abstraction.

_supersad @ 2005-11-03T17:28:00

2005-11-04T01:43:53Z

Anybody watch "While You Were Out" on TLC ? I did yesterday and all I can say is CRAP, Evan Farmer (the host of that show) is HOT !

Don't long for the past, long for what can't end.

2005-10-25T22:47:19Z

I feel as though we are on the eve of some great change, but rather than trying to figure out what it is, I am sitting eagerly in my room waiting and reading.

I bought a canvas and found some maps for my submission to the VFC art show. I'm excited, basically. I haven't done canvas-type art in for-ev-er, and it's going to encompass a lot of my photography and some other stuff. "Other stuff" means glue and paper.

Someone hit my car in Colorado in July, and I've yet to follow up on the insurance claim. Supposedly I get to fix my bumper (which is not a priority) but again, I'm just waiting in my room.

Jesse Cone

2005-09-22T02:01:16Z

Jesse Cone,
originally uploaded by hittheroad.

So, Jesse found a green cone in Santa Cruz two weeks ago. We were driving, and Joann stopped periodically to yell at the things people set out in front of their houses, IE the not-free chair she wanted. Jesse and I saw this cone, screamed, and had to have a picture with it.

_supersad @ 2005-09-09T15:51:00

2005-09-09T22:52:49Z

I believe I am going to SLO on Monday. Somehow I got time off work. Weird. I miss that place and I love Polaroids. Waffs, you and me and Thai food. Deal ?

_supersad @ 2005-09-05T15:52:00

2005-09-05T22:54:39Z

I'm at the park in downtown Los Gatos, except I'm not really at the park. I'm just sitting in my car using the wifi. This town suprises me.

_supersad @ 2005-08-26T00:33:00

2005-08-26T07:37:15Z

That and excellent Thai food make me wish I lived in SLO. That, and the idea of living in an orphanage. But I am here, and pretty okay with that.

Hypergraphia

2005-08-09T07:28:18Z

Has anyone besides me noticed that I am COMPLETELY BOY CRAZY ? I am disgusting and insane. I'm in love with every boy.

The truth is, when I see a guy sitting in a coffee shop reading a book I love, I really do get weak in the knees and kinda giggly. I can't explain it now, but it definitely explains every crush I had in elementary school; they were all really unpopular boys in my GATE program that read books on the eighth grade list and went to early morning algebra classes. Maybe I'm trying to replace my intellectual shortcomings with the strengths of others. But at this point, any brown eyed boy with a book turns me into mush.

The insides of my sandals are becoming increasingly inwardly titled. I wonder if maybe I'm becoming heavier in the middle and it's bending my feet that direction. I also stand on the sides of my feet, maybe that has something to do with it. I wonder if I need inserts for my shoes.

I fully intend to write a book, albeit a completely asinine one, by the end of the year.

_supersad @ 2005-08-08T00:49:00

2005-08-08T07:53:52Z

Joann and I went to Narnia in a wardrobe at Ikea yesterday. We were screaming so loud at each other in said wardrobe that all our friends who were there have told us they were seriously embarassed for us. I apologize, but only cos I didn't take you guys to Narnia with us.

I have work at 7am and why I am not at home in bed is baffling me. Joann, Jesse and I went to Vintage Faith and the beach and I heard exactly what I needed to hear. I am "REALLY INTO" it. There was a guy at the beach who was walking around with a camera. I guessed what kind it was and he talked about photography with me and I really liked it.

I'm also really into this :

I watched a dog show the other night. Can you tell ? I keep yelling "GOGGIES" out of the car or when I see dogs pass on the sidewalk. Yes, I am four years old.

_supersad @ 2005-08-06T14:49:00

2005-08-06T21:51:16Z

A mini-entry attempting to cover it all

I work at Great Bear in Los Gatos. I am the Bear.
I went to San Francisco the other day.
Where is the beach ? I don't know.
People are wondering if I am here, namely a man named Joe who just told me "it's all about the Benjamins"
I gotta go to Ikea.

