Los Angeles is 72 suburbs in search of a city

I moved into my new summer apartment on Monday. The apartment itself is noticeably more crappy compared to my normal campus apartment, but there are only 4 of us there so it seems spacious enough. There is this horrific tiles from the 1970's in a mustard yellow and dingy orange decorative pattern and dark green couches. Whoever designed the apartment had no sense of color theory. But there is amazing shower pressure so I'm going to take as many showers as I can. Megan is in the other room and there are two roommates who I just met. They seem nice enough, but everyone tends to be around the apartment at different times. In fact, two of the three nights I was there, my roommate Amanda didn't even sleep in the room which will be nice if it continues because then it's practically a single. The elevator is one of the slowest known to man, but I'm not in a hurry. Summer session is actually quite pleasant. I'm enjoying being back in a city atmosphere.

I started class this Wednesday and was surprised at how it sucked less than I had expected. The classroom is in the geology building which is, in my opinion, one of the prettier buildings on campus. It is made of large stones, old wood floors, and detailed carved archways. I even found a secret courtyard. Well, it's probably not a secret, I just hadn't seen it before. The class only has about 20-25 students, and the teacher is this really friendly older man. I'm not much of a science person, but I think I made the right choice by taking oceanography and not something like physics or chemistry. The class has only been 2 hours a day so far but will get longer next week because we start a lab.

The rest of my free time I spent wandering campus. I just started "A Confederacy of Dunces," hearing it was a good book from some friends, so I get coffee and sit on campus and read. And since campus is practically devoid of students, it's really nice. Although they have orientation every week for the new students coming in. You can tell they are new because they have to walk around with big yellow nametags and sit in circles doing ice breaker games with an orientation advisor. It really was an annoying time...orientation. I discovered that a bunch of ADPi girls are living here this summer so I stopped by to say hi to them and they told me about how they found a lost dog and named it "Grandpa". We took it for a walk but halfway there Grandpa started hyperventilating and deciding it had overexerted itself one of the girls had to pick it up and carry it home.

I went to Sonia's, my ex-roommate, wedding the other night. It was just the reception and was at this Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park, but it was such a strange feeling to see someone I had lived with all year in a different setting and all decked out in her bride gear. I'll miss having her around the apartment this year.

I'm back spending the 4th of July weekend with my family and anticipating our usual traditions on Monday. I'll talk about that next time.

Poodle puppies and magic spells

I was sitting with my mom drinking coffee this morning and we were exchanging the weird dreams we had last night. She was telling my about her dream where we had a litter of baby poodles. My mom, being a nurse, doesn't have a problem sharing the gross details and functions of the body, so in her dream the poodle puppies got constipated and were going to die. Skip all the following gross details she included, she was able to help the puppies and her dream ended with many happy poodles jumping up and down with joy.

My dream was more boring, but was still pretty strange. In my dream, I went to the movies with my friends. Which I actually did last night to see Batman so that's probably where it came from. In the dream, my friends introduced me to this guy who they thought I'd hit it off with. I did and we went on a date and everything was good. Then I find out that the guy is actually an 80 year old man who had taken a magic potion to become 20 years old. I was mad because he deceived me and I had just been on a date with an 80 year old disguised as a 20 year old and that was the end. Maybe I should see a shrink. Or my mom should.

I feel like a bat in a cave lately. One of the lightbulbs in my room burned out and I've been too lazy to go to the hardware store and pick up a new one, so it's especially dark in here. Plus, with summer school starting in less than two weeks, I'm starting to feel the pressure to get all my shit together before fall. I have to get the ADPi website up and running, but it's not as easy as it seems. I made picture slideshows with music, but the music was copyrighted so I've been emailing back and forth with ASCAP about internet licensing and it's been a pain in the ass. After finally figuring all that out, I now need to finish up and polish the look of the website and go through all the things involved with getting a USC based server. I have to track down our sorority advisor's signature and then drive down to USC to turn it in personally to ISD computer services. As if all that's not bad enough, once I post it, I'll actually have to show people in my house the final product. I'm worried some people aren't going to like the look of it, think it's unprofessional, or something.

Also, I'm running the unitarian group on campus next fall so I created a website which only seems to run on MACs. But if you have a mac, the site is www.angelfire.com/un/uscunitarians.

I'm going to a wedding next week! I'm so excited, it's only my second wedding ever. This time, my roommate Sonia is getting married. She's actually 25 so it's not like she's my age, but it's a strange feeling to see friends of mine getting married. Her fiancee is in his 30's. It's freaky enough to think I'm a junior in college now, let alone soon going to more friends' weddings. What is a good wedding gift? I have no idea. Maybe a clock? A blender? Leave me a comment if you have a good idea for a wedding present that isn't too expensive. I think my roommates Megan and Brigitte and I are all getting together to get a gift for her.

Pirate houses

Time seems to be in a standstill right now. I love that feeling when you lose track of the date or what day of the week it is because you aren't run by a class schedule. This week is a lot different from last week though. Last week, everyone was home and I was having a great time visiting. This week, however, almost everyone left...including my family. My brother's girlfriend and her family took him on an all expenses paid vacation to Florida where they will be for 2 weeks. Man, what a deal. He's been calling us from Florida and telling us about all the things he's doing there. Wild Animal Park, Disneyworld, MGM, Epcot. Plus, for half the trip they are staying in this old house that used to be a hideout for pirates back when there used to be pirates. Matt says there are a bunch of willows and bayou type landscaping and looks like a scene straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Last summer, one of Matt's friends invited him to 2 weeks in Hawaii. He really lucks out with that stuff. To top things off, my dad is in Las Vegas for the week for a trade show.

So it's just me and my mom here. We decided instead of just sitting around the house like 2 bumps on a log and waiting for my time to go back to USC, we are going to plan out the week with a fun activity each day. On Tuesday, we went to the gym in the morning and then saw the movie Crash in the afternoon. We both decided that we wanted to be healthier and so we've been heading to the YMCA almost every day to use the bikes, weights, and ellipticals. My mom lost 4 pounds, I lost nothing...but so it goes. I dont really have to lose weight anyway. We follow the gym with a big salad for lunch. This has been going on for a few weeks and I am already starting to feel really good. I'm so happy my mom is doing it too. Then yesterday, we drove to Carpinteria in the evening. I'd much rather go in the evening to eat dinner and then catch the sun going down on the beach. This way, there aren't as many people out which is always nice.

Today we are going to the Natural History Museum with Amy which is right across from USC and then tomorrow we are working out and then going to Disneyland. I like going there because they have the rose garden outside and an exhibit on light and motion. I want to head to MOCA sometime soon. This way, I'm not getting bored at all, and summer school will start before I know it.