Monday, September 29, 2003
*edit* I am putting in an edit. It's at the bottom. *end top edit*
There are people in my room right now... friends of the roommate. Usually this is more annoying than anything else, but one of them is from Needham! He's got a Red Sox hat and a Patriots shirt on. I'm wearing my vastly lurid Red Sox jersey today. And I just put up the sports signs on my door, among which are the Patriots and Red Sox. Mon dieu. What massively glorious coincidence. He got really excited about the Red Sox. Nice kid, too. His name is John.
I should be studying for chem right now but I'm not, because I studied for it pretty much all of Sunday and most of this morning/early afternoon. I should be working on my manifesto right now but I'm not, because it's not working at all in a depressing way. The clay is not standing up. I'm trying to make it dry in the proper position but it's not going to work. To make it dry properly I have it taped in coils to the legs of my chair. It's hideous. I'm sitting on my loft right now so that I don't have to look at it.
Today I got chocolate from Switzerland! And glow-in-the-dark cats that I can stick on my walls and/or ceiling! Also from Switzerland! Thank you so much Aunt Roni and Christian!
All the squirrels are hoarding right now. The weather, it is a-turnin'. They're awesome. They run around with acorns in their mouths looking for places to stash them. I could sit out and watch them for hours, except that it's a little cold out now. In a very good way, especially after all that ungodly heat, but I need gloves in this here weather.
they actually do have red in their fur. i think of them as rufous squirrels.
I love it when you meet people on the bus. On the way up to North Campus today I sat down on the bus next to this kid. He asked me what my name was, and we ended up talking for the entire ride. His name is Vance, and he's a senior (!) in the school of sociology. I was somewhat shocked that a senior would gladly talk with a freshman for an entire bus ride, especially a cute senior. Anywho. Now I know more people.
We had lunch with the engaged freshman from Oklahoma again today. Hadn't seen her in a while. Insanity. If I'm sitting in my room when Pam or Sarah go by, they always drag me out to eat with them. Happened again for dinner today, only this time we had managed to gather a huge group of people. We descended on the poor dining hall folks at Stockwell like a cloud of loudly chattering locusts. Tonight was fajita night, so I had a vegetable fajita which was actually pretty good.
Jared came in now, and he brought his video camera. So he's filming everyone. He pointed it up in my direction and said, "Hey *insert name here*", so I said, "Greetings, Jared." For some reason both Jared and John were immensely amused by this. I know not the reason.
Can't frelling wait to go back to Swampscott. I need CATS!
*edit*
About this close from having a breakdown of the stressed-out variety... I have a chemistry test tomorrow, and I have my stupid manifesto due and it's! not! working! And I don't! have! time! If it hadn't been Rosh Hashana this weekend.... ggggGGRRRRRR. Things should not be assigned over major holiday weekends.
Also just wanted to say that our GSI was away today, so we had a GSI sub. And this one was quite aesthetically pleasing. That is to say, he was wicked hot. I actually stayed awake in discussion this time.
Going to go scream for a bit or somesuchathing.
*end edit*
7:10 PM
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Today I took out a shirt I hadn't worn yet and it had cat hair on it.
It made me sad.
Today I was also a dork and drew the logos of my favorite teams in full, lurid color and stuck them on my door. Lions, Dolphins, Patroits, and Red Sox. Thusly engendering confusion in the hall. Confusing people is the spice of my life.
I need to remember to get fast-drying glue tomorrow after chemistry. So that I can work on my manifesto and maybe finish it before it's due. That being Wednesday. No. Not going to get it done. I should resign myself to it now and get used to the idea. And let us not forget the chemistry test on Tuesday. Should be a good do, that.
Twoooo weeks until I go home. Two weeks. Sigh. Can't wait two weeks, especially not two weeks filled with things I am going to fail or not get done. Need to be home, with cats, and own room, and see Kill Bill. Corey rightly said that, in the anticipation of the event, it's becoming some sick sort of religious experience for us. We are dorks. We need to get lives.
Or we could revel in our dorkfulness.
Someone in the hall just shouted: "YOUR MERE PRESENCE JUST BROKE OFF THE DOORKNOB."
I have no idea what that's all about. These sorts of things just happen.
Should go sleep. I have morning classes and I'm out of Luna/Powerbar-like things. Meaning I am doomed to sleep through my lecture. And probably the subsequent discussion as well.
Curses.
11:43 PM
Saturday, September 27, 2003
Listening to the Dandy Warhols makes me happy.
Finding new CDs which I want to purchase also makes me happy. I laboriously tracked down some of the music stores on campus (i.e. I asked Thomas. There's an accent on that name but I ain't on my Mac, so I haven't a clue how to make accents). Anywho. Found some CDs I want to buy, made myself a handy little list, need to go see if these places actually have this music. Sigh. I know that, no matter what, they're not going to hold a candle to Newbury Comics, but I can hope they're at least half-decent.
The reason I'm not on my Mac right now is that I'm in Southfield at my Bubbie's house. And therefore on her non-Mac computer. It's rather strange to see a curved screen after getting so used to the flatscreen. Everything looks distorted. And the keyboard seems unnaturally raised.
Er. Yes. I'm here because it's Rosh Hashana (that being New Years for all you goyim out there). I went to temple today. Interesting experience. The service was a bit longer than what I'm used to, but it wasn't too bad. The cantor... oy. Hmm. I suppose I had sort of taken Cantor Aaronson back home for granted... that man can sing like you wouldn't believe. I don't know if he could sing, say, N'Sync or Limp Bizkit, but he can sing the prayers and such very well.
This cantor, I was told, is a very, very nice man. And I'm certain that he is. That said, the man could not sing to save his life. His voice was sort of warble-y and unfortunately pitched. Agonising to listen to, really.
So, everyone back home who goes to my temple (that being my family and Jess) should go up to Cantor Aaronson and shake his hand and tell him that they are very, very, very lucky to have him.
There was also a choir, which I am very not used to. They were OK, but that's not the point. I'm just not used to hearing a choir in a synagogue. The rest of the service was pretty uneventful.
