The sun rolling high, through the sapphire sky

A lady bug just came into our room. Ladybugs are good luck, ya know? Although I fear this ladybug won't actually be able to get out of our suite now and will have to fly around forever because it flew away from me before I could take it outside. My mom has a tattoo of lady bugs around her ankle, though she told me that she always wanted one lady bug tattoo on her thumb so that whenever she gave the thumbs up sign, there would be the lady bug plain as day. Apparently you can't get tattoos on your finger pads or bottoms of your feet because it wears off. My brother is turning 18 on May 23rd and is following the tradition in our family to get a tattoo on your 18th birthday. Some kids just get a pat on the back or a new car, we go for the tattoos.

One thing I am looking forward to this summer is being away from that blasted elevator. It's super slow, but other than that I just don't like elevators. It's ok if I am in there with a friend and can talk, but if Im standing with someone I don't know I get all awkward feeling. I guess it's my irrational fear that if they are, indeed, a serial killer then i have nowhere to run. Plus there's always that weirdness of whether you should start a conversation, perhaps talk about the weather or how much work you have. I usually end up staring straight ahead at the steel door and then fidgeting with my bag, staring at my watch, making sure my nail polish isn't chipping. My house doesn't have any elevators and I'll definitely be glad not to have to deal with it over summer. Yes, I'm weird, I know this.

Yesterday we had our first nude guy model. I wasn't really worried about it although I wasnt sure exactly what to expect. I remember I passed the guy in the parking lot and stared at him, not thinking he was the nude model. He was this kinda young dude around 30 probably and had this really crazy curly hair that was long and stuck up everywhere. He was also pretty skinny which was weird cuz both the women models we had were really fat. I thought it would be weird to just star at a naked guy for 3 hours straight, but it actually wasn't that awkward after the first ten minutes. I dunno though, i feel more mature now just for having done that and not bursting out into fits of nervous laughter. It was impossibly hot in the classroom because it was already 95 degrees outside and we were stuck in this little classroom with 30 kids, a teacher, a naked guy, and no air conditioning. Anyways, our figure drawing is over with now as is the class basically. Looking forward to moving on to graphic design next semester. I'm tired of being covered in charcoal.

Oh, i think Ive figured out how to get pictures in here. Thanks kris! I hate to completely fill my blog with pictures, but there's just one more I wanted to show you. If you look a few blog entries back i wrote about the comedy show I went to on Friday. When I tried to paste the picture in, it didn't work but here's that picture I was trying to show you. Michael Ian Black is in the center and i love him.

It was a beautiful spring day, a tedious time for bachelors

I wanted to post some of the pictures from my weekend trip to Pitzer. Some are too incriminating, but here are a few to show you.




This was on Sunday after we did the colored chalk throwing. There were about 20 people in all. A good turnout.



The last picture for now. This is Tasha, brigitte, and me after the chalk fight. They had just gotten thrown in the fountain and were soaking...I didn't want a wet hug from them. Overall, the weekend was very fun

slurpies are the best things on earth

I'm here at Pitzer College with brigitte visiting Natasha and I figured since both of them are so wiped out and taking a nap and I'm sitting here doing nothing, Id update my blog. I'll start by telling you everything we've done since we got here. Arrived around 8 last night and just hung around her dorm room for a while. We got dressed and I borrowed one of Tasha's pretty sparkly tops. Anyways, we headed out around 11 to the semi-formal where they had pina coladas and a live band. The band was fairly good but they played rock stuff like Metallica's Enter Sandman which is kind of hard to dance to because it's all yelling. Plus it was super crowded so all brigitte and I could do was jump up and down and look retarded. We left the semi formal and decided to catch the tail end of this Pomona party which I liked better because they had music you could actually dance to and by this point we met up with these two guys here I've met a few times Alexis and Wiley. I wish I had the closeknit group of friends that Tasha has in college. I think it has something to do with the size of the school. Unfortunately, the music was cut off around 1 am! I love dancing if I have someone I feel comfortable dancing with, but I must say when I'm drunk I will dance constantly and without any inhibition. Makes for a good time. Brigitte and I were talking and she was saying that she was much more fun when she's sober because when she's drunk she gets kind of solemn, reserved, quiet. I used to be that way. But it's changing for the better I think. I get more outgoing which is beneficial seeing as I'm usually so shy.

My memory of the sequencing of events is a little fucked up, but then Im pretty sure I came back to the dorm and hung out in tasha's room with alexis, wiley, brig, some harvey mudd guy named Reuban who we met last night at the dance, and tasha. Last night was a night of firsts for me. I tried a beer bong for the first time ever and amazingly managed it ok without choking and dying. Not something I plan on doing much more, but something I can say i did in college. I believe I wore wiley's pink boa, though I dont remember why Id want to do that. Why does he have a pink boa is the real question. I also tried my first cigar. haha, they were these extremely cheap ones we got at the drug store 5 for 3 dollars and basically fell apart, but it had been my unrealized dream for a while to just try a cigar once.

