School has started - today was my second day. No homework yet, at least none that I'm doing. Most of my classes are four hours long. I bring a laptop, no pen, no paper. My classmates seem cool - thoroughly gaming immersed. When class gets slow, I reorganize and clean up my calendar. But I'm working to singletask on my formal education.

My education isn't yet about games much, but it is thoroughly project-based. I've got to start planning a mobile media project (maybe an asynchronous buddy-list based performance exchanging system). A Flash project looms in there somewhere soon; I'll have to build an interactive clock I think. And I've got a short film to make in mid-September - I'm planning to film in Japan, when I'm there for the Tokyo Game Show.

I've got some books to read, and all of a sudden I've got a routine - I wake up too early, clean myself up, shovel plain yogurt in my mouth, toss in a few handfuls of granola, wait for construction guys to arrive and then weave through traffic east on the 10 freeway to the Hoover exit, rolling off into the Shrine Parking Structure. Then I take my laptop bag, tuck my hair behind my ear and set off for campus.

USC appears to be amply stocked with conventionally-attractive young women in tight, short summertime clothes. I wonder two things: how long the weather will permit them to dress like that, and secondly, what effect that routine exposure will have on my libido and aesthetics.

I'm most excited about the casting session being run by the film and theater schools tomorrow - I'll sit in an auditorium and watch 40 actors speed-audition, hoping to earn a place in a noteworthy student production. When I think about making short films, as demanded by my cinema class, I've been thinking mostly about filming myself musing and muttering about life. But I have plenty of experience with that. Now I'm wondering what it might be like to orchestrate other people's mutterings. I have a lot of short films to make; I might as well take advantage of the setting to experiment on other people.

Otherwise I've accomplished a few remodeling goals by tear-assing back from school each afternoon; today I got some guy off Craig's List to relieve me of a metric ton of antique computers I'd been hoarding for decaying purposes (the text of my posting follows). I also bought a vacuum cleaner, drilled some holes in my desk and cleaned up the shavings. I hired a guy to rebuild the shelves that tore out holes in my wall, and I hired some guys to drill other, different holes to install cable TV through the house. I wanted to watch some of the Olympics but it's taking too long. Now I just want to have it set up by the time the Republican National Convention starts; maybe I'll be able to catch Ryan on my teevee!

Natalie snapped this photograph as I was mounting the last of the shelves; before the great collapse.

Apple IIe, Next Computer, Old Mac Duo/Desktop Giveaway (Culver City)
Date: 2004-08-24, 10:59PM PDT

As you can tell, I'm a sort of an old computer collector. But I've run out of space - I need to give these away! Let me know if you're interested - someone wanting all of this free equipment will take priority, rather than someone who just wants bits and pieces.