tenshikurai9

Fuck the website NextDoor.

They are one of the websites that will ". . .temporarily disabled your account until you can provide us with your real name and permission to update your account," (quote from a real customer service e-mail) even if you have already told them you are transgender. They have taken issue with me using RW as a first name (Rebecca/William.)

I hope they choke on my soft packer/penis into bankruptcy.

I hate apartment searching.

Dear Christmas,

Please be over. I associate you with bad memories, the most recent of which involves finding out Monday that my short time frame to go from never hearing about my mom's cousin's existence to learning he was alive is already over and has been over since September. We never got to meet face-to-face and my mom will never have a face-to-face reunion now.

But the other times haven't been happy either so excuse me while I go read a book and ignore all the specials.

Sincerely,

Me

I'm finally at a point where my adviser and me can predict the semester I'll actually graduate. Spring 2017. The last class for the art major is Senior Project, but it's offered only in the Spring. I can't get enough level-300 and -400 classes done in time to graduate in Spring 2016. So it'll be Spring 2017 instead. The adviser was worried that I'd complete all other classes for art and my minor of arts management and be left without other classes to take, but I told her I've made back-up plans.

1. Take a semester break in the Fall and come back in the Spring. The options for this belongs in another list and the rest of this list have potential credits.

2. Take a second minor of Theatre.

3. Participate in one of the study abroad programs (Spring or Fall 2016), the National Semester Exchange (NSE) programs, or CAPS, the semester exchange program we have with the other state universities and colleges (except UMASS-Amherst.)

4. Co-ordinate a semester leave from MCLA (Spring or Fall 2016) and arrange a semester at a school that isn't part of the previously mentioned programs.

5. We have cross-registration with Berkshire Community College (BCC) and Williams, but the fact that I don't drive/am-car-less-on-campus-anyway makes scheduling MCLA and other classes normally difficult. Except if I didn't have any other MCLA requirements during the Fall semester, I could find out if I'm allowed to just happen to have everything cross-registered. Then I'd just be concerned about the first bus and walking combination of the day and the last bus and walking combination of the day that would get me to and from the right campus.

6. Get a credit-bearing internship (Spring or Fall 2016) and have the freedom to have it somewhere other than in my school's backyard. (Albeit still restricted by variables like whether housing is provided or if I have a connection to help me with a couch.)

7. Make a series of independent studies that culminate into a larger project. Like for example, a graphic novel. My adviser does bookbinding and printing, find someone to do writing for graphic novels, talk to my drawing teacher. . .

But in the short run, back to summer (a time of traveling, hitting people up, and an online course.)

Home.

That moment when you realize you might be able to talk to your teacher about furries--for class.

^_^

Also, wandered into furs between a visit to my old school and one at my new school.

Bleh.

So I'm doing great on grades and in the meanwhile, my former room mate dropped out.  I like my suite-mates, but we can only fill out the suite-mates request form if we have 6 people.  Right now it looks like we can only request to be placed near each other 'cause we're short.  I'll be roomies with one of my suite-mates, the one who writer's guild swears we should be in a buddy movie.  Another at least has a roomie to request.  Unfortunately person 5 is having trouble finding a roomie.  Thus why we're short.

I'm home this week for spring break.  Spent the first two nights at my aunt's place.  We started a pair of Franken-shorts (shorts made from the remains of dead pants) and dyed my hair blue.  Now I'm back at my parents' place.

Current problems, home computer's speakers don't work, but the headphones work.  The troubleshooter claims everything's ok.  It's not.

Sigh.

At least homework is draw and write a film response to Felidae.  Which I'll do in between taxes and self-study for US History I CLEP exam. 

I've been to MN and back.  Now I just want to veg.  Doing the LJ catch-up.  I still need to work to get to 12/5 on a chunk of y'alls journals.  Instead I'm working to the current day on a few people's posts 'cause I know most of the posts will be news they cared about.  Trying to have a clue about the world.

So. . .whether it's the news or general pop culture, is there anything you do to get a general idea about what the masses have been paying attention to?  With music, I've played the YouTube trending video list and with news I do Bing trending searches (at least until I've earned the maximum number of Bing points for the day.)