We all hung out and talked till 6 in the morning when we finally decided to call it a night. I think I got some kind of compliment from wiley saying i looked nice or I had an awesome butt or something that struck me as really really nice and out of the blue at the time but I was so tired and out of it that I can't remember much now. A few minutes later I fell asleep, but ended up getting up at 9ish because I couldnt sleep. Despite a wicked bad hangover today, a good time was had by all and it made me sad the year was ending already and that I wouldnt get to come visit Pitzer over the summer. Now I'm about to head back to usc, so I'll update later.

Oh, Im adding to this post b/c I forgot to mention the things today. Natasha's indian club was celebrating this festival of color and so to celebrate we all had bowls of colored powder and about 20 people ran around throwing it at each other. People got covered and parts of my skin are stained purple from it, but hey that's cool. It matches my hair.

this week is sure to suck

If I say "I want Wonderboy's head on a platter" you say medium or well done

I had been waiting all week for last night to come because I had tickets to go see Stella at the Knitting Factory. Stella is the name of this comedy show created by and staring Michael Ian Black, David Wain, and Michael Showalter. They were all on the MTV show The State a while back and are just really funny guys. Not to mention that I have a major crush on Michael Ian Black. He's been on those shows "I love the 70's" and "The 80's Strike Back" and on NBC's Ed. Ive only seen that show once, but i might start watching it more now. From what I had seen, he's got a really sarcastic, kind of dry sense of humor which is more my style. That's the main reason i wanted to go see the show last night. It was amazing and hilarious! I dont go to comedy shows and I definitely don't go to enough concerts, but sometimes when I do manage to go it makes me really happy that I live in a place where there's a lot to see. Los Angeles is definitely not lacking in entertainment. I think I would have missed that if I had gone to Carnegie Mellon. It was a fairly small venue and I ended up getting squeezed onto the main floor. Standing room only, no chairs, which sucked because I think I stopped feeling my legs after a while. Some guys my age came up, introduced themselves which was cool but then one of the guys asked if I would hold his hand. haha. I shook his hand instead and then he wouldnt let go. What a weirdo. But the show was great, I was laughing most of time and now I want to date a comedian. just kidding. I'm having a hard time finding my "type" with guys because everytime I see something I enjoy a lot, I automatically am convinced that I want to date someone like that. A month ago when the ataris were here, I was positive that I wanted to date a tattooed, pierced rocker. Now after seeing this show, I want to date a sarcastic comedian who wears black tshirts and jeans all the time. who knows what will be next. A lion tamer? Most of the qualities i find attractive in guys are so overblown in terms of how they are very accomplished or artisitic or perfect that I'm probably gonna continue to be disappointed by someone real as I have with others in the past. Probably one of the reasons I don't keep boyfriends for very long. My heads are in the clouds for good. Anyways, the show was only here for the one night, but if you live in the New York area, it's going on weekly so you should go see it.

My brother, Matt's, prom is today or tonight rather. I hope he has a kickass time.

Right now, I'm just killing time until Tasha comes. Brigitte and I are going down to Pitzer to sleep over and go to a party and a festival of color, etc. More details on that after I get back and actually know what the plans turn out to be. Kris was nice enough to show me how to post pictures, so I thought I'd put on up one of the Disneyland castle i took on my last visit to the park. Let's see if this works:

So they invented the snarfblat to make fine music. Allow me

Yesterday was my second day of doing nude model life drawing in class. This time, we had this really large woman, but she was actually pretty cool cuz she was super friendly and didn't seem to have any problems wandering around naked. We all joked that it was such a beautiful day and how it was a shame that we couldnt do the class outside. The model lady said "hey, if you cover me in white plaster people will think I'm a statue." She was a lot nicer than our first model. We progressed into doing the one hour poses and I think I like those much better than the really quick 1 minute or 5 minute studies. I'm still a little squirmish thinking that the guy model is coming on Tuesday, but I guess I've got to get used to that type of thing...and not stare too much. I had to turn in my entire portfolio of work from the whole semester of drawing yesterday too. I don't think it looks very impressive. There's a wine label contest open to the fine arts majors I was considering entering, but it's due on the 30th so I'm not sure if I'll have the time.

I'm going to register at COC for a few classes over summer in case I dont get a job, including a Maya Animation class, Dreamweaver, and Interactive Website design which goes over Flash. It's really important to get better acquainted with the software, especially Maya. I have this normally $3000 dollar program and it's a shame if I don't know how to do a lot with it. Never get into Pixar that way. hehe.

