from happyrobot - updated 6/9/2026 3:07:42 AM https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp en-us https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=8623 <sup>I graduate in a week.


The older I get, the more embarassed I am of everything I didn't know before.


The more time goes by, the more I want to have a good sit down to catch up with myself.


I'm sitting here at the desk where it all started, where I have worked over the past three years on what is probably my last shift here.


it's incredibly quiet. everyone has left after the chaos of final exams.


i never: went to a college party, partied on spring break, lived in a dorm, studied abroad, joined any kind of official student organization.


i did: work three jobs at once while taking a full 15 credits, innumerable group projects, two internships, get by with a little help from my friends.


summer is almost here. i can practically taste it.



]]></sup> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=8528
The last time I watched the local news, the highlights included Lake Michigan's amazingly high fecal bacteria pollution count (linked to Miller stadium's sewage system, which apparently is discharged directly into the river/watershed, medieval-style), the shooting of four people in one house on the North Side, several more shootings (the details of which escape me at this time), and one state politician asking that the National Guard patrol Milwaukee over the summer in preparation for Summerfest.

It's a miracle that anyone manages to capture sunny, tourism-style photographs here at all. If it wasn't for the Calatrava addition, what would we put on the vistor's bureau promotional materials? Shots of cigarette butts imbedded in a filthy pile of snow that refuses to melt?


"Ahem--er--you know of course that all ships have rats in them, Doctor, do you not?"

And the Doctor said, "Yes."

"And you have heard that rats always leave a sinking ship?"

"Yes," said the Doctor--"so I've been told."

"People," said the rat, "always speak of it with a sneer--as though it were something disgraceful. But you can't blame us, can you? After all, who WOULD stay on a sinking ship, if he could get off it?"

"It's very natural," said the Doctor--"very natural. I quite understand.... Was there-- Was there anything else you wished to say?"

"Yes," said the rat. "I've come to tell you that we are leaving this one. But we wanted to warn you before we go. This is a bad ship you have here. It isn't safe. The sides aren't strong enough. Its boards are rotten. Before to-morrow night it will sink to the bottom of the sea."

"But how do you know?" asked the Doctor."

--from The Story of Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting




]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=8497
In a cab at one A.M. in the morning going through the busiest bar district in town, where drunk people throw themselves at my cab in an effort to flag it down, zombie-style.

]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=8487


The 90's seem like a freeway exit that we were supposed to take but missed, with the sign receding rapidly into the distance.











]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=8421
and this city takes

it breaks your spirit
and teeth and health

makes us all walk old.

but not you

you

left in the vertical snow on a thursday morning

it seems like a different place now.

it seems like a colder place now.

we did more in less time than anyone else i know.

and you will be missed.



]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=8370
Seen, for $5.99 at Walgreen's: a small white-and-blue box labelled "Nicogel."

I figured, since I'd just gotten over a wretched cold, that what the hell, I should probably try to kick the habit.

Another major factor: my aunt is dying of lung cancer and a brain tumor after years of Marlboros.

So while starting to quit...
I was fine while congested.

But combining the pressures of 12-14 hour days with attempting to quit cold turkey proved too much for me. The gnawing, grating edginess.

And so I purchased a pack of Natural American Spirit Menthols and a box of Nicogel.

I smoked a few cigarettes, perhaps 4 or 5 out of the pack--doling them out one-by-one, as if they were precious sweetmeats. I bought menthols precisely because I don't really appreciate their icy coolness, particularly in sub-zero weather.

Today, when the pack of cigarettes was discovered (despite my repeated declarations of "I'm quitting! Really!"), I opened the Nicogel.

First impression upon tearing open the small foil packet: a smale globule of runny liquid stained coffee-brown.

Second impression: this stuff smells like a dirty airplane.

Third impression: it actually seems to work.

I can't help but think of the "Old Habits, New Beginnings" Strangers with Candy episode where Jerri gives Poppy Downs the "Glint" to rub in her lips.

I wonder if there are any side effects?]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7960 49.3 million people are in Generation X, ages 28 to 39. Current Population Survey (CPS)

He looks down at his shoes, then looks back up, squinting at the bright light shimmering off of the asphalt with its imbedded specks of glass.

