So, I'm surviving in the Big City.

I've had loads of ups and downs already, but I've generally held up my spirits in the name of "taking the adventure head-on."

But when you take things too head-on too quickly, you end up subjecting yourself to some pretty intense stresses.
That's what happened. My lack of sensitivity to my non-individuation needs had led me to end up with a deficit of sleep, food, and socialization, and my lack of time management skills began to hurt my schoolwork, and left me no time for art. In general, I wound up in one hell of a funk. Neither here nor there.

My family came to visit me this week, and that really helped me get back into the swing of things.
I learned a lot this week about where I can get food and when, about how I can keep track of my health, about how I can spend my time wisely and still get plenty of sleep. I got to hang out with my sister, which was great. In general, I worked this weekend to focus my inner compass just when it started to spin out.

However, now I think I'm getting sick. I've developed a pretty awful cough, probably from spending too much time out in the cold wind and the rain. It's been raining pretty much non-stop since Thursday. We'll see what happens, but by the looks of it, I'm afraid I might end up with the same kind of bad bronchitis/pneumonia that I had last October, and the spring before that. Well, looks like I'll have to fight it out.

All that aside, school is going pretty well for me now. Even though I don't have a single art class (*sob*) I'm enjoying my academics. In my "cultural foundations" class I'm doing a lot of comparative study of art and literature, which includes lots of myths and religion. That's my favorite thing to study, quite frankly. I'm taking a course on South Asian cultures, which is all the ideas behind Hinduism and Buddhism. In that class, we're reading a lot of Hindu texts (which remind me so much of Free Play) and having huge discussions. The teacher rocks, too. My India class is my favorite class, I think. I have a writing class where we have an assignment to watch a foreign film that we've never seen before without any subtitles, and write about what we think is going on. Hilarity will ensue! I'd gladly take suggestions for what movie it should be!!!

In my social foundations class, I'm actually kind of bored. While the teacher is a good guy, and he knows what he's talking about, he has the problem of letting the students talk too much. I used to not believe that there could be such a thing. I usually think there's nothing better than a class discussion where the children generate the knowledge, I.B.-style. But I was wrong. Sometimes, kids can be SO bad at critical thinking, that it's better to just ignore them rather than let them say something really dumb and ruin the discussion for the kids who get it. So, yeah, my social foundations class is slow, but it's also bearable because the work we do is all about PHILOSOPHY (glorious philosophy). So while the students are spewing out a lot of relativist nonsense in class, I can turn to the required readings of Plato and Aristotle for solace.

In other news, Sometime this month, I finished that PSA that the Crosswinds people wanted me to do!
[link] (I just made it available to the public today)
I've also joined this club of kids who are also doing Liberal Studies, but are tracked for film school, like me. We are going to produce some films while we wait.

My family also brought me my art supplies! So I'm going to spend some time painting every week, at least.

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday day, dear human race,
Happy birthday to you!

I was walking down the street outside Weinstein Hall in New York City, and the place seemed eerily calm, quiet and... well, practically empty. I realized that for some reason, nearly half the population was missing. Then I realized that most of the Jewish kids (a huge part of the NYU student body) were missing. I thought to myself, "Hey, it's September, it's a new moon, and Jewish people have somewhere to be? Guess what day it is!"

Tonight is Rosh Hashanah, a holiday commonly known as the Jewish New Year.
But what’s the real deal with this most holi of holydays?

Well, it turns out, Rosh Hashanah (in Jewish thinking) is the anniversary of the sixth day of creation, AKA the day that mankind was made, AKA Adam’s birthday… So happy birthday humanity!

Because of the occasion, Rosh Hashanah is therefore YHWH’s favorite holiday. Do you know why?
“Is it because he loves humans?”
No. Have you read the old testament?

