meaning of artsy

Just got back from watching a Lebanese movie. We walked in late, so not sure what the title was. It was well filmed, but with many of these independent, artsy films, I'm left a little confused over some scenes at the end. I can never be certain if the scene was supposed to contribute towards the overall storyline or if it was there for artistic effect or if it bears any special significance. It really bothers me that I just don't get it at times! I keep wondering if I'm not looking at the movie laterally enough or if some scenes are not meant to be explained away. Hmm...

Two weeks in and classes have been going great. It was a little overwhelming at first, but I'm happy to be doing graduate level stuff after having taken all these undergrad courses last year. My first proper teaching class in writing is also going well (yes! I'm a TA/tutor!). In a week or two, I will also be having my first "therapy" sessions - accent modification for international teaching assistants (ITAs). Most of these ITAs are probably leaps and bounds smarter than I, but need to work on their intelligibility (not intelligence). I find Americans are generally poor at understanding accents different to theirs and most of the time, they don't try.

Ideally, therapy should be both ways - the listeners should have therapy to learn how to listen, and the speakers should improve the clarity of their speech. It really grates me when Americans talk about foreigners having accents or having to reduce foreign accents! I see the sense in helping people who have a duty to teach to communicate more effectively, but the term "accent modification" sounds too condescending! And worse, it's being administered by a speech-language pathology clinic!! I know at least one person who walked out even before he started his therapy because he insisted he didn't have a pathology that needed correction!

It's also been really cold already! Brrr....today, we stepped out of classes, hoping to catch some of the forecasted 70F (about 20C) sun, but got clouds and more clouds. I'm worried the trees are confused about it being autumn already. Some trees have started changing colour, but wait, it's still too soon!

My burn is starting to heal very nicely. About 4 days after getting burned, I finally decided to brave the odds and see a doctor. It turns out the wound had gotten a little infected and it was a second degree burn, after all, because of the hot oil. So, after a week in bandage and slathered with a miracle cream called silverdine, voila! Most of the dead skin is gone - a positive sign of healing! Lesson learnt: To all you people who like to self medicate like me, if you ever get a burn, immerse your wound in cool water (not necessarily ice cold) for 10 minutes and see a doctor as soon as you can. You won't regret it.