A short day today. Is it Tuesday, April 5th? Yesterday might've been the 4th then. Either way, this confirms that there are certain days missing. This is very displeasing! I wonder what those Friday and Saturday night activities were. Will they be forever lost? Let us hope not. Alas. At least we know that today is a Tuesday, and April 5, 2010, seems like a good one to call it.

Day 47

Breakfast was a food called eggs with toast. I did Spanish during the free and in English Jack liked my essay 93 times. He said that one sentence was excellent on so many levels, levels that I did not intend, most likely, upon writing it. I took a gamble by wearing shorts today- it didn't really succeed. I was cold during the outside portions, like knockout. After English, Farm Seminar and E. Sci were quite downers. Boring, dull, and just blegh. Lunch was taco salad and some rice salad thing.

Charlotte, Sam S, Kyra and I planned Saturday's Casino Night. Jake and I worked with Gwyne, tagging lambs, cleaing the goat shed attic and moving wool there, and moved around some random buckets. Lots of things during that period could cause death, like riding around in the club car. In Precalc, David, Rachel and I did our own independdent study in analytical geometry. It was not very fun. In Spanish, we finished the story, and to be quite honest, it was a let-down. Marquez didn't do much after the first few pages to continue the excitement I had.

Dinner was carrots, mashed potatoes and turkey. I sat with Kyra, Sam S, Yomalis, Anika, Rachel, and a few other people. Yomalis, David, Rachel and I had a discussion in Spanish. After dinner I got the news; Rachel, Anika and I discussed JLW some more (Anika does not wish to go; we are all nervous.); we talked about Milton at dinner, and that's about it. Did some History reading at home; I got some Grateful Dead from Sam P; Taylor, Sam P, Jimmy and I listened to the Dead and some Rap, I played guitar on the porch until it got too cold... yea. Not much more.

ooooh....yeah, about that efficiency thing...

So I was talking to this girl I like, about the Mountain School and somehow I got to the topic of how efficient it's made me. I mentioned how, um, efficient, I am with deodorant and then how I no longer even use seperate shampoo when I take my "efficient" showers, I'm so "efficient" I just use regular bar soap.
The situation quickly deteriorated from there. My "efficiency" is going to take a steep nosedive in the next few weeks as I attempt to make up lost ground.

new years.

so the day is drawing nearer....and the days leading up to the day....and i can't help but wonder what will happen once we're (mostly) all thrown together again. i haven't been around more than one mountain schooler at a time since may and the idea of being with nearly the whole bunch in REAL clothes in the REAL world is a bit intimidating. will we still feel that same connection, that sense of near seclusion and utmost trust....i wonder and i wait. i hope for all our sakes that this will go off well--i do not want to follow in fall '09's footsteps....

My grandparents and great uncle and aunt are over right now. They're fine company for the most part. My grandma, though, is not of our generation. Singular example: my sister has a pink Snuggie. I came upstairs to find my grandma wearing it... like a bathrobe. I'm pretty sure she's seen the ads; she just doesn't grasp the concept behind it. Oh me. Otherwise, it's been a pretty chill Christmas so far. We tried a new recipe for our Christmas Chili, and my great uncle (who has Parkinson's) did a jig when I played Wagon Wheel (that's my Christmas gift for the older relatives. Music. Brilliant idea, am I right?) for everyone. Merry Holidays, and enjoy our Friday, April 2, 2010.

Day 46

Breakfast today was brunch leftovers, including scones and oatmeal. Rafi, Matt, Lex, Jay, Sam S, David, Patrick and I played knockout and 4v4 today. Isaac's dad filmed our History class; before he came I made up a string of jarglemess nonsense trying to sound smart. Reading the news went well- I played Tessie to start it off, but the track started with "...And the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions!" instead of the piano riff, so that got drowned out. Kit said he only recently started not tearing up at the hearing of that. The internet was being slow today. Lunch was pizza.

In Science Hike Rafi, David and I went to each of our sites and took measurements of the tree species. I like Rafi's site- it should be Spruce City in a few years. In Rafi and my sites the belts we took measurements in were oddly sparce. In Precalc, Kathy said David and the Milton people could do a different chapter if we could complete the exponents and logs chapter test- I did. I had a few problems with one question, but it was weird log rules I hadn't remembered. The Milton folks are planning on going to JLW. I am excited. I talked to Kasey (she's not coming this Saturday: the day of the ACT) in Spanish and told her I wasn't going, so she'll be surprised when we all show up that Saturday.

