It's California Today

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 05:16:06 GMT

safe transition back from this to this.

final notes will be there.

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:44:16 GMT

P.S. I forgot to mention that yesterday we went to Berkeley to get Indian Food, and when we came back one of our suite mates was sitting outside our door with MY HARRY POTTER BOOK. When we walked up she pointed at me and was like 'Oh! Oh! I borrowed this because my room mate is leaving early and had to go to sleep and I'm really sorry I was sitting out here so you didn't think I stole it and just let me know when you need it back!' I was like 'uh... okay...' because I obviously wasn't reading it, but seriously.

Coming into our room and taking a book?! That is so fucking creepy!

Then my face wash and my moisturizer was mysteriously missing, but nothing else was, which is you know, weird. At least I was running out of both so I'd have to buy more anyway, and Jaime let me use her stuff for the night. It's not big enough a deal for me to confront them, but it is a big enough deal for me to be weirded out and lock our bathroom door when we leave.

At least she [the suite mate] volunteered to clean our bathroom for us. Dear God.

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:35:18 GMT

For anyone meeting me at the airport WITHOUT CHRIS

I assume that most people are going with Chris ('cause not a lot of people are going obviously, airports are nasty) but if for some reason you're not (I don't really know if anyone else is driving there) MAKE SURE YOU TEXT ME SOMETIME ON THE DAY ON SATURDAY, PREFERABLY BEFORE 2 YOUR TIME.

I'm going to be flying from SFO -> Denver -> Milwaukee, and if you plan on meeting me there you won't be able to get to the gate because security now requires a boarding pass to get up there. My phone will be off most of the day since I'm flying with only an hour and a half layover in Denver, but if you want to meet me at the airport you need to make sure I know to let you know my flight number once I figure out what it will be from Denver to Milwaukee. Then you can check those giant board things and look up my flight number and go to the gate of that concourse, which is where I'll be coming out before I get my bags and all that jazz.

If you can't get a hold of me and are dead set on coming, make sure you get a hold of Chris. YOU ARE SO NOT OBLIGATED TO GO and this isn't meant to like make you think you should go, it's just because in about 10 minutes I'm putting my computer away and will become much much much more difficult to get a hold of. If you DO need me, for whatever, you could try calling but it'll be much easier for me to reply by text because it's closing day, closing ceremonies, tearful goodbyes, etc. Also lots of cleaning.

So anyway that's that, I'll see you all in 15.5 hours!

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:03:50 GMT

Last night when I was straight chillin and talking to Nate, he was like 'listen to my friend's music!' and I was like 'er... okay.' Because you know, that's kind of awkward; you can do it, but then what if you don't like it, and it's his friend, and blah blah blah?

Okay well good news I liked it and his music is super catchy and I can't stop listening to it, you all should go check it out. The Umbrella cover, if nothing else. Just ask Jess, who I recruited to listen to it last night. It's cute.

http://myspace.com/listentonickmiller.

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:19:30 GMT

I'm mostly packed, our room is mostly cleaned.

Left to pack:
the clothes I'm wearing, and the ones for the next two days as I finish with them
cosmetics that I need daily (this includes TOWELS)
extra foods (bars etc)
chargers etc for my cellphone
laptop
nalgene bottle, silverware

Left to clean:
sweeping
sink clean out
minor bathroom clean out (nothing too bad)
dusting drawers and what not

With these suitcases in the room on the floor and full, it just feels so definite. I feel ready to go home, and at the same time very not - it's hard to see people every day for 28 days and then just not anymore. we'll stay in touch, but going home is just going to be different. i'm starting to get more and more anxious about leaving. this whole middle ground where we're here but not here (especially tomorrow night when we're nearly entirely packed, with everything all put up and what) and we've kind of demolished our home for the past four weeks is going to feel really gross. I'm excited to see everyone, though, don't worry.

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:15:11 GMT

Wow, tonight we have a mandatory check out meeting, tomorrow we hang art and pack... friday night is the show, then we check out, and the next day mi madre is driving me and jaime to the airport. Wow.

