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...