I got all excited about the Amnesty International film showing of a movie called "When the War is over" about South Africa. It's not a subject I know much about and I was looking forward to it so I show up at the given time and I barge in on a class full of students taking a test. I was kinda loud about it too, so the professor glared at me and then I left and wandered around confused for a long time. Some kids looked at me like I was crazy when I said I was looking for the film screening. I came back to my room, double checked the email, and turned out that it had been the day before and I had completely missed it! ARG. Anyways, hopefully more events will be coming up, but i was really bummed about that.

Later that night I went to hang out with Brigitte at the Catholic Center....geez, for a girl who isn't Catholic I'm sure there a lot! It was some kind of dinner/social and there were a bunch of people there. I had like, 4 glasses of wine and after not drinking for months I was amazed that it actually affected me. We were going to have cigars (one of my long time, as of yet unrealized goals) but it didn't happen. One of these days I'm determined to try it. I'd also like to try a pipe like my grandpa uses...just once!

Jessica, your sock is mine! muahahaha i have a very heavy ransom

Grow up? But that means no more stories

This is another introspective entry and a damn long one at that, but I felt like after my really depressing entry the other day I needed to counterbalance it with the joys I have. To cheer myself up after the short lived freak out I had the other night about how my college experience was turning out, I decided to think ahead to all the cool things coming up in the next few years.

1. First of all, i started to get really hyped up over my junior year. I know it's a long time away, but the fact that I actually get to study abroad amazes me. I can hardly contain how excited I am over it. Some people never get the experience. Ever since 9th grade, I've had the exact spot picked out. I want to go to London. Yeah, I know a lot of people say that when you've got dozens of possibilities for studying abroad ranging from all sorts of foreign speaking European countries, why would you pick the country that's most like America? You could go to Florence and study art where some of the most amazing art in history was created. But England has always appealed to me. I love the accent, I love the incredibly green parks and the tea and crumpet hour around 4 oclock where people sort of stop what they are doing and grab a cup of tea. I love Notting Hill, which I've actually been to once before, and the spirit and fun of Portebello Road. Most of all I love the english guys. Oh man. They have the best accents and there's just something so appealing. I hope to find me a nice one there and we can go to the parks on nice weekend afternoons and read. I think it's the kind of place I'd fit in relatively well, versus a more foreign country where i might feel lost most of the time.

2. I think it also all comes down to the fact that I'm studying what I love. The last few years have been a strange sort of transformation into art. Even now, it's weird to think of myself as an artist. Growing up I always expected I'd become a writer, journalist, or a psychologist. I went through a lot of different phases and art seems to have come about as a whim. Very impulsive even though I put some thought into it. It was kind of a gamble, but throughout this year I found that this really is the perfect thing for me to be doing. I don't think I could possibly have stuck with a major like political science or engineering, it's not in my personality. I do feel like modern digital art, with all its new technology and constantly changing spirit, is something I'm going to love throughout all the years, and I shouldnt forget that and undermine the fact that I really am learning a lot about design and how I can continue to develop my own style over the next few years. It's nice to think that there might be a possibility of working at pixar or disney and really existing in that kind of world where I don't have to act my age all the time.

3. I think I made it seem in the other entry that I didn't appreciate the friends I made this year, but I didn't mean for that at all. I was feeling nostalgic thinking of my high school friends off at school. It's true that i didnt make a million and one friends here at usc, but the few i made are amazing and I wouldnt have been able to make it through this year without them. My suitemates are all incredible girls and the few guys Im good friends with on the floor and around campus are also awesome. It's weird how it started out as this random assignment and has turned into individual friendships that I think Im going to miss having around everyday over summer. We've gone to parties together and birthday dinners and just hung out in someone's room watching a movie. I love them and hope to hold on to those friendships next year.

It just goes to show that there are always ups to the downs.

Many strange legends are told of these jungles of India

I've been on the wait list for well over a month now and have been anxiously checking my messages everyday in hopes of finally getting housing. Yesterday they finally called me! I got a 4 person apartment in Annenberg House, which is about as far away as you could possibly get from campus in university housing, but I'm happy. I'm applying for reassignment to try to get into Troy East and be in an apartment with Brigitte, Megan, Sonya and Michelle. I'd be in the double i think. Anyways, I have a fairly ok chance of this happening, but even if it doesn't it's such a relief knowing that I'm not going to be stuck out in the streets with no place to live. A 4 person apartment is nice and I'd be happy to take it if reassignment doesn't work out. I'd be rooming with Megan who is awesome and I know I can get along with, even though I really didn't get much of a chance to hang out with her this year. yay for housing! A weight has definitely been lifted.

I tried the pina coloda jamba juice today. I highly recommend it. My life has been broken down into food.

