Things Are Cool.
The following things, as well as other ones, are cool.
1. The Graduate Assistant Strike
I don't even know whether their cause is cool anymore, I've heard so many conflicting opinions that it seems as if both sides are assholes. Still, I wholeheartedly support the strike. This is due less to the fact that I support their cause, and more that I enjoy both irony and beer - ideally, a conflation of the two. In any event, my two classes yesterday were moved. In the first, my law professor stood under a marble statue of the Virgin within the church to which we were moved, and lectured on the hypocrisy of the Catholic church leading the charge to prosecute sodomy whilst covering for its pedophilic ministers. In the latter, we put the "alcoholism" back in "fiction" when being forced off campus deposited us at Darin's friend's pub. Thanks, GSOC.
2. Classes
My schedule for next semester rocks more than a rock does, and even paper will not stop it this time. I'm still taking 20 credits, and yet somehow these will be placed - not packed, even, but gently situated - within three consecutive days. Had I taken my second choice of law class, this would have been two days, but I am not greedy. It looks like the lineup will be Fiction (again), Guitar (again), Psych Honors Seminar (again), Media and the Law, and Life and Death. The latter is, apparently, a course on mortality - and on how I might strive to transcend it.
3. Threats, and Insinuations Thereof
So, since the modeling-based shenanigans of my last post, it became increasingly possible that the company with which I had entered into a contract was running a scam operation. I had considered this contingency from the start, but it really began to gather support soon after I had reluctantly handed over my $100. I could accept that - after all, I had negotiated the vastly lowered price specifically for that reason, but it remained unfortunate. I took no further action in pursuit of the job, reasoning that it would be a lot of wasted effort if my suspicions were confirmed, plus even if something looked promising I'd always be wary considering the high likelihood of such scammery. But last night - more on a lark than anything, since I had signed paperwork strongly indicating non-refundability - I sent the following e-mail in response to a query as to whether I had been seeking to find myself the work which the agency purported to be finding for me. You'll note the lack of explicit legal menace, I had intended only to try my hand with that once they had refused, whereon I could invoke various archaic and/or arcane and/or fictitious fraud statues.
Dear Ms. W______,
I have not been to any castings or responded to any broadcasts through the agency web site, because there is actually nothing there that fits my criteria. First of all, there has not been a single posting regarding modeling during the entire month of November. In terms of acting, the only postings are for student films which a) do not pay and b) generally are not going to shoot for a number of months. I had made clear that I was making a deposit for your service under the premise that I should have opportunities to generate income prior to the next payment date in order to bolster my confidence in your company and service, and allow me to justify further payment. This has not occurred, nor did it apparently have any possibility of occurring.
Furthermore, while you did assign me a number of tasks toward building my profile on your site, you have made no effort to follow through on that beyond a vague suggestion of meeting, my response to which you never followed up on. Therefore even the proprietary and, as far as I can tell, ineffective service for which you charged me was never developed to a reasonable fraction of its full functionality (i.e. a profile including stats, bio, resume, etc.), given an extended time period in which this could have been completed.
The natural conclusion of the foregoing is that neither your contractual nor verbal, much less implied, obligations have been fulfilled, with only three days remaining for me to be assured of your company's credibility before I continue remitting payment. This assurance was particularly vital in light of evidence I found against that credibility, namely that Impact210 was founded by Michael Fomkin, brainchild of the Wilhelmina Scouting Network scam operation, of which I can only hope that Impact210 is not a new iteration.
Given these facts, I have no interest in further pursuing work with or through Impact210. Please immediately terminate all agreements and contracts to which I am a party, cease circulation of any materials connected with me, and dispose of any records you may have kept of my personal or contact information. I would also appreciate it if you could return the several photographs with which I provided you during our meeting of 5 November, 2005. Finally, I respectfully request a refund of the $100 which I paid to Impact210 at the said meeting, for the reasons stated above - that the service for which I paid was not fulfilled to its full reasonable extent as mandated under New York state law. This and any materials which you are returning to me may be directed to the following address:
David Glod
178 E. 7th St. #4B
New York, NY 10009
Thank you very much for your time and assistance. I regret that I will be unable to work with you in the future. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns in regard to the above.
