in the last six day I:
*painted selves, boxes, mounted photos, framed, and generally make possible the displaying of 30 pieces on miniature art work.
*gave a great hour-long presentation to the whole of the MA department which was well received by both my teachers and my fellow students.
*hung and rehung my work in the bookable space and got feed back from every one i could fine on my hanging methods.
*turned in a 2nd draft of my dissertation and got a largely positive response from my adviser along with some good suggestions on finished the final draft.
*attended my first UK private view (that's British for art opening) of a non-school gallery show with my art work in it.
*helped both jemma and sarah with their school work
*attended jemma's private view
*went to two school meeting as a student rep. at at lest one of them I challenged the school's treatment of students and accused them of not living up to their responsibilities.
*secured the rose bush in the back yard so that it wouldn't bend under the weight of the beautiful blooms it's got.
*fail utterly to cook or clean but did manage to break some glass cookwear.
*cried
*failed to get a full night's sleep
*enjoyed wonderful amount of support from mark
*tried to plan boogies stuff and other key coming home things with different people, all of whom don't seem to be talking to each other much.

end the end, i made it through, got it all done, didn't fuck any of it up too bad and now the week is over. thank god.

tomorrow i have no plans other than hanging out with mark, watching doctor who, and packing.

monday i fly! (with the add of several ton of metal and jet fuel)

any one reading this is welcome to come eat mexican food with me an allison on tuesday at the mexican place on tate street.

so its not 6:24pm and I haven't seen Jon's parents yet.

I went to clinic 1 and did data entry for two hours based on chart reviews (whoo-hoo fun).

went to office, sent emails, scarfed down a salad, went to clinic 2 (arrive around 1pm, leave at 2:30pm) - that clinic visit went really well actually.

2:30 pm - get on freeway to come home - and while in the fast lane trying to merge to the farthest left lane to get to my freeway my tire blew out.

so while going 65 mph in the second to fastest lane my front left tire was no more and i threw on the emergency blinkers and people were nice enough to let me merge to the only sorta shoulder on the right side. across six freaking lanes of traffic. oy.

the place i pulled over to was only sort of a shoulder - my left side was still in the lane and the the right side of the car was right up against the railing of the side of the road.

i started shaking and thought, "shit. i have to call.... my Dad, Jon, Triple A!" and my hands were shaking so bad i could really read the AAA card. but i called and half an hour later the tow truck showed up. while i was waiting i started crying so i called my parents and they didnt answer and i called Jon and he didn't answer and then I called my aunt and she didn't answer and then i called my brother and he answered.

he was at USC at a friend's graduation and it was like me, "cry cry tire blow out freeway fast cry lots of big ass trucks going to hit me cry" and he was like, "hey did you know i was in LA?"and i was like, "you're not listening to me. i'm in Commerce (the city of commerce is outside downtown LA) and i had a tire blow out and cry cry scared and shaking." and alex said, "yes. i am in LA. i will come to where you are since I am close by." me = lightbulb. so i told alex where i was and he talked to me the whole 30 min while i waited for the tow truck.

the scaring the shit outta me part - besides the blow out - was that the part of freeway i was on has a lot of big semi 16 wheeler trucks and i could see them in the review mirror and the all had to veer over to not hit me and even though I had my blinkers on I was so afraid I was going to get hit by a truck.

so the tow truck came and since the spot I was in was to tight to change the tire I drove down the closest off ramp 5 miles an hour followed by them until I got to a spot with room to change it. and as I was getting out of the car and saw the tire for the first time and really getting ready to freak out a car pulled up and my awesome little brother got out and gave me a big hug and spoke to the tow truck guys and told me it was ok and *pat pat*ed me.

by the time the spare tire was on it was 3:30 -- and I went back on the freeway heading towards home - and finally got a hold of jon to let him know what happened. and it took me two hours to drive home (about 20 miles). because it was a friday and i had to go through downtown LA. for 45 min I was behind a short bus school bus that had its left blinker on. i kept freaking out that either the spare tire would fuck up or another tire would blow or something would happen and I would die.