I have a really strong urge to be at disneyland today. I went about a month ago i think, but I feel like going again and to sit in New Orleans square eating veggie gumbo out of a breadbowl and watching people go by. Does anyone want to go with me in the summer? I also really want to work some more on my room redecoration. I'm at a bit of a standstill because the next things that need to be done are painting the room and ripping out the carpet to put down some wood tile flooring. Both are really huge jobs that I think I'm going to have to wait till summer to tackle. It's going to look so good when it's done and I'll have everyone over.

There must be more than this provincial life

WARNING: The following post contains serious introspection and probably doesnt interest anyone else. If you read it and get pissed off cuz it's all about my own thought and worries, I warned ya. hehe.



I'm looking back on my year since the school year is almost over and I'm not sure I'm happy with it. Perhaps I'm just in a bad mood this evening, but I'm really upset at where I'm heading. Yeah, academically, school has been very good. I enjoyed my classes and actually learned a whole lot about design and religions and writing which was the goal of the year above all others, but socially I'm not pleased with the way it worked out. College is vast. I had a conversation with jessica tonight about how all of our high school friends are having really different experiences away at school. Some people have sort of dropped off the face of the earth and i'm sure are enjoying whatever they are doing. Some have gotten really involved in school activities and are always running around to different events. Some are loving their friends and don't even want to come home for breaks. I don't really fit into any of those categories and I have mixed feelings about it. After hearing tha,t I started feeling really shitty and asking myself all sorts of questions... why haven't I found my exact niche yet when so many others apparently have? Why haven't I completely made that leap over into independence and adulthood that apparently so many of my friends have done with ease?

They are really troubling questions and can get me down b/c I get to thinking that I haven't lived up to the standard of what I am supposed to be doing in college. I have a few friends here who I love, but not so much that I want to be here every day year round hanging out with them and not wanting a break. I can't relate. I don't understand what that feels like. I'm a very individual person and can truthfully only put up with people for a few days at a time without going somewhere for alone time. A haven for me is my family. I love spending the day with them or going to a museum or an art function or disneyland. I had a really happy time during childhood and when the time came this year to come to collge I was excited but not feeling that here was my big chance to prove just how independent I am. I didnt need that proof, ya know? I trust it happens in it's own time My brother and I get along wonderfully now that we're older and I feel that my mom truly is my best friend and one of the only people I can spend all day with. haha, or as anne of green gables would say "kindred spirit." I'm so thankful for that kind of relationship and I don't like being made to feel bad about it....and truly no one does that to me but myself. But i mean, I did have some REALLY fun days out with suitemates at parties or with art friends exploring LA...or at least explore as much as you can explore a city you've lived in for most of your life so that was good. I am not super involved this year, but will probably be much more next year when i rush a sorority. I can't wait to get more involved with something....anything! Now though, I look back and wonder if that is what I'm supposed to be doing when everyone else has such a radically different experience. Can you really judge your life by the way others live it? My gut says no, but i still do it I guess and it brings me down when i don't live up to it.

I get really nervous sometimes that I'm not doing this right, but really who's college experience is this supposed to be? Not anyone else's. Just mine. But somehow I try to remember that college is a time when people are finding themselves, and if there are already values that I hold really important...or maybe not values but just things about myself, traits, that I like already and feel comfortable with then it's not necessary to turn the experience into anything that doesn't fit with that. It wouldn't be true to what's already heavily ingrained in me. It's been said that people go through these radical upheavals in personality, trying to find the real "them" when after the four years they realize that who they really are is just about who they were before. Enough of that. To all of you who are just as confused and fuzzy as I am, i wish you the best of luck.

I should very much like to cross swords with some real buccaneers

The light in my dorm bathroom has burned out which means you have to walk in there and when you shut the door it is pitch black. Impossible. So I brought this tiny little flashlight in there and it gave just an itty bitty light, just enough to see, but it cast these scary rings of light and shadow and it was kinda scary. I kept thinking I was going to turn my head and see a serial killer with a hatchet. I'm not afraid of the dark, but man I think I'm going to avoid that bathroom for a while. Oh, and here's my final schedule for next semester:

French 1: screw taking it over the summer, i'll just start in the fall and will be all ready to go.

Design II: a wonderful graphic design class where I'll be able to work with typography and computers. who needs pencils and charcoal anyway?

Foundations of Western Art: basically it's an art history class covering early european art through the renaissance. Has the potential for being boring, but it will get rid of two requirements with just one class. Hooray for cramming lots of material into one class

Politics and Culture of the 1960's: My diversity class I've been excited about taking but bumped up to next semester cuz the advertising class was full


16 units. All classes I'm fairly interested in. I declared my advertising minor. I feel all set.