We had our big Rosh Hashana dinner last night. It was a pretty good time. The food was glorious and abundant, and seemed even more ambrosial (if that's possible) because of the vast quantities of faux-food I'd been eating on campus. It was a pretty good crowd... me, my Bubbie, my uncle Chuck presiding, my uncle Al, aunt Suzi, and cousins Sam and Joe... and some friends of my Bubbie, including one guy who's an interior designer and went to Pratt. He was quite fun to talk to.
That said, of course I terribly missed the Newton crew. They called after dinner, and I could hear them all screaming and laughing and such. They all sang 'Hail to the Victors' very loudly into the phone. The dinner conversations on my end were rather interesting and very pleasant, but nothing compares to the annual 'Who's gay?' discussions in Newton. Twice annually, actually, with Rosh Hashana and Passover.
So yes, good times out here, but I do rather miss the Massachusetts Rosh Hashana scene.
Even so, it's almost obscenely nice to sleep in a big, non-lofted bed, in a room by myself, with my own bathroom, and no one screaming through the halls at 3 am. Or coming in at 3 am with guests. Or coming in at 3 am and turning on the TV. And real food. Real food is good.
I missed the Indiana game, but Caroline emailed me to let me know how it was, and it seems I wasn't missing too much. A lot of people are home this weekend, either because of Rosh Hashana or just for the heck of it, and I guess the crowd was pretty sedate. Plus there were rather a lot of unfortunate Michigan turnovers early on. But we won anyways, 31-17 I think, and that's the main thing.
That is all. I should probably go to bed if I want to wake up at a reasonable hour on the morrow. Yes. Delicious, uninterrupted, solitary slumber.
10:45 PM
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Today we got a little paper listing all of the campus art shows that we, as undergraduate art students, are allowed to submit work to. The names of the shows are not quite so glorious as, perhaps, they could be. We have Up Against the Wall, Off the Wall, and Imagine That.
We also have a show called See Me, Hear Me, Touch Me. There's something inherently disturbing in that name, but we're trying to ignore it.
I would like you to say hello to Mortimer.
he is actually a composite being, but we refer to him in the singular
Yes, having far too much fun with birthday presents. Thanks again, dear Mother.
I've been doing a catload of drawing lately, when I should be doing homework, so I've been using my markers quite a bit. How happy I was to discover that Michigan Book and Supply (one of the bigger bookstores here) carries Prismacolors. Ulrich's (their sister store) carries Trias, which are supposed to be super nice and even better than Prismacolors, but they are also a good deal more expensive than Prismacolors, so I'll just work with what I have, thank you very much.
Had lots and lots of class today. I've decided that I'm entirely bored with perspective drawing, and the rest of my class agrees with me. And the art lecture was as deadly dull as it ever is. The teacher went on and on about Albrecht Dürer for half the class. She gave us a break at one point because she had noticed that a large number of people had gone to sleep. I, alas, was amongst the slumberous ranks.
Here you may view the works of my drawing teacher, if you so desire. Some of them bring forth thoughts of a sort of spastic Chagall, but some are more cleanly geometric. He showed us a ton of his stuff in class, I'm not sure why they put only this stuff on the website, because some of what he showed us in class was seemingly better. Ah well. I have yet to acquire wisdom.
Oh holy freaking cats of rage! I just checked the site again, and I can't see the archives anymore! *sniffles to hold back tears* Their time among us was doomed to be short. I knew it was too good to be true.
A lovely little example of how fate adores me. I mentioned in previous blogs how annoying it is trying to get from North Campus to Central Campus in time to get to the guest artist lectures. Well, this Thursday, the class we have right before the lecture is taking a fieldtrip and meeting on Central Campus. So, of course, the lecture series has to make an exception that day and be held on North Campus. My class is tearing our collective hair out over this.
Err.... yup. Nothing else doing today. Had dinner in Stockwell (dorm next door) with some folks from there whom I know through classes. Delicious salady goodness. I don't understand those people who say that you eat so unhealthily once you get to college. I haven't eaten this much salad in my entire life. Every weekday, at least one meal a day is a salad. Sometimes two a day. And if I don't have a salad as my main meal, I almost always have a little side salad. My greenery intake has gone up about 500% since coming to college.
Maybe the bad eating starts when you get an apartment. Ah well. Things to look forward to.
8:10 PM
Sunday, September 21, 2003
An interesting weekend.
Friday night was fine, romped about the quad with Brian from the third floor. We made a scene. People were scandalized by our running around and hooting and generally disrespecting all the lovely little couples trying to get their drunken freak on. Good times. And as a side note, he's never just 'Brian', it's always got 'from the third floor' tacked on. No reason, just the incontrovertible way of things.
Saturday I did shopping, because I needed to. There are no good sweatpants on this campus. I'm hoping that they're just not in yet. I got glorious Starbucks drinkage. The iced caramel macchiato is the pinnacle of beverage perfection. It's a great Starbucks, too. Two stories. Huge place. Chock full o'folks. I need to go in there one day with lots of free time and a sketchbook and have myself a merry little doodling time.
Every nice day, the quad is filled with people. People lying around reading or doing homework, people basking around giving themselves skin cancer, people playing guitar, people communing with the numerous red squirrels (very different critters from the gray ones back home), people playing frisbee or football, people trying to get touchy-feely with other people in the loverly setting, etc.
There is also usually a large juggling troupe.
They have one large patch of grass staked out, and on weekends where the weather is nice, there they are. There's a large group of people standing there, juggling balls and clubs and the like. I saw one guy doing so on a unicycle. They have the air of a group of jugglers who are out practicing, so I don't know, maybe they're a university club or something. If so, much coolness. Anywho, they're fun to watch.
Michigan was at Oregon this Saturday, so I had to watch it on TV. They lost 31-27. Exceedingly depressing. Oregon is Joey Harrington's alma mater, so today before the Lions game they got a shot of him looking all happy and making an O with his hands. Sigh. We love him anyways.
