And so it begins.
Twenty-four hour quiet hours officially go into effect tomorrow at 11. Finals, and the end of semester 1 are nearly upon us.
...
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO SEMESTER 1?!
But it's ok, because I don't have to take finals :)
But my freshman year is half over...that's insanity. Did I blink? Or accidentally sleep through a few months? I feel like it's all gone so quickly, yet I have been here forever. But not really changed, or accomplished anything.
Well, nothing much to say. I have papers to write, and stuff to pack. See you all on Saturday!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Rest in Peace
I found out this morning that my high school friend Brendan Irving committed suicide last night. Brendan was in my theatre troupe, and he was one of my friends. We were not super close, but he was one of those constant presences. He was a part of 2774. Member for life. And after?
Brendan was always making people smile. He never had any trouble making anything funny. So many memories. All good ones. Brendan was kind, a good actor, and a good person.
So Brendan my love, know that you are greatly missed and will continue to be missed for a long time. And rest in peace sweetheart.
Brendan was always making people smile. He never had any trouble making anything funny. So many memories. All good ones. Brendan was kind, a good actor, and a good person.
So Brendan my love, know that you are greatly missed and will continue to be missed for a long time. And rest in peace sweetheart.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Dorm Cooked Meal
So this is a long overdue post. The actual meal took place some time in early October. But at the time I was too focused on what ruined the night for me to write about it for the humorous event it actually was. So, here's to catching up.
The idea was put forward by a guy on Renfield 1 that we, as a hall, should treat each other to a home-cooked meal. We would all chip in monetarily and help out with the cooking and cleaning on a volunteer basis.
The menu?
Chicken Parmesan, salad, rolls, and a desert called Death by Chocolate.
The venue?
Renfield 2 is equipped with a kitchen facility. That they apparently never use. When we invaded with our mass of people and food related products, they just watched us in shock.
Adventures:
1. We had only one pot. We needed to boil water to cook an alarming number of noodles. Luckily (ish) the pot was large enough to boil a small child. Unluckily, we had to fill it nearly to the top to accommodate enough water to cook said pasta. As anyone who has ever cooked knows, that amount of water (a small lake's worth I'd say) takes eons to boil. And a watched pot never boils. Despite the fact that the four of us in the kitchen each took several turns willing the water to boil with our minds, we still ended up having to serve the pasta as a second course. When the bubbles finally appeared, the kitchen broke out in euphoria.
2. No potholders. We had thought in advance to get aluminum pans on which to bake the chicken, but upon the dinging of the timer, it was discovered that we had no means by which to remove said pans from the oven. (Oh, and there was no thermometer in the oven. *sticks hand into oven* "Does THAT feel like 350 degrees?" "I don't know!" "What do we do?" "I don't KNOW!" "Just stick it in there!" *snigger* "That's what SHE said!") So, we ran around Renfield 2 asking if anyone had potholders. While some of us ran around, the rest considered other options. "A tshirt?" "Eew! I don't want anyone's dirty shirt on my food!" "Paper towels?" "Maybe...a LOT of them..." "Wouldn't that burn your hands?" Finally, someone had potholders. Chicken parm safe!
3. When you allow a straight teenage male to do the food shopping, your salad ends up being a head of lettuce and a bag of croutons. Trishna and I decided that this would not do. So we ran (in the freezing cold) to Usdan dining hall. Our plan? Each of us would use a meal to buy as many cut up salad vegetable as we could. We got some funny looks from the cashiers (who honestly just gets a to go box full of sliced carrots, peppers, tomatoes, etc?), but we SAVED THE SALAD.
4. Once the noodles had finally cooked, we realized we had no strainer. As I mentioned, it was a LARGE pot, and thus, a LOT of freaking noodles. So...a conundrum. We ended up (this was a three-people mission) using a random lid we found in the kitchen to press down on the noodles while we poured the water off into the sink. Two people holding the pot, one holding the lid, everyone watching for stray noodles. Couldn't lose any! Oh, and because of the enormity of the pot, the noodles were cooked unevenly. We told the diners that if they liked al dente, they should take from the top.
5. We quickly ran out of eating utensils, despite telling everyone to bring their own. It ended up being a big sharing thing, which was nice.
Clean-up went quickly. I mean hey, we only had one pot.
So that was dorm cooked meal. Sadly, the event has not been repeated. It was fun though. In remembering :)
And sorry for the delay in posting about that. But it's here now. Love to all!
The idea was put forward by a guy on Renfield 1 that we, as a hall, should treat each other to a home-cooked meal. We would all chip in monetarily and help out with the cooking and cleaning on a volunteer basis.
The menu?
Chicken Parmesan, salad, rolls, and a desert called Death by Chocolate.
The venue?
Renfield 2 is equipped with a kitchen facility. That they apparently never use. When we invaded with our mass of people and food related products, they just watched us in shock.
Adventures:
1. We had only one pot. We needed to boil water to cook an alarming number of noodles. Luckily (ish) the pot was large enough to boil a small child. Unluckily, we had to fill it nearly to the top to accommodate enough water to cook said pasta. As anyone who has ever cooked knows, that amount of water (a small lake's worth I'd say) takes eons to boil. And a watched pot never boils. Despite the fact that the four of us in the kitchen each took several turns willing the water to boil with our minds, we still ended up having to serve the pasta as a second course. When the bubbles finally appeared, the kitchen broke out in euphoria.
2. No potholders. We had thought in advance to get aluminum pans on which to bake the chicken, but upon the dinging of the timer, it was discovered that we had no means by which to remove said pans from the oven. (Oh, and there was no thermometer in the oven. *sticks hand into oven* "Does THAT feel like 350 degrees?" "I don't know!" "What do we do?" "I don't KNOW!" "Just stick it in there!" *snigger* "That's what SHE said!") So, we ran around Renfield 2 asking if anyone had potholders. While some of us ran around, the rest considered other options. "A tshirt?" "Eew! I don't want anyone's dirty shirt on my food!" "Paper towels?" "Maybe...a LOT of them..." "Wouldn't that burn your hands?" Finally, someone had potholders. Chicken parm safe!
3. When you allow a straight teenage male to do the food shopping, your salad ends up being a head of lettuce and a bag of croutons. Trishna and I decided that this would not do. So we ran (in the freezing cold) to Usdan dining hall. Our plan? Each of us would use a meal to buy as many cut up salad vegetable as we could. We got some funny looks from the cashiers (who honestly just gets a to go box full of sliced carrots, peppers, tomatoes, etc?), but we SAVED THE SALAD.
4. Once the noodles had finally cooked, we realized we had no strainer. As I mentioned, it was a LARGE pot, and thus, a LOT of freaking noodles. So...a conundrum. We ended up (this was a three-people mission) using a random lid we found in the kitchen to press down on the noodles while we poured the water off into the sink. Two people holding the pot, one holding the lid, everyone watching for stray noodles. Couldn't lose any! Oh, and because of the enormity of the pot, the noodles were cooked unevenly. We told the diners that if they liked al dente, they should take from the top.
5. We quickly ran out of eating utensils, despite telling everyone to bring their own. It ended up being a big sharing thing, which was nice.
Clean-up went quickly. I mean hey, we only had one pot.
So that was dorm cooked meal. Sadly, the event has not been repeated. It was fun though. In remembering :)
And sorry for the delay in posting about that. But it's here now. Love to all!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Random
So Trishna and I were waiting at an exceptionally creepy commuter rail stop on Friday evening and we were sort of making up a horror story and freaking each other out. I'm going to expand on it a bit. Nothing to do with my life, I just figure that while I have you all here (those of you who have not completely given up on my erratic posting schedule) I might as well attempt to show off my writing a bit.
Here goes. PS, I have no idea where this is going, but there is potentially some creeper coming out of the shadows. None of this actually happened. The venue was just shady. It made our imaginations wander.
Ok.
Ever notice how fluorescent lights on concrete somehow just look...eery? She notices. She sits on a bench facing the stairs form which she came. She is alone. No one else is waiting for the train. The creepy quality of the light is made worse by the darkness of the night sky visible around the concrete barriers. The wind blows, and the girls whirls around as she hears a rushing noise and sees something move out of the corner of her eye. She relaxes as she sees it is only a wayward garbage bag, forgotten from the excesses of the day. The openness of this train stop is terrifying. She realizes that she could be surrounded completely and no one would hear her scream. The world is far enough away that any sound would be lost. Her heart beats faster. Her breath sounds loud in her ears. The decrepit tracks squeak with the subtle shifting of the night air. The wind rushes again, and the girl pulls her jacket tighter against the November chill. She glances behind her again, as she has been doing for the past ten minutes. The skin on the back of her neck perpetually prickling; a byproduct of the fear in the air.
When her eyes return to the tracks, she sees something to make her already rapidly beating heart move ever faster. A figure is coming out of the shadows. The blood is pounding in her ears as she watches the figure advance. It passes under a streetllight, and she sees that it is a man. An old man wearing a hooded jacket that darkens his face; revealing only his wide and menacing grin.
***Ok. This is getting too cliched for me. I thought it was going somewhere, but that kind of deadpanned. Oh well.
Here goes. PS, I have no idea where this is going, but there is potentially some creeper coming out of the shadows. None of this actually happened. The venue was just shady. It made our imaginations wander.
Ok.
Ever notice how fluorescent lights on concrete somehow just look...eery? She notices. She sits on a bench facing the stairs form which she came. She is alone. No one else is waiting for the train. The creepy quality of the light is made worse by the darkness of the night sky visible around the concrete barriers. The wind blows, and the girls whirls around as she hears a rushing noise and sees something move out of the corner of her eye. She relaxes as she sees it is only a wayward garbage bag, forgotten from the excesses of the day. The openness of this train stop is terrifying. She realizes that she could be surrounded completely and no one would hear her scream. The world is far enough away that any sound would be lost. Her heart beats faster. Her breath sounds loud in her ears. The decrepit tracks squeak with the subtle shifting of the night air. The wind rushes again, and the girl pulls her jacket tighter against the November chill. She glances behind her again, as she has been doing for the past ten minutes. The skin on the back of her neck perpetually prickling; a byproduct of the fear in the air.
When her eyes return to the tracks, she sees something to make her already rapidly beating heart move ever faster. A figure is coming out of the shadows. The blood is pounding in her ears as she watches the figure advance. It passes under a streetllight, and she sees that it is a man. An old man wearing a hooded jacket that darkens his face; revealing only his wide and menacing grin.
***Ok. This is getting too cliched for me. I thought it was going somewhere, but that kind of deadpanned. Oh well.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Idle Musings
So I haven't been sleeping much. That's just a fact of life right now. Nothing to be done.
In my wakefulness, I have been attempting, of course, to answer the deeper questions of life. Well, my life anyway. The theme for this semester seems to be the ever unreachable "Who am I?"
Am I one who is quiet? Or outgoing? Do I like to party? Or is it more fun to be sober? Are one night stands my thing? Or do I want something more substantial? Should I make the same friends I had in high school? Or am I a different person than I was then? How do I dress? What do I say? How do I spend my free time? Am I good at balancing? Am I bad at letting go of a lost cause? Do I give out second chances too easily? Doesn't everyone deserve another chance? And another and another? Do I deserve a second chance? Should I be more involved with the people on my hall? Do I want to hang around people who are stoned? Do I want to try being stoned? Is that who I am? Must I depend on an external substance to enjoy myself? No. I don't think that's who I am.