Very truly yours,
David Glod
This morning, I received an e-mail reading, in so many words, "Eek! Sorry! Here's your money!" I guess the lesson is that one should choose one's battles, and then, even if they are not worth fighting, one should fight them anyway. Or, in short form, never choose your battles, ever.
4. Thiiiings
I'm not even sure what else is cool, but a number of things are. Maddy came down last weekend, which happened to coincide with what I'm told is one of the best fencing-parties of the year. There were good times - Penny-Arcade was assessed as a new-age art form in its own right with our team's resident expert on the subject; Maddy hosted a brief clinic on Latin dance; our captain, Gabe, for some reason bought her a glass of whiskey; we arranged an expedition to Procure Cake, which was a glorious success.
Later (while not inebriated) we finally finished reading book six of the Harry Potter Epic-Saga-Sort-of-Thing, so I am at last caught up. I am not quite at the level of certain persons in this regard, but I am looking forward to the film. It is getting reviews thus far which are less like reviews and more like orgasms, so hopes run high. I'm thinking I may see it on the proverbial IMAX, and by "proverbial" I mean "very large."
After I had escorted Maddy to the bus Sunday, I found myself in a strange sort of mood which required something be Done. I ultimately decided to see The Constant Gardener, which at the last moment Larisa prevented me from seeing alone (though that had been the plan, and not some reflection on my dearth of companionship). It was not entirely what I'd expected, turning out to be morose but shockingly intense, like a goth high school kid using a few too many amphetamines. But also very good. It did not quite make me want to become a diplomat, discover a dark secret inconceivable in its diabolical scope, and shoot myself - but I can see how it could have had this effect. Ordinarily I find it difficult to empathize with people who garden constantly, that's always seemed a bit much, but Ralph Fiennes did a fienne job even at that - and consequently, I am most interested to see him as Voldemort.
Also, this post is about to end. Watch out.
1. The Graduate Assistant Strike
I don't even know whether their cause is cool anymore, I've heard so many conflicting opinions that it seems as if both sides are assholes. Still, I wholeheartedly support the strike. This is due less to the fact that I support their cause, and more that I enjoy both irony and beer - ideally, a conflation of the two. In any event, my two classes yesterday were moved. In the first, my law professor stood under a marble statue of the Virgin within the church to which we were moved, and lectured on the hypocrisy of the Catholic church leading the charge to prosecute sodomy whilst covering for its pedophilic ministers. In the latter, we put the "alcoholism" back in "fiction" when being forced off campus deposited us at Darin's friend's pub. Thanks, GSOC.
2. Classes
My schedule for next semester rocks more than a rock does, and even paper will not stop it this time. I'm still taking 20 credits, and yet somehow these will be placed - not packed, even, but gently situated - within three consecutive days. Had I taken my second choice of law class, this would have been two days, but I am not greedy. It looks like the lineup will be Fiction (again), Guitar (again), Psych Honors Seminar (again), Media and the Law, and Life and Death. The latter is, apparently, a course on mortality - and on how I might strive to transcend it.
3. Threats, and Insinuations Thereof
So, since the modeling-based shenanigans of my last post, it became increasingly possible that the company with which I had entered into a contract was running a scam operation. I had considered this contingency from the start, but it really began to gather support soon after I had reluctantly handed over my $100. I could accept that - after all, I had negotiated the vastly lowered price specifically for that reason, but it remained unfortunate. I took no further action in pursuit of the job, reasoning that it would be a lot of wasted effort if my suspicions were confirmed, plus even if something looked promising I'd always be wary considering the high likelihood of such scammery. But last night - more on a lark than anything, since I had signed paperwork strongly indicating non-refundability - I sent the following e-mail in response to a query as to whether I had been seeking to find myself the work which the agency purported to be finding for me. You'll note the lack of explicit legal menace, I had intended only to try my hand with that once they had refused, whereon I could invoke various archaic and/or arcane and/or fictitious fraud statues.
