Day of Endless Stupidity

THE MORNING STUPIDITY (the really stupid one)
I got a call from the Columbia mail center.
James: Good morning.
Male Voice: Hello. May I speak to James Heposki?
James: That's me!
Male Voice: We've got a package for you here at the mail center. We can't put it in your box because the name and box number don't match. It's addressed to box 7149.
James: So it has someone else's name on it?
Male Voice: It's got your name on it. Wrong number.
James: No, that's my number. 7149. I have the key to that box.
Male Voice: Well, the box is registered to someone else, so you'll need to come pick up the package.
James: Sure. I'll be right over.
So I went right on over, only to find an empty mail center.
James: Hello?
A woman, in fact the same woman who gave me the key to my box, emerges from the back room. The man who called remains hidden.
James: Hi. I just got a call to pick up a package.
Male Voice: James?
James: Yes.
Male Voice: Last name?
James: Hepokoski.
Woman: ID.
She scan my ID and places the package on the counter. I sign for it and pick up the package.
James: So, will I have more trouble with my box, or is it cleared up now?
Woman: How did you get that number?
James: You gave me that number from the list when you gave me my key, which opens that box.
Woman: Well, its registered to someone else.
James: I just got it in this second summer session. Could the registration be left over from the first session?
Woman: I don't know.
Male Voice: Are you a summer intern?
James: No, I'm a student.
Woman: You'll need to email these people.
She hands me a sheet of paper with instructions on it.
Woman: Do you have the key to you're box for the school year?
James: Well, I'm just a summer student.
Male Voice: That's what I just asked you!
The woman took back the piece of paper.
James: I'm sorry; I thought you said 'intern.'
Male Voice: Yeah.
Looking back, I'm not really sure if my problem got resolved or not.

THE LUNCHTIME STUPIDITY (the funny one)
I went to lunch at Pinnacle with Sameer. I forgot my water bottle, so I bought a drink. I got a FUZE Healthy Infusion, specifically "focus," which is "orange mango fortified with...essential vitamins & zinc." The side panel lists zinc and 7 vitamins it has, along with a sentence or two about the supposed effects of each. I learned that zinc is "known as a 'mind-sharpening' herb that enhances capillary circulation and increases the supply of oxygen to the brain." Really makes me want to start a little garden back home and grow some zinc and perhaps other elemental metals.

THE LATE-AFTERNOON STUPIDITY (the least stupid one)
Monica, our critic came to talk about our work. I tried talking to show her my drawings and talk about the issues I'm having with seating in my site. She wanted to see my model. I pulled it out of my bag, and told her that I wasn't really using it. She wanted to know why, and I told her that it was frustrating, because it was made of a material with which I don't like working, and that it was based on the dimensions she gave us, so all three axes are on completely different scales. She told me that I couldn't just do all the work in my head. I needed to get ideas out. I told her that I have dozens of drawings, and tried to show her, but I guess she didn't see the merit in drawings. We talked for twenty minutes, in which I was told that I shouldn't worry about the real site, but only my models, and that the material for which I'm supposedly designing (1 foot strips of wood) didn't matter. Any linear material is the same. I tried to explain that there was a big difference between a structure made of foam and a structure made of steel, but made no headway. We definitely have very different ideas of architecture. I was really staving to see the big picture as I worked, and Monica is much more process-oriented.

I'm going to start in a new direction tonight. I'll make some weird and utterly useless sculpture and think up a bunch of BS to explain why it is genius. I'll play the game, just like the rest of the class. I'm not happy about it, but after today's conversation, I see that I have no choice.