Friday, September 29, 2006

Coloured People

I never realized this until Maria, the CSRC's wonderful department coordinator, who never spots me on my way to the library, pointed this out today. And now I can't stop thinking and shaking my head about the office's paper recycle tray. It is racist. I am not allowed to use half of the papers in the tray.

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

Three Poeteers

It's the first Poeting meeting of the year, we're going around the circle playing a long and arduous alphabet game. It's Darren's turn and he has the letter X.

Darren: Xenophobic Darren.

I thought this was an interesting choice, especially given that Darren is the only white kid in the group. The rest are brown, black, or me.

Me: What!?

Tony: Xenophobic, one who is afraid of xenons.

Jonique: But she was a warrior princess!

Friday, September 22, 2006

Three Little Letters

Dear Kid in the LIbrary Eating a Few Carrels From Me:

Now, I love sneaking food into the library as much as the next person, nay, perhaps even more, but there are limits to everything. And your food, my stealthy friend, is a too loud for my taste. Why not chicken noodle soup, man? Or breadsticks? Or maybe a nice thick milkshake? Personally, I would recommend the vanilla milkshake with a shot of espresso. Whatever alternatives you choose, the viscious crunching has got to stop. The crushing noises you make (what is it, peanut brittle? pretzels? the sound of your teeth shattering one by one?) disturb me.

Sincerely,

Distracted.



Dear Student With Barefeet Up on the Chair Before Him in Physics:

Boy, stop rubbing your nasty soles on the chair in front of you. Good people rest their heads on those chairs! Just nasty! And you wonder why there's a lice epidemic in the freshmen dorms.

Sincerely,

Disgusted.


Dear Girl Who Walked into Neurobio While Class Was Deep in Session and Didn't Realize that You Were in the Wrong Class Until Quite a Few Minutes After You Sat Down and then Silently Walked Out of the Class Again-

HA HA HA HA HA. You first years bring me joy.

Sincerely,

Delighted.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Hanging Low

My days as a suave senior have hit a new low.  I mean, I've been a senior for many years, ever since I left Sri Lanka, but this year, I'm an academic senior and not as suave as I used to be.
 
I was the first kid in the library today.  In fact, I was there two minutes early, and had to take a detour just to kill time until they opened their doors.
 
My only consolation is that it was H&L, and not the science library, but really, that's not much of a consolation. 
 
 
(At breakfast, before this terrible deed happened)
 
Moi: So you guys are sure H&L is open?  I don't want to go there only to find it locked.  That's embarassing.
 
Tim & EB: Oh yeah, I've done that before.
 
Moi: That's not that comforting, actually.
 
EB: What?  Being in the same boat as the dorkiest people you know?
 
Moi: You're not the geekiest person I know, EB, you're a gender studies minor.  That's not just humanities, that's woo-whee humanities. 

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The Band Plays On

I bumped into PuMan yesterday, a pleasant surprise on a beautiful day. He didn't call me by name but acted as if he still remembered me. There was a hug (but no awkward kiss a la Leash and PuWife, phew) and he told me that he thinks of me now, whenever he drives down 495. Yay Interstate!

Bumping into a famous professors you haven't seen in a long time is so much more fun than say, having to go to a professor's office every other second for petty things. For the past week, I have had to stop by the Soc/Anthro department every single day. Often more than once. We are at the point now when Lori, the department coordinator, questions if I actually go to classes, or if I just hang out at the department. Sometimes, I'm not quite so sure myself. Today, since the internet server was down and the Band Man is impossible to find in the phone directory, I had to go to his office to find out if a meeting we had with a community partner was pushed back or not...

Moi: Hey, look, I don't mean to come to your office every day-

Band Man: And yet you do.

Touche.

Oh. I'm also eating lunch with BSketch (who, it turns out, did not sketch the sketchy sketches) on Monday. The Band Man knows where I live (I pointed it out to him, we were right across the street). And Riles has a comment for every outfit I wear. I need a sabbatical from my professors.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Correction

We did not steal eight sandwiches from Common Good Day yesterday. After the roommates took out a couple for their road trip into Boston, there are still twelve sandwiches sitting in our fridge. Twelve delicious roasted eggplant and brie sandwiches. I can't wait for lunch tomorrow.

