thirty-three years go by
and not once do you come home
to find a man sitting in your bedroom
that is
a man you don't know
who came a long way to deliver one very specific message:
lock your back door, you idiot
however invincible you imagine yourself to be
you are wrong
-Parameters, Ani Difranco
What part of "I hate your fucking guts" can a person not understand?
Yet he continues to intrude on my life in the simplest but most
irritating ways. Sigh.
Well, I've had this blog in its current incarnation for about one year now, so I decided it needed a little makeover. Not entirely sure if I like it yet, but it's something to play around with.
Since everyone's been asking me how it was, here's a little excerpt from my journal, re: Santa Fe.
Santa Fe is a refuge for aging hippies and 30-something art-types. The air smells of wood smoke and red chiles. There are about a million art galleries. Public art everywhere. The people are friendly; you can strike up a conversation with just about anyone.
All the buildings are adobe. Office buildings, houses, churches: adobe. They are the same colors as the desert. Soft, gentle hues that commune with the surroundings.
The city itself is situated on a high desert plain. The desert is full of amazing colors, and the colors change as the cun passes overhead. The sky is just huge. Huge and clear and blue. The air itself is thinner. Less oxygen. But amazing. The clarity of the light in the thinner atmosphere. Ah! Sigh!
And just past the city in every direction are the mountains. They are still snow-capped, even in March. Beautiful.
Well. Yeah. I had a good time. And you can see a few of the pictures I took. I'll probably post more at some point.
Bad night=GIS collage.
It's not a work of art, but making it was a good release.
meh.
So, we have no school today because...*shakes magic 8 ball*....it's raining?
Sometimes I think this school is insane. I mean, I guess the roads might have been icy this morning (I wouldn't know, of course, as I didn't roll out of bed til about noon), but honestly, things are totally fine now, and I was quite shocked to realize we didn't have school.
I'll admit it: I am so over the whole school thing. I don't want to go to class (not that that's particularly unusual). I don't want to do homework (again, I suppose that's normal). However, the problem is that this lack of motivation has reached epic proportions. It's threatening my academic wellbeing.
I was supposed to do my practice seminar on Monday. Ah, seminar. The crowning achievement of my undergraduate career. I was completely unprepared. I was panicking, to be honest. As I was walking to the lecture hall, it occurred to me that I hadn't even written the requisite abstract for this damn seminar. Oh dear. Problem. My heart was racing, I was breaking into a cold sweat, and then: I noticed the crowds of people milling about outside the science buildings. Hmm. Fire drill? Nope, even better.
Bromine spill.
Bromine! My saving grace! Some tool had spilled 100 mL of it, had forgotten the thiosulfate, and had caused the evacuation of the buildings for around three hours. This chump was my salvation. Of course, I still need to present this silly seminar, but as for Monday, life was good.
So, my dear friends, if you've been suffering from senioritis as I have, then perhaps you should pray for a little bromine.
After a week dedicated to the Vagina Monologues, I guess I was inspired. So here it is, my most recent (and perhaps most disturbing) 3D design project thus far.
My dad was talking about his amazing plan for energy conservation in this country. Not a bad plan, focuses heavily on renewable resources, as all good energy plans should. At one point he mentioned that wind power should be utilized far more than it already is. "But some people don't like windmills," I said. "Yes," he said, "But those are the CAVE people." "Cave people?" I asked. "Yeah," he said, "Citizens Against Virtually Everything."
I know quite a few members of this organization. Though they may object to being called an organization. Meh.
Katie: "I will SO walk your pig. I'm serious."
My poor little guinea pig. He's been so neglected lately, since I've been insanely busy with school and such. Guinea pigs have a small but significant vocabulary of squeaks they make to communicate, and yesterday I definitely got the "Pay attention to me!" squeak. Poor baby.
So in any case, Katie has offered to come and play with him. Seems like a good deal to me. She has even offered to get a leash for him and walk him down the street. I think he might make it about half a block. But you never know, he might just enjoy the fresh air.
The first picture is the result of my latest endeavor. Fabric on gessoed wood, if anyone cares.
The other picture is the mess I made in attempting to complete this. I am now off to clean up said mess. But look, it's like a scavenger hunt, kids! How many pairs of scissors did I use?
Wonder if the neighbors will frown upon my vacuuming at 10:30p. Oh well.
Ever since I've gotten the iPod, and even before that, I've been a big fan of podcasts. There are so many random people with microphones out there. Here are some of my current favorites:
I got one of these bad boys for Chrismanukkah. It makes me happy. My holiday was pretty low-key, but it was very nice. We had a good time without buying into all the commercialization nonsense that annoys me so much. Everyone got one or two presents, we had a nice dinner, we watched March of the Penguins, and that was about it. Nice.
I'm off to West Chester once more today for various adventures with my friends while we all have the time to have such adventures. It should be exciting.
I am quite pleased to report that I have survived my penultimate semester of college, fully intact. As a matter of fact, I've passed all my classes, and my mental health is surprisingly good.
In my newly acquired free time, I've taken (once again) to voraciously reading non-school books. Current reading: Out of It: A Cultural History of Intoxication by Stuart Walton. (Despite school's having ended, I never cease to be a bit nerdy.) In any case, the book covers relatively innocuous substances such as caffeine and alcohol as well as the slightly more heady categories of opiates, amphetamines, and hallucinogens. Walton makes the argument that it is part of human nature to desire to become intoxicated, just as humans need to eat and have sex and whatnot. The idea of intoxication as a basic appetite has interesting implications. But perhaps I can use it to justify my weekly trips to the bar.
Also, as I'm sure you're aware, the Christmas season is upon us. Now, call me a grinch if you will, but I'm a bit Christmas-ed out. I dread shopping at this time of year, I'm sick of hearing about the so-called "War on Christmas" (Oh please! Those poor persecuted Christians! We should be happy no one's throwing us to the lions anymore and just get on with our business!), and frankly, I still haven't figured out, after this several years of being Catholic, just what Santa Claus or Christmas trees have to do with Baby Jesus. Peace on earth? Erm, not so much, when everyone is just about stampeding each other for the latest must-have down at the Wal-Mart. Honestly. Calm down, people! Get over yourselves! Yeesh. I'll take the February doldrums over this any day.
In honor of the birth of Jesus, I leave you with this: a Dr. Suess version of the New Testament.