It feels really weird, I can't really explain it; it's like a) we just got here b) we've been here forever (we're just that close to people, and everything is so routine) and all at once c) we're never going to leave. The latter isn't really in a bad way, it just seems like it should go on being like THIS - like these classes, teachers, and peers, coming home every day at 4 to Todd and Jaime and some crazy music in our dorms. Now that leaving is becoming more of a reality I guess it's a little better to comprehend 'home' but it still feels like we should be coming back here afterwards, like when school starts up, i should be back in Oakland with all of these same people doing all of this same stuff and living in this same room. It's weird, but it's easy to think of our dorm as home, and it's easy to think of this area as 'our place' and the 'places we go.' I know the city so well, it's going to be weird going back to milwaukee.

i think i might be more nervous to go home and start integrating back into the normal flow of things than i was to come out here, which is strange. i don't know, it just feels like i missed a lot, and maybe most of it is just excitement to see everyone. if my flight is delayed i might have to smack a bitch. I don't really want to spend time on traveling, i just want to fall asleep on the plane and then wake up and we're home. Layover in Denver is going to suck, but it's only like an hour once you take out time for boarding and stuff, so I guess I'll just read me some Harry Potter and recharge the iPod.

plane comes in at 6.50pm (knock on wood) and after i go home for a little bit i'm definitely going to want to do something. keep in mind, my time 6.50 is like 4.50 so i'll be wide awake.

see you guys soon.

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:23:43 GMT

Okay so it was MOS DEF Plan B, Jaime and I are so good at deducing these things. To find this out required a failed trip to Safeway/Longs with her lover/boyfriend and Todd and her barging into our room and being obnoxious several more times. But to be fair, her lover/boyfriend is actually fairly hilarious and nice, and Todd is of course Todd.

Anyway so I just thought I'd share that with you guys. =)

So not to much going on in the casa... we've just been straight chillin. Last night Todd was in here until after Jaime and I passed out because he was working on his final project for Industrial Design, making a lamp and flowers and stuff. All of my projects are DONE and Jaime is in jewelery so I guess a lot of her projects have to be worked on in the actual jewelery room.

Tonight or tomorrow we're going to Berkeley to get Indian food and celebrate our survival of this course.

Two days to go, not counting today; which for me is just crits in the morning and a field trip in the afternoon. I don't know where the time went! The closer we get to leaving time the more time I have to think about everyone back home and how much I miss you guys. My flight gets back at like 6.50pm on Saturday, so we'll make it a point to hang out ASAP. (Pray for no flight delays, okay?!)

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:30:34 GMT

So this dumb whore on our floor clearly wants to throwdown, she has demonstrated this by embodying my number one pet peeves: chicks who want to be friends with all the guys, yet ignore their female friends in the process and are complete bitches. (I suppose this pet peeve really extends to ALL of the guy's friends, I just happen to be a girl so, well, you know. Also this issue probably affects me more because a lot of my friends are guys. So there.)

Okay so this whore is all buddy buddy yay todd to todd, and yet she hates me and jaime. Me and jaime walk up and she's like 'oh.' Literally. Oh. We've tried waving at her and she just kind of purses her lips/scowls and walks on. Except the other day I kind of got her to wave, but she could've very easily just been swatting at flies because she was coughing and looked very displeased. She hates me and Jaime.

Anyway so yesterday at like 1 in the morning this chick barges into the room (todd was passed out on jaime's bed - I was laying on my bed on the computer, and jaime was at her desk) looking for todd, wakes him up out of a dead sleep while causing a huge commotion, and while her friend/boyfriend/lover (I don't know which) Grant is being cheerful and friendly and she's kind of sort of explaining why she's there she fuggin goes through my desk.

Goes. through. my desk. She like lifted up my art project and looked at the book under it which first of all, is really invasive because it's an art project, and second of all, bitch I don't want you looking at my books. Then she starts like looking through all of my sketchbooks/italian/book books on the top shelf. What the fucking hell! Finally she's like 'Oh Todd I need you to buy me something can you come out in the hall so we can talk about it?' except she makes a big deal about it (keep in mind - Todd = 19).

And then makes Todd promise not to tell us.

And then comes back in 10 minutes later with some money for Todd to buy whatever, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US all like 'thanks todd, thanks for buying IT for me! thanks! yeah i really need it! thanks!'

WHAT A BITCH, WHO DOES THAT RIGHT IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE?! The least you can do is be like 'Oh sorry I just need to talk to Todd for a second.' and do it in a more tactful way, dumb bitch.

Okay so we've narrowed it down to:
cigarettes (doubtful - Jaime thought she saw one or two 20's), salvia (doubtful - Todd doesn't even know what that is), plan b (most likely - it costs right around $40, and you have to be 18, and it explains why she AND grant came in to ask about it).