Not UnCommon Ground

Today was the Bo's annual Common Good Day, where once again, record numbers of student, faculty, staff, and friends signed up for a day of service in our local area. I'm actually pretty proud of my office for what they pulled of this year, 500 participants (we've only got 1677 kids total) and most impressively, sunshine on Common Good Day for the first time in four years. The weather was so good that we were actually at a loss for words, for actions, for anything. We've never seen sunshine like this in September. I just wanted to snap pictures so I could show you how ridiculously beautiful my tiny campus can be when it's not snowing. And when I'm not going to classes. Or doing any work. Oh, a it was a day of friends (some surprising, others not so much), service (I got to relive my BP glory days and lead a painting project), followed by free food. And if I hadn't spent the last three hours reading and doing school work, it really would have been the perfect day.















Quite possibly the best morsel of food from our 'Best in the Country' dining services. This eggplan brie sandwich, which I've only had on three separate Common Good Days, pretty much makes the Bo's skyrocketing tuition worthwhile. We may have stolen eight of them. And those eight may or may not be sitting in our fridge right now.

View from the registration table I was stationed at, looking onto a piece of our quad and the renovated chapel.













A pair of legs, a curious Emily, and a sturdy oak. What more do you need me to say? Roommate Amy (not to be confused with me) is holding her breath as Mike prepares to fart on her.










After our all-you-can-eat dinner tonight, (not that every meal in the dining hall isn't all-you-can-eat, but this was a free meal at an outside restaurant, thus making it extra special.) new and old roommates are discussing my eating habits.

(old) Lisa: Yeah, I remember that you can really eat.
Moi: When did I eat a lot in front of you? I tried not to eat too much in public.
(old) Lisa: No, I've seen you eat a lot.
(new) Amy: You do!? We've got to have an eating contest.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Yes, Dan

I hate it when I don't realize that there are crumbs to my lips until after I've applied my lip balm. Because then, when I try to lick the crumbs away, I just taste lip balm. Actually, wait, maybe that's not such a bad thing. This way tastes nice.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Wayback Machine Goes Back to School

A view outside of my aunt's apartment, from my first day in Ningxia.

The 'aunt,' her apartment is sandwiched between a middle school and an elementary school, ensuring that her walls always filled with echoes of the songs of sweet cherubs. This picture makes me glad that I am in my senior year at a ridiculously expensive private liberal arts college in New England instead of a public elementary school student in a communist country. No uniforms. Entrance exams. And most importantly, no gathering in the field at the same time every day, doing morning calisthenics to the same tired pop tunes day after day after day. A lot of big department stores and restaurants also like subject their employees to morning calisthenics, done collectively on the sidewalk, everyone in uniform, for all passerby to see. For all the sleepness lights and heavy course load this year, at least I'm not standing outside of any malls and there are no supervisors telling me told to put more spirit in my jumping jacks. That really makes college worthwhile.

Natural Selection

Today, before Band Man's seminar class, we're sitting around discussing physics. Or rather, I'm sharing how awful and draining Physics 104 is and Nuge is telling me that I should've taken Physics 50 instead. It's about music and not real physics.

Band Man: Who's teaching that?

(Conversation follows on how the professor that teaches it is nice and cool, and that not all physics professors are like that.)

Moi: Oh no, they're all nice professors. It's just the class that's evil.

Band Man: Who teaches your class?

Moi: [Na-coo-lick]

Band Man: Yeah, no, we don't like him.

And A Step to the Right

My question of the week: Favorite root vegetable?

Before you answer, remember that to qualify as a 'root vegetable,' the item must be both a root and a vegetable. Shallots, for instance, Tim's proud answer after many minutes of silent meditation, is a great example. Things that do not constitute as root vegetable (despite some ridiculous protests)? Peanut, pineapple, and pumpkin. Especially the pineapple, man, not even close.

It's been a crazy week. And the semester is just starting. The hours are just disappearing from me. I'm drastically cutting down on my updates. And life outside of work, classes, and physics problem sets in general.

Plus, my life is riddled with crises. There are too many freshmen for my little brain to wrap around. Mysterious hooks hang from my ceiling. And I have a new tendency to accidentally wear the same outfit as the people around me, most noticeably Roomate Amy (not to be confused with me) and of course, Vita-K.

