it hit me right in the face...

drugs are great! no, not those drugs... medicine drugs... cough syrup drugs... oh yes... i was instructed to go to the pharmacy this morning instead of taking my test, as my cold had turned into a cough and the cough/cold was about 30 times worse this morning than it has been in the last week... ugh. so, i went to the pharmacy and the lady there was so so so so very helpful... all i had to do was explain [thank god i speak some italian] that i had a stuffy head and that i had a very deep cough... oh, did she ever hook me up! i got some great decongestant - i can't remember what it's called, but sudafed's got nothing on this baby... - and a really great cough syrup called something like 'bretik' - woooooo... i took the smallest dose recommended, as i had no idea what the stuff would do to me, and it flat out knocked me out for 6 1/2 hours straight! actually, it's been about 8 or so hours since i took it and i still feel funky... i just hope that i can get good work done while i'm still doped up... we'll see, i guess.

on to other business: it is confirmed... we are going to see the kings of convenience on sunday night - halloween - at the renzo piano auditorium - auditorium parco della musica - in the eternal city... whooptie woo! they are a mighty mighty good band, the tickets are cheap, and the building's pretty nifty... all in all, i'd say that sunday night is, ummmm, going to rock. yes, my friends, i predict that we will all have a smashing time come this sunday!

oh, and on friday night i will be going bowling in rome... assuming that this cough-thingy goes away... i'm so completely stoked [yeah, that's right. i said 'stoked']. i will be exercising my right to have the most stupid fun possible in rome. beer [again, assuming that i am feeling better] and bowling. how much more 'americana' could one get?

to wrap this baby up, i have a question to pose to the world via blog... i am asking this question because i saw a girl with the hairiest arms i have ever laid eyes upon [like robin-williams-hairy except for on a really skinny, fairly attractive young lady...] on the subway yesterday, and a friend of mine told me that she was told by a friend of her's [a friend who told a friend who told a friend... and so on] that there's something 'they' say about girls with hairy arms... of course, he felt that it would be inappropriate to share what it is, exactly, that 'they' say, so i ask you good people... what exactly is it that 'they' say about girls with hairy arms?

... rome is... pond scum

ok... i think that i should clarify the title a little before things really get started up in here: today, i was working on an overlay of a map of rome and i started a conversation about how disorganized, haphazard, and completely blobby [yes, my friends, blobby is in the dictionary] the city of rome is... actually, i was just talking about the form of the city... but i guess that that statement really applies to the city itself in the most literal of all senses. to top off the conversation, brad summed up all of my ideas about the form of rome in one sweet little sentence: 'the form of rome is like that of pond scum,' this was, of course cleverly edited by yours truly to suit the purpose of a lovely little blog title... ain't it grand?...

anyway... still have a cold today... maybe that's the reason i'm so blissfully witty today [you're swimmin' in sarcasm here]... i didn't make it to the pharmacy because i decided that instead of getting drugs today [like i really really needed to, as i have the aforementioned critique on thursday], that i'd go to a lovely little gallery showing of a bunch of cat-themed art made by artists from trastevere... pretty neat stuff... but now i'm stranded on the little island of misery without the rescue boat full of the necessary medicinal potions to make my nose stop running...

growl... sniffle... cough...: that's what i've sounded like for three days now and i'm sure, no positive, that my roommates are completely annoyed with me by now...

oh - i wanted to give a hoarse little 'shout-out' to all my buddies that have been reading my bloggie-boo... i'm glad that my ridiculous little ramblings are somewhat entertaining and such... also to murrye and trinity for starting their blogs... go read something, why doncha? ...

whooptie woo... time to go study and draw and drive myself crazy and such... ciao kiddies...

the red ones never collide...

i still have this miserably stuffy cold this afternoon... the funny thing is that i stayed home last night instead of going to the abbey theatre [a sports bar here in rome] to watch game one of the world series... grrr... and i actually feel worse today than yesterday... so much for rest, i guess. i was pleased to wake up this morning to find out that the sox snuck by the cards 11 to 9... whew. i know that i'm supposed to be a cards fan, since i live in arkansas and all, but i really think that the sox deserve to take the series this year... so go sox!!! i'm quite sad to think that i probably won't get the chance to see another game, as they're all at 2am and i have a test and a project due on tuesday and a crit on thursday... sigh... maybe i'll get lucky and get to go on friday night or something...