Annenberg school is super nice. I now know where the school's money goes and it's definitely not the art dept. Good thing I get to take classes there

Lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow

I haven't updated for a few days, and I promised a story too, but I haven't really been in the creative story mood as of late. But Im sure this will turn into a rather long entry because of the gap between entries. Plus, no one reads this anyways, so I'm sure it won't matter much. This weekend was extremeley excellent. My Jon Brion cd that I ordered finally came in which I've been listening to on a loop all weekend because he's simply incredible. His songs are so catchy and i love his voice. Sigh. Go buy the album if you don't have it...you just kinda have to hear it to know how cool it is.

Friday afternoon I decided that I didn't want to have brown hair anymore so I dyed my hair dark plum. It's pretty cool because when i stand in the light it's super bright but it can also look sort of normal when the light isn't directly on it. I already love having different colored hair and I think I'm going to keep it around throughtout the summer at least and might even try out some bright reds or blues. Why not? Although I have to say, bleach is the worst thing ever. I had to let it sit on my hair for 15 minutes or so to strip all the dark from my hair, and it itched like mad! I felt like I had a million pissed off red ants biting my head. It was worth it to get the right color, but oh man did it drive me crazy.

My mom, Brigitte, and I went on an adventure down to Burbank on Saturday and got distracted by tons of vintage shops along Magnolia. Tried on some absolutely breathtaking vintage prom dresses and it made me wish I was still in high school just so that I could go to prom in one of those dresses. I liked my dress from last year, but these were just incredible and flowing. Oh well. At least trying them on was fun, until the rack holding all of the dresses broke, fell, and tons of dresses came crashing down on me. I survived. This one dress actually looked nice on curves...doesn't change the fact that I'd much rather be 100 pounds. I want to be a ballerina...and not one that falls through the floorboards because she's too fat to be on stage, which would probably happen if I were to attempt it right now. I want to be the delicate flower who can lift her leg up to her head and look like on long, thin line. Also went to IKEA, possibly the best store on earth. I hadn't been there since I was at the age when my parents dumped me off in the ball pit and went off to do their own shopping, but now that I'm grown up I can appreciate shopping (and i think they'd throw me out if I tried to jump in the ball pit now). Walking through the made up rooms they have set up gave me loads of ideas. I got a comforter. It's excellent.

Today my dad and I busted out the gloves and goggles and took to stripping the varnish off my dresser that i'm turning into a record player. Yes, incredibly exciting. I went to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind again which was much cooler seeing it knowing what's going on and is definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Anyways, I had a good weekend overall and am dreading this week as usual. I'm over this semester so much and am longing for summer days with friends and especially the awesome classes im taking next semester. More on that tomorrow.

Today is tax day. A very important day for all of you who pay your taxes and who aren't hiding from the IRS like I am. Stick it to the man. Just Kidding. Today is also a very special day because it's jessica's birthday!! yay!! It's too bad that I'm not in New York right now and that my birthday present is late and my Christmas present is horribly horribly unexcusably late, but in honor of Jessica's turning 19 I am going to write a story and post it here in a few minutes. As soon as I go take a shower. Check back later

Behind that fair facade I'm afraid she's rather odd

Going to a school like USC, you are bound to run into a multitude of incredibly ditzy, barbie girls. It's one of the stereotypes of the school that's ultimately true. During the winter it wasn't too bad...i think they all went into hiding, but now that the sun is out full blast and spring is upon us, the entire campus is filled with girls wearing tiny bikinis laying out on the grass tanning. I don't understand tanning. My roommate's been going out to do it everyday. They travel in groups, a very strange breed. Is it to say, "Hey look at me and how hot I look in a bikini?" or "Look how nice and crispy my skin can get." Perhaps I am just jealous because I'm very pale and no matter how many days in the summer I might spend in the sun, I'd remain forever more an albino color. I should have been born into the Victorian era, when being really pale was a sign of femininity. I've never felt the urge though to go to the beach and just lay in the sun all day. If I go to the beach, I'll probably be the first to jump in the water, even if my hair turns into a wet mass of curls that is impossible to comb out. Ultraviolet rays bad. Lotion good.

A week later, I'm still really sick. A few days ago I thought I was getting better, but I've had a sore throat for two days now and this cough is getting bad. I have asthma too, so I figure it's about time to go see the doctor and to try and get some antibiotics. Grumble Grumble. Going to the doctor is one of my least favorite things. I always wait until the last possible second, thinking whatever I have will just go away on it's own. P.S. I hope you don't have mono jess. Feel better!

What's the weak link in Wonderboy's chain?