I used to be quiet. Couldn't even stand the idea of being at a drunken party, much less high. I dont' regret trying drinking. I dont' beleive in regrets. The only thing I regret I don't think I would actually change if I could. I would let him hurt me all over again just to have the experience. One night stands are not my thing. Two made me feel disgusting, the third broke my heart. No more of that.
(For some of my readers, the things I just shared may shock you. May seem icredibly out of character for me. Well...that's the point I guess. I don't know who my character is anymore. I don't want to be who I always was. I don't dislike who I have been, I just want to try something new. And I'm not sure how. The choices I have made have been different certainly, but have not felt like truly me. I need desperately to know if there is something out there that I just have not found yet that truly defines who I am. That's all.)
So...those are some of my idle musings. Don't think any less of me.
In my wakefulness, I have been attempting, of course, to answer the deeper questions of life. Well, my life anyway. The theme for this semester seems to be the ever unreachable "Who am I?"
Am I one who is quiet? Or outgoing? Do I like to party? Or is it more fun to be sober? Are one night stands my thing? Or do I want something more substantial? Should I make the same friends I had in high school? Or am I a different person than I was then? How do I dress? What do I say? How do I spend my free time? Am I good at balancing? Am I bad at letting go of a lost cause? Do I give out second chances too easily? Doesn't everyone deserve another chance? And another and another? Do I deserve a second chance? Should I be more involved with the people on my hall? Do I want to hang around people who are stoned? Do I want to try being stoned? Is that who I am? Must I depend on an external substance to enjoy myself? No. I don't think that's who I am.
I used to be quiet. Couldn't even stand the idea of being at a drunken party, much less high. I dont' regret trying drinking. I dont' beleive in regrets. The only thing I regret I don't think I would actually change if I could. I would let him hurt me all over again just to have the experience. One night stands are not my thing. Two made me feel disgusting, the third broke my heart. No more of that.
(For some of my readers, the things I just shared may shock you. May seem icredibly out of character for me. Well...that's the point I guess. I don't know who my character is anymore. I don't want to be who I always was. I don't dislike who I have been, I just want to try something new. And I'm not sure how. The choices I have made have been different certainly, but have not felt like truly me. I need desperately to know if there is something out there that I just have not found yet that truly defines who I am. That's all.)
So...those are some of my idle musings. Don't think any less of me.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Eheh..
So posting regularly has clearly not happened. Sorry. Last week sucked hard core. Not going there. It's over.
This week has so far been nice. Monday in gym we did a hard core ab workout while listening to Ben Folds :) Love Ben Folds. He is actually coming to play at Brandeis, but I won't be able to see the concert because that's the only night I will be able to see A Chorus Line. Since I hung lights for Chorus, I figure I should go see it maybe.
Yes, I was so desperate for contact with a theatre that I learned how to hang lights. Let me tell you, fun stuff. For short periods of time. It's cool though. A lot of responsibility. If I had dropped one of those SUPER expensive lights, well, you get the idea. It's pretty straightforward work. I mean, I didn't design the plot so it was basically, "Hillary, put that source 4 HERE." Yeah. Easy easy.
This morning I had The Search for Identities in Modern Drama (my seminar class that read Spring Awakening forever ago). We just finished wiht Death of a Salesman (Streetcar Named Desire before that). As part of our discussion of the play, we had to get up in front of the class and talk for a minute about something we were passionate about. I talked about getting out of WV. I mean, it kind of drives me. Most peopel talked about art or music (one girl talked about Justin Timberlake). Anyway, since there are only like 8 of us and most of us live in Massell Quad, we all walk back together. This kid Mik said he thought it was cool that I had such a drive to get out and that I in fact DID. He is from upstate NY and says the same sort of stuck-ness exists there. We railed on country music for awhile, then we parted ways. Nice conversation. I absolutely love the kids in that class. Everyone is willing to lay themselves bare for our discussions. Awesome.
I got a care package from my friend Rebecca's mom :) That was SO nice of her!! I feel so loved <3 (that's a heart). <(") is a pengiun. Yeah. Fo sho.
Bye!
This week has so far been nice. Monday in gym we did a hard core ab workout while listening to Ben Folds :) Love Ben Folds. He is actually coming to play at Brandeis, but I won't be able to see the concert because that's the only night I will be able to see A Chorus Line. Since I hung lights for Chorus, I figure I should go see it maybe.
Yes, I was so desperate for contact with a theatre that I learned how to hang lights. Let me tell you, fun stuff. For short periods of time. It's cool though. A lot of responsibility. If I had dropped one of those SUPER expensive lights, well, you get the idea. It's pretty straightforward work. I mean, I didn't design the plot so it was basically, "Hillary, put that source 4 HERE." Yeah. Easy easy.
This morning I had The Search for Identities in Modern Drama (my seminar class that read Spring Awakening forever ago). We just finished wiht Death of a Salesman (Streetcar Named Desire before that). As part of our discussion of the play, we had to get up in front of the class and talk for a minute about something we were passionate about. I talked about getting out of WV. I mean, it kind of drives me. Most peopel talked about art or music (one girl talked about Justin Timberlake). Anyway, since there are only like 8 of us and most of us live in Massell Quad, we all walk back together. This kid Mik said he thought it was cool that I had such a drive to get out and that I in fact DID. He is from upstate NY and says the same sort of stuck-ness exists there. We railed on country music for awhile, then we parted ways. Nice conversation. I absolutely love the kids in that class. Everyone is willing to lay themselves bare for our discussions. Awesome.
I got a care package from my friend Rebecca's mom :) That was SO nice of her!! I feel so loved <3 (that's a heart). <(") is a pengiun. Yeah. Fo sho.
Bye!
Monday, October 19, 2009
In other news, I was a Cat in a previous Life
True story. I just sat in our lounge in the window seat. It's wooden and pretty uncomfortable, but when I sit there I get all of the sun and none of the cold. It's one of my favorite places on campus.
Anyway, I have been horribly unfaithful to this blog. Sorry. I will attempt to bring you all up to speed on my life.
I think the first noteworthy thing I can tell you about it the Karuna School discusison I went to. Karuna is a sanskrit word that means compassion. The idea behind the Karuna school is that it would be a peace high school. They would teach students to be better in tune with themselves, their emotions, and the world around them. It has a very Buddhist base, which was one of the things we discussed (whether or not that would put people off the school). I was one of five undergrad students present at the discussion. It was completely voluntary, and it was for my Gordie Fellman class. PS, I think he knows my name now (!). The Karuna people wanted younger students there who remembered high school more clearly so we could talk about what was good and bad about our high school experiences. I talked about G (world's most awesome theatre teacher, for all you noobs out there) and how wonderful my theatre class was. G gave us so much control over our productions. That was one of the things the Karuna people liked;giving students a hand in their educaiton. I feel like the Karuna school discussion was one of the reasons I went to college. Being in a room full of people young and old who are determined to change the status quo. It was really neat.
Moving on...Friday my War and Possibilities of Peace class had an Israeli soldier as a guest speaker. It was one of the most intense discussions I have ever been a part of. The guy, Ben, was a sergeant and he was 29. My only experience wiht anyone in the military is my friend Alex who most of you know is in basic training for the army. So when Ben started talking abuot these young boys who are being asked to go fight and die to protect their homes, I was tearing up. Then Ben opened the class up for questions. EXPLOSION. Well first of all, before any discussions of Israel/Palestine are opened at Brandeis, the moderator has to remind people to stay civil. With so many Jews and Israelis on our campus, people get very heated about this topic. So it was probably a bad idea to have a soldier in a peace class, but the discussion was fascinating. If terrifying. There were at least 4 Israelis in the class and two of them were in tears and between them and Gordie, Ben had it coming from all sides. Gordie jumped down his throat, and the whole class is anti-war. I don't feel like I know enough to state an opinion, so I was just caught in the emotional rollercoaster. Soooooo intense.
The weekend doesn't bear mentioning. It's over.
If anyone needs a good read, try Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. SO GOOD. And it's short. Very Buddhist. Very AWESOME.
Love to all!!!
Anyway, I have been horribly unfaithful to this blog. Sorry. I will attempt to bring you all up to speed on my life.
I think the first noteworthy thing I can tell you about it the Karuna School discusison I went to. Karuna is a sanskrit word that means compassion. The idea behind the Karuna school is that it would be a peace high school. They would teach students to be better in tune with themselves, their emotions, and the world around them. It has a very Buddhist base, which was one of the things we discussed (whether or not that would put people off the school). I was one of five undergrad students present at the discussion. It was completely voluntary, and it was for my Gordie Fellman class. PS, I think he knows my name now (!). The Karuna people wanted younger students there who remembered high school more clearly so we could talk about what was good and bad about our high school experiences. I talked about G (world's most awesome theatre teacher, for all you noobs out there) and how wonderful my theatre class was. G gave us so much control over our productions. That was one of the things the Karuna people liked;giving students a hand in their educaiton. I feel like the Karuna school discussion was one of the reasons I went to college. Being in a room full of people young and old who are determined to change the status quo. It was really neat.
Moving on...Friday my War and Possibilities of Peace class had an Israeli soldier as a guest speaker. It was one of the most intense discussions I have ever been a part of. The guy, Ben, was a sergeant and he was 29. My only experience wiht anyone in the military is my friend Alex who most of you know is in basic training for the army. So when Ben started talking abuot these young boys who are being asked to go fight and die to protect their homes, I was tearing up. Then Ben opened the class up for questions. EXPLOSION. Well first of all, before any discussions of Israel/Palestine are opened at Brandeis, the moderator has to remind people to stay civil. With so many Jews and Israelis on our campus, people get very heated about this topic. So it was probably a bad idea to have a soldier in a peace class, but the discussion was fascinating. If terrifying. There were at least 4 Israelis in the class and two of them were in tears and between them and Gordie, Ben had it coming from all sides. Gordie jumped down his throat, and the whole class is anti-war. I don't feel like I know enough to state an opinion, so I was just caught in the emotional rollercoaster. Soooooo intense.
The weekend doesn't bear mentioning. It's over.
If anyone needs a good read, try Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. SO GOOD. And it's short. Very Buddhist. Very AWESOME.
Love to all!!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Hmm
So I am feeling vaguely poetic. Let's see if anything comes of it ('stead of my old sh**)
Sitting outside
At night
The air is cool
It passes through my lungs
Easily
As only the sharp air of autumn and winter can
I look up
Expecting to see the stars
Stars are, to me, the most vital feature
Of the night sky
Yet my searching eyes,
Those circular lenses that shape the world,
Can see nothing
Save darkness
And the artificial light that comes from
A streetlamp.
No stars.
Where can I be
That there are no stars to brighten
The night?
Lost?
No.
I am where I should be.
And yet...
Why does the world seem darker
In this place where I
Know I belong?
No stars...
~So yeah, that's me being vaguely poetic. I'm really not unhappy, I just kind of miss stars (obviously). But light pollution is a small price to pay for being so close to BOSTON. Gotta love it. Really.
Peace!
Sitting outside
At night
The air is cool
It passes through my lungs
Easily
As only the sharp air of autumn and winter can
I look up
Expecting to see the stars
Stars are, to me, the most vital feature
Of the night sky
Yet my searching eyes,
Those circular lenses that shape the world,
Can see nothing
Save darkness
And the artificial light that comes from
A streetlamp.
No stars.
Where can I be
That there are no stars to brighten
The night?
Lost?
No.
I am where I should be.
And yet...
Why does the world seem darker
In this place where I
Know I belong?
No stars...
~So yeah, that's me being vaguely poetic. I'm really not unhappy, I just kind of miss stars (obviously). But light pollution is a small price to pay for being so close to BOSTON. Gotta love it. Really.