_supersad @ 2005-07-25T23:06:00

2005-07-26T06:12:58Z

I am back in San Jose but my dad disconnected the DSL and for that he sucks. He also refuses to reconnect it, despite my explanations of why I need it (online class and my belief that the internet exists solely for MY endeavors). So I'm at Coffee Society for like the next ten minutes until they kick me out.

Last night was Tiffany's going away party. It was really fun but kinda sad. Deidre appointed me the photographer of the afternoon and I walked around taking pictures of everyone and making Carole pose funny. Jim and Heidi, who own our Learning Express, gave little speeches. I fully expected Heidi to cry, but not Jim, and it turned out that he's the one who got way emotional. Their youngest son Colby was wearing a shirt that said "COLBY" in huge letters on it and it made me laugh so hard.

These people are talking and I can't tell if it's Persian or Russian, but I appear to understand a few words here and there. There's another dude on Myspace, and someone else that smells funny. Reason #3 why I need my DSL back.

Things are different here but I have exactly the same problems. Except now my fear is passing out and hitting a redwood tree instead of a cornfield.

_supersad @ 2005-07-19T15:58:00

2005-07-19T20:58:26Z

Things my dad believes :
- That Buckley is "butt ugly" and "not a real dog" because he ran away from the neighbor's cat. Thus he is not coming home with me.
- That he is covered in brown recluses. He keeps coming in to ask "Does this look like a bite ?"
- That I suck cos I took my car in for a checkup and found it's got 800$ worth of repairs needs. Thus I have no car for the day.
- That it's okay that I have a tattoo. Note the singular.
- That because "foxes are meateaters, and goats ARE meat", they probably don't get along. He also says foxes don't run in packs.
- That his girlfriend is alright when in reality she's pretty lame.

Things I believe :
- That Eisley sucks, despite what Rob and Laleh say.
- That foxes should run in flocks or packs, just because it'd be beautiful to see all those little red tails together.
- That I should hide "Are you actually reading this, Mr. Provost ?" in my next assignment cos I really doubt the teacher reads what I write.
- That if I caught a brown recluse, I could take it home and battle it with a black widow, film it, and turn it into one of those things Burton blogs about.
- That my dad drives me absolutely insane because I act just like him, down to the way we answer questions and stand and even yell.
- That it's really cool that I'll be in Vegas on Friday because that's when TONY is there ! Thus we are awesome.

_supersad @ 2005-07-18T01:21:00

2005-07-18T06:38:12Z

I accidentally slept all day (Valerie says,"Accidentally ? Shannon, I've seen you sleep. That's no accident !") so I'm rather behind on my packing and cleaning. I went to Henry's around ohh ten, and got a huge iced mocha. Usually they only put one shot in, but I was distracting the fahreakin' adorable Seth and I swear he must've put like three in there. Damn fine cup of coffee, but now I've got jitters like crazy.

So, not only do I still need to pack (and I'm running out of boxes, tape, etc) but I need to finish my midterm essay. It's supposed to be uhh a five page/1500 words philosophical autobiography. I am unbelievably wordy (yeah I know that's not a word), so I know I can do 1500 in 2 or three pages but I digress. I have no clue what to write about except for how being a Jehovah's Witness gives you a pretty skewed idea of childhood and other scary things. Baahhh I'm really not feeling this today. Bad timing.

My dad called tonight from somewhere between Grand Junction and Denver, so he said he'll be here late tomorrow night. We get our trailer on Tuesday morning, and if I can get everything packed, I'd like to leave by noon and possibly get to Denver that night. That would mean we'd be back in San Jose by the 23rd, but if that doesn't work out I'll be back on the 24th. The following day is my old boss Tiffany's going away party at our big old boss' house. She's moving to freakin' NORWAY, which is really awesome. Not that she's leaving is cool, I'll miss her and all, but that she's going to a neat country and she'll be able to take advantage of subsidised health care and all the other benefits of a socialised democracy (200$ a month JUST for getting knocked up, and more monthly for childcare ? SWEET !) It'll also be a chance to get all the "Yeah, it was fine/the weather was nuts/no I didn't see a tornado/Yes I'm glad to be back" crap out of the way all at once, cos everyone who will ask that sort of thing will be present. I'm also waiting for a round of I TOLD YOU SO's from the contingency of mothers that seem to have adopted me.

