Graphic designer friends: does anyone know a good place to check out good examples of typography? I've been wanting to try my hand at it because it looks so cool, but I'm still not entirely sure what it all entails.

So it turns out my theater final wasn't today. It's monday. Oops. Gives me more time, though!

GRAH! Running lines for my theater final tomorrow, which I stupidly volunteered to go first for. I am SO not ready. In fact, I'm so not ready I'm actually FORGETTING lines I already had memorized! GRAH!

I'm performing two monologues, one about a gay-bashing from the play A Perfect Ganesh, and the last scene from the ancient epic poem Medea. Both are very emotion sapping scenes, and it's draining the hell out of me.

I'm so not ready. I will fake it if I have to, but I'd rather actually KNOW the lines.

Sleeping will probably help. Wish me luck!

PS: Will catch up on the memes tomorrow, like anyone cares ^_^

On a whim, I decided to look at my Sallie Mae student loan account (I feared the worst) to see why I hadn't heard from them in a long while. For those not in the know, I haven't been able to pay them anything in almost a year now, and by this point I would have officially been in default of my loans. Bad stuff, 'cause it meant my credit would be utterly fucked, and I'd never be able to qualify for financial aid again (including a lot of scholarships and junk).

Well, for all their evil, they did good by me. When I checked the account I was surprised to see that I had no upcoming payments until ... June of next year. Scrolling down, I saw that they had put me on in-school deferment, which I had applied for but they had said they wouldn't put me on until I paid the 2k I owed them already.

Further still, they took all the money I had owed them to that point, retro-whatevered it and added it to my principal payment (ie: they took out another loan on my behalf to pay it) so while I still owe them, as of right now it's covered. Granted, by the end of everything-- if I were to pay 1k a month starting now-- I'd owe them well over 100k, but I'll deal with that as it comes.

This means, basically, that I haven't defaulted on my loans. My credit is STILL good. I don't have to worry about paying them back for some time, and can always apply for in-school deferment again. And, more importantly to me, I can still qualify for financial aid come the summer, after my probation with the school is over (I lived out of state, so I have to wait a year from the time I filed some paperwork before I qualify again).

This, going along with this post from a few days ago, just reaffirms the notion that I really need to stick with school. I'm doing something right, and I'm not gonna let it slip by me again.

I'm signing up for classes today. Fuck. Yes.

Here's a really quick summary of my day today, in all its awesome (and some of its suck, which pales in comparison):

- Took four buses in two hours to meet up with Gabby, aka kippurbird
- Got lunch with her, her mom, and brother Ari. I totally missed her family ^_^
- Went to Venice Beach with Gabby for the first time in, oh god, two or three years. I missed that place so much! Even if it was cold and windy, it was awesome to be there again. Visited the awesome book shop, saw the new development on the skatepark (that photo I took does it NO justice, I don't know why I didn't retake it). We walked on the beach as well, which was fun.
- Played a card game called Guillotine, which was totally fun. You play rival executioners trying to chop the most heads during the French Revolution ^_^ I lost, three times in a row.
- Got back on the first bus. Got off at the wrong stop, had to run two blocks and scream at my bus before it would stop (it was pulling away from its proper stop when I was RIGHT THERE). I got off at the wrong stop AGAIN, only this time I got off probably fifteen or twenty minutes away! GAH! Eventually made it home.

Tired as all hell, but it was a really awesome day ^_^

And now, for the meme!

Day 6: My biggest pet peeve: People who type the word okay, 'OK'.
Now wait, before you say "But typing OK is OK! It's totally allowed by the rules!" let me just say I DON'T CARE! To me, it is just such a lazy way of doing it! It may be proper, but I HAAAAATE it! Seriously, I hate it. But, funnily enough, my little sister, Robyn, took it to the next extreme (an extreme I didn't even think could exist). While texting, instead of typing 'okay', or even 'OK', she just types 'oka'. GRAAAAH! KIIIIILL!