Peace!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
A Night on Renfield 1
So I am going to describe for you a typical night on my hall.
Before we even get to the hall, everyone meets up at Usdan dining hall for dinner usually around 6:30 or 7 depending on who has what classes when. So we all eat together, then walk back; complaining (depending on the night) about how cold it is outside. And usually talking about the opposite sex and problems thereof.
We get back to the hall. Some nights we go straight to Trevor's room (that's where it's at. we all love Trevor's room) and sit on his bed, or floor, or chair, or whatever. And we talk. And try to do homework. And end up watching ridiculous youtube videos and randomly muttering about the work we should be doing.
Last night Milo, Michal, Trishna and I all watched Glee (a FOX show about a high school show choir starring Spring Awakening's Lea Michelle..last night guest starring Wicked's Kristen (fucking!) Chenoweth) in our room. It was fantastic.
Then, as per usual, we all migrate to the lounge. Again , various stages of doing and not doing and procrastinating on homework. We distract each other...but ultimately can get work done if need be. There is always a lot of laughter, several near mental break downs, and more nudity than would be allowed in a PG movie. Also more swearing. Welcome to the liberal arts.
Last night we decided to randomly order Chinese food at midnight. No joke. Asia Wok delivers right to the door of Renfield. So we had a Chinese food party until like 1:30 am. I love college! Then some people decided to go to bed, while others (myself and Trishna key among them) decided to stay up a bit longer. She and I talked for a little while, then this other girl on our floor came into the lounge and we started talking about our War and Possibilities of Peace class, which invariably led to watching Gordie Fellman destroy O'Reilly. Then we had a heated discussion about how the US never should have retailiated the way it did for 9/11 and how the plan was in place for this war looooong before that attack. The government just needed a catalyst. We were literally, the three of us, sitting in the lounge yelling emphatically at each other. Saying the same thing, but so eager to be able to say it. In high school, those things could not be spoken as loudly as they can be said here. Trishna said she actually got yelled at for being un-American when she criticized Bush's desicion to enter Iraq. then the three of us started talking about how voicing dissent is the most American thing you can do! We live in a democracy that we fought hard to obtain! Raise your voice! If the colonists hadn't, we would all still be BRITS!
So that was that. Then Trishna and I had to shut up everyone in the hall so we could sneak into our room without waking Ilana. I fell asleep happy. This is exactly the environment I dreamed of when applying for colleges. No sleep, surrounded by people completely dedicated to their studies, and not ignorant of the world around them!
(PS That was only a summary of the discussion in the lounge. There were many more excellent points made.)
Love you guys!
Before we even get to the hall, everyone meets up at Usdan dining hall for dinner usually around 6:30 or 7 depending on who has what classes when. So we all eat together, then walk back; complaining (depending on the night) about how cold it is outside. And usually talking about the opposite sex and problems thereof.
We get back to the hall. Some nights we go straight to Trevor's room (that's where it's at. we all love Trevor's room) and sit on his bed, or floor, or chair, or whatever. And we talk. And try to do homework. And end up watching ridiculous youtube videos and randomly muttering about the work we should be doing.
Last night Milo, Michal, Trishna and I all watched Glee (a FOX show about a high school show choir starring Spring Awakening's Lea Michelle..last night guest starring Wicked's Kristen (fucking!) Chenoweth) in our room. It was fantastic.
Then, as per usual, we all migrate to the lounge. Again , various stages of doing and not doing and procrastinating on homework. We distract each other...but ultimately can get work done if need be. There is always a lot of laughter, several near mental break downs, and more nudity than would be allowed in a PG movie. Also more swearing. Welcome to the liberal arts.
Last night we decided to randomly order Chinese food at midnight. No joke. Asia Wok delivers right to the door of Renfield. So we had a Chinese food party until like 1:30 am. I love college! Then some people decided to go to bed, while others (myself and Trishna key among them) decided to stay up a bit longer. She and I talked for a little while, then this other girl on our floor came into the lounge and we started talking about our War and Possibilities of Peace class, which invariably led to watching Gordie Fellman destroy O'Reilly. Then we had a heated discussion about how the US never should have retailiated the way it did for 9/11 and how the plan was in place for this war looooong before that attack. The government just needed a catalyst. We were literally, the three of us, sitting in the lounge yelling emphatically at each other. Saying the same thing, but so eager to be able to say it. In high school, those things could not be spoken as loudly as they can be said here. Trishna said she actually got yelled at for being un-American when she criticized Bush's desicion to enter Iraq. then the three of us started talking about how voicing dissent is the most American thing you can do! We live in a democracy that we fought hard to obtain! Raise your voice! If the colonists hadn't, we would all still be BRITS!
So that was that. Then Trishna and I had to shut up everyone in the hall so we could sneak into our room without waking Ilana. I fell asleep happy. This is exactly the environment I dreamed of when applying for colleges. No sleep, surrounded by people completely dedicated to their studies, and not ignorant of the world around them!
(PS That was only a summary of the discussion in the lounge. There were many more excellent points made.)
Love you guys!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Deaf Like Me
Ok, so my mom asked me to post one of my papers. This one I had to write for Bio and Culture of Deafness about the book Deaf Like Me. I don't think its the best thing I've ever written, but I got it back yesterday with an A and the following comments from the professor, "Hillary, this is an excellent paper. You have a fluid, mature writing style and you communicate your ideas and thoughts very well. The summary is clear; the description of sensorineural hearing loss is easy to read and understand; and your reaction very frank and honest. Well done. "
Without further ado, please enjoy my paper.
BISC 7A Paper #1
Summary of Deaf like Me
Louise and Thomas Spradley are a fairly average American couple. They are young, married, and have one child, Bruce, and they of course love him deeply. One summer, Bruce becomes ill with German measles, or rubella. Just a few days before this diagnosis, Louise discovered that she was pregnant. The doctor tells her that contracting rubella while pregnant could lead to various congenital defects in the newborn. The indefinite quality of this warning serves as the material for Louise and Thomas’s nightmares for the next nine months.
When Lynn Spradley is finally born, she appears to be a perfectly normal and healthy child. She has no physical deformities, nor any noticeable mental deficiencies. Louise and Thomas are hesitantly relieved. Thomas admits in the book to having still lingering fears for months to come. However Lynn continues to grow and develop in a perfectly healthy manner. Gradually, her parents stop living in fear. They relax; secure in the love of their newest child.
Around the time Lynn reaches the age of six months, she and her family attend a Fourth of July celebration. As is typical of these events, there were fireworks. Characteristic of a child her age, Lynn fell asleep before the festivities started. When the fireworks started exploding, Thomas expected Lynn to wake. She did not. Nor did she start at all in reaction to the thunderous sounds. She slept soundly on. This was the first time Thomas and Louise suspected their daughter might be deaf.
After a barrage of tests and the passage of close to two years, it was determined that Lynn had a profound hearing loss. The next years were spent attempting to train Lynn’s residual hearing though use of a hearing aid. Another component to this approach was the efforts spent trying to get Lynn to talk. Louise and Thomas were led to believe that the only way Lynn could be a functioning part of society was if she was able to talk and lip read.
Years passed. Lynn’s residual hearing was next to useless in helping her to communicate. She was able to lip read many words, but not nearly enough. And she was able to articulate only a handful. She was completely isolated from everything and everyone because she had no way to communicate. This led to her constant frustration, which in turn forced her parents into dealing with her tantrums. The situation seemed next to hopeless.
Then Thomas met a group of deaf adults. These people were able to communicate with one another and with select hearing people. These adults were fluent in American Sign Language. Through ASL, deaf people were able to converse just as easily as hearing people. While the Spradleys had been led to believe since the diagnosis of Lynn’s hearing loss that learning to sign would isolate her; the opposite was true. When Louise and Thomas taught Lynn to sign and learned to sign themselves, a whole new world was opened up to her. Now she could clearly communicate what she wanted. No longer did she have to be frustrated by her own silence and the silence of those around her. By learning sign language, Lynn was given a way to tell the world what she wanted. American Sign Language gave Lynn a voice, and a life of her own.
Biological Explanation of Lynn Spradley’s Deafness
Lynn Spradley was diagnosed at 18 months with a profound sensorineural hearing loss. While her parents suspected that she might be deaf or hearing impaired at an earlier age, no definite diagnosis could be reached before Lynn was old enough to respond effectively to tests. Testing is typically done at around age two. Lynn’s early test age was no doubt due to the persistence of her parents. They wanted to know the exact details of their daughter’s hearing loss so they could learn what to do about it.
Unfortunately, there is typically very little that can be done about a hearing loss as serious as Lynn’s. By definition, a profound loss means that the individual has lost 90 or more decibels of hearing. This kind of deafness renders the person almost completely without the ability to process sound. Only the lowest noises register, even with the use of a hearing aid. A profound hearing loss is the most intense. The other classifications are mild, moderate, and severe. They are fairly self explanatory when viewed in context.
The sensorineural component to Lynn’s loss is rather complicated. Sensorineural is an inner ear hearing loss. The damage is found in the cochlea, a spiral-shaped organ in the deepest recesses of the human ear. The cochlea is filled with fluid that responds to sounds that come from the middle and outer ear. The movement of said fluid forces the numerous tiny hair cells into motion. These hair cells are essential for the hearing process. People with sensorineural hearing losses have somehow obtained damage to the hair cells. Thus, any sound that is received is distorted. This makes speech next to impossible, even with the help of a hearing aid.
Various things can cause damage to the hair cells. Loud noises (the bass at a rock concert, the sound of a gunshot, etc) can cause the hairs to fall limp. An illness can have the same effect. The illness can be contracted by the individual postpartum, or, as in Lynn’s case, while the child is in the womb. Louise Spradley, Lynn’s mother, had rubella while she was pregnant. This led to Lynn’s condition.
The combination of profound and sensorineural makes a hearing loss that is very difficult to improve upon. The profound component means that Lynn can hear only certain loud, low sounds to begin with. The sensorineural aspect garbles those sounds. The conclusion, even if a hearing aid can train Lynn’s residual hearing enough to enable her to discern her parents’ voices, she will not be able to understand what they are saying to her.
The remedies for a hearing loss like Lynn’s are, as previously stated, difficult to come by. Hearing aids can only do so much. There is new research into cochlear implants, but the controversy surrounding the issue is too great for the moment. As of right now, the main ‘cure’ for a child like Lynn is to teach her to lip read and to sign. Those things gave her the ability to communicate with the world around her.
Reaction to Deaf like Me
I was not planning on enjoying this book. I assumed it would be another one of those books assigned for class that would be interesting, but not especially intriguing. I was wrong. Plain and simple. From the first page, Deaf like Me had me enthralled. I waited anxiously with Louise and Thomas during the nine months of pregnancy. I was happy, but still nervous when Lynn was born physically normal. I, as the reader of a book about a deaf child, had the advantage of knowing what was coming. It didn’t help. I was still devastated when it was revealed how serious Lynn’s hearing loss was.
I was amazed by the processes involved in testing for hearing loss. I did not know, for example, that every deaf individual has some level of hearing. I assumed that deaf meant deaf. The levels of hearing impairment are much more varied and distinct than I had previously thought. I was impressed by the Spradleys’ determination to discern the exact details of Lynn’s impairment. I feel like most parents would have given up at ‘deaf’. Louise and Thomas stayed dedicated to Lynn through the entire process. Yet they also did not neglect their other child. They were as attentive to Lynn as they needed to be, and they were still loving parents to Bruce.
