincidental, or so they assure me…

I walk past these trees every day between the gym and the business school. They’ve been in flower the past week, and the stench is awful. Kind of like popcorn slathered in rancid butter. I have no idea what kind of species it is, but it’s foul.

Finally, this is on the wall at a local burger joint. And yes, he actually does visit there occasionally.

Well, I told you these observations would be random. I hope you enjoyed them. And if you know what the stinky popcorn tree is, please let me know. 

For now, work awaits, even on a Sunday afternoon. Just another day in the life of an MBA student.