Remember the SNL sketch with Molly Shannon and another actress as the public radio hosts? Well, Tuesday morning's host on WFHB is that sketch. There's only one of them, but you really only need one person to be that monstrously boring. However, I think she knows I'm writing about her because she's speaking a bit, a teeny tiny bit, more excitedly. She plays Druid Stone. What the crap?

The ink smell is bad today.  My nose burns. My head hurts. 

I miss winter break.

How have I never seen "It's a Wonderful Life?" Maybe I'm glad I haven't. Cus I'm watching it now and it's amazing. It hasn't been ruined by years of seeing it. It missed my "I hate everything that everybody else loves" phase. *smile*

22 and counting

I have so far received 22 emails, all concerning one invitation. Granted, 16 or so have been logo attachments, but they keep adding sponsors and sponsor logos. And they want all the logos on the inside of the invitation. In one 5.5" x 4.24" section of space, I'm cramming 18 EIGHTEEN LOGOS!! I'm so sick of this.

And don't get me started on B&GCA. I need their freaking text. Not to sound like a type diva, but with as much text as they're having, I don't type. I set type.

Felty poo

Yesterday, I looked over at Euler and he had a brown strip dangling from his mouth. It took me a second, but I quickly realized it was a strip of felt. I tried to grab Euler, but he's quick when he thinks you want to grab him. I kept at it, but each time I cornered him the strip was shorter. Finally, it was gone. Now, combine panic with slapstick, and that's about where I was. I called the vet because a six inch ribbon of felt seems like an awful lot for one kitten. She said not to worry about it unless he starts acting odd. I was kinda cracking up at how ridiculous it was for Euler to eat felt. Then, I thought about what the poo will be like. What if its just poo coated felt? And it's too long and he can't pinch it off and he freaks out, running through the apartment with poopy felt dangling from his butt. Too funny. Unless it actually happens and I have to deal with it.

I am wearing my green boots today. They are so unlike anything I have owned before. I look down at them and wonder who's feet I have cut off. Why is something as superficial as clothing so fascinating to me?

Why am I trying to make myself cry?

If you're getting married anytime soon...

You better hope I don't know your unorthodox pet names.

Caution: This post is rated R for sexual content

Somebody I know (me) actually said this today:

"I'll give you my sex if you give me yours."








Since I know my dad reads this, I'll note that this wasn't in reference to actual sex. It was totally random.

We found out today that one of our client's sons had died. His youngest, who was my age, was found dead yesterday. I couldn't deal with that. I'm realizing that, if done properly, kids are what you live for. I don't mean you give over your entire identity to them. But above all, your job is to guard them against harm, so when they are hurt, I can't imagine the blow.

I'm turning into one of those Lifetime women. I go giggly when our UPS guy comes. That's all, just giggly. But it's so dorky.

Before I forget this.

A man forced into bankruptcy "by his wife," locks their wedding rings in a safe deposit box, and says he's protesting marriage.

I'm sick. I had a fever. It broke an hour ago after taking some tylenol. I hate that super hot sweaty cold feeling of a fever breaking.

I woke up like this. Fed the cats while trying to remain vertical. Ate some Oatmeal Squares. Then went back to bed. Until six. Then Oscar got me some Lipton noodle soup, saltine crackers, and apple juice. I hope I don't feel mucky in the morning.

Last night was Ibi's birthday. There were 17 of us at Longhorn Steakhouse, then eight of us went back to Kristina's and played Scategories. It is the best game ever.

Work is slow

I'm pretty efficient here at work. I eat lunch late, so I get a ton of stuff done in the morning. When I come back from lunch, I'm pretty much done, and there's an hour when nothing happens. I kill time. I'm in that hour. In a few minutes, I'll get three phone calls at once. Two faxes will come in. One will be spam, the other an Rx pad order. I'll get eight emails. They'll all need immediate attention and I'll lose track of one until tomorrow morning.

When adobe programs crash

"I quit Bridge and got a crash report. It's really random, but as I don't use Bridge, I'm not too worried about it. I have no idea what Bridge does. Sorry to randomly ramble. My point is, I like to be specific in crash reports because I'm all for helping work out kinks, but I'm woefully oblivious about Bridge, so I can't really give a detailed report about what happend. I just hit Command + q and everything closed like I thought it would, but a crash report came up and now I'm up to the present.
Thanks."

There's a genetic disease in my dad's family that causes us to talk too much.

Mmmm Coffee. There is always coffee in the morning at work. I was just struck with a sudden appreciation for that little detail of my life.

Thanks to this mild fall, my allergies are whacky. I usually don't get them much. But I'll be eating snot for lunch today along with my leftover pasta. Mmmm. I've got a good piece in the works, btw. I may post it here.

random thoughts ad up

I have a sugar belly ache. The two kids I told to brush were the only kids we had the whole night. Now I pay for that. Blarg.
John Fogerty has a new album that is in heavy rotation at WFHB, which is fine and all, but all I think about is CCR. It's kinda surreal. Two hours left in the work day. I look forward to coming to work, but then I look forward to getting off. It's quite a cunundrum. Perhaps it just means I like both aspects of my life. Personal and professional.
CDs on my list:
Amy Levere
Rilo Kiley
Ween
I actually have a list. And actually, I'll probably break down and register at the iTunes store and buy a few songs from the new Rilo Kiley. I just don't think I like enough of the songs to buy the whole album. Amy Levere, however, is not on iTunes, so I'll head over to Landlocked on Saturday.

Some Trick-or-Treaters just made fun of me for telling them to be sure to brush their teeth.

Excellent

Some days I have buzz words. Today's is excellent. Good thing Pee Wee's not here to yell everytime I say my word of the day. I'm not saying it like Bill or Ted though. Just so you know.

The radio BBC America is covering the housing crunch from SC. First Charleston, then Florence. Homesick. I'm snotty and a little dizzy and tired. I'm hoping coffee and psuedofed will help.

snot makes me zombie. add tv and i'm twice baked zombie.

Fetal position
There's a show on the local community radio station called "Environminute." It leaves me feeling totally helpless, hopeless, pointless, and lost. I suppose it's supposed to motivate me. Why would environmentalists want to paralyze people? They wouldn't. I'm just an anomoly. It just seems like these migh be the last few decent years to be alive on this planet. After that, it'll suck. Will it be a desert? Or a smog sauna?
I should do something. But nothing seems effectual. Just like some little heading you can carry over your head. "I Car Pool." So people can think you're doing something. Environmentalism is altruism. Another way to categorize people. A way to make money on an intangible abstract product--Carbon offsetting. You can buy carbon offsetting!? Why not just reduce your output. Carbon offsett credits piss me off to the core of all my principles and logic. I don't really know how popular they are, so I guess I shouldn't worry too much just yet.
When did I become so pessimistic? I'd really like to not be so scared. I try to think of all the good things I have ahead of me. But then I turn on the news and begin to doubt they wil wait for me.