Throughout the book, I was completely drawn in. The long and seemingly futile attempts to teach Lynn to lip read and to speak were fascinatingly heartbreaking. I understood the thought process behind teaching Lynn to communicate through speech and was on board with the pure oral approach, I just gradually came to understand how difficult a task that was. I did not realize how much effort had to go into teaching a child what slight variations in lip movement corresponded to what object. Lynn was lucky to have parents who were so patient. It is truly amazing the amount of hard work they put into helping her. They literally had to rearrange their lives every time Lynn graduated from a lower level school. Thomas and Louise were constantly researching the latest innovations surrounding hearing losses so that they could provide Lynn with the most effective level of care. As learners and teachers, they were open to anything and everything that could help Lynn assimilate into a society that could be forever foreign to her.
The length of time devoted to the pure oral approach was disheartening, especially once it was revealed how few children are actually successful. I at first thought the idea made sense. Given how afraid our society is of people who appear obviously different, it was completely plausible that Lynn’s only chance of assimilating was to learn how to blend in. However, as the years passed and Lynn’s language did not improve, I, like the Spradleys, began to wonder if she would ever talk. True stories occasionally do not have the happy, inspirational endings found in fiction.
Then Louise and Thomas met the deaf couple. I have to say, after pages and pages of learning how awful sign language was, I was not overly excited for Lynn to resort to gestures. That was one thing I disliked about the book, how prejudiced it tried to make me against deaf signers. American Sign Language is not a primitive form of communication. It is a unique language that enables people who were for so long isolated to be able to interact. When Lynn first signed “I love you” to her parents, I was choking up. For so long their dream had been to hear her voice. Really, all they wanted was to hear her thoughts.
Signing opened up the world for Lynn. I thought it was so amazing that she picked up the signs so fast. It took years to teach her to say a few words. Yet teaching her sign language took weeks if that. She learned so much more quickly than her parents. I guess this is just a testament to how truly flexible a young mind is. With this new ability to actually communicate what she wants from people around her, Lynn is able to lead a normal life. Thomas’s realization that giving in to sign language was not forever barring Lynn from ‘normalcy’ was a fundamental turning point in her life and in the message of the book. Normal is a fluid concept. Normal should not be defined as being exactly like everyone else; it should instead be however a person is most comfortable and able to make their voice heard.
Without further ado, please enjoy my paper.
BISC 7A Paper #1
Summary of Deaf like Me
Louise and Thomas Spradley are a fairly average American couple. They are young, married, and have one child, Bruce, and they of course love him deeply. One summer, Bruce becomes ill with German measles, or rubella. Just a few days before this diagnosis, Louise discovered that she was pregnant. The doctor tells her that contracting rubella while pregnant could lead to various congenital defects in the newborn. The indefinite quality of this warning serves as the material for Louise and Thomas’s nightmares for the next nine months.
When Lynn Spradley is finally born, she appears to be a perfectly normal and healthy child. She has no physical deformities, nor any noticeable mental deficiencies. Louise and Thomas are hesitantly relieved. Thomas admits in the book to having still lingering fears for months to come. However Lynn continues to grow and develop in a perfectly healthy manner. Gradually, her parents stop living in fear. They relax; secure in the love of their newest child.
Around the time Lynn reaches the age of six months, she and her family attend a Fourth of July celebration. As is typical of these events, there were fireworks. Characteristic of a child her age, Lynn fell asleep before the festivities started. When the fireworks started exploding, Thomas expected Lynn to wake. She did not. Nor did she start at all in reaction to the thunderous sounds. She slept soundly on. This was the first time Thomas and Louise suspected their daughter might be deaf.
After a barrage of tests and the passage of close to two years, it was determined that Lynn had a profound hearing loss. The next years were spent attempting to train Lynn’s residual hearing though use of a hearing aid. Another component to this approach was the efforts spent trying to get Lynn to talk. Louise and Thomas were led to believe that the only way Lynn could be a functioning part of society was if she was able to talk and lip read.
Years passed. Lynn’s residual hearing was next to useless in helping her to communicate. She was able to lip read many words, but not nearly enough. And she was able to articulate only a handful. She was completely isolated from everything and everyone because she had no way to communicate. This led to her constant frustration, which in turn forced her parents into dealing with her tantrums. The situation seemed next to hopeless.
Then Thomas met a group of deaf adults. These people were able to communicate with one another and with select hearing people. These adults were fluent in American Sign Language. Through ASL, deaf people were able to converse just as easily as hearing people. While the Spradleys had been led to believe since the diagnosis of Lynn’s hearing loss that learning to sign would isolate her; the opposite was true. When Louise and Thomas taught Lynn to sign and learned to sign themselves, a whole new world was opened up to her. Now she could clearly communicate what she wanted. No longer did she have to be frustrated by her own silence and the silence of those around her. By learning sign language, Lynn was given a way to tell the world what she wanted. American Sign Language gave Lynn a voice, and a life of her own.
Biological Explanation of Lynn Spradley’s Deafness
Lynn Spradley was diagnosed at 18 months with a profound sensorineural hearing loss. While her parents suspected that she might be deaf or hearing impaired at an earlier age, no definite diagnosis could be reached before Lynn was old enough to respond effectively to tests. Testing is typically done at around age two. Lynn’s early test age was no doubt due to the persistence of her parents. They wanted to know the exact details of their daughter’s hearing loss so they could learn what to do about it.
Unfortunately, there is typically very little that can be done about a hearing loss as serious as Lynn’s. By definition, a profound loss means that the individual has lost 90 or more decibels of hearing. This kind of deafness renders the person almost completely without the ability to process sound. Only the lowest noises register, even with the use of a hearing aid. A profound hearing loss is the most intense. The other classifications are mild, moderate, and severe. They are fairly self explanatory when viewed in context.
The sensorineural component to Lynn’s loss is rather complicated. Sensorineural is an inner ear hearing loss. The damage is found in the cochlea, a spiral-shaped organ in the deepest recesses of the human ear. The cochlea is filled with fluid that responds to sounds that come from the middle and outer ear. The movement of said fluid forces the numerous tiny hair cells into motion. These hair cells are essential for the hearing process. People with sensorineural hearing losses have somehow obtained damage to the hair cells. Thus, any sound that is received is distorted. This makes speech next to impossible, even with the help of a hearing aid.
Various things can cause damage to the hair cells. Loud noises (the bass at a rock concert, the sound of a gunshot, etc) can cause the hairs to fall limp. An illness can have the same effect. The illness can be contracted by the individual postpartum, or, as in Lynn’s case, while the child is in the womb. Louise Spradley, Lynn’s mother, had rubella while she was pregnant. This led to Lynn’s condition.
The combination of profound and sensorineural makes a hearing loss that is very difficult to improve upon. The profound component means that Lynn can hear only certain loud, low sounds to begin with. The sensorineural aspect garbles those sounds. The conclusion, even if a hearing aid can train Lynn’s residual hearing enough to enable her to discern her parents’ voices, she will not be able to understand what they are saying to her.
The remedies for a hearing loss like Lynn’s are, as previously stated, difficult to come by. Hearing aids can only do so much. There is new research into cochlear implants, but the controversy surrounding the issue is too great for the moment. As of right now, the main ‘cure’ for a child like Lynn is to teach her to lip read and to sign. Those things gave her the ability to communicate with the world around her.
Reaction to Deaf like Me
I was not planning on enjoying this book. I assumed it would be another one of those books assigned for class that would be interesting, but not especially intriguing. I was wrong. Plain and simple. From the first page, Deaf like Me had me enthralled. I waited anxiously with Louise and Thomas during the nine months of pregnancy. I was happy, but still nervous when Lynn was born physically normal. I, as the reader of a book about a deaf child, had the advantage of knowing what was coming. It didn’t help. I was still devastated when it was revealed how serious Lynn’s hearing loss was.
I was amazed by the processes involved in testing for hearing loss. I did not know, for example, that every deaf individual has some level of hearing. I assumed that deaf meant deaf. The levels of hearing impairment are much more varied and distinct than I had previously thought. I was impressed by the Spradleys’ determination to discern the exact details of Lynn’s impairment. I feel like most parents would have given up at ‘deaf’. Louise and Thomas stayed dedicated to Lynn through the entire process. Yet they also did not neglect their other child. They were as attentive to Lynn as they needed to be, and they were still loving parents to Bruce.
Throughout the book, I was completely drawn in. The long and seemingly futile attempts to teach Lynn to lip read and to speak were fascinatingly heartbreaking. I understood the thought process behind teaching Lynn to communicate through speech and was on board with the pure oral approach, I just gradually came to understand how difficult a task that was. I did not realize how much effort had to go into teaching a child what slight variations in lip movement corresponded to what object. Lynn was lucky to have parents who were so patient. It is truly amazing the amount of hard work they put into helping her. They literally had to rearrange their lives every time Lynn graduated from a lower level school. Thomas and Louise were constantly researching the latest innovations surrounding hearing losses so that they could provide Lynn with the most effective level of care. As learners and teachers, they were open to anything and everything that could help Lynn assimilate into a society that could be forever foreign to her.
The length of time devoted to the pure oral approach was disheartening, especially once it was revealed how few children are actually successful. I at first thought the idea made sense. Given how afraid our society is of people who appear obviously different, it was completely plausible that Lynn’s only chance of assimilating was to learn how to blend in. However, as the years passed and Lynn’s language did not improve, I, like the Spradleys, began to wonder if she would ever talk. True stories occasionally do not have the happy, inspirational endings found in fiction.
Then Louise and Thomas met the deaf couple. I have to say, after pages and pages of learning how awful sign language was, I was not overly excited for Lynn to resort to gestures. That was one thing I disliked about the book, how prejudiced it tried to make me against deaf signers. American Sign Language is not a primitive form of communication. It is a unique language that enables people who were for so long isolated to be able to interact. When Lynn first signed “I love you” to her parents, I was choking up. For so long their dream had been to hear her voice. Really, all they wanted was to hear her thoughts.
Signing opened up the world for Lynn. I thought it was so amazing that she picked up the signs so fast. It took years to teach her to say a few words. Yet teaching her sign language took weeks if that. She learned so much more quickly than her parents. I guess this is just a testament to how truly flexible a young mind is. With this new ability to actually communicate what she wants from people around her, Lynn is able to lead a normal life. Thomas’s realization that giving in to sign language was not forever barring Lynn from ‘normalcy’ was a fundamental turning point in her life and in the message of the book. Normal is a fluid concept. Normal should not be defined as being exactly like everyone else; it should instead be however a person is most comfortable and able to make their voice heard.
You Know You're at a Dork School When (Pt. 2)
1. Anyone anywhere anytime can make a Harry Potter reference and EVERYONE IN THE ROOM GETS IT.
Seriously, (Siriously), somebody said they were EXPECTANT, and everyone yelled EXPECTO PATRONUM!
I have never seen more Harry Potter shirts in one place before. No lie.
2. A weekend can feasibly be killed studying. And no one finds this odd or lame.
Some things I can't even tell you because you will all think less of me :) Ask me in person. I might divulge. Might.
Oh, 3. People see my Robert Frost book and get REALLY honestly excited.
4. People talk about Romeo and Juliet and The Importance of Being Earnest while completely wasted.
5. I know I've said it before, but it still holds: People get honestly excited about their classes. It is completely legit to ramble about a class for like 20 mintes. It's considered cool. :)
Sorry I don't have time for more, but I have classss!!
PS I got an A on my first paper. I will try to remember to post it later.
Seriously, (Siriously), somebody said they were EXPECTANT, and everyone yelled EXPECTO PATRONUM!
I have never seen more Harry Potter shirts in one place before. No lie.
