if you want to know about my weekend life here at school, this is the one post you should read. it is the reason that i am not spending enough time on the phone with my friends in other cities, the reason im not writing emails as much as i should, and the reason i am not wanting to leave this place on the weekend. i am having an amazing time here….

friday i woke up early to get to a seminar class that seems like it isnt going to be that great. it’s being taught by a former editor of artforum magazine and while i think he is very well-read and intelligent, i dont think he seems like a great teacher (but we’ve only had one class, so time will tell). i get to school and discover class was cancelled. so instead, i work on my project due that afternoon. then i have class, and my project basically completely bombs. i would argue it is the worst critique i have had thus far. and bad critiques kind of ruin my day. mainly because i feel like i just get told that something isnt working (which i generally know going in) but i dont get as much feedback as i want on how to fix it (but this is really just me – i mean, grad school isnt here to say ‘make this green, move this here’… im here to figure it out myself with guidance and challenging assignments). so friday afternoon was kind of icky. however, we were screening outfoxed downstairs at 6p (thanks to ian) and a keg was on its way, so all didnt seem wrong with the world. i stayed for the movie, ate pizza, drank pbr (although, no keg due to no tap at the store). then, i went to something that made my day come to a wonderful end –

there are three guys here hang out together and with whom i hang out some, too. their names are geoff, forest, and dylan (i have no idea if anyone here reads this, which makes me feel weird introducing them in such a distanced way…but anyhow…). for one of their projects, geoff decided he needed to go to gowanda, new york to meet someone named ronald chang. he conned forest and dylan into going on the trip, and they ended up have a nice weekend full of random experiences as they tried to catch up with dr. chang. so to conclude the project, they decided (again, likely geoff decided and conned dylan and forest into this, but that’s just speculation) to tell the story to everyone at geoff’s apartment. storyteller-style. so a bunch of us went, along with the departing visiting critic and another professor who i’ll have next semester. we drank and sat around talking and telling stories for hours. finally, i went home around 3am and got in bed.

saturday i woke up around 10 30 and was exhausted, so i went back to sleep until around 1p. alex came into town for halloween and arrived around 1 30p. we got him settled and then went walking around new haven and decided that the two of us would go as ‘we are the world’ for halloween. alex was stevie wonder and i was cyndi lauper. we got our outfits together, stopped by the library so he could see how lovely it is, came by the studio, picked up some groceries, got popeye’s for dinner, ate, talked, started drinking, got dressed, went out.

and boy did we go out. the art school and the architecture school threw a gigantic party in the sculpture building. and when i say gigantic, i mean a $3000 budget, hundreds of people, 10 kegs, lots of jungle juice, a fucking amazing dj from detroit, and a haunted house to boot. i cannot tell you how incredible it was. when we got there, ‘in da club’ was playing (i will never tire of that song) and it kicked the night off for us to singalong to biggie’s hypnotize, missy’s work it, tears for fears’ head over heels and other fun songs. the costumes were so fun – s and m boys, todd solondz movies, a ‘single parent,’ murdered bush supporters, and on and on. it was such a wonderful night. alex and i danced and danced and danced until about 3am and then we went home. so, so good.

today we woke up around 11a but i was exhausted so i slept in again until around 1 and then got up. al made us cranberry pancakes and i made some eggs and we recovered from the evening. we went for another walk around new haven and then he headed back to new york. now im at the studio trying to think about my icons. i think i am, instead, going to take my computer home and work from there. im tired and want to get a good night’s sleep. for now i’ll just reiterate how much i adore my life here. the fall has just been beautiful in connecticut and the town (at least near campus) is the epitomy of a college town and i am just soaking up every bit of it. i love, love, love it here. all is right in my world.