A lack of realistic gore is not a valid criticism of chess
So tomorrow I finally leave for Connecticut. It's been an awesome two weeks since coming back from Europe. Got to go to Charlottesville and visit some old friends, played through Final Fantasy 4: The After Years, did some clothes shopping, found a copy of Persona 3 (that I doubt I'll play till Christmas), and tore through the snacks my parents had been accumulating during my 7-month absence. I've also been rewatching the British TV series "Coupling." If you haven't seen it, look it up on www.yidio.com and watch it. Single funniest TV series I've ever seen. Period. If I didn't get to see you before I left, I really am sorry. I tried my best to hit everyone, but fortunately/unfortunately, everyone is all over the place doing different things and our time is limited. I should be back for a week around Thanksgiving and for 2 weeks around Christmas though, so if I didn't see you recently, I'll try my best to see you then. Actually, even if I did see you recently, I'll still try to see you this holiday season. Just make sure you keep in touch so I know where you'll be.
Being a military brat, I'm no stranger to moving to a new home, but of course there's always a measure of fear/sadness right before the event. Having a mother from Pittsburgh and a father from NYC, I've always considered myself a northerner at heart, but the last time I actually lived north of the Mason-Dixon line was when my dad was teaching college ROTC at Syracuse when I was ages 3-6, and that was upstate NY, not New England. I'm actually really excited about the location though. I've always wanted to lived in New England. I like cold weather, and the history of the area appeals to me as well. I'm also really excited about being within easy driving distance of NYC and Boston: two huge cities that should provide me with dozens of fun weekends over the next 7 years. If any of you are planning to visit either at any point, let me know. I'd really love to meet up with you (I'm 1.5 hrs from NYC and 2.5 from Boston). After this year I can offer you lodging too (sadly I'm stuck in a dorm the first year). Even if you have no intention of coming up, I'd love to hear from you at any time. I have a couple friends in NY and MA but nobody in CT, so messages from friends will be most appreciated.
I'm not sure whether I'm more excited or afraid about med school/Yale, The school itself shouldn't be so frightening seeing as how it's entirely pass-fail. Better than that, apparently Yale has this weird philosophy where evaluations are kept to a minimum. As far as I can tell we really only have like an end-of-course exam for most classes, and from what I've heard, you pretty much have to try to fail it. Of course this sounds great, but it means we have to be really self-motivated in order to learn what we need to pass the Boards after second year. I'm good at being hard-working when something's on the line, but I'm not sure how I'll fair when there's no pressure. I guess I'm really going to have to rely on my innate interest in the subject matter. That or try and turn it into a job in my mind rather than just school. Actually though, I think I'll be taking some PhD courses as well, and those might be graded, so we'll see. I hope fencing works out. I talked to the varsity coach and he said I could practice with them if I proved that I'd be "of benefit to the team," but I'm really rusty atm, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. I'm also excited that Hartford, 45 mins north, seems to have a fairly large Greek community. The church website listed several YAL (young adult league) meetings in the fall, so I'll try my best to get up to a couple of those since I'll have my car. Maybe I can find a nice 4"11 Greek girl with hairy forearms and a babushka. If not, it'd at least be nice to meet a couple friends.
I'll probably update a lot from New Haven on how everything is progressing. I may (read: will) have issues that I'll need people's advice on, so please be prepared to tell me how retarded I'm being (for my own good). I hope everyone else's coming school year/fiscal year goes well too, especially those of you still at UVA. The place treated me well for 4 years; I'm definitely going to miss it.
Today's song is for my classic rock-loving labmates in Japan.
Being a military brat, I'm no stranger to moving to a new home, but of course there's always a measure of fear/sadness right before the event. Having a mother from Pittsburgh and a father from NYC, I've always considered myself a northerner at heart, but the last time I actually lived north of the Mason-Dixon line was when my dad was teaching college ROTC at Syracuse when I was ages 3-6, and that was upstate NY, not New England. I'm actually really excited about the location though. I've always wanted to lived in New England. I like cold weather, and the history of the area appeals to me as well. I'm also really excited about being within easy driving distance of NYC and Boston: two huge cities that should provide me with dozens of fun weekends over the next 7 years. If any of you are planning to visit either at any point, let me know. I'd really love to meet up with you (I'm 1.5 hrs from NYC and 2.5 from Boston). After this year I can offer you lodging too (sadly I'm stuck in a dorm the first year). Even if you have no intention of coming up, I'd love to hear from you at any time. I have a couple friends in NY and MA but nobody in CT, so messages from friends will be most appreciated.
I'm not sure whether I'm more excited or afraid about med school/Yale, The school itself shouldn't be so frightening seeing as how it's entirely pass-fail. Better than that, apparently Yale has this weird philosophy where evaluations are kept to a minimum. As far as I can tell we really only have like an end-of-course exam for most classes, and from what I've heard, you pretty much have to try to fail it. Of course this sounds great, but it means we have to be really self-motivated in order to learn what we need to pass the Boards after second year. I'm good at being hard-working when something's on the line, but I'm not sure how I'll fair when there's no pressure. I guess I'm really going to have to rely on my innate interest in the subject matter. That or try and turn it into a job in my mind rather than just school. Actually though, I think I'll be taking some PhD courses as well, and those might be graded, so we'll see. I hope fencing works out. I talked to the varsity coach and he said I could practice with them if I proved that I'd be "of benefit to the team," but I'm really rusty atm, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. I'm also excited that Hartford, 45 mins north, seems to have a fairly large Greek community. The church website listed several YAL (young adult league) meetings in the fall, so I'll try my best to get up to a couple of those since I'll have my car. Maybe I can find a nice 4"11 Greek girl with hairy forearms and a babushka. If not, it'd at least be nice to meet a couple friends.
I'll probably update a lot from New Haven on how everything is progressing. I may (read: will) have issues that I'll need people's advice on, so please be prepared to tell me how retarded I'm being (for my own good). I hope everyone else's coming school year/fiscal year goes well too, especially those of you still at UVA. The place treated me well for 4 years; I'm definitely going to miss it.
Today's song is for my classic rock-loving labmates in Japan.