Three versions of what happened today

Version One: Overly Dramatic
There was a police incident one block from work today. There was a man shooting randomly from his balcony. It took them over three hours to apprehend the man. In the mean time, they blocked off second street and warned us not to go outside or near windows. My computer monitor is right in front of a window. I was so frightened.

Version Two: Overly Apathetic
There was a "police incident" near work today. There was this guy randomly shooting from his balcony. Whatever.

Version Three: Close Approximation to my actual reaction
Oh wow, there was a police incident about a block from work today. There was a man randomly shooting from this balcony. We were warned not to go outside or near windows. I wasn't really worried about it, but I think I slouched in my chair a little, so I was lower than the window behind my computer monitor.


On a slightly similar note, Yoko Ono was on Democracy Now today. They played her speech from the opening of her "Peace Tower," which will be lit between the birthday and deathday of John Lennon. It was all about peace, but I can't remember the details, except that they made me cry a little. At work! I find that if I stop and think about the state of the world I fall overwhelmingly sad. I wonder if everyone else is as afraid as me.

why isn't this me? I want to feel that much love. I want to come home 8 days in a row and not cry any of them.

I had a dream that I was trapped in a restaurant with an evangelical christian. kill me please. He wouldn't let me not tell him what I was. I woke up feeling lonely.

I have NO friends here. Sorry to whine and all, but it's only one person (Oscar) from being the absolute truth. It's been a month since I've talked to anyone besides Oscar or one of my 4 co-workers. Who are all men. Who are all way older than me. And Oscar's never home. I'm sooo tired of food. Why cook when it's just for me. I did his laundry yesterday because he's really overwhelmed. And I got this sad, youshouldn'thaveIfeelguiltyyoudid, thank you. I just want to kick him and tell him to thank me like a man. That I did it because I thought he'd appreciate it. At least he was relieved I used his quarters to do it.

Why is meeting friends so hard. You can't just tap a random stranger at Barnes and Noble and say "Hey, be my friend." I hate this.

Sabrina!? NOOOOO!!

I have a bit of an evening TV routine. I get home by 4:30, which means I can catch an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I watch horrible TV, although, in my defense, the only reality TV I watch is on Bravo or TLC. After Sabrina, I watch Gilmore Girls while I do other random things. I rarely just watch it. Then, there's an episode of Friends, then 1.5 Law and Orders. It used to only be .5 hours because I'd watch BBC News. But I catch that on the Radio at work. Anyway, they've switched Sabrina with Seventh Heaven. I HATE Seventh Heaven. There is not enough I can say to denounce Seventh Heaven. So I suppose I'll have to find something more productive to do with my time. Can I tape Sabrina?

Chocolate Milk is Good for Me? Sweet!

Oscar and I went to the farmers' market again today. I came home with a pound of lamb, 16 oz (which is a pound too) of honey, a little bouquet of flowers, and most of a quart of chocolate milk. The dairy gave me. GAVE me. what was left of their sample bottle of chocolate milk. There is a study that says chocolate milk is a super thing to drink after excercising. The fats and sugars help refuel you. I keep messing up little things at work. But I also do some really awesome stuff too. Oh well. Hopefully it'll balance out. I drank my first redbull since moving. Oh boy was it awesome. I should drink one a day as some sort of anti-depressant. I'd need to figure out some way of toning down the hyperness though. Holycowitmakesmetalkamileaminute. Ijustcan'tshutup. Goingoingoingoingoingoingoingoingoingoingoingoing. pantpant. pant.

Gimme juice

Time is moving way too fast. Days keep fluttering away. Boring, blah, blah. I'm tired. But if I'd get up and do something I'd be better. I'm like a friction charged battery.

Oscar and I rode 15 miles today. He's so much faster than me. In the parking lot of the trail, as we were loading our bikes into their orgy, an older gentleman in velcro shoes and a trucker hat asked us how much we'd ridden. He walked about two miles to keep his sugar down. It's been all out of whack lately because he stopped walking. But Oscar and I must have passed him about six times, which we probably did, depending on how long he'd been out there. It was really, really heartening for him to have noticed how much we'd ridden. Of course, 15 miles is nothing for Oscar who without me would ride 50 in a heartbeat.

Saturday, we went to the Farmer's Market. Heaven. So quaint and uplifting. I bought cheese and yogurt. They don't put geletin in the yogurt so it's "drinkable." I also bought a $3 bouquet of wildflowers, a pot of mums, and a bag of kettle corn. Now that's fall. I'll have to bring my camera next weekend. One of the high schools sends its drama club to do live sculptures. I love this town. It's got such a big heart. Much more concentrated than Columbia. Not to say it doesn't have its drawbacks (a two lane 'by-pass').

I'm purging. I'm taking small loads of stuff to Goodwill. I want an inherintly clean existence. But will it stick?

I was sitting at work today thinking about screen printing. More specifically, the time I screen printed snowflakes onto the floor of McMaster (USC's art building). That's pretty fuckin' cool, but wouldn't have mattered a month ago. But now that I have a job, and actual interaction with people I realize what a cool snippet of my life that tiny event is.

I obviously can't say for sure, but I think I like the weather in Bloomington. From June until August 1st (almost exactly) it was comfortably warm. August was too warm, but not like Columbia. And now, early September, and it's beautiful. Makes me want to listen to early Decemberists and drive through Kentucky on I-75 with my Gran. It's a thing. We're almost to 24-hour sweater weather. And the air, the world, smells big. It's weird: I tend to have a bipolar personality. I obsess and unobsess all the time, and yet, I'm happiest in the moderate seasons. Maybe I'm just too affected by weather and the extremes. Work is wonderful, except without school, I have no perception of the elapse of time.

You people make my ass twitch. My ass is twitching

Oscar and I rode our bikes to dinner on Saturday. We tried Limestone Grille, which came highly recommended. At first glance, it was lovely. My wine was delicious. Oscar's was a little tangy. Then, because we were outside, a moth flew into Oscar's glass. They replaced it no problem. But the food was lacking. Mine was a B. Not bad. Almost pleasant, but lacking in flavor. Oscar's was really boring. Any chance at conversation was sucked up by the next table over. They were loud and snobby and didn't know what grits were. Actually, the head of the table knew what grits were. He asked the other's as though they were some exotic food. Holding it over them that he'd had them with *gasp* shrimp. As it turns out, the grit-knower was the executive chef of the restaurant. They were also very annoyed at some absent friend's assertion that a Cowboy Mouth concert was better than a Rolling Stones concert. Now, I won't ever argue the supremacy of the Stones despite the fact that I don't love them, but comparing the concerts of Cowboy Mouth and the Rolling Stones would be like comparing camping with staying in a luxury suite. Some people prefer the outdoors. A Cowboy Mouth concert will be much smaller and much more enjoyable if you like to get involved with the band. There's some interaction with them. Plus, the drummer/singer is like Animal...


