May 29, 2002
From the first floor Katherines lounge, east.
Journal entry 5/29/02 12:23 am.
I had some of the scariest walks tonight, while on duty in Katherines. The second and third floors are currently empty, however, they need to be checked while on rounds. In the daylght - no problem. In the dark, however, it's somewhat eerie. There's this silence thrt is almost indescribable. Katherine's has this unique architectectural feature where you chn't see all the way down from any point, making the halls seem really short.
I was convinced that someone was hiding down each hallway as I passed to check it. This person had a knife and a desire to kill me.
The mind wanders when locked into 1st Katherine's East Lounge (aka, the sensory depriuation chamber.) the halls should not be this quiet.
My hope is that Kathebine's hasn't been around long enough to be haunted. Awyone care to try and refute this? ...
Actually, don't. I need to sleep hepe at least 10 more times before August.
I'm stuck here until 6am. I'm writing this on my PalmPilot.
Ahhh............. Precious sleep.
Finished at 5/29/02 12:45 am.
May 28, 2002
Confession...
I have a confession to make.
I know, confession is good for the soul. The truth shall set you free.
I can't parallel park. I mean, I could. I did; once, on the driving test at the MVA in Bel Air, MD. That was three years ago.
I've been lucky since then; I've been in situations where I could just pull forward into a spot, and not have to worry. My neighborhood at home is like that. High School was like that.
Philadelphia is different. Take tonight...
My friend Vicki, a fellow Day One Host, had to enlarge some photos. I, being bored, and having resolved to explore the city of Philadelphia (motto: "Confusing DeMizio(s) since 2000") this summer, decided to go with. We took an amazing drive down Kelly Avenue, along the river. It had just rained, and a light mist seemed to hang in the air, creating this brilliant sheen on everything I saw. We found the WalMart in South Philadelphia, with no problems (U-Turn count: 0.)
The WalMart was great, right on the water, before the bridge (which bridge? I don't know, see above motto for city of Philadelphia.) The parking was superb: a large, spacious lot, with generous, easy, pull-in-straight-and-set-the-brake parking. We went in. I found what I needed: batteries, gum, and Orange Juice. Vicki went to try and enlarge her photos on the Kodak Picture Maker Thingie© Machine™
"I can do it this way at home!" she screamed at the clerk.
We left; because the machine wouldn't do what it should be doing. She then resolved to find a Kinkos© So off we drove.
We found the first Kinkos© on Market Street, West of City Hall. It may actually turn out to be a landmark discovery: a Kinkos© that wasn't open 24-hours, as THEIR ADS CLAIM. Fortunately, there was an address for a Kinkos© on the other side of City Hall, also on Market Street.
We found it; a shining jewel among...shiny buildings; a diamond in the rough. (note: children of the early 1990's will hear that phrase, and immedately think of Disney's Aladdin.)
However, there was no parking around. The Philadelphia Police Department (motto: "Confusing DeMizio since 2002, but still better than La Salle "Security,") in their truly amazing gift of foresight, had eneacted temporary parking regulations at all of the nearby meters. These were meters that I could park at. Nope; these were blocked off by white and red signs. There was a heavy police presence in the area that night (had they noticed our escape from La Salle? Were the natives scared? Was that why they had enacted temporary parking ordinances and closed the Kinkos?) and we dared not park. I offered to try a space a block or two away, however, I think I heard they city collecively laugh at me, when they pictured this "country-boy" trying to parallel park.
Vicki gave up at that point, and I agreed. We drove back to La Salle without incident.
North on Broad. Left on Belfield. Right on 20th. Left on Olney. Left into Hayman Lot. Then into a generous, easy, pull-in-straight-and-set-the-brake parking job.
So, two links tonight. The first is to a site about Parking Meters. Everything you always wanted to know about parking meters but were afraid to ask.
The second is in honor of Memorial Day. It is a link that I found on Fark.com, with the simple tag, "Thank You."
Currently reading: Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth by Herman Hesse
Currently dreading: going to work tomorrow for Health Services, where I'll be assembling medical kits, or shredding medical records from '94.
May 24, 2002
The job...
...isn't as bad as I originally thought.
big surprise.
More tomrrow.
May 22, 2002
The summer had been going
The summer had been going so well...