2. A weekend can feasibly be killed studying. And no one finds this odd or lame.
Some things I can't even tell you because you will all think less of me :) Ask me in person. I might divulge. Might.
Oh, 3. People see my Robert Frost book and get REALLY honestly excited.
4. People talk about Romeo and Juliet and The Importance of Being Earnest while completely wasted.
5. I know I've said it before, but it still holds: People get honestly excited about their classes. It is completely legit to ramble about a class for like 20 mintes. It's considered cool. :)
Sorry I don't have time for more, but I have classss!!
PS I got an A on my first paper. I will try to remember to post it later.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Comments
I also think I fixed the commenting issue. I think anyone should be able to comment now. Let me know if it worked.
Challenge
So I tried to post a video on here, but after much fruitless trying, it didn't work. But I love the video and want you all to try to watch it. So here is the challenge.
1. Go to youtube.com
2. Where is says Search type "Gordon Fellman O'Reilly Factor"-it's not case sensitive, so it actually does not matter what you capitalize.
3. Click on the first video.
4. Press Play
5. Watch video.
This is a vid o fthe professor of my War and Possibilites of Peace professor on the O'Reilly factor when he was younger. He clearly dominates O'Reilly. Clearly. No competition. At all. The professor is still just as awesome as he was then. He is one of the Brandeis celebs. He has legit groupies. I am considering becoming one of them. When we watched this video clip in class, everyone literally started cheering at one point. If you can't make the video play, I will help out at Thanksgiving. Or ask Jesse. I am sure he is Youtube efficient.
Love to all!
1. Go to youtube.com
2. Where is says Search type "Gordon Fellman O'Reilly Factor"-it's not case sensitive, so it actually does not matter what you capitalize.
3. Click on the first video.
4. Press Play
5. Watch video.
This is a vid o fthe professor of my War and Possibilites of Peace professor on the O'Reilly factor when he was younger. He clearly dominates O'Reilly. Clearly. No competition. At all. The professor is still just as awesome as he was then. He is one of the Brandeis celebs. He has legit groupies. I am considering becoming one of them. When we watched this video clip in class, everyone literally started cheering at one point. If you can't make the video play, I will help out at Thanksgiving. Or ask Jesse. I am sure he is Youtube efficient.
Love to all!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Jonas Brothers?
Haha yes. Trishna and I are listening to the Jonas Brothers, singing along, and facebook chatting the lyrics to each other. Yes. We are sitting in the same room. Instant messaging. We are SO cool :) I actually despise the Jonas brothers because they are marketed simply because they are cute. But boy are they cute. And thier songs are annoyingly catchy. I'm having fun. As per usual.
I have been pretty stressed recently just because there is a lot of homework. Or there was. I turned in two papers yesterday, so I have been riding a weird high all night and much of this morning. Haha let' s just say there was skipping involved. And bouncing on Trevor's bed. Fun stuff. Then I sat in the lounge and impeded Robbie in his attempts to learn linear algebra (not Robbie from home obviously. new Robbie.). He probably was close to hitting me with a textbook. Hehe.
On a less fun note, roommmate conflicts are escalating. Yay. But Trishna is going home this weekend, so we will all get some time away from each other. Because I don't plan on spending much time in the room, and Ilana will be busy with Yom Kippur festivities. Are there Yom Kippur festivities? OR is it not such a fun thing? I guess I will fidn out. Campus is going to be DEAD this weekend. Everyone is going home. I invited my friend Anthony from MIT (yes, I DO have a friend from MIT!) to come hang out, but he will be in Provincetown (yes, please pick up on that). Saad.
Oh, so I met Anthony and his friend Ruth at the Quizbowl scrimmage at MIT. Quizbowl is like the Academic Team I was on in high school. Jeopardy style trivia game. It's really fun. The three teams were Brandeis, MIT, and Harvard. Harvard kicked our asses. As the MIT team said, Harvard was fun to watch. And the kids were kind of bitchy. Elitist snobs :P All Boston area schools hate Harvard. Not jealousy. They are all pompous and rather jerky. Anyway, after round one of the game, we were given a lunch break. Anthony and I had been making faces at each other through the first round at all the questions that were RIDICULOUS and unanswerable. So we chatted a bit then he and his friend Ruth were going to go get lunch in Boston and I went with them. It was so fun! So now Anthony and I are friends on Facebook and we talk all the time :) And I have an MIT friend! SCORE!
What else? Oh, mom wants me to post a few of the papers I have written. I will, just not now because I have Bio and Culture of Deafness in like 20 minutes which means I should start leaving. it takes about 10 minutes to walk to Rabb and a few extra minutes to talk to people and gather books and such.
OOH! Random side note, Alex called today! For those of you who don't know, Alex is my friend who is in basic training for the army. It's always nice to talk to him.
Ok, I think I am done for now. Talk to ya later!
I have been pretty stressed recently just because there is a lot of homework. Or there was. I turned in two papers yesterday, so I have been riding a weird high all night and much of this morning. Haha let' s just say there was skipping involved. And bouncing on Trevor's bed. Fun stuff. Then I sat in the lounge and impeded Robbie in his attempts to learn linear algebra (not Robbie from home obviously. new Robbie.). He probably was close to hitting me with a textbook. Hehe.
On a less fun note, roommmate conflicts are escalating. Yay. But Trishna is going home this weekend, so we will all get some time away from each other. Because I don't plan on spending much time in the room, and Ilana will be busy with Yom Kippur festivities. Are there Yom Kippur festivities? OR is it not such a fun thing? I guess I will fidn out. Campus is going to be DEAD this weekend. Everyone is going home. I invited my friend Anthony from MIT (yes, I DO have a friend from MIT!) to come hang out, but he will be in Provincetown (yes, please pick up on that). Saad.
Oh, so I met Anthony and his friend Ruth at the Quizbowl scrimmage at MIT. Quizbowl is like the Academic Team I was on in high school. Jeopardy style trivia game. It's really fun. The three teams were Brandeis, MIT, and Harvard. Harvard kicked our asses. As the MIT team said, Harvard was fun to watch. And the kids were kind of bitchy. Elitist snobs :P All Boston area schools hate Harvard. Not jealousy. They are all pompous and rather jerky. Anyway, after round one of the game, we were given a lunch break. Anthony and I had been making faces at each other through the first round at all the questions that were RIDICULOUS and unanswerable. So we chatted a bit then he and his friend Ruth were going to go get lunch in Boston and I went with them. It was so fun! So now Anthony and I are friends on Facebook and we talk all the time :) And I have an MIT friend! SCORE!
What else? Oh, mom wants me to post a few of the papers I have written. I will, just not now because I have Bio and Culture of Deafness in like 20 minutes which means I should start leaving. it takes about 10 minutes to walk to Rabb and a few extra minutes to talk to people and gather books and such.
OOH! Random side note, Alex called today! For those of you who don't know, Alex is my friend who is in basic training for the army. It's always nice to talk to him.
Ok, I think I am done for now. Talk to ya later!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
I Love This Morning
Yes, I said that.
I was up at 8:15 this morning and relatively pissed. Then I spilled milk and cereal all over my keyboard which did nothing to improve my mood. But I cleaned it up, no worries. Soo, angry with the world, I set off for my First Year Seminar, Identities in Modern Drama. Topic of discussion? Our thoughts on the play we jsut read...
Spring Awakening :)
I LOVE SPRING AWAKENING. The script was originally written by Frank Wedekind in Germany in like the 1700s. Everyone hated it and thought Wedekind was cuhraaazy. So it was never produced. Well, Broadway in 2006 decided to take the script and make it into a rock musical! I love the music, and I was able to see the show over the summer. WOW. Youtube that shit. Right now. It's beauty. Art in its truest form. Love, angst, sex, more angst...haha wow. I don't even know how to describe it. Sheer Awesome.
So today's class w as devoted to talking about play vs musical and the amazingness of both. I went on a long rant about Melchior and how he wants to know about more than sex. He wants to know about EVERYHING. I can so hugely identify with Melchior. True he ends up sort of raping Wendla, but hey. Chalk it up to angst. Jk. Read the play. Download the music. Doooo iiiittttt!!!
I just wanted to share that. This class might make me a morning person.
I was up at 8:15 this morning and relatively pissed. Then I spilled milk and cereal all over my keyboard which did nothing to improve my mood. But I cleaned it up, no worries. Soo, angry with the world, I set off for my First Year Seminar, Identities in Modern Drama. Topic of discussion? Our thoughts on the play we jsut read...
Spring Awakening :)
I LOVE SPRING AWAKENING. The script was originally written by Frank Wedekind in Germany in like the 1700s. Everyone hated it and thought Wedekind was cuhraaazy. So it was never produced. Well, Broadway in 2006 decided to take the script and make it into a rock musical! I love the music, and I was able to see the show over the summer. WOW. Youtube that shit. Right now. It's beauty. Art in its truest form. Love, angst, sex, more angst...haha wow. I don't even know how to describe it. Sheer Awesome.
So today's class w as devoted to talking about play vs musical and the amazingness of both. I went on a long rant about Melchior and how he wants to know about more than sex. He wants to know about EVERYHING. I can so hugely identify with Melchior. True he ends up sort of raping Wendla, but hey. Chalk it up to angst. Jk. Read the play. Download the music. Doooo iiiittttt!!!
I just wanted to share that. This class might make me a morning person.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Happiness
So I had the best weekend ever. And one of the best parts of it was being able to come back here :) To Brandeis, the place I love with all of my heart.
I went sort of home, if you say that home is where your loved ones are. I went to a family reunion (FUN! my family is fantastic. Our family reunions are nothing like the horrors imagined by popular TV). So that was great, everyone said I look happier than I ever have before. Which is legit. I am happier than I have ever been before. So aside from that, two unexpected things happened to make my weekend more than just great, but extraordinary.
1. I got to stop in Morgantown and see Mark, Rebecca, Caroline, and Zach :) Love them! Miss them!
2. While in Morgantown, I saw a truck with.... A MYSTERY HOLE BUMPER STICKER!!!!! I know. I was excited too.
Upon returning to school, I ran into Trevor's room (the hangout place on our hall) and was greeted by Trishna and Sara SCREAMING and running over and hugging me. Then we watched the VMAs (MTV Music Video Awards-yes, I hated myself a little) and laughed at how bizarre Lady Gaga is. What was with her weirdo hanging herself and bleeding from the eyes thing?! Aaaanyway, then we hung out in the loungs until laaate and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was a great time. It was good to be home :)
I went sort of home, if you say that home is where your loved ones are. I went to a family reunion (FUN! my family is fantastic. Our family reunions are nothing like the horrors imagined by popular TV). So that was great, everyone said I look happier than I ever have before. Which is legit. I am happier than I have ever been before. So aside from that, two unexpected things happened to make my weekend more than just great, but extraordinary.
1. I got to stop in Morgantown and see Mark, Rebecca, Caroline, and Zach :) Love them! Miss them!
2. While in Morgantown, I saw a truck with.... A MYSTERY HOLE BUMPER STICKER!!!!! I know. I was excited too.
Upon returning to school, I ran into Trevor's room (the hangout place on our hall) and was greeted by Trishna and Sara SCREAMING and running over and hugging me. Then we watched the VMAs (MTV Music Video Awards-yes, I hated myself a little) and laughed at how bizarre Lady Gaga is. What was with her weirdo hanging herself and bleeding from the eyes thing?! Aaaanyway, then we hung out in the loungs until laaate and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was a great time. It was good to be home :)
Friday, September 11, 2009
6 A.M.
I am awake at 6 a.m.
