Like a cupcake on steroids
Yesterday and today have been awesome in the way that only severe sleep deprivation seems to bring about. In spite of having two days of classes, it has felt more like the weekend than my weekend felt. These are both due mostly to Susan's visiting Brown, which was supremely awesome. It was so nice to see her for a change--I can't remember the last time I did see her (I'm thinking last August, as in, August 2003 [was that August? I think it was October, but I seem to remember seeing a "School is Starting" sign near Madison Junior High] when Susan, Mirat and I met in Madison and wandered around and ate ice cream in the parking lot of Friendly's and pilfered a pinwheel that was shaped like a ladybug and put it in Mirat's car--it can't have been that long, can it?).
So yesterday I finally returned Vani's vacuum. Later on Jimmy and I went to the train station to meet Susan, and we did. We walked back up the hill and had dinner at the Gate. We talked for a while. We then came back to the dorm and went to Jo's with the intention of meeting Vani, only it didn't occur to us until later that she would probably be gone by the time we got there. Which she was. So we went back to Keeney, to Julia's room (using the Jameson "back door" entrance--I didn't know that existed, which is ironic, because while at Julia's room, I learned of many other things around Brown I didn't know existed, such as the abandoned train tunnel and other secret tunnels and entries on campus... I knew about the frats having once been connected by tunnels, but apparently there's some sort of tunnel in Keeney even... hmm. Must find out more about this). So many people stopped by. Most were either Governor's School people (Sciences, Engineering, Environment...) or people who were amazed at the concentration of New Jersey people in the room. Most were also working on Engineering stuff, while I did the Econ homework (only I decided to drop the course later on) and Susan checked e-mail, etc). Yeah. I was amazed at how many people stopped by the room--I didn't realize how much traffic the "0zone" gets.
"Oh, there's my mug"--line that made Jimmy convulse with laughter. I still don't get it.
After that, we went back to Jo's to get milk and cookies for Phoebe's "cocoa party." Only Jo's didn't have, so we went back to the Gate (Susan got a remarkable tour of Brown's dining services, I think) and obtained said items. Then we had cocoa with Vani and Phoebe; Ben awoke from his nap and joined us. I went to return my library books (which were taken out during reading week and I'd had for almost eight weeks now and had not opened since before I left for break) and then met Jimmy, Ben and Susan again in Eric's room. This was when I started to zone out from only getting two hours of sleep the night before and having been awake most of the day. I do not know Eric at all. I doubt he even knows my name. I've seen him maybe twice; Jimmy pointed him out since he, Susan and Eric all attended the same high school. Eric engaged Susan in some ridiculous argument about "beating the system" and "fucking everything" and the like. The words didn't have any meaning to me and instead I saw myself watching a scene from a bad movie in slow motion. I feel very detached from the world when I'm that tired. It seemed to go on forever, but we eventually left. Jimmy and Ben went to bed and I talked to Susan.
It was the kind of conversation that can only happen that late at night, when you're incredibly tired. We discussed problems with science, the fact that it's entirely fabricated by people to try to describe the world and its approximations... I think I recall referring to the German Romantic idea of "lebhaft" (maybe "lebkraft," either could work), a quality that separates the inorganic from the organic, and how this was totally shattered by the synthesis of urea... maybe I didn't mention this... but yeah... we tried to philosophize but seemed to end up hallucinating instead.
This morning I had Personality, which looks like it will be awesome. However, and most unfortunately, the professor has a very ...soothing voice. I was out. I have maybe three sentences' worth of incoherent notes. Shitfuck. Oh well. I'm adding it and dropping Econ, and now I finally have a finalized schedule of what I hope will be good classes (after all the effort I put into shopping thirteen different classes) and I can stop worrying about choosing courses and just get onto doing the coursework. Which is already piling up and... gaah. Math wasn't half as bad; I was awake for more of it, though I told Alison to wake me if I dozed off, and then she fell asleep. She also got confused and started poking Josh, who was sitting on her right, instead of me on her left. I don't think he was amused.
