There is a direct relationship between how much I write, and how strange things become...
The night after my last post we had the pleasant intervention of the obnoxious fire alarm. Unlike previous instances, the alarm began at a most inopportune time. Around, eh, oh, one thirty AM. That is my absolute favorite time to be woken up abruptly. When standing outside in the coldness and humidity, waiting for the "alarm to be resolved" ( an exercise through which they confirm the pre-existing thought that the alarm has gone off due to excessive heat on one floor, and quite nothing to do with any actual combustive force) people reflected that I looked "angry" or "pissed." The responses to such a statement are suprisingly limited, and consisted primarily of pointing at a clock and grunting the current time... I guess the number of options dwindle as the hours do.
It's somewhat shocking to see everyone's faces in the mornings, and realize that the times I will see them again are conspicuously numbered. I've got a Note on the side of my Desktop (wee Vista?) that has the countdown until the Arts Festival, the Reseach Paper due date and Graduation all prominently displayed against my wallpaper. Today being the second to last day of Seminars, and the last day for History and Literature, we are all beginning to feel the exhaustive effects of a world coming to its close. We are struggling to maintain our vigilance in the work still forthcoming, and yet are filled with the sweet, grinning satisfaction of trials overcome, as the most direct work portion of the program comes to a close. Late at night we find ourselves saying very little, but smiling very much from behind our computer screns at each other. The onslaught of take-out food, however, has not stemmed in the least. The chinese food guy lets himself in at this point...talk about convenience food.
Great trepidation comes with great treks. I'm looking with open eyes and open arms on the rest of the summer, and the stark difference between this experience and the one I am, as mentioned before, swiftly speeding towards. However, the passport agency is totally screwing with my plans.
(You hear that Passport Agency? Yeah? Good. Twerp...) The passport that I applied for several months ago has yet to come, and, according to testimony from the highest order (Read: Mom), their instructions are "If you don't have it by Thursday the 26th (3 days before the trip), come in to PHILADELPHIA on the 27th. Now, getting my passport two days prior to the trip would be troublesome as it is... but that is, to be cliche, "the tip of the iceberg." Friday is my graduation from NJSP, and Thursday is the day Paige leaves for TLW. Having to spend the day in the Passport Office in Philadelphia (Read: Ninth Level of Hell) would require one of my parents to pick me up Thursday night (thus depriving them of seeing my sister off), which is an hour and a half drive in its own right, to drive two hours into Philadelphia and back Friday. This sticky situation would only be worse in actual practice, as it would require me to get the whole of my things packed Thursday and would bar me from spending much time with my friends here as they, too, prepare to leave, myself being in a greater rush.
At this point, I can only hope for some glimmer of salvation within the labyrinthic depths of the passport agency's telephone system (Read: endless amount of time onhold (again, testimonial)).
Finally, good people, I leave you with this wisdom:
Cankersores. Suck.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Continuum: Getting Hairy
Last week I had the pleasure of a short week, which seems suspiciously like a calm before the storm. Last Tuesday my group had a free period in the afternoon, which allowed me to get a bit ahead on the work as well as to take a long nap. Wednesday, on the other hand, was as hectic as it was enjoyable. We were released from class at 3, but several of us, myself included, had to be ready in dress attire to escort arriving Trustee's and friends of the program to the dinner hall. Each year the program hosts a dinner that allows the members of the Board and friends of the program to meet the Scholars and talk with us. Unfortunately, last Wednesday was a dark and stormy night, and we ran across campus, again, in dress attire, umbrellas in tow, to the meeting place. We were pleased to find out that the escorting idea had been nixed, and trustees would be driven in campus cars to the dining hall, but somewhat less excited to realize that our now-free hands would be helping set up the catering trays, etc. I had the fine pleasure of arranging 80 half-chickens in sterno trays by hand. I wore gloves, calm down. The dinner was fun, and the food was good. I had the opportunity to talk with my Environment professor in a more casual environment, and the Trustee at our table was actually kind of funny (lampooning a fellow Trustee who announced " You're the brightest, most interesting people I've ever met", to which he responded "She doesn't get out much...").
After the dinner with the Trustees, the majority of us had chartered a bus, and went to a nearby movie theater to see the fifth Harry Potter movie. I won't spoil it, except to say that it was good, but not great, and as usual, will never compare to the movie. Great FX though.
Thursday we had to get up HORRENDOUSLY early, to go into New York. It was a long drive, lasting about two and a half hours, as a result of driving in a giant chartered bus and driving directly into rush hour traffic. It was actually in our best interest, in truth, because it later turned out my shoes do horrible work to the back of my feet, and by the time I got on the train, I was eager to put on my sneakers despite being in a full suit.
