Archive for June, 2003

Everything is falling apart. Thanks Summer.

So now that summer classes have started, I find myself exhausted and confused as well as just generally jaded and cynical. I could go for ages about much I hate classes in the summer. I hate how its hot as Hades in the classrooms with no air conditioning, and some without windows. Not to mention the fact that no on is around and there is no type of social structure at all. But thats just Drexel, and Drexel wouldn’t be complete without an absurd construction project in the center of campus, luckily we have one.

Where has the ice cream truck been? Don’t tell me his is on vacation too!

My camera broke. I loved that camera. I think I will send it to Canon and see how much it will cost to repair. If its reasonable, then I’ll do it because I don’t have the money to buy a new one…yet. Part of the reason I have no money is because my hot water heater has been fucked up due to the minuscule leak in my tub. Since the hot water heater is on far too much, my energy bills have been monstrous, over three times their normal, already-inflated values. I probably threw away $500 on energy I wasnt using myself. And wheres the repair guy my landlord said he would send.

On a positive note, I was selected as a winner in the MacWorld Expo Digital Art Competition. I will be heading to NYC next month to the convention so I can see my work on display and receive a series of prizes. I hope someone feels in the mood for giving me an iPod, or a G5. Man, that would be sweet. More as it develops.

Warcraft to the Rescue, Again

Last July, I was in kind of a slump, especially creatively. I just had no focus and I was questioning everything. It was odd sort of teenage resurgence that had me in a really bad state in general. Somehow, me buying Warcraft III and proceeding to fiend it, instead of doing homework, seemed to work and I was once again able to focus and my imagination returned to its normal fortitude. The same thing has happened again.

I got myself the expansion pack to Warcraft III and its awesome. Now, like last summer, the part of my brain that generates fantasy is working overtime. Jay and I are trying to come up with some stories which we can sell to comic book companies, even Marvel and DC. We have been picking up clients at a rather nice pace, although far too few of the projects actually seem to get passed the conceptual phase. Thats another story, the point is, Warcraft is good. I love the world they created and sometimes, usually after playing it for numerous hours on end, I can see it projected on the back of my eyelids. Its a typical sign of overplay, which is not always a bad thing. Better that than thermodynamics. Harry Potter also helped. I am currently on chapter 34 out of 38 in Order of the Phoenix and it has consumed me to the point where I have dreams that I am Harry. In my dreams, as Harry, I am having dreams that I am Voldemort or something. Its odd, but fun.

Ok, thats all for now. I really need to make more entries. Tomorrow, I plan on going dancing with Charlie and Kendra and possibly Alexis and we’ll see who else.

Jack of All Trades

I survived midterms. In fact, at this point, having taken my Thermodynamics and Mythology exam this morning, I would venture to say I did rather well. Not saying that I got straight As, but considering I had no idea what I was going to do the night before, I would say I triumphed, once again, over the universe. That’s a good thing.

I neglected to do my Thermo homework Monday night because had cocked up and realized that my Mythology paper was due Tuesday, so I sat at wrote it. Perhaps I will post it to this site once I make some grammatical corrections, but for now take my word about its scope. About 12 pages long (with narrowed margins and single spacing), it took me the better part of the day. I got an A, which was, above all, expected. But what was notable was Dr. Thury’s reaction to it.

“I hope you didn’t mind the excessive length” I said. Dr. Thury chuckled slightly and flashed a grin that further wrinkled her pale and aged face.

“It was very good” she replied, “I gave you an A just for the scope of it.” I grinned proudly back at her, my classmates looking on, half jealous, half resentful.

“It’s obvious you care a great deal about your writing. Are you a Dramatic Writing Major? I mean, I didn’t check, I just assumed.” She added. I paused slightly, contemplating my delivery as to whether I wanted to shock her or make her laugh.

“Actually, Mechanical Engineering” Dr. Thury let out an audible burst of laughter, lasting only a fraction of a second, as there were still students taking the midterm.

“I never would have guess that.” She said simply.

Obviously, I’m not the world’s best writer, far from it, but I do enjoy the rare occasion when I get the chance to write a creative paper or have an opinion in my classes. One habit I have to work on is proofreading, or rather not. I make a lot of stupid ‘wrong word’ and spelling errors. Yet compared to my Mechanical Engineering classmates, a stoic parcel of introverted and indifferent drones, I see myself in a far superior light. Modestly holding true, my confidence was augmented today by this comment. My Mythology professor, from the English department, thought I was a dramatic writing major. Think about it.

24

06 2003

I survived

Somehow, I have survived. I survived tech week for the dance show and put on 3 excellent performances with a follow-up for CoMAD Honors Day. I survived all the insane projects from week ten and their big brother finals in week ten. I survived getting back my shitty grades and being hot and bored at my parents house. The last few weeks have sucked. Everyone left me, as they tend to do each summer, to face the heat and stress and boredom of summer classes at Drexel. All my friends graduated and now are looking for jobs in between bar-hopping and other such escapades. All the work I did at the end of the term continues to be unappreciated and unrewarded … by me. Never have I been thrust into such an unsatisfying sequence of events as these last few weeks. Never has the outcome, which took a great deal of sacrifice and stress been so not worth it in the long run.

I profess, Chipotle is not a word.

Wow, I am really pissed off right now. I feel such like some sort of teenager who always fails to achieve the greatness he knows of which he is capable. Like someone who keeps missing the threshold to fame and gets sucked back into the stagnant pool of the ordinary or like that wounded bird you see on the road who keeps trying to fly only to keep injuring himself more. I need a vacation. Oh, wait, I’m on vacation. Good lord, I can’t believe I have another 12 months before graduation. 12 Months of classes, and dealing with people and professors I don’t like and doing projects that have no satisfaction and paying money outta the ass to landlords and utility companies who don’t give a shit about me, not to mention my school itself.

Argh! I am really upset now, I am gonna go do push-ups and then go swing dancing. That’ll show the universe to mess with me.

Apple Store, Short Hills

A trip to the Apple Store, Short Hills, playing with cameras I hope to buy, namely the Canon Elph S400, the predecessor to my own broken S100.

We figured out the exposure thing, eventually.