hi!

i'm a bit bored right now, and kind of at a loss for what to do...so i thought i'd write to you! you're probably having a lot of fun and doing something exciting, and when you're bored, you'll stumble across this. i feel kind of stupid, addressing you like this, so i'm going to stop. goodbye.

anyways...(wow i'm a loser) i just got back from the san francisco museum of modern art. i have a lot of thoughts surrounding the whole experience, but i'll hold back, because that would take way too long. i really do love modern art - i actually went with the modern art class that i'm taking. the day was marked by a quite nostalgic feel, because a lot of the pieces were borrowed by the tate modern a few years back, and i got to see them when i went to london a couple summers ago. actually, it was when i went to the tate that i really became intrigued by modern/abstract art, so the sf moma brought back a lot of the excitement from before. aside from the tour guide bugging the shit out of me, however, i had a wonderful time. it's really interesting, because i've been reading a lot of art reviews and essays lately, and we even touched upon the subject today, but art really does affect people. not really to the same extent today (or maybe just not through the same mediums); but especially at the turn of the century when new art forms and methods were coming into play, people really became outraged and threatened by a lot of what they saw. certain exhibitions were cancelled, various works were censored, etc. there was even one guy who brought a urinal to display in his own art show and the whole show was called off because the very act of him producing it was bombastic to the public eye. i can't help but think that perhaps just a small part of him was trying to be a smartass, but that's just my hopeful and immature mind wandering. it's funny though, because it shocked people when someone came forth and broke the mold. funnier still, is that "breaking the mold" was painting in unbounded colors and forms. think about it - people were so much more innocent back then! i've had a hard time drawing the line in my mind, though, between innocense, ignorance, and conformity. there's a part of me that wants to be innocent. i want to be shocked by a toilet! it's neat that it didn't used to take all that much. i think i would have liked living back then because i love being shocked so much. then again, maybe not so much shocked, as surprised. surprises are the best. yet i don't ever want to be ignorant or a conformist. but now stuff like that is commonplace, and just think how much more it now takes. perhaps snuff films and child porn are our modern day toilets. okay, that was extreme, and i don't mean to be crass, but i hope it's clear what i'm trying to say. i don't want to talk about this anymore.

i had something else i wanted to say but i forgot what it was. so.......i'll tell you about my mad guitar playing skills. (nathan - if you are reading this, please feel free to vouch for me ;-) i now know parts of TWO iron maiden songs (aces high and phantom of the opera), and i pretty much kick some harmonious ass. (because there's a lot of harmony in them and it sounds wicked awesome.) you'll just have to hear one of these days. i missed my lesson yesterday though because i was at a protest. good ol' georgy w decided to visit our campus to consult some of our economic advisors so our central campus was shut down. it was pretty intense though. they had the entire santa clara police force dressed in riot gear, swat team members all over the place, and snipers on the roofs, among other things. there were a bunch of helicopters flying overhead as well - i'm guessing one of them was marine one. there were people gathered all around where he was supposed to meet, which logically would have covered all possible routes into the building, yet needless to say, no one saw him. apparently there's a secret entrance into hoover tower though, which is where he supposedly had his meeting, so perhaps he went in that way. or maybe he went through the steam tunnels! hell, if i were president, that's the way i'd do it! it was scary, though - all the police were in a line with their huge samurai-looking sword crowbar things (i don't know what they're called). when we refused to get out of the street though, they shoved us back yelling, "MOVE BACK! MOVE BACK!" i was in the front, so i got to get shoved with one of the crowbars. it was pretty awesome - highlight of my day. i was really hoping to get arrested - seriously, that would have been an awesome story! three kids did, too, for refusing to move out of the way from some firetruck so they got dragged across the pavement kicking and struggling, strapped into some sort of plastic handcuff device, and driven away. the whole thing went quite overboard. then another line of police came in with teargass, paintball guns, and sandbag guns. not gonna lie...i was REALLY hoping for the teargass. that would have made this story so much better. i did get hit with a metal barricade though! again, i was in the front, so i got in on the action, but one of the guys put it up and nailed me in the shin. it was so sad though - he was so serious until that happened, and then he was very quick to say "i'm sorry!" in a really genuine tone. he was an old guy too so i felt bad. lol. anyways, i have pictures from my phone that i can post, but i had someone take some actual photos, including some of me with the crowbar guys, so hopefully he'll send them and you can see those.

anyways, my hands and eyes are tired, and i really want to go do something fun, so i've gotta go. but thanks for reading this far! i tend to ramble.