Back to bikes, Oscar and I rode on the Clear Creek Trail yesterday. We rode it twice so we got in just over nine miles. And that's where the title of this post comes from. My ass hurts. Cycling is hard on the butt. But it's a very light pain. It's more like a heightened awareness of my ass. After the trail, we hit the IU v. UCLA soccer game. I wussed out and we had to leave at half-time. It was just too hot and I forgot sunscreen. I would have been in bad shape if we'd stayed. As it was, I passed out for two hours when we got home. I have this hopeful paranoia that all my insecurities and emotional problems are due to a chronic, mild dehydration.

Click Click Click Click Camera

I have art and I have bike. Mine Mine Mine. Well, the art is half Oscar's. Our first "major" joint purchase.

The bike was also a joint purchase, as my birthday gift. Unlike my old Huffy, I can actually pick this bike up.

This weekend is the 4th Street Festival. It's basically a craft show. On crack! Martina Celerin may have been my favorite. Online photos don't really show how friggin awesome her work is. It's so dimensional. Although, the subject matter is a little undimensional. But I think there is definitely a place for redeemably awesome process and aesthetic. Despite her use of the font 'papyrus,' her website is okay. I love that you can click the banner to get home. I don't know why ALL webpages don't do that. Poor web design. Tsk tsk.

Oscar and I went to Michigan today for a wedding. It was my friend Mike!'s. Very lovely afternoon/evening. The original plan was to give the cats way too much food and water, and stay the night in Brighton, MI. Well, we didn't feel like springing for the hotel, so we drove home tonight. Ah, the joys of being young and cheap and tolerant of Red Bull. So we drove a total of 11.5 hours with a five hour wedding in between.

And did I mention I get off at 4:00 pm? That means I can make 4:30 vet appointments, and still be home around 5.

Did I mention I have to be at work at 7:30?

So, first day. I got one "glandular disorder" that was slightly jarring, but overall average. I'm not too horrified by this job. I think it may work. I may be able to do everything I need to be able to do.

After work I got one "I'm an independent contractor for the US Government and I'm conducting a background check on apt. 2 over there. Ever meet him?" Uh once. Seemed nice. "Any police activity." Sir, since I've been in Bloomington, I've heard sirens twice, and they were fire trucks.

O. had an orientaion thing tonight and since I do not cook just for myself, I got a delicious Chinese takeout. Then I picked him up so he wouldn't have to wait for a bus. I also gave a friend of his a ride. He was good people. Loud people, but good. Besides, everybody's loud in my little car. And right now, I'll take loud over shy in a heartbeat.

I got a job

and I'm gonna pee myself I'm so excited.

I'm a pre-press graphic designer. Woo.

Pleeeeeease

Target never called me back. I'm hoping it's because I'm just too damn awesome for them. But I will be called back for a second interview at a printshop. I don't believe in jinxes, but I do believe in being embarrassed when you over hype stuff and it falls through, so I'm going to be quiet...now.

Because I'm Bored and Came Across this Picture

I notice signs and fliers a lot. My Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design kind of mandates that I notice creative ways of communication. Please note the sarcasm of such a grandiose statement. So far, all my BFA has gotten me is a feeling of superiority that hinders my ability to work crap jobs, and a feeling of inferiority that makes me only apply to crap jobs. Anywho the point of this post is to display a flier that hung on the bulletin board on the first floor of McMaster behind the computers by the grad student studio. I hope to make the appearance of odd, amusing, or profound signs, poster and fliers a (semi)regular occurrence around here. This flier is here because it is terribly post-modern (I think). I'm saying that based on one tiny detail my friend Aaron used to explain post-modernism to me. The flier is very aware of its own pretension. If I'm wrong I'll slyly edit this post and just say it's a very pretentious flier. No one will ever know the difference. So yeah, here it is:

I'm rereading the Harry Potter series. It took me one week and one day to finish the first four. I'm now on day three of book five. Order of the Phoenix is an effing brick wall. I was kinda pissed at all the shortcuts the movie took, but now, I totally understand. I understand why they cut out Quidditch and SPEW. But they didn't go into enough detail with the stuff they left in. Anyway, this isn't about the movie. It's about the book. I'm so ready to be done with it. I mean, yeah I like it, but it's much more laborious than the others. There's way too much going on. Although, I understand Rowling had to cram in a lot of set-up before the last two books. Anyway, I'm gonna go back to reading.

Brick Wall.

Well, I still haven't found a job. There are a ton of retail positions opening up. Euler is going through his annoy the crap out of me phase. Wedgie ripped a key off my keyboard when I picked her up to get her off my computer. Fortunately, only one prong broke, so it went back on well enough. Also, it was only the backslash, which I only use on accidenr\t when trying to hit backspace. But I am kinda getting tired of my computer being treated like the inside of a minivan.

The closing lines on the rough draft of my cover letter:
My second greatest strength is my ability to make the best of a bad situation. I’ll tell you my greatest strength when I have a job. My second greatest weakness is my inability to resist pointing out when I’ve made what I think is a good joke.
That's funny, right?

I've been rereading the entire Harry Potter series. In less than a week, I'm up to Goblet of Fire (book 4). I've stayed up til 3 am some nights, so I've been swinging into a nocturnal sleep pattern. Today, however, Oscar was up at 7:30 am to catch the Hungarian Grand Prix. He made the most amazing smelling coffee, so I got up because I absolutely had to drink some. I like feeling like it's 3pm, when in fact, it's 11 am.

Speaking of Oscar. He woke up, and put on his Alonso (his favorite Formula One driver) jersey he bought when we went to the US Grand Prix in Indy. Right after the race, a soccer game (Manchester United v. Chelsea) came on. Manchester is Oscar's favorite team, so he put on their jersey. So there's Oscar, watching two favorite teams, wearing their respective jerseys and South Park pajama pants. I think out of context, that seems really random. Why is Carman talking about jerseys? But let me assure you that in context, it is absolutely adorable and illustrates one of those indefinable things I love about Oscar.

My cat sits on my laptop but not my lap

Wedgie has taken to sitting on my open laptop. I try to remember to close it. And more often than not I do. But when I forget, my cat Google's things like 4555555555555555555555 and types things like:
"Dear potential employers,
My name is Carman Lewis. I have a KOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL8;aaaa777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
xzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz90."

