All right. I�m going to just do the stupid week recap entry no matter how boring because my brain refuses to clear the way for a more current entry until I do. So here we go.

The big news of last week is... drumroll please... keep rolling... the suspense is killing you... rolling... rolling... how annoying IS this?... ready, here it comes... I GAVE MY TWO WEEKS� NOTICE AT THE CRAZY HOUSE!!!!!!!!

(What do you mean, �So what are you going to write about from now on?� My dears, you should know by now that I can almost ALWAYS find something to bitch about.)

I had mentally debated my ass off over the past few weeks about the timing of it. I was seriously tempted to give notice a couple of weeks ago and have last Friday be my last day, but I thought that would be kind of shitty to do since I knew that our billing person was leaving the country for two weeks beginning May 30 and I had promised to cover her billing duties while she was gone. (Although technically I don�t really feel like I was obligated to do so since she�s postponed the trip twice and I had initially been approached about covering for her in April, then May.) But still, I felt like I�d be leaving them in a lurch since I�m the only other person in the office trained on billing.

As it turned out, this would not have been a problem as my boss casually mentioned to me the day before I turned in my notice that they were planning to get a temp to cover billing while coworker is off. Happy, happy day! Her job really kind of sucks. Well, I suppose you might like it if you were an accounting sort of person, which I am most emphatically NOT. So I�m glad to be off the hook there, although a little bummed that I didn�t know this two weeks ago because it would have been nice to have a couple of weeks off work at the beginning of June seeing as how I won�t have any kind of a break between spring and summer quarters. My last scanning class is on June 14 and my first �paper and ink� class starts on June 16. (I know, that DOES sound almost as fascinating as the scanning class, doesn�t it???)

I will be very happy to be done with scanning. I�m learning a lot, but it�s the sort of stuff that will be fun to use once I know it but is tedious to learn. (Oh, and remember that midterm I rushed through a couple of weeks ago? I got an A. Not a perfect score, mind you... apparently I don�t understand PPI, DPI and LPI as well as I thought I did. But... oh, well. I�m pleased with my grade anyhow.) The tedium is not helped by my scanning teacher�s personality... he�s as dry as a saltine cracker and about half as exciting. Every time I look at him, I can�t help imagining him jacking off in the shower every morning as I�m sure he�s done every day for the last 30 years. And I don�t know why I can�t help picturing this, because it�s not the least bit arousing. But it sort of amuses me. Especially because once when I was thinking this, he looked right at me in a rather alarmed sort of way as if he KNEW I was thinking about it and was wondering how I knew. This really freaked me out, and a good freak-out does help to keep me awake when my attention starts to wane. (Yeah, I know it's mean for me to write stuff like that about him, but I gave him a really excellent "instructor review" to make up for all the bad stuff I keep thinking about him, because he DOES know his stuff and he's a nice guy even if he doesn't have even a glimmer of a sense of humor or personality.)

ANYWAY, in spite of the fact that I'd have liked to have these first couple of weeks of June off work, it will be nice to have two more paychecks coming as I�m going to need the money to cover the rest of my summer tuition (thankfully book expenses look like they�re going to be minimal this time around.) I thought I had applied for FA for summer quarter but apparently the 2003-2004 school year doesn�t start until Fall quarter so I�m left on my own for summer. Oh, well... on the bright side, there�s another $300 I won�t have to pay back!

I was kind of disappointed to find out that the one class I really wanted to take over the summer is probably going to be cancelled due to low enrollment... specifically, the Illustrator 10 class. I especially wanted to get the basics of that down so I could take ComArt in the Fall which also uses Illustrator. It�s not a sure thing that the class will be cancelled, but the only other class I would have been willing to substitute, Drawing 101, was filling up really fast so I made the decision to drop Illustrator so I could nab one of the last two seats in the Drawing class. I did, however, buy a �teach yourself Illustrator� book and plan to spend some of my newfound free time this summer working my way through it. If nothing else it will prepare me for the ComArt class, and at best I might be able to get credit by proficiency in the Illustrator class I actually need for my degree. Which would be another couple hundred dollars I�d get out of having to take out student loans for.