Not always having a clue produces situations like, I say I haven't seen or heard of movie x over so many movies that my current college room mate exclaimed, "OMG <<offline name redacted>>!  Accept the social contract and see some of these movies."  Or a few people asking me, "How have you not seen The Hunger Games?" 

With how my courses transfered in, I was left with 5 holes in my common core before I can even touch the undergraduate capstone.  Then only 3 out of the possible 4 classes counted towards my major.  Biopsychology at Landmark was my level 200 science class while at MCLA, it was counted as a level 300 psychology course.  The two art history classes at Landmark counted for my core there, but filled only my major's requirements here, so I was left with a completely empty Human Heritage core.  Landmark's Life Drawing class wasn't quite equivalent to MCLA's classes, but at least Drawing I in VT is similar enough to Intro to Drawing in MA to count.

In the end for my core, I took Weather and Climate to finish off my science; Media, Self-Identity and Society to take care of some section of the core requirement whose name I don't remember, and Computing and Communication, the mandatory class for everyone where they want to make sure you can use Microsoft Office and think about technology in your life.  By random in the First Days program, when we were in smaller groups and rotating around to hear about balancing work/fun and such, one staff person mentioned it was possible to test out of Computing and Communication.  Except I was already registered for it back during summer orientation and no one was going to be free to do the testing until after the add/drop period.  And this school does a horrible job of bringing up that it's even possible to test out of it.  It's not mentioned alongside the CLEP or AP tests in the part of the academic catalog that brings up credit-by-exam.

For my major, I was in Introduction to Design and Introduction to Sculpture.

Which leaves me having to take care of two Human Heritage classes.  Since next semester, I can only take 3 classes for my major without running into scheduling conflicts, I'll be taking care of half of it with Animals in Literature.  I really wanted to just test out of it entirely with the US History I and II CLEP exams, but oh well.  Maybe I can do US History I duirng winter break.  Then the instant the undergraduate capstone class choices include the Berkshires, Arts, and Tourism as a subject, I can jump on it.

Unfortunately with how everything did or didn't transfer in, I'm left with more than a possiblity of spending more than 2 years here.  Especially since I'm taking a minor with arts management with my art major.  Unless I manage to find credit-bearing summer internships and/or intersession classes.

I live metro-Boston, friends might be able to help me find a couch in NYC, it's not impossible to rent summer housing from my school in North Adams, former roomie's family would let me crash in Minneapolis, and former Westover Job Corps roomie has a couch.  So if you see leads for summer internships in those areas, drop me a PM. 

The semester started with a "First Days" program where we went through various things that were supposed to acclimate us to campus and introduce us to our incoming classmates.  What I really remember is the event where we all had to meet in the gym, there was a DJ, and a bunch of running around, like look for someone wearing the same color shirt or run across the gym if you've ever done x.  Only really interesting event was when we had to do a massive scissors, paper, rock, competition and follow whoever we lost to as a posse till there were only two people to go on stage and compete.  Afterwards I commented to the director of student activities about how I can see how the event would be hell on anyone with sensory integration issues involving sound and had to tell her no one told me it was possible to sit out of it.  (Fortunately for me it's in the category of, an activity that's not really going to let me to get to know people, but a thing that would be over soon enough.)

Other thing I remember is we split into smaller groups that had to rotate through various rooms and talk about trying to balance school and fun life and various other sundry things.  One of them was about addressing professors and others through e-mail.  The woman had examples of bad ways to start e-mails and had us try to say what was wrong with it before telling us better ways to start.  One of them was "Hey Everyone" and she asked who was being excluded.  I said, everyone not included in the to field, but the reaction back was awkward enough that I don't think that was the answer she expected.  So I've been a bit confused ever since about who's being excluded other than everyone not in the to field.  Unless it's one of those, people mean the inverse of what they say, things.  After the presentation, I was just really glad that I start initial e-mails real formal and then step-down as necessary.

During the first days program is when I might have started to notice the Parlor Cafe and that they have shows.  Lots and lots of shows.  They kept me initially occupied during the beginning of the school before clubs and homework started ramping up.