She also printed the above cover letter and a photograph of me. Maybe she's trying to get me a job. As an actress?

*edit: I was cleaning off my desktop and found a picture. It was a screen capture done by Wedgie while she was bookmarking my Google search "guarantee." I was looking to see how to spell it.

The quick list of things I've done in the last month.

US Grand Prix with Oscar















Katie visited















Ashley visited















We got two cats





























I went to Chicago

I've been absent lately, but here goes. For the last 4 weeks, I've been working at Hobby Lobby. I quit today. Do I have anything new lined up? No. But I wasn't really looking for something new before, so I decided to put the fear into myself. I hated Hobby Lobby. Well, not always, but enough to make me quit. I will miss the conversations with people buying actual art supplies, but I will not miss the horrible cash registers, or all the children. I realized I could quit on Wednesday, when I skipped out and drove to Chicago to "see" the Decemberists perform at Millennium Park with the Grant Park Orchestra. I say "see" because I never did actually get a visual, but the audio was amazing. I met Robbie and a whole bunch of his friends. We crowded over Chicago style pizza and were drizzled on. As the concert let out, it started pouring. I HATE DRIVING IN CHICAGO IN THE RAIN AT NIGHT!!! I'm surprised I still have a stomach after all the driving stress dumped gallons of acid into my digestive system. Later that night, over horchata, which is delicious, I confessed a few secrets to Robbie, and battled over whether to drive home that night so I could make it to work. Well, I decided to quit and stay the night. I didn't call in yesterday, but just now--ten minutes ago--I called my manager and said I wasn't coming in today, or ever again. Ah relief. And now fear of holy shit what am I going to do now? So, Hobby Lobby is no longer my house of worship. It is now IKEA. Ah, I love blasphemous sarcasm about consumerism. I told Oscar I was moving in to the IKEA showrooms. He begged me to come home, so I did, but not without buying some curtains, a print, and some new sheets. Seeing all these perfect rooms really depressed me, and the best way to cure that, was to add little bits of perfect to my completely mish-mashed apartment. I definitely want to go back to Chicago, and IKEA. I think, however, that I will find out if there is some good place to park that is out of town, but near a train station. My dad hates flying because he hate relinquishing control, which is fine. But the whole time I was in Chicago, I was imagining what it would be like to live there. And if my dad would willingly take the L. I mean, public transport is relinquishing control. But then, driving in Chicago feels even less like you're in control. You're subject to other driver's and pedestrians. So with public transport, you're really only surrendering to time. And no matter how much you want to have a handle on it, you can never control time, not even you're own.

Um. I just applied for a job at Hot Topic. I don't think I'll work there. I just did it out of desperation. And I don't think I need to be that desperate yet. But maybe I do.

AIM IM with ashleyblewer.
1:05 PM
I have an interview at Hot Topic on Sunday for a manager position. Shoot me now. And then make a T-shirt of it, so I can wear that to my interview.
and btw, I think that might be the funniest thing I've ever said, which means I'll have to repeat it for the next two weeks. I'm so desperate. But in a self-deprecating, not really desperate kind of way.

This is where I used to work

Puggle

Oscar and I went into a pet store at the mall on Saturday. A puggle is now the cutest dog I've ever seen. Except for any dog I've ever had. And my aunt and uncle's Samoyed puppies.


And Rufus, the bugg (pug-Boston terrier mix) next door to my parents.

What's up with designer dogs? I'm pretty sure Rufus was just an accidental mutt. But seriously. Labradoodles? Puggles? People are paying way to much money for cute, glorified mutts.

Destroyer of brownies

I baked brownies last night. They were still warm when Oscar called me from Crazy Horse, a bar on W. Kirkwood, which is apparently a B-town staple. I left the brownies, uncovered, sitting on the counter. I almost had a mini-heart attack on the road. Oh shit, Destroyer's gonna eat the effing brownies. Only, Destroyer's 700 miles away. *mope* But I met some nice seeming people. They talked about photons. Like torpedoes? Nope, like real photons. Fortunately, I decided not to go the endearing ditz route by saying something about futons. Eesh.

Fuck Quark

Fuck Quark. Go InDesign. Whyyyyyy did I have to choose InDesign. Gah

Bloomington, IN

We made it, safe and sound. I love Panera for their free wi-fi. And tasty sandwiches.
Driving slowly saves a ton of gas. I stayed behind Oscar in the Penske truck (half the price of U-Haul), and of course he couldn't go very fast. So I got around 35 mpg. Which is good for my car which says it will get 32 hwy.

And so, Friday at half past noon, I arrived at our apartment. Thirty minutes later, Oscar arrived, and the (horrible, I need to drink more water and start weight training) unloading began. About four hours later, we returned the truck and came home with a frozen pizza (which we almost burned). We might also have a default restaurant. Macri's Deli. They hand bread their mozzarella sticks. They have homemade spinach artichoke dip with actual chunks of artichoke. So delicious. Anytime someone comes to Btown, I'm taking them there. Except Ashley, because I'm not sure of their vegetarian options. We may have also found our Chinese take-out place. They're a little pricey ($10 entrees) for take-out, but they have these spring rolls that are pretty close to the ones at Thai Taste in Spartanburg.

On a home front note, my brother wrecked the Camaro, and is lucky to be alive, much less minimally injured. The car, despite appearances is totaled, as the frame was bent by a tree. And since my brother is okay, I can mourn the loss of the car.

I'll post pictures of apartment soon...ish. My aunt and uncle gave me an unbelievable camera as an early birthday/going away present.

It's finally hitting me. This whole moving thing. I still have yet to grasp that I am done with college (until/unless I go for my masters). But boy, am I hyperventilatingly aware that I am moving in a week. It's not so much the Indiana part that's so terrifying. It's the part where it's not Columbia. The part where I only know one person in the whole little town. It's freakin' me out right now. Right now. And the only real alternative I can see is crawling into my bed, which is covered with my mostly packed crap, and falling asleep for a long time. I have nothing but a handful of people in Columbia. Oh and a comforting familiarity. But I didn't have either of those when I first came here. And I hated the idea of Columbia when I was applying to schools the first time. I didn't apply here. I was a Clemson girl. But then Miami was Clemson enough for me so when I transfered, I went "urban."
I had the hardest time jumping into water when I was a kid. And forget about diving. That seems so significant now. I've been watching too much My So-called Life.

I found my iPod a few minutes ago. Which means it's been missing (for weeks). But I guess now, I don't have to worry about packing CDs for the move. Although, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. I could live without it until I could buy another. And then it'd be an iPod video with 2x the battery power as my 15 GB generation 3. But, with Oscar's luck with the Gen-4, I don't ever want to upgrade. Besides, my iPod has character, if a silver and white, audio-cassette sized box can have character.

french fries from God

We stopped at Burger King in Tennessee(?) on the way back from Btown.

