"We love this crazy shit weather"
Calc lecture is good for random quotes and hilarious jokes. Prof. Dadarlat is the funniest character. I especially enjoy his reaction to really dumb questions. "It should be obvious, you know? Heh Heh." "I don't even CARE about that function!" Awesome.
I remember back in Ithaca we used to have this thing called Spring Fever. It was a pretty clear variation of Cabin Fever. There was music and dancing and it was just a lot of fun. I really really miss Ithaca a lot. We had Ithaca Festival, which is kind of like the Taste, only it was a whole lot better. It was downtown in the Commons, which was this square, sort of, only it was more of a strip than a square. All the local vendors set up booths and there were crafts and random knickknacks you could buy. There was also this planet walk that went through downtown. There were statues of the different planets and the sun and moon (maybe?) and they were all placed to scale. I think it was Jupiter that was outside the library. I spent a lot of time in that library. And then there was Shortstop, the best deli in the world. They make sandwiches to die for. Think Penn Station, only a lot messier and not as "formal." There was the DeWitt Mall, which had a few restaurants and a bunch of craft stores and not much else worth noting to an eight-year-old. There was a barber shop at the far end of the Commons and an ecclectic clothing store across from the main lobby thing. There was a diner across the street by the big brown sign. The old Woolworth's is gone, but the Holiday Inn is still there. There's a new library now, I think. Or maybe I just dreamt it. The pool was a few blocks down from Beverly J. Martin Elementary School. The new pool was out at Cass Park. I got my first bee sting there, on the bottom of my foot. I can't remember her name, but there was this lovely old woman who helped me make a doll one summer. I liked her a lot, and I think she liked me too. In the winter, I'd sometimes go ice skating at Cass Park, but only on Fridays and it cost $4 to go, and some weeks I didn't have the money. We'd also take field trips out to Treman Park and go swimming there. Once we walked along the trail that went through the trees. I hated it. There was Triphammer Mall, which was behind the first apartment complex we lived in. I remember when they first opened the jewelry store there. They painted the walls over to make it look like a display case. I also remember the liquidation sale when the electronics store went out of business. Mom and I bought a radio that we still have today. I remember playing some game on the playground in which I had to pretend like I was dead, and back then I had made it so I could breathe without making my stomache move, and I was a very convincing corpse. I thought Wendy's kids meals were the greatest thing ever because of the toy surprise. Mom and I would go each weekend to May Lee's and I'd get pineapple chicken. Then I would run to the arcade and play that stupid monopoly game and sometimes I would win 75 tickets. Louie's Lunchwagon was on the corner of Cornell. When you enter from the witch's house and pass the building where they held the Day Camp. Once Mom and I were on campus real late because she had to finish up some stuff and of course I couldn't let her go alone, and it was dark and it was cold and Louie's was open and she splurged and got me a hot chocolate. I remember foolishly taking a huge gulp of the scalding drink and burning my tongue rather badly. Then there was Clarence, the bus driver, who drove Mom and I around from our apartment uptown to all the shops downtown. I remember getting my Barbie Huffy from Woolworth's and riding home with it on the bus. I also remember buying a combination chain lock which I couldn't remember the combination to and a pair of gilt-lined purple clip-on earrings. Clarence noticed when I'd put them on. I was either flattered or proud or embarrassed. I remember the ducks and the merry-go-round at Stewart Park, and how Mom once drove into a ditch and a very nice gentleman with long hair pulled over to help and when he asked if she had front wheel or rear wheel drive, she couldn't answer. I remember the A&P and I remember how I was terribly confused by the fact that there could be both an A&P and a P&C. The P&C was across the highway from the A&P and slightly above it. Symbolism? Maybe. I remember going to Tops and Wegmans and getting pizza and breadsticks at the Wegmans because the pizza was exceptionally good there, as were the croissants. I remember walking around downtown and exploring. I know that it was somehow very contained and very connected, and I remember walking across a creek. Downtown leant way to the "Chauncy" part of Cornell, where the theater and the bagel shop was, but I don't have a distinct recollection of how. I love that town.
It's sort of strange how West Lafayette is undoubtedly home, but Ithaca is home. If that makes any sense. I used to wander around downtown just walking. I'd pass the Time Warner office and the BellSouth building, the Salvation Army and make my way to Shortstop. They had really good ice cream, too. It's sort of amazing to me just how much detail I can recall. I think it'd be terrific if I could live there again. Maybe. I don't know, I've got a pretty irrational affinity for Ithaca. Lots of good times.