I've never been so happy to make it back to the Valley. I got to the tire place around 5:30, let them deal with it, called my parents, paid $130 and drove away with a new front left tire. I finally made it home at 6:30. I had to pee when I left clinic number 2 and didn't get to pee until the tire place.

home now. shower, nap. dinner with Jon's parents. then bed time like whoa.

my tire - it looked like this on both sides:

8:13 am -- Jon's parents will land at LAX in about 3 hours.

then they'll supershuttle it to their hotel, Jon will pick them up and they will come to our apt.

I'll be at work - or more specifically, I'll be at a clinic downtown entering in data on depression scores for patients with diabetes.

our apt is so very, very clean. like "boyfriend's parents are coming to see it for the first time from philly" clean.

and Olive is clean - she was groomed yesterday and now the the entire apt is vacuumed, she is doing her best to run around and get the little dog hair (she got a hair cut) she has left all over everything.

and my back is out. so very, very out. it went out somewhere are putting new sheets on the bed and replacing a light bulb. ugh this is going to be a long day.

so today for - in the clinic entering in data, then run by my office to print some stuff, then out to another clinic to meet with a new doctor they've hired who will be working on my obesity prevention study and then i get to come home. since i was stupid and watched the tivo of grey's last night waaaay too late then couldn't sleep because of my back killing me - i'll be drinking copious amounts of coffee today.

Plan for today: get Jon's parents settled in at hotel, show them the apt and Olive, have dinner, hang out in general.

Sat: go to Olvera St and Chinatown by my office during the morning, meet my parents in Claremont for dinner (!)

Sun: go to the Huntington Gardens and Art Museum

Mon: go to Santa Barbara for the day

Tues: San Antonio Winery in downtown LA, and TBD stuff (Hollywood?, the Getty?)

Wed: I go back to work - they dept in the afternoon

If I had about three more hours of sleep I could rock this - but I have diet coke for now and a big ol cup of joe later.

*before people ask - I've visited Philly and Jon's family several times over the last couple of years but this is their first trip out to CA since Jon and I've been dating and the first time out parents will be meeting.

"jesus christ is not a weapon"

i wish more people understood that...

my presentation went really well today. it was great and worth the work.
my dissertaion deadline was also moved to friday morning, which has given me more time (and more time to stress).

my feet hurt. too much standing.

So this morning, on my way out the door, the mailman gave me a package, it was a lovely baking tray. sweet :)

Today mark and I went to Stroud by train to drop off art work at the stroud house gallery where I will be showing 5 pinhole photographs in their up-coming show titled 'Stitched Two.' we then had a lovely day wandering around Stroud's award wining farmer's market, the town center, and their shopping mall. I got to try lot of free samples of meats, cheeses, beer, and other such things, and so pretty much grazed the whole day. After that we went to see Speed Racer in the local cinema, which I thought was very good and mark liked ok. It was a very fun relaxing day. Then we had a drink in the pub to pass the 20 minutes till our train back to london and made in home in time to make dinner and watch an episode of Firefly. It felt like all the good of a vacation in like one afternoon.