The cell phone starts to buzz, prompting a muttered "fuck." He shuffles around his bags to get the phone. An unfamiliar number on the screen. That's the nice thing about flip phones. Up to a point, you can tell who's calling. He used to have a kyocera that was flat. When someone was calling, if you pressed any button it would automatically pick up.

He doesn't feel like dealing with any bullshit today.

He puts all five bags in his left hand and puts the phone back in his pocket.

81% of people in Generation X are employed full or part-time. (PF)

He'll wait until 5:30 to head out, pick up something to drink and then take it back to his place, with the small windows and the chain lock.

He hates the sound of plastic bags crunching in his palms. They sent him out to pick up the pre-ordered lunch for the whole department.

The shirt he got as a gift in September feels uncomfortable in this heat. The soda cans on the street vendor's cart are sweating beads that trickle down and pool around their bases.

Streetlight changes: go.

There are 35% less people in Gen X than in the Baby Boom, and Gen X is 32 percent smaller than Generation Y or the Echo Boom generation. (CPS)

Crossing the other way is a group of tourists on their first trip to the city. They stop by the street vendor and pay two dollars and fifty cents for the cans of Fanta and Pepsi.

He hates the tourists. The people who live in the city. Every day is spent winding around these sticky messes who clog the street and the stores and the subways. Watching crap, eating crap, making crap.

$36,139 is the average individual income of a person in Gen X in 2002. (USCB)

The granite lobby floor makes the elevator's bell echo. Floor seven.

He places the bags on the table set up by the office coordinator. Everyone gets their little takeout box with Sharpie writing on the top indicating the contents. Extra packets of mayo, napkins and plastic forks.

Returning to his desk, he sends out an office email telling everyone that the catered lunch to celebrate Dan's fifth year with the company has been delivered.

He checks his favorite blog: his own.



]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7905 Dear People Who Come to the East Side in the Summer,

I was originally going to address this letter to everyone who was headed on their way to Summerfest, but I decided to widen the range to include the entire spectrum of annoying people who decend upon the East Side whenever they deem the weather clement enough.

Firstly, to tackle the subject of the Summerfest goers: I'm assuming that the festival opens its doors at a reasonable hour, say, around 12 noon. So why are you wandering around at 8 AM in the morning, yelling like a carnival barker in search of beer? I myself have never been to Summerfest. For some reason the idea of wandering around on 75 acres of enclosed, heat-condensing asphalt listening to mostly crappy bands while drinking overpriced beer and/or eating lard-fried eggplant strips...well, it never appealed to me. My younger sister went several times, and recounted to me how at one concert a drunk middle-aged woman was attempting to remove her (*my sister's) shoe believing it to be her own shoe. I am sure there are many other stories she did not recount. So I have no idea why so many people want to go, and fine for you if you want to be part of "the World's Largest Music Festival," but please don't act as though you own everything within 5 miles of the wretched Summerfest grounds just because you paid $12 to get in.

Moving on to the people who come down to Brady Street thinking they will see and be seen on the pages of MKE or info* magazine: you are sorely mistaken. Driving your souped-up crotchbuster does not impress people. Nor does hanging around the Nomad world pub (in a particularly apt summation of the Nomad, my friend Mike said that he was grateful for its existence because "flies flock to shit"). Those who decide to go bar-crawling on Brady dressed in their best will often leave behind souvenirs like one high-heeled mule sandal, its heel caught in a street grate. If you're going to visit the East Side, don't be disrespectful to the people who live here through rain and huge amounts of snow and ridiculous parking ticket fees. It's because of the residents that the unique local businesses are able to stay open.

Finally, to the desperate drug addicts who seem to crawl out of the woodwork as soon as the temperature stays above 60 degrees: please, get help. Especially the one guy who was running down North Avenue being chased by a random man clutching a chair leg.

sincerely,
Moi]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7890 I have been introduced to the amazingness of Ladytron firstly through the influence of my coworker, who let me borrow their latest CD. Then they kept on coming up on my pandora playlist. Finally I google-videod for them and came up with 2 results: Destroy Everything You Touch and Seventeen. While watching the music video for Destroy Everything You Touch, I was suddenly struck by something--I'd seen the images in some way/shape/form before. Listening more closely to the lyrics only increased the sense of deja vu.

