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.