What an excellent weekend this has been overall. I was worried that staying on campus meant sitting in my room being completely bored and getting cabin fever like crazy as it has been in the past, but this weekend has been a nice change. Yesterday my family came to visit and we went over to the natural history museum. There's a new exhibit called LA: Lights, Motion, and Dreams which I had been excited about seeing. It was pretty interesting. They had a lot of diarama type exhibits and it was a little trippy cuz youd walk in this room and they'd have mirrors set up around you and this screen playing really bright flashing scenes of LA nightlife and different images associated with LA. I thought i was going to start seizuring. If you go to USC, i recommend checking it out. They are also opening up a butterfly atrium out behind the museum next week if youre interested. I'll have to admire it from afar though. I hate butterflies!! Scary, evil creatures.

Then later on in the evening, I hung out and watched a movie with Andrew which was cool cuz now that I've calmed down and don't go out as much I never see him. Today is Easter and it's perfect outside. Absolutely beautiful spring weather that makes me want to be outside all the time and for summer to hurry up and get here. I'm thinking of going back this week to sit outside in the rose garden and do my homework. I feel like I'm living inside my own little happy bubble. Since today is Easter, I went with brigitte over to the Catholic center for the 11 am mass. Even though I'm not Christian, I find it incredibly broadening just to go to as many different types of services so I can get a further understanding of the various religions and actually know what I'm talking about. I think it's important for anyone who's interested in religion. Sometimes I wish I could be a theology major just for my own satisfaction, but it wouldn't be very useful. It was a great service and I learned a lot. Afterwards, Brigitte and her parents were nice enough to take me out to lunch at the farmers market and we went to this flea market on Fairfax. A good end to a good weekend. Now onward to drawing homework and writing essays.

I decided on the plum hair color...

J. Thaddeus Toad Esquire. Have you ever met him?

A few weeks ago, Brigitte informed me that Rivers Cuomo took a playwriting class here at USC. For those of you who don't know, Rivers is the singer for the band Weezer and I love him. Whenever we go to Ozma or various concerts, we always keep an eye out for him and since finding out that he actually comes to the campus regularly, Brigitte and I decided that we should stalk him. She sent me this conversation that she had with Andy Botros the other day with ideas on how to do that and I think they're great and totally fool proof. Here's that conversation:

ArAbCameLJocKey (10:14:47 PM): okay
ArAbCameLJocKey (10:14:48 PM): i got it
ArAbCameLJocKey (10:14:53 PM): we'll get a huge box to trap him in ArAbCameLJocKey (10:14:58 PM): and we'll put out milk and cheese pizza
ArAbCameLJocKey (10:15:01 PM): and a kiss shirt
ArAbCameLJocKey (10:15:12 PM): and a fender double fat strat
ArAbCameLJocKey (10:15:16 PM): he'll be helpless

Hmmm, wonder if my brother will let me borrow his guitar for that... Anyway, my weekend has been pretty nice so far. I have work that I'm procrastinating on, and I have a feeling it's going to kick my ass soon. Lots and lots and lots of drawing work due on Thursday. Yesterday I had to take care of a bunch of financial aid crap. It's about that time of year again that I've got to worry about next year's financial aid package. I applied for an art scholarship and hopefully now that my brother's graduating and going to college, they'll give me more aid. USC is a stingy bastard. After all the boring financial aid meetings I sat through, I went to Figueroa and discovered an outstanding new boba place. I had a vanilla milk tea boba. Mmmmmm. I wonder if I could start a boba diet, where I all I eat is boba.

Last night, Kasia and I watched Sleepy Hollow because she had never seen it, but afterwards I decided I needed to watch something happy or funny before I could fall asleep, because I didn't want to dream about my head being chopped off by Christopher Walken. No weird dreams to report thankfully. Graham Crackers brought over this music video dvd for stuff directed by Michel Gondry. Oh man, they were amazing and all very strange and trippy! He directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and on this dvd were a bunch of Bjork videos and White Stripes videos I had never seen before. He has a really edgy style. One video, the "Around the World" video, had these mummys, skeletons, space men, and swimmers doing a dance. Reminded me of thriller, which makes me want to learn the thriller dance even more. It doesn't necessarily have to be that dance, but I want to learn a dance with a bunch of people and then have everyone randomly burst into the dance at a party or something...someday before I die.

I've narrowed down the hair color choices to two. It's either going to be After Midnight Blue which is kind of a dark blue, or Royal Plum which is purple. Any suggestions? I'm gonna get screwed if I have to go for a job interview, but oh well.