It resembled to an uncommon degree a chapter in the first book of TOMIE, a chapter that I believe was called "TOMIE: Revenge."

Of course the damn book has to be completely un-findable so that I can't scan small bits and pieces to back up my story, but the resemblances between the entire album and the book series is uncanny. It's probably just synchronicity, but here are as many of the facts as I can get (without the actual book, dammit):

Excerpted lyrics to the song Destroy Everything You Touch:
Destroy everything you touch today
Destroy me this way
Anything that may desert you
So it cannot hurt you

You only have to look behind you
At who's underlined you
Destroy everything you touch today
Destroy me this way

Excerpt from a review for the first book of Tomie:
Tomie 1 (of three volumes so far published in the US), contains six interconnected stories all set in contemporary Japan and focused on the eponymous character, high school teenager Tomie who, as the publisher's blurb states: "is the girl you wish you could forget. She is the one you shouldn't have touched, shouldn't have smiled at, shouldn't have made mad. She is quite lovely and you may love her to death. You may kill her. She will come back to life. You try to destroy her completely. It won't work."

Excerpt from the song Weekend:
Friday is the teacher
And Monday the tormentor
You are a new kind of creature
Perpetual weekend

And on the wire in the morning, there's a city growing in my head
Where there is no weekend
You are a permanent feature
You are a new kind of creature

You took the end
You took the end out of weekend

Excerpt from a review of the first book of Tomie:
"She recalls that her titular friend was discovered dead, not all the pieces of her body found. While the teacher, Mr Takagi concluded speaking to the class about accepting the painful tragedy of Tomie's death and that she is gone forever, Tomie herself makes an entrance apologising for her tardiness. Now though, Tomie seems... different and, to make things more troubling, her infatuation with Mr Takagi creates turmoil that leads to her death (again) on a class excursion to a local park. There, in a chilling sequence of depictions made more so by the dialogue and the corpse not being shown except for the blood splatters, the teacher persuades the class to assist him in the incriminating body's dismemberment and disposal of the remains. Not surprisingly, Tomie does not stay deceased for long."

I'm probably reading too much into the lyrics, but the resemblance between the artwork in the books and the way that the performers look in the video... the music videos are far better done than the adaptations into actual movies.

I've got to find the book!



]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7857 I got 4 guppies on tuesday. 3 males and one female. Originally I intended to pick out only this vivid yellow delta guppy, but I ended up getting one with a blood-red tail and his little friend who got caught in the net as well. The female was the last one the store had left, so I got her as well.

This is a twelve-gallon ECLIPSE system tank that they are abiding in, along with eight baby neon tetras. The tank has been running for about 5 weeks now and seems to have gotten into balance (*new aquariums have a problem with nitrogen/ammonia buildup, since the beneficial bacteria haven't had the chance to grow in numbers).

I try to make sure they get a balanced diet of freeze-dried bloodworms, tropical treat frozen food and tetramin.
Apparently, however, the bigger red male guppy isn't doing so well. I am hoping that they are not sick. A few google searches revealed that fancy guppies are prone to mysterious maladies that can kill them randomly, even more so than most fish (thanks a lot for not mentioning that small detail, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AQUARIUM FISHES).

Hopefully they will survive. I intend to get 2 more female guppies to try and equalize out the ratio a bit. Since guppies are poeciliids (live-bearers), the males spend about 80% of their time chasing the female.

My first pet--the one that started it all--was a feeder guppy. I still remember bringing it home from Blue Ribbon pets, the store that used to be on Oakland Ave. where Sergei's Hair Salon is now. I was listening to the "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" record (my early childhood soundtrack was exclusively vinyl--when my parents bought an AIWA sound system and a sony Walkman, that was a big deal for me) and watching the little guppy swim around enthusiastically. Of course there were a few "Amelie"-esque instances where the guppy leapt out of the bowl, but we caught them most of the time.