i am really pretty sad about the hogs this season... i guess that it's pretty good that i'm not in the states or able to watch the hogs games on tv, as i tend to get really upset when 'we' 'drop the ball'... i was really hoping that we could crush the bulldogs at homecoming, but no dice... i just wish the hogs the best of luck for the rest of the season... what little of it is left.

i'm going to stop procrastinating now... ciao.

you know that guy up there in the middle of the cross? yeah, that's right... it's jesus!

so, some pretty pseudo-weird stuff happened to me last night... i went to sloppy sam's to have a drink after a long day and suddenly i'm being asked if i speak italian... 'yes, i speak a little...', i reply. with no delay, a young woman with a large microphone starts asking me questions about halloween while a young man behind a small camera with a very very very bright light films this encounter. i later find out that i was being interviewed for fox international's special on halloween... the terrible thing about it is that i sound like an imbecile when i speak italian... picture a four-year-old with a speech impediment [as i apparently have a very spanish accent when speaking italian] and there you have it... i have the italian vocabulary of a toddler... it's terrible... i know that people are going to watch that segment [if it even gets put on t.v.] and say 'wow, look at that unattractive, chubby american girl butcher our beautiful language...' ugh. ...

second pseudo-weird thing: i walk up to the bar for another white russian because 1] i'm feeling very 'dudical', and 2] after my rather embarrassing performance on camera, i really needed another drink... [it would have only been my third for the night...] so... drunk smooooooze walks up to the bar right after the very nice bartender hands me my very good-looking white russian and he totally knocks my drink out of my hand - so i am now covered in white russian, literally from head to toe... all down my shirt, all over my freshly washed jeans [and since i have no drier and it takes two full days for the wretched things to dry, this is a HUGE deal...] and all over my wonderfully cute green suede slippers... grrrr - but all is well, things can be washed and shoes can be fixed... i guess they'll just smell better now... or something?

third pseudo-weird thing: so i wake up at about 4am because my i-just-brushed-my-teeth-breath has apparently worn off and my breath [you know? the stale alcohol breath you get even if you've only had one drink? yeah... that's the breath i'm talking about...] has actually woken me up because of it's unpleasantness and the fact that i couldn't really sleep well... so i get up to go brush my teeth and on my way to the bathroom [all of four or five steps from my mattress on the floor, mind you], i trip over a person... who? you might ask... it's my roommate... he's apparently decided that his bed is uncomfortable and had taken a liking to the cool comfort of the tile floor and has positioned himself with his feet and shins in closet and the rest of his body in our 'hallway' - the tiny little narrow space between the main room of the apartment and the bathroom... ... when i suggested that he get back in bed, he shook his open hand at me and said 'no no no, i'm fine right here...' the 'right here' he emphasized by pointing to the floor/himself several times ... and then he passed out... i enjoyed a little chuckle and then brushed my teeth again and went to sleep...

speaking of sleep... i'm nursing a terribly miserable cold and i think i'm heading home to go sleep for a bit... hopefully the whole night... ciao ciao...

i have something to say...

i had a wonderful privilege today: i exercised my right to vote today for the first time in my life. i want the world to know that i voted against george w. bush. i want the world to know that i DO NOT support his actions, decisions, or war-mongering as president and commander-in-chief of the once-great nation that is the united states of america. i want the world to know that i and most of the world believe whole-heartedly that mr. bush has greatly abused his power and it has ended and ruined thousands of lives - for what reason, one may ask - that i cannot answer, as i am not mr. bush and i refuse to try to put myself inside his head or conscience [if he even has one...] to try to speculate...

i want the world to know that as someone who has seen terrorism first-hand, the u.s.' so-called 'war on terrorism' won't ever end. hatred only breeds hatred. period. bombing, shooting, and terrorizing innocent people for the 'greater good' and abusing military power accomplish nothing but chaos. no - they accomplish nothing at all. this campaign - this 'mission' has no end. this 'war' is a modern-day red scare, a souped-up salem witch-hunt with the judges carrying pens and dictating their decrees to those who are required to follow the chain of command.

