Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros; I'll stare at something less prepoceros. ~Ogden Nash

[mr_kenny]

Why is this post like The Matrix? Because it's bullet time!

The following are an ad hoc collections of facts and factoids pertaining to the current state of affairs in my life, listed in no particular order.

• I have completed one year of study at the University of Chicago.
  
  • It has been the greatest academic challenge I have, to date, undertaken.
    
  • I miss my friends at Brandeis, some of them quite a lot, but I made the right choice. There are some wonderful things about Brandeis, but if I hadn't come here, I think I would have regretted it the rest of my life.
    
  • The physics here is very good, though I am sometimes am concerned if I am good enough for the physics. When contemplating the absolute brilliance of some of my colleagues, it sometimes makes me wonder about my own capacities.
    
  • That said, I think I've demonstrated to myself that I can cut it here in physics, at least at the undergraduate level. Given some difficulties I had in my physics classes both Winter and Spring quarters (Hamiltonian mechanics and electromagnetic radiation are hard), I feel like I've come a long way, pushing myself harder and further than I thought I could. Of course, I still feel like I don't understand everything as well as I should, but I think that's a problem pervasive in physics.
    
• I'm living in Chicago this summer.
• I'm working in a physics lab that I started working in a few months ago. I'm working on TRACER (Transition Radiation Array for Cosmic Energetic Radiation), a cosmic ray detector. My work is largely mechanical, testing equipment for function and quality. The underlying theory is quite interesting, and I will animatedly explain it to any and all who ask, but the day-to-day work is largely tedium. It is my hope to start doing some data analysis on the project sometime soon, so I can do more "physics-y" work. To do so, however, I need to learn C. I've just started to teach myself the language; so far, so good. (I've gotten Hello world to work!)  We'll see what happens with it all.
• I'm living with a bit more than a dozen other physics students; some are from here, but most from elsewhere.  It's good times; we tell lots of bad physics jokes and play Settlers of Catan, among other things.  (I almost won tonight too!  It would have been a first, but I'll eventually get my chance, I'm sure.)
  
• Though we're living in a dorm, food is not provided; we have to fend for ourselves.  I'm making do, and hardly worried about starving, but it's funny; for the first time plans for procuring food are continually at the back of mind.   I feel like I've gained the tiniest of inklings as to what it must have been like to be a hunter-gatherer thousands of years ago, not always knowing where your next meal is coming from.
• After owning an iPod for nearly three years, I've finally come to appreciate its full potential.  While engaging in the more mundane tasks at work, I find myself listening to it for entertainment.  I just put a playlist on shuffle, and --poof!-- it's like I'm listening to a music station that keeps playing my favorite songs!  Looking for muons and rocking out at the same time is a pretty sweet combination.
• I saw They Might Be Giants a few weeks ago with Rachel, just before coming back to Chicago.  They put on a hell of a show the first time I saw them, almost four years ago; little has changed, including their confetti cannons.
  
• As high school recedes further and further into the past, it is becoming harder and harder to keep in touch with friends from that era.  We change and grow and suddenly our lives no longer conveniently intersect like they did.  Perhaps it means we just need to try harder; I don't know.  While in Albany, I missed both Joel and Ben by about a day, but I did manage go bowling and restauranting with Jeff and Dave.  It was great times, but it doesn't happen often.  I hope such future meetings are not too few and far between.  This is something I've been thinking a lot about recently; perhaps more on it another night.
• Perhaps this is has been at the forefront of my mind for several reasons.  I haven't kept as good contact with Brandeis friends as I should have; in general it's something that doesn't come easily to me.  Now, even friends that I routinely talk to multiple times a week are not easily accessible.  Josh is in Wisconsin, outside of cell reception; Anna is in Italy, outside of affordable cell reception.  I miss them.  Nathana and (other) Josh are leaving for Europe soon, if not already.  I'll be living with Josh again in the fall, and that should continue to be good times, as it has been; however, I won't see Nathana until December, and I didn't even get to say goodbye properly.
• This is the first summer since 2000 that neither myself or my sister will have attended CTY (either as staff or student).  I'm not sure what to say about that.  The very fact that I note this probably indicates that it's time to move on.  (It probably was years ago.)  That's alright; I'll always look back and smile.
• The time is fast approaching when I will have to decide what I want to do with my life, or at the very least, the next few years.
• The current plan is graduate school for physics, terminating with a PhD.  (I suppose I'll then have to change my moniker here to "dr_kenny".)  I'm not sure, however, what specific area I'd like to do.  I'm thinking maybe theoretical work, but I have no experience with it yet.  Astro, particle, condensed matter, cosmology; all are fascinating, but I don't know yet what's right for me.  This I must begin to figure out in the near future.
• When did I suddenly have only a year left of college?  I thought it was just yesterday that Dave Bard expounded upon the sharpness of cacti at the 2001 Holy Cross debate tournament; I guess it wasn't.
• Some recent events have led me to call into question my paradigm concering romantic relationships; specifically the procurement thereof.  Perhaps I'll write about these thoughts at a later date; perhaps not.  For now, suffice it to say that my approach in high school had exceedingly limited success; I should not be surprised that college is similar in that regard.  (Rereading this statement, I feel like it comes across as rather bitter and disenfranchised, which it oughtn't, because that's not how I feel.  I've simply realized that I've made certain similar  mistakes many times; it's about time I stop.  [At the very least, I should diversify and make some different mistakes!])
• I saw Transformers a couple nights ago.  It pretty much blew my mind.
• I have borrowed a book of Ogden Nash poetry from my aunt and uncle; it is fairly amazing.
• As always, life is good, if not simple.  (It rarely is simple; I suspect that's a good thing.)
• It's 1:42 AM, and I have work tomorrow!
• This means, despite desires to continue to drone on, I shall avail myself of this terminal, and away myself to bed.

Love,
~Kenny