One Week Gone.

I've officially had my first week of classes, since technically I didn't have any classes last Monday. I found out about Furlough Days, which are days that we basically get off from classes, but it's really because of budget cuts. Basically there are days when they are just going to shut down the school completely, and no classes are going to happen. Then there are days when the teachers are forced to take days off, and then we have to classes. It really sucks because our tuition went up like 30%, and yet we are getting less actual bang for our buck. Stupid California and it's budget crisis.

That, of course, means my first day of class was Tuesday. My first class of my (hopefully) second to last semester was Screenwriting I. This class I was really worried about. Maybe because I kinda want to try screenwriting as a career, and so taking this class is like testing me. It could also be because it was the first class, so, naturally, I would just be nervous about it. The class was alright, the teacher took like 2 hours to go over the syllabus. This was because he would see something on there that reminded him of something he did once, therefore he would tell the story, in great length. Don't get me wrong, his stories, some of them, were really interesting. He showed a clip from Adaptation, the speech that Robert McKee (Brian Cox) gives to Charlie Kauffman (Nick Cage), for some inspiration for us in picking a topic for our screenplays. He also showed a clip from Dead Again, I think it was called, to show us a way to start off the movie with a bang and so grip the audience right away. This class also come with the news that we would have to read the first 10 pages of our scripts to the class. EEEK! The reason it's the first 10 pages, I learned, is because that basically as long as you have to grip the person to give you money to make the film. I get so nervous when I have to do anything in front of the class, and when it's something that you're so invested in and something that is personal to you. The feedback, while most likely constructive, it's going to be hard to hear. Plus, what if they just don't really get it, or it just sucks. All I know is that I am going to be shaking like a leaf when the day comes that I have to read those first 10 pages.

The second class I had was Film Noir. Now I had to crash this class, mainly because I needed one more class. I didn't really think I was going to get in. At my screenwriting class like 10 people were crashing, and no one got in, because of budget cuts and because the teacher was teaching two screenwriting classes and didn't really have the manpower to read any more than like 40 screenplays. So, my odds of getting in this class were not really looking good. But then a miracle happened, and I got into the class. I was so happy when that happened. I really thought it wouldn't because there were like 30 people crashing, but the teacher was nice enough to let us all in, mainly because she had so many dedicated grad students to help her out. I wasn't sure if I wanted to take the class because of the teacher. I had her for a Hitchcock class, and she really sucked. That's pretty much the consensus is that she is a terrible teacher, but I really needed a class. So there you go. We ended up watching a movie called Woman in the Window. It's about this guy who like sees a painting of a woman in a window, then meets her, and goes out and parties with her. Then they go pack to her place, and an ill tempered boyfriend walks in, and the boyfriend is like strangling the guy, when the guy murders the boyfriend with some scissors. They cover it up, but then the guy's friend is like a DA, so he hears all about the murders. Basically it was really comical because the whole movie the guy is like, I killed him......wait..no I didn't....

Wednesday I had my first English 414 class. I was really dreading it because it was a stupid class I had to take because I didn't pass the JEPET. I actually think this class might not actually suck. The teacher started the class by walking in and speaking spanish, I think asking if it was a spanish class (I'm only guess since I don't speak any spanish). Then he asked what class it was, and people were like 414, and he asked, who's teaching it? And the class answered. He said, "Well I guess I can teach that'" walked in and put his stuff down.

Thursday might be my worse day of the week. Two three hours classes, in the same room. And last Thursday, that room happened to be really hot. First up I had Third Cinema. Unfortunately, I got to class late, and had to sit up front. Unfortunate because we watched a movie that had very shaking images, and it therefore was making me motion sick. The heat also probably didn't help much either. I felt like I could hurl. I couldn't even really tell you what happens. It was in spanish, and I had to cover my eyes to recover, and lost track of what was happening.

My second class I had was Critical Studies. It was less h0t, probably because there were fewer people there. The class was alright. There was a huge debated about what Signifier, Signified and Sign meant. The professor didn't do a very good job of explaining it, and when people started asking questions, she started getting really angry, and all that came out of it, were people feeling more confused. We then watched a short film, called The Act, about like a standup comedian and her act, as it were. If you're interested in watching it, it's like 8 minutes long and just youtube Pi Ware, who is the director.

Nothing much happened over the weekend, too frickin hot to leave. I don't know what was up with it getting up to 90. I mainly stayed in my room and watched TV and reconnected, further, with my inner child and watched Sailor Moon. Seeing as how this post is already much too long, I will write about it some other time. All I will say is that I forgot how freaking awesome it is.