Then I mooched around that night for a while with some bored people from my hall. Got in around 3 am or so, bad things happened, had a minor nervous breakdown which involved sobbing in the bathroom and spending the rest of the night drawing depressing pictures in the lounge until the sun came up. Came back to the room around 8 am and fell asleep.
Yes. A hellish night. Not in the mood to explain the reasons on the blog.
Then I awoke and watched the Lions game. They lost. Sigh. It wasn't a bad game, though. Frelling Vikings. Joey Harrington jammed a finger but then came back in. Eddie Drummond had to be taken off the field in one of those wheely stretcher things. Very bad. He's essential, he had better not be badly hurt.
And then homework. Lots and lots of homework. There's a very cool 'homework lounge' down on my floor, where I went to do my drawing homework because there was more room to spread out my setup then I have on my dormroom floor. Alas for tiny rooms.
Did you see Weebl's badger animation? Did you love it? If so, you are now one with the rest of the Interweb. This thing has taken off into the lands of famousness with the ridiculous celerity that only the internet can give. The words 'instant cult classic' come to mind.
Well, he's got a new one. It's called Scampi, although it has nothing to do with scampi. A mystery. But it's random, exceedingly random and strange. And the song has been stuck in my head for two days now. Go see.
Oh! Good news! There's a four day weekend here in October, so I'm coming home! I get home Friday Oct. 10, and I leave on that Tuesday. So everyone must be in Swampscott that weekend. And we must see Kill Bill, and hopefully other movies as well, because I'm movie-deprived out here. Lack o'time, and all that jazz. But be around that weekend, so that I may bask in your soothing, Swampscottish/Nahantian company.
That is all. I shall try to go to sleep and hopefully negate the lack of good sleep I had yesterday/this morning. Sigh. Some things (people) are utter evil.
11:34 PM
Thursday, September 18, 2003
If I was not so utterly exhausted from today's energy-sapping activities, I would be dancing in the hall right now.
I checked my blog, as is my habit, just to reassure myself that the code hadn't imploded or anysuchthing. What do I see there on the page?
ARCHIVES.
Yes, you heard right! Archives! There's a big-ish gap in late 2002-early 2003 that's missing, but finally you have backblogs! From 2002! Well, it's something. I have no idea what finally went right, I certainly didn't do anything different. I'm almost afraid that if I post they'll disappear again.
I read a few of them. Man, some of those old blogs were just pitifully written. Of course, so are some of these news ones, but there were pitifully written in an unsightly, outdated style. I hadn't realized that my writing style had changed at all, but the evidence is there.
Ah, archives. Returning to me at last. How I adore thee, Archives.
Hum, nothing much happened today. In Drawing class we had the most boring and pointless lesson ever on perspective. We drew boxes the whole time. As we had been drawing from live models for two classes previous, the majority of the class tended to view it as some sort of forced regression. It was the first time I nearly fell asleep in Drawing. Vurry depressing, that.
Then we had that guest artist lecture series thing. So I got off of the bus, ran to my dorm, dropped off my giant portfolio, dashed back out of the room and ran all the way down to the Michigan Theater, that being where this particular lecture series is. Gorgeous building, everything inside is moulding and gilded and just lovely. I could sit in there and draw various bits of interior architecture for hours. But it's a good sight away from my dorm, so it's not exactly fun running there.
The lecturer was a woman named Lita Albuquerque. She made both 'public art' (i.e. sculptures in libraries and city buildings and the like) and 'ephemeral art' (i.e. big sand drawings and the like which wouldn't last more than a day or two). Some of it was pretty cool, but I can't say that I found her explanations entirely... right.
Hm. Well. Let's just say that, upon hearing her speak, one immediately wonders whether she had done LSD at any time in her past, and if that maybe wasn't influencing her work even today. She was far too New Age-y for my tastes.
The explanation of where she got the idea for one of her pieces: "I was meditating out in the Egyptian desert. I suddenly had a vision of a giant honeybee encircling the world. Then I knew that I would make a giant honeycomb in the sand in front of the pyramids."
Now, I don't know about everyone else in the artistic world, but speaking for me, personally... I've had my fair share of artistic inspiration, and it has just never come in the form of a giant, compelling vision of some brobdignagian apian being. Which tends to make me just the least bit wary of her.
here is one of her pieces. yes, it's a rock. covered with blue pigment. yup, that's it. i'm being unfair, it's one of her less-impressive ones, but still.
So after a long day of classes, and running around to get to said classes, I wearily trekked on back to the dorm. Upon arrival, my mood was somewhat improved by the fact that I had two packages awaiting me. Foodstuffs from my mother (heavily appreciated, since it's just that much less shopping I have to do) and a mildly belated birthday present from the Pranskys (also much appreciated, since it makes me happy at the end of a long and grueling day).
Yes, so more microwave macaroni was got from home. Joy. I go through that stuff pretty quickly. Yesterday I had lunch at Stockwell with half my hall, and I had dinner in my dorm... today I had lunch in Mojo with Pam and Shelby, but the time dinner rolled around I was so zonked that I didn't want to go out anywhere, and dear Mosher Jordan had already closed the dining hall. It's also good to have room food when the dorm dining hall isn't open but I haven't really got any time to go elsewhere.
The other day I had gotten giftness from Jess herself... a Tufts Nalgene waterbottle thing, which is sheer awesomeness. Everyone here has Nalgene bottles, but I think that I can say, with confidence, that no one has a Tufts one. I gleefully anticipate the possibilities for confusing people. And she gave me this awesome picture of Leslie, me, and herself, from our New York excursion. 'Tis prominently displayed on my desk, of course. Vurry fine photo, I shine with glee and a mite less homesickness when I see it.
No home game this weekend, so I can do lots of shopping-type things on Saturday. I will probably spend a good deal of time at Starbucks, since there is a large one right near where I plan to be. Sunday, of course, is given over to watching the Lions game and doing homework.
I'm listening to the Sheila Divine CD (the newest one). I hadn't listened to it in a while, and I'm rediscovering it's goodness all over again. That's always good times, when you don't listen to a CD for quite some time, then suddenly you do and it's as though it's a great new CD again.