In my world, the books would be nothing but pictures

Just got back from an incredible ballet class. My regular teacher (who is very good) was gone today so we had a sub. At first I was a little annoyed cuz I thought it was pointless to go when there's a sub, but this guy is so amazing. We spent the entire hour and a half at the barre and ran out of time before we could even get to the center floor. If you don't know anything about ballet, you're probably confused. But he phrased things in a way that I really understood what he was talking about. He pointed out this thing I was doing with my arms where they were too far apart in 5th position and he was right. No one had pointed that out to me before. He also gave us several visualizing techniques so that we could keep our balance for a long time and create this dualing tension. He really worked us too in terms of stretching and pushing our legs. It's the kind of thing where my legs were shaking uncontrollably and I just know that later on tonight I'm going to be incredibly sore. It was awesome. I wish my body was more toned though. Like, no matter what size I am, it seems that everyone else in that class is a twig and makes me feel a bit like a hippo. I would take a class with him everyday if I could. Apparently he teaches tap here at USC, but I hate tap. I took it when I was little and never liked it much. I like the flow and the elegance of ballet. That's probably why I'm not very good at other kinds of dancing...over the years it's been beaten into my head that posture and positioning is important so now it's almost impossible for me to loosen up.

I colored my hair blue today. It was red the other day. These sprays are a great way to help me decide if I want to dye my hair a certain color. Just spray it in and see how the color looks, then wash it out. It'll be a tough choice between red and blue. If I get a job or internship over the summer time I probably won't do either because that's not very professional, but if Im just taking classes I think it would be fun. Now if only hair would grow!

King Triton must be in a friendly-type mood

I'm still sick and have been blowing my nose so much that most of my face has gotten red and blotchy and I didn't sleep well so there are these awful dark circles around my eyes. I look a bit like a zombie. Not a pretty sight, trust me. I could definitely use some of those soft tissues with the aloe vera....oooooh so nice. Anyways, not feeling up to doing much so the last two days have given me plenty of time to sit around and figure out my schedule for next semester and here's what I've come up with so far.

VISUAL CULTURE AND LITERACY: Exploration of visual thinking and communication in art and popular culture: interpretation of the personal and social context, function and lineage of the image. (It's one of my requirements for my art major and actually sounds like it has the potential to be interesting. You can never know too much about art)

DESIGN II: Exploration of essential elements of traditional and digital design, including color and image-text integration, editing information, typography and sequencing. (yay!! finally! It's about time to bring in some computer graphic design. Im very excited about getting away from these basic fundamental art classes and taking some graphics)

INTRO TO ADVERTISING: History and development of advertising; basic advertising campaigns showing relationships of marketing, creative, print and electronic media. (I'm pretty sure that advertising is going to be my minor, but I have very little experience with it so it'll be interesting to see if it's something Im actually good at)

French II: After I take French this summer, French II is the next class.

Anyways, I've been thinking of new hobbies to try and learn over the summer...in case I have extra time and am sitting around bored out of my mind. The more and more I think about it, I'd REALLY like to learn electric guitar. For some reason, I've always had it in my mind that when you get to this age, it's just too late to pick up a new talent. If you think about it, most people who become really good at something start when they are really little. As a little kid, I focused mainly on dancing and acting. Hours upon hours I spent at the dance studio (from age 3 to 16). I was a dancing fool. I did ballet, pointe (for some reason I really miss dancing until my feet were bleeding and shit), tap, jazz, hip hop, and even some traditional African and Salsa dancing. I worked for it and developed my talents as a dancer and even though I don't do it as much now, I still consider it one of my favorite hobbies. When I was little I used to play flute for a few years and took horseback riding lessons. Now it seems, at this age, that I'm supposed to be focusing mainly on things relating to my career, but that's not a very exciting way to live. Is it too late to learn something? I mean, I'm 19 years old and what do I do besides art stuff and the occasional dancing. Very little. I look at my brother who took up guitar only about 2 or 3 years ago and he's improved so much and is just amazing at it now so I guess you're never too old to learn something new. Matt and my dad offered to teach me some guitar over the summer and I'm thrilled. My dad used to be in a band for many years throughout college and he told me that he started learning when he was about my age. We'll see how it goes, but I'm actually starting to get excited about it.

This week's not starting out well. I have a nasty cold that has left me sneezing and coughing and not wanting to leave my bed. Luckily, I dont have any homework tonight so I'm gonna drink some nyquil and pass out early. Too tired to update any more today...plus not much is going on. Stay tuned. uuuuuuggggggghhhhhh

What a fucking brilliant concert last night. When I wrote my last blog, I was a little cranky because there were far more opening bands than I had anticipated and I just wanted to hear the Ataris. I went back outside around 8 pm to listen to another 3 opening bands...significantly better than the screaming group. I was a little lenient and hung out near the back, but then I ran into Sheri and hung out with her group for a bit as we edged closer and closer to the stage. By the time The Ataris came out, I was about 5 feet from the front. It was crazy! The Ataris played an amazing show and I had fun admiring Kris Roe, the lead guitarist/singer's, many tattoos or at least what I could see until the crowd went mad and I was caught in a storm of crazed students jumping up and down and running into each other. I have been in that situation once before at Warped Tour last summer when I made the mistake of getting up front for Simple Plan amongst a sea of hardcore punk fans. This time however was remarkably more fun and once I got into it I had a great time. I got kicked in the back of the head/neck region by a crowd surfer, but that didn't bother me much. I also got jabbed multiple times in the spot on my back right in between the shoulder blades. All in good fun though. My brother's early positioning paid off as he got front and center spot and took some incredibly pictures. Check out my online photo album soon and I'll post the pics. Overall, the concert turned out to be amazing and got me charged about going to more concerts. Matt caught the drumstick and a guitar pic that were thrown from the stage and was talking about it all night.