]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7825 Welcome to the newest idea in innovative downtown living, the subterranean development, where form meets function. If you've dreamed of living in the heart of downtown--well now you can imagine living in the colon of downtown!

The Subterraneo is an exclusive condominium community designed by the firm of Rachetby & Sodden. Located near Milwaukee's own Deep Tunnel, the Subterraneo is the first construction of its kind. The unique color palette of these two-bedroom condominium units can beest be described as a mixture of metallics combined with rich, dark wood tones. Utilizing materials with modern appeal like concrete, brushed steel and reclaimed wood, Rachetby & Sodden have created condominiums on the cutting edge of modern luxury. The gourmet kitchens in every unit come complete with Viking ranges, as well as rustic steel beams and black crackle center islands with marble countertops. The kitchen cabinets are reminiscent of French style with details of inset design and cast iron hinges. Each unit also features an ideal entertainment hub: the lower lower level includes a charming brick wet bar, exercise room, wine cellar, media room, and billiards area. Access to downtown amenities is only a moment away thanks to secure elevator access and an exclusive parking structure built for Subterraneo residents. Construction has begun on an Olympic-sized swimming pool that will capitalize on the Subterraneo's ideal location in one of downtown's most desirable communities.

Integral to the design was the need for privacy and discretion on the part of discerning residents as well as travelers. Accordingly, public spaces in the Subterraneo have been kept intimate in scale and suffused with the understated elegance that can only come from living in an truly grounbreaking housing development.

The Subterraneo features units ranging in size from 3,895 to 9,500 square feet. At 3, 895 feet, the Scorrege is one of the most popular units, with only 3 currently available pre-construction. At 5, 250 feet the L'Odeur is the ideal size for the cosmopolitan couple looking for a downtown retreat away from the world. Finally, the 9,500 square foot Mer da Schietta is our largest unit, and with only one available pre-construction, the most exclusive. With prices starting at around $500,000, you'll agree that the Subterraneo is the place to live for the professional looking for a quiet waterside retreat in the midst of downtown.

We offer preferential rates to buyers from Chicago.

Don't delay--call Blanche Enschprecht at Revitalized Realty today!

]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7812 Every morning when I get up early, watching the morning news as a makeshift alarm clock because the VCR got removed and never replaced, I make sure that I am leaving at exactly 7:20 a.m. I have to walk two blocks, and when I exit the building there is always the woman who lives next door exiting her home at precisely the same time like clockwork. We then wait at the same bus stop for the same bus. This has been routine through rain, cold, wind, and sun.

We have never even said hello to each other over months.

She always wears the same outfit: black slacks, a black suitjacket with a black blouse, leprechaun-heeled shoes, her hair cut right below her earlobe. She is never talking on a cell phone or reading a book.

At 7:40 the bus always picks up the same man with a red-haired buzzcut, carrying his lunch in a plastic bag. The bus driver always knows him because they exchange pleasantries with one another before he gets seated.

Every evening in front of Rochambo's, at an outdoors green plastic table to the left of the steps, there sits a deeply tanned but wizened man with long white hair. His small puppy wears a leash and sits next to the table. It looks like a chihuahua-jack terrier mix and is terribly cute. His face looks as though it was put through horrible plastic surgery. Sometimes when we walk by he is holding the puppy in his arms. At other times of day I see the same puppy at the same outdoors table with a different, taller but still deeply tanned and wizened man with a shaved head.

Every day when I am waiting for the bus, so is she. She is short, and has a large mole right under her nose, black hair cut in a wildly frizzy bob, and glasses. She is always reading some supermarket paperback action novel, and when the bus arrives she always insists that I get on the bus before her. Usually the bus is quite crowded but she still focuses intensely on reading her book.



]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7755
Reading UZUMAKI has forever changed the way I see snails. It's difficult to explain unless you've seen the movie for yourself. (*the link I just posted to also includes several stills of the most dramatic shots in the movie). You can't even begin to compare Junji Ito's work with those of other manga/graphic novel/comic artists: his art is just so far superior, it's incredible. My descriptions of it can't do it justice; all I can say is that if I leave one of his books sitting around inevitably someone always has to find out what it's about and then they become engrossed in it... His latest book GYO could never live up to the "holy shit!" incredibleness of UZUMAKI, but it sure has its "WTF?" moments.