People are making a ruckus in my hall, I think I shall go see what that is all about. Good times await me.
9:46 PM
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Greetings all.
Today I would just like to note that I have managed to have three consecutive meals in the dorm dining hall. Lunch and dinner yesterday, and lunch today. Alas, I shall break my streak, since I won't return to my dorm until after the dining hall has closed tonight, but still! Three in a row! That's a lot! I'm becoming all manage-ful of my time and such.
I just had lunch with Liz, a junior who lives down the hall from me, and Brian, also a junior, who lives somewhere in Mojo but not on my hall. He has a very badly broken leg. It was very pleasant. We spoke about the pros and cons of roommates (Liz has a single, Brian has a triple), and also about the unpleasantness of those certain persons who get too far into the frat/sorority mentality.
The Michigan 'Greek Life' slogan is "Letters Today.... Leaders Tomorrow." Yesterday I saw a kid wearing a tshirt that said "Fifths Today... Liters Tomorrow. Fuck Frats." I almost choked on my own laughter when I saw it. Yes, these things amuse me.
Yesterday in my Human Being class we had 10 minute meetings with the teacher to discuss our manifestos (don't ask). Which is all well and good. Except that the class is 3 hours long, and she took longer than 10 minutes with each person, but it still left everyone with the better part of 3 hours free. But we were not allowed to go home. So we sat around in the classroom chatting and being angry. I spent almost the entire time talking to Shlomo, Paul, Joe, and José Thomàs, so that was fun, but still. It would've been better if I had been back at the dorm, doing, say, laundry.
There is currently a loud phone conversation in my room pertaining to the fact that we don't have all the channels on our TV. Personally I could exist quite merrily without excessive TV (all I've used it for thus far is to watch the Lions games on Sundays), but alas, my opinion is not shared in this room. Not much of a TV person, me.
Yes, this was a boring blog, wasn't it? I'm sorry, I haven't anything more interesting to say, but I felt like blogging. To compensate, here's a critter for you.
'tis a pygmy marmoset. he's wee titchy small.
12:26 PM
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Not much to say about today... I watched the Lions lose (badly) to the Packers, I heard about the Dolphins winning, and I did homework. Lots and lots of homework.
I also discovered that I have the wrong calculator for my chemistry quiz tomorrow, but all the bookstores were already closed when I discovered it, so that I am powerless to rectify the situation. Blast and tarnation and all that.
I would also like to mention the fire drill that we had. Last night. At 3:30 in the morning. Three. Thirty. A. M. Fire alarm goes off. It's loud, it's piercing, and I was very, very tired. And angry. Had to go stand outside in my pajamas with a whole crowd of grumblingly mutinous Mojo residents.
And of course there's the joyful fact that I can't get down off of my loft very easily even under the best circumstances (i.e. bright light, alert mental state, clean glasses). At 3:30 am, when I'm tired, and groggy, and the room is dark, and there's a loud jarring noise filling my head, and my muscles are still lax from sleep, getting down that alleged 'ladder' is damn near impossible.
I say 'near impossible' because I did get it down it. I got down it by essentially hurling myself off of it, and scraping up my ankle, knee, and elbow all down my right side. And sort of falling back against the radiator and thanking my lucky cats it wasn't on. Ouch and unfun.
Jen just came into my room to ask about the spelling of 'dichotomy', and I asked her if she knew what had caused the glorious fire alarm to go off last night. Apparently, some idiot was making popcorn at 3:30 in the morning and burnt it. If I knew who it was, I would go corner them in their room and lynch them. And I know several in this dorm who would aid me.
Going to go empty my trash can, and then perhaps contemplate sleep. Or something approximating sleep, anyways. Huzzah for morning classes.
9:56 PM
Saturday, September 13, 2003
38-0
That, mes amis, was the score at today's Michigan v. Notre Dame football game. With Michigan, of course, being the winning team.
I was informed that it's the first time Michigan has blown out Notre Dame since 1902. It's also the largest margin of victory and the most points scored by either team in the entire Michigan/Notre Dame history.
And I think it's worth mentioning that the attendance at this game, 111,726, set an all-time NCAA single-game attendance record. And yes, it really did seem like that many people.
Of course this is a huge rivalry, so while the two previous games were awesome and glorious and such, and everyone got into it, this was above and beyond. Everyone was in either Michigan or Notre Dame attire, and if they were in Notre Dame attire they were being harassed. During the game, everyone was chanting and screaming. It was really beyond impressive.
On the walk down to the stadium, as I've said before, you have to walk past all the frats. Usually they're in fine form, but today they were even better. The game was later in the day, so people were even more thoroughly drunk than they generally are. Whenever someone in one of the frats spotted a Notre Dame fan, they would shout, "Green! Green! We've got Green coming!" At which all the other members of the frat would rush to the sidewalk and douse the unfortunate fan in beer, or whatever else they had handy. The Notre Dame fans were all wearing green, in case you didn't know.
A little further down, we came to a frat which had a kid lying on his back on the sidewalk in front, with no pants on. He was waving his legs in the air and shouting. His friends were all standing around, laughing at him and yelling to passerby, "It's OK, it's OK, he's Korean." When we got a little closer, we could hear what the kid was shouting. He was squealing, over and over again, "North Korea! North Korea! Kim Jong Il! Kim Jong Il!" It was bizarre, to say the least. Why it would be OK because he was Korean, no one could figure out.
Every so often, while we were walking down (and when I say 'we', I mean pretty much the entire school... you just have vast throngs of people, all moving down to the stadium), someone would start a chant going. The chant, usually, was, "Fuck - the - I - rish!" clap clap clapclapclap. You know the rhythm I mean. Anyways, a whole slew of people would start chanting 'Fuck the Irish'. Eventually it would peter out... after it did, some more enterprising member of the crowd would usually shout a particularly eloquent phrase of his or her own choosing. Such as, "Fuck the Irish! And their fucking pedophile priests!" Which would get a cheer out of everyone, Catholic or not, because this is Michigan, and personal religion takes a backseat to taunting Notre Dame.