I've figured I haven't been posting enough lately, what with school, and... well, there's nothing else going on, but still I haven't been posting enough. So when I saw this on ru_salki99's page (who, btw, I owe some art to and will TOTALLY have it by tuesday evening, or wednesday night at the VERY VERY LATEST, 'cause I know your story is going up thursday) I figured I'd jump on this. I'm a few days late, so I'll just do the first batch right now.

( The List )

Favorite song: Bleeding, by Ignite
This is the first song that pops to mind. There's a few reasons I can point out-- the high energy, the political nature (which growing up in the political punk scene in the SFV I'm very prone to appreciate), the guys friggin' amazing voice-- but there's one main reason I think. Shortly after I came out of the closet to my closest friends at the time, who incidentally were like five to fifteen years older than my high school self, I remember having a conversation with my friend Adam while in his car on the way to his bands show. We had a conversation about my being gay, and it was the first time I really heard it from someone else that it was okay for me to be gay. This band was playing, and of all the songs this is my favorite.

Favorite movie: Shaun Of The Dead
I've never had a movie hold the title of favorite anything as long as this movie has held the title of 'favorite movie.' It's hilarious, it's smart, it has zombies, and it has Simon Pegg. The end!

Favorite television program: Community
This one is seriously a toss-up between Community, Heroes, Glee, Spaced, Psych, Firefly, and a few others. But I'm picking Community because it's the one that gets the least amount of love, yet it's probably the funniest and sharpest of them all. Though John McHale is the stand-out actor, the rest are all totally amazing and easily steal the spotlight every single episode. There is no character that is unimportant, or boring-- even if they're supposed to be.

Favorite book: World War Z
Again, this one is a bit of a toss-up, but I HAVE to give this one the spot because it is the only book I have ever a) read three times, or b) bought the audio-book version of. Despite what you think about zombie stuff (and I assume most people I know know I'm really into them), this is a really well written and never hokey faux-recounting of the zombie apocalypse, as told through interviews. GREAT writing, actually had me nervous at points.

Favorite quote: "Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something." -Henry David Thoreau
It's something I strive for, but have totally lost focus of lately. I used to be obsessed with being a decent person and try to help out, but in recent years I've lost sight of this. Probably a good time to turn myself around and live by this quote again.

So earlier today I got some really great news. I'd been worried for several months now that this would be both my first semester back in school, as well as my last. Not being able to find a job, and being denied my unemployment insurance, left me with zero ability to afford it. And I couldn't ask my parents or any family because, frankly, we all broke as shit.

Then a week or two ago my nana offered to help pay two-hundred bucks on my tuition. Depending on the cost-per-unit by the time the semester comes around (right now it's $26, but it's highly likely gonna jump to $40 unless a miracle occurs) it'd cover either most or just half of the costs.

Then today my mom called, per usual, on her lunch break and the first thing she says is "You should sign up for classes."

"Um," I was confused, we'd just talked about how I couldn't. "Why?"

"I'm going to help pay for them."

Not many times you get flaberghasted by something. To put this into context, we already struggle. A lot. We borrow money from everyone to buy food, I pawned my bass that cost me nearly $700 and only got $100 just to get groceries for a week. We're broke.

"How?" I asked. I was a bit more verbose in the conversation, but that's the gist.

I could practically feel her shrug over the phone. "I'm gonna work overtime all next week. You need to be in school. You belong there."

I always trust my moms intuition, and I could tell by the way she spoke that that had something to do with it. And I really do enjoy school, but I'm so directionless. Before I was on student loans, and then I was on my dads money (I have to be honest, at the time I was selfish and figured I'd just dawdle about and do whatever, with no direction, before dropping out that first time). But this time, knowing how much I'm already putting my mom out, and she's willing to go further. It really makes me feel something.

It sounds pretty stupid to a lot of you, I imagine. But it really is something big to me. This feels like a turning point, and it feels like a good one.

...then again, in about six months I may be crying about how much I hate these classes. Guess we'll find out!