i am a patriotic person. with that said, i DO NOT support our current government. i do realize that i am privileged to be an american, but that does not mean that i can simply shut my eyes to what is happening outside of america. people are suffering - people are dying - if you watch anything other than fox news or read a good newspaper, you know this. if you can simply force yourself into a state of willing suspension of disbelief or self-induced ignorance, shame on you. if you are an american citizen and you don't vote [i don't care for whom...], shame on you... you have rights and until you don't have them anymore, you should exercise them with pride. people go through hell to try to earn those rights for themselves and their children and if you simply take them for granted... i don't even know what i could say to you, i just hope that you wake up one day.

i'm sorry if i come off as 'preacher-esque', but i read the newspaper [the international herald tribune] today [and actually almost every day since i've been in italy] and i've had conversations with several people here who didn't register for an absentee ballot because 'it was too much work.' i've lived in a place where people - women especially - don't have the choice to vote or not, don't have the right to live 'freely'... and trust me, being an american citizen is a privilege - one that should be appreciated.

so - to end my political rampage - please please please go vote. educate yourself. be proud when the time calls for it and humble when pride isn't needed. exercise your rights responsibly and with pleasure - voting is not a chore and should not be treated as one...

live your wonderful life to its absolute fullest because no matter how bad it really gets, your life is really, truly quite wonderful when it gets right down to it. enjoy every minute, every second of your 'freedom' because you really never know when someone could just take it away from you.

si si si

i'm back from venice and i'm positively exhausted... i have absolutely no energy whatsoever... emilio took us on a whirlwind tour of the veneto this weekend - to places like brion cemetery, castelvecchio [i love scarpa], villa rotunda, san marco in venice, the biennale [which rocked my socks off] and to the dali exhibit in venice [to name a few of the things that we did...]. i must say that i was absolutely awe-struck by the bienalle [described by peter bednar as 'the best architectural experience of [his] life...'] and all of the amazing models, proposals, etc. to be found there. i know that the whole time i was walking around the event, i probably looked like a kid in a candy store. it was wonderful. yeah. i know i've said that a lot, but it's completely true. i saw models by zaha hadid, the grimshaw firm, vito acconci, asymptote, decoi... i can't even remember them all, but i definitely bought the catalogue [tee hee]...

i think that my favorite moment on the trip was getting to go see brion... i will definitely post pictures of brion as soon as i get back because it was just absolutely breathtakingly lovely. the man who gave us the tour - giuseppe marcolin - is the son of giuseppe brion's [for whom the cemetery is named] oldest sister [who is burried in the cemetery] and was the assistant to carlo scarpa during the design of the brion-vega cemetery. sigh. he was such a sweet man and he gave us so much wonderful information about the place... i'm really really glad that my italian is getting better because i could understand his explanations and i could ask him questions [yea!!!]it's really a whole lot smaller than i had imagined, but so much more beautiful that i could have ever hoped for. down to every last possible detail, the site is exquisite. one day, one glorious day, i hope to be able to design with even a hint of the passion and grace that carlo scarpa was able to design with. the whole site - every intervention - just seemed like it truly belonged right there and that nothing could be added or removed from it. wow.

i will write much more about the trip in a bit... i have to go to class and design things... hopefully beautiful things, but let's not get our hopes up too high...

i'll catch you kiddies later... ciao ciao

foulmouthed-ness... or something to that effect

upon hindsight of the posts i've published for the past week or so, i want to apologize for the rather abrasive nature of the language used in some of my posts. i have had a rough couple of days, but something tells me that it isn't right for me to be so harsh with respect to the people i've been in conflict with recently... they may not be what i - personally - consider to be 'good people,' and their actions towards me and my friends may not be respectful or professional, but am i any better for being so easily aggravated? for being so crude and even cruel when referring to them? it's a good question... for me at least. ... i have no right to pass judgment on these people. granted that yes, they have upset me and offended me greatly - but this, too, shall pass. just like everything else.

