Erica

another semester. will it never end? two and a half years of college and i am still stuck in all of those damn required classes that i have zero interest in and will be paying for until i'm 37. i mean, california government? like i give a shit. these people elected arnold schwarzenegger as governor, for god's sake. oh, and in another class I have to write a 25- page original screenplay and have it critiqued in front of the entire class. you can imagine the jump of joy i did at that news. twin evils i try to avoid at all costs in my academic career- creative writing and sharing it. *shudder* oh well. i think i'm in love with my film professor, though. he's like sixty and likes to rant about things like reality tv. while he was talking about star wars during the lecture, he said something about "nookies and all those other god damn things." that's how i feel about it too. not to say that i don't like it, i just can't keep track of all of the names of everything and i don't care. we also have the option of a 10- page term paper or attending 8 movie screenings at the film school's theater during the semester. um, yeah. we don't even have to write anything about the screenings, we just need to sign the sheet saying we went. this guy rocks. but the screenplay guy is a pretentious ass.

the worst thing about LA so far is the traffic. it is SO scary just to drive to the supermarket. there are so many cars on the road everyone drives these huge SUVs so that people in normal- sized cars can't see around them to turn or do anything. now i understand why those horrible ugly hummers are springing up everywhere. they want to be the biggest car out there so they can make left turns and also so they don't have to worry about being crushed by a larger car (a concern of mine). after everyone has those, i guess it will be fashionable to drive tanks around the streets of los angeles. that's what they're moving toward.
the best thing so far is the weather. it is soooo wonderful and sunny and just gorgeous. too bad i'm like 45 mins away from the beach. or 145 when you factor in rush hour (which seems to begin at 6 am and last until 1 am the next day).
my roommates in the room next to me (we have a two- bedroom apartment) have the nicest room ever. they both have bedspreads that match their pillows etc. , and one has this canopy thing. it looks straight out of one of those design shows. my room's a dump and nothing matches. (big surprise) but my roommate seems to be in the same vein. though i haven't met her yet. but her stuff is all in our room. she likes basketball. and eminem. 2 big posters of him, leering down at me. but it's better than matching bed stuff and fancy lamps because i don't have anything like that. at least she has posters. that's more my style, i guess. but if i ever want to impress a guy or something, i could take him to their room. though they wouldn't like that.

i think i might have to take back a few of the things i said about christmas a few days ago- because there is a definite upside to the whole ordeal. gift cards are awesome!! of course, i spent more money on gifts than i actually received in gift cards, so in theory i could have just gone out and spent $200 on myself and i would really be in the exact place i am now. but with gift cards i feel so much less guilty. i mean, i am forced to spend all of the money on dvds and books or whatever the card is for. it feels so much better than pulling out my credit card and spending money that i should be spending on gas or whatever on crap.

yesterday one of our main heaters at work caught fire (or started smoldering or something) and sent smoke billowing into one of the auditoriums in the middle of "sideways." of course, we had no idea that this was happening since we couldn't see it from the lobby, and we don't have smoke alarms (the building is from 1974 or something and they never made us install them, apparently). all we saw was the crowd of people flowing out of the theater, clearly pissed off. we didn't know why, and nobody told us. they just kept coming to the counter and demanding their money back. for no reason, we thought. after the third or so person did this, we asked why everyone was leaving, and the person began shouting at us that "we all had to leave because of the smoke, and the movie wasn't even over!!" we did not have one person just tell us that we might have a potentially dangerous situation. all they did was blame us and yell. as if we did it on purpose and were somehow enjoying it all. i have never been in an emergency situation before, (which it wasn't, at all, but they had no way of knowing that.) but i think that if i was at the movies and the theater was filling with smoke, i would assume there was a big problem and getting out with my life would be a primary concern. these people didn't even let us know! then, when we were sorting it out, the people in the lobby kept hounding us about refunds and free tickets. i had to keep telling them that our manager was on the phone with the fire department and everyone else was trying to make the heater stop smoking and they would just have to wait. and the two of us left in the lobby with the crowd didn't really know what was going on. it wasn't that we weren't concerned with getting their free tickets, we just thought it would be better to put the fire out first. wow. i thought crises were supposed to make people bond or something.

well, i think i have finally finished my christmas shopping. more expensive, meaningless gadgets, books, candles, and day- by- day calendars that nobody wants. it's the same every year. what else is there to get at the mall? the stores all sell the same shit. and of course, now i'll have to spend 8 hours wrapping it all. i think i hate christmas more and more every year. there isn't any of that dickens-esque charm about it where everyone is all happy and smiling to strangers and giving to charity and holding hands to sing songs that the movies would lead you to believe. everyone is stressed and broke and very, very sick of hearing "frosty the snowman" in every public place since october. today someone flipped off my father as we were exiting "a christmas carol." and they were the ones that nearly rammed their car right into us because they weren't paying attention.
i don't know. maybe i am just stressed out in general right now anyway, and the holidays aren't helping. i have to be at school on the 22nd! i don't know whether to be excited or really, really nervous. and i am sad to be leaving some friends behind, though extremely relieved never to have to see others again.
so there are definitely conflicting feelings. more on this later.