I worked on my chapter in E. Sci and printed it out, albeit after a few lack-of-paper troubles. I saw Pat's kids playing Bloons and Bloons Tower Defense. They are smart kids. In History, Phoebe and I discussed the Cold War and the inevitability, or lack thereof. She, David and I lol'ed after dinner, due to some word-association game. She said apple. I said banana. She said pear. I said banana. She said another fruit. I said banana and collapsed on the table, laughing. Dinner was excellent- pasta and vegetable with alfredo sauce and brownie sundaes for dessert. The brownies were a little suspect on their own, though. Not the same brownie taste.

After getting the news for the next day, I walked back home with Sarah and Sam, and we all met up with Rosii in the laundry room to talk about her former boyfriend hooking up with lots of her friends. I played guitar until Kit told me to stop and do work, going first from messing around with the Goin' to California B-String scale, then Goin' to California, then Pachelbel's Canon with every type of chord imaginable, then some Zeppelin (Houses of the Holy, Misty Mountain Hop, Four Sticks), and some Nirvana (Come As You Are, Polly), before finishing with Cousins by Vampire Weekend.

I listened to that while reading about blacks, Mexicans, and unions after the war; I'll finish that tomorrow. I'll read the rest of the Spanish story then too. Taylor, Rafi, David and I watched the opening to Devil's Rejects (which I want to finish with them- they look like a sick group to watch that type of movie with) and the first twenty-so minutes of You Don't Mess With the Zohan. It had jokes that weren't that funny. Tomorrow should be another nice day- maybe shorts. We'll see. Probably. Hallie gave me a chocolate lollipop today. It was good. I tried hacking Beatles and Gorillaz music from Rachel's iTunes with no success. [By which I mean people's iTunes' show up as being part of a network; I tried copying music over to my computer. It would only let me play it. Sketchy? Only a little.] I was listening to Das Racist today, and that, other than Lose Yourself, is the best rap I like.

ways to be better than Fall 09

Hi kids,

I am really excited for new years eve and I can't wait to see you all :) I have been thinking about May when we got together and talked about drinking and smoking and everything after Mountain School, and I wanted to make sure that we are still all on the same page about that... I talked to a girl from Fall 09 the other day who told me that her reunion last year was so awkward that she isn't even going to the one this year. Everyone was drinking at her reunion and she didn't like seeing everybody that way. I just really want us all to spend meaningful time together and be with each other the way we know how to be with each other. I have this great image in my mind of us all sitting in a big circle with our arms around each other, spending time with the whole group at once. If there was drinking, I would hate for the people who weren't doing it or the people who were to feel uncomfortable.

I can't wait to see all of you! Its gonna be a big bundle of love.

In perfect contrast to the 34 degree day we're experiencing here, the journal is enjoying that first day of warmth. The Uptown Glacier started melting, and in the time between lunch and dinner, summer wear exploded onto the scene. Other events of note are the introduction of Das Racist's smash hit "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell," and a study party in the art room that can only end well! It's our Thursday, April 1, 2010.

Day 45

Alright let's do this quick. Breakfast? Popovers. Orange. People liked my April Fool's fake news. Spanish? That happened. I sat next to Anika and Nora and we read a sick story about a woman who hitchhikes a ride on a bus to get to her boyfriend and help him be a magician but it takes her to a mental institute instead. E. Sci? We totally hiked to a marsh and looked at pits and mounds. It was alright. I was feeling down due to the cloudyness (perhaps), the lack of me having a notebook and not really getting it. In History I participated once or twice. We talked about the Holocaust and the bomb. I did not fall asleep.

In English Maddy and I read our writing pieces to each other. She had detail and emotion in hers; she got inside the character's head and made him a different person than I did. We started both our pieces almost identically. Lunch was a pasta dish, sloppy joes and meatloaf. It was all very tasty. The brownies were even more so. Dish crew was pretty much Kiana and I- Sam P bailed, Gabby left early for whatever reason, and Zoe J (filling in for Phoebe) left. Kiana and I worked the sterilizer and scraped plates, respectively, until 1:25. It was nice. I hadn't done that in a while.