Susan and Ben were waiting outside of the math classroom, and so we went in search of (Big) Alice's Ice Cream. We found it, as I'd expected, closed. (I posted on the dailyjolt forum about this:
Out of the four responses I got, one claimed the business was entirely seasonal. Two claimed it was a mob front. One respondent said that a friend had gone in and been told that they "were out of ice cream." A fourth person, however, who claimed to be a Providence native offered the following:
Big Alice's used to serve the best ice cream around. Not too many flavors, but they were all really, really good. I'm a local, and I remember going there with my family when I was a toddler. The last time I went was in 2000 or 2001. I don't think they're a mob front, but I do think the owner has other things going on and doesn't care to run the business. If it ever does reopen, though, I'll be there with a spoon
So yes... must find out more about Alice's. I'm going to guess the last one is probably true, though, because Susan's mother used to hang out there.
We also got Portuguese sweet bread, which is simply amazing. I have even added it to my interests list, because, well, it's amazing. Kind of dry, but still, very good. My roommate described its appearance as "a cupcake on steroids."
So then Jimmy and I guided/escorted Susan to the bus station (which was fraught with its usual array of colorful characters) and, after bidding her adieu, got slurpies (slurpees?) at the 7-11. I then had a massive lunch and promptly went to bed, waking up around 7:30, in time to find out I didn't have to be at orchestra until 9, go and get ...dinner and speak to my family (Danielle took the opportunity to rope me into buying Girl Scout cookies--why do I seem to remember discussing Girl Scout cookies yesterday or some time in the recent past?). Orchestra was pretty dull; I only play the fourth movement of the last piece, and only like twenty rehearsal numbers (of the total of fifty-four). So, needless to say, I sat there a lot. Kind of depressing; I wish I were better at the oboe. I don't even really know why I do orchestra still... I feel like I've lost my passion for pursuing musical activities, because, unless you're very good at any instrument, there aren't many options (excepting the Brown Band, which is a musical group for non-musicians).
And so I was intent on starting my work when I decided to go to Jo's to get some coffee. This accomplished, I ran into Tucker on my way back to the dorm, and I ended up talking to him for much longer than I meant to, because then I ended up following him back to his dorm, and by dorm I mean frat house, where I ended up spending too much time talking to Tucker and people I didn't really know. Tucker and his friend (whose name escapes me) were discussing the merits of hot tubs and steam showers, neither of which I have ever used. Somehow the topic changed to Jersey, and then I could participate. Oddly enough, Tucker likes New Jersey in "small doses" but hates New York (the city, not the state). I don't understand. I have to steer clear of Tucker, though, lest I end up joining a frat. I may have sold out to some things but I will never sell out to frats.
Then I meant to make progress on German but instead my roommate and I made fun of posts on the dailyjolt's forum. He managed to change a thread about Black History month into a discussion about Jews.
Anyway. Prompted partially by my discussion with Susan and partially by my own frustrations with choosing courses, I was thinking about things I would potentially end up studying, etc. Spending time with Ben always makes me feel very inferior. It's sort of silly, but he's so scientific, even down to wording sentences. Ben makes me feel like there is nothing to study but science, and I don't know if that's something he actively means to do, or just my own way of misconstruing everything. I don't know... I really dislike physics. We'll start with that. I'm not terribly fond of math, either, though so far I like chemistry, I guess. I miss biology; I will take Genetics next fall, I think. I probably should have taken Neuro this fall, but I was a bit turned away by the horrible Neurobiology class at Governor's School and then I wasn't even thinking about possible majors... I don't know. It comes down to this: I really love the humanities. As Susan and I probably discussed, I love the idea of taking a physical reality and describing it visually, verbally and/or musically. Science, on the other hand, would have you take a physical object and describe it chemically, how it relates to other objects in an ecological context and the like... I also feel, however, that on some level, to study the humanities would be more selfish of me. Sure, I could become a great writer well-versed in English literature. But what exactly will this enable you to do, other than write? I don't see myself penning anything more exciting than a livejournal, unfortunately. But that's not to say that studying the sciences would be any different, perhaps. I don't really want to go to medical school; I don't know if I want to do any sort of research (making flavors is not the whimsical career I'd hoped it would be)... I just don't know what there is, what I want to do, etc... I feel like, on some level, I should be interested in research, because I should want to help humanity, but I don't know if I'd ever be able to actually do that, I don't know what I want to study and I feel like I should have some idea.
Additionally, yesterday's discovery of the tunnels and today's venture to the land of Portuguese bakeries (we went to the Silver Star; there should be others) has led me to a new goal: explore the areas beyond College Hill, even. I'm still oblivious--where is the East Side Market? Is that an area or a store? This tunnel needs to be explored. Then we have a whole city to cover. Also, I should find a cool place to hang out.