I am in love with a techie. haha. After the concert, Matt and I hung around hoping to talk to the band as they tore stuff down and packed. We waited a while and then John, the rhythm guitar player, and this guy who I think was named Mike (he's the backup guitarist and a techie at the same time) came out and hung out with us for like, 40 minutes while their van was getting loaded. They were super nice and down to earth guys. Before John came out, I got to talk to the techie who Ill call Mike for about 20 minutes and I pretty much decided that he's perfect. He was a little taller than me, bleached blond hair, black sweatshirt jeans and converse sneakers, really big blue eyes, and a lip ring. Holy sweet goddamn. When we were talking he told me all these cool stories about being on the road and we joked around and stuff and he did the eye contact thing that is so important and makes me melt. I love him. I took a picture with him that ill post soon so you can all see what Im talking about and maybe the next show of theirs I go to he will be there. I think that, for a while at least, that is what I am going to look for in a guy. I am definitely into the piercing/tattoo look although I think a colored mohawk would be a little extreme for my dating taste. haha. Just talking to these guys made me want to run out and pierce my lip and dye my hair bright red and learn to play electric guitar. I wonder what's stopping me.

I have even more stories about the concert, but I think this post is getting too long. Ill just end by saying that it was great and Im going to go to more of their shows (especially to look for the techie).

It's 7:13 pm and Im sitting in Leavey library. Now that I think of it, I have only been in here once before when I came to a meeting on how to use the library equipment...fun stuff. I like reading and books, but whenever I've needed to go to a library, it's always been the art and architecture library, which is by far the coolest library on campus. I could sit for hours flipping through books of black and white photography or reading about communist propaganda art and it's effects on the era and shaping of the society. Anyways, why am I here tonight updating my blog when I could be doing this in the dorm and I don't even have work to do? Well, the Ataris are going to be playing right outside, and were supposed to start at 6 but when I got there, there are these opening punk bands who just scream insanely into the microphone. WHat are the saying anyway? All I hear is "YEEEEEEEAAAAH ARGARGAARGS!!!!" as the singer jumps up and down like a rabbit on crack. (angie's words) I cannot tolerate this, and angie being a really awesome jazz vocalist major REALLY cant take this, we figured that there would be at least another hour of openers before the Ataris come out. So I retreated to the library in anticipation until they start playing and I can actually go and check it out. My brother, who is a big punk fan and whatnot, really loves the Ataris and attributes his desire to play electric guitar to some of their music. He freaked when I told him they were playing and since it's free I told him to come on out. He got here at 2:30 and has been hanging around ever since. I got a little worried when I was in drawing class and it started raining...thinking of poor matt stranded outside somewhere, but he seems way too happy to care which I suppose is a good thing. Im going to meet him after the concert and we'll probably hang out in the dorm watching The Godfather.

I can hear the screaming band through the walls. Good grief. Angie is playing some gospel music at the computer next to me. For some reason, I never used to like gospel music. Im not sure why, i guess something to do with the religiousness of it, but recently Ive really started to appreciate it more. I like the spirit of it and when a whole group of people sing it together, there's such an overpowering sense of community that it doesnt really matter if I fit with the religious message behind it. Sometimes I wish I belonged to a gigantic church that actually had talented singers. At mine, we sing but there are not many of us at all and it sounds like a bunch of racoons with laringitis who've been stuck in a potato sack and shook about.

It was april fool's day and as of yet, I haven't been pranked. I was in my room earlier today and I was listening to Liz on the phone (kind of hard not to since we are in the same room) and she called her boyfriend and told him that she got caught smoking and was getting kicked out of school. It was just a prank of course...way too many people here smoke pot without getting kicked out. But very fitting I think. Im looking forward to doing even more work on my room this weekend. Im going garage sale shopping at the crack of dawn with my mom on Saturday and hope to find some good, extremely cheap furniture or bedposts, etc. I need to take down my shelves and get a picture frame. I hope the Ataris put on a good show or else spending all this time in the library will have been a waste. Ok, off to go catch the show. Ill tell you how it is soon...