Fashion point of the season...

Hide the unwanted pregnancy. I went shopping today and a lot of clothes were very flowy and loose around the belly. You could also smuggle a ham or a bag of sugar or a boat.

Home Sweet Home

Oscar and I found a place to live. We visited 5 places.
Place 1 was our favorite going in. A two bedroom townhouse, tons of storage space. $500/month. Places 2 & 3 I threw in because they were owned by the same company, and were equally as cheap, but they just didn't seem like they'd be as cool as a townhouse. Places 4 & 5 were owned by a different company, and almost count as just one place to visit because all their properties were on one giant sprawl of land. They looked the nicest online, but they were at the very top of our budget. A side note: all the places have pools.

So, now to tell you what each place actually was like....

Place 1: Projecty as fuck. The buildings were just long strips of town houses with a few feet of grass between. There was a funny smell when we got there at 8:30 am. Their "Bark Park," which is of no use to me and Oscar, unless Oscar really wants to run on a see-saw and jump through hoops, was an old tennis court with a doggy obstacle course. Cute, but no big draw. Their leasing reps were nice, but I mean that in as generic a way as possible. Neither really knew what to say beyond "Look at all this storage." This place was a disappointment.

Place 2: Not a disappointment. An older complex, built in the 70s. All brick, very established landscaping. It was nice and shady. A nice thing they do, is only allow dogs in certain buildings, so if you don't have a dog, you don't have to hear one barking all the time. Their leasing rep was super friendly and could chat like it was his job. They had a car washing area with a super cool industrial vacuum. They also had these cool built in bookcases. It's also on a good bus line.

Place 3: Also not a disappointment. Pretty much like place 2, except the surroundings. It was as if a parking lot sprouted apartments. The inside was nice. They had built in shelving. Not exactly a bookcase. It was an entire wall in the living room that had bracket slots so you could move two shelve around, you know if you had a big painting or something, it could go there. The lease rep was nice, but not as dynamic as Place 2. She also had too much lotion on her hands. This place was not on a good bus line.

Places 4 & 5: Not a disappointment because I was afraid I'd really like them, and just have to live there, but I didn't. They weren't that great. They were newer than the previous three, but felt cheaper, the way most new construction feels to me. They drove us around in an Expedition, which kinda pissed me off. We weren't going far. They should have had a smaller, less consuming vehicle...like a golf cart. Their big secret weapon (or so they thought) was their clubhouse. It had an indoor pool, a well stocked gym, a locker room, and ta-da! a tanning bed. Fuck the tanning bed. This place actually kinda pissed me off. It was just a status symbol apartment complex. Of course, that's not true of everyone who lives there, but it just seemed so fake to me.

And now, in case you're still wondering, we went with Place 2. Another perk I forgot to mention, is it's closer to stuff than the others. There's all the standard shopping anyone could need less than 3 miles away.

Employment opportunities? Anyone?

Let me tell you a little secret. I don't really want to work. Well, I do, but not at any of the jobs I've seen. I have no financial or computer science training...and that seems to be what people are after. Also, I don't know Word, Excel, Access or Outlook as well as I think I should. But I can look it up. I can figure it out. I don't think I can type enough words per minute. I haven't found any graphic design jobs, plus my portfolio is in pieces. I also hate the whole portfolio process. When you get down to it, you're just showing people samples of what you do, while trying to charm the fuck out of them. Why does it have to be some big blown up ordeal. I hate dealing with people. I can't tell them what they want to hear. I'm awkward and pretty much always look like I'm lying. Atleast that's what it feels like. But, once I'm comfortable, I'm golden. And also, as you can tell, I lack confidence. But if you ask any of my previous employers, they'll tell you I'm organized, friendly, punctual, intelligent, obedient yet self-motivated, I'm really the perfect employee, once I get going. I was once told I was worth my weight in gold. Based on the price of gold as of now ($658/oz), I am worth approximately $1.5 million. The job I'm really interested in is a silkscreen tech. I'd really just like to do manual labor in a field that is technically related to printmaking. I really just need to send out my resume to every employer in Bloomington. Right? Arg.
I did apply at the silkscreen place. They had a page called "Written Interview." Pretty self-explanatory. One question asked if my previous employers would say I was punctual and why. Well, yes I was punctual and they would say that because uhh, I was always on time. They also asked if I had ever lost anything by doing the right thing, and I have to tell you, my answer was effing brilliant. I told them that I didn't know if I'd ever lost anything by doing the right thing because I don't really consider loss or gain when deciding between right and wrong. And I'm actually not lying, but I sat there for a few minutes trying to think if I'd ever turned in somebody's lost thousand bucks to the cops. I haven't because I've never found $1000.

Graduation

Is only 4 days away. I had a dream the other night that I had to stay an extra semester because I missed one art class. And for some reason, I was forced to take a full load filled with dentistry classes. And all my friends from high school were in those classes. And as I was walking out, Lucy was walking in and her eyes were really red. Then I woke up and had really dry eyes. Iiiinteresting.

Concussed bird

This little fella' crashed into my window. I've been seeing lots of injured, crashed, dead birds this year. It's kinda creeping me out actually. Based on evidence from previous window banging birds, I knew this one was just in shock, so I kept my distance and used my zoom. I have this morbid need to take pictures of all these birds I come across.

This next image is from where the bird hit my window, and you can see Destroyer on the inside. Mmmm Hungry!

An easy way out

This is the easy way out.
Capitalism via environmentalism.
Two companies are researching plankton as a way of offsetting carbon. I have two problems with this idea. First, shouldn't companies be looking for ways to reduce emissions, rather than just even it out. It just seems they're hiding their emissions behind their offsets. My second problem has to do with the plankton companies. They're working on something that could be potentially great, but they're concerned about the profit. Uh, how bout the possibility of adding to measures to save the effing world. I just hate that money outweighs doing the right thing.

It's all the effing same

I'm working on a playlist in iTunes: Songs that sound alike. I thought it would just be pairs of songs, but as it turns out, Death Cab sounds like Decemberists sound like REM sound like ELO.
The List goes:
Living Thing by ELO
We Both Go Down Together by the Decemberists
Losing my Religion by REM
Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie

I'm no music person, but I can tell these songs all sound pretty much the same. We Both Go Down Together blends ELO and REM pretty well, but Soul Meets Body is such a rip off of Losing my Religion. LMR was probably my first ever favorite song, so I'm a little pleased to see it repeated, but it seems a little cheap.

Hobby Lobby

I have a new place of worship--Hobby Lobby. Why did I think Michael's was so great?