I got transferred today from Administrative Services to Health Services. While not a drastic change in official duties, it constitutes a change in atmosphere and office placement: I was in Union 205, I'm now next to Blue and Gold. I had friends around me to work with, but now I'm the only office worker there, besides the summer professional staff. The hours are somewhat better, I guess, as I'll probably hit close to the maximum of 40 per week. I'm disappointed, I was looking forward to administrative services, doing housing for people and problem solving. I could go to lunch with friends, on roughly the same schedule. Now I'm a five minute walk away from everyone. While not the end of the world, it's annoying.
sigh.
Thats all...its been a generally okay week thus far. The theater group we had in on Monday was awesome: all from Baltimore county (most graduates of Towson) and all recently out of college. Really laid back atmosphere...we only had 4 hours with them though. Went down to South Street last night, and had a great time.
sigh.
Things have a way for working out to the best. I hope.
May 19, 2002
May 17, 2002
Yatta! (revisited)
G R Double-E N Leaves G R Double-E N Leaves It's so easy! Happy-go-lucky! Yatta! Yatta! Nippon kyuukyuu (demo) Yatta! Yatta! Yatta! Yatta! O-mizu nondara umee! (Yatta!) [Repeat] Surechigai-zama hohoemi kureta Heisei fukyoh seiji fushin Yatta! Yatta! Yatta! Yatta! [Repeat *] | G R Double-E N Leaves G R Double-E N Leaves It's so easy! Happy-go-lucky! We are the world! We did it! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! (Unh!) All right! All right! All right! All right! Japan's got crises (but) All right! All right! All right! All right! I drink water that's tasty! (All right!) [Repeat] As we brushed past each other, you favored me with a smile. We've got recession these days...in goverment we've no faith. All right! All right! All right! All right! [Repeat] Bye-Q! |
The books that addicted me
The books that addicted me to reading...
May 16, 2002
For the King, for the Land, for the Mountains...
I spent more hours in the theater this week than I did for some shows that we've done. We had a group renting the theater: as part of an outreach program through the Pennsylvania Ballet, Central East Middle School staged a production of Sleeping Beauty. The actors were all in the age range of 8-15. It was cute; the show ran about an hour, had one intermission, and had a total run of one performance. The Technical Theatre Association of La Salle University (Can't beat it...) provided the technical prowess to set up their show: backdrops, lighting, sound, etc. It used more technology than any Masque show I've worked on (24 channel, 4 bus Mackie board, with 17 Shure Wireless microphones, for videotaping they brought in a three-camera shoot with switcher)
The show went well...no $%#@-ups.
Worked in administrative services for the first time today...kinda fun. Its nice to have simple, menial office work to do: answer phones, organize files, get mail...ran all over the campus for a few things. Learning some new stuff too about how La Salle operates internally.
Thats about it. Its been boring here; the Day One people are the only people in the townhouses still... its quiet. Angie moved out today, so Hilary and Jerome are now empty, the only people left are in Alberts and Katherines. North Dorms is dead.
May 15, 2002
Letterman
Letterman had one of his most random, and funniest skits ever tonight: "How Many People In Spider-Man Costumes Can We Fit In A Sandwich Shop." Hoping to bring some of the success of the Spider-Man movie into his show, Letterman brought 9 guys in the red and blue costume into a Subway shop.
Nothing happened. They brought another guy in in costume. Nothing happened. They ran out of Spider-Man costumes, so by the end, there were 10 Spider-Men, 2 people in costumes from "Cats," a Wizard, 2 monkeys, a bear, a dog and a cowboy.
They were just standing next to each other in the shop, like a police line-up. The diners didn't care at all. Just totally random.
Then, after Alison Janey finished, they cut back to the shop where the NY Police were called in to clear the shop. Costumed actors and actresses exited, single file, into the street.
Priceless.
May 13, 2002
Moving and Everything After
I blinked, let the sunlight filter and focus into my eyes and saw a weekend pass by in a flash.
Saturday
Woke up after a long night of hanging out with friends. The alarm had been set for 7:00AM - I was pumped; I was going to get to Miguel early and get one of the singles! Finally got up around 9AM. Packed the last of my stuff up: the room was full of brown garbage bags, and random boxes from what I could find in the hallways. Stole a cart to make the move out BEARABLE.