Now back to reality, which is high pressured, full of deadlines, and lots of stress to be had.
Monday: My first day in the bookable space this week. I need to take advantage of the opportunity to use the space and try to figure out how I'm going to be displaying the works I've been making. I fear the bulk of the day will be spent painting the structure I have been building last week. There are like 35 things that all need two coats of paint. Also on Monday there is a school meeting at some point, probably in the morning.
Tuesday: My hour long studio practice presentation to the MA department and my fellow students is to be delivered at 11am. It's the most important presentation we give all year. I have yet to start writing it yet or making the power point, so it's full of stress. The real problem is that I don't really know what I'm doing so talking for an hour about what I'm doing will be really hard. I have to get up there and say something other than 'sorry guys, I'm totally lost, have not idea what I'm doing, am just making stuff for the sake of it, and no idea if it's going any where.' Their real critizizim last time a gave a persentation was that my work was not really consepualy enough and wasn't saying a clear message of any kind. that critisizim can totally be acuretly applied to my work now, and I fear the feed back part of my presentaion will just be reinforcing how lost I am and how my work mostly regressing.
Wednesday: On Wednesday I have to turn in the lasted draft of my dissertation. I have not even started the rewrite yet really. She said there was a ton of work it needed, a lot more research (which I don't have time to do) and a lot more writing. Not really sure how I can fit in all the extra writing since I am already at my word limit. Massive editing is really needed. Oh well, have to get what I can done.
Thursday and Friday: Working in the bookable space still (I am supposed to be there all week). Trying to get some artwork planing done. Also, hassling the tech guy about my printer which he stole, getting feedback from my adviser about my draft, and general preparing for leaving school for two weeks.
Saturday: Traveling to Stroud for my private view at the gallery. Trying to be a professional, interesting, articulate, and no-shy artist, meeting people I have never met before. But I am super excited to see how the work looks on the walls and with other work. I really don't know any thing about the gallery or what the opening will be like.
Sunday: pack, hang out with Mark, and get ready.

monday:FLY HOME!! The Boogie, family, friends, cat, Mexican food and all kinds of magical wonders await me. I am really only in town for about five seconds, but I can't wait!

Ten days later, it's back to London refreshed and ready to finish my glorious dissertation, show Allison a good time in Europe, find a wonderful place to live ands move house, move studios, make worthy artworks, and finish my academic career with flying colors by receiving my Master's Degree and producing a highly acclaimed show. (or at lest that is the plan, wish me luck)

Ok, I spent many long hours, working into the night on my little website that could. It's not perfect, but I'm very proud of how far it has come. if you all get some free time and want to check it out, please get back to me with any broken links, typos, spelling errors, or general advice.
I know the front page needs some more content and images, but it's up! for right now, the email is not work :(

jessamynbailey.com

p.s. thank you mark, for keeping me from crying when i could figure it out.

been trying to rewrite my web site, wish i knew what i was doing. (don't go look)

so no one wants to claim responsibility for the blender ether? i made a milkshake with it today, yummy.

second sunday tomorrow, :) no school.

Did a couple of things yesteday.

Got Ms. Olive registered with the LA County Animal Dept. Went with Jon to a mall near Northridge to find him shoes and stuff. We ended up at an Old Navy and he got some flip flops and I got a few tank tops. Then we went to DSW and Jon tried on several (several several) pairs of sandals and flip flops - the boy has weird feet - until we came up with winners in both categories.

Then is was a subway and renting movie night. BTW the footlong subs for $5 - sexy! we rented Juno and 27 Dresses. I don't totally get what all the fuss was about with Juno. It just didn't resonate with me - perhaps because I'm not a hipster? I did like Jennifer Garner's performance in it best but otherwise it was very blah. 27 Dresses was cute - as far as chick flicks go I'd give it a B+. I can't see Kathrine Heigel (sp?) with out thinking of Grey's - and I felt that her performance in Knocked Up was better then in 27 Dresses but it wasn't bad.

Today I'm going to do some work-work I brought home over the weekend and pick up the apt a bit. then Jon and I are hitting Trader Joes for this week's groceries. I'm not 100% what this week's dinner menu will look like - but I'm feeling a baked fish with veggies, a stew, a rice a roni night, and maybe a chinese chicken salad night... we shall see what's on sale when we go.

the weather is beautiful today. I have all the windows in the apt open. breeze coming in off the beaches, mid 70s, awesome. I'm typing away on the bed and i have a cute little dog snoring next to me. nice.

question: if you had a close friend and you found out they were hanging out with someone who they were still some what good friends with but who was a douche bag to you, would you be annoyed?