None of that was interesting, and for that I apologise.

Okay and guess what's gross ? I have a FLIP FLOP tan. I freakin' hate it. I have hobbit feet and I hate feet with tans and I'm going to live in a cave from now on so I can't get any freakin' sun ever again.

PS. "I'm trying to ressurect my last meal, my last oatmeal !" - Valerie

This is serious.

2005-07-16T22:30:43Z

Because I have been neglecting to say, when the situation arises, that when Rob calls it's pretty much the highlight of my day, every day. That includes days in which I get free pizza from Rudy's or even my birthday.

However, if anyone wants to buy me Rudy's today or tomorrow, I wouldn't complain.

_supersad @ 2005-07-14T10:55:00

2005-07-14T15:55:50Z

This has been bugging me for like the last four years and I've never bothered to ask anyone about it until now: WHY do people wear inside-out tshirts ? Every show I go to, I see like six kids with inside-out shirts. And I always want to tell them, "Excuse me, your shirt's on wrong" but I'd feel like that aunt everyone has that tries to remove everything with saliva. What is the purpose of the inside-out shirt ?

Some crazy ho in my class thing likes to reply to other people's homework postings. Joann always has a remark for mine, which I think is funny, but this other girl likes to actually discuss the topics. Actually, it looks more like she's trying to outsmart a few people. She must really want that A. I'm kinda bummed that she hasn't chosen to comment on my homework, am I not worthy to throw down with ? And despite this being a philosophy class, I haven't learned a damn thing about philosophy that I didn't know before. I bet toward the end, I'll understand some small thing I didn't even know I didn't understand, and it will be disappointing. Kinda like when you put your quarter in a 25 cent machine expecting the advertised prize and you get a crappy one instead.

Okay, my analogies really do need help.

I really don't want to go to art school, or a place like Brooks, but I swear I'm going to have to. The CSU requirements for admission include (for art and design majors) one math class and one science class. The prerequisite to both is uhh, understanding math. I really want to know if there's a way out of said requirements, like if I got an evaluation saying I was clinically stupid in math. Or that I have some type of extremely selective learning disability that only affects my mathematical comprehension and the ability to do a handstand. I can count (cash only, and objects in multiples of 12) and tell time and that's the extent of my math skills. I would have to take FOUR math classes to get into the one class I need to be eligible for to get into any CSU required math or science class. I blame my grandma for not letting me watch The Count's segments on Sesame Street because she thought him evil, thus creating some sort of math stigma in my subconscious and a general fear and distrust of numbers everywhere. Do not trust numbers.

_supersad @ 2005-07-12T19:13:00

2005-07-13T00:28:33Z

I got a free copy of this in the mail today, courtesy of Goatboy :

Ummm needless to say, I'm excited about it. But I'd be more excited if I had a camera.

So I offer you this; If you buy me a Canon 20D, you can name my copyright. Zach Arias has UsedFilm, Jeremy Weiss has Day 19, and you can name it anything that's filth-free if you buy me a 20D. AND. I'll give you points on my photos.

There is a slight chance that I could get my dad to pay for it. It is for school now, so he can write it off as an educational expense, but he A) won't understand the concept of a 1400$ camera even if I do tell him "it's like the 427 V-8" of cameras, and B) I've drained the Bank Of Dad thoroughly, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even think I'm cute anymore so I can't pull that Veruca Salty stuff on him.

But if anyone would like to be my benefactor, my offer still stands.

_supersad @ 2005-07-10T23:54:00

2005-07-11T04:54:45Z

Our air conditioner broke on Friday night while everyone else was gone. Valerie, along with our traveling friends Lauren, Grayson, Scott and Damien went to the Lucero show at the Bottleneck, and I stayed home to study. There's really no point in calling the maintenance man until tomorrow, he wouldn't have come out on the weekend anyway. Someone should also tell him that on Saturday morning, I was doing laundry before dawn (I was bored) and I locked my key inside the washroom. I'm rather paranoid about people stealing my stuff now, so I went back to my apartment, got my boxcutter, and sliced open the screen on a window. Then I stuck my hand in, opened the door, and got my stuff. I wouldn't call it vandalism, because vandalism is inherently pointless and I certainly had a task to accomplish. I did, however, give a valid attempt at dislodging the screen as well as separating the screen from the frame, but neither worked. And for all the hell my apartment has been giving me, I deserve to give some back. Tomorrow, I might just pee in the pool.