Headway

It's too easy to write stuff down when I'm already working on the computer. I have my informational sign for the zoo done. Just have to finish the directional sign. I might be able to go to bed without feeling worthless tonight. I've also printed, but not assembled, my book about the letter "e." It's adorable and clever.

Music to work by...Music to live by.

Normally, I don't think I work well with music. I usually like to put on a fluffy DVD I've seen a million times (Sex and the City, When Harry Met Sally). I don't really work well with that either, but I don't usually care. But right now, I'm so time crunched that I can't risk it. But I put the Beatles on this morning and they're perfect. I'm in a light mood. Very efficient too. So, the Beatles...POP!

Green Alley

Sometime last week, Ashley and I were seeing if this alley would cut through from Saluda to Harden. It didn't, and in fact ended in a very dingy intersection of about 5 back doors. But this wall was so green, and her hair so perfectly red against it, that I dragged her back on Friday so I could take a picture. It's the alley between Pecknel Music, and uh whatever store is beside it. The Gourmet Shop?

I finished Rapunzel.
That's it.
It's been so long since I've done laundry that I have only one pair of jeans that I can wear with good conscience. They're almost 8 years old. I bought them my junior year of high school at Old Navy. They're from a time before stretch. Also, they have a stain from clay screen filler, which looks like blood.

And true to form, I'm not saying anything about something that happened this week. Except to say that I'm not saying anything. And to mention a discussion I had with a friend. He's very annoyed at the outcry from the nation over 32 people. He feels that we identify with them, so we can mourn them more easily. That their lives are worth more...than the 100-500 Iraqi lives lost each day. His point is valid and I agree. I don't want to discount people's reactions to VT, but there is a much bigger picture. Then, in my most sensitive snark, I told my friend that the reason VT is so popular is because it's easy to find maroon and orange ribbons. And even if you did find red, green, black, and white ribbons, people would probably just think you were Rastafarian. We then lamented the marketability of tragedies in the US. I guess I said something. Sorry.

Last thing: I'm not a nihilist. That's a completely random and independent comment.

Monotype's not due til May 2nd. So here's what I have to finish for next Thursday:
3 books
1 accordion fold Rapunzel (to be completed tomorrow night)
1 stitch bound book about the letter "e" (to be worked on tomorrow, finished Saturday)
1 collaged book about global warming (to be worked on tomorrow, finished Sunday)
1 collection of signage for the zoo
Supplies purchased tomorrow-finished Monday
3 silkscreen projects
I printed my stencils for 2 tonight
Screens for 2 exposed tomorrow
Supplies for 3rd, bought tomorrow with supplies for signage
Stencils for 3rd to be worked on tomorrow
First two printed Sunday?

I need to stop. This is overwhelming. In the mean time, I'm hoping to do a little snap-shot series of things I love about Columbia. Coming soon....

Is feeling "on the ball" enough to get me through the next week and a half?

It seems there's a proper way to do things when it comes to grad schools. It involves exploring their website. But you may want to pack two weeks worth of food and water. University web pages are impossible to figure out. But I suppose they can't anticipate every person's specific questions. So, this is me apologizing to the air for the way I handled my visits. I should have contacted the graduate coordinator, but I went straight to the professors. I know, I know...BIIIIG faux pas. But kiddos, you need to know what you're looking for when arranging visits to grad schools. Questions to ask, people to contact. Each website is different, but start there and find the department you're interested in. Contact the graduate advisor. He/she can arrange a meeting with a professor or current student. That's the step I skipped. Once you're there, you'll need to know the questions. One: Money? What's tuition? What kind of fellowships and assistantships are unavailable and what are their terms? Then you need to explore the facilities. Do they have all the equipment you want/need? Can you live without what they may lack? There are a million more questions, but they really come spur of the moment. Also, if you're an art student, I recommend bringing along a selection of pieces to give as Thank yous.

It's official. Indiana, here I come. Bloomington to be more specific. Not West Lafayette. Though that would've been dandy too.

Oh, I also found $8 in the pocket of my jacket this morning.

This isn't funny anymore.

Let's move back in time. Two hours ago, I was asleep. Before that I was almost asleep in Latin American History. Before that, I was in graphic design presenting my CD package to Mark James. I had been up until 4 am finishing it. But that's my own fault. He didn't like my idea. And frankly, I thought it was the most clever way of using his stupid fucking shitty ass, craptastic pile of (what curses do I have left?) goddamn, asstastic, spooge saturated kitsch. That's right, spooge. Not splooge. In the actual execution of this project, someone would paint his image onto the belly of a pregnant woman. To me, that sums up his entire philosophy. To him, that says Planned Parenthood. My idea was about life and future and for me, it was kind of spiritual. Planned Parenthood is a straightforward way of avoiding, or getting to pregnancy. It's an institution (albeit one I can get behind). My idea was about a stage of life that has unbridled potential. He just has uterus envy. Haha, I can hypothetically reproduce (hopefully) and he can't. He must be able to tell I think he's a fucking tool who's full of shit.

Hello boys and girls. Today, I'm going to tell you about the French Revolution. Ooooh

In my fantasy world, there is a small pocket of high school seniors and college freshman who somehow magically stumbled on my blog, and are enamored with my wisdom and experience. So this is really for them. This is what college is like sometimes.
Sometimes you get fucked over by the paper work & technicalities and end up having to cram in an 8-week HIST 102 course at a satellite campus. And History 102 in my case is European from the 18th century to present. And my professor refers to Louis XV as Louis XVI's "daddy." He tells the history like a narrative, which I hate. I want fact-fact-fact-how they affect each other-done. And so here is the culmination of my bitching...a page from my notes from tonight's class:
I'm kind of proud of this. I want to use it somehow. You can see where I started out on the other side of the page. I really just need to have a plan of what I'm going to do with my time in this class. It's too small to read other assignments, but I could get away with writing something. Maybe drawing. Gladly accepting ideas.

I was reading a random blog from a random stranger a friend of mine knows. He was reviewing burgers. I want to do the same.

5 pts diner (Columbia): With it's great spice and cheddar offerings, these burgers are my favorite in Columbia. Plus they have tots and Newcastle.

Freshmarket (Columbia): They have pre-made patties that you buy and cook. I only have 3 words: Gouda and Portabello.

River City Cafe (Myrtle Beach): This used to be my favorite place for burgers, but they seem greasier than necessary. Also, I don't like their buns or fries, so they aren't my favorite anymore.

Louis' (in Pawley's Island): Expensive, but they grind their own meat, so they can cook your burger to any temperature. And despite my love of (nearly) raw meat, I don't recommend anything cooler than medium.