Three car trips to the townhouse later...
All of my stuff is in. I got a single on the second floor: nice view. I spend a few hours unpacking, then running to straighten up my old room. We order Chinese that first night, and begin to realize how cool living in Miguel for the summer is: We're the only ones here, with no SDRs (those people behind the turnstiles) and very little supervision: we are the supervisors. Then the responsibility kicks in, that yes, we are the supervisors around, the damn summer RA's.
Sunday
I woke up to the sounds of "Pomp and Circumstance" booming from across the street. It was about 10:15am; the procession had started at 10AM. I walk over, and hang out and listen to the sounds of my friends and acquantainces graduating. The highlight of the ceremony was the beachball being passed by the crowd, and the La Salle "Security" officer who confiscated it when it went off too far to the side (to the sound of booing from the graduates...) During some of the speeches I climbed to the third floor of Wister and took some pictures. The picture to the left is one of those pictures, after editing in Photoshop.
The major high point of the day was standing where the procession exited the stadium and seeing the graduates walk past, and saying hello, and congratulations. Bittersweet: I know I'll see most of these people again, but when...? Good luck guys and girls.
Sunday night was uneventful. Went to Wawa for dinner (yay Hoagies!) and just hung out with people. Bonded with the people here - a very good thing.
Monday
I woke up at 6:30AM. AARGH. The Pennsylvania Ballet, through an outreach program, was renting the theater for some shows this week, and I was being paid to do some lighting for them. I tried without success to get in on Sunday night to hang and focus some stuff. Since this was a paying gig, I sacrifices sleep and sanity and went in at 7am to do the work I should have done the night before. It went amazingly smooth: hung an awesome light-plot for them, and had the strips gel'ed in 4 different colors (ugly amber, pink, purple and blue) by about 10am - the time everything started happening. Around 10, we hung backdrops for a while...these huge cloth monsters rented from somewhere in New York. I left for a while at 11:30 - had a lunch to go to.
The Day One hosts, along with all of the other summer staff went to lunch in Chestnut Hill. The Dean, Assistant Dean, and other people were there as well. The guy Day One Hosts are extremely quiet and reserved, while the females are incredibly outgoing and loud. It provides an interesting group when we're fully together. The food was great, the company compelling, and no one wanted lunch to end.
Got back to the theater at around 2:30. Solved the audio problem. We got the cable we needed. I'm in my element again: technical director, the guy you go to when you need something done. I love it. The kids rehearsed until 5PM. The program rented what I can best call "overkill" in a sound system: a 24-channel Mackie board, with 17 Shure Wireless UHF Microphones jacked in - each actor has their own wireless mic. Amazing; the Masque couldn't afford such luxuries, and the theater's acoustics don't really warrant the overkill in my opinion...but then again, its cool having an audio board again, and it adds lots of shiny things and blinking lights to the theater, so its good.
Finally got done writing cues for the day at 6:30. Got soaked in the worst downpour I've ever seen at La Salle, but by the time I got back to my room it had cleared. Cooked for the first time tonight - spaghetti. Yum.
After that, I just kind of hung out: the RD's came over with a few other people to watch Road Rules/Real World Challenge. I have to be back at the theater at 7:30am tomorrow. Not fun...but the pay is pretty decent. I kinda want to do this for a career if I can make it pay - direct facilities at some performing arts center somewhere, be the "go-to" guy for the technical stuff.
Epilogue
I'm exhausted now. I can't believe how much has happened to me all weekend. I want to pinch myself and wake up sometimes: this all seems so surreal, the job, the townhouse, the people, La Salle without students.
I hope I don't wake up for a while.
May 10, 2002
I passed From Simple to Complex!
With a B-.
3.22GPA Cumulative.
That is all for now.
I don't want to get up...
Its officially summer for me, and it has been for 6 days now. Got back from Baltimore yesterday around 3pm, and found the dorms very, very quiet. I always knew that they'd be quiet, but not this quiet...its beyond eerie - there are people on the first floor, and then there's me on the third floor and thats it. The rooms resemble more prison cells than dorms now, with nothing in them but the La Salle provided essentials: bed, dresser, desk...