We first visited the Museum of Natural History, at which most people focused on getting their sketches, essential to our field trip-based assignment, done despite the endless tides of people going through the exhibit. Over the course of doing my two drawings in public, I evidently became something of a spectacle, gaining some spectators. A Chinese family and a fair number of children became watching, chattering in their language which I didn't speak a word of, but nodded to. I was also told that my drawings were "mad phat, dawg." Exciting :)
The train ride home was a fiasco. There were five of us all taking the Midtown...something. We went to a help desk to find out which train, specifically, would allow us all to get on, and it was explained to us that two of us would have to go on one and three on another. So, me and my train-companion, Meghan, headed to our train. I asked the conductor if the train would stop in Dover, which I always do as a precaution, to which he responded
"No. The one on the other side of Penn Station does though. It leaves in three minutes."
As I'm sure explanation here is unnecessary, I'll keep it short: I got to the train. This train, the one that leaves in three minutes and was on the other side of Penn Station and that I did manage to get on , was also the same train that the three others were on. I ended up walking all the way to the back of the train before I called one of them to find out where they were, and if I could find some company. They sent one of their number all the way to the back of the train to find and lead me back to them and, upon arriving, I realized that they were only one car forward of the one I had originally walked onto. I also found that there was actually a fourth scholar with us, and the trainride was alot of fun.
I was greeted by my mother and my dog at the train station. They've pretty much become my post-train welcoming crew at this point, and there was a palpable feeling of being back within my own space, a town and area that I'm familiar with. We went home, where I changed out of my suit (which after 10 hours, 6 of which were spent walking, I was truly done with,) and left to go and get food for my visit (apparently mom's trying to starve out dad and paige?). I managed to hold off opening my new laptop (from which I am writing), until about 8 o clock. The machine is great, and =D better than my dad's PC! It took a while to get everything set up (World of Warcraft wasn't ready until 11 AM Friday morning...) but it's a great machine and works wonderfully.
My weekend was full of visitors, with Crystal and Homcy joining me Friday night, and then Duane and Will Saturday into Sunday. Crystal was supposed to join me for breakfast Sunday morning but she made some excuse to sleep in or whatnot. I left later Sunday afternoon and had dinner with Mom and Aunt Heidi, which I really liked. Upon returning to school I was reminded of how oppressively hot my room is, and set to working on my laptop in the common room, which is much cooler because it is on the first floor. Over last night and Sunday night I've managed, not only to stay abreast of the work this week, but to get ahead. I am, however, a bit behind on my arts festival project, which is due for Saturday, and requires a great deal of focus on my part. This was problematized by a massive headache last night, and everyone seems to be experiencing spells of extreme fatigue. I intend to finish off all reading and deadlined work tonight, so that I can focus whole-heartedly on the necessity of overcoming the Arts Festival project. I'm really happy with the concept, and am looking forward to putting it on the paper... but time haunts me.
After the dinner with the Trustees, the majority of us had chartered a bus, and went to a nearby movie theater to see the fifth Harry Potter movie. I won't spoil it, except to say that it was good, but not great, and as usual, will never compare to the movie. Great FX though.
Thursday we had to get up HORRENDOUSLY early, to go into New York. It was a long drive, lasting about two and a half hours, as a result of driving in a giant chartered bus and driving directly into rush hour traffic. It was actually in our best interest, in truth, because it later turned out my shoes do horrible work to the back of my feet, and by the time I got on the train, I was eager to put on my sneakers despite being in a full suit.
We first visited the Museum of Natural History, at which most people focused on getting their sketches, essential to our field trip-based assignment, done despite the endless tides of people going through the exhibit. Over the course of doing my two drawings in public, I evidently became something of a spectacle, gaining some spectators. A Chinese family and a fair number of children became watching, chattering in their language which I didn't speak a word of, but nodded to. I was also told that my drawings were "mad phat, dawg." Exciting :)
The train ride home was a fiasco. There were five of us all taking the Midtown...something. We went to a help desk to find out which train, specifically, would allow us all to get on, and it was explained to us that two of us would have to go on one and three on another. So, me and my train-companion, Meghan, headed to our train. I asked the conductor if the train would stop in Dover, which I always do as a precaution, to which he responded
"No. The one on the other side of Penn Station does though. It leaves in three minutes."