Dear Ms. W______,
I have not been to any castings or responded to any broadcasts through the agency web site, because there is actually nothing there that fits my criteria. First of all, there has not been a single posting regarding modeling during the entire month of November. In terms of acting, the only postings are for student films which a) do not pay and b) generally are not going to shoot for a number of months. I had made clear that I was making a deposit for your service under the premise that I should have opportunities to generate income prior to the next payment date in order to bolster my confidence in your company and service, and allow me to justify further payment. This has not occurred, nor did it apparently have any possibility of occurring.
Furthermore, while you did assign me a number of tasks toward building my profile on your site, you have made no effort to follow through on that beyond a vague suggestion of meeting, my response to which you never followed up on. Therefore even the proprietary and, as far as I can tell, ineffective service for which you charged me was never developed to a reasonable fraction of its full functionality (i.e. a profile including stats, bio, resume, etc.), given an extended time period in which this could have been completed.
The natural conclusion of the foregoing is that neither your contractual nor verbal, much less implied, obligations have been fulfilled, with only three days remaining for me to be assured of your company's credibility before I continue remitting payment. This assurance was particularly vital in light of evidence I found against that credibility, namely that Impact210 was founded by Michael Fomkin, brainchild of the Wilhelmina Scouting Network scam operation, of which I can only hope that Impact210 is not a new iteration.
Given these facts, I have no interest in further pursuing work with or through Impact210. Please immediately terminate all agreements and contracts to which I am a party, cease circulation of any materials connected with me, and dispose of any records you may have kept of my personal or contact information. I would also appreciate it if you could return the several photographs with which I provided you during our meeting of 5 November, 2005. Finally, I respectfully request a refund of the $100 which I paid to Impact210 at the said meeting, for the reasons stated above - that the service for which I paid was not fulfilled to its full reasonable extent as mandated under New York state law. This and any materials which you are returning to me may be directed to the following address:
David Glod
178 E. 7th St. #4B
New York, NY 10009
Thank you very much for your time and assistance. I regret that I will be unable to work with you in the future. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns in regard to the above.
Very truly yours,
David Glod
This morning, I received an e-mail reading, in so many words, "Eek! Sorry! Here's your money!" I guess the lesson is that one should choose one's battles, and then, even if they are not worth fighting, one should fight them anyway. Or, in short form, never choose your battles, ever.
4. Thiiiings
I'm not even sure what else is cool, but a number of things are. Maddy came down last weekend, which happened to coincide with what I'm told is one of the best fencing-parties of the year. There were good times - Penny-Arcade was assessed as a new-age art form in its own right with our team's resident expert on the subject; Maddy hosted a brief clinic on Latin dance; our captain, Gabe, for some reason bought her a glass of whiskey; we arranged an expedition to Procure Cake, which was a glorious success.
Later (while not inebriated) we finally finished reading book six of the Harry Potter Epic-Saga-Sort-of-Thing, so I am at last caught up. I am not quite at the level of certain persons in this regard, but I am looking forward to the film. It is getting reviews thus far which are less like reviews and more like orgasms, so hopes run high. I'm thinking I may see it on the proverbial IMAX, and by "proverbial" I mean "very large."
After I had escorted Maddy to the bus Sunday, I found myself in a strange sort of mood which required something be Done. I ultimately decided to see The Constant Gardener, which at the last moment Larisa prevented me from seeing alone (though that had been the plan, and not some reflection on my dearth of companionship). It was not entirely what I'd expected, turning out to be morose but shockingly intense, like a goth high school kid using a few too many amphetamines. But also very good. It did not quite make me want to become a diplomat, discover a dark secret inconceivable in its diabolical scope, and shoot myself - but I can see how it could have had this effect. Ordinarily I find it difficult to empathize with people who garden constantly, that's always seemed a bit much, but Ralph Fiennes did a fienne job even at that - and consequently, I am most interested to see him as Voldemort.
Also, this post is about to end. Watch out.