* PLEASE HELP ME *

I still do not own ipod. I know can you belive it? I must be the only person left in the world with out this simple pleasure. Being a student I need to spend my money on other things. Like frozen pizza and such. The only thing you need to do is
CLICK HERE. Ok well it's a little more than that and it really is a pain in the ass. But pretty, pretty please! It will not take long and they do not ask for any credit card info. Oh please! Please! PLEASE! Ok I am making myself sick.

* I guess I should mention - once you sign up, you too can get an ipod. What do ya think now?

* The Slurpee Factor *

It has been pouring the last few days. Only during the day and then in the evening it clears up. It is driving me insane and makes me think more than I would like to. I went to the gym today and I feel great now that I am back on my fitness track. I think my hamstring has completely healed and I am growing more and more confident that I shall not pull it again. OH THE PAIN!

A few day ago, Shawn stopped by. Yup, just out of the blue. I hate how he thinks he can just stop by my place and think I am ok with it. He was very tan and his hair has gotten longer. He looks as if he has spent the summer catching waves. He would never be that cool. Rather, I can imagine him running from the tide coming in. As he sat on my sofa, crazy thoughts were going through my head. He would look at me strangely and I would think to myself, ' did I say that out load'. I was thinking how happy I was to be rid of him, but sadly as long as I lived in this small town he would always be around. I started to picture all of his friends and I was trying to pick one I could make out with just to upset him. Sadly, I could not come up with one, even if it would bring me great satisfaction. I then started to criticizie myself for not questioning his disgusting friends he hung out with. Surly that should have been a sign. All of this is going through my head as he is talking to me about some Russian Cold War book he is reading. Don't ask me what it is about I have no clue. Out of the blue I asked him if there were any 7-11's near by that I may of over looked. I had an incrediblie craving for a Slurpee. He look at me like I was crazy. He said ,"I was talking about Russia". I said "Oh sorry, I just really want a Slurpee right now.' This really took him for a spin, as he had no clue what a Slurpee was. To top it off he had never been to a 7-11. Not that 7-11 is some spectactular supper store, but it is home of the Slurpee. When I was dating Shawn I always blamed his abnormal personalty on his fucked up parents. Now I know it's because of his lack of Slurpee intake. It's every child's right in life to have a nice cold one during the summer months. Every time he pops in, there is a new validation to my happiness with out him. This time it was the Slurpee factor.

FInd out more about The Slurpee!

* Rick Tharp Update *

Rick Tharp Remembered
A Memorial in Los Gatos
July 14, 2005


Opera House, in Los Gatos, CA. The program will run from 5:00 through 8:00 p.m. The planning committee will host a retrospect of Rick's work, while offering a time to reflect with other designers, clients, and community leaders.

The Opera House is located at 140 West Main Street, Los Gatos. For directions and more information log onto: www.operahouseeventsite.com.

Any further details regarding Rick has not been released at this time. As with previous updates, we are asking for your continued support by holding your ideas, energy, and phone calls until the investigation has been completed out of respect to Rick, his close friends, and family. We will do our very best to keep you informed with clear, factual information as it develops. -WADC


This whole thing is so strange to me. They still have not found a body. There must be more info. that is not being shared with the public.

* blah blah blah *

I arrived back to sweaty Savannah last Sunday. During the 10 hour drive I only got fished with 11 of the Anna Karenina CDs. Not even half way through the book. I keep wanting to ask someone to just tell me the rest. But I am enjoying it so much, I don’t want to ruin it. In my twisted mind, I am expecting Ana to die - some crazy death.

I swear it has been 100% humidity here everyday. If you are curious to how 100% humidity feels, just turn up your heat as high as it will go and put a plastic bag over your head. All of the sudden, you are aware that breathing is no longer voluntary. But by July your body adjusts and the humidity is part of your everyday life. It’s the only thing I hate about living in the south.

While I was home I came to terms with a lot of things. Like, my mother is going to die and I am not the only person in the world that has gone through this. People loose parents everyday, some much younger than me. Hell, some people don’t even have parents. I am no longer pissed that my mother and father decided to have me 10 years after my sisters. It could have been worse, they could have never had me at all. It’s ok that since the age of 10 I have been taking care of sick people and they always die. I could have never had that time with them at all. Even when I went away to College, I somehow started taking care of this older gentleman in my building. His only living relative was an 80 year old sister. As depressing as this sounds, I really do feel better. For the first time, I talked about this all with my sister. She looked at me and said wow that’s not how I look back on my life at all. At first, I was selfishly mad. Thinking ‘that’s because you left me here with our old parents when I was seven’. But the truth is, she did what all normal 17 year old do, she went away to college. As we were talking, I realized that I had a different relationship with my parents than they experienced. While my sisters were younger my parents worked non stop to provide for us. By the time I came around they were tired from working so much and spent more time with me. I am sure that no one cares to read about this. But, by hearing other stories I have been able to get to this point. Maybe someone out there needs to hear this. I know now, just because I am accepting this, by no way means I am giving up the fight.

So, I have been working on my thesis and it is really coming along a lot better than I expected. I actually have found evidence of EL Lissitzky and Shklovsky were attending a few of the same meetings. This is what I needed. Up until now, I felt like I was making it up as I went. Also, I have been working on a logo for a Law School. I am not very good when it comes to logos. I almost feel guilty for even attempting to create a logo. Because I know it is not going to be the best logo. But damn do I need the money.

* Update *

Rick’s BMW was found parked in the San Francisco Presideo. The contents of the car did not produce any further leads into his whereabouts. The S.F. Police investigation continues today, Rick is still classified as a missing person.