Alright. It is now almost 5 AM. I have two more of Martin Luther's theses (excerpts from the shit he nailed to that church, yo) to read. Then I have to look up the Tintenfaß. Then--this is great--Orgo in four hours. I might as well stay up, go to my three classes and sleep then.
Summary:
-Yay Susan!
-Yay exploring!
-Boo Orgo.
So yesterday I finally returned Vani's vacuum. Later on Jimmy and I went to the train station to meet Susan, and we did. We walked back up the hill and had dinner at the Gate. We talked for a while. We then came back to the dorm and went to Jo's with the intention of meeting Vani, only it didn't occur to us until later that she would probably be gone by the time we got there. Which she was. So we went back to Keeney, to Julia's room (using the Jameson "back door" entrance--I didn't know that existed, which is ironic, because while at Julia's room, I learned of many other things around Brown I didn't know existed, such as the abandoned train tunnel and other secret tunnels and entries on campus... I knew about the frats having once been connected by tunnels, but apparently there's some sort of tunnel in Keeney even... hmm. Must find out more about this). So many people stopped by. Most were either Governor's School people (Sciences, Engineering, Environment...) or people who were amazed at the concentration of New Jersey people in the room. Most were also working on Engineering stuff, while I did the Econ homework (only I decided to drop the course later on) and Susan checked e-mail, etc). Yeah. I was amazed at how many people stopped by the room--I didn't realize how much traffic the "0zone" gets.
"Oh, there's my mug"--line that made Jimmy convulse with laughter. I still don't get it.
After that, we went back to Jo's to get milk and cookies for Phoebe's "cocoa party." Only Jo's didn't have, so we went back to the Gate (Susan got a remarkable tour of Brown's dining services, I think) and obtained said items. Then we had cocoa with Vani and Phoebe; Ben awoke from his nap and joined us. I went to return my library books (which were taken out during reading week and I'd had for almost eight weeks now and had not opened since before I left for break) and then met Jimmy, Ben and Susan again in Eric's room. This was when I started to zone out from only getting two hours of sleep the night before and having been awake most of the day. I do not know Eric at all. I doubt he even knows my name. I've seen him maybe twice; Jimmy pointed him out since he, Susan and Eric all attended the same high school. Eric engaged Susan in some ridiculous argument about "beating the system" and "fucking everything" and the like. The words didn't have any meaning to me and instead I saw myself watching a scene from a bad movie in slow motion. I feel very detached from the world when I'm that tired. It seemed to go on forever, but we eventually left. Jimmy and Ben went to bed and I talked to Susan.
It was the kind of conversation that can only happen that late at night, when you're incredibly tired. We discussed problems with science, the fact that it's entirely fabricated by people to try to describe the world and its approximations... I think I recall referring to the German Romantic idea of "lebhaft" (maybe "lebkraft," either could work), a quality that separates the inorganic from the organic, and how this was totally shattered by the synthesis of urea... maybe I didn't mention this... but yeah... we tried to philosophize but seemed to end up hallucinating instead.
This morning I had Personality, which looks like it will be awesome. However, and most unfortunately, the professor has a very ...soothing voice. I was out. I have maybe three sentences' worth of incoherent notes. Shitfuck. Oh well. I'm adding it and dropping Econ, and now I finally have a finalized schedule of what I hope will be good classes (after all the effort I put into shopping thirteen different classes) and I can stop worrying about choosing courses and just get onto doing the coursework. Which is already piling up and... gaah. Math wasn't half as bad; I was awake for more of it, though I told Alison to wake me if I dozed off, and then she fell asleep. She also got confused and started poking Josh, who was sitting on her right, instead of me on her left. I don't think he was amused.
Susan and Ben were waiting outside of the math classroom, and so we went in search of (Big) Alice's Ice Cream. We found it, as I'd expected, closed. (I posted on the dailyjolt forum about this:
Out of the four responses I got, one claimed the business was entirely seasonal. Two claimed it was a mob front. One respondent said that a friend had gone in and been told that they "were out of ice cream." A fourth person, however, who claimed to be a Providence native offered the following:
Big Alice's used to serve the best ice cream around. Not too many flavors, but they were all really, really good. I'm a local, and I remember going there with my family when I was a toddler. The last time I went was in 2000 or 2001. I don't think they're a mob front, but I do think the owner has other things going on and doesn't care to run the business. If it ever does reopen, though, I'll be there with a spoon
So yes... must find out more about Alice's. I'm going to guess the last one is probably true, though, because Susan's mother used to hang out there.