During the actual game, the chants were more varied. 'Fuck the Irish' was prevalent, but there were a number of others, especially later in the game, when we were decidedly winning. There was "O - ver - ra - ted!", and also "Hous - ton's - bet - ter!" (since we had played Houston last week... and they, at least, managed to get one score off of us). There were also a few rounds of "Su - gar - bowl!" from excited hopefuls in the crowd. And of course there were all the old standbys, such as the "Go Blue!" chant, which is controlled by people in the crowd with cowbells, and the rousing renditions of "Hail to the Victors", which is now stuck in my head and probably will be all night.
People also had signs at the game... some were innocuous, saying "Go Blue!" or "Maize and Blue forever!" or something along those lines. Some were more personally tailored for Notre Dame. I saw one which read "Touchdown Jesus Touched Me". At their home games, Notre Dame has a giant Touchdown Jesus sort of statue thing. Anyways, I thought it was a funny sign. After they were well on their way to losing, a number of overjoyed Michigan fans broke out signs which read "Jesus Hates You".
Someone had managed to either purchase or make a giant, inflatable penis. I have no idea how they got it into the stadium... they must have had to blow it up once inside, because I'm willing to bet something like that would not be allowed in. But I don't know how they would have inflated it without a pump. Because this thing was huge. Maybe six feet long. Emblazoned on it, in giant black letters, were the words "Notre Dame sucks!" You know how people toss around beach balls at football games, up and down rows in the stadium? That's what was done with this vast phallus.
Eventually someone from stadium security managed to catch and confiscate it, but not before it had rocketed around the entire student section for at least a quarter.
Yes, on the whole, a most glorious game. We couldn't have asked for anything better. Even the weather held, and because the game was late in the day, my side of the stadium actually had blessed shade for the entire second half. So it wasn't too hot.
this is john navarre. he is our quarterback. michigan gives him love.
After the game the jubilant masses thronged out of the stadium and made their excited, drunken way back to Central Campus. To get more drunk. Caroline (football buddy) and I went to the Union and had dinner, along with everyone else on campus who wasn't getting drunk just then. It was rather crowded, but we found some people to sit with, so it was good. First hot food that wasn't instant macaroni I'd had this week.
Then I came back to the dorm, and it was around 9 or so. I drank tons of water, since my throat is terribly hoarse from all that screaming. Yup. And now I'm blogging, and listening to the Catherine Wheel, since that is good music, mes amis, it is.
Tomorrow I have tons of art homework to do, although I'm actually ahead in my chem homework, if you can believe it. And hopefully I'll be able to watch the Lions game at 1.
Ha HA! Thirty-eight to zero! Suck on that, Notre Dame!
*edit* Here is a link which has been passed about the Internet a bit. Wouldn't want you folks to miss out. It's rabbits, I think, although it's sort of hard to tell. But! They look like Tribbles! I squeal in joy. As a side note, who the hell would want one of those things? The rabbits, I mean, not Tribbles. Everyone wants Tribbles. *end edit*
9:56 PM
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Today was another fascinatingly learning-ful day.
I had chem lecture this morning. I dozed during the first half of it, despite my best efforts to remain wakeful. I was awakened, however, when the professor suddenly announced, "This is boring. We will do little experiment!"
There was a middlingly large balloon in the corner of the room, which everyone had ignored. Prof. Yaghi now had his assistant light the end of a long pole on fire. The assistant approached the balloon, while our worthy professor prudently retreated to the lecture hall stairs. The fiery tip of the pole neared the balloon.
A guy sitting in the row in front of me said to his neighbor, "This'll be good, I've never seen Hydrogen explode before."
Hydrogen?!?
The balloon exploded outward with such force that an actual shockwave shot through the room. We were momentarily blasted backwards into our seats by the wave of rushing air. The noise was incredible. It was the loudest damn thing I've ever heard in an enclosed space. I'm sure the yelling at a Michigan game is louder, but that's in an open area. This was ear-rending.
wha-RHOOOM! doesn't even begin to describe it.
As soon as everyone had uncovered their ears and risen back up into a proper sitting position, he went back to his desk and started the lecture again.
At one point during the lecture Prof. Yaghi displayed a slide that showed the space-filling molecular model of the Teflon monomer. I forget what point he was explaining to us, something to do with Flourine and nonstick properties, I think. He suddenly stopped, stepped back, and craned his head up to look at the projected molecule.
"The Teflon molecule... it looks like a headless baby, does it not?"
The class, already unnerved by the concussive blast recently suffered, broke out into nearly hysterical laughter at this.
The weird thing is, when you look at it, it does sort of look like a headless baby.
yeah, it's fuzzy. sorry, couldn't do any better. the gray is carbon, the green is flourine.
As a subject, I thoroughly dislike chemistry. And the class can be pretty damn boring at times. But every so often the professor will do something insane. Thusly, I have a certain appreciation for him.
Also, he says 'cumulative' as 'cue-MILL-uh-tiv', which is fun.
Not much else doing today... Human Being was pretty uneventful. We had to critique one another's 'manifestos', but the damn things are such rough drafts that it was impossible to critique any of them. Foolishness. The teacher seems to like me, she made me a group leader today. No idea why. Some teachers have odd tastes.
The kids who are in both my Drawing and Human Being classes: Shlomo, Joe, Alix, and José Thomàs. Luckily, I like all of them. All cool kids. I'm also starting to get to know the kids who are in just one or the other class. Today I conversed with Heather, who's living in Stockwell (next door to me), and Lauren, who smokes clove cigarettes (which smell very good).
I'm blasting Bis right now. People are a little confused, but they'll live. The girl down the hall was blasting gospel music (and singing along to it) earlier. I am amused at the fact that gospel music and pseudo-techno can cause equal amounts of confusion.
I got cornered by GreenPeace today on my way to the market. The woman harangued me about whales and Bush and solar energy. I got away by saying that I was a poor student who couldn't afford to give them any money. They also said that they let me go because they liked my hair (blue streak) and my shirt (Harvard: the Michigan of the East).