Think about it this way. Before YHWH made Adam, he had nothing going for him. YHWH was just another fish in the sea, another god in the sky. He was a boring, normal, average, every-day, run-of-the-mill celestial super-being. He had nothing to distinguish himself from all the other gods (of which there were many). And he was damn jealous of them.

But once YHWH created humans, he had a claim to fame. He gave himself a promotion that day. Because now YHWH could describe himself as something more concrete than “I will be what I will be (YHWH)” but now he could actually be The Lord of something, The Lord who lords over the chosen people.

So basically, Rosh Hashanah is when YHWH gave himself the authority to say “I am The Lord, your God” when Moses asked. It’s known as God’s coronation day.

But on top of all that, the MOST important thing about Rosh Hashanah is that not only is it human kind’s birthday, but it’s also the day that the human race has its annual “ performance review” with God. The idea is that on Rosh Hashanah, YHWH looks into the hearts of all the humans on Earth and decides whether to write their names into his “Big Book of People Who Are Alive” and if you are a bad person, he crosses you out of the book and you DIE (it’s like Death Note, but in reverse).

Luckily, it’s not so black-and-white. If you are neither good nor evil, but just kind of a bum, you have ten days to get your act together and do something either really good or heinously evil so that YHWH can sort you properly on Yom Kippur.

So yeah, it’s a joyous, monumental, and also very critical holiday. I almost want to be Jewish, so that I can learn a thing or two about the ceremonies.
…Except I could never let myself ignore the many useful gods, myths and ceremonies of the world’s other religions.

So, instead I’ll just send the night off by blowing the ceremonial horn


"Ketiva ve-chatima tovah"

May you be written on the list for a happy new year!

(okay, guys, you knew this was coming)

Start spreading the news: I’m leaving for college today! I wish to be a part of it (by which I mean New York, NY). My vagabond shoes are longing to stray through the very heart of it — New York City, NY. I look forward to waking up in a city that doesn’t sleep, and who knows? Maybe one day soon I’ll find that I’ve become the “king of the hill,” so to speak, the “top of the heap,” as it were.

My suburban (or “little town” ) blues are melting away right now. I plan to make a brand new start of it (by which I mean my life) in historic NYC. And I am confident for the future because, if I can make it there, the logical conclusion is that I can make it anywhere.

Allow me for a moment to anthropomorphize that city, and address it by saying: “When it comes to giving me the opportunity to succeed, it’s up to you, New York, NY!”

If you didn’t get that joke, I’m going to cry.

...

So I boarded the plane to LaGuardia airport carrying two dead raccoons...
The flight attendant looked at me like I was a freak and said, “sir, have you lost your mind? We only allow one carrion per passenger!”

-----

Oh BTW, my lion painting won both first premium and GRAND PRIZE at the state fair for 12th grade oil painting.
That makes me feel good.

The screening went really well. A lot of people showed up. Friends and family, students and teachers, even some people from Crosswinds. People seemed to enjoy it, and I like that.

I am SO happy.

Also, I dropped off my lion painting at the state fair today.
It would be pretty cool to see it hanging there.
I wonder if it'll win anything?

I'm off to art class now, a late-in-the-day makeup class
(because last Saturday I was recording music with Spencer).
It might be my last one.

Then I'm going to start doing a documentary for the Crosswinds people.
And finish my project for Colleen, damn it!
And watch some movies.
oh... and put opening credits on my horror movie (I forgot )

This has been a good week!

Oh. If you want a DVD copy of my movie, now would be a good time to ask for one!
I envision the DVD as chock full of special features, with an audio commentary and behind the scenes featurette, deleted scenes, storyboards and sketches, and select pages from the script!

I can haz exposure?


Monday August 17 from 2:00 to 4:00
at the Perpich Center for Arts Education
in the Performance Hall

They are going to play my Horror movie
Secret Places: A School Divided
on a big screen!
and everyone is invited!!!!

I am really freakin' excited!



The movie will be done tomorrow afternoon.
Months and months of working/not working are about to pay off.
ZOMG