Aside from the fact that I fucked up my computer yesterday (but then fixed it today, hurray), these are good days. It’s starting to be al sunny and warm, but no too hot, and not really humid yet. I’m also doing faulous money wise. So much so, I think i can pay off two of my debt things, which is relieving. I can not only pay these off, but buy my trapeze when i get to camp and still have money to live to when I get back from camp. This is fantastic news. Also fantastic- the fact that I worked for two hours today and yet got paid for eight. I love my boss,and his philosphy ofnot punishing us for working quickly. So I came home a little after noon, took a nap on the clock, and did some much needed grocery shopping. The place I was workig today and yesteray is right off times square, it’s going to be some kind of museum exhibit thing. I don’t know of what yet, but it’s all dusty and sheetrocky inside, painters everywhere. Breathing was not great in there. At lunch yesterday, I got to go sit out on Broadway. They’ve started up the thing of closing off a few blocks of it, and have all these lawn chairs hanging out. I think it’s great, though incredibly surreal to be sitting in the midle of times square. I’m not sure it improves traffic, but it doesn’t seem to slow it down any. And it as really nice to sit there in the sun and people watch. Most people going through there are tourists, and so just sit down for  few minutes to rest, so there seem to always be chairs available.

So things are good. It’s nice to be this busy, but at the same time, kind of relaxed. I hope this weather stays awhile.

Success.

I sent ian the following smackdown email, and now I feel much more at peace.

“You are good at the histrionics thing. First the ‘throwing everything all over the kitchen twice’ thing, then moving out on 4 days notice and going nuts over the fact that we took more than five minutes to pick someone, and now this. Look- of course you’ll get your deposit back. We are good people, and it is the right thing to do. You going to a lawyer changes this in no way (especially since you have no case, I’ll explain that in a little bit).
 
However, you gave us all of 4 days of warning, and less than 2 weeks to find a new roommate. You moved out barely two weeks ago, and already you’re howling? You never told us you were having trouble getting in touch with Mike, you never asked for his phone number, you never asked us if we could talk to him. We would have been happy to do any of those, since we want this resolved as quickly as you do. Given, too, how late you often were in repaying Madeline and me for bills, I suggest you exercise a little patience.
 
About us doing the picking, and therefore all of it is our responsibility- we wanted to pick the person coming in. Sarah Jane picked you, and look how well that turned out. We did not want to live with some one so clearly uncomfortable with our household again. We never took financial responsibility aside from Rob paying you the 133. Note- Rob (who you didn’t even email) not Madeline or me.
You paid rent when you moved in. You never paid last months rent, and you did not pay the deposit for several months. This was largely Sarah-Jane’s fault for not informing you, but we did tell you about it by the time you had moved in (you would not have been able to afford to move in had we enforced those. Similar to how you couldn’t afford to move this time. Notice a pattern?). You moved in in mid June, and in September when the lease was renewed we decided that you would pay the deposit and last months rent to Madeline, with the landlord keeping those from the last person. You paid only the deposit several months later. Quit lying about that.

You are still on the lease. I believe that means you are responsible for rent. As a leaseholder, you are already in violation of several things. a) you broke lease (not only broke, but broke with less than a months notice, as our lease agreement stipulates) and did not inform the landlord. He found out by chance. b) you are subletting without written permission from the landlord. Our lease has a clause specifically stating that written permission is required. I believe that given those two points if this were to go to small claims court, you would likely end up responsible for continuing to pay rent through the end of the lease term in September (and that’s without mentioning your destructive behavior (the kitchen incident) or your borderline harassment (chasing me down the hallway taking pictures after I said no, and stop)). Lucky for you, Mike has paid the rent, the landlord is easy going and satisfied, and none of us are so petty and vindictive as to carry that out. 
 
Miss Rachet? I assume you mean Nurse Rachet, from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. That reference does not carry the insult that you mean it to. I suggest you research your lease agreements and check your literary references before you call me stupid.

Just for fun, I’ve forwarded this to your lawyer (I think he should have a better picture than whatever one you’re giving him, especially in regards to your insults to me. Mr. Katz, see below in Ian’s email to me) and to one of mine. Lawyers everywhere!
 
You are now in my killfile. You have no further business with me or with Madeline, only with Rob and Mike, and I’m sure that will be concluded soon.”