I also killed a brown recluse last night in the bathroom, the second in two weeks. I don't know why I'm so afraid of them when I could really care less about the black widows back home. For some reason I just find these much more menacing and they WALK CREEPIER. I don't know how to explain it, they just do. They're kinda pretty though.

My dad is supposed to leave from California on 15 July and I'm supposed to pack up and leave by around 20 July. It kinda occured to me today that I leave in a week and have to go home and find a job, place to live, go to school (yes, school, really), etc. Ugh. Job. Hopefully (eww) I'll be able to pick up some hours at Learning Express because I have massive amounts of un-money right now.

I thought about it today, and I really think that all those Tootsie Roll kids had was a raging case of penis envy.

EDIT : 3.32AM = I just killed the third brown recluse. I feel SO bad about killing them but they're dangerous, right ? Boo.

"This is the most terrible case of injustice I've ever heard of !"

2005-07-09T04:46:59Z

I bought one of my favorite movies tonight, Charlotte's Web.

I used to watch this everytime I went to my grandma's house, up until I was like ... sixteen. Whatever. The music is really freaking good, as it was done by the Sherman brothers (Snoopy Come Home, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Aristocats, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book). It was made in 1973 so the animation is still uhh, GOOD (by my standards anyway). Somehow all of the characters resemble the ones from Sealab (Hanna-Barbera are notoriously bad for reusing/overusing character arists though) and it's extremely gritty for a relatively happy story. Actually, this story is a bum-out. Nevermind. I'm just freaking excited that I finally bought this movie. PS TEMPLETON IS SOOO OTP.

And for future reference, here's my top 5 movies when I was a kid :

1. An American Tail
2. 101 Dalmations
3. The Jungle Book
4. Charlotte's Web
5. The Land Before Time.

The end.

_supersad @ 2005-07-08T04:14:00

2005-07-08T09:15:17Z

Reasons why this birthday was great :

1) Sherwood. You'd think that one girl + five very attractive guys to call friends would make things a little awkward. Not so. I can't think of another group of guys I've ever been as comfortable with, aside from the gang of tough five-year-olds I used to run with back at Latimer Elementary. I never have to explain myself and I never feel out of place. And they're the best huggers ever, aside from Patrick Carrie.

2) I got a red panda.

3) Getting an A on a philosophy assignment. This is especially exciting because it was about Judaism and all I did was make a few points about how Abraham was totally punk rock.

PS I sat at a Barnes and Noble in Wichita with Dan and Joe for like an hour before I realised HOLY CRAP BURTON AND LORA MET AT A B&N HERE ! So I called Lora and I found I was in fact at her and Burton's B&N, aww.

PPS I'm absolutely beyond ready to go back to California.

_supersad @ 2005-07-07T00:18:00

2005-07-07T05:20:22Z

Happy birthday to

Ringo !

Michelle Kwan !

Maggie !

Me !!

_supersad @ 2005-07-05T16:03:00

2005-07-05T21:03:54Z

Why are my neighbors uhh clogging ? It sounds like they're clogging. Who clogs ? Those guys are dicks. Noisy dicks.

I have a really swollen throat, I can hardly swallow. That's fine, as there's no food here for me to eat. I should get my check cashed tonight and then I'll be able to go to the store and get some food but in the meantime I'm really contemplating writing a check for Pizza Shuttle even though I don't have money in my account. Actually, I'm just going to eat my leg. Yum.

I am officially NOT excited about my birthday anymore. I'm just going to be pisesd off or sad and driving with a newly expired license. I need to renew it but I A) need to do the eye exam again, B) lost the renewal form and C) probably shouldn't even bother, cos I don't need to be driving. I can think of like four people who would likely pay me to stay off the road.

I now have two assignments to start and finish. Ballsacks.