As I'm sure explanation here is unnecessary, I'll keep it short: I got to the train. This train, the one that leaves in three minutes and was on the other side of Penn Station and that I did manage to get on , was also the same train that the three others were on. I ended up walking all the way to the back of the train before I called one of them to find out where they were, and if I could find some company. They sent one of their number all the way to the back of the train to find and lead me back to them and, upon arriving, I realized that they were only one car forward of the one I had originally walked onto. I also found that there was actually a fourth scholar with us, and the trainride was alot of fun.
I was greeted by my mother and my dog at the train station. They've pretty much become my post-train welcoming crew at this point, and there was a palpable feeling of being back within my own space, a town and area that I'm familiar with. We went home, where I changed out of my suit (which after 10 hours, 6 of which were spent walking, I was truly done with,) and left to go and get food for my visit (apparently mom's trying to starve out dad and paige?). I managed to hold off opening my new laptop (from which I am writing), until about 8 o clock. The machine is great, and =D better than my dad's PC! It took a while to get everything set up (World of Warcraft wasn't ready until 11 AM Friday morning...) but it's a great machine and works wonderfully.
My weekend was full of visitors, with Crystal and Homcy joining me Friday night, and then Duane and Will Saturday into Sunday. Crystal was supposed to join me for breakfast Sunday morning but she made some excuse to sleep in or whatnot. I left later Sunday afternoon and had dinner with Mom and Aunt Heidi, which I really liked. Upon returning to school I was reminded of how oppressively hot my room is, and set to working on my laptop in the common room, which is much cooler because it is on the first floor. Over last night and Sunday night I've managed, not only to stay abreast of the work this week, but to get ahead. I am, however, a bit behind on my arts festival project, which is due for Saturday, and requires a great deal of focus on my part. This was problematized by a massive headache last night, and everyone seems to be experiencing spells of extreme fatigue. I intend to finish off all reading and deadlined work tonight, so that I can focus whole-heartedly on the necessity of overcoming the Arts Festival project. I'm really happy with the concept, and am looking forward to putting it on the paper... but time haunts me.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Continuum: One Hundred and Sixty Eight Hours
It's been a whole week since I've posted... What does that mean? Does it mean that the network here is a pain to work with, or perhaps it means that I've been swamped in "schoolwork" that is unpredictably checked? Perhaps it means I blacked out and was unable to re-establish my connection to the English language; or maybe I just slept ALOT.
I'll let you decide.
Now I'll take a few moments to reach back into the memories of the week that has just passed, and yet seems so long ago.
On Sunday Mom came up, bringing Paige and Crystal with her. We had a great time, even though they arrived late due to a serious of unforeseen and unfortunate events, and Dad wasn't able to come... We went into Princeton and had a good time, once Mom managed to parallel park. On her fourth try. As a learning driver, I think I need to find a new role model for that particular skill. Oh, and on that note- one can tell how expensive a restaurant will be by the percentage of the menu that is taken up by a wine list. We also stopped in a bunch of shops throughout Princeton, notably Ricky's, from which I procured a two-pound bag of mixed candy that makes great company while studying.
Monday I got another visitor! Grandma came up and brought me another fan, for which I am very grateful. I've got my two fans oscillating across the room from opposite sides, creating a really nice cross draft... Coupled with leaving my room-light off and leaving the window open, for light and air, I've managed to keep my room pretty cool. We explored Lawrenceville and Princeton (read: got lost) and then went to Nassau St. and the surrounding and found some places to eat. We finally settled on Japanese, which I haven't had good experiences with in the past, but I was pleasantly surprised! Usually Japanese places carry seafood to near-exclusivity, and I am not fond of the fishie types, so I'm usually at a disadvantage, but this place had a variety of dishes. I got to try beef negimaki, pork shogayaki and chicken teriyaki, all of which was great :) I'm glad we tried it.
Wednesday there were plans to have a barbecue and to see the fireworks at nearby Ryder college. However, I was misinformed about the time of the barbecue and slept through it (I ordered pizza instead) and the forecast predicted rain, which prevented the fireworks. All in all, a rather uneventful Fourth, but I got to catch up on my sleep and had a good day nonetheless.
