105,000 Mile Service
What's up? It's been two weeks since I got from Europe and wouldn't you know it: my mind is an uncaged baboon, galumphing around wildly, unable to process its new found freedom. Two weeks in fantasy land and I come back to what? Five silly jobs and a provincial art show! Fuck that, get me back to fantasy land. Either that, or an ounce of crack (the kind you can put under your tongue, though; the thought of actually smoking crack weirds me out).
I guess I'm slowly coming off the travelling high. In six weeks the Explainer year will be over, I will be commuting to Berkeley, and the San Francisco summer fog will be enveloping all of not living on the Eastern face of Telegrapgh Hill. Despite that, there was plenty of stuff to come home to:
-The art show was not my first choice of places to be when I arrived home from Italy. I went right from the airport and was still setting up well into the opening. It was a lot like last time: a lot of people walking in and out, a lot of talking, and a lot of sitting around. My head wasn't into it but I'll mark it down as a success; while I was only marginally happy with my four new pieces, someone else was enthusiastic enough to actually buy one. So I actually made a sale! I didn't meet the guy at the show. He left me a note in my guestbook and the transaction happened last Saturday. It went smoother than expected (I expected nothing until the time the check was in my hand). I got to peek in his apartment and was flattered to notice that the guy had great taste in art (stuff a little like my own, but slightly better and more traditionally indie) and that he was at least ten times cooler than myself (spins at local clubs, has a cool hat). So.... cool, I guess.
-The Sonoma semester ended, as is becoming expected, with a final act of dramatics. Anika briefly turned back to the dark side. My comically inept supervisor quit/resigned/took medical leave? Most of all: a lot of rightfully pissed off students. The program is at such an unbelievably low point that its hard to imagine that they are still open for business. The whole semester started on a bad note as George produced a new schedule that he distributed to everyone but the instructors. When there are people literally flying in from Pheonix for a class that you aren't there to teach, how do you recover? Luckily, I think I came out of the semester on the right side of things.
I refused to take any blame for the administration's bullshit and just tried to get my students through it. Of course, it meant coming in an hour early, making my own copies (Sonoma college is unable to replace its toner cartridges within the space of one month, which is simultaneously appaling and funny), and honoring a million little bullshit requests. But that was the only way to get through it so I am tenuously proud of myself.
-Jury duty, again!?! What the hell!? I successfully avoided doing that just a few months ago.
-Nevermind that she got a near-criminal allotment of extra time, one of my students scored a 750 on math! The only thing my poor battered soul can hope is that, once at Princeton, she pledge her life to bridging the gap between rich and poor.
-Back to stupid fucking toilet paper. It's been about ten years since I saved up for something big I really wanted, but I might just start to casually check out the prices on some mid-performance bidets.
-Still living hand to mouth, thanks to my $867 contribution to the Democratic cash guzzling political apparatus. I have since withdrawn my registration from that particular party and joined my friends Chuck Moulton and the employees at Top Dog in supporting Michael Badnarik for president.
-My car survived 3+ weeks non use on the rough patch of Washington St. between Larkin and Hyde. Exactly as it should be.
[wrapping up my first sale, maybe a little sad about it]
I guess I'm slowly coming off the travelling high. In six weeks the Explainer year will be over, I will be commuting to Berkeley, and the San Francisco summer fog will be enveloping all of not living on the Eastern face of Telegrapgh Hill. Despite that, there was plenty of stuff to come home to:
-The art show was not my first choice of places to be when I arrived home from Italy. I went right from the airport and was still setting up well into the opening. It was a lot like last time: a lot of people walking in and out, a lot of talking, and a lot of sitting around. My head wasn't into it but I'll mark it down as a success; while I was only marginally happy with my four new pieces, someone else was enthusiastic enough to actually buy one. So I actually made a sale! I didn't meet the guy at the show. He left me a note in my guestbook and the transaction happened last Saturday. It went smoother than expected (I expected nothing until the time the check was in my hand). I got to peek in his apartment and was flattered to notice that the guy had great taste in art (stuff a little like my own, but slightly better and more traditionally indie) and that he was at least ten times cooler than myself (spins at local clubs, has a cool hat). So.... cool, I guess.
-The Sonoma semester ended, as is becoming expected, with a final act of dramatics. Anika briefly turned back to the dark side. My comically inept supervisor quit/resigned/took medical leave? Most of all: a lot of rightfully pissed off students. The program is at such an unbelievably low point that its hard to imagine that they are still open for business. The whole semester started on a bad note as George produced a new schedule that he distributed to everyone but the instructors. When there are people literally flying in from Pheonix for a class that you aren't there to teach, how do you recover? Luckily, I think I came out of the semester on the right side of things.
I refused to take any blame for the administration's bullshit and just tried to get my students through it. Of course, it meant coming in an hour early, making my own copies (Sonoma college is unable to replace its toner cartridges within the space of one month, which is simultaneously appaling and funny), and honoring a million little bullshit requests. But that was the only way to get through it so I am tenuously proud of myself.
-Jury duty, again!?! What the hell!? I successfully avoided doing that just a few months ago.
-Nevermind that she got a near-criminal allotment of extra time, one of my students scored a 750 on math! The only thing my poor battered soul can hope is that, once at Princeton, she pledge her life to bridging the gap between rich and poor.
-Back to stupid fucking toilet paper. It's been about ten years since I saved up for something big I really wanted, but I might just start to casually check out the prices on some mid-performance bidets.
-Still living hand to mouth, thanks to my $867 contribution to the Democratic cash guzzling political apparatus. I have since withdrawn my registration from that particular party and joined my friends Chuck Moulton and the employees at Top Dog in supporting Michael Badnarik for president.
-My car survived 3+ weeks non use on the rough patch of Washington St. between Larkin and Hyde. Exactly as it should be.
[wrapping up my first sale, maybe a little sad about it]
posted by Jon at 1:04 PM
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