So, I got up at about 9am this morning, which is bizarre considering that at home, I was sleeping until 12/12:30/2pm. Its my windows: they stare directly into the oncoming sun in the morning: lovely during August when the room becomes an oven, the bricks absorbing all the heat to slowly dissipate it all during the night, keeping a nice average temprature of eighty degrees. I went down to watch Mary pack - Mary is a friend that I met during freshman year when she stage managed Assassins. Her room is so organized, and so home like: from the anal-retentive organization, to the entertainment center and futon. She seemed to have ten times the number of boxes that I'm expecting to have.
Found out that I'm in D8 for the summer. Not a clue when I'm moving yet.
Anyhow, I have a meeting about doing some technical stuff for the theater today, and then a barbecue. Should be fun.
May 08, 2002
With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility
Watched Spider-Man tonight. Engrossing film, the character development was more than what I expected. I found it better than last year's X-Men; probably just because of the character development. If I had to choose the high points, they would be:
- character development
- kirsten dunst
- Randy Savage's "cameo"
- Stan Lee's cameo
For some reason, I kept identifying with Peter Parker...the whole nerd thing, the whole being held to the "great responsibility" thing, the whole mutant superpowers thing...wait, maybe not.
This was the kind of movie that, afterwards, I wished I had paid to get in. Its not great, but it moved at a fast clip, and kept me entertained. The scenes where the camera flew through the city were breathtaking; the special effects were really, really well done.
Great trailers before the movie too: Triple X, Minority Report, MIB 2.
I almost wish I were still going to be working at Hoyts for the summer...I still could be, and I'm torn between the desire to see these movies and do my old job and be with my old friends, and move on and do something truly exciting and new for me. Either way...
Anyhow, Conan is on in a few minutes. Enjoy the links from today.
May 07, 2002
Home
Home is home. Got in Sunday afternoon. Traffic, as per the afternoon usual, was bad: why are Maryland drivers so poor? Once past the Mason-Dixon line - that line that forms the northern boundary of Maryland on I-95 - every single driver seems to forget that they're driving. People on cell phones, people eating things, people doing anything but pay attention to the darn road. I think it all may just be me though, fidgeting once I get into the state, anxious to get home, knowing that getting out of PA is only 1/2 the battle.
I've done nothing but sleep pretty much since I got here, which I think is pretty good considering all the sleep that I lost in the last few weeks. There were classes, then exams, then checkout duty, then community development breakfasts, and then on my last day, I got a call from one of my residents - who had moved out less than 24 hours previously - at 6:30AM. Pleasant, but I wanted to sleep in.
Other than that, not much has happened here. I have a couple of goals while I'm home:
- Catch Spiderman at Hoyts, while I can see it for free, to see if the buzz is as good as people are saying.
- Watch the director's cut of "Amadeus" at the Senator Theatre, one of the most beautiful theatres I've ever been in - quality presentation, state of the art sound, and great popcorn.
- Get in touch with Magrogan, my old high school english teacher and mentor. Same for Motsay, except switch english for biology.
- sleep.
So, there we go. My internet connection sucks while here, but I rustled up one link for today. Why go do fantasy football, basketball, or baseball when you have bowling? I mean, really, think about it. Bowling. Ten pins, you, and a ball. Is there a more important or relevant challenge to the lives we lead as humans every single day?
I think not.
May 05, 2002
goodbye, farewell, and amen
The semester ended, finally and officially, about twenty minutes ago, when I emailed my final paper to Prof. Strieb to complete the From Simple to Complex syllabus.
The dorms now are iincredibly quiet: indescribable, solely because there's nothing to compare the quiet to. Its a Saturday night: I should be hearing 6 different TV's blaring, and 20 different conversations going on when I'm sitting in the quad. Instead there's...nothing.
Today was a lot better than yesterday; checkout duty was 1/10 the pain of yesterday. I was able to get out of duty at around 12pm, and spent the entire afternoon writing. I'll probably leave here tomorrow and go home for a couple of days.
Thank you's:
- Mike - for letting me out of duty at noon
- Aaron - for the whole cleaning thing all year.
- 3rd Hilary - for allowing me to be an RA.