I would just like to share that with you all. I am awake. And therefore hating life.
I would just like to share that with you all. I am awake. And therefore hating life.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Fire Drill!
Agh.
Ok, so first of all I just have to say that I have been feeling icky for a few days, so the night before the above-mentioned atrocity I decided to put myself into NyQuil sleep. Which for me is akin to being dead.
So 11 a.m. I am dead asleep on my top bunk. Both Ilana and Trishna are in class (my first one on Wednesday is not until 1:10). Then,
THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF.
FML. BML. WHATEVER.
I stagger out of bed, put my thougts in order enough to realize that I need real pants (not the tie dye boxer shorts I was wearing) and a sweatshirt (to hide the scandalous Shakespeare t-shirt that shows off my...well everything). Realize, that I also had to manipulate the ladder to get down from my bunk bed. All without dying! It was quite impressive.
Continuing. So the alarm is blaring like..I don't even know how to describe it. All the demons of Hell are screaming bloody murder. that's the sound. And I am half asleep staggering around. No one seems to be in my building. So I go outside, and see what must be half the Waltham police force and Bemco (Brandeis Medical..Co..). And a Waltham firetruck (aka a 15 seater van with FIRE SAFETY tattoed on the side. No lie). Someone tells me to go to Spingold (the theatre), so I stagger in that direction, wincing at the sunlight and the noise and just pissed to be awake ( my alarm was set for noon.).
** The sucky part of this fire drill is that it was jsut Massell Quad and 2/3 of them were in class anyway. So there was not a huge migration of people headed to a certain place that I could follow. I was much more on my own. No idea what to do. Yay for organization.**
So I made it to Spingold. Once inside I found a few of my hallmates, most of whom had also been rudely yanked from sleep. So we good-naturedly abused the administration for awhile, while waiting for the OK from the Very Important People gathered at the building. Someone go tup on stage and started counting us. There were only 35 people in the auditorium. That's like one floor of one building. There are 4 buildings in Massell, each with 4 floors. So there were a lot of people missing. But no way to determine if everyone who shoudl be in the building was in fact safe from the "fire". The guy counting us muttered "Typical Brandeis." My friends and I looke dat each other and were like, "Why are we here again??" Hahahaha. Oh right, because it's amazing. Except that if there actualyy was a fire we might all die.
Oh well.
We walked bakc to Massell, past the important people party outside Renfield (all uniformed and talking improtantly into walkie talkies. VEEERRRYYYY impressive).
Sleep at that point was a lost cause. Trishna had somehow made it back to the room before me, and she and I both established that we needed showers. So a mad dash ensued to get to the showers before they were taken ("Go go go! This is an emergecny drill! Go go go!"). And the guys in our hall now think we are insane thanks to our clad-only-in-towel hallway dashing. Fun times. :)
Ok, so first of all I just have to say that I have been feeling icky for a few days, so the night before the above-mentioned atrocity I decided to put myself into NyQuil sleep. Which for me is akin to being dead.
So 11 a.m. I am dead asleep on my top bunk. Both Ilana and Trishna are in class (my first one on Wednesday is not until 1:10). Then,
THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF.
FML. BML. WHATEVER.
I stagger out of bed, put my thougts in order enough to realize that I need real pants (not the tie dye boxer shorts I was wearing) and a sweatshirt (to hide the scandalous Shakespeare t-shirt that shows off my...well everything). Realize, that I also had to manipulate the ladder to get down from my bunk bed. All without dying! It was quite impressive.
Continuing. So the alarm is blaring like..I don't even know how to describe it. All the demons of Hell are screaming bloody murder. that's the sound. And I am half asleep staggering around. No one seems to be in my building. So I go outside, and see what must be half the Waltham police force and Bemco (Brandeis Medical..Co..). And a Waltham firetruck (aka a 15 seater van with FIRE SAFETY tattoed on the side. No lie). Someone tells me to go to Spingold (the theatre), so I stagger in that direction, wincing at the sunlight and the noise and just pissed to be awake ( my alarm was set for noon.).
** The sucky part of this fire drill is that it was jsut Massell Quad and 2/3 of them were in class anyway. So there was not a huge migration of people headed to a certain place that I could follow. I was much more on my own. No idea what to do. Yay for organization.**
So I made it to Spingold. Once inside I found a few of my hallmates, most of whom had also been rudely yanked from sleep. So we good-naturedly abused the administration for awhile, while waiting for the OK from the Very Important People gathered at the building. Someone go tup on stage and started counting us. There were only 35 people in the auditorium. That's like one floor of one building. There are 4 buildings in Massell, each with 4 floors. So there were a lot of people missing. But no way to determine if everyone who shoudl be in the building was in fact safe from the "fire". The guy counting us muttered "Typical Brandeis." My friends and I looke dat each other and were like, "Why are we here again??" Hahahaha. Oh right, because it's amazing. Except that if there actualyy was a fire we might all die.
Oh well.
We walked bakc to Massell, past the important people party outside Renfield (all uniformed and talking improtantly into walkie talkies. VEEERRRYYYY impressive).
Sleep at that point was a lost cause. Trishna had somehow made it back to the room before me, and she and I both established that we needed showers. So a mad dash ensued to get to the showers before they were taken ("Go go go! This is an emergecny drill! Go go go!"). And the guys in our hall now think we are insane thanks to our clad-only-in-towel hallway dashing. Fun times. :)
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Miss Me?
Well that's really too bad now isn't it? :P (that's a smiley face with its tongue sticking out)
AAAAnyway, Brandeis is extra super mad wicked fantastic. Fall is descending on the campus. The air is cool, but the sun is warm. It's the kind of weather that makes you think the trees should be on fire with all the colors of autumn..but they are still green. I guess Massachusetts trees are made of stronger stuff than their WV counterparts. This little chill does not change their colors just yet.
I have been busy busy busy which is why I have been epically failing at posting regularly on this thing. My life for the past week or so has been taken up with homework, friends, set-building (I'll elaborate in a sec), and adventuring into Boston. Harvard Square to be exact. Yes, I went inside the Harvard gates and pretended I was a student there. Was tempted to get a t-shirt, but came to my senses. I LOVE BRANDEIS! haha, my loyalty remains strong. Damn Harvard elitists. :P
So set building. Brandeis does this wicked cool thing called the 24 Hour Musical. It's basically what it sounds like. Within 24 hours, a musical is cast, choreographed, learned, teched, and performed. It's crazy itnense and apparently the end result is typically HILARIOUS because no one knows what the F they are doing. Seeing as I do nto sing, I didn't audition. However my friend Emily was going to go paint sets so I decided to go with her. Super fun :) I went to bed around 2 covered in paint and sawdust (and whatever was in the paint filter...shudder...smelled like low tide. I didn't ask. Freshman got all the shit jobs.) the coolest part was that the theatre housing the show has a GRID! For all you non-tech theatre people, this means that there is space above the stage to hang set pieces for the purpose of flying them in and out during a performance. I got to go up on the grid and help tie things and untie things and let's be realistic I had no idea what I was doing but it was SO cool! So I am going to go see the show tonight. should be a great time.
(Side note, the Jake thing fizzled out. No worries. I wasn't that into it anyway.)
Getting slightly corny...I absolutely love Brandeis. Seriously, never have I felt such a deeply personal and all-encompassing connection to a place. The people, the academics, the location...everything. I don't even know how to describe it. Everyhting is perfect. Almost nothing makes me unhappy..I said almost because I am sure some smart-ass friend of mine will try to prove that wrong. But don't try. Because this is one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me. I will try to describe it...jsut...little things that are amazing.
Everyone holds the door for each other. Like, even if I am like 20 feet away from the building, the complete stranger in front of me will remain at the door until I am close enough to grab it. Everyone does this. Myself included of course.
People are so approachable. I was completely and totally lost on my way to a class the other day, and without even hesitating I asked the upperclassman in front of me how to get where I needed to go. No one has to be afraid of beign ridiculed for being a freshman, or for being different or for...well...anything.
My War and Possibilities of Peace class is one of those things almsot unique to Brandeis. The professor told us that almost all universities offer courses in war. Less than 4% offer courses in peace. Of course Brandeis would. How could they not? They are my dream school.
I guess my point is simply that Brandeis is absolutely the most perfect place in the world for me right now. And I am so thankful I was able to come.
AAAAnyway, Brandeis is extra super mad wicked fantastic. Fall is descending on the campus. The air is cool, but the sun is warm. It's the kind of weather that makes you think the trees should be on fire with all the colors of autumn..but they are still green. I guess Massachusetts trees are made of stronger stuff than their WV counterparts. This little chill does not change their colors just yet.
I have been busy busy busy which is why I have been epically failing at posting regularly on this thing. My life for the past week or so has been taken up with homework, friends, set-building (I'll elaborate in a sec), and adventuring into Boston. Harvard Square to be exact. Yes, I went inside the Harvard gates and pretended I was a student there. Was tempted to get a t-shirt, but came to my senses. I LOVE BRANDEIS! haha, my loyalty remains strong. Damn Harvard elitists. :P
So set building. Brandeis does this wicked cool thing called the 24 Hour Musical. It's basically what it sounds like. Within 24 hours, a musical is cast, choreographed, learned, teched, and performed. It's crazy itnense and apparently the end result is typically HILARIOUS because no one knows what the F they are doing. Seeing as I do nto sing, I didn't audition. However my friend Emily was going to go paint sets so I decided to go with her. Super fun :) I went to bed around 2 covered in paint and sawdust (and whatever was in the paint filter...shudder...smelled like low tide. I didn't ask. Freshman got all the shit jobs.) the coolest part was that the theatre housing the show has a GRID! For all you non-tech theatre people, this means that there is space above the stage to hang set pieces for the purpose of flying them in and out during a performance. I got to go up on the grid and help tie things and untie things and let's be realistic I had no idea what I was doing but it was SO cool! So I am going to go see the show tonight. should be a great time.
(Side note, the Jake thing fizzled out. No worries. I wasn't that into it anyway.)
Getting slightly corny...I absolutely love Brandeis. Seriously, never have I felt such a deeply personal and all-encompassing connection to a place. The people, the academics, the location...everything. I don't even know how to describe it. Everyhting is perfect. Almost nothing makes me unhappy..I said almost because I am sure some smart-ass friend of mine will try to prove that wrong. But don't try. Because this is one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me. I will try to describe it...jsut...little things that are amazing.
Everyone holds the door for each other. Like, even if I am like 20 feet away from the building, the complete stranger in front of me will remain at the door until I am close enough to grab it. Everyone does this. Myself included of course.
People are so approachable. I was completely and totally lost on my way to a class the other day, and without even hesitating I asked the upperclassman in front of me how to get where I needed to go. No one has to be afraid of beign ridiculed for being a freshman, or for being different or for...well...anything.
My War and Possibilities of Peace class is one of those things almsot unique to Brandeis. The professor told us that almost all universities offer courses in war. Less than 4% offer courses in peace. Of course Brandeis would. How could they not? They are my dream school.
I guess my point is simply that Brandeis is absolutely the most perfect place in the world for me right now. And I am so thankful I was able to come.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
You Know You're at a Dork School When...
1. The girl walking in front of you has the Pi symbol tattoed on the back of her neck
2. You mention Shakespeare and no one rolls their eyes and says "Shut up Hillary"
3. A happening conversation includes a debate over study habits
4. You stay up until 2 in the morning STUDYING. really. no party involved.
5. Everyone will freely admit that they love their classes and professors.
Those are just a few. But I am tired. Because, as point 4 says, I was up rather late last night. I guess I started out studying in the lounge area, then Trishna came in, then a whole bunch of other people showded up and our study party became a talk/massage/giggle party. It was fun :) And I did ultimately get my reading done. Yay!