GDMT

LOOK A PORTKEY!

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:27:26 GMT

Today was the most excellent of chill days, as all Sundays tend to be here - Jaime and I have made it a strong tradition to do nothing on Sundays, including simple things like getting dressed, which makes room for much better things that can be done, such as reading all of harry potter and then finishing off a half a jar of salsa with our wonderful friend todd.

I'm definitely going to go back and read HP7 more slowly to absorb all the details, but from my 8 hour reading marathon that was outstandingly amazing and I loved all of it.

The cuts are picture heavy, so be warned. Later I'll get the picture of Jaime and I discovering a Portkey up.

Jaime and I being cool in front of a 'Where the Wild Things Are' mural.

Why yes, there probably is a Harry Potter book in that bag.

In my spare time I like to, you know, make fun of tanks. And stuff.

Unfortunate line through Todd's face.

Note Jaime's crunk cup.

I think we were going for sexy face.

LOL.

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:40:03 GMT

DEAR GOD I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

OUTSTANDING.

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 04:39:18 GMT

after getting my HARRY FUCKING POTTER book we traversed to 24th and Mission St, heart of the mission district, and I would like to point out how outstanding it is; as soon as we got out of the Bart station there was loud mexican music playing and there are murals just EVERYWHERE. I loved it, it was so bright and colorful and happy - we explored and went to Balmy Alley (pictures below) because one of the artists who helped organize its creation years ago came and talked to my community arts class. Then we called Jaime's sister for a restaurant suggestion and ate at this fabulous place with amazing tofu fajitas. It was sooo much food.

Then we treked through the gayborhood (the Castro District) to get to the Haight/Ashbury neighborhood, which is hippieville and thrifty stores. Pictures will come of our adventures into a photobooth.

On the way back there was this tranny dancing on the steps leading up to Buena Vista Park (which is just stairs and forest - you can't see much else, it's on a big hill) and his hips did not lie. Neither did his skirt, which flashed us a bit of ass from across the street and down a few flights. He was clearly beckoning Todd into the forest but we didn't get a picture. Bummer.

Then icecream and now home, there is a drag ball going on but I'm tired and Todd won't let us dress him like a girl. Pitty.

(For Lauren. Shortly after taking it I think a latino man might have professed his love for me/his love for my love of art but i don't speak espanol. no habla!)

Right next to this one, I didn't get a good picture, was a stencil of a stiletto and it said 'GIRLS WHO WEAR FIVE INCH HEALS SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THEIR MEALS.'

Also all around town were little stencils that said things like 'As the moon rose over Pontromero Hill, she said, "Fuck off, nothing is as it seems!"' Fabulous.

WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY.

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:08:36 GMT

Last night there was a 4.2 earthquake centered in Oakland, Jaime assures me it was muy fun on the top bunk.

I slept through it, lol lol, but apparently it was a pretty good sized one.

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:18:12 GMT

last night jaime went to homework night after me and her and todd chilled out in the casa (i finished reading haunted). todd and i, alone to fend for ourselves, went back to his room to chill and Jon the swede came by with his PSP and the guys started playing some video game where the first boss was apparently really hard, and they were both trying for a long time to beat her and they kept dying and jon gave me the thing and i beat her in two tries.

i guess i get it from having you fuckers as my friends. =) they later got lost in some area and didn't know where to go and I found it for them. Silly boys.

Anyway when Jaime came back we came over to our room with Todd's computer and nice ass speakers (which are still in our room) and watched Interstella 5555, that daft punk music video for a WHOOLLLEE album. It was fabulous.

I learned how to make tofu after that. Oh, and Jaime and I got yelled at for checking our mail after hours, shut up front desk bitch. Ner, what else... nothing else. I had a dream that Todd and I taught Schmitty how to read while Jaime was at her class dinner thing.

P.S. my teacher is getting married on friday and anabelle, this girl in my class, was like 'oh so is it like a church wedding, or a city hall thing, or what?' and he was like, totally straight faced, 'it's a satanic theme.' wait for it. 'it's just a wedding, what the fuck girl?!'

except we all thought he was serious lol lol.

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:08:34 GMT

TODAY TODAY TODAY was a GLORIOUS DAY because 1) WE LOOKED AT BANKSY IN A CLASS. FABBITY. and 2) we're drawing portraits, and thanks to C*Willey I am just owning.