I did manage to avoid the Crazed Christians, though. They staked themselves out at either end of the bridge from the Hill to Central Campus, and tried to give out little copies of the New Testament to everyone who went by. Most everyone ignored them with an intensity born of extreme irritation, or, in a few cases, affront. I actually saw one Jewish girl flounce by them with her nose in the air. I always thought that was just a figure of speech, I hadn't ever seen anyone actually do it. It was fascinating.
New Weebl and Bob, for those of you who look at all the new Weebl and Bobs and are, therefore, cool. I am the Monkey, I can go Anywhere. Yes, it bears watching.
I hope I don't have any Drawing homework due tomorrow. Perhaps I should check the syllabus, because if I do, I shall have to do it right now.
Oh, but before I go. A transcript of the note my roommate left me on our door whiteboard today:
Sam-daddy,
went upstairs 4 a little, come up 2 play if u want otherwise I'll see you later
-B
Now picture it in red ink. I kid you not. I don't think I could make that up if I tried.
I mean... Sam-daddy?!?!?
9:27 PM
Monday, September 08, 2003
It's that time again! Time for me to blog! I just know that you are shaking with barely suppressed excitement.
Guess what today was? Hmm? You cannot guess? You do not know?? Then you do not deserve to be told. Tsk.
My mother sent me a little plant arrangement today. It's got cacti and succulents. I put it in the window, where hopefully it will get lots of sun. I like having living things in the dorm room. Yes, it's not a cat, and it isn't my bamboo from home, but it's something.
I think I should name all the various cacti. I'm open to name suggestions.
She also sent me one of those tins o' goodies from the Popcorn Factory. It is filled to the brim with snacking delights. But now my room has a glut of cookies, because this tin came with cookies, and my Bubbie gave me cookies yesterday, and Brynn got two tins full of cookies from home today. And I think we have Oreos in the fridge. So if you're in the area and you desire cookies, you know where to go.
I went out to dinner with my Bubbie yesterday. It was very nice. We went to a fancy Italian restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor. And she brought me cookies and bottles of Vernor's for the dorm. For all those in New England, Vernor's is sort of like ginger ale, but not really. It's an acquired taste. I'll try to bring some back for December break so that you may all experience it.
Tonight Pam and Shelby took me out to dinner, which was uncommonly nice of them, especially since I hadn't even mentioned what today is. Which you ought to know. Anywho. There's a board thing for our hall, but I didn't think that anyone actually looked at it.
We had dinner at this neat little restaurant/café thing. They have couches and good music, and they serve pizzas and sandwiches and salads and such. Oh, and some very nice coffee drinks. It was a delectable dinner.
Then I came back to the dorm to do homework. Hurray for homework.
Ah, I know I kept on saying that I'd get a picture of my dorm for you all to see. Well, I have done it. Let no one say that I am not as good as my word. It's not a particularly good picture, but it ought to give you the general idea of Mosher Jordan.
that there is mosher jordan. otherwise known as my dorm.
Someone... I think it was Jess, said that they somehow had pictured a Michigan dorm as not looking like that. People tend to expect these big, modern structures, or these giant utilitarian highrises. But nope, that there is my dorm. And Stockwell, next door, looks even more Tudor. There are a lot of really neat buildings on campus that, if you don't know the area, you might be surprised to see at a school like UMich. Perchance I shall take pictures of them at some point, to wow and amaze you.
If you would like to see an inexplicable animation involving badgers (and someone saying 'badger badger badger' over and over again in a tuneful manner), perhaps you ought to check out Weebl's Badgers. Yes. Strange, yet compelling.
Not much else that needs saying. This, then, shall be a short blog. A rarity these days. Enjoy it while you can.
9:56 PM
Saturday, September 06, 2003
*I wrote this yesterday, but Blogger was having fits and didn't let me post it. So I wrote it and emailed it to myself and now I am posting it today. News from today near the bottom of this entry.*
Massive goshdarnit! Blogger is not letting me blog! I sign in OK, and then I click on the link to let me post to my blog, and it gives me a vast page of error coding. I have no idea what any of it means, except that I can't blog. I certainly hope it's not long-lasting.
And although I probably should be trying to sleep so that I can get up for the game tomorrow, I feel like writing, and so I shall.
My chemistry professor (Professor Yaghi) is a strange fellow. He is amusing without being overbearingly so. I like him thus far, although of course it's early in the semester, and I shall undoubtedly develop a strong dislike for him once we get into material which I do not understand.
Anyways. He is funny. Today he was trying to explain the difference between 'accuracy' and 'precision'.
"The best way I can tell you what the difference is is by showing you example. Imagine that there are little targets there, and I am throwing at them... those little arrow things? You know?"
"DARTS!" the entire class bellows, and then starts laughing.
"Yes, yes, darts... I am throwing them..."
And then he went on to make his point. Which was a good one. But we were amused. Hmm. It doesn't seem quite as funny written down, but trust me, it was decidedly amusing at the time.
Then he was explaining something about significant figures to us.
"Significant figures are those digits in a measured number (or result of a calculation with measured numbers) that include all certain digits plus a final one having some uncertainty." A pause, in which he gazed contemplatively up at the screen displaying the words he had just said.
"You know, that I do not understand at all. Experiment time!"
And immediately the lights went on, and an assitant in a white coat wheeled in a little table from the side of the room, and he proceeded to experiment. First he got out a scale and put a bottle of Pepsi on one side and a bottle of Diet Pepsi on the other, to show us that the sugar weighed more.
Then he filled a large jar with 7-Up, saying, as he did so, "Oh, I like this one! I was making this one. Yes, this one is mine." Once he had the jar filled, he held it up admiringly. He looked down at the kids in the front row and said, "Oh, would you like some?"
Then he put the jar back on the table and, practically shaking with excitement, produced a large box of raisins. He ripped open the box and put a handful of raisins into the jar. They all sank to the bottom, but then some of them started to float up. Once they reached the top they went back down again, but by then more were floating up, only to sink once they reached the top. And so on, in a sort of continuous Brownian motion.