i believe in karma - what comes around goes around... c'est la vie. simple as that. period.

i just wanted to sincerely, deeply apologize if i have, in turn, offended anyone with my language, descriptors, or attitude in my recent posts... i guess i just let my frustration, etc. get the better of me... i will try with my greatest effort to control/edit my verbal/textual 'eruptions' as it were...

ciao [the update for the meeting with my landlord can be found following this post].

umbrelliumbrelliumbrelliumbrelliumbrelli...

ciao ciao... i guess that i owe you an update on the whole 'apartment situation thingy' -

so, i wake up this morning and of course, on the day that i have to go meet with satan reincarnate, it's raining and gray and miserable in rome... how lovely, right? so i go visit a prospective replacement apartment and read and do stuff in the morning, as i don't have my apointment with satan until 3:45pm... i even make myself a yummy grilled ham and cheese sandwich and i think that this might actually be an 'ok' kind of day... how very very wrong i was... oh so very, very, very wrong.

3:15pm... brad and i meet at the bus stop [david has decided not to accompany us to satan's dark, damp, dusty lair today, as he believes that he will say something that might start the arguments back up, like 'well, screw you. i'll just go move back to arkansas...' and stuff to that effect - of course, all of this said with a very thick southern accent... just so you get the picture]. it's raining, we don't feel like walking - as the actual act of walking in the rain would be putting too much energy into this at the moment and neither of us want this woman [satan] to have the satisfaction that we've exerted ourselves for her... - and the bus just seems like an all-around good idea... again - wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong...

not only did we wait 40 bloody minutes for the blooming bus to come around, but the thing was so jam-packed full of people that i honestly started laughing at the realization that i was stuck in a space full of rude, bossy, smelly - let me emphasize the 'smelly' here: sssssmmmmmeeellllllllllllyyyyyy - bus-riders with no sense of personal space and without the sense to not climb on-board a bus that's already too full [i'd like to point out that when brad and i got on the bus, it was still a reasonable idea, as it wasn't bulging at the seams with people... however, those romans... they just keep acomin' and it doesn't matter if there's not any more space, they'll make some more space by god... it was kind of like one of those 'funniest home videos' kind of things where you see a bus so full that some poor fool in the back has been sandwiched between a stinky pretentious suit-wearing old fart and the greasy glass on the back of the bus so that his face ends of kind of smushed and contorted ... like that whole clown car phenomenon only without the colorful costumes...]

we get off of the bus about two stops early because neither of us can take the lack of oxygen or space any longer and i had just experienced being instructed on how to ride a public bus and where to stand properly by some ridiculously i've-got-my-head-up-my-own-ass kind of woman... oh, it was lovely, let me assure you.

so we high-step it to the shortlets office as we're already about 30 minutes late for our appointment ... we descend into satan's layer ... and then this whole bloody mess came to a head.... not only have the women who run this agency decided that it's fully acceptable to fabricate events and conversations [davide's lawyer received a fax from satan full of blatant - i mean BLATANT - fabrications... no, not just fabrictations, they were out-right LIES, in order to make herself and her evil little cohorts appear angelic and gracious and generous and to make brad, david and me look as if we are some gang of hooligans, taking advantage of the 'kindness that they have extended [us]'. what a crock of shit.]

anyway... now this woman - satan [have i mentioned lately that she really reminds me of satan inasmuch as her behavior, appearance, being, etc.? because if i haven't...] - decides that what she has lied about in the letter to the lawyer isn't quite enough... now they are fabricating emails from me to them saying that i 'changed my mind about wanting a 3-person flat and that all i really wanted was an apartment for one person' ... so, clearly, i ask to be shown this supposed email. ... at this point, they bullshit around the bush and fail to produce the email, stating that this email that they sent me explaining that the flat only featured one double bed [which, by the way, is ALL of the so-called 'amunition' that they have against me/us] was sufficient enough to prove that the email [which they had 'misplaced' or 'couldn't find'] about me wanting a flat for JUST myself really was sent to them... again... what a bloody crock.