I did put him in a spam filter, but of course checked to see if he wrote back. He did, in a subdued sullen way, saying “i don’t care about all that, I just want my deposit back, and I’m getting no response from madeline or him” and then “PS You’re an idiot”. Jesus. I can tell at least that he got told, and knows it, so that’s good. It does bug me a little that he persists in thinking, or at least saying, that madeline has anything to do with it. And of course he calls me an idiot. The great refuge of the wounded. Clearly, I’m not an idiot (despite any stupid decisions or actions on my part), and he’s feeling a little cornered.

I feel much better. Woork in general is picking up and looking good. I’m still having a hard time going in to the office, but it’s happening, and I’m getting stuff done. I like my projects a lot more than the day to day operations, so I’ve been concentrating on those and acting a little busier than I am. Not that I’m not busy, but none of these projects are really time sensitive.

I’m rereading TimeQuake, by Kurt Vonnegut. I had it in my head that it was my favorite of his book, but aside from a general plot outline and general sense of liking his writing, I couldn’t remember why that one in particular. I was right, though, it is my favorite. It’s so good and sad and hopeful and fond of humans and despairing of them and clever and all good things Vonnegut. The plot is looser than most of his books. He wrote it, and realized it was terrible, and so rewrote it, or rather, wrote this book which is bits of the first version with all sorts of his thoughts and views over it. He’s a character, of sorts, and Kilgore Trout is there, in the same world, mostly. It’s shifting and fluid and has a heartbeat. That’s the best way to put it with all him pauses and shifts.

I just reread Huck Finn, which was also fantastic to revisit. I’m now immersed in Vonneguts language, which makes it harder to recall Twain’s, but they share a wryness, in a way. In a lot of ways, it seems to me that Vonnegut and Huck are the same basic person in different times and lives. This is a new thought, so I might be totally off base, but they share an appreciation of nature and straightforwardness (and Vonnegut and Twain share a side of humor), and both are disgusted in similar ways at the meanness of people. Interesting idea. Who knows. Before that was Life of Pi, which was great, and had almost nothing in common. But was a fantastic book. A little disjointed, it seems to me now, but all parts were good to read, and fit as I read them. I’m glad to be reading again, I missed my ficticious worlds.

More piddle

Ian continues to be a giant pain in the ass. I don’t want to go into it, as just thinking about this whole mess makes me pretty furious. He sent me one of the most insulting emails I’ve ever recieved, he’s lying about shit, and he’s copying a lawyer on emails (which is retarded since he has no case). Sigh. Basically, he wants his deposit back. We have no problem with this, and just haven’t gotten it to him yet because things have been a little crazy, etc. He moved out 3 weeks ago, and is already freaking out. He also called me stupid and pointed out that he’s a leaseholder. Which makes him really retarded, since as a leaseholder, he is then legally obligated to keep paying rent. He never paid the deposit to the landlord, so it’s all verbal, and we could just tell him to fuck himself, and any small claims court would back us up (coupled with the fact that our lease forbids subletting without writeen permission, and he never told the landlord that he was moving out. Dumbass). Blarg. Moving on.

I sent an email to one of the people I met at the master classes letting him know I really liked his talk, and if he ever needed an assistant, I was probably available, here’s my resume. He wrote back yesterday with-

“It was good to meet you. Who was your teacher?
Do you have any interest in going to a grad program? The Johnny Carson
School has a Grad. assistant line open at the moment. Just over $8,200
stipend for the year with full tuition waiver. Depending on GPA, more
grants may be available. Let me know.”

Wha? Is it just me, or does it seem like I just got asked to apply to grad school with a fairly certain guarantee of getting it? Who knows. But it was really cool to get that reply, and I want to ask him more. I had recently been considering grad school, since I’m kind of stuck now, but I was considering in terms of start research on programs in the fall, possibly apply in the winter, maybe not till next winter. It’s very startling to think about starting this fall. Not that I’ve made up my mind to apply yet. I want to know more about the program, and what an assistantship entails and everything. It’s also a film program, it seems, which is kind of great, but also nto what I want. But I might want it after being around it some, it’s a whole other interesting area that I know nothing about. So I have to email him back. I’m formulating a reply.