He held this jar of elevator raisins up to his eye level for our approval, grinning from ear to ear.
It was, as a fellow sitting in front of me aptly described it, exactly like a cheap, organic lava lamp.
It won't go on forever, but it will go on for a while, especially if the jar is big enough and you put in enough 7-Up. The way it works is that each raisin sinks initially because of gravity and lack of buoyancy and all that. As it goes down, it attracts the bubbles in the 7-Up to it, so that by the time it gets to the bottom, it's buoyant enough to float back up. When it gets to the top, the bubbles pop, and down it goes again, and the whole process repeats.
With raisins in various stages of rising and falling, it really does look like some insane grape farmer's conception of a lava lamp.
It had absolutely nothing to do with what we were studying, though.
After we had all seen this magical experiment, he reverently placed the jar back down on the table, so that the raisins could continue their little dance unhindered, for however so long as they pleased. He looked back up at the lecture hall, still grinning.
"Isn't that fun? You can do it in your dorm room!" (although where would anyone get a glass beaker that large?)
He then turned the lights off, brought the screen back down, and recommenced teaching.
It was utterly bizarre yet undeniably funny.
Tonight I did laundry. Yes, Friday night, laundry. What an exciting life I lead. But it actually did turn out to be fun and exciting. Surreally so.
I went in there to do laundry. There were a couple of girls already in there doing laundry. So, of course, we got to talking. Then a couple more came in. What with the waiting for a free washer, and the amount of time the dryers take (a ridiculously long time), we ended up being in there for quite a while. Hours of laundering. And we were, collectively, in an exciteable mood.
Yes, it was a Laundry Party.
We were talking, and shouting, and laughing, and discussing everything from the merits of various chemistry teachers (four out of the five of us are in Chem 130, but in different sections) to the lack of merits of the dryers. Someone brought in a boom box. One of the girls went upstairs and came back down with a large bag of homemade cookies.
I think we actually scared a few people away from the laundry room, but that was their loss.
Yes, mass insanity in the laundry room. It was one of the most illogical parties I have ever been to, but it was most definitely a party. Nothing else describes it.
Football game tomorrow! We're playing Houston. I have no idea how good they're supposed to be, but hopefully we shall triumph. Hopefully I will not get burned again. If I do, I think I will get the sun cancer (alas for biology memories!). Sun poisoning, at the very least.
But I'll be seeing my football buddies again, so huzzah for that.
*end of yesterday's blog. beginning of today's blog.*
Soooo very tired. It has been an exceedingly long day.
I went to the football game, of course. We massacred Houston, 50-3. It was very very hot and sunny out, though, so I sort of wilted by the second quarter. I put on a foul amount of sunscreen, and I put a massive bandage over the bit with the second degree burn (that's what the blister is), so if I burned over what I already burned, the sun hates me.
I got barely any sleep the night before, but the reason for that probably should not be posted herein. It's a fascinating reason, but not, perhaps, entirely blog-appropriate.
Then I came back to the dorm (at that point it was around 4:30) and downed half a gallon of water. Then the loft people showed up and built the loft. This involved moving essentially everything in the room around, and then getting sawdust on half of it.
The end result is... interesting. We got the TV out of the giant box in the middle of the floor, which was very, very good. The loft itself... well. I can sit up in it without hitting my head on the ceiling (sitting straight up, I have a couple of inches of clearance). The ladder is weird... it's just three slats nailed directly into the loft frame, so it's perfectly vertical. I can get up it OK... but it is not fun going down it. And the best bit is, if I let go funny or fall off that end, I smash my head on the radiator.
Oh yes, and there's no rail at the side. So I am free to roll right out of the loft, if I so desire.
the white arrow indicates where the three 'ladder' slats are. yes, i haven't made the bed yet. sheesh. also note my posters on the walls, and the feline-themed cards adorning the left side of the desk.
I got a Border's gift certificate from my Bubbie the other day, so I went on a book-purchasing binge. I put them all on my desk. One of the loft guys today saw them and got all excited. He said, "Oh! You're reading good books!", to which I replied, "I'm trying to." He especially approved of Catch 22, which is, of course, one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it at least 8 times by now.
GUESS WHAT WAS IN THE DORM TODAY?!?!??
A KITTEN!!!
I can hope that none of the ResStaff (resident staff... they're in charge of the dorms) read this here turkey, because we're obviously not allowed to have critters in the dorms, other than the unavoidable insect life. A kitten would be right out.
She wasn't a long term kitten. Just for the day.
One of the girls who lives around here (I won't name her herein, just in case the ResStaff does read it) got her kitten to stay over in her dormroom for the day. She (the kitten) was utterly adorable. Tiny, soft, gray, and striped. Her name was Libby.
This girl's roommate was out in the hall telling someone that there was a cat in her room. Upon hearing this I leapt out of my room and squealed frantically, "Did someone say something about a cat??" This amused people. Anyways, I went in to see the kitten. Adorableness.
I think that we should be allowed to have cats in the dorms. Dorm life would be so much nicer that way.
I miss my cats.
8:42 PM
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Hoo boy. A lot has happened since I blogged last... it's been obscenely busy. Sigh.
Classes started, for one thing. I've had most of them by now... I have Chemistry, lecture and discussion. I had a lecture today. It was OK, the professor has an accent but he's quite understandable. He started right in with the teaching, but it was easy review stuff (solid/liquid/gas, what is the scientific method, etc.). I can tell that it's going to be incomprehensible shortly, though. As soon as we get out of the idiot stuff. Which should be in two days or so. My tears shall flow.
And yes, as you may have noticed, they gave me Chem lecture. Chem discussion. Not Chem lab. Don't ask me how this is possible, because I know not, but it evidently is. The lecture/discussion is Chem 130. The lab is Chem 125. I don't mind not taking it, I don't need it for the tests I'll be taking, but I really do not want to have to take it later in order to fill the Chem prerequisite for taking Biology. That would suck mightily.
