3.28.2007

Wind Clear

incredible. all the wind we've been having around here lately has cleared out the usual cloud of scummy crud that floods our skies. not only is the downtown skyline incredible sharp and defined, but the san gabriels behind the skyline clearly stand out. just a few days ago, there was only the faintest hint of the buildings downtown through the brown film of smog. i keep thinking i'm in seattle or vancouver or some northwestern city where rain keeps dust and grime banished to the street.

this article on larsen jensen is stress-inducing. he's in australia for the world championships at the moment. and for some reason, two college-educated people can't seem to figure out the time difference and schedule a simple 30 minute phone call. it's due thursday. as in tomorrow. as in i have to report and write it tonight. blimey.

3.27.2007

List and List

i guess i'll keep it around for a bit. here is what i'm currently swamped with:

an article about u.s. distance swimming phenom larsen jensen.

a short profile about los angeles times columnist dan neil.

a series of tests for a newspaper job in southern oregon.

a newsletter for my design and layout class.

i also have to:

make sure i eat enough.

make sure i exercise enough.

make sure i see my girlfriend enough.

make sure i read enough.

make sure i play guitar enough.

3.26.2007

Retire?

i've been thinking of disbanding insular jot. i don't really write much on it anymore, somewhat because i've been busy with classes and other excuses. i don't know, what do you faithful readers think? should i keep it around?

3.19.2007

Weeklong Reset

alright, so here's what happened over break:

hung around los angeles for the first half. got to use my girlfriend's sister's car to head up the coast for a beach trip near malibu. also went to sierra madre to visit her parents and mess about there. then drove up to fresno, visited with parents, grandmother, friends. we also drove up into the sierra nevadas to shaver lake, which was deserted and perfect. also took a trip to woodward park in fresno, also nice. then we drove back down through san luis obispo and down the coast to santa barbara, where we stayed with my bro and his girlfriend. celebrated st. pat's with the ucsb swim team. always a blast. then drove back to los angeles on sunday afternoon in time to watch usc beat texas in the ncaa tourney to make it to the sweet sixteen. oh yea, it was a good little week.

so for this week, i have:

a meeting with a latimes editor, from the foreign desk or somesuch thing, tomorrow. maybe a career fair on thursday, but probably not because all the companies they have listed are public relations groups. blech. other than those two semi-major things, it's the same day-to-day class and work lifestyle. but stay tuned, because things are heating up on the job front...i hope.

The Return

back at last from spring break. busy with catch-up work, but i'll try to be back for some expansive posting soon.

3.08.2007

Short and Short

i musta sent out half a million job and internship applications over the past two days. i'm going to sleep now. bye.

3.06.2007

Mucho Relaxation

okay, six hours. six hours to write my massive profile. and i still have that feature story to write by friday. but the profile is done! it's in the can! finito! it is, as the monty python dead parrot is, no more. massive sighs of relief. followed by massive stretching of back. followed by emptying of coffee-filled bladder. sorry, was that too graphic? well deal with it. it's what happened. aaaaahhhhhhhh.

3.05.2007

Ooh, Shiny

you may notice a few very very minor changes to insular jot. i did a little template upgradation. the only serious change is to the archives, which are now in hierarchical drill-down format. so you can very quickly see that during july of last year, i posted a total of 42 times. wow. that must have been when i was living in one of the many temp apartments with absolutely nothing to do other than blog or play guitar. don't expect to see numbers like that again. anyway, i can now easily play around with text colors and fonts, which i probably won't be doing. i like this look still, and i wouldn't want to ruffle the feathers of any of my many readers.

Folly

one week. four days left, actually. and no class on friday. guitar on thursday doesn't really count. two days. really just that massive profile to write for wednesday and a short feature to write by friday night. five hours of solid work. that's it. the only thing standing between me and a week of relative freedom. let's see how long i can put those five hours off, shall we?

3.01.2007

Round Down

guitar midterm today, so i'm doing some last minute theory cramming at work. now how is a cmin7b5 chord spelled again? yea, i should probably get on that sometime soon.

lots of work coming up. major profile draft due next wednesday. and so close to spring break. why can't i just coast until then?

i'm getting a little more free rein to edit stories at the dt copy desk. so i've been enjoying myself, ripping out editorializing phrases, slashing terrible adjectives and straightening out awkward sentence constructions. hiyah.