Back in middle school, at least I think it was, I had art class. I didn't particularly love it but it was interesting enough at the least to hold my attention. We got to class and the teacher pulled up a list of instructions on the projector. She had each of us follow the instructions and she gave us 20 minutes to complete all of them. It may even have been a bit of a race too, to see who finished it first. This becomes a lot more evident in a second. I can't recall the exact details of the instructions, except that clearly it had to do with art such as having to draw a bunch of things. Anyways, we all went one by one down the instructions getting increasing nervous as to try to be the first one to finish. The class goes quiet while we work. Then I get to the last instruction which reads something along the lines of: "Step 15: Skip steps 114 and put your pencil down." You gotta be freaking kidding me. We're all so confused and mad at ourselves for not reading the whole of the instructions first. She turned this into a lesson for how we need to learn to read all the instructions first and then start, which was pretty clever. She got us! I remember this vividly to this day. But I look back now on this "prank" and I realize that she was kind ofwrong. Sure if the instructions are short like 15 steps it might be good to glance through before you start. But what about a whole load of instructions? Who the hell is going to read through the instructions for how to build their Death Star LEGO set before even starting to build it. Just a waste of time really. Note: I have never built a Death Star LEGO set. Why was the author frustrated? - Because he couldn't get the task done on time - not enough information - Because he had completed steps 1-14 before reading step 15 telling him to skip those steps - Because the quality of his task was judged to be poor
Because he had completed steps 1-14 before reading step 15 telling him to skip those steps

(Question)
One summer when I was 8 years old my father, mother, and I were rear ended by a 16 year old boy in a pickup truck. Insurance companies dawdled and by the time we received a settlement over a year later my parents had divorced. I was under full custody of my father living in a trailer in very rural Tennessee (Wayne County) with no electricity and a wood burning stove for heat. My mother was nowhere to be found until a few years later. We received the settlement and it turned out to be several thousand dollars. My dad turned on the electricity and bought our first computer, a Packard Bell. Now we needed dial up internet! -My what a change! Then he started dating online. He met a woman who lived in Franklin, TN (Williamson County), dated and married her (at least for a few years), worked at CompUSA for a few years, then started his own computer repair business which he and I ran from 2001 to 2014 before selling it. Williamson County population : 226,257 Wayne County population : 16,583 I ran a business with my father, graduated from a high school that was ranked 24/273 instead of one ranked of 223/273 in the state. The woman I married would not be the same, nor where I live and the lifestyle I now live, the jobs I have been able to get, the places I have been able to go, traveling around the US and to Canada and soon further abroad. The amazing things that I have experienced in my life are a pretty direct effect of some 16 year old kid not paying attention and rear ending my family. Of course certain decisions were made and things happened that took things down this particular path, but it all leads back to that night. Good night, and drive safely! How does the girl feel living in the trailer? - Misses her mother - The conditions were boring - wanted a change of better living - not enough information
(Answer)
The conditions were boring

Ques: The collaborative process between me and Claire Bridge has been good so far. Upon finding out her email address we had a brief email exchange culminating in me sending her a list of potential questions for the interview. Claire quite liked a lot of the questions, but overall there were too many, so we proceeded to reduce the number of questions to six main questions. These questions would then form the basis of the artist portrait, with an attempt to limit answers to no more than a minute, so little had to be cut for the final edit. The six questions we arrived at are as follows: How would you define creativity? What does it mean to you to be an artist? Do you feel a painting or piece of art can house an energy/a feeling from the original artist? Do you feel that your own works house this energy? Change and transformation are recurrent themes in your work. What are you exploring and why do these fascinate you? And recently we saw a change in your medium too, incorporating video works and photography. You seem to draw on many influences in your work, from quantum physics, astrophysics, to environmental ecology, psychology, philosophy and metaphysics. With titles like "Dark Matter", "Touching Infinity", "We are made of Stars", "Rising tides" and "A drop in the ocean" or "Alchemy". Can you tell us something more about the convergence of these ideas and influences? What continues to motivate and inspire you as an artist? We both felt these questions addressed the initial topic of exploring creativity, explored why Claire became an artist, gives insight into Claire's work and practise and looks toward the future of Claire's practice. After refining the questions, we proceeded to organise a day to film, which will be on the 16th September. Hopefully if all goes well we will both have an artist portrait that lives up to our expectations. What is most likely true about the how the author's job or profession is categorized generally, based on the text? - filmmaker or journalist - painter - not enough information - writer
Ans: filmmaker or journalist

I have known, and admired, Julia Busuttil Nishimura, for many years now and always felt connected through our love of Italian food, Tuscany (Julia lived in Florence and in Orbetello, just 10 minutes away from where we lived in Porto Ercole while I was writing Acquacotta) and Japan. So I have been eagerly awaiting her debut cookbook, Ostro: The Pleasure that Comes From Slowing Down and Cooking with Simple Ingredients, and it is a beauty it is full of food I want to make and eat. It's also a joy to look at, as it is presented so beautifully with photographs of Julia (and often her darling little boy Haruki) at home and tables full with food that look Caravaggesque. I have already made her everyday banana loaf, several times, after years of searching for my ideal everyday cake, it is now my go-to banana loaf. I tested her ricciarelli (soft almond cookies from Siena) and pork braised in milk (a classic Italian dish that I have always loved) when she was writing the book and I have long-known her absolutely wonderful, incredibly moist lemon olive oil cake (which is also divine with blood oranges). I absolutely love her homemade approach to everything, including all the wonderful handmade pasta like trofie and orecchiette (look at those beautiful dishes below), but also things like classic tiramisu homemade savoiardi, homemade mascarpone (yes and yes, I absolutely believe that for the freshest, most delicious mascarpone, it needs to be homemade especially if you live outside of Italy). Yes, these are all things you can also buy in a packet, but Julia's point is, it is a pleasure to make these things by hand, and the ingredients are so simple water, flour, cream, eggs, you probably have them all in your house already. She is a woman after my own heart. Her book inspires you to give it a go. The demonstration of cooking lasted - minutes - hours - not enough information - days
hours