Had a long day today: first Art History in the morning, then Animation Collaboration, and finally a meeting with the animation study group/ragtag team of animation misfits.

Art history was surprisingly fun. My teacher went to Brown and UC Berkeley for her undergraduate and graduate degrees in art history, which is really great, actually. Seems I am easily swayed by a prestigious CV. Allan Kohl, the librarian who always writes those really great posts on Tumblr, came into class to show off a "Venus" of Willendorf figurine replica and an ~aesthetic dagger~, i.e. a dagger fashioned for both utilitarian and decorative purposes. His presentation was great — he's very quirky and funny and clearly doesn't give any fucks about how other people perceive him, because he's confidently idiosyncratic. This Friday, I will be going to see a play with him and several other students, including Ameesha. Since this is my last semester here, I would like to be on friendly terms with as many interesting people as possible. He will be my first target.

After the lecture, I came back for lunch, then headed back to school for collaboration. I think instead of hosting this website on the mcad studio server, I'll be doing it through github, which seems to allow for remote editing. But I literally have no idea how to do that, and the process doesn't seem intuitive or easy, so it's going to take me a while before this thing finally goes live. I researched brutalist web design today, which I've encountered in the wild before but lacked the terminology to describe them. Well, now I know: brutalist web design. I don't know if that's an official term or not, but I'll keep using it until someone corrects me.

I also think I may redesign the front part of my website. We will see. I'm not entirely in love with it.

Before class, I saw Piotr in the hallway, and he LOOKED EXCITED TO SEE ME and GAVE ME A HUG!!!!!! He was so cheery and considerate, though he was obviously rushing to class. To think, a teacher actually likes me and remembers me — I've never even entertained the idea of this dream coming true, but here I am!! I MUST NOT FUCK IT UP.

Collaboration was fine. I was afraid of seeing Tom, because of my inability to follow through this summer on his short film, which he, as a gift, offered me a working position on, but we had a chat at the end of class wherein I spewed uncontrollably a torrent of various excuses (I was sooo busy! I had an internship, and a job, and, god I even had surgery! I was all but incapacitated for, for, for like two whole months!), to which he responded (aptly) with apparent skepticism, but I told him I'd let him know by next week if I'd still be able to work on his film this semester, my final one at MCAD. I don't know if I'll be able to, but I really would like the experience. And, also, he gave me a GIFT, which I have to work for, yes, but it's nevertheless a GIFT, one that isn't bestowed to every Joe and Jane who waltzes through this godforsaken school.

The class itself was fine. The content doesn't interest me much, but it doesn't seem to intensive, so I think I'll have more than enough time to work on my senior project, which is PARAMOUNT.

After class, I saw Nathan Motzko, and we chatted a bit. Perhaps I'll add him to the roster of cool people I'd like to befriend, but I already feel somewhat in the thick of the process. We talked about Rick and Morty for a while, which was fun. I love to consume media.

After THAT, and after doing a few hours' worth of research on brutalist web design (in another life, I'd have majored in DESMA at UCLA, or Web/Multimedia at MCAD, but the past is in the past), I went to an animation study group meeting. Sarah and I have been chatting quite a bit in the last few days, and it's been nice. It was basically the gang, minus Kelsey, plus Rozlyn and Sarah, and also minus Peter and Nicole. So, not really the gang at all. But perhaps this is the nu gang.

Anyway, I am their de facto leader. I also somehow, for some reason, agreed to go to a club meeting tomorrow to try to get money for our group. We may also do a 48 hour film festival. Also, we are going to a bunch of events. Guess who got into Minnanimate but had no idea it was happening next Friday? Spoiler, it's me.

This semester will be good. My last. Who knows — maybe I'll cry at the end. Leaving all these weird people behind. I also have to make a list of MCAD stories. Maybe I'll do that somewhere on this website.

I skyped with Brian for an hour and a half. He had his first meeting/chill-sesh with Rutgers grad students. He seemed less than impressed, which is worrying. Hopefully he finds other people to befriend. I'd like to not move to New Jersey with zero friendship prospects.

I've been getting into Ennio Morricone lately. I haven't seen any spaghetti westerns, unless you count Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight," but it's really more of an homage than anything else.

I have a few words I'd like to share today. Copacetic, which, despite it sounding like the name of an SSRI, means "OK, just fine, totally chill." Everything is copacetic, she thought, looking at the expanding fire in the middle of her bed. No need to scream — it is not only irrelevant, but futile. Another word I'd like to share is "wainscot," which is a type of wood paneling that runs along the lower half of a wall. It's purely decorative and makes buildings look fancier and more expensive than they really are.

I didn't read today because I was busy literally all day, but I think I will in just a bit. To unwind, or whatever. The podcast I do not think I will have time for this semester, except maybe on weekends, or while I'm working on various drawing projects.

It's been just a week, but I can already feel myself getting sharper, more articulate, more knowledgeable about the world around me. Why do I fall into these long, lazy, uncreative dry spells? I should realize by now that writing is the key to an active mind. Well, now that I've written it out, I'll certainly remember it.