The tech guy who set up the computer hookup (necessary for the powerpoint-like additions to the lecture proper) had on a sweatshirt today, although cat knows why, since it was plenty hot out. Anywho, his sweatshirt said 'All Your Base Are Belong to Us'. And on the back it said 'somebody set up us the bomb'. I nearly perished when he walked in. The guy sitting next to me turned to his friend and said, "Hey, you see his shirt? I don't get it." I did. Yes. Amusement.
I had an art lecture class yesterday... it's sort of an art history class, but sort of not. I have no idea what it's called, other than Art 150. Presumably it has a name, but I know it not. It's a vague class... we're supposed to take notes, but I'm not sure what on. Since it's not technically an art history class, I don't know if we should be taking down dates or what. Grr. Hopefully it will be clarified in good time. I frelling detest vague classes like that.
I also had a drawing class yesterday. This is my only 'real' art class. Well, sort of, but I'll get into that in a bit. It seems pretty good, but of course I can't really tell, seeing how I only had one class. The teacher seemed nice, although he did ramble on for an inappropriately long time about his personal life. The class is limited to 20 kids, but 4 didn't show up for the first class. Rather nice to have a small class in such a big school.
The class, as I said, seems pretty straightforward... it's like a drawing class one would take at MassArt or somesuchaschool. But the supplies I had to buy for it... oy, you don't even want to know. To make it merrier, they are bulky and heavy. I have no idea whatsoever how I am going to get them to North Campus tomorrow. So far as I can tell, the bus drops off right in front of my dorm, on it's southbound route, but I don't think the northbound ones pick up there, so I have to go all the way over the bridge and across the street. I'm not sure I'll be able to lug all this stuff out there.
Today I had another art class, called Human Being. It's sort of hard to explain. Have you ever read The Cheese Monkeys? You probably ought to do so, it's a thoroughly fine novel. And funny. Anyways, this Human Being class is, as near as I can make out, much the same thing as the class described in The Cheese Monkeys. A bit different, but with major points of similarity.
The way that our teacher described it, I get the impression that each teacher (there are several sections of this class) can teach it however the heck they wanted. The class, as we are being taught it, seems to have little, if anything, to do with the Human Being. It's essentially some sort of hyped-up graphic design class. So we're doing *some* art, but it's not a proper art class, like the drawing one. Aargh.
There's one other class... it's another art lecture thing, but I think it's some sort of guest speaker deal, where they shove everyone into a lecture hall for an hour and 45 minutes to listen to some mostly obscure contemporary artist talk. I've got that tomorrow from 5-6:45, and we shall see what we shall see.
this is my desk. you can see how over-wired i am.
I've met some more people, bien sur. I'm starting to know the people on my hall... Pam and Shelby are quite nice, they often stop by to say hi and see what's doing. This girl named Sarah (there are about 5 Sarah's on my hall, and my hall is tiny... no one knows why) is also pretty cool. Some guy named Tony who apparently lives down at the opposite end of the hall came by today to introduce himself. As usual, my roommate was not there. So he stayed and chatted with me for a time. Nice kid, film major. And not at all bad-looking, either.
I really shouldn't say stuff like this in public forum. Oh well.
I ate dinner at Stockwell (dorm next door) the night before classes started with Pam, Shelby, Sarah, and another girl from my hall named Raquel. We sat with a girl who lived in Stockwell named Kelsi. She's from Oklahoma. She's a freshman and she's engaged. We expressed surprise at this, and she informed us that it's standard practice in Oklahoma to get married right out of high school. She also went to a public school, but had a graduating class of 12. Mon freaking dieu. Oklahoma is wing nuts. She was awfully nice, though.
Of course I don't really know anyone in my lectures. I did meet a girl named Angelica in my Chem one, but that's because we both got there really early since we weren't sure if we were going to be able to find the room (it turned out to be really easy to do so). In the lectures it's sort of hard to get to know people, but that was to be expected.
I'm already starting to know people's names in my drawing class, since it's such a reasonable size. There's Abbas and Matt, who seem to know each other. There's a girl named Kate who looks a little bit like our Kate. When she walked in, I actually thought to myself, "Hey, she looks a bit like Kate." When the teacher did roll call, I nearly fell over. Such magical coincidence.
There's a guy named Brock (I kid you not) who looks like he might be in his 20s, but could, I suppose, simply be a hulking sort of teenager. There's Adamo, who seems genial enough. There's a girl named Stephanie whom I dislike already. A giggly, annoying sort. She's friends with a fellow by the name of Tom (I think), who has long hair (ick) and is also giggly and annoying. Not in a girly, giggly way, but you know what I mean.
There's a guy named Curtis who has some complicated history with the LSA and the film school, and somehow ended up in the art school. He's a senior.
And there's a kid named (once again, I kid you not) Shlomo. He's in both my drawing and Human Being classes. He's probably in my art lectures, but it's impossible to keep track of people in those. He's from Indiana and is majoring in graphic design. I didn't know that anyone was named Shlomo these days.
There are a bunch of other people in the class, but I cannot recall them at the moment. Undoubtedly I shall get to know them all better as the year progresses.
I met up with Qiao-xian today. I actually met her at orientation, and now she's living in my dorm, several floors up. We had lunch together. Good times. It was like I was hanging around with someone I already knew. Such a novel experience here at UMich, where I'm 800 miles from everyone I know.
The Mosher Jordan dining hall closes (!) at 6. At least, that's what someone told me today, and I know for a fact it's not open by 7, because I checked. Who has already eaten dinner by 6? Especially students. That's simply ridiculous. Many days I don't get back to the dorm until after 6. What in the world am I to do? It is looking like the only meal I'll be able to eat in the dorm is lunch.
This is a terrifically long blog, and I didn't even get into the stuff like my art lecture book of vast proportions, or the wait I had to endure at one of the bookstores, or finding the post office and Starbucks in one fell swoop, or trying to use Photoshop on a laptop, or the sunburn that just keeps on giving. But I shall spare you those tales until a later date, or never, depending on how I feel about them later.
You are prey to my whims. And you love it.
11:09 PM
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