Q: The next morning I called up my friend, Nick Unger, who worked for the police department. He agreed to meet me at the Casbah, a glorious little dive bar a few blocks from my apartment. It opened first thing in the morning, realizing the best drunks start early. By the time he showed up I was already deep into my third drink and trying charm the bartender, Maggie, into comping my fourth. I was failing miserably as usual, but at least it was fun trying. As soon as Nick walked through the front door, I slammed my palm down on the bar top. "Tricky Nicky! Have a drink, brother!" He slid onto the bar stool beside me and smiled warmly at the bartender. "Has this low life been giving you grief, Maggie?" She grinned at him. "Only since I opened the front door." Nick winked at her and ordered a half-pint of stout. "Pansy," I scoffed and slammed the rest of my whiskey. He shook his head. "God I miss you, you mad bastard. I can't imagine why Andrea won't let you come around the house anymore." I shrugged. "I know, it's like as soon as she started squirting out brood, she suddenly gets all uptight about people starting fires in the middle of your living room." "Imagine," he said as he raised his glass of beer. I clinked my empty glass to his. "So guess who I ran into last night at Jenny's wedding?" He shrugged. "Brian Lopez." He chuckled. "No shit. How is old Double-Dip?' "Fat and sad," I replied while waving Maggie over for a refill. "And married to a smoking hottie. Well, married or engaged or whatever." Nick nodded. "I met her. They were at a Police Union dinner around the holidays. She's a butterface." I arched my eyebrow. "She had a face?" Maggie rolled her eyes while she filled my glass. Nick caught her glance. "I know, he's got no class, but what are you gonna do?" "Anyways," I continued, "she's way too hot for him, and that's not gonna end well. You just know that one of these days he's gonna come home and find her with the pool boy or some shit." According to the above context, answer the following question. When did the narrator order his third drink?

A: Before Nick arrived


Q: I have always been a “handyman” involved in various building projects around the house. One particular time I was refinishing a section of ceiling. I had laid in the wiring and insulation by myself and all that remained was nailing a number of heavy 4ftx8ft gypsum wallboard panels onto the rafters of the 8 ft ceiling. I had arranged for a paid assistant to help me since the height of the ceiling and the weight of the wallboard was more than I could handle. When the time came, the assistant didn't show up and did not even call. I was pissed as hell. After my messages were not returned, I had what can only be called a “rage” of determination. Using a six foot ladder, three 2x4s and my head(literally) I hefted the heavy wallboard, Using leverage I placed them one by one on the overhead rafters, held and braced them with my head, glued and nailed them there all by myself. About a half hour after I finished, I was standing there smugly trying to figure how I did it so easily when there was a knock at the door. Of course it was the assistant with a lot of excuses. He seemed surprised when I told him I was finished. He looked up at the ceiling and said "how in the world did you get those up there by yourself?" I said, "Oh, believe me, You helped more than you will ever know!" I learned a lot from that. Anger has its place in your life. You have to control it and use it directly to solve a problem. To this day I do not know how I accomplished what I did the way I did it. But, if I hadn't been so angry I would never have attempted it at all. Life is full of little lessons. Pay attention to them and learn. If you have to lash out, lash at solving the situation you are in instead the person who caused it. It is significantly more productive that way. According to the above context, answer the following question. What time did the assistant show up for the job?

A: After the job was done


Q: When asked to define ourselves we often use broad brushstrokes. Without thinking we consult our internal list of “things that make me, ME” and find ourselves recalling words like “creative, outgoing, photography, guitar” before we’ve even had a chance to fully process the question. But how much does this internal list define us? I believed that my internal list was the best representation of myself until I read a quote by Annie Dillard that states: “How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives”. This quote hit me like a punch in the gut, it’s blatant truth so indisputable; how I spent my days, regardless of what I told myself about myself, was ultimately who I was. Or at the very least would be how I had spent my life. This is why, when completing my self portrait, I decided to focus on the everyday. Within my self portrait I wanted to present the viewer with a familiar yet abstract sense of reality through which we get to see amalgamated glimpses of the everyday acts that define me, rather than a linear narrative or a simple re-telling of ‘a day in the life’. Thus combining to create a picture of: my daily life, through an abstracted version of ‘the everyday’. To create a sense of ‘the day’ or linear progression of time I segmented my video with four still images of the sky in various stages of daylight (morning, midday, afternoon, evening) that match the lighting seen in each concurrent video segment. The everyday acts that define me were presented in a series of short video segments that include scenes of me catching the tram, recording music and riding my bike. To disrupt the sense of linear narrative the visual segments are bluntly edited together, with nothing linking the sequential shots and a quite abrupt ending. I also attempted to create an overall sense of confounded time and space by overlaying audio from certain video segments onto others. Long, singular focus, handheld shots were also used to enhance the sense of voyeuristic glimpses. According to the above context, answer the following question. Why did the author change his views about what was the best representation of himself?

A:
after he read Anne Dillard his perspective changed