Sunday the Phillie game was on ESPN, so I finally got to watch a game. I've mostly spent my time, watching it on the internet, but just on the thing they have on the MLB site, where it's basically just a pitch-by-pitch record of what happening. That's not really a good explanation, but oh well.

So today, I had my first Critical Studies discussion group. The class was alright, the TA teaching it is very awkward and quiet. I don't really mind all that much, I mean she acknowledged the fact that she was awkward by saying, "Yeah, I'm awkward". Well, anyway we went around the room and introduced ourselves, stating our major (which should be obvious since everyone taking the class is a film major) and then saying our hobbies. We also then discussed the movie that we had watched in class.

Also, random note, I think Majorie from Top Model might be in my class. Here is why I think this: 1. She totally looks like her. 2. Her voice is really similar. 3. She said she was wearing heels for a casting call. and 4. She introduced herself as Marjorie. So maybe? I didn't ask her, I didn't want to be like annoying, so I didn't. We ended up chatting a little bit about class, while the TA tried to figure out the projector to show a clip that ended up only lasting a minute, about what we had already done in the discussion class, she was late while trying to print out her assignment, which was pretty much nothing.

That's it. If you made it this far, I applaud you.

*Soft golf claps*

I'm going to try and update this thing on a daily basis. I know, I've said this before, but I'm really going to try and do it this time. That is all.

Long Rambling Blog Is Long And Rambling, With Bonus Pictures!

I have had an eventful first two days in my new room.

The first day was spent mostly unpacking all of my stuff from the boxes. It was weird actually unpacking my stuff, since I had spent the best part of the night before thinking about unpacking, and unpacking everything in my head. Of course actually unpacking and like daydream unpacking was completely different. I spent most of the day washing everything, from my dishes and silverware to my covers and sheets. I also found out that my sink is broken. That was a rude awakening. I had filled up the left side with water, to wash something or other, and when I emptied it, all the wash came crashing onto the floor, flooding it like the beginning of the titanic sinking. I looked under and saw that the pipes weren't attached at all, and that's why it was leaking. Fucking fail. Throughout the day, we ended up having to dry off the floor like four or five times, as people kept washing dishes or filling the sink up to thaw out some chicken wings. We thought the right side sink was alright, until my one roommate was doing dishes, careful to avoid getting water in the left sink, only to find water spilling out from the cabinet. Well, it appears that the right sink is clogged and the water was going back up through the pipes and coming out the unattached piped. It fucking sucked. But the night ended good, I made some corn chowder (probably the best thing I make), and in the process of making the chowder and getting my clothes out of the laundry, I missed a new episode of Psych. I think that show repeats, fingers crossed.

I foresee a complication that I had not anticipated when I was moving my stuff in. My room is directly across from the Towers, which is mostly a freshmen dorm. This is a problem because most of the freshmen suck, and decided that now that they are on their own they can do whatever and be as loud as they like. I had to endure a woo!party that was happening somewhere outside my room. Every few minutes a random person would just shout 'woo!' at the top of their lungs. Very irritating. And as I laid my head down to sleep, I put Goblet of Fire audio book on my ipod, to drown out the 'woos!', and listened to the first chapter before going to sleep.

It's so infantile, but I'm liking getting read to at night before I go to sleep. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my mom would read me to sleep. It's just a nice little calming thing, especially the guy's voice who reads them (Jim Dale narrator on Pushing Daisies, RIP), so soothing.

Day two was less disastrous. There were a couple of things I needed, so I went out and got them. I needed a longer internet cord, because the one I had had to go across the floor, I knew that at some point I would trip on it, and send my computer flying across the room, breaking it. I didn't want that to happen. I also needed an extension chord for my smaller TV. I am having the weirdest problem with my TV. The outlet is kinda broken, most likely, but the top outlet doesn't really work. Neither of my TV would turn on when plugged into that outlet. The bottom outlet works for my larger TV, but not my smaller one. Then when I tried to plug my cable chord into my larger TV, the cable wouldn't work. The TV said the digital signal was low. But when I plugged it into my smaller TV it worked just fine. So I guess I'm just going to have to watch TV on my smaller TV and then movies and DVDs on my larger one. Such a pain, especially since, as I found out, that my remote for my larger TV works for the smaller one as well. My remote got lost by someone (who never replaced it) and I had bought a new universal remote. I was sitting there in a bout of frustration, when I jokingly pointed my remote at the smaller TV and pressed the ON button. I didn't really expect anything to happen (even though the lost remote looked exactly like the one for the new TV, they are the same brand). Much to my surprise the TV turned on. So that solved that. The only problem is, when the TVs are close together, and I want to turn just one on, both of them go on. So it's really irritating.