Thursday was a godsend! Our lecture was rescheduled to be that night, instead of that morning, allowing me to sleep in to 10:30! Normally this is something reserved for the weekends, but it worked out really nice to have it after the Fourth and was nice to get to rest and not worry about working *and* getting up at the crack of down. Thursday night, however, was a different story. As I was laying in bed, reading and preparing to sleep, the rythmic screeching of a fire alarm dashed that plan against the rocks. I rolled out of bed, in my boxers, colliding (in what I imagine was a rather slapstick display) with the fan that I had mounted on my chair. I rushed to pull on pajama pants and a t-shirt as I half-walked half-fell down the stairs to the outside. As soon as we were outside, the sky promptly decided to open up upon us. While this normally would not have been that bad, the greater portion of us were in sleepwear, packed like sardines under the less-than-full coverage of the front awning, constantly pushing against and into one another trying to avoid the rain. Also, because of the timing of the alarm, the front door locked behind us and our Housemaster had to call Campus Public Safety to open it for us.
Friday night Sam, her mother, and her sister Sydney, all came down to Princeton to look around and visit me. I had a really good time with them. We walked around both sides of Main Street, looking at some of the buildings and shops, etc. That family is so generous :) I just want to thank them again for the great evening, and their company and generosity. It was great to see them. Later that night the whole dorm got together to watch Fight Club. I was my first time seeing the movie, and I'm not sure what I think of it yet. I didn't like the forced "romance", but the production values were high, so I've got to think about it more...
Until next time, be safe, drop a line, and I hope everyone is having a great time!
Maybe next time I'll post something about the program...
I'll let you decide.
Now I'll take a few moments to reach back into the memories of the week that has just passed, and yet seems so long ago.
On Sunday Mom came up, bringing Paige and Crystal with her. We had a great time, even though they arrived late due to a serious of unforeseen and unfortunate events, and Dad wasn't able to come... We went into Princeton and had a good time, once Mom managed to parallel park. On her fourth try. As a learning driver, I think I need to find a new role model for that particular skill. Oh, and on that note- one can tell how expensive a restaurant will be by the percentage of the menu that is taken up by a wine list. We also stopped in a bunch of shops throughout Princeton, notably Ricky's, from which I procured a two-pound bag of mixed candy that makes great company while studying.
Monday I got another visitor! Grandma came up and brought me another fan, for which I am very grateful. I've got my two fans oscillating across the room from opposite sides, creating a really nice cross draft... Coupled with leaving my room-light off and leaving the window open, for light and air, I've managed to keep my room pretty cool. We explored Lawrenceville and Princeton (read: got lost) and then went to Nassau St. and the surrounding and found some places to eat. We finally settled on Japanese, which I haven't had good experiences with in the past, but I was pleasantly surprised! Usually Japanese places carry seafood to near-exclusivity, and I am not fond of the fishie types, so I'm usually at a disadvantage, but this place had a variety of dishes. I got to try beef negimaki, pork shogayaki and chicken teriyaki, all of which was great :) I'm glad we tried it.
Wednesday there were plans to have a barbecue and to see the fireworks at nearby Ryder college. However, I was misinformed about the time of the barbecue and slept through it (I ordered pizza instead) and the forecast predicted rain, which prevented the fireworks. All in all, a rather uneventful Fourth, but I got to catch up on my sleep and had a good day nonetheless.
Thursday was a godsend! Our lecture was rescheduled to be that night, instead of that morning, allowing me to sleep in to 10:30! Normally this is something reserved for the weekends, but it worked out really nice to have it after the Fourth and was nice to get to rest and not worry about working *and* getting up at the crack of down. Thursday night, however, was a different story. As I was laying in bed, reading and preparing to sleep, the rythmic screeching of a fire alarm dashed that plan against the rocks. I rolled out of bed, in my boxers, colliding (in what I imagine was a rather slapstick display) with the fan that I had mounted on my chair. I rushed to pull on pajama pants and a t-shirt as I half-walked half-fell down the stairs to the outside. As soon as we were outside, the sky promptly decided to open up upon us. While this normally would not have been that bad, the greater portion of us were in sleepwear, packed like sardines under the less-than-full coverage of the front awning, constantly pushing against and into one another trying to avoid the rain. Also, because of the timing of the alarm, the front door locked behind us and our Housemaster had to call Campus Public Safety to open it for us.
Friday night Sam, her mother, and her sister Sydney, all came down to Princeton to look around and visit me. I had a really good time with them. We walked around both sides of Main Street, looking at some of the buildings and shops, etc. That family is so generous :) I just want to thank them again for the great evening, and their company and generosity. It was great to see them. Later that night the whole dorm got together to watch Fight Club. I was my first time seeing the movie, and I'm not sure what I think of it yet. I didn't like the forced "romance", but the production values were high, so I've got to think about it more...
Until next time, be safe, drop a line, and I hope everyone is having a great time!
Maybe next time I'll post something about the program...
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