Haiku

I love Kerouac!
The Dharma Bums is lovely,
What shall I read next?

Potting Soil strikes Again

And now, even as my first plants start to die due to lack of sunlight and transplant stress in my backyard, I have two new babies: a small basil and a small tomato plant. I wanted to grow plants again, but instead of beans, I wanted something bigger. Hence the tomato. And the basil, well, let's just say it smells amazing and I can take it with me come August. They're small now, but I have a feeling they'll grow as the summer gets on.

And what a summer! Today was gorgeous; I sat outside and read Fight Club in the sunlight from lunch until dinner time. It's part of my summer reading list, because where DS was lies a ravenous reader.... we shall see how far into my 15 book list I shall get. As of now, one down, 14 to go.

It's going to be a nice, albeit quiet, summer.

Deja Vu all Over Again

After three days of speaking nonstop to sundry family, regaling them with tales of my exploits at school, I can take a breath and let my vocal chords recover from the ordeal they just encountered. I am not a talkative person, normally, so now I sound like Carol Channing.

It's weird, being at home. Everything is as it was, when I left, almost too still. My room is still stuck in the heat of summer 2008, lacking the chaos of life and just the stillness of something not touched for a long time. I haven't sought out friends yet, been too busy decompartmentalizing my life and realizing I have far too much stuff.

I went to my local pizza place, today, and they still recognized me. They're nice there, and make a delicious stromboli. It was funny, they asked me when I was heading back. Somehow I think that date won't come fast enough....but for now, it is nice to let my brain relax.

I shall start finding a job soon, and I haven't found my old friends yet. My life is on pause until next week.

Haiku

Dead Week nears its end
Do I have to pack so soon?
I don't want to leave.

An Ode to the Roof

I have been in many high places lately. Up East Rock, the top of Bingham (or the 6th floor, more accurately), and now, the roofs of SSS and Becton. And why, do you ask, was I up there? Filming for the YPMB freshman sketch! Some photos:

I have lost three oxen.

The other day I walked with a small group to East Rock, a park a few miles away from campus. It's a pleasant enough walk on a sunny day, with older houses and flowering trees to help you on your way. Once we got to the forest, though, there was a slight issue as our leader couldn't remember how to get up. So after a series of "short cuts," which were actually a series of woodland paths long overgrown, we found what I would like to affectionately call The Stairs of Death. So, intrepid adventurers that we were, we climbed them....and climbed them....and climbed them. When I was having mild hallucinations from fatigue, we finally made it, and it was astoundingly beautiful. We could see for miles and miles. There's also a monument up there:



We sat for a while on the grass, eating lunch, before heading back down, taking a different path that distinctly reminded me of the Oregon Trail, that bastion of my childhood computing. We were a wagon train, bravely trying to get back to civilization, and hoping to have new casualties.

It took us four hours all told, getting there and back. It was supposed to take 2. I love adventures.

Ramen, Katamari, Frisbee, Bro Code

They were poised across the balcony, connected by a series of belts and tape, tied together, using all their dexterity to hit the helicopter stuck on the chandelier. One was standing on a railing, and the other was nearly fully extended. A jiggle and a swing, and success, as the helicopter fell to the waiting hands of the guy waiting below.

All this after a game of badminton, some Ramen, and copious amounts of How I Met Your Mother, a surprisingly brilliant show that I realize I should watch more often. And this is an average day during Dead Week.

But then again, when do I ever watch TV? At the risk of sounding like a pretentious academic (even though I kind of am one), I don't really watch TV. This is not, however, because I find it distasteful-- I find 24 as kickass as the next person-- but because I don't have the time. And yet now, when we, the band at large, have nothing else to do, much TV is watched and caught up on.

Dead Week is a beautiful thing.

In which my summer begins...

...by staying here a bit longer. Thus begins Dead Week, in which the band stays in a single entryway and joyousness ensues. I am on the sixth floor now, with elevator access. This is a beautiful room.

My muscles are voicing their protestations at my overuse of them today, carting stuff from one end of campus to another, being much stronger than I really can be. Tomorrow will be a good day.

Also, a haiku:

Finals are over.

I can read things for fun now.

Oh what shall I do?

More updates to follow once I actually have time.

1000 Blank White Cards

I played that game for the first time ever yesterday, and hilarity ensued.  It is a game in which the players make the cards, and they determine the rules.  Theoretically there is a point system, but mostly it's the cards.  It's like a self-inflicted game of Mao.  

The perfect antidote to studying for more hours than I care to think about.  

Also, having a card depicting a milkshake saying that this card is better than yours is genius.  

Posts will resume regularity after finals.