~ as if there wasn’t enough nonsense at sci-arc [w] these days, someone has decided to repeatedly post someone else’s private emails to the school news folder, using my name as an alias. i didn’t see the posts, as they were posted while i was at work [w] and they were removed by the administrator, but i have been told that the return address was my name @hotmail.com. i am insulted not because someone tried to hurt me or embarrass me with such a childish and thoughtless attack; rather, i am insulted that the best this perpetrator could do was create a hotmail account. hotmail? surely, i warrant some greater degree of creativity, like, star94mail.com or welcometohell.com or blowjob.com. hotmail? clearly we are dealing with an amateur; i would hope that i have mustered a higher quality of enemy. i suppose not. i wonder if it ever crossed their minds to realize that someone who owns a domain, such as www.angryredplanet.org, does not need to go to hotmail for an account, especially an ‘anonymous’ account with my name all over it.

~ it seems to me that only two people have access to the emails which i supposedly forwarded. one of them has no stake in passing along the mail, let alone wasting time bringing me into it, while the other one has proven – publicly and repeatedly – himself to be deranged and untrustworthy. most people i have spoken with seem to have some pretty good theories on how this came about. i need to talk to some folks in the morning, especially one of the parties whose email is concerned; until then, know that if it is not from angryredplanet.org, it can not be trusted.

~ in happier news, i am already leaving – by plane – for atlanta in about 30 hours; the plan is to spend one week there, and then drive to los angeles. i tell my boss this, and she asks if i want to go to new york and pick up her truck. i explain that new york is not on the route from georgia to southern california, and that the extra time driving means extra time away from phobos. however, after hours of negotiations, i leave the office with plans to bring phobos to her studio tomorrow morning, so that i may fly to new york the day after i arrive from atlanta.

~ school has pretty much been out for a week for me; i still find excuses for showing up, thought, like helping people with their models, photographing mine, helping people with their website projects, ignoring mine, and cleaning up all the crap at my desk that has to be emptied in the next two days, as that is when i leave for a week in georgia, followed by a week in the countryside between there and california.

~ there hasn’t been much celebration for the end of the semester. there have been no punk rock shows and no days at the beach. there have been no hikes in the canyons and no intense consumption of coffee at local commercial establishments. for now, it is enough to be free of absurd deadlines; i don’t need any additional experience to remind me that, for the short time being, my time belongs to me again – for the short time being…

~ school is out for my summer, but i am still here at 3am on a saturday night/sunday morning. why? the purpose was to finally get together the ‘scene report’ which has been empty on the menu bar for three weeks. now it is full.

~ not much is happening in sci-arc; it is the final day of the rotondi studio final reviews. i have taken the opportunity to add a few more photos to the angry red planet image log, some of which can be seen no where else on the site…

~ if you are one of the two visitors who got here looking for a blog *and* you are interested in the so cal lifestyle, take a look at ellie’s site [w], as there is mention of the getty center this week…

~ ‘a week beyond reason’ is how i have described the past few days to an out-of-town acquaintance. there is pandemonium at school, with childish letters from instructors to students, knee-jerk reactions to rightfully posted concerns, and petty goading from vindictive pissants who can’t get anyone to give them the time of day. some fellow thesis researchers come across a proposal which is only two pages long; as we were all in the 30-50 page range, with me admittedly on the light side of the scale, tidal waves of rage immediately engulfed us. to this is added a note from an instructor who is ‘concerned’ with my performance during a presentation. this is how the stage is set as i walk into the hall for my final studio review and see that the jury is my personal sci-arc rogue’s gallery; my instructor seems to have made a point to invite everyone with whom i have a history. when they see me, they are already ready to go to it; nothing i say has any effect on the belittlement which immediately rains upon me and my mediocre project after i finish my little opening speech. i have never been a practitioner of the philosophy that a good night’s sleep and the accompanying lucidity is more important than staying up all night for that one final model and its accompanying groggy confusion.
so, when i am propped up against the wall and what could be my greatest antagonists (at least, those who are still allowed in the building), i am without defense immediately fall to the ground and am kicked repeatedly from all sides. my loving instructor attempted to prod a few responses that he knew were lurking inside me, but i was still trying to pick my broken teeth and glasses from the floor. after the blood ends, i have a date to see ‘hi fidelity’, but due to some confusion with the newspaper, we arrive too late for john cusack, and i am suckered into something which i would rather not mention…or even consider remembering…

~ at least i don’t have to drive to the freaking valley today.

~ it’s tough to keep an idea about updating this freaking log when i am not even sure when the freaking days have gone by, as i haven’t left the building in 4 days… final review in rotondi’s studio is tomorrow, but i can hardly think about it, with the all the drama at sciarc this week.

~ i just woke up on the couch in the studio, because the ‘playground design’ class rudely began two feet away from me. without acknowledging any of them, i get up and walk to my desk, where i find that someone has left a sign that says ‘this is revolting’ on the roof of one of my models. i know that who the culprit must be, because i saw someone put the same sign on her crap last night. she is the biggest waste of space and resources in the studio, and she has decided to also be the most annoying by bringing a freaking german shepherd into class everyday – everyday that she actually shows up – for the past week. it lies on a drenched sheet of cardboard and slobbers into a huge bowl of cottage cheese that has been lying unrefrigerated for days. i couldn’t take looking at it anymore, so i pushed all of the dog’s crap back under her desk and covered it with the cardboard. i don’t know what possessed her to think that i wrote the sign, but i am intrigued as to whether she actually approaches me about it.
   it is revolting.

~ three more days before i can start enjoying los angeles again.

~ i go home at 5h30am and try not to weep as i set my alarm for 7h30am, knowing that i will have a painful lack of sleep before i have to get up and drive to the freaking valley. i lay on the couch and cover my face to keep phobos from harassing me, and i am asleep in minutes…for a little more than an hour. at this point, the freaking dwp [w] shows up and starts annihilating the street immediately in front of my living room. why would anyone find it to be appropriate to tear into the street with jackhammers at seven in the morning, especially as they know that they could be costing someone, like me, 25% of his night’s sleep?

~ why do they have to compound the noise by doing it on the same day that the garbage trucks arrive?

~ why, after waking up an hour early, am i still 30 minutes late to my class in the freaking valley?

~ the firestone on la cienega is definitely my new favorite place for having my flat tires plugged. the mechanic pulled the tire from the trunk and pointed at the screw that was poking out of the rubber and said, ‘all i can do is put a plug in here, as the tire is obviously no good.’ he indicated the fact that there is no longer any tread visible on the tire. in the past, los angeles tire dealers have refused to repair my flats, as the tire ‘wasn’t worth it’.
   me: how long is this going to take?
   saul: i can do it right now.
   me: so i can wait?
   saul: yep.
i wander and wonder around the parking lot, confused as to why he didn’t send me away until tomorrow, as most tire dealers are prone to do. the tire is back on car in minutes, and i am only 30 minutes late to work [w]. i get all this for only $10.

~ i did not attend today’s thesis research presentations, as their organization was both absurd and insulting.