I overslept my alarm clock this morning but somehow managed to get ready in 12 minutes and catch the bus and go to work on time. Now if only the stupid group-project I have to work on were complete I could just go outside and enjoy the (rare) sunshine.]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7738 I guess I am a Dadaistic person.

When i'm commuting on the bus, I tend to think about the meaning of words (perhaps not entirely unusual for someone who grew up speaking in 3 languages and having parents who translated documents for people and who watched ASTERIX instead of TRANSFORMERS). The way that the word "Pretty" can mean both aesthetically pleasing or cute in a frail way or as a modifier describe how something was, as in "that movie was pretty bad." If english wasn't your first language, you'd find ever so many sentences confusing.

I am horribly random, always have been. My sister called me "the queen of red herrings," and she still does. *Red herring meaning non-sequiturs/abrupt changes of subject, particularly if the conversation is veering in a direction I find uncomfortable. I feel that my conversational purpose is much the same as an airstone in an aquarium: to maximize the oxygen level and create micro-fine air bubbles. Circulate. Move things along so that they can't get weighed down. A dead space in talking can be like the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone" (depending on whom you're talking to) and that isn't acceptable as far as I'm concerned.

I want to write a lot more but I'm procrastinating on my huge account management class project--which no one in our group has even started yet. Eeep. Due on friday.

Robin and Biff and me all went to the Wendy's Drive-Thru to pick up some takeout for everyone late yesterday, and the person taking the order from the microphone thing, every time we said anything started yelling.

"I'd like a bacon cheeseburger combo."

"WHAT KIND?"

"Huh?"

"WHAT KIND OF DRINK??"

"Oh. Hey, what kind of drink do you want?"

"A Sprite?"

"A Sprite."

and so on and so forth. It was kinda funny in a late-nite drive-thru way. We ended up watching "Single White Female" which has to be one of the most grungy bizarre psychotic thrillers ever. It was great fun.

Finally, here's the most amazing Roscharch-test music video ever.]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7729 Finally I found documentation to back up the story (and I must've seen it when I was 8 or 9 on TV, weird):

In '92, Mattel--then headed by a woman--got into it with women's groups when they introduced Teen Talk Barbie, who whined "Math class is tough." (Did Larry Summers program her?) She also chirped "I love shopping!" and "Will we ever have enough clothes?"

A group of feminists and parents calling themselves the "Barbie liberation organization" bought a bunch of Teen Talk Barbies and G.I. Joes and traded their audio circuitry. Their newly engineered G.I. Jane Barbie growled "Eat Lead, Cobra!" and "Dead men tell no lies."

--pg. 209 of "Are Men Necessary? by Maureen Dowd

I love the idea of gender barrier breaking G.I. Joes.

Another thing I truly enjoy: that instant oatmeal with the little dinosaur eggs that "hatch" when you pour hot water on them. Cutest breakfast ever! I thought they were deliciously sugary too. Biff didn't like the miniature crunchy dinosaur pebbles tho.

]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7723 karma points must be free-circulating or else they wither up and die. I help you one weekend, you help me the next weekend, I help someone else, and the cycle goes on and on. You save me from the brink of starvation a year ago, I take care of your house while you're in the hospital. You help me with my design project because I was just learning photoshop (*and I still am a n00b), and I help you with your animation project. You encourage me, and I cheer you up. You support me and stay my friend through the good times and the bad, and you got my loyalty right there. You're my friend and that's why I'll try my damndest to be there for you.

Karma points can be collected and redeemed in one big swoop, or they can be gradually used up over time even as they are replenished. At least, that's my theory on them.
(*I don't claim exclusive creativity in naming them, since I thought a couple of years ago that I had made up the words "positrons" and "negatrons" only to find that they already exist).

