it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

after watching rent on friday, lisa and i happened upon the christmas tree lighting ceremony at union square. the lights, carols and apple cider were a nice touch.


lights!


the tree.

happy thanksgiving!

i arrived home tuesday to find my mother with a new fauxhawk do and the house cleaner than i remember it being when i left. some of my art got put on the walls too. it's good to be home. this year, i'm thankful for...

-my family: my grandma's soups and how she turns out my light if i fall asleep, my grandpa's foul mouth, ma and ba, my uncles, aunts and cousins.
-friends: old, new, neighbors and mentors for their constant support.
-good health
-the internet: a way to keep in touch, now that it works.
-san francisco
-the chance to learn about and live in a new city that continues to puzzle me.
-more idependence
-the plants and pumpkins in my house

time to

take a trip back home! i have sculpture tomorrow morning, then i will eat lunch, lock my bike up with an extra lock and head to lax via blueshuttle. yay! i haven't been in sf/ seen family in three months now. i miss them.

class registration

the course registration process they use here at usc is quite frustrating for students with first year standing. students with the most units completed go first and so on, so freshmen automatically get the short end of the stick. students have been bringing laptops into class just to click the register button when their time comes and others take bathroom breaks/ wander out of class to find a computer. good classes are usually full or closed by the time freshmen registration appointment dates come around, so you have to scrap your original plan and improvise when you actually register. i did not get into the design class/media lab nor the vietnamese literature class i wanted to take next semester. i suppose there is always begging during the grace period. how sad, but i'm going to try to get into at least one more class.

my notexactlyperfect,butstillok list of classes i'm registered for:

1)oceanography:( with lab) i guess it's not so bad. i like the ocean and tectonic plates. my friend who took it this semester didn't like it so much, but says all the notes/lecture are online and the tests are straight forward. i guess i'll see.

2)linguistics:(also with an additional lab once a week) sounds interesting enough. the course description says the course explores the sound of different languages and focuses more on the scientific aspect of speech. i imagine a lot of recording and headphone work. it was tied between linguistics and anthropology, but figured i've had some anthropology back with mr. longar at cais and i have never taken linguistics.

3)art history from renissance to modern art: what i wanted!

new addition
4)history of news in modern america:(pre-req for journalism majors) i added this just now. i'm thinking i can always drop it if a) i freak out, don't like it, and don't want to do print journalism. b) my design class opens up (crossing my fingers)

i need a to do list.

i have 8 more days until i go home for thanksgiving! but before then...i have to

1. make my shuttle reservation
2. come up with a concept for my final scultpure project, which is: go to the library pick out 2 books. think about the library as a contianer of ideas and make a sculpture about the two books and why i chose them( not a replication of the book in any way) and be able to retrace footsteps inside the library.
i liked the assignment when we got it. i went to the art library and then to doheny, but i have nothing so far.
3. concept for design final project: investigation and detective work on an aspect of myself. ooh, how deep.
4. little red riding hood concept drawing and character sketches for joie's film pitch
5. finish my paper on crash/isolation/racism in la before thursday! so i can...
6....watch harry potter with katie thursday night!
7. finish southland
8. register for spring classes. i need to get into some classes that are already full, but my registration appointment is wednesday. what to do???
9. attend a lecture wednesday night at bovard.
10. go on a field trip tomorrow to patrick's studio. yay! i can't wait to see more of his work.
11. go to val's performance on sunday afternoon.

ok. i'll see how much i get done.

movies

i watched two good movies today. i watched the japense film, nobody knows with courtney in our room this afternoon while sipping the chocolate vitasoy i bought last night. (yay asian produce!). the film is rather dark for a film about kids, but based on a true story. i then took the bus with vince,destiny and boima to the grove because vince's truck got stolen earlier this week. we ate at the farmer's market and watched jarhead. surprisingly, i enjoyed it. it was poignant and pertinant to current affairs, but not heavy handed. movie prices at the grove are ridiculous though at 12.50 for a movie. we took a cab home from the grove because it got to be late.

i like the bus system in la a lot. it's convenient and new, but would never ride it alone...and at night. you see la in a totally different way than you would traveling by car. we've been learning about the mta in geography and the disparity between the rail and bus systems. my next assignment is to ride one of the bus lines for an afternoon and write about the social factors and do a standing count. according to the bus riders union only 8 people can be standing on a 43 seater bus (which usually isn't the case in the evening), or else the mta needs to purchase more buses. i think it's a worthwhile assignment. a lot of my classmates made a big a fuss about the assignment and it surprised me how many students have never ridden public transportation, but then again a lot of things surprise me here in la.

what a crummy day.

my dog ted was put to sleep this morning. i didn't find out until i called home to ask how he was doing. he was old, 18, but the news still made me sad. death is always a hard thing to take, even when you know it is coming. to an old friend, r.i.p. much love.


boima got sick and had to go to the hospital this afternoon. an ambulence came to get him. we are still waiting to hear back from him.

run down

i've been meaning to start posting in this for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. so here goes.

my geography class was canaceled today for unknown reasons so after ballet i went to a peace protest down wilshire blvd to westwood. one side of the street was closed down and there was heavy police patrol escorting the crowd along the way. i have never seen so many young latino anarachist. it was a strange experience, but a learning experience nonetheless even thoough i don't agree with everyhting they said... or chanted. going to a large political protest is not something i would normally do, but tani planned it and i must commend any attempt at political activism at usc. it seems impossible to get anything done. the posters she had put up on campus yesterday were torn down and only three people showed up including a photogrpaher named bryce from the daily trojan. i would have liked bryce's job. he ran up and down the crowd snapping photos the whole time...print journalism major with photo and viedeo game double minor.hm...

halloween didn't really feel like halloween this year. it was a monday and eighty degrees outside. strange. our hall went all out and started decorating october 2nd though. the hallway was clad with a mummy, a chalk outline of boima, herman the mobile ghost on a zipline, spider webs, bats, skulls, and pumpkins. the frozen yogurt place had country pumpkin flavor leading up to halloween and vince also got pumpkin pie flavored soda to celebrate which tasted only a little better than the brussle sprout and turkey flavored soda.

picture of me and boima on halloween friday: me= 70's, boima= 80's

i went to my sculpture teacher's house/ studio and the broad art foundation in venice for a field trip the other day. i really like this guy tom otterness' work, especially the public art. my ta said he supposedly has installations all over new york's 14th st. subway station. i want to go see it!