hyenahell

round about time for another update, i figure.

Chuck D was great. fucking hilarious. the theme was "rap, race, reality and technology". he went off on a lot of tangents, so it's hard for me to give a run down of what he talked about. but in a nutshell: the "dumbassification" (that's Chuck's phrase) of America and it's culture, with special attention to the sorry state of hip-hop; how rap music today looks the same, but "the brain's been cut out"; how sex and violence are sold to young people like fucking candy without anyone giving a thought to it, but when artists speak up about politics it's controversial. i could probably list a bunch more stuff, but you get the point. i drug Rhys along, and he was glad he went, too. unfortunately i had to leave early, during the Q and A session at the end. the air conditioner in the auditorium was so cold it gave us both migrane headaches, and my eyes felt like they were going to fall out of their sockets. once again confirming my suspicion that central air conditioning was invented as a torture device, and is alltogether evil.

i've been hanging around with the other printmakers at ECU a bit more. they're a cool bunch of folk. i found out one of them is a member here, although he doesn't have a profile. fuckin' A, man. i'm finally getting to know everyone a little bit better, so i'm not just the random "new grad" sitting in the back with headphones on. which is good. i'm not the quiet type. at all. heh. i've been getting more work done, too. i think i've finally gotten into a good groove as far as printing is concerned. i helped out with a demo last night, and got the first drop on an edition of twenty prints down in like, an hour. so today, more carving, more printing, and onward. i still don't know if i want to make the commitment to go to grad school here, but i am feeling better about where i am and what i'm doing, at least.

we're closing on the house Monday. so after that, no more commute from fucking Washington to Greenville. not that the commute itself is that terrible. it's only thirty minutes or so. but Rhys and i are on totally different schedules as far as work goes. and i can only go to studio when Rhys is ready to go, seeing as i don't have a car. so sometimes i waste four hours each morning just waiting for him to wake up. and Rhys has to leave earlier than he'd like to take me home. at least when i live in Greenville i'll be able to take the bus or bike to school whenever i want, and leave whenever i want, and Rhys can do the same. so. one more weekend, and then we'll be in the house. i'm happy about that.

i don't think we'll be going back to New Orleans for our things until November. it's just going to be a big fucking hassle to go before then- we've got an iron pour, and both of us have out-of-town conferences with school right after that. so there's a lot of work we'll have to put into all of those things before we go, not to mention getting some painting done on the house, and some other small repairs. so it's Novemeber. probably the second week or so. no idea whether or not we'll have to start paying rent on our New Orleans apartment again between now and when we return. i hope not. it's going to cost over two grand just to go down there and back with the moving truck.

well. that's about all i can think of right now.
i've been too busy to think. and that's good. although i did have a dream that Rhys, our dogs, myself and some other random people i know or have known got put on a train and were going to a concentration camp. i don't know what the fuck that's about. but it was scary.

anyway. more later.
love, all...
-Hyena.

p.s.: it has been raining for days here. i wish it would stop.