Today is my big final thing for this week, the advertising presentation for ROCKSTAR energy drinks. I think I did a pretty good job putting it together. Now i just have to hope that i don't blank out while presenting it. Stayed up late editing my english paper and my advertising take-home final exam (the surprise one, in case you're wondering) last night.
I feel buzzy in my hands. I kept on messing up when transferring the phone calls today at work, and I feel like a total moron about it. I just hope that I can fix the situation after today because I could tell that I must've really been bothering them by pressing the "transfer" button too quickly.

The more I listen to the song "Kish Kash" (alternate spelling: "Cish Cash") by the Basement Jaxx feat. Siouxsie Sioux, the more cool it gets.

You know it makes the world go round...
]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7716

i was up until 1:30 am helping poor Biff paint 1,000s of his hand-drawn animation stills with watercolors, and I didn't sleep well 'cuz I kept on waking up at odd times like 4 AM. Poor biff is cranky, possibly even more than I am, so hopefully things will get better.

I decided to wear my crocheted espadrilles to school today with a cute striped top--I looked adorable, until my feet started to hurt like I was wearing shoes with a sole made of solid loofah sponge and an upper made out of sandpaper. My feet are hurting so bad right now and since I'm at work I have to limp across the floor at the behest of snippy people demanding irish movies. For the life of me I don't understand how anyone could take a class devoted to Irish cinema. After watching The Nephew about 8 times due to transatlantic flights with repeating in-flight movies, I've had enough irish cinema to last me a lifetime.

My random unexpected Final exam! has arrived. Apparently I have an advertising final exam due tomorrow that -- oopsies-- i haven't even started on yet. (*because i forgot about it). I also have to do most of the powerpoint for my presentation due in the same class.

I feel bad for Eve losing her dog.

I am disconcerted by finding out about our apartment building's new policy of having some people come in all the apartments once a month to check on the "Fire alarms." Biff is really, REALLY, pissed about it. And we don't even have anything to hide! (well, except my slobby messiness, but still). It's got a very Summer-Camp-Bunk-Inspection-meets-Big-Brother-Is-Watching-You kind of feel, so I am wondering if anyone out there can tell me details about Milwaukee's legal policies regarding apartment fire alarm inspection. I could see once every 6 months, or even once every 3 months. But every month??!! I told Biff that we wouldn't be the only people irritated by the new policy.

But damn all those clean freaks who make me look bad in comparison. Biff and I don't have the time to do the goddamn laundry every day, or even the dishes. I am a full-time student!!! (who also works at 2 jobs). While I believe it's important to clean up filth/dirty stuff every 2-3 days--like the dishes in the kitchen or the bathroom--I have a very laissez faire policy towards stacks of papers that still need to be sorted, or clothes that need to be tried on, etc. So the idea of people judging me based on a messy room makes me feel upset. And the thing is, it's even less messy than it was!

I'm just ranting at this point.

I don't want to edit my english paper. I forgot from where in the books the quotations I used in my essay came from, so that will be a joy to find.

I'm carrying 2 big tote bags full of books to school.

I'm hungry and i don't have anything to eat with me because the STUPID vending machine stole my money and didn't give me anything in return, so i'm stuck until 6 PM.












]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7700 The long absence has merely been an extension of the long absence I've been having from everything. Over Easter weekend--with my workplace closed and all--I didn't have internet access for 3 days. Plus my cell phone ran out of money (it's a pay-as-you-go-phone) and I couldn't even top up the damn thing so I was cut off from all communications. It's taken me the past 3 days to recover from my so-called easter break weekend and the confounding frustration (and even occasional depressing freak-outs) it induced.

Things seem to be better now. The student gallery event I organized was a success. I called Robin and talked with her on the phone for like, an hour--the first chance I've had to communicate with her in weeks. I've learned to answer the phones at work, which was a huge source of stress for me but now I'm getting more used to it, or at least the process of scanning over a list of people's phone extensions in a rush. All those years of playing viola in highschool orchestra have paid off--the ability to fake that I know what I'm doing has lead people to believe that I actually know how to use Excel when I really don't. I never used it before! But I keep on getting asked to make spreadsheets, and I'm getting better at it now.

The weather is (true to form, i must mention the weather) getting a little less wretchedly cold. Perhaps it's just me projecting my exhaustion and frustration onto the outdoors, but it seems as though the plants and trees are pausing, holding back until May.