oh, get this - when the women from shortlets were explaining the amount of the fine to me - 320 euros apiece for both david and brad, totalling 640 euros - one of the women [a completely snobby, maniacal, putrid toad] felt that i didn't understand the words 'three hundred, twenty euros' or 'six hundred, forty euros' and proceeded to show me the numbers on a piece of paper and to double check that i understood the concept of 320 and 640. what a bitch. arrrrrrrrgh. - have you ever had someone make you so aggravated, insult you and your nature and your intelligence so much that it makes you want to a] throw up all over them, and/or b] slap them straight in the teeth? ‘cause that's exactly how this team of loathsome, foul creatures has made me feel. ...

anyway... we were getting nowhere with this witch and she insisted on treating bradley and me like ignorant, uneducated, irresponsible children, so we decided to 'think it over' for one more night and told her that we'd get back to her tomorrow. ... i basically feel completely hopeless, drained. it has been a terrible day - a terrible sequence of days, actually, since this whole mess began. i'm just ready to get this whole thing over with. i never want to muddy myself with the presence of those women EVER again. they just make me feel dirty... like i need a really long bath with lots and lots of soap. and a BIG glass of beer. that's exactly what i'd like right now. a nice, cold, wonderfully amber glass of beer. right now. it just might cheer me up a little.

actually, i'll tell you what… i'm going to run to sloppy sam's [or just sam's] and get myself a nice, big cold one [as i think that i need/deserve one right now]. kay? i guess that i'll check you folks later. have a wonderful evening/morning/day - i guess it just depends on where you are - whatever you're doing.

damn the man, save the empire!

the shitith hath hittith the fanith again - ith?

so, if you haven't read the 'the shitith hath hittith the fanith' post on 09.09.2004, you should go do that right now... i guess if you don't remember what i described during that post, you should go read it now, too... i promise, this will still be here when you get finished [and unlike most of my other posts, it is really quite short...]... ok, so has everyone been given the proper background info? alright, here we go:

so... how does one begin this?... my landlord from 'shortlets' in rome was supposed to send paperwork for me AND my two roommates to the police station in order for us to be able to get our permits of stay and such... well, like the complete bitchy moron that she is, she only sent mine... let's recap: three pieces of paper for THREE people that need to be sent to the police station... one piece of paper sent? hmmmm... 1=3? wait, something seems somewhat fishy here...

anyway, she gets fined 600 euros - that's $744.57 - for her error... and what does she do? oh, yes... that's right, she reroutes the fine to us... was it our error? NO. was the fine in anyway directed toward us? NO. - wait, i'm confused...

when she tells me that we owe her 600 euros for HER MISTAKE, i tell her that she must be mistaken and that we will pay her no such fine. davide [the coordinator of the rome studio] and dru [the angel who basically keeps all of our heads screwed on correctly here] get involved - so as to avoid a language barrier - and she STILL won't budge. dru even hauls herself down to our hell-hole of a police station TWO DAYS IN A ROW in order to try to work something out with the authorities that be - who, by the way, reaffirm our position to be correct in this situation - and the stupid wench [believe me, i could use much more aggressive and more crude, appropriate language to describe this putrid excuse for a human being...] still holds that we MUST pay her 600 euros or we must leave the apartment - BY TUESDAY. now, see if you agree with me here... - we [david, brad and i] have paid her IN FULL for the ENTIRE month of october, and yet somehow [?] we MUST [?] move out of the flat by the 11th of october? something's wrong here, right?

anyway, with the help of dru and davide, we're going to move into a new apartment - which will actually be much larger than the one we're in right now [oh yes, it will ACTUALLY hold 3 people in semi-regular conditions... basically, it's not a hobbit-hole]. the only down-side to this move is that we will no longer be right outside of campo dei fiori... we'll be in trastevere, which - mind you - is a lovely area of rome and it will be much nicer than the place that we're currently in, but it's across the river [right now, we're a two minute walk from studio and after we move, we'll be a good fifteen minute walk from studio..]... whatever. i'm so sick of dealing with nonsensical politics and the people who assume that because you're american and are not fluent in italian [granted, i speak PLENTY enough to communicate and understand] that you're a moron. it is just - point blank - infuriating.... we are IDEAL tenants. we are VERY honest, clean, orderly, prompt, kind, we pay on time [apparently, this is novel in rome] and i/we have been NOTHING but completely respectful and professional with these people. and this is how we are repaid? i just don't get it. i'm trying really hard to try to get it. but i just don't. i just can't. this whole situation is just completely, surreally f#@!ed up. yep, that just about sums it up... it's just plain f#@!ed up.