Ah, for those of you who noticed my changed relationship status on Facebook and don't know the story, I will briefly enumerate the events. I met Jake, Jake and I hooked up, Jake and I are sort of dating. (hooked up=kissing. Calm down everyone.) So that's that.
Classes are fantastic. My final scedule looks like this:
Monday- 9-10am Cardio Workout
1:10-2 Biology of Deafness/American Sign Language
3:40-5 Haunted America
5:10-6 Iranian Revolution
Tuesday- 3:10-4:30 War and Possibilities of Peace
Wednesday- 1:10-2 Biology of Deafness
3:40-5 Hanuted America
5:10-6 Iranian Revolution
Thursday-9-10 Cardio Workout
1:10-2 Biology of Deafness
Friday-3:10-4:30 War and Possibilities of Peace
Sooo...that's about it. I love it here :) Talk more later!!!
2. You mention Shakespeare and no one rolls their eyes and says "Shut up Hillary"
3. A happening conversation includes a debate over study habits
4. You stay up until 2 in the morning STUDYING. really. no party involved.
5. Everyone will freely admit that they love their classes and professors.
Those are just a few. But I am tired. Because, as point 4 says, I was up rather late last night. I guess I started out studying in the lounge area, then Trishna came in, then a whole bunch of other people showded up and our study party became a talk/massage/giggle party. It was fun :) And I did ultimately get my reading done. Yay!
Ah, for those of you who noticed my changed relationship status on Facebook and don't know the story, I will briefly enumerate the events. I met Jake, Jake and I hooked up, Jake and I are sort of dating. (hooked up=kissing. Calm down everyone.) So that's that.
Classes are fantastic. My final scedule looks like this:
Monday- 9-10am Cardio Workout
1:10-2 Biology of Deafness/American Sign Language
3:40-5 Haunted America
5:10-6 Iranian Revolution
Tuesday- 3:10-4:30 War and Possibilities of Peace
Wednesday- 1:10-2 Biology of Deafness
3:40-5 Hanuted America
5:10-6 Iranian Revolution
Thursday-9-10 Cardio Workout
1:10-2 Biology of Deafness
Friday-3:10-4:30 War and Possibilities of Peace
Sooo...that's about it. I love it here :) Talk more later!!!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
BML!!
Haha, ok so for those of you not up on text slang, FML is a commonly used expression to denote frustration. It stands for fuck my life. WELL we at Brandeis were treated to a rather pointless lecture yesterday about our options for academic advisement. The title of it was BML. Which stands for BRANDEIS my life. HAHAHAHAHA!! So that has become a joke. As has double fisting. Erm. Not going into that.
So in the time since last I wrote, Brandeis has become pretty amazing. We had our Committment to Social Justice orientation thing two days ago, and it was so neat. How many universities dedicate an entire day of orientation to exposing freshmen to different kinds of hate and how to combat them? This is truly an incredible place. Academics and changing the world are the top priorities. How wicked awesome is that? And how perfectly ME? Oh wow.
And I have been making friends. As I mentioned before, the people in my orientation group are pretty awesome. These girls, Emily and Hayley and I have vowed to be friends even after the orientation activities have ended. Which they officailly have. But I have both of their numbers and we live on the same quad, so it should be fairly easy to find them. Hopefully. We have done almost all of the orientation stuff together, and we get along really well. So, that's that.
I just had my first class. Cardio workout. Yay. Haha I had actually considered dropping it, but then I walked in and the teacher/coach was SUPER cute. Haha, so I think I will stick with it. It will be healthy and, well, visually appealing :)It's my earliest class, starting at 9:00. Ick. And because it is a workout class, I will actually need to get up and eat breakfast beforehand. Grrrreat. OH!
We got our refrigerator and microwave yesterday! We bought them from a girl who currently lives in the East Quad (sophomore housing). She is leaving Brandeis, and wanted to be rid of them. So, we trekked all the way to East (REALLY FREAKING FAR, and we encompasses myself, Trishna, and Ilana-the roomies) to look at the stuff, decide we wanted it, and also decide that there was no way in the world that we could carry it all the way from East back to Massell (our quad). Too heavy, too uphill, and too hot. So we told Anna (the girl selling to us) that we would talk to our CA (Community Advisor, remember?) about a way to get it to our building. Trekked back to Massell, and were almost to our room, when we happened to pass one of the rooms on our floor that happened to be filled to the brim with boys. *Zing!* Idea! So we challenged their collective masculinity and then asked them to help us carry a fridge and a microwave for us. Haha many of them did not know how far exactly East was from Massell. SO, we walked from Massell to East AGAIN, showed Anna our group of strapping young lads, and left again. Yet ANOTHER walk from East to Massell, this time accompanied by the guys carrying our appliances. Several huge hills and lots of funny looks ("Why are you carrying a fridge?" "Because I CAN! WHAT NOW?!") later, we got back to Renfield (our building) and set up our appliances successfully! Haha our fridge has a yarmulke. And I want to name it Leonard Bernstein, but I have not proposed it yet.
***So, I have been trying to write this over the course of like 5 hours. Every time I sit down and start typing, someone comes in and wants to go to breakfast, or lunch, or just hang out. So, if it's choppy I apologize. ***
Anyway, the rest of orientation was fun. If you want gory details, text me. If you've been looking at my Facebook statuses and wondering what is going on, also text. It's quite a story.
So, classes started. After Cardio Workout with the cute instructor, I had a break then on to Hebrew. Why did I sign up for that? Everyone in there has been through Hebrew school. And I have not. Hillary=Not Jewish Enough for Brandeis Hebrew Class. And I realized that the language is really only useful in Israel of Hebrew. And neither of those are places where I spend a lot of time. So, I kind of want to drop it. But my only other option os German. Which, again, isonly useful in Germany and I guess other parts of Europe. But Trishna is in the class too, so we could practice together. We'll see. The prohibitor is the cost of the books. I already bought Hebrew books. Meh. Hate Hebrew.
Now I am chilling in the room across the hall from mine with Trishna and Bo Reum (our Korean neighbor). We are listening to music, book shopping, and discussing hall drama (bleh). It's fun :) Talk to you guys later.
PS, if you are reading, comment! Let me know I am not writing this for my health! I am SUCH an actor. I want my audience please.
So in the time since last I wrote, Brandeis has become pretty amazing. We had our Committment to Social Justice orientation thing two days ago, and it was so neat. How many universities dedicate an entire day of orientation to exposing freshmen to different kinds of hate and how to combat them? This is truly an incredible place. Academics and changing the world are the top priorities. How wicked awesome is that? And how perfectly ME? Oh wow.
And I have been making friends. As I mentioned before, the people in my orientation group are pretty awesome. These girls, Emily and Hayley and I have vowed to be friends even after the orientation activities have ended. Which they officailly have. But I have both of their numbers and we live on the same quad, so it should be fairly easy to find them. Hopefully. We have done almost all of the orientation stuff together, and we get along really well. So, that's that.
I just had my first class. Cardio workout. Yay. Haha I had actually considered dropping it, but then I walked in and the teacher/coach was SUPER cute. Haha, so I think I will stick with it. It will be healthy and, well, visually appealing :)It's my earliest class, starting at 9:00. Ick. And because it is a workout class, I will actually need to get up and eat breakfast beforehand. Grrrreat. OH!
We got our refrigerator and microwave yesterday! We bought them from a girl who currently lives in the East Quad (sophomore housing). She is leaving Brandeis, and wanted to be rid of them. So, we trekked all the way to East (REALLY FREAKING FAR, and we encompasses myself, Trishna, and Ilana-the roomies) to look at the stuff, decide we wanted it, and also decide that there was no way in the world that we could carry it all the way from East back to Massell (our quad). Too heavy, too uphill, and too hot. So we told Anna (the girl selling to us) that we would talk to our CA (Community Advisor, remember?) about a way to get it to our building. Trekked back to Massell, and were almost to our room, when we happened to pass one of the rooms on our floor that happened to be filled to the brim with boys. *Zing!* Idea! So we challenged their collective masculinity and then asked them to help us carry a fridge and a microwave for us. Haha many of them did not know how far exactly East was from Massell. SO, we walked from Massell to East AGAIN, showed Anna our group of strapping young lads, and left again. Yet ANOTHER walk from East to Massell, this time accompanied by the guys carrying our appliances. Several huge hills and lots of funny looks ("Why are you carrying a fridge?" "Because I CAN! WHAT NOW?!") later, we got back to Renfield (our building) and set up our appliances successfully! Haha our fridge has a yarmulke. And I want to name it Leonard Bernstein, but I have not proposed it yet.
***So, I have been trying to write this over the course of like 5 hours. Every time I sit down and start typing, someone comes in and wants to go to breakfast, or lunch, or just hang out. So, if it's choppy I apologize. ***
Anyway, the rest of orientation was fun. If you want gory details, text me. If you've been looking at my Facebook statuses and wondering what is going on, also text. It's quite a story.
So, classes started. After Cardio Workout with the cute instructor, I had a break then on to Hebrew. Why did I sign up for that? Everyone in there has been through Hebrew school. And I have not. Hillary=Not Jewish Enough for Brandeis Hebrew Class. And I realized that the language is really only useful in Israel of Hebrew. And neither of those are places where I spend a lot of time. So, I kind of want to drop it. But my only other option os German. Which, again, isonly useful in Germany and I guess other parts of Europe. But Trishna is in the class too, so we could practice together. We'll see. The prohibitor is the cost of the books. I already bought Hebrew books. Meh. Hate Hebrew.
Now I am chilling in the room across the hall from mine with Trishna and Bo Reum (our Korean neighbor). We are listening to music, book shopping, and discussing hall drama (bleh). It's fun :) Talk to you guys later.
PS, if you are reading, comment! Let me know I am not writing this for my health! I am SUCH an actor. I want my audience please.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Umm...
Ok. So I am not yet ready to declare Brandeis a specatcular fail or success. It certainly has its good points. I guess that is what I will first focus on. Umm...good things. Ok.
1. Very diverse campus life. There are people here from all over the world, and it shows in their names, their faces, and their personalities.
2. Everyone is nice. Well, that false orientation nice. Kind of pretentious actually...Only good things! Ok.
3. My roommates are fantastic. We all really get along pretty well. All of them like Harry Potter and the Beatles, so what more do we really need? We spent last night talking for hours getting all the deep personal stuff out of the way. It was good.
4. One of the buildings is aqua. Not sure if that qualifies as good or bad...its neat.
5. Everyone seems to be very intent on being themselves.
6. The one theatre I have seen is nice.
I know there are more things, I just can't think of them right now because I of course am homesick. I had exceptionally amazing friends at home, and everyone here seems to have come with friends...I miss mine...
The bad things are foremost in my mind right now.
1. The Orientation process is very disorganized. Half the time I have no idea what I am supposed to be gaining from the hoops they have us jumping through.
2. The food in Sherman dining hall sucks. Hard core. Half is kosher and half is not which is apparently unique to Brandeis. Just the fact that kosher and nonkosher people can eat side by side without a huge fear of contamination. It drops the segregation which is nice.
3. My OL (Orientation Leader) keeps ditching my group. This is not so bad, as my group is really cohesive and we always find each other.
4. People are mildly pretentious, which I guess I already mentioned.
5. It's hard to make friends. As true as it is that everyone is new, its also a fact that during the first few weeks everyone stays tight with their preexisting friends. Which sucks for me.