I had Outdoor Program next, and David, Hallie, Adrija, Taylor, Rafi, Rachel, Caitlin, Nell, Kiana and Charlotte walked with Ben to sample solo sites and that's what we discussed. Charlotte groped Hallie at points. I tried to play it cool, but they acted like I should be paying attention. Huh. I am excited for solo. I wasted my free, but upon arriving at campus David and I changed into shorts, due to it being all of 60ish degrees. We also rocked shades: mirrored aviators for him, classic gold Ray-Bans for me. We met Nell, Adrjia, Kiana, Rosii and Rachel heading up.

At school it was crazy. People were all over in shorts; it was like an early summer. Phoebe dubbed me Ferris due to my glasses. Alright. She said that I am Ferris in Cameron's body. Huh. We had Math class outside, for which we had to move tables and chairs outside. Hallie and I took two- she bent down to grab the single leg, which left me with an awkward grip. I feel confident for the test. I know everything that's going to be on it. After class and moving the tables and chairs back, I participated in a short game of knockout before dinner. I did respectably for someone who hasn't played seriously in four years.

Dinner was amazing- green beans, steak and potatoes. At my table was Sam S, Sarah, Shizue... and other people whose names did not begin with S. I went to the library after dinner to do Spanish work and get the news, which I did. I also chatted with Arya. She is having problems. Again. Sarah and I grabbed some tea and headed downtown, only to be intercepted by seeing Shizue, Phoebe and Claire studying History in the art room. They blazed through pink book readings while I took notes and debated the dropping of the bomb slightly.

I studied a bit more at Miles, mostly reviewing notes and typing up a little. I'm good for WWII motives, and I know the New Deal fairly well. Kit said it'll be short and easy. Like this entry was supposed to be. Sam P played a song whose only lyrics were “I'm at the Pizza Hut; I'm at the Taco Bell. I'm and the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.” It was a good song. Sam S, Jimmy, Taylor and I enjoyed it. And David.

We all worked until around 9, when Isaac and Rafi arrived and we found a phone from Tobold. They left at least four around our dorm, hidden, with alarms set. That was to get back at us for putting the bad table in their common room. Only flaw in that plan: we have their phones. And we set a lock on Kiana's iPhone and changed the language. Dan wouldn't let us take out the batteries. Well, I worked a decent amount on my E. Sci. chapter, and then I wrote this, and then I'll sleep.

I was at a local Fruit Center yesterday and I saw a box of dried fruit. Remembering the deliciousness that was the Solo bottle, I bought them. They ended up being soft and mushy and a disappointment to driedfruitkind. But in good journal news, lambs!

Day 44

Today, people were shocked that Ricky Martin was gay during news. Breakfast was the standard classic of eggs on toast. I am always amazed at our class of discussing a topic to death that I thought was fairly black and white. For AP Wood Crew, Jimmy and I went with Brent's friend while Jake and Taylor went with Brent to mark boundaries with red paint. Aidan went with Kit to do trail-related things. What we did was walk along the property boundary line, as marked with flags, and paint trees that were within arm's length of the line. If they were on the line, we'd paint a rectangle where the line went in and out. If they were within a foot of the line, we'd paint two small squares next to each other. If they were within arm's length, we'd do a rectangle facing the line. Our trio made it from the sugarhouse to maybe 1/5 down Hemenway.

On our way back, Jimmy and I ran parkour down the hills, jumping and dodging. He tried to kick down a tree, which didn't work. On one hill, my foot fell through the brush and into a small hole. I didn't get attacked by a snake. On the old bridge, Jimmy and I tore out most of the old rotten logs. We almost made a dam/bridge at a small waterfall-ish thing created by other logs. I got wet trying to fish things out of the river, though I did figure out I could wade on my knees without getting wet, as I was wearing my rain gear. We were late getting to lunch and my lone turkey sandwich, while solid, was without many toppings.