On the plus side, I have yet to fall asleep reading in library this week. That may or may not be due to the fact that I haven't had the time to go to the library or do any of my readings this, but whatever. I'd like to focus on positive side.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

My Chums, My Chums

Like you'll read about below, there was a BCF co-sponsored showing of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe tonight. Despite her semester in Australia, New Roommate Amy (not to be confused with me) had difficulty understanding the English. And that made me suddenly miss my British friends. So we're going to learn about some American friends of mine.

This is Tim. The cotton candy he is holding is made from all the leftovers on the side. It is stiff and not fluffy and in appearances, it is not unlike wall insulation. But this picture is also the happiest I have ever seen Tim, so I guess he digs the candy.








Tim's also a little paranoid. So I introduce him to New Roommate Amy...

Amy: The name sounds familiar, I think you've mentioned him before.

Tim: You have? I always sound bad when you mention me in a story.

Next we have Mr. Editor-in-Chief himself. Here, he is not taking pictures of underclassmen girls with his gigantic camera. Or at least he's doing it in the name of official paper business. Bobs is so smart that he can tell you everything you'd ever want to know, like why Tony Snow is not the White House press secretary. That's just a random question I thought of, but I bet Bobs could answer it, and many, many more.

Lastly we have Megan. I haven't seen her much this year and we haven't hung out, but she's wearing adorable boots. And posing as if she had just spotted a genuine Baltimore Oriole. Despite her stubborn loyalties to Moulton over Thorne, she's a great kid and one of my favorite juniors. Her cotton candy was pink, light, and fluffy- just like her, and the antithesis of Tim and his cotton candy.
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The Parting Glass

I have eaten a heart attack, people. Actually, a heart attack and a half. And that is why, before I go to bed tonight, I am writing you this entry. For if it falls unto my lot that you should rise and I should not, then I'll getnly rise and softly call, good night and joy be with you all.

It all started with brunch here, at Grand City Variety. Grand City is the diner/variety store in town where the elderly love to frequent.













I did not take this picture. Amazing Photographer Drew ('06) did, I just stole it from google. For brunch, I had egg over easy, some extremely buttery white toast, home fries, and my favorite diner food ever- corned beef hash. For dessert, there was homemade apple pie a la mode. There's good diner food, then there's Grand Variety. I think the pie is the only thing there they actually made from scratch.

Then there was dinner. To start off, the establishment I ate at is called Fat Boy's. It's a drive-in greasy spoon that's cheap and part of a long local tradition.





























These pictures would have been more fun had Mac and I not been ditched by everyone on their planet and their mothers for dinner. It's hard not to look like a stalker when you're snapping pictures and there's only one other person beside you. That's why I quickly took these and started chomping. Plus, it started raining. I had fries and a fried clam cake sandwich slathered generously with mayo and butter. And the thickest coffee frappe this side of the Mississippi. Note the use of 'frappes' instead of 'milkshake.' We're in New England, baby.

As if those two meals were not bad enough, there was a BCF co-sponsored movie tonight, and with it, cotton candy, buttery popcorn, and hot cider. And I may have bought some Pringles to "balance out the sweetness." Honestly, I am not sure if my heart will be ok. But hey, if my heart does fail, I'd be excused from my physics problem sets. So really, whatever should happen, it's a win-win situation.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Missing a Little Sunshine

National Weather Service, I'm putting you on probation. You didn't lie per se. And I wasn't wet today, so thank you. But you did say it'd be very warm, and only cloudy in the morning. And that's why I wore a short skirt today. It was warm for a minute, National Weather Service, then it was very cold for a very long time. I was cold for a very long time.

But really, it's ok. I had a very good day today. Great food, movie, music, friends, lost things found, and yes, maybe even a little nap in the library (I've got to stop doing that).

Oh, and 'Why Do These Things Happen To Me? Story #772'

Me: Hi, I'm calling to make changes to an order I had placed for balloons earlier this week.

Clerk: Balloons? We don't do balloons, this is Hannaford's.

Me: Um, I know. I called yesterday and placed an order.

Clerk: Like helium balloons? We don't do that at Hannaford's.

Me: But I've already placed the order yesterday. I was told that I could pick up at the service center, so could you maybe transfer me to the service center?

Clerk: This is the service center.

Me: Could you check your records then? Because somebody took my order and I ordered something yesterday.

(Many more minutes of arguing over the phone as I provide clerk with information on when I called, what I ordered, and how much everything was... the woman still had no idea what I was talking about and luckily for me, all of her managers were busy. And no one she asked knew anything about the balloons. Or any balloons of any sort. And this is why Tesco's is going to take over the world, and not Hannaford's.)