i’m out of patience. i'm out of things to say. i’m just out.
ciao.

babble...

ciao kiddies... did ya miss me? sorry for the delay in posting... we spent the weekend in san gimignano [which i will discuss shortly] and then got back and then actually had work to do... ick. c'est la vie i guess... not to mention that i spent the entirety of yesterday doing a combination of a] napping - as i believe that i am coming down with a cold... but i am still optimistic that it's probably just my allergies... b] doing an ass-load of laundry - our washing machine fits a maximum of one pair of pants, two t-shirts and, if you're lucky, a few pairs of socks... so needless to say, many loads of laundry were done yesterday... c] reading 'the dharma bums' by kerouac - p.s. it's a great book d] cleaning our flat - i swear that the thing is just a scum magnet... granted, we do live on the ground floor - right next to a very busy street - but we're all fairly clean people... and yet somehow, our flat is in a constant state of scummery... hurumph.

anyway, on to brighter topics... san gimignano - two words: GO THERE. it is probably the most beautiful place that i've ever been to in my entire life... sigh. it was possitively marvelous... save for the train rides on the way there and back, it was a perfect trip. story time: so, we hop on the train from roma termini station to chiusi on the way to siena [which was our original destination, but due to the inavailability of lodging, we ended up - luckily - staying in san gimignano...] - we apparently bought tickets without seats... so we end up sitting in these skank-nasty little fold-out seats IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AISLE of the train... now picture an aisle on a plane... now put little fold out seats in there and still expect people to be able to pass by you on a jostling jetting little train car... argh! not to even mention that our particular car had no functioning lights... now here's where the story gets a little interesting: so we pass through a series of tunnels... oh yes, perfect pitch blackness so thick and sticky-hot you could cut through it with a butter knife... with people passing by you... more that they were squeazing in on top of you - i, of course, ended up with creepy dude standing right on top of me... oh yeah, hot-sweaty-non-deodorant-wearing-heavy-breathing-creepy-guy standing in my personal bubble... whimper... it was possitively revolting... but i guess it was worth it.

san gimignano is this beautiful little wine town in the middle of the most incredible landscape i've ever seen with my humble little eyes... ohmygod. it was fantastic... we stayed at this wonderful little hotel called 'hotel le colline' - which you should stay at when/if you go there.... the woman who owns the hotel is an absolute angel... no fibbin' - a bonafide angelic human being. after our terrible day of rude transit employees and rediculous tourist traps, this woman and her family went out of there way to make room for 7 of us in INCREDIBLY nice hotel rooms at the last minute AND THEN, when we were stranded in town with no taxi or bus to get us back to the hotel [as it is a somewhat trecherous path along a heavily trafficked highway for a little over a kilometer in the pitch blackness...], this wonderful person drove up to town - mind you, she is no longer on duty at this time of night and is now spending time with her family... - to make TWO trips to bring us back to the hotel. then she gives us a rediculous discount on our rooms and THEN flags down a bus for us the next day so that we can make our train on time... wonderful, i tell you, possitively wonderful human being.

so, our night in san gimignano was spent listening to a man play the flute to such little ditties as: ave maria, chopin [he played several songs by chopin], and - oh yes - we are the champions by queen.... it was so wonderful... sitting on the steps of a beautiful medieval cathedral eating my rum-flavored gelatto listening to an einstein-looking [speaking of the hair, here] man in a tux with tails play queen on the flute... i swear, i had a little tear in my eye... sigh sigh sigh...

anyway... i have to waddle to class... pictures may be difficult to post, as i have discovered that the firewall the school has activated here will not allow me to connect with the picture-posting server... i will try my best, but i can't make any promises any more on the whole graphic thing... keeping my fingers crossed, though.

nugget time: wayne's world was filmed in two weeks.

schawing...