I remember back in Ithaca we used to have this thing called Spring Fever. It was a pretty clear variation of Cabin Fever. There was music and dancing and it was just a lot of fun. I really really miss Ithaca a lot. We had Ithaca Festival, which is kind of like the Taste, only it was a whole lot better. It was downtown in the Commons, which was this square, sort of, only it was more of a strip than a square. All the local vendors set up booths and there were crafts and random knickknacks you could buy. There was also this planet walk that went through downtown. There were statues of the different planets and the sun and moon (maybe?) and they were all placed to scale. I think it was Jupiter that was outside the library. I spent a lot of time in that library. And then there was Shortstop, the best deli in the world. They make sandwiches to die for. Think Penn Station, only a lot messier and not as "formal." There was the DeWitt Mall, which had a few restaurants and a bunch of craft stores and not much else worth noting to an eight-year-old. There was a barber shop at the far end of the Commons and an ecclectic clothing store across from the main lobby thing. There was a diner across the street by the big brown sign. The old Woolworth's is gone, but the Holiday Inn is still there. There's a new library now, I think. Or maybe I just dreamt it. The pool was a few blocks down from Beverly J. Martin Elementary School. The new pool was out at Cass Park. I got my first bee sting there, on the bottom of my foot. I can't remember her name, but there was this lovely old woman who helped me make a doll one summer. I liked her a lot, and I think she liked me too. In the winter, I'd sometimes go ice skating at Cass Park, but only on Fridays and it cost $4 to go, and some weeks I didn't have the money. We'd also take field trips out to Treman Park and go swimming there. Once we walked along the trail that went through the trees. I hated it. There was Triphammer Mall, which was behind the first apartment complex we lived in. I remember when they first opened the jewelry store there. They painted the walls over to make it look like a display case. I also remember the liquidation sale when the electronics store went out of business. Mom and I bought a radio that we still have today. I remember playing some game on the playground in which I had to pretend like I was dead, and back then I had made it so I could breathe without making my stomache move, and I was a very convincing corpse. I thought Wendy's kids meals were the greatest thing ever because of the toy surprise. Mom and I would go each weekend to May Lee's and I'd get pineapple chicken. Then I would run to the arcade and play that stupid monopoly game and sometimes I would win 75 tickets. Louie's Lunchwagon was on the corner of Cornell. When you enter from the witch's house and pass the building where they held the Day Camp. Once Mom and I were on campus real late because she had to finish up some stuff and of course I couldn't let her go alone, and it was dark and it was cold and Louie's was open and she splurged and got me a hot chocolate. I remember foolishly taking a huge gulp of the scalding drink and burning my tongue rather badly. Then there was Clarence, the bus driver, who drove Mom and I around from our apartment uptown to all the shops downtown. I remember getting my Barbie Huffy from Woolworth's and riding home with it on the bus. I also remember buying a combination chain lock which I couldn't remember the combination to and a pair of gilt-lined purple clip-on earrings. Clarence noticed when I'd put them on. I was either flattered or proud or embarrassed. I remember the ducks and the merry-go-round at Stewart Park, and how Mom once drove into a ditch and a very nice gentleman with long hair pulled over to help and when he asked if she had front wheel or rear wheel drive, she couldn't answer. I remember the A&P and I remember how I was terribly confused by the fact that there could be both an A&P and a P&C. The P&C was across the highway from the A&P and slightly above it. Symbolism? Maybe. I remember going to Tops and Wegmans and getting pizza and breadsticks at the Wegmans because the pizza was exceptionally good there, as were the croissants. I remember walking around downtown and exploring. I know that it was somehow very contained and very connected, and I remember walking across a creek. Downtown leant way to the "Chauncy" part of Cornell, where the theater and the bagel shop was, but I don't have a distinct recollection of how. I love that town.
It's sort of strange how West Lafayette is undoubtedly home, but Ithaca is home. If that makes any sense. I used to wander around downtown just walking. I'd pass the Time Warner office and the BellSouth building, the Salvation Army and make my way to Shortstop. They had really good ice cream, too. It's sort of amazing to me just how much detail I can recall. I think it'd be terrific if I could live there again. Maybe. I don't know, I've got a pretty irrational affinity for Ithaca. Lots of good times.