Anyway, so I went to the student store and bought the extension chord and internet cable. Then I walked over the mall and when into William Sonoma to get an oil pump. It's a thing that you put regular oil into and you can spray it into pans, instead of getting Pam (it's healthier, and this year I am going to try and get healthier). It was about one o'clock, and I decided I would go downtown and see Inglourious Basterds, the new Quentin Tarantino movie, and also to go to the Container Store to see if they had a box slash footrest (they didn't, I was sad). The movie was pretty good, kind of your typical Tarantino movie, great dialogue and graphic violence. I then grabbed a slice of pizza at Blondies, vegetarian, (I ate all of the vegetable, including mushrooms, until I got really grossed out by the mushrooms and took them off) then hopped on the train back to school. (I looked at my pedometer when I got back, and I walked 6,914 steps. That's a pretty epic number, or at least it makes my journey feel so much more epic)

When I got in I started decorating my room with posters. I finished about half of it, until I got too tired, brushed my teeth, listened to two chapters of Goblet of Fire, and went to bed. I finished decorating my room this morning, while watching The Dark Knight. My love for Gary Oldman could not be any higher. He is so fucking badass as Gordon in the Batman movies, and he's Sirius in the Harry Potter movies, who is only my favorite character in Harry Potter.

Without further ado, I present my room, the 09-10 version!

She & Him, Lost in Translation, I Love You Man, Pushing Daisies, Away We Go, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, (500) Days of Summer, B&W photo, Superbad, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Studio 60.

She & Him, Lost in Translation, I Love You Man, B&W Photo, Superbad, Eternal Sunshine, Studio 60.

The view from my window. On the left is the Towers, stupid freshmen. And you can also see the parking garage. Don't I just have the loveliest of views?

My little night stand, with my Finding Nemo lamp and my radio. Also my retainer makes an appearance.

Hot Fuzz, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Dave Matthews Band Poster, Milk.

I'm using the pushpins on this poster as a necklace holder. It's working out quite well.

The Swell Season, Hot Fuzz, and my Office Calendar. This month is Oscar month. Also my piggy bank as a little area all to itself.

A Rainy Day In Paris, Kill Bill, Broadway, Best In Show, Jenny Lewis poster, Flight of the Conchords, Office poster (peaking behind the lamp), and Johnny Depp Pirates poster. Also the top half of my desk area, with my DVDs in it.

Looking at my desk from the door area. A Rainy Day in Paris, Kill Bill, Broadway, Swell Season poster, Hamlet 2, Hot Fuzz, Office Calendar, Best in Show, Jenny Lewis, Office Poster, and POTC poster. Then of course my desk in the middle there.

My desk set up. I'm totally digging it this year. I'm feeling good vibes from it. Makes my room seem more organized. Also you can kinda see Akita in there on my computer, smiling. Made me take it twice so that she looked better.

This is this really cool lamp I bought at Target. It's pretty fucking GQ if I do say so myself. I was hoping to get a lens flare, but I guess the light is just not bright enough to do it.

Six Feet Under, The Wrestler, Hot Rod, A Rainy Day in Paris, Kill Bill, Best in Show, Jenny Lewis, Flight of the Conchords, Chicago, Office Inspiration Poster, Arrested Development, The Office, POTC.

Pushing Daisies, Once, Office, For Your Consideration, Frost/Nixon, Doubt, Six Feet Under, Chicago, SPOOOOOOOOOOOCK!, M. Ward, Gas, Away We Go,

In my closet now. I have a Sunshine Cleaning poster, and on the left you can see a part of my shoe rack.

Clothes and shoe rack.

I tried to get a poster on that wall, but the wall did not agree with me and refused to surrender to the push pins. I think that wall is like just a block of concrete, stupid wall.

Knocked Up (if yo couldn't figure that out).

License to Wed, as well as my vacuum and some wine. I was surprised my mom even got me some alcohol, she had said she didn't want to encourage me drinking (you know because I'm such a booze hound, getting drunk every night *sarcasm*), but then we were at the grocery store looking at the wine section. My mom wanted to get some wine from Livermore that is only sold in California. She then decided to get me some wine from Concannon, which is a winery in Livermore. I haven't opened it yet, but my mom says it's pretty good.

Almost forgot, my new chair. They had these fold up chairs at target on sale, so I got one. It's so freaking comfortable.

Especially good for lounging and watching TV. This is why I wanted a footrest, the box inside part was just to that I could use it to store stuff as well, obviously.

That's pretty much it, not much left to say. Tonight for dinner, I'm going to be making some fried rice with vegetables (corn, peas, onions, and carrots). Exciting stuff.