_supersad @ 2005-07-03T21:48:00

2005-07-03T22:11:42Z

We're at the Apple store in KCMO right now. Valerie and I just dropped Ross and Maggie off at the airport, and decided to come here to talk to a genius cos Valerie's iPod is having issues. We ran into Kristen from Veda again (I just talked to her last night about our wrist tattoos; hers is awesome) and it was pretty nice. She's so sweet and tiny, I feel like a gigantic mean asshole next to her.

I forgot how much I love the Apple store. I want to be/work at one.

The show last night was great, I cried at all of Matt's thank you's and professions of love for all of us who have loved them for the past ten years. The last song they played was "Ten Minutes", during which all the people at the side of the stage (damn near everyone was there) came out and sang along. Afterwards they took a collective bow (awww) and said goodbye. I love those guys. Thank you for ten years of music, and six years of being a part of my life. </emo>

Birthday in four days. I'm excited.

EDIT : Somehow we managed to get home after driving through a thunderstorm. Someone told Valerie, when the lightning is pink it's really close. And it was. I could've told you it was close regardless of the color, because it was striking in the fields alongside I-70. It was pretty nerveracking, especially because I couldn't see ANYTHING, I don't know how I drove at all.

I just went to the laundry room. On Wednesday, I was washing towels and stuff but forgot about them until uhh now. I went to check, and no towels. That was basically every towel I had, including my favorite one (it was Thomas the Tank Engine !) Once again, I think unfortunate shit is hilarious and I laughed really hard about it. I might make a sign asking for the towel taker to give them back, and post in the laundry. But uhh for now, I'm just going to laugh about it some more.

The hallway to our house smells like fried pickles, which they apparently have in St. Louis and in the South. Fried ? Pickles ? I'm intruiged. I also hear they have them at Jefferson's on Mass, so perhaps a lunchtime stop is in order.

PS I want everyone to come back now.

_supersad @ 2005-07-02T13:18:00

2005-07-02T18:18:11Z

Tonight is my favorite band's last show. I had a lot of fun last night seeing them for the second to last time, as it was a "celebration". I finally got to see The Golden Republic too, and their drummer's beard was thanked for me. I don't know why. I'm never one for remembering mid-show banter, but I've been told that "Mass Pike" was retired last night. I hope not, cos I want to hear it for the last time at their last show. People point at me during that song and it makes me laugh.

A bunch of people came over last night, mostly those just staying at my house. Valerie and I have Ross, Maggie, Cole, Julia, and last night, Devin and Chris. Two other guys came by, Geoff from the board and his friend that was a dead ringer for Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. They had Lego cars and we cleared the floor for their demolition derby, and realised some while later that it was extremely odd for a 21-year-old to do something like that at a stranger's house. It was surreal and weird and definitely one of those things that only happens to the inebriated.

I made breakfast this morning (more like brunch) and now we're trying to figure out how to waste the hours between now and when we need to go to KC. So far it seems like That 70's Show is entertaining us, but we lost the remote to the DVD player so all we can watch is the first episode on each disk.

Well. Don't you know that we love reunion shows ? This is not a swan song, and it goes ...

MAGGIE IS HERE !

2005-06-30T05:19:34Z

I would like to apologise in advance to all the people I'm going to call this weekend while either A) high on the Get Up Kids or B) just drunk and dumb. Our weekend started on Wednesday.

_supersad @ 2005-06-29T10:00:00

2005-06-29T15:22:13Z

What the crap. I had TWO scary dreams last night. The other day I had my first scary dream in what I think is years. It was a version of Plato's allegory of the cave starring me and an alligator. (Also in that dream, I went to France and tried in earnest to gain the respect of a foreign diplomat whose wife lost her Mickey Mouse wallet on a ski lift. I even gave her my own Hello Kitty wallet as a replacement). But I digress.

Last night the first one was about a Walmart, a Mexican TV show in which the host threw ping pong balls at my head and I could only defend myself by yelling in Russian, and a newspaper and a criminal. On the front of the newspaper was a tablet, similar to a headstone, that this murderer has engraved with the names and manner in which he killed various victims--all were axphysiation (aka my #1 least favorite way to die). I looked at a stack of the papers and then looked up, and I was staring the murderer in the face. He lunged at me and grabbed my neck, and I tried to scream but I couldn't even breathe. A man standing nearby pulled the murderer off me and tied strings around his neck and held him upside down, and he died. I couldn't get the guy's face out of my mind and he kinda looked familiar, which is scary.