CJ's (Myrtle Beach): Good fries, good shakes, good memories. Reasonable burgers.

The Whig (Columbia) $2 burgers at a bar. They're okay, but for $2 and the atmosphere of the wig, I'd probably eat McDonalds burgers. Plus, they have Gouda Mac & Cheese and cheap drink specials.

Ashley: "Cute is the new subversive."

It's just cute. Nothing meaningful. But there is the idea to ponder that cute is the new subversive.

Sometimes things seem so profound.

Aaron, Oscar and I had lunch on Wednesday. We came up with an idea about a notebook titled "Things to Take Seriously." Sounds like a list for McSweeney's. Of course the things in it would have to be ridiculous.

A note on becoming an adult: When you rent a car, make sure you get the walk-around report first, in case you don't bump a fire hydrant, but there's a huge scratch that looks like a bump with a fire hydrant. Also, don't take the free upgrade with half a tank of gas. Because they'll think it's supposed to be full when you return it. Of course, it may eventually work out, but it'll still be a delay and 10 minutes of worrying that could be better aimed at, I don't know, deadlines or finding better car insurance.

Cutest thing ever!

I wish I could dance like that. And um...so this means we build up trust with the robot so it can kill us when they revolt. Just kidding.

Link of today

Printed Matter

I went here when I went to New York two years ago. I bought two books by these artists. That's two links today.

Dendrophilia anyone?

This is the image Mark James keeps whipping out. The fetuses are supposed to represent individual universes. Or all things are possible. I need to figure out how to reinterpret the image (into something not ridiculously hideous) or how to adopt the kitschy style.

I'm Mark James, Bitch!

We, the class had our third meeting with Marky Mark Rick James, Bitch! He makes me curse too freely. Like X-lax for fuck, shit, and damn. But by the time my next class rolled around I was pretty chipper because of the absurdity of it all.
Just for an idea: Nick had a transparency belly band that was pretty sweet. It looked like a slide and cast really nice shadows. So here's my response based on dealing with Mr. James.


After going through all our opinions on everything, Mark pulled out the biggest mistake on earth. He came to us for our creativity--to provide him with something unique and amazing. And he pulls out this painting he showed us at the start of this whole thing. I don't have a copy of it, but I will soon. It's a tree made of a man and woman's body. The leave and branches come out of their arms and head. And there are fetuses growing from the tree. He wants us to play with it to see what we can do. See if we can incorporate it into the design somehow. Blegh. Fortunately, we only have two more meetings.

Graduation

Graduation is just over 2 months away. I picked up my cap and gown and ordered my announcements and thank you notes and class ring. I left a little more excited than when I came. Liberty Mutual tried to sell me life insurance. Chase tried to help me pay off my student loans, of which there are none, so they just gave me a highlighter.

Hopefully Oscar and I can find a cheap place to live. A one bedroom for under $500 sounds reasonable. Which reminds me...Things I have to find/acquire by August:
job
place to live
all the different insurances
new cell phone plan

Halie and Aaron invited me to lunch at a Caribbean restaurant out on Two Notch. It was absolutely delicious. I wish I could remember the name. Oh well.

Five States, 3 days.

South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina.

I guess Georgia is iffy as I was only there for a layover. But let's get started.

Friday:
I spoke with Kathryn Reeves of Purdue. She seems super cool and really urged me to apply this year, but I can't. No way. I'd only have a few days...Gah! Can't do it. I want to work for a year anyway. But I definitely liked Purdue. Maybe because it reminds me of USC. It's size is comparable, but with a better name. She liked my little thank you prints. You can see them here and here. They're the dimensions of a Polaroid picture. It's weird how much harder that small a size is.

Purdue is very collegiate. They way you see in pictures and catalogs.

Then I drove to Oxford and Hamilton to visit Katie. We ate at Phan-Shin. And quick preface, I haven't been to Oxford in almost 2 years. And I was only there for 2 hours. So who walks into Phan-shin, but Katie (the other Katie) and Mike. It was just weird that 2 sets of people who wouldn't normally be in Phan-shin were in Phan-shin. Small world, eh? After dinner, Katie (the first one) and I went to Jungle Jim's. Yuuuum. We talked, did the friend thing. The next day, I headed over to Bloomington, IN.

Saturday:
I drove in snow to IU Bloomington. Met with a grad student. Their resources and facilities are amazing. It's all a blur. I drove back to West Lafayette. I tried to sleep cus I was exhausted, but Oscar called and invited me to whatever bar the grad prospectives were at. I got lost lost lost. West Lafayette hates correct street signs and google maps hates West Lafayette. Finally, after 45 minutes of driving, I end up at the bar. It should have taken me 10 minutes. MAX. But it was enjoyable and worth it. Beer, beer, beer. Well, only one beer for me. But following beer was talk talk talk. Then sleep at 12:30 only to wake up at 6 am to get to the airport in time. And now, back home.

Tomorrow I leave for Indiana. First Purdue, then IU Bloomington with a brief stop in Hamilton because I'll be too close to not stop in on Katie. So far, I have no one to talk to in Bloomington, but I'm hoping a grad student will contact me soon. I've sent a few emails to professors who said they'll be out of town but perhaps an MFA candidate could take me around. If all else fails I can walk around alone and check out their art museum, which Holy Cow! looks hot. Their online collection is more high profile than Columbia Museum of Art's permanent collection. Although, in CoMA's defense, there's some great stuff in their storage. My printmaking class went down there last semester. It was one of the coolest museum experiences of my life. I hadn't been that awed since the Chicago Institute of Art when I was fifteen, when I was still movable. It was so amazing to see all this great (and some of it recognizable) art just thrown up on walls, some without frames. Then they pulled out works on paper from their flat files. Wow.

Groundhog Day

I wish I'd understood Groundhog Day in 1993. Why couldn't I have been one of those liberal arts genius kids? Why didn't I see it again until today? It's amazing. I thought it was a Bill Murray romp. Nope. It's an actual movie, with actual meaning. Wow.

Kitten Attack!

Destroyer -->
My cat. I have to leave him in a few months. But Oscar and I will have a cat, then another. They'll sit on a mustard yellow couch. I hope.

Purdue is a week away. Kathryn Reeves agreed to see me. If they offer an MFA, I might not be so hesitant.

Why is this such a hard process? Neither Oscar nor I want to be responsible for a crappy town/school. Shoot!

Link of today

Janice Hartwell is a printmaking professor at FSU. Just thought I'd share a link to her website. I like "World Trade" all the way through "Nature of Nature." It all fits together well, and subjectively, I like the look of all that work. The earlier stuff seems like she was hashing out her own style. And though her style is consistent, it isn't identical to the point of boring. I'd say it's too soon to tell on "A Matter of Taste." So far, though it seems a little dull. Monochromatic with stable compositions. But the titles do give justification, which I get a little giggle out of.