I Remember When I Used To Be Into Nostalgia.

Yesterday my mom and I decided to make a trek to Livermore. It has been a good five or six years since I have been back there. I had expected it to be so much more developed and different than I remember it to be. Much to my surprise, it hasn't really changed all that much. In fact, most of the places that are still in my memory are still there.

Sure some things have changed, there is some more development, but not around where I was. Mostly up in the hills. Also, the pool I used to train at as a young kid, is no longer open. I think the pool is still there, but the laboratories that were across the street from it (that my mom used to work at) bought out all the land (probably after september 11th, since it's a weapons manufacturer and a government facility). Now you can't even drive in front of the lab. I didn't get a chance to see that old pool. So many memories, like swimming during a quick hail storm or stepping on a bee.

Also, there seems, at least to me, to be many more wineries than there were when I was a kid. We drove down to my old school, Stiver's Academy (I'm not really a hundred on the spelling, but that's what it sounds like in my head) and I remember that when I was a kid we used to either take the city way to school or the horse and sheep way. The city way, while faster, didn't have the scenic views that the horse and sheep way had. The horse and sheep way had horse and sheep, and me and my mom would count how many we saw, I would take horses and my mom would take sheep. Whoever counted more of their animal would win for the day. I know it sounds stupid, but then again I would like seven. Well anyway, the point is, when we were driving the horse and sheep way to my old school, it was covered in vineyards and there weren't many horses or sheep to count. I think it might just be that all the vineyards sold their land to housing developments and then moved back into the hills.

We drove by my old house. It looked awful. They pained it some weird tan color, took out most of the trees, leaving one, there was no grass to speak of, and all of my mom's rose bushes were gone. It was a sight for sore eyes. My mom was very upset by the lack of grass, she had spent a lot of time and money getting a good looking lawn for our front yard, only to see that they tore it out. Now their front yard is nothing but dirt.

And sure not everything has changed. I was surprised by some of the things that were still there. Like The Vine, the theater we used to go to all the time (It was like one of two theaters we used to go to). Last I had heard, they were going to tear it down. So I was shocked when we drove by it, still standing, and still playing two movies, like it always had. And the place we used to get pool supplies, still there with the slide on the roof. Granada Bowl, where I'm pretty sure I learned how to bowl, still standing.

It's funny the things you don't realize you remember until you remember them. Driving through town brought so many memories back. The old mini golf place, with the blue windmill and the pink castle. The park we used to walk to that was near our house. The time I thought no one was there to pick me up after swim practice, so I decided that I had to walk back, only to get picked up one the side of the road by the people who were supposed to be taking me home (then hiding under the bed in embarrassment when my mom found out I tried to walk home). Or that there was a road that connected the Target and the Wallmart. Little things like that.

I am really glad I went back, it had been too long, and yet nothing, at least not the important things, had changed.

I'm Wide Awake, And It's Morning.

I don't know if it is the anxiety of unpacking all my stuff tomorrow or the one coke I had with my In n Out dinner, but I am wired. I am unable to sleep, and I feel jittery. My mind refuses to turn off; I am already unpacking all my stuff from the boxes in my room in my head. I know I need to sleep, my mom set her alarm for 6am, and I know that is when I will be waking up too. I know when that alaram goes off, it will wake me up so severely that I will be unable to go back to sleep. I will barely get three and a half hours, and that's if i were to fall asleep right this minute, which I don't think is going to happen.

It could also be my mom's loud snoring that is keeping me up.

My guess is the coke, i don't do well wit caffeine so late. Note to self, don't drink anything with caffeine so late at night, pretty much after 4 of 5.

My Hotel Room Is A Dog And I Am A Squirrel.

My hotel room keeps attacking me.

The desk where I placed my computer has sharpish knobs for the desk drawer, and my arms and legs keep brushing up against it and scratching me.

It sucks.

it's happened like a million times in a three day period.

Then tonight, I rammed my shin into the coffee table.

Ouchie!

San Francisco.

I've been in San Francisco for a couple of days now. It really doesn't feel like I'm going to be starting school soon. Usually I have a week and a couple of days to adjust to the fact that I'm going out to California. Normally, my mom and I take a road trip, usually stopping in Chicago to visit my sister and stopping some other choice places (such as Vegas or the Grand Canyon). But this year we just flew out here.

It was quite weird.

Most of my stuff was here, in storage, and the only stuff I had to pack was clothing and movies (which I never unpacked from the box I shipped them back in). I literally packed about 12 hours before the tires went up in the plane. I wasn't really prepared for leaving. I was bummed about missing my friends, sad I couldn't see my Akita one last time, bummed I had to cut my visit with Gretchen short because my mom was stressing about the trip out here.

