Epic failures and successes

GOD. I'm going to fail my online Health class, the easiest, most convenient class in the world. It's pretty much set in stone by now. I missed two tests, basically because they're due at 4 p.m., when I am inevitably busy at work, not thinking about them, with my deadline blinders securely in place, doggedly plodding toward the finish. Then I come home and realize with a chill that I have missed another test or assignment, like discovering a dead pet hamster I forgot to feed.

I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to, more like can't, have two pursuits going at once. Work and school have never really gone well together for me. Work takes over. I come home and feel justified in not getting any schoolwork done, because I have been at work; writing, maxing out my brain, making money. School is fast losing its luster.

On another note, AAAAD on Friday went nicely, with a solid turnout that never made the space too crowded, good folk music, and high-quality art. Next month is a solo show by Russ Pope, an awesome artist who draws really cool bulbous heads and who, whaddya know, is already blogging about the cool shit he is building for the show.

Pics to come. Maybe. I shouldn't make so many promises.

Slip and slide

Oh, my brain is a surging inbox, full of mental notes that got misfiled. My mouth is an open window on a blustery day.

This blog was born in Germany in the wake of New Year's 2010, when I realized I needed to be writing more often, chronicling my adventures abroad in an accessible way before they were gone. It was hard at first, but soon I began seeing every situation as potential material. My roommate's neurotic notes, my loneliness, non-refrigerated milk products, my grand shopping cart theft, Mirjam and her crazy dancing, Micha, Berlin in late spring, Erich's nudie park, and soon my broken heart at having to leave.

Berlin street art

After getting a writing job back in the States, though, my need to write was satiated in other forms, and my blog dried up. This is my second attempt to bring it back-and my first post of the New Year, 2011. But what have I done since the last promise to be more faithful to my blog and my loyal followers twelve? How do I collapse it all into one redeeming post? 

Let's try it:

December

Spent 48 hours in the same house as my family. Longed for mulled wine.

January

Went to the Symphony for New Year's.

Phone-interviewed Lily Tomlin.

Wrote a cover story on Santa Barbara photographer Santi Visalli.  

February

Took over monthly art happening Art After Art After Dark (explanation: an art happening that happens after the art walk Art After Dark). Themed the dentally inspired show "Word of Mouth" and donated the proceeds to a friend who had recently knocked out some teeth.

Word of Mouth

Went with Chase to the Santa Barbara Int'l Film Festival...and stayed at Santi Visalli's place.

Went to the launch party of the book The Tribes of Burning Man in San Francisco. 

Wrote a news story about the ethics of sex robots.

Decided next month's Art After Art After Dark theme is Food and Frustration.

Food and Frustration

...and that leaves us with now.

I slipped into the slide of not blogging, and the more I slid, the more lubricated the slide became. Which is a shame, since I know my absurd, vaguely uncomfortable mixed metaphors have been sorely missed.