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Law & Order

At the science library, trying to check out a book on longitudes because Walty said so...

Librarian 1: It says here that this book is reserved by Professor Battle for 2000.

Moi: Does that mean we have to duke it out for the book?

Librarian 1: Yes, it does. You have to settle this with a fight.

Moi: Will there be mud involved?

Librarian 2: Well, we usually meet on Saturday afternoons in the back. It's a surprise medium every week, so sometimes it's mud, but it could also be jello or spaghetti sauce.

I love smart mouth librarian kids.

Later in the evening, at the BCF "speed dating" event, Tim is sitting there with two freshmen girls hanging on to almost all of his words...

Moi: So you guys are listening to Tim's advice on econ classes? That's so cute.

Tim: I'm probably the wrong person to ask.

Freshman Girl: What? You're interested in law enforcement? Like a cop?

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Sleepless in Senior Year

In a meeting this morning, my professor asked if I was still asleep. It was a one-on-one meeting. He then broke out in laughter, presumably directed at me. And I'm not even in his class this semester. Oh, Walty. Just when one professor stops making fun of me, another steps right in.

In the library this afternoon, I dozed off many a times and tried to wake myself up by switching seats every few pages. There are a lot of comfortable chairs on the third floor (where my senior carrel is). And finally, I fell asleep on one of them until Tim walked by.

And all through out today, I just kept thinking, "No, today can't possibly be a bad day. I haven't even had a full week of classes. These things aren't really happening to me."

In other news, I cut through iron today.

(In the lab, miraculously, as a Lab Assistant)

Me: Do you have some wire cutters for these?
Martha (the lab instructor): I'll see if I can find some scissors for you.
Me: What, I can't just use my teeth?
Martha: No, you can't. (Then leans in to whisper) Ok, you can, just not in front of my students.

And that's why, despite the sleepless nights, I'm working in the lab.

To the Victor

Tonight, I put on the kettle (instead of microwaving water) and made some green tea. Then I pulled out my adorable pink thermos and unscrewed it for the first time since last December. Big mistake. Probably should have cleaned it out sooner. Because I had forgotten to take the tea bag out in all those months. The tea didn't actually go moldy, no, that was fine, but it was my British way of drinking it that got me in trouble. You know how milk smells sour after a few weeks? Yeah, try nine months.

Moi: When you were in Australia, did they use the kettle a lot?

Amy: Yeah! They loved it over there! I used it all the time.

What is it with these countries and the Queen and the kettle?

Monday, September 04, 2006

Whether the Weather be Fine...

Weather.com, I go to you for a reason. For two reasons, actually. One, because weatherunderground has poor graphics and two, to know what the weather will be like. Like many people in this fair land, the weather affects me greatly. Not so much because I work the land, but because I ride a bike to classes and my bike has no mud guard. And, I decide whether to wear a raincoat or not depending on the weather. And let me just say, I am very disappointed in you. You promised no rain, yet I got caught wet with my bike two days running. You're the weather channel! It's your only job! Oh the empty promises and lies!

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Back to the Top

 

Another picture from the wayback machine. The Great Wall had cool trash cans. Posted by Picasa

BANG!

Sorry to have worried you guys. Even though I haven't updated for awhile, I am still alive. And indeed, I am up north now at the Bo', with the moose and the lobsters and the only Maine Street in the US of A. I have moved in, classes have started, but I am not completely unpacked. Already, I have bought the wrong text book and consequently did the wrong reading (Mac's response: "How do you buy a wrong textbook? Not even freshmen do that."), forgotten to send an attachment to a professor when I said I would, and asked for an extension on a report. I am right on track for being a suave senior. Also, I live in the Bat Cave. My bedroom has no windows. I wake up in darkness every single morning. But don't feel sorry for me, because my cave is quite big. Oh, and I may have had a dream that I was distantly related to Chien-Ming Wang and got to meet him, which made me very happy and would have made up for an entire summer of meeting incredibly random and non-baseball affliliated relatives had it not all been a dream.

It's busy. It's tiring. But it's also going to be an awesome senior year. Hope all's well on your end, and that those who are seeking are finding, that way, I'll have one more reason to be excited for seeing Boston when break comes.