caramel corn costs a dollar more!!!!!!!! it says so, in huge letters, on the menu which is less than five feet away from the customer. i am not lying to their faces to swindle them out of their money. but why this is a constant source of conflict i will never know. take today's incident.
erica: that's $13.50.
customer: it says $12.50.
erica: caramel corn is $1 more. (points to HUGE sign in front to customer's face)
customer: (mutters) thanks for telling me.
erica: i don't tell every customer the price of everything when they order it. (does anybody? is this a business practice i haven't noticed? i mean, the menu displays the prices prominently, and i think it would be kind of an insult to their intelligence)
customer: great service.
erica: look, it says the prices on the menu, right behind me. (turns around and taps it this time)
customer: don't get an attitude with me.
erica: you started it.
customer storms away. i guess he was a little mad. i realize that i was, maybe, a little rude, but if there is one thing i can't stand it is muttering, when it is done loudly enough that i know that they meant for me to hear it. that is very rude, and i was being pleasant before that, even nice. i didn't make the prices. i, too, think they are absurd. but it is just one dollar, and it is fair. caramel corn costs more to make. and it is really, really good and a large bag is worth $6. why should he get snippy with me? he ordered something, and i told him the total. that's how it works. i don't get why people think they have rights that they don't have. why do i have to kiss people's asses just to sell them popcorn? i need a job that doesn't involve customers. though i get lonely upstairs all day when i run the projectors and i wish i was downstairs with everyone else and their damn popcorn. but today i would have liked to run the projectors. by myself. *sigh* maybe this has just been a long week. i bet that customer voted for bush.

i wish that the new bjork album was better. it's actually pretty lame. i hate it when you wait for months and months for something to come out and it is just bad. it has this one song that i swear is just breathing. and i know she likes to scream, but these songs just give me a headache. sometimes it is not amusing to be weird just for the sake of it. on the other hand, it is so much better than everything that is on the radio right now that i am willing to forgive her. just listening to bjork breathe or scream is so much better than ashlee simpson or something. and if i hear that song "the reason" one more time while i am driving i am going to deliberately drive into a tree. one time it was on three stations at once. i don't understand the appeal. we need some good radio stations here. even the one that is usually reliable plays that song. and it also plays john mellencamp or some such bullshit. and that's the best station! i think either music has gotten really bad over the past year or i have become a senior citizen prematurely, because i hate everything that is out right now. that and movies. not one good movie has come out since i got home from italy that i can remember. well, before sunset and garden state. and team america. (ok, it was funny, maybe not good). and vanity fair. that was ok, but confusing. but that is not very many. and based on the trailers we have at work, i don't have much hope for the future. these are sad, sad times.

right now i am supposed to be writing a paper, so i thought it would be a good time to update. i already didn't do the online survey of my classmates that i was supposed to do and it is too late now, it being due tomorrow. so i am already screwed. i completely forgot that i had ever started this thing and it just occurred to me now. so, sorry to those of you who probably think i disappeared from the face of the planet. i didn't. i am just extremely lazy and also busy. but i promise to keep up with it now. not that i really have anything to say, ever. the only thing happening in my life is lots and lots of work. this taking a semester off business has told me that i really really need to graduate from college so that i never have to work 45 hours in 4 days scooping popcorn and filling toilet paper dispensers again.

right now at work, we have 2 movies for old people and one about metallica. strange crowd. also bitchy. it has been a long week. i have also been busting my ass with my online philosophy class .... don't EVER take symbolic logic!!!!!!!! EVER EVER. don't even consider it for one moment. it is horrible horrible. i do think i managed that C- i was aiming for, if all goes well. will find out tomorrow. this week, i also learned how to run the movie projectors. ever wonder how the movie gets onto the screen? no, me neither. but it is cool anyway. it is kind of like being god, all powerful,looking down at everyone in their little seats. fortunately, i have yet to start a fire/ blow something up/ cause the power to go out. just give me time, however.

so, this is my second entry in like 2 months... i'm lazy, i know. the last time i wrote was in italy, *sob*, but indiana is cool too... i can buy donuts at 3 a.m., like one should be able to do in any civilized country. i can also buy them with a twenty, even if they only cost $0.37 and i don't get glared at. god bless america, let me tell you. actually, it is really a lot worse to be home than i had expected it to be. i am broke, the theater is not doing any business currently so i have been working about 8 hours per week and have yet to find another job. oh, and i have summer math EVERY DAY. my fake id was stolen in italy and i can't afford a new one yet so i have no social life, as everyone else has one or is 21 and they go out every single night. i also can't have marijuana, says my doctor, because it will fuck with my heart medication. so i am possibly facing a good deal of sobriety until i am 21 ( dec. 4th, which is 5 months from like a week ago). but, on a cheerful note, cable tv is awesome!!! who needs a social life, anyway.