6. No AC in the dorm rooms. I was up all night because it was just too hot to sleep. It was really uncomfortable.
I am going to purposely stop while the two are even. I will do my best to positively enumerate the events of the past few days.
Sunday was...hot as hell. Not kidding. Sunday was the day I moved in. Said goodbye to mom, got set up in the dorm, learned exactly how overwhelming the Brandeis campus is, and a ton of other things. My CA (Community Advisor. Not RA, Res Advisor, because at Brandeis we are all COMMUNITY) seems cool. She is very straightforward. Her words at our hall meeting "Don't fuck with me, or I will fuck you right back." That i can work with. She seems nice enough, just not someone who is willing to take shit from anyone. Which I respect immensely. (PS, everyone on campus uses foul language. Everyone.)
Umm...my adventures today were rather boring. I met my OL group for breakfast at Sherman at some ungodly hour of the morning. It was 8. UUUGHH. I don't remember any of what was said at breakfast, which is ok because apparently no one else did either. We did orientation activities all day which ranged from learning about the values of Brandeis to getting our class photo taken (800 hot and sweaty freshmen. yummy.). Oh, I met another theatre person at the ice cream social. She seems pretty cool. We have exchanged numbers, and are meeting up again later tonight to watch the Brandeis screening of the Dead Poet Society. A movie I love. I just got back from a concert...some local band that was just waaaay too loud for my taste. So I am here in my room...ritter ronery...
1. Very diverse campus life. There are people here from all over the world, and it shows in their names, their faces, and their personalities.
2. Everyone is nice. Well, that false orientation nice. Kind of pretentious actually...Only good things! Ok.
3. My roommates are fantastic. We all really get along pretty well. All of them like Harry Potter and the Beatles, so what more do we really need? We spent last night talking for hours getting all the deep personal stuff out of the way. It was good.
4. One of the buildings is aqua. Not sure if that qualifies as good or bad...its neat.
5. Everyone seems to be very intent on being themselves.
6. The one theatre I have seen is nice.
I know there are more things, I just can't think of them right now because I of course am homesick. I had exceptionally amazing friends at home, and everyone here seems to have come with friends...I miss mine...
The bad things are foremost in my mind right now.
1. The Orientation process is very disorganized. Half the time I have no idea what I am supposed to be gaining from the hoops they have us jumping through.
2. The food in Sherman dining hall sucks. Hard core. Half is kosher and half is not which is apparently unique to Brandeis. Just the fact that kosher and nonkosher people can eat side by side without a huge fear of contamination. It drops the segregation which is nice.
3. My OL (Orientation Leader) keeps ditching my group. This is not so bad, as my group is really cohesive and we always find each other.
4. People are mildly pretentious, which I guess I already mentioned.
5. It's hard to make friends. As true as it is that everyone is new, its also a fact that during the first few weeks everyone stays tight with their preexisting friends. Which sucks for me.
6. No AC in the dorm rooms. I was up all night because it was just too hot to sleep. It was really uncomfortable.
I am going to purposely stop while the two are even. I will do my best to positively enumerate the events of the past few days.
Sunday was...hot as hell. Not kidding. Sunday was the day I moved in. Said goodbye to mom, got set up in the dorm, learned exactly how overwhelming the Brandeis campus is, and a ton of other things. My CA (Community Advisor. Not RA, Res Advisor, because at Brandeis we are all COMMUNITY) seems cool. She is very straightforward. Her words at our hall meeting "Don't fuck with me, or I will fuck you right back." That i can work with. She seems nice enough, just not someone who is willing to take shit from anyone. Which I respect immensely. (PS, everyone on campus uses foul language. Everyone.)
Umm...my adventures today were rather boring. I met my OL group for breakfast at Sherman at some ungodly hour of the morning. It was 8. UUUGHH. I don't remember any of what was said at breakfast, which is ok because apparently no one else did either. We did orientation activities all day which ranged from learning about the values of Brandeis to getting our class photo taken (800 hot and sweaty freshmen. yummy.). Oh, I met another theatre person at the ice cream social. She seems pretty cool. We have exchanged numbers, and are meeting up again later tonight to watch the Brandeis screening of the Dead Poet Society. A movie I love. I just got back from a concert...some local band that was just waaaay too loud for my taste. So I am here in my room...ritter ronery...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Two Weeks...
Not as in the All that Remains song. As in, I have less than two weeks left before I board a plane for Boston, Massachusetts and the next chapter of my life.
My classes are as follows: Iranian Revolution, Cardio Workout, Haunted America (a seminar based around Langston Hughes' poem 'A Dream Deferred'), and Beginning Hebrew. Once I get to school, I plan to look into a course titled Criminal Law. It requires permission to be enrolled, so thats why I have to wait. It looks pretty neat.
All this talk of classes is to cover up that I am completely and totally freaked out about the coming change. I do not feel ready...does anyone ever? It's not that I am particularly attached to here, its just that I don't know anything else. That's a lie. I've been to Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, and New Zealand. The last thing I should fear is the unknown. But nevertheless, I am afraid. Of what I can't really define even in my brain. But I am more afraid that excited at this point. Hopefully that will all change.
I mailed my first box off to Boston yesterday...I will follow straight.
My classes are as follows: Iranian Revolution, Cardio Workout, Haunted America (a seminar based around Langston Hughes' poem 'A Dream Deferred'), and Beginning Hebrew. Once I get to school, I plan to look into a course titled Criminal Law. It requires permission to be enrolled, so thats why I have to wait. It looks pretty neat.
All this talk of classes is to cover up that I am completely and totally freaked out about the coming change. I do not feel ready...does anyone ever? It's not that I am particularly attached to here, its just that I don't know anything else. That's a lie. I've been to Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, and New Zealand. The last thing I should fear is the unknown. But nevertheless, I am afraid. Of what I can't really define even in my brain. But I am more afraid that excited at this point. Hopefully that will all change.
I mailed my first box off to Boston yesterday...I will follow straight.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Diaz.
That is the book Brandeis is making its student body read this summer. Honestly, I was not looking forward to it that much. I assumed it would be a very deep, literary, symbolic work that would be borderline painful to read and all the more painful because I would have to pretend to enjoy it. NOT THE CASE! I should have known that Brandeis U would not assign a book that was boring. No, this book has been enjoyable from the first page. The author is witty and uses language that, lets just say, could be offensive to a rather more sheltered reader than myself. :P (another thing to note about me, I am inordinately fond of emoticons. It's probably not healthy...or a good writing habit). Anyway, the characters are captivating and the prose holds my attention which is, admittedly, hard to do this summer. (Side note, I am getting frustrated right now because I am trying to listen to 'Snuff' by the band Slipknot, but Grooveshark.com is failing to play it. It keeps skipping. Grrr.) The book is about a Dominican family. So far, I have figured out that it is from the viewpoint of the sister,that was no easy thing to discover. Well, maybe it was. Maybe it is simply my lack of attention span that made it difficult GOD I CAN'T STAND GROOVESHARK RIGHT NOW!.
Okay. More later. Good book. Read it if you get a chance.
That is the book Brandeis is making its student body read this summer. Honestly, I was not looking forward to it that much. I assumed it would be a very deep, literary, symbolic work that would be borderline painful to read and all the more painful because I would have to pretend to enjoy it. NOT THE CASE! I should have known that Brandeis U would not assign a book that was boring. No, this book has been enjoyable from the first page. The author is witty and uses language that, lets just say, could be offensive to a rather more sheltered reader than myself. :P (another thing to note about me, I am inordinately fond of emoticons. It's probably not healthy...or a good writing habit). Anyway, the characters are captivating and the prose holds my attention which is, admittedly, hard to do this summer. (Side note, I am getting frustrated right now because I am trying to listen to 'Snuff' by the band Slipknot, but Grooveshark.com is failing to play it. It keeps skipping. Grrr.) The book is about a Dominican family. So far, I have figured out that it is from the viewpoint of the sister,that was no easy thing to discover. Well, maybe it was. Maybe it is simply my lack of attention span that made it difficult GOD I CAN'T STAND GROOVESHARK RIGHT NOW!.
Okay. More later. Good book. Read it if you get a chance.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Roomies!!!
So I just got info on my new roommates! Their names are Ilana and Trishna. They both like Across the Universe and the Beatles as well as the Princess Bride! We already have SO much in common!! Haha, just thought I would share that. I have talked to Ilana on Facebook, and I just friended Trishna, so I will talk to her soon.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Life in a Box!
Sort of like jack-in-the-box. Get it? Haha, ok fine then!
I would just like you all to know that there are currently two large brown shipping boxes assembled on my floor in my bedroom. One is mostly filled, the other completely empty. I have been unable to decide what to remove from my old life to take along for my new. Aside from winter clothes that is. And of course the electric blanket. But beyond that...I am not yet ready to pack my life away. I still have a bit more time here. And I am seized by anxiety at even the consideration of packing things like posters and books. What would I do without them?!
Also, I have been informed that my University Writing Seminar will be Shakespeare and the Samurai :) YAY!
I still have very little idea what that will entail, but I am quite pumped.
I would just like you all to know that there are currently two large brown shipping boxes assembled on my floor in my bedroom. One is mostly filled, the other completely empty. I have been unable to decide what to remove from my old life to take along for my new. Aside from winter clothes that is. And of course the electric blanket. But beyond that...I am not yet ready to pack my life away. I still have a bit more time here. And I am seized by anxiety at even the consideration of packing things like posters and books. What would I do without them?!
Also, I have been informed that my University Writing Seminar will be Shakespeare and the Samurai :) YAY!
I still have very little idea what that will entail, but I am quite pumped.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Just so You Know
This will be a blog detailing my college adventures at Brandeis University. As anyone who knows me is already aware, I am SUPER excited. I can't wait for the thriving diversity that is sure to be present in my new home. I am a little nervous, yes, but that is to be expected.
Some of you followed my blog entries during my travels in Viet Nam. If you care to reread those, that blog can also be accessed on this site. Just go to my profile and click on La Vie Boheme. It should be near the bottom. Anyway, welcome back to old friends, welcome aboard to new ones. I look forward to sharing my hopefully exciting adventures with you.
Being that this is to be a college blog, I will not really start posting with any regularity until closer to the end of the summer. I just hate that I directed people to this page and it was blank. So, this is me doing away with the emptiness.
First college news: I signed up for my freshman seminar course. I had to pick my top 5, and I will be placed in one of them. I requested Shakespeare and the Samurai (no one knows what they have in common!), Staging Madness, something to do with deviants throughout history (the words heretic, witch, and fornicator were used somehow in the title), and two others whose names escape me at the moment.
One more thing before I end this, I am an infamously bad typist. Get used to it :)
Some of you followed my blog entries during my travels in Viet Nam. If you care to reread those, that blog can also be accessed on this site. Just go to my profile and click on La Vie Boheme. It should be near the bottom. Anyway, welcome back to old friends, welcome aboard to new ones. I look forward to sharing my hopefully exciting adventures with you.
Being that this is to be a college blog, I will not really start posting with any regularity until closer to the end of the summer. I just hate that I directed people to this page and it was blank. So, this is me doing away with the emptiness.
First college news: I signed up for my freshman seminar course. I had to pick my top 5, and I will be placed in one of them. I requested Shakespeare and the Samurai (no one knows what they have in common!), Staging Madness, something to do with deviants throughout history (the words heretic, witch, and fornicator were used somehow in the title), and two others whose names escape me at the moment.
One more thing before I end this, I am an infamously bad typist. Get used to it :)
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