So I got a perfect A on my sociology paper, "Queercore: Sexual and Gender Identity in Alternative Rock". Some folks were interested in seeing a copy, so I'm good to email anyone a copy to read for themselves. Just give me your email, either in comment or PM, either way.

I need some fucking local friends. Specifically, I need more male friends. But I'll settle for non-batshit insane, flakey, and generally not repulsive people.

I think I'm just gonna move again.

It's such a freeing feeling to sit in class in nothing but boxers, tee-shirt, and a robe all The Dude style. All in all, it was a good day for classes.

First class was my drama class performance, hence The Dude style dress. I did a scene from a play called Pvt. Wars where my character, Silvio, flashes a nurse then tries to explain to the other character, Gately, how to pick up a girl by saying you're a priest. Lot's of laughs, and I got a lot of compliments on my character-- a lot about how well I 'committed,' for some reason. Still good stuff. My partner on the other hand got kinda flabbergasted because people kept critiquing him, saying he smiled too much, yadda yadda. He tried justifying his stuff by going into this long-drawn backstory he invented for the character that, y'know, had nothing to do with how poorly he acted. Whatever, that scene is done and all that's left is a dual-monologue thing that should be fun.

After that was my sociology class, where since there was no official class I just went in and talked with my professor a bit about my queercore project. He'd yet to read the paper, so we just talked about the possibilities of the project. He's talking publishing, and speaking at major sociology colloquials, if we feel it's up to snuff. But he's REALLY interested in the project and, seeing how into it I am, he really wants to help me out.

He's also pushing me to sign up for his honors class next semester, which I had to tell him I'm not sure I could qualify for since my GPA is such shit from the last time I was at this school. I'll see, 'cause I totally do want to take that class (it's on race and ethnicity).

And then there was my sci-fi/fantasy class. Usually total bullshit and I hate it and I never wanna go. Hell, when I showed up and the lights were off, doors locked, and like five people sitting outside-- I really was hoping he wasn't gonna show. But he did. And for the first hour bored the crap out of me. Then he put on Lord Of The Rings, and we watched the huge battle at Helms Deep in the second film. So. Awesome.

Oh yeah, and I totally got a solid B on that paper I bullshit wrote in like an hour two weeks ago. He only had one complaint, and it's a retarded one I'm putting out of mind.

And everyone died at the end.

PS: About that guy I mention in this post. I decided against messaging him back. I bring this up for two reasons: one, I think it shows a bit of maturity in my worth noting, considering how sometimes I look like a psycho desperately in need of love but never finding it so I just seem obsessive and weird (which I soooo am, my astro-chart even says so!), and secondly because I'm using LJ time to put off that paper I mentioned in the aforementioned post for another few minutes.

I will finish this tonight. I swear it.

I just got back from a late-night romp to the post office mailbox to drop off a package. A package to be shipped to the Washington state unemployment office. It is fifteen pages of hate; three pages of an appeal letter explaining why their decision to deny was unfounded going by their own statements, statistics and rules (leaving any aspect of an emotional appeal until the second to last, very brief, paragraph), four documents showing these points, and three letters from others giving their accounts on the situation thus corroborating my statements. If I haven't driven my point home, I don't have any idea what it'll take for them to get their heads out of their asses.

In other news, I'm a terrible procrastinator and because of this I had to drop two of my classes. Not only that, but I was exceptionally late turning in one paper for another class (granted, it's the one I hate so I don't particularly care too much), and I'm going to be a WEEK late turning in another one I ought to be writing right now. I can't keep procrastinating anymore, it's literally wasting my money and time.

Speaking of school, I'm deciding on my classes for my next semester of school-- I'm mostly looking at singing, acting, and music classes. Maybe a drawing class. Maaaaybe.

And lastly, there's a slim possibility I may or may not be visiting Portland soon. I don't think I have anyone on my list from there, but I know some of y'all have gone there. Any tips, advice, or suggestions in general?