So let�s see... quit my job, got my classes all scheduled, what else? Oh, I finished my last design project before the big final project (which is due on the last day of class.) We were supposed to do something in color this time, with five pages of brainstorming in the form of thumbnail marker sketches required before choosing the actual design to render on 9 x 9 illustration board. After a rocky start, I did get a few thumbnail sketches I was rather pleased with. The one I chose for my design was a big blue eyeball surrounded by red veins on the white background. Gruesome, huh? I actually chose it because I wanted to save the bulk of my time and effort for my final project, and I thought this would be easy... trace around a couple of circles with marker, scribble the patterned part of the iris with dark blue marker then color it all over with a sheer layer of blue acrylic paint. Ah, if only...

The circle proved to be a bitch to trace with the marker. I couldn�t get an even-width line with the stupid thick-thin tip of the marker and I kept making blotches and mistakes even after much practice. I finally gave that up and carefully did my outline in dark blue colored pencil which worked much better. Then after I did the iris pattern with marker, I covered it in with what I thought was going to be a sheer blue color but turned out not to be so sheer and completely obliterated the underlying pattern. So then I fixed that by mixing up some REALLY sheer bluish white paint and brushing it on in a �ray� pattern from the outer edge of the pupil to the outer edge of the iris. And it turned out pretty darn good! So I�m real pleased with that, and glad to finally have it out of the way so I can concentrate on the final project which I suspect is going to be a bitch to pull off. We have to do a poster on one of six broad topics... Justice, Education, Environment, Technology, World, Society. We have to come up with again, FIVE pages of brainstorming (and he�s getting about 3 thumbnails per page, like it or not... I don�t have enough freaking ideas to do any more!) We can use any media we like which sounds great except I don�t have enough talent or experience with any media, not even collage, to pull together anything really nice. And the one idea I have that I really do like is going to take some drawing skills to execute. But I can�t think of another way of doing it that won�t look lame... and I can�t think of any other ideas that aren�t lame as well. So, we shall see how it goes... thank goodness I�ve gotten good grades on my other projects. If the last one turns out badly, at least I should average out to a C at the lowest.

So I think that�s about it... I took a day off last Friday and had a wonderful day of relaxation. Played around on the �net, took myself to Chipotle�s for lunch (mmmmm... burrito bol...) and then splurged on a couple of books at Borders before coming home to take a nice long nap. Saturday was school, Chipotle�s AGAIN, and Borders AGAIN, this time with the Prince (mmmmm... white chocolate mocha...) and then Sunday was CLEANING. I spent most of the day getting the place all spiffy, headed off some sex at the pass �cause I was just too tired... showered my weary body and was all prepared to jump into my freshly-washed-and-made bed when I noticed a big wet spot right where I usually lay. Fucking Luna-tic, the resident cat-in-heat, apparently decided to spray right the fuck there on my nice clean bed! Have I mentioned here lately how much I fucking HATE cats? Just what I wanted to do at 11:30 on a Sunday night after a long day... strip the bed for the second time that day, dab enzyme cleaner on the mattress before flipping it over, wash sheets and comforter and try to get comfortable sleeping on the bare mattress covered by a thin blanket and a too-small afghan. After such a hard day of work, I can�t begin to tell you how cheated I felt of sleeping in a nice, clean, freshly-made bed. Fucking cat.

But, my house IS clean, and I am just SO tempted to call off work today. It would be so nice to spend the day reading and relaxing in a nice CLEAN apartment for a change. But, work beckons... I had stuff sitting there needing done when I left on Thursday, and I�m sure it didn�t do itself on Friday.

So... hi ho, hi ho. Hi fucking ho ho ho.

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Last Five
Crappy job crap, weird neighbor, and someone whose baby I apparently want to have - 2006-05-08
Live from the dump - 2006-04-09
Kind of like a muzzle for your brain - 2006-03-29
...and then she fell ass-first into my cereal bowl - 2006-03-28
Playing catch-up - 2006-03-27

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