I’m leaving for camp in a month. Just over. But yeesh. That’s soon. My summer here is almost over. Which is a dramatic way of putting it, but really, I’m here for june, and then I’m gone till some time mid-august. I’m not even sure yet when I’m coming back, that plane ticket hasn’t been bought yet. I’m hoping John comes out to visit again. It would be great if we could find a car that needs to be driven to the east coast, and take a road trip back. Though that means being away from the cats for even longer. That’s the problem with Camp, aside from not quite being paid enough and still paying rent here. I feel really bad for leaving my cats in other people’s hands for that long. And I can’t even call them and talk to them. But this time it’s Madeline that will be taking care of them and not Ian (grrr) so it should be fine. Also, they’re cats. And while I know that they miss me (based on how they act when I come back) they are pretty self sufficient, and don’t care that much as long as they’re fed. So that’s good. I have to buy a stockpile of catfood. Expensive little beasts. Who are getting more picky about their dry food. I found one that they’re tolerating for now, let’s see how long that lasts. I am so on my way to crazy cat lady-hood. Oh well.

Time to get up. I was technically supposed to get to the staged reading right about now, but I can roll in a few hours late and no one cares. Hurray for silly jobs.

Up and up

So I’ve had a really good chunk of time this past however long it’s been since I wrote here last. I volunteered for and so got to attend the Broadway Lighting Master Class series. Fantastic. Amazing. I met a bunch of cool people, handed my card to designers who are so far far above me and amazing and yet stopped and talked to me and seemed grateful and interested in what I had to say. The production manager for it and i hit it off as well, so I got a free ticket to 9-5, got to go with everyone else and stay afterwards and wander around on the stage and ask questions. It was pretty cool. And a good show. Shallow story, but good, and really funny. Said production manager might also hire me for other stuff later on, so that’s also pretty cool. At the show, I was sitting between a lighting legend, and another great designer who I know from an email list that I’m on, and behind the guy who designed Passing Strange. It was a little surreal and I as a little giddy. It was just really nice to be in a space with all of these people who understand how I feel, and listening to people talk and remind me why i do this, why I love it. It was also really great to hear about different approaches and see how people work a little. And I got some cool swag. All around, excellent experience, and it was a little soul crushing to go back into the office today. So much so that I slept in about and extra 3 hours and went in to work at noon today. Also, John stayed over most of the night and I didn’t catch up on sleep as much as I’d wanted, though it was completely worth it.

It’s also been really nice weather lately, all sunny and pretty. I did a couple sessions of trapeze without a teacher, and I think I put together a rough routine for Madeline to do in her show in the fall. I’m really excited about going to Camp in a month and picking up my own trapeze while I’m there. I’ve checked ahead money-wise, and it seems like I’ll actually be in really good (or at least, not totally broke) shape for the summer, so that’s really exciting. Last year I didn’t work enough and miscalculated and had to borrow money from my parents in order to pay rent. No good. But this year seems like it will work out. Including paying off a couple debts. Exciting.

It always seems like people write less when they”re happy with things, and I’m trying not to let that be the case here, but I’m out running around and doing things, or curled up with the cats watching stuff, and it’s all going well.

Catchcatch

What a nice bunch of days. The week kind of sucked, lots of working that I didn’t partcularly like, not enough sleep, etc. Though I did get to see Star Trek opening night (why the heck was no one dressed up??), which was great, though it was at an imax theatre and it’s freaking impossible to track things in action scenes, everything is so huge and fast. But it was all sorts of fun and worth the tiredness.

But then saturday I had off. John stayed over the night before, and we slept in and then got up and went to the Intrepid, this big aircraft carrier museum dealie. It was fun. A lot of walking, and apparently they’ve rearranged and taken out some of the cool stuff, but I liked all the planes and getting to explore. We have to go back when the submarine is open.

Then we went and got thai food from this place that I really like, but John has been resistant to go to for a while. It was good as usual, and he was glad we went.

Sunday was long. I had a strike that went well and fast, and then I went all the way back to Brooklyn, met up with Madeline and her friend Annie for spanish food (which was fantastic,  I need to go back) and hung out and talked. Annie helped us make a pro/con list about roommates, and we decided we liked Mike best (yay!) and called him to invite him over tonight to meet Rob and see if he’s still interested. So that’s happening soon. Then we went back into the city and went shoe shopping. We both needed sneakers, and I finally got a real pair, that have real foot cushioning. After an unwavering steam of Converse, that recently wavered and added Rocket Dogs that are very nice but still have not really any support, it was exciting to get running shoes and have them be all squishtastic. In a word. We killed some time before going down to see Rob play with his band (it seems weird to say that when it’s just him and his friend Joe. I gues playing IN his band might work better.) It was exciting. Small place, not so many people, big loud noise. It’s just bass and drums, and loud and yelling, but I liked it. Not the kind of music I pick, but fun to go see. They got done at about 10 30, and I went home and crashed.