In my free, I typed up some History notes and was on the internet. In History, I was drowsy while contributing maybe once. During a film clip of Japanese internment and black rights I tried to close my eyes without Kit seeing. In English we walked to a graveyard and copied poems on gravestones, reading them aloud under cedar trees planted around a pale obelisk. My meeting with Susie went a little long, but overall it was fine. It was nice to see her letter of everything I've done until this point. Heading back to Miles I passed a game of knockout that I stopped to see how it ended. Sam S won. Charlotte was talking about how she could beat everyone and it was very annoying. I went to Miles to do Spanish and English writing before hanging out with Sarah, Rosii, Sam S and Jimmy, who were supposed to be studying Math.

Dinner was meatloaf, corn and mashed potatoes. I ate too much, but I'm not to blame: the flavor is. I also put too much dressing on my salad and it was powerful. It tasted nice on my corn and potatoes, though. Mashed is the best way. After dinner, the same group made our way to Miles after I found my coat (I was cold for most of the day- not anymore) in the shop. I tried doing some E. Sci., but I'll wait until tomorrow to get in the mood. We all did no work but had good laughs. Oh, how could I forget? Twin lambs were born around noon. I saw them half an hour later. They are a boy and a girl, and when I saw them the mother was speaking in a burbling voice to their high-pitched bleating and trembling. They looked like stuffed animals. Yea...

I did History and sat in the common room until check-in when Comfort explained why Rob took out awesome blue couch and replaced it with an awful yellow-green-tan plaid couch. Apparently it was poorly designed and was going to break. We'll have to buy a new one. Comfort went crazy cleaning everything up for the Fire Marshal coming tomorrow. The only thing in the way was the big table, which we disposed of. I don't see how a little clutter is that bad, but then again I don't know the specifics of the visit. I have work tomorrow, but I have time to do it and I have space to be focused. I will get it done in frees and free time.

The end of detectivity: I just did the calculus, and because I mention reading April Fool's day news on day 45, that means that is the true April 1, 2010. So if we reverse-engineer the date from that, we are left with today being none other than Tuesday, March 30, 2010! Special thanks to Ms. Denoyer, for providing me with a splendidly pixely snapshot of the Humble sign-up sheet to aid the case. Ms. Denoyer, we...

...have a date.

Day 43

RAAAAAH 5 MINUTE JOURNAL! Breakfast- some food. French toast. Messed with Hallie by making her think the milk was sour. During my free I wrote on facebook to Danny and Arya and was on digg. News went well; I doubted my story choices midway through. In English Jack told us how to BS- it was hilarious. I missed that. Gwen told us about lambs and the birthing thereof in farm seminar. I sat next to Sam S, who was dressed like Bruce sans beard (Taylor rocked overalls; he was Rob), Jay, who was lying down asleep out of sight, and Maddy. Charlotte leaned on my legs until I couldn't feel my feet, and then some.

In E. Sci. I started compiling stuff for that chapter and answered a few questions. Sat in my new usual spot on the table next to Megan B and Zoe J. Lunch was tuna melts and tomato soup. I made a tuna melt sandwich and took too much soup. At the Saturday-night planning meeting, I pitched Eggs-In-A-Basket. I think we might do that. My job during Work/Activities was to vacuum the carpets of every dorm, the library, dining hall, and office with the backpack-vac. It was fun; Tobold was the hardest. There were occasional lapses in vacuum power, but I did a decent job in an hour and a half, hour and eighteen minutes.

In Precalc we reviewed problems. I have confidence for the test on Friday, which hasn't really sunk in yet. In Spanish we discussed the story we read. I spoke. It was nice. I really enjoy it. Dinner was... dinner was... the seder! Charlotte and I watched parts of Kill Bill in the time between class. It was a nice seder, albeit an abbreviated one. We dipped in water, said prayers, sang songs, ate matzah and charouset. After we ran to the dining hall for some real dinner, but there was only pie. We goaded* cook's crew into giving us the leftovers. I ate rice and onions.

I went to the library, got the news; Sarah made me include something about Ricky Martin; we walked down; I read English; in the library I played Lazy Eye and Anika recognized it; I watched good parts of Sin City, Kill Bill, and Pulp Fiction while Sam S, Jimmy, David, and Taylor looked on. They did not appreciate it as I did. We'll watch the whole films someday. Kit, Comfort and Cedar came up for check-in and made us take down our lights and flags, as they were a fire hazard, but they brought cookies and milk, which were greeted with much acclaim, so that made up for it.

We made plans to go camping on Saturday. After that no work was done, but I did type up most of the April Fool's news, with Kit