Lollapalooza has been sorted. Get in or get out. Dolce & Gabbana can't come to my party because they use ampersands - however, Prada is cordgially invited.

After school we chilled out and then went to Todd's room, where Jaime and I took an hour long nap on his immensly comfortable bed. What are friends for, if not to take over their beds while they download copious amounts of music?

1/2 of my Midterm - DONE!

Also, today Jaime saw Schmitty smoking in the designated smoker's area (yeah, we have that, fuck you) and as he was going to take a drag he dropped his cigarette on the ground and did this little 'oh god i dropped my cigarette on the ground' dance. Outstanding. OUTSTANDING.

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:23:39 GMT

today was fabbity because i got to do extremely well in class - we're doing portrait drawing, like little 10-12 minute things of a partner and I ROCK because I had c*willey as a teacher. then we're just working on a project all day in the second half of my day which is also fabbity because i am just totally owning it.

class aside, i ate baked tofu from the cafe and fake kind of nasty but kind of addicting guacamole from safeway. i also got salsa. and then we cooked at the apartments for todd and chilled out in his room with none other than John, our swedish friend who lives in argentina, and who has this strange knack for appearing whenever we start talking about him.

must be a swede thing, i swear.

anyway jaime and i drew little diagrams of our houses and gave each other tours so that was fun. NOW IT IS TIME FOR SLEEPIES IN MY NEW MIAD SHIRT THAT MOMMY SENT ME. (anyone thinking of sending anything - this is the last week to do it so that it gets here in time for the eating)

so i have this cafe card that i don't really need (oops) but i need to use it up so i'm not wasteful, and jaime and todd have some too so we're eating at the cafe for lunch for the rest of forever. anyway that's not the point, on the way back jaime and i spotted schmitty walking back from lunch with his whole 2 liter bottle of fresca under one arm. Oh also a friend who we will call "Thing 2."

we were going in to get our water bottles/wash our hands after lunch and we were just going to take the stairs, but behold, the elevator doors open - we piled in, little did we know, right after Schmitty and Thing 2. Who smelled like rancid taco dip that is slowly being secreted from the pores with a foul mix of BO and horrible expired Axe. God. anyway so schmitty is being all awkward because that's how he is all the time, and he kind of knows us just because we're always in his room so he's like 'uh. hi.' and jaime is trying to be nice so she says 'what's up schmitty?' and he gets all crazy like 'what? uh. oh. nothing.' and his friend laughed at him for his 2L or something I don't know so we get off the elevator blah blah blah do our shit

I end up leaving before Jaime but I have to go back because I forgot my god damn purse - shit fuck, so I run back to get it after she kindly unlocks the door and then I get back into the elevator with NONE OTHER THAN SCHMITTY AND THING 2. AWKWARD ASS ELEVATOR RIDE. We're just sitting there and so I decide to break the silence by asking him about the current Industrial Design project (Todd, Alex, John, Paige - they're all in ID). Schmitty's reply to how it's going: 'oh. uh. i don't know. it's okay. yeah. okay.'

and Thing 2 says: 'no dude. it's uh, it's better than okay. it's like, it's like great. yeah. you're just being uh.... what's the word... uh... you know... the word... yeah... what's the word... uh...'

This takes a few floors down in the world's slowest elevator and finally I interject, 'Modest?'

'No, not modest... uh... that word... like... when you don't give yourself enough credit... uh... HUMBLE.'

Dear God.

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 07:59:40 GMT

pajama days of eating lots of things and stealing 1300 songs from todd's 10000 song library are rad.

also, smell mapping todd's dorm:
garlicy broccoli -> pez/taco bell -> barbecue masking tape -> bad hair spray with a slight undercurrent of sickly sweet and skunk.

this is why we love our room.

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 08:22:47 GMT

most painful experience of my life:

todd was talking about how schmitty has all this chicken in the freezer and he was like "he better give me some. no, really. if i'm like 'can i have some?' and he's like 'no' then i'm just going to have to lay it out and throw down be like 'oh, really? because your left boob just said yes.'"

i laughed so hard my mascara started running and all i could see was murky blackness and pain and then jaime fell asleep in todd's bed and we just stumbled back to our room.

ow.