Today, I decided not to go to work. It was a good decision. I rode my bike to park slope and dropped it off at a shop to get the brakes adjusted, went on some swings, walked back slowly, and then cleaned the house. I swept almost all the floors, mopped the kitchen and the bathroom, and did dishes. Unfortunately/fortunately, right around then the landlord showed up to fix the sink, which has been leaking both at the faucet and from the pipe below. It was great to get that fixed, but I couldn’t really do much while he was here and he got the kitchen floor all gross again. I cleaned that and then scrubbed all of the horriblly disgusting much that had accumulated under the sink. It was terrible. It was hard to tell how bad it really was before, and we just kind of ignored it. Eesh. But I kicked it’s ass, and it’s not terrible anymore, and the sink doesn’t leak, and the bathroom is clean. Huzzah. A worthwhile day with much accomplished, while still having a lazy sleep in morning. After Mike leaves, I’m going to catch up on more online tv (I think Fringe, I’m a couple episodes behind) and go to bed at a decent time. I’m excited. And am not ashamed of that.

baba ganoosh go the vampires

Long week 1 down, long week 2 ahead.

The little show got loaded in fine, tech was faster than I thought, but still slower than it needed to be. All in all, no bad. Aside from the part when the douchebag stage manager fucked up and they called me all upset about something I had already explained andwarned about that was easily fixable. And then I had to go by the next day and run through all the cues to reassure them, even though it was already fixed (and was never broken). That part was annoying, and added to my already ridiculous schedule. Oneof the satisfying things about being this busy, though, is that the mta is losing money on me. Muahahahaha. Corrupt bastards who somehow have no money (even though they are excessively well paid, and the perks are ut the wazoo) and are raising my monthly card price by fucking $22 next month. Erg. Anyway

I worked a lot. I was very tired. I was supposed to work all weekend, bu that job got cancelled because of th swine flu. To be fair, it was going to be held in a hospital. Personally, I think it’s stupid to hold an event like that in a hospital in the first place. It’s been changed to a semi-overnight gig on wednesday night, I have to decide if the money is worth the tired. It might be. But, since it was not this weekend, I got to go see Wolverine rip shit up. It was awesome. John was surprised by how good it was, and Wolverine would have a hard time doing wrong in my eyes, so I was happy. It was good, and aside from the usual ‘that isn’t actually possible’ bits, it all fit together well and didn’t contradict the other movies. Who knows about the books. The opening sequence was particularly well done.

OH. The big news. IAN IS MOVING OUT. Thank you sweet baby jesus. All I had to do was wait a little. Of course, it’s Ian, and so he’s being an ass about everything. Like- he put an ad on craigslist and then asked if we were around on monday to see people, after I told him to just forward all replies to Madeline and me and we would deal with picking. Like- after that, he announced that someone was coming by on monday and if she was decent he was just going to get a deposit from her. Like- he’s moving out on monday or tuesday and Madeline said hey, lets meet up sunday night so we can talk about deposit and stuff, and until she asked specifically if he was going to be home he didn’t mention that he had a gig and wouldn’t be around. Like- the reason he’s so desperate to just throw anyone into his room is because he needs the deposit money by the 10th. What a dumbass. If you’re going to move on such short notice, you had better have the money saved up. This also contradicts his original email in which he said “If there is an issue with getting a new roomate, which I am sure there won’t, I know I am responsible for the next months rent.” Direct quote and all.

Sheesh. Whatever. It’ll work itself out, and then I won’t have to deal wit him ever again. He said it was a room in queens, so I’m going to imagine that he’s living with Leslie. That will make me cheerful every time I remember.

I had  few other observations to make, but I can’t remember. Today was nice, I slept in, cleaned my room, finally got some rubber cement and glued the birds that John brought me from Costa Rica to my bookshelves. Also started up the Hydra project, but I think it might be black and white film in the camera, which would be no good. I’ll find out, I guess. It was nice to be productive but still lazy. I watched The Office in between bouts of cleaning, and kept wandering off to play with the cats, and doing things in no particular order. I also got my ac back up. I miss my window a little, but it’s getting to be too hot to sleep sometimes (not today, of course, the day I actually do something about it), and it’s nice white noise to sleep to. I still have to change my sheets, but the day isn’t done yet.