As stated in yesterday’s update, the plans for a memorial are moving forward. The date, time, and place will be posted on this website in the next few days, pending further confirmation for the event site, program, and approval of his family.


We are asking the continued support of Rick’s friends and the community to hold their ideas, energy and phone calls until the investigation has been completed out of respect to Rick, his close friends, and family. We will do our very best to keep you informed with the clear, factual information as it develops.


Register your e-mail if you wish to be notified about ongoing news, updates, contributions, or any club responses to this tragic circumstance. - WADC

* Let it burn *

You know that feeling when you have a sun burn and then a couple days later it starts to itch. Not the kind of itch you can just scratch and it goes away, the kind that gets worse once you have scratched it. The itch seems to be under my skin and by scratching it I am just teasing it. Thank god it’s only my shoulders and not my entire body. I am sitting here in my fathers library, trying to work on my thesis and my shoulders are burning. My brain is burning too. Is it possible it too was burnt during my one hour in the sun? Never a golden tan for me, just RED RED RED!
awwww... back to Stepanova

* Where is Rick *

This is news to me. I just read this on theWADC website.

Rick Tharp was last seen Saturday evening in San Francisco. Many people in Los Gatos, in the Bay Area and in the Design Community across the world know Rick Tharp, renowned graphic designer and Los Gatos personality. His disappearance has generated an outpouring of shock, concern and speculation by those who know him and fear for his safety. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him, his sister and extended family and loved ones. The police are conducting an official missing person investigation at this time, and have not released any more details.


Friends and the community are asked to hold their ideas, energy and phone calls until the investigation has had a chance to sort rumor from fact and bring some closure to close friends and family.

To go to Tharps website go here

* It's dry *

Fred just sent me more pictures from Iraq. I feel the need to share these pictures with everyone. We have been in Iraq for a while and people are forgetting about these men and women. Look at this face. This is someone's son, brother, uncle, cousin, friend....... Someone that comes from a decent family and loves his country. He is not a evil person (on most days), he is kind and generous. He is so generous that he is willing to risk his life for us and the future of our children. I am just asking people to take a minute from their day and think about these people. I am not asking you to change your political views - whatever they may be.


Temps reach over 100 degrees on most days. To keep cool Fred shaved his head.

*Giving in*

A couple days ago, I picked up Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. It even made it on Oprahs book list before I got a chance to read it. I still will not be reading it. I got the whole book on CDs. It is 30 CDs worth of Tolstoy. The guy at the check out counter asked me if I was driving cross country. I chuckled and said "yes". Not Sure why "yes" came out of my mouth. It suddenly occurred to me, at that point I would have to drive back and forth from DC to Savannah about 10 times to listen to the whole book. I should have picked up the cliff notes instead.

* Craft Wickedly Effective Prose *

With all the reading I have been doing for my thesis, I was delighted when I came across Sin and Syntax, by Constance Hale. I am only able to read a couple pages every night before I go to bed. She describes the rules of writing very much like we do in graphic design. It has almost become cliche within design education to hear,“Go ahead and break the rules, but first you must know them”. In the beginning of this book, she describes writing in the same way. It is defintily a hummrous approarch to a writing guide. Which makes it so much fun to read. I hope to feel the same way about this book when I am done.

* No Pictures Please *

My morning started out swell. I got my mother up this morning at 7:30 and we sat down and had a some what normal breakfast. Other than her not looking the same as she did six months ago and being in a wheelchair - things seemed like they always did prior to the brain tumor. When finished with breakfast, she was eager to get on the sofa. So, I wheeled her in the living room, where I had to lift her up and put her on the sofa. My back has been killing me from all this lifting, but some sort of survival adrenaline kicks in every time. After getting her on the sofa, she stares at me blankly and says, “Did you just toss my teddy bear on the floor?”. It is now about 8:30am and I am already bawling. She then realizes what she has said and says, “never mind”.

Early this morning, I had decided against going to the National Gallery of Art in D.C.
The weather was horrid and my mood was grim. At some point after the “teddy bear incident” I kicked myself in the arse and decided to go downtown after all. Plus, I have been dying to go to the Toulouse-Lautrec show and it is closing on the 12th.

There is something about being a tourist in your own city that tends to be a bit overwhelming. You tend to think you have a different set of rights and the rules don’t necessarily apply to you. My first mistake was driving into South West, D.C. thinking I would have no problem finding a place to park. After all, I live here, I have the RIGHT to park here. I wish that was the case. It seems that tour buses are the only ones with parking rights. After some time, I found a place to park and had to walk about a mile in the rain, but at least I was not barefoot.

When I finally got to the show, I was told no pictures could be taken of the exhibit. Even after promising not use my flash the angry security guard would not change his mind. I guess the rules apply to all! The area in which they were holding the exhibit was packed. With the show opening in March, I expected less people. It must of been the day for Sunnyside Nursing home to take their field trip. Don’t get me wrong, I have a soft spot in my heart for older people. After all, I hope to be one - one day. With all the people, I could not take the time with the work that I had wanted. My viewing experience was not what I had expected. I was constantly stuck behind people, looking over their heads. I overheard one conversation that went sometime like this:

Older lady #1 leans over to Older lady #2 and says:”I heard that most of the women in these paintings are prostitutes."

Older Lady #2 :(gasp) NO WAY! These women are to beautiful to be hookers.

With that, I left and headed for a less populated part of the museum.

Now, that I am done venting, I must get back to Shklovsky. Who I am sure had some hookers of his own!