Futon delivery tomorrow. I'm excited about it. It's got the loveliest-patterned-cover ever.

Currently listening to:
Puttering About a Small Land by Land of the Loops

]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7680 (*the title doesn't have to do with anything, it was the title of a spam email that I received & even though I deleted it the title made me laugh).

i have to work on my theology "take-home essay exam" which promises to be a royal pain. Still, only having to work 9 hours today totally beats having to exert focused, painful thought as required by classes where I'm overstressed and underslept. The worst was my marketing exam yesterday; when I asked the professor if he was putting the formulas to calculate GRP (gross rating points) etc. for us during the test (which covered 9 chapters plus 20 readings and multiple handouts). He said he wasn't going to give us the formulas and bearing in mind that I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep since Saturday night (wow that's a long time!) I handled the news surprisingly well by only bursting into quiet sniffling. The test is over and hopefully I didn't crash and burn as badly as I think I did.

Things that rock:

warm-decent weather outside, even with a hint of sunshine! (it's nice to not feel as though Mother Nature is slapping you)

Biff's newest sculpture-art piece (make this Biff in general -- his sense of humor too)

Mint Royale's latest CD See you in the morning -- especially the incredible, wonderful, shimmering "Harpy" and the wickedly catchy "My Heart is Beating Fast." Can't stop listening to this one.

Hanging out with Robin, esp. when she's at the height of her witty-comment-powers

Getting paid! Yay! :)

Junji Ito. the guy is a creative GENIUS. "Uzumaki" is just so compelling that I am fighting off the persistent, nagging urge to order "Gyo."

Caffeine


Things that do not rock:

Homework over my so-called "easter break"--and lots of it. Lots and lots and lots.

The piles and piles of laundry & clothes to fold, pick up, put away, etc.

my messy hair

Losing the DVD player remote (*we later found it)

Haters.

Bad drivers.











]]> https://www.happyrobot.net/words/art_colony.asp?id=7651 there is so much to write about.

i got a good grade on my english test which is a relief. I still have to do major major work on the ad campaign i'm doing for Rockstar energy drink. Rob thinks that it would be completely impossible for me to re-vamp Rockstar's image, but I think that they need to do an image overhaul and position themselves as a superior product rather than Red Bull because quite frankly the drinks taste better, contain more nutritional supplements, and...taste better? anyways Rob's doubts in my abilities have shaken my upbeat attitude towards the project (which is due next tuesday--and i've only made 2 print ads out of the 20 components or so that it needs). eeep.

our apartment is clean-clean-CLEAN! which is a wonderful feeling. clean kitchen, clean living room, clean bedroom, clean bathroom. Best CD to clean to has to be the first CD in this set. I threw out probably 6 bags of trash last night--I was wearing a tank top, boxer shorts and hoodie as i ran out to the dumpster in the 45 degree temps, and I held the door open so that this other building resident could get into the lobby and he says "thanks, swee'heart" in this Australian accent. Frankly, Australian accents (but not the Wiggles australian accents, more like Crocodile Hunter australian accents) are very cool. It's weird, though, there are disproportionate amounts of Australians living in our apartment building.

At my new job (which i like very much), there is this table covered with food. This food, while supposedly intended for human consumption, is more of a business still-life-with-bagels-and-danishes. Beautifully arranged, but I never see anyone eating it. It reminds me of the Beatrix Potter story "Two Bad Mice."

Again, I am so tired today. it feels like i worked out way too intensely yesterday.
which is something i probably should do.

Having not smoked for 3 weeks or so, I can effectively say that i have quit. But quitting terrifies me with the Diogenes sword of weight gain that everyone says happens to people when they quit smoking. While folding clothes yesterday I found a whole bunch of jeans that I haven't worn in months and months, and I tried them on only to find to my chagrin that they were just too small. Le sigh. So now I am left wondering is it worth it to be healthy, or should I up the ante and do yoga more often than, say, once every 6 months or whenever I remember to...

I've replaced nicotine with caffeine. Lots and lots of it.

And finally, this song is awesomely happy. Enjoy.
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