So there you go...Janice Hartwell.

I'm going to try to do this once a week. Link an artist. I'm stealing the idea from a friend who had a blog devoted entirely to such a venture.

Back from Tallahassee

Before leaving today, Oscar and I stopped at the Museum of Fine Arts (aka MFA, aka MoFA). They had a show by Ray Burggraf. Now that I've read his statement, I don't hate it quite as much. A for concept. C- for aesthetic. They look like they belong in a Miami, FL hotel circa 1991. Bright colors crossed with hard line minimalism. There was also a Maximalist show. Some of it was cool. James Barsness, Grant Miller, Reed Danziger. James Barsness has a piece called "Hum." It's blue ball point pin on gessoed canvas. It looks like a giant, elaborate notebook doodle. Grant Miller was very elaborate and graphic. I guess elaborate could go without saying at a maximalist exhibit. Reed Danziger was perhaps my favorite. From far off, the paintings look like stains, but there are all these amazing organic patterns within all that. I also appreciate that he has his own website.
Oscar showed me the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. They make/use really big magnets there. I can't process all that they do with the magnets, but they're very useful in physics experiments. They have their own electric substation and a 3000 gallon tank of cold water to cool the magnets because they produce so much heat that they'll melt themselves without it.
I'm just a linking fool.
I need to research all the professors I may meet in my attempt to have an informed opinion on all these towns I'm visiting.

Where to find average guys

The Graphic Novel section of Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc. on a Saturday night.

Starting at the bottom

I went to the mall today. I figured it was the easiest place to wander around lost, while trying to get a feel for TallC. And, it was a mall. That's all there is to say about it. There was a Godiva store, which had free samples. Amazingly, the tiny disc of chocolate has overfilled my chocolate wants for the day. But now, I'm kinda hankering TGI Friday's. Why? Why am I falling into this easy option rut here? Perhaps because I'm alone in my wandering. Or perhaps because TGI Fridays has that 3 course meal for $12.99 deal. I think I'm going to crash Oscar's dinner thing tonight. But maybe not. They'll probably talk a lot of chemistry, and feel awkward about me. Telling me someone has to make pretty things. Why can't I just automatically assume that their trivializing and joking about art is a weird way of being friendly? I know that's all it it, but it still bothers me when they say, "Ah, you make pretty things." I hear "Ah, you make unimportant things." That's not what they mean.

The Morning After

Last night, the chem grad students took us out. Darts seems to be the thing to do in TallC. Darts and drinking. The chem department is definitely trying to buy our love. I drank for free. I started out just fine, but then one of the grad students started ordering rounds of shots. Somehow I was in on all of them. Then I capped it all of with a gin & tonic. But there was no tonic.
In meeting all those many new people I originally decided it would be easier to let them assume I was a chem student. But that's all they wanted to talk about, so I had to fess up to being an art student, which cut me out of most conversation until we were all too drunk for conversation. By then, we were upstairs at the "dance" club. The floor was literally and frighteningly shaking. They were playing late-80s to mid-90s rap. And there were these costumed dancers. Some guy was dressed as a girl, complete with fake breasts with fake nipples. He kept flashing us. I think I was the only person bothered by this.

Floooooo Riiiiiiiiii Duh

I'm feeling a need for background info. Last year, I met Oscar. Side note: when a food is labeled Oscar, as in Chicken Oscar, it means there's asparagus with it. I like my chicken with asparagus, so I'm interested in keeping Oscar around. My asparagus is heading off to grad school in August and I've agreed to go with him. But now here's the hard part. Where will we be? He's applied to Ohio State, Indiana U, Purdue, Pitt, UT-Austin, GA Tech, Florida State, and Florida. For now, I'm going to get a job because the idea of school...again...right now....is not something I'm all that interested in. But, I definitely want to keep grad school as an option, so I'm checking them out as well. In the end, we'll decide which school/city has the best options for both of us. Right now, I'm in Tallahassee, visiting FSU.
So, Florida? Florida State University... Tallahassee... Check out this skyline.

This is why I am not interested in Tallahassee. I don't want to live in the shadow of a giant penis.
I spoke to the chair of the printmaking department, Kabuya Bowens. She seems nice. Motherly. Her work is ethnic and feminine, from what I've seen. I think she didn't know what to do when I told her I'd be moving with my boyfriend. She called him my 'friend' at first, saying it'll be nice to have a friend when I get out in the real world. Then she switched to partner. Then, from Jupiter or Neptune, she pulled down 'fiance.' I didn't say anything about marriage. I mean, that's where this is going, but not now. We've got a couple of years to go.
FSU's printmaking facilities are a bit better equipped than USC's. They have 3 working intaglio presses, and several working litho presses. They had 8 or 10 silkscreen tables, but they weren't vacuum tables like USC's. I liked the student silkscreen monotypes that I saw. For the most part, the student work was good...I mean, nice. I mean mostly innocuous, which is better than bad from someone who was just strolling the halls. I then walked to the student union. Eh, it's a college campus. Everybody was talking on cell phones or listening to iPods. At one point, I was walking behind two guys, one saying to the other, "I could talk shit about anybody. Well not you, but name anybody and I could totally talk shit about them." I was in awe. I'm sure this happens at USC, but I'm not judging USC as a future option. Finally, I found the union, and it had an Art Center, which was a glorified frame shop/paint your own pot shop. There was also a real gallery, which was really reassuring.
Later in the day, I went to the grad student "warehouse." It's the Old Navy of college. But no. It's just a warehouse space that they've divided into grad student studio space. Which is way better than the 4 grad students crammed into one classroom at USC. I very nice lady--girl/young woman/female I don't know how to label because she's my age or younger--walked me through their grad student maze. Her work was really cool. She cuts designs out of ornate fabrics, glues them to a canvas, then paints over them. It's got a really great textural quality. Very thick. Apparently, there are no printmaking grad students as of now. I could change that, but really I hope I don't have to. This warehouse, by the way, is pretty far from campus. There's a bail bonds shop in the plaza in front of it as well.
As far as Tallahassee goes, all I can tell you is phallus. I've seen basically three streets worth of it. Tomorrow there will be more ventures into TallC. I hope I can find some kind of focused area of interesting commerce. I know where the mall and large franchises are supposed to be, but I want to find replacements for Blue Cactus, Thai Lotus, Papa Jazz, City Art (even if it is over priced), etc. It's kind of intimidating because I don't know where to start, and Oscar's busy all day with grad school wining & dining. But I think I'll start easy and find Target. Maybe I'll buy a map and mark it up. Maybe then I can use it in a project later this semester.