- 310/311 Jerome - for listening to me complain, and putting up with me at all hours of the day and night
- CAJH staff - for putting up with me, and for being there at some of the hardest stuff I've ever dealt with.
- King's Vitamen (you know who you are) - Yatta! I've been denied...all the best...ultra-sex! I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me! (need I say more?)
- Masque - for showing me the best and worst of theater, La Salle, and relationships.
- Those I hugged yesterday - I needed it more than you.
Anyway, I'm going to watch some TV and turn in. Check in later this week; I should have something up.
May 04, 2002
Worst Day Ever...
#1: Duty last night. Fire alarm at 4am. Slow-ass La Salle "Security" respons 20 minutes later. 3 IR's for the fire alarm, finally get to sleep at 6am. Called at 7am, then 8am, then 9am. Exam at 10:40.
#2: the "Dryers." I did my laundry tonight, and attempted to dry it. 2 hours and $2 later, it was as damned wet as it was when I put it in. AARGH.
#3: Almost lost my ID. I had a 20 minute period where I couldn't find it.
#4: Check out duty - 6 hours of fun.
Then theres the little stuff, like not being able to find people to go to Wawa with, and people leaving and stuff.
People leaving is actually a big thing. The dorms have lost their heart and soul; La Salle has too. Another class will soon be here, trying to fill the shadows of the seniors...people are gone from the dorms now. Saying goodbye was hard today, especially with having to check people out of their rooms too, which left no time to say goodbye.
To those I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to: Have a great summer, and thank you for being a part of my life: making it a little bit happier and more fulfilling. I owe you all a hug.
The good stuff for today:
#1: an A on my second Film as Art paper.
#2: Dinner was good...yum Boston Market.
#3: Scriptwriting final project, comments and grade: "Terrific script; you've established your "voice" and mastered the format. Dialogue, characterization, conflict, momentum: all first-rate. A+."
(I never knew Bill Wine gave A+'s.)
Off to bed, a lovely staff breakfast at 8AM tomorrow, followed by damage billing/more checkout duty/ and more fun.
May 02, 2002
The "Exams Really Suck" Edition:
First, more discoveries:
- Naps fail to work during exam week. Any deviation from a set sleep schedule fails. This is a bad thing, especially because the entire week is a deviation from a set schedule.
- Free food in college is the only way to get some people out of their rooms. Free food during exam weeks is expected: if none is readily available, prepare for a riot.
- It's funny: the conversation up and down the street outside my window usually concerns drunken people coming back from parties. For the last week, it's been, "If she gives me a 65, I'm going to kill her," and, "Man, only fifteen pages to go."
- I've stopped for now at Newsies; I'm through it, I'm man enough to admit it. (o/~ and the world will know, and the journal too...mr. pulitzer and hearst do we have news for you...o/~)
- Watching people move out that you've spent the year with is hard. Helping those people carry stuff to their cars from the third floors is harder.
The La Salle Young Playwrights presented my play tonight, "It Is So." It's the second full one-act play that I've written, and its the second one that they've produced. Mike and Dave did an excellent job; I was overjoyed with the production.
I have a massive inferiority complex, but it acts up most when I write. I truly believe that a lot of what I write sucks. My hands should have been cut off long ago to prevent further desecration to the English language. When my plays are performed, I have a hard time with it: Those people up there are saying my words. It's not them up there any more; its me: with all my insecurities, faults and foibles. I was inconsolable last year at the Young Playwrights performance: fidgety, and anxious. I still cringe whenever I hear my line "buttery baked good." I believe, a lot of the time, that the people who tell me my writing is good are just setting me up for a practical joke: waiting in the wings to laugh at me.
I know this is bullshit.
And I'm getting better. I sat tonight perfectly still in the theater as my words were performed. I rejoiced in the laughter from the people that were there. I watched them do justice to my work; as only actors can do to the solitary, stationery page. And I applauded the actors, and myself, and felt the complex breaking down, some, but not totally.
There's a saying that the only cure for loving is to love more. In much the same way, I'm realizing that the only way to get over this crap about my writing is to write more.
I apoligize for the personalness of this entry, I'll return to lighthearted comedy tomorrow.
For those of you who were there, thank you for laughing and applauding: it is the greatest sound I have ever heard. Karen, Mike, and Dave, thank you for the opportunity once again.