End in Sight

well, another long week of class and work stretches out before me, once again. the downtown skyline has retreated into its protective halo of smoky haze. i never heard from the hawaii copy job. the guy was supposed to call on friday, but never did. i'll be visiting the antelope valley press office in palmdale this friday for an interview. then next tuesday i'll probably be heading down to santa barbara to meet up with the editor of the santa barbara daily sound for another interview. that should be a fun one-day road trip. i'll probably spend two hours there and four hours on the road. oh well.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

In-class Subversion

don't you love it when on the first day of class your professor spends hours going through the syllabus and then says that will be the most he will talk all semester, but actually manages to fill more time with elongated blather in the following class sessions? gee, that's just the bee's knees in my book.

The Journey

that was a well-traveled weekend. down to long beach on friday for the big west conference swim meet. then up to san francisco saturday morning for a little wandering around and a shakespeare play at stanford. then more wandering on sunday and back down to los angeles. so a lot of time in a car. but very worth it.

Disno

there is a billboard on hoover, just before the 10 freeway. it's an advertisement for cinderella 3: a twist in time. it's tagline: what if the slipper didn't fit? first of all, cinderella 3? i didn't know there was a cinderella 2. and what if the slipper didn't fit? then she isn't the right one! end of movie! or she spends the rest of her life cleaning the fireplace for her bitchy stepmother and aunts. walt must be spinning in his ice-encrusted cryogen capsule.

Duh Statement of the Year

from reuters:

"If you invest in the newsroom, do you make more money? The answer is yes," Esther Thorson, an advertising professor and associate dean for graduate studies at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism, said in a statement.

"If you lower the amount of money spent in the newsroom, then pretty soon the news product becomes so bad that you begin to lose money," she said.

wait a minute. that means that ... quality ... matters? what a novel concept.

Wall Debris

shaping up to be a good weekend. long beach on friday. san francisco on saturday and sunday. enormous profile due wednesday. hmm, wonder how that's going to work.

there is a usc student who wears a rollerblade on one foot and nothing on the other. he pushes himself along with his bare foot as though his other leg were a scooter. the surfaces of this world are typically not very kind to bare feet, especially those traveling at rollerblade speed. why not just toss a shoe or sandal on there? and that can't be good for his posture. or foot hygiene. or sex life. of course, the long black trenchcoat probably doesn't help much either.

today is perfect. whispers of sun, high white clouds, high 60s, occasional breeze. and i'm stuck in a fourth-floor office. at least i have a nice view of downtown right in front of me. must be the recent rain. the air quality is usually too poor to see the edges of the buildings as crisply defined as they are today. kind of makes me feel like riverdancing.

Down on the Farm

from the fabulous fresno bee:

Rudy Giuliani -- the Brooklyn-born, big-city politician -- worked the World Ag Expo on Tuesday like a farmer tilling his soil.

The former New York City mayor, probably best known for his leadership after the terrorist attacks in 2001, probably shook more hands, cozied up to more babies, signed more autographs and schmoozed with more exhibitors than any past visitor.

And the expo, an annual event teeming with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors trolling for the latest in farming technology, was fertile ground.

But Giuliani, on the campaign trail for president, made no bones about how spare his knowledge of farming is.

"What do I know about agriculture?" he asked the crowd of about 450 at the expo's opening ceremonies at the Heritage Complex. "I know how much we depend on you, the importance of the Central Valley in feeding us and taking care of us. I know how much we depend on each other."

Later, he would say, "I'm not a big expert on ag policy. But I will be."

first of all, way to follow through on the farming metaphor. second of all, if you think giuliani gives the slightest shit about agriculture in tulare, california, you might want to find a nice, quiet place to die.

Velocity

i just took a call from someone who was arguing with a friend over whether the moon rotated on its axis as well as around the earth. i don't think i've ever had a conversation or argument that has led to me calling a large university to prove my point. i wish i did.

post script: oh, and for those who are interested in the answer, the moon does rotate on its axis. each time it circles the earth, about every 27 days, it makes one full rotation on its axis. the earth's tidal interaction with the moon slowed its rotation over many years to match its orbit around the earth.

post-post script: happy valentine's day.

More Malaise

sitting in my feature writing class. fifth week of class. ten students. the professor wants to call on me, but doesn't know my name. wow. that makes me feel really good inside. all warm and fuzzy. i'm growing sick of class. it feels like all my professors are telling me the same things over and over again, and i'd like to just get out of here and go do something. copy edit or write or whatever. and i don't even care where. give me two years to work my ass off and i can get myself to san francisco, i know it. until then...well. looks like i'll be stuck listening to another explanation of how to cultivate a story idea file.

Dirge

there was a small bird trapped on the bottom floor of the parking garage below my building the other day. it depressed me to know i couldn't help it and it would probably die down there, cold and starving.