The flights over here were alright. The first one wasn't very long and we landed on time with enough time to get to our next flight and even to get some food (I got that awesome chicago style deep dish pizza, yum). But then the next flight was a disaster. There was a kid sitting in front of me (there was this one girl, an LA type with a low cut mini dress talking on her cellphone, who went to sit in the vacant seat but then saw the kid and gave a look of utter disgust and kept on walking) that screeched and cried most of the flight. I drowned him out with my ipod, and cool sounds of Jim Dale (the narrator from Pushing Daisies, RIP) as he read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (my favorite book and movie, by far). All was well, until my ipod decided to die on my (I learned that my ipod only lasts a little less than four hours before it croaks). I tried to sleep, but was jerked awake by either the screaming child in front of me or the kid behind me kicking my chair. I know I shouldn't complain, it reminds me of the funny take on technology as said by louis c.k.

But then I landed here, breathed in the cool, crisp air. That familiar smell. And it eased my anxieties, well at least a little bit.

All of my stuff is in my room now, still in their boxes. I will unpack it all tomorrow. It's weird my rooms at my school have been progressively getting smaller. Well at least for the last three years. The room I had freshman year was the smallest, by far. But then the one I had sophomore year was huge, the one last year was like a mini version of the one from sophomore year. Now the one this year is like a mini version of the mini version of the one from sophomore year.

I have yet to meet my roommates, when I moved in, it was early, and I was the first to move in, and I finished before anyone else had moved in. Then I didn't go back the rest of the day and slept in the hotel. When I went back today to drop off groceries, no one was there, again. Hmmm, I guess I will eventually meet them.

Oh yeah, and my floor theme is Gotham City. We have some bat signals with our names on the doors. Fun.

Catching Up.

It's been a while since I wrote in this thing. I haven't been doing it, mainly out of laziness and lack of any original ideas (but mostly it's out of laziness, to be sure). So having seen Julie & Julia twice, I feel compelled to write. That sounds really pathetic when said out loud.

There's not much to update in my life, I am just that boring. I am about to start my fourth and, hopefully, last year of college. Sometimes I feel like I haven't really accomplished anything in three years. I look at where I was when I first started and where I am now, and I'm pretty much still in the same place. I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life after college and again I have no friends. My one friend decided that I was no good to her any more, and hasn't talked to me since I moved out of our dorm room. That's fine, I guess. We must not have been friends after all. I just wish she had manned up and grew a pair and told me me she wasn't my friend anymore, rather than pretend to still be my friend for a couple of months, it's kind of a bitch move. And saying stuff behind my back, to "let out steam" does not a high road make. It's just passive aggressive, talking behind the back, anti-confrontational, high school shit. I imagine cheerleaders to do such antics. Smile at you while they stick a knife in your back type of shit. Very immature, to be sure.

Oh well, I at least know there are some people I can truly count on, and that's the most important thing.

I think about my summer, and lack of job situation. It sucked. I did get a job for a week when the US Women's Open golf tournament came to town. I washed dished in this tent with these awesome guys, Jose and Pedro. Me and Akita were the entertainment for everyone. It was fun, we would sing and make games out of everything. For instance we would guess how many more sheet pans we had to clean. One time I guessed right on the money. It was awesome. When I got interviewed for the job, the guy asked me what major accomplished I had that I was most proud of. Obviously it had to be something major, I could say what I really was most proud of (seeing all of the oscar nominated films and performances for all the major acting categories, no small feat. Or that when the oscars did roll around I guessed like almost all of the categories right.) No. No. It had to be big. I think I ended up just making something up. And what are my biggest accomplishment this summer? I read 4 and half of the Harry Potter books (so far, aiming to finish them all this week before I leave for school). Also, I saw Star Trek 14 times. What kind of accomplishments are those? While it might be fucking logical to see Star Trek 14 times, it's not really life changing.

My life is like all anticipation for something I'm not sure will ever happen. It's a drumroll that never ends. I am also no closer to finishing a script that I am trying to write. Sometimes I think it's foolish to try and accomplish anything. Sometimes I think about the futility of life and it bums me out. Then I try and not think about it, cuz that is just depressing as hell to think about. I can try and resolve to change, but that might never happen. I think once you get to a certain age, it is impossible to change from who you are. I'm pretty set in my ways at this point.

Anyway, that is my life right now. Pretty freaking bleak. I try to keep a positive attitude though. When life gives you lemons, just say "fuck the lemons" and bail. Hopefully this year will be better than last.