We also got Portuguese sweet bread, which is simply amazing. I have even added it to my interests list, because, well, it's amazing. Kind of dry, but still, very good. My roommate described its appearance as "a cupcake on steroids."
So then Jimmy and I guided/escorted Susan to the bus station (which was fraught with its usual array of colorful characters) and, after bidding her adieu, got slurpies (slurpees?) at the 7-11. I then had a massive lunch and promptly went to bed, waking up around 7:30, in time to find out I didn't have to be at orchestra until 9, go and get ...dinner and speak to my family (Danielle took the opportunity to rope me into buying Girl Scout cookies--why do I seem to remember discussing Girl Scout cookies yesterday or some time in the recent past?). Orchestra was pretty dull; I only play the fourth movement of the last piece, and only like twenty rehearsal numbers (of the total of fifty-four). So, needless to say, I sat there a lot. Kind of depressing; I wish I were better at the oboe. I don't even really know why I do orchestra still... I feel like I've lost my passion for pursuing musical activities, because, unless you're very good at any instrument, there aren't many options (excepting the Brown Band, which is a musical group for non-musicians).
And so I was intent on starting my work when I decided to go to Jo's to get some coffee. This accomplished, I ran into Tucker on my way back to the dorm, and I ended up talking to him for much longer than I meant to, because then I ended up following him back to his dorm, and by dorm I mean frat house, where I ended up spending too much time talking to Tucker and people I didn't really know. Tucker and his friend (whose name escapes me) were discussing the merits of hot tubs and steam showers, neither of which I have ever used. Somehow the topic changed to Jersey, and then I could participate. Oddly enough, Tucker likes New Jersey in "small doses" but hates New York (the city, not the state). I don't understand. I have to steer clear of Tucker, though, lest I end up joining a frat. I may have sold out to some things but I will never sell out to frats.
Then I meant to make progress on German but instead my roommate and I made fun of posts on the dailyjolt's forum. He managed to change a thread about Black History month into a discussion about Jews.
Anyway. Prompted partially by my discussion with Susan and partially by my own frustrations with choosing courses, I was thinking about things I would potentially end up studying, etc. Spending time with Ben always makes me feel very inferior. It's sort of silly, but he's so scientific, even down to wording sentences. Ben makes me feel like there is nothing to study but science, and I don't know if that's something he actively means to do, or just my own way of misconstruing everything. I don't know... I really dislike physics. We'll start with that. I'm not terribly fond of math, either, though so far I like chemistry, I guess. I miss biology; I will take Genetics next fall, I think. I probably should have taken Neuro this fall, but I was a bit turned away by the horrible Neurobiology class at Governor's School and then I wasn't even thinking about possible majors... I don't know. It comes down to this: I really love the humanities. As Susan and I probably discussed, I love the idea of taking a physical reality and describing it visually, verbally and/or musically. Science, on the other hand, would have you take a physical object and describe it chemically, how it relates to other objects in an ecological context and the like... I also feel, however, that on some level, to study the humanities would be more selfish of me. Sure, I could become a great writer well-versed in English literature. But what exactly will this enable you to do, other than write? I don't see myself penning anything more exciting than a livejournal, unfortunately. But that's not to say that studying the sciences would be any different, perhaps. I don't really want to go to medical school; I don't know if I want to do any sort of research (making flavors is not the whimsical career I'd hoped it would be)... I just don't know what there is, what I want to do, etc... I feel like, on some level, I should be interested in research, because I should want to help humanity, but I don't know if I'd ever be able to actually do that, I don't know what I want to study and I feel like I should have some idea.
Additionally, yesterday's discovery of the tunnels and today's venture to the land of Portuguese bakeries (we went to the Silver Star; there should be others) has led me to a new goal: explore the areas beyond College Hill, even. I'm still oblivious--where is the East Side Market? Is that an area or a store? This tunnel needs to be explored. Then we have a whole city to cover. Also, I should find a cool place to hang out.
Alright. It is now almost 5 AM. I have two more of Martin Luther's theses (excerpts from the shit he nailed to that church, yo) to read. Then I have to look up the Tintenfaß. Then--this is great--Orgo in four hours. I might as well stay up, go to my three classes and sleep then.
Summary:
-Yay Susan!
-Yay exploring!
-Boo Orgo.