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:44:43 GMT

so, today was good, but pretty slow.

the whole waking up at noon thing is magical but it kind of throws the rest of the day out of focus. it was okay though; we put our pretty new dresses on and walked our happy asses into the oakland/piedmont area of town and saw HARRY FUCKING POTTER BITCHES. it was good and entertaining but they left some stuff out and that was sad making. anyway, then we came home.

todd is becoming an organ snatcher. bitch, he's todd bigelow!

okay okay okay so what next. oh laundry day. we did two loads of laundry and crammed in all of the dirty clothes jaime, todd, and i had accumulated in the past two weeks. and learned how to fall asleep standing up in the laundry room.

the clothes were so warm and delicious (we stole some of schmitty's detergent - it actually smells like sunshine daisies) that jaime and i changed into pajama type things and now we're just straight chillin while todd listens to music with the swede somewhere over in his room.

i should take more pictures for this thing but i'm too lazy, so i'll just eat fugnugs and drink my tea. oh wait i think i might have some pictures hold on.

This was a few nights ago... we stood at the end of the hall and stared at the apartments with my big huge camera to try and get Alex's attention.

FYI there is no "good" bunk - if you're up top you have to climb up but bonus you don't have to get up to answer doors and shit, that is the bottom bunk's job, but if you're on the bottom bunk, fuckers like todd always take your place. to be fair, it is closest to the little wall we designated as his spot, when he finally decides to just move a mattress in.

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:09:19 GMT

last night, somewhere between 1 and 2 am, as we were all settling down to listen to music/finish lost in translation i mos def passed out in this very strange position kind of diagonally curled up on my bed with my bed against the wall/a towel because todd had taken my spot (jaime was sitting up on her bed watching the movie). anyway so i fell asleep like that until about 5 in the morning when i woke up and went back to a normal sleeping position and fell back asleep until about half an hour ago (11.30).

I love sleeping late.

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:45:41 GMT

WE HAVE VEGETARIAN FUGNUGS. =)

and it's a lazy friday. tomorrow is harry potter. god, it's so good.

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:42:02 GMT

happy birthday to todd, happy birthday at mona lisa's, happy birthday from coit tower, happy birthday from the bay, happy birthday from that hill we climbed, happy birthday from little italy, happy birthday to todd.

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:26:43 GMT

todd's current possessions in our room (while he is not present):
the condoms
the name tag
his nice ass speakers
a box which contains:
a pair of very holey jeans
a birthdaycard
a giant marshmallow/chocie chip brownie

dude.

also happy birthday to him, congrats on 19.

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:09:15 GMT

for alex's birthday we baked delicious cupcakes. we filled them with ice cream and frosted them and they were delicious, so we were told, and then after some lots of chill time while we looked for a rave to go to on our last day here (and worked on making alex a fake ID, since I can use Jaime's sister's), we went on a long walk to the top of this giant hill.

and talked about houses.

and walked back down, in about 5 minutes before curfew, it was kind of perfection.

tomorrow is field trip day, san francisco campus baby.

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:17:57 GMT

LAST NIGHT was a lot of nothing. We got back from class and went to go chill with Todd in his room and briefly Schmitto (LOL LOL LOL) and then Jaime and I went to draw naked people. Alyssa - this is the first naked person I have drawn who was decently attractive (aside from that sleepy girl we had, I guess she wasn't awful) but this girl was so averagely proportioned that it was boring to draw her. =(

Anyway so then we came back to Todd's room to find Alex there and we chilled with him for awhile before he went to go watch Marie Antoinette with his apartment-mates. Alex's birthday is today and back home SO IS WILLEY'S. Happy birthday guys. Lalalala so... oh yeah then we watched the Devil Wears Prada.

And Jaime and I got sleepy halfway through and kicked Todd out even though he is a mattress away from living in our room. We have allowed him to keep up to 5 personal possessions in our room at any given time without us moving all his other shit in, and at the moment it is: 2 condoms, a name tag, and a jar of peanut butter.

I don't WANT to go to class today, shit fuck.

P.S. HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER
but i have to wait until the weekend to see it because we're poor as bitches and can't afford $9.50 night time price, so we have to wait for a fucking matinée.

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:29:58 GMT

new favorite poet - lisa radon. author of 'super deluxe with everything' and one of the authors in concrete dreams.

"i'm waiting to get off the train
an old black man looks up at me
'go forth and do great things'
and wow, i feel touched by god.

and the guy selling pot out of his dirty sneaker..."