I woke up from that dream with my knees pulled up to my chest and my hands numb and under my chin. I was laying on my back too, which is odd, cos I sleep on my side. I was seriously freaked out and sweating and scared as hell.

The second dream was really long and you probably don't care anyway, but in the end I was attacked by various flying insects and maybe some spiders because I angrily threw a box containing all of them at the ground. It cracked open and all these bugs flew at my face and I was screaming and flailing my arms. I woke up and my hand hurt, I think I hit it on the wall.

So basically I never want to sleep again. Bad dreams (of a sort) are probably the reason I don't sleep well anyway. I can't really think of any trigger for them except maybe the BBC news I read before I went to sleep, but that's no different from any other thing. But as Joann said, my head is "not a community conductive to sanity."

_supersad @ 2005-06-28T14:58:00

2005-06-28T19:58:29Z

I just realised who I turn into when I have coffee :

Valerie says when I get older I'm going to turn into Lorelai Gilmore, so I guess I'm just fulfulling her little prophecy.

I tried to go to sleep this morning but was just so excited about the thunder. I put on some Iron and Wine and lay on my bed with the windows wide open, watching the lighting and listening to the thunder accent the songs in just the right places. I not-so-secretly wish that I would find a guy who would put on some Iron and Wine and take my hand and dance with me around the living room. That is such a ridiculously Disney movie thing to want, but that's my sort of sappy these days.

I went to the bank to get money for laundry and then to Signs of Life to get me some caffination and then to Rudy's for some pizza. I got to the coffee shop and ordered my drink. There was a guy sitting at the counter trying to talk to the meek little barista, Anna. She really wasn't having it. He kept asking things like, So what kind of music do you listen to, alternative ? and went on about Weezer playing on the 5th. I realised he was hitting on her, so I interjected with "You should listen to Sherwood ! Yeah !" and got him to talk about Muse and Ad Astra Per Aspera. He said he saw Ad Astra at the Granada but was "so fucked up" he couldn't remember them. Did he notice that he was sitting in a Christian bookstore, hitting on this girl who was very likely Christian, using a line like that ? Come on frat boy. Anna shot me a grateful look and handed me my drink before attempting to retreat to the back room.

Then realised I'd lost my ATM card. But it was kinda okay, cos I had this great conversation with a lady that made me so happy I wasn't hungry anymore. She came up to me in the bookstore half of the shop and asked, "What is that you're drinking ? It looks GOOD !" I told her it was a really good iced mocha, the best in town. She asked where I got it, and I pointed around the wall. I explained what it was like and she told me she likes coffee, and I thought her very sweet. As I was leaving to go to my car instead of Rudy's, I noticed she was waiting for the crosswalk at 8th Street, iced mocha in hand. I said "Hey ! You got one !" and she went on about how great it was and how good it looked when I was drinking it, so she got one too. We talked about it as we crossed the street and I turned to go towards my car. She kept walking down Mass and as I turned to say the usual, "Byehaveaniceday" but instead I said "Thank you", quite possibly because she made me so happy. I want to cry just thinking about her.

I went to the bank to get my quarters for laundry and told the teller I'd lost my ATM card. She took down my info and said I'll have a new one in two weeks. Then she handed me an ATM card. I looked down at it and it said SHANNON MARIE COLE. I was like, WTF WAS I JUST IN NARNIA !? THAT WAS A FAST TWO WEEKS ! I let out a really astounded "Woah !" and the teller explained that someone picked it up in the parking lot downtown and brought it in. So YAY for good samaritans ! You totally blew my mind today.

I think this is the first time my icon will actually be put to good use, cos that's what I look like right now.

I need to do some hardcore cleaning cos Maggie is coming tomorrow, and the next day Julia and Cole, and the following day more people. Insanity, exciting, but insane. I love it. PS I think I'm gonna make breakfast on Saturday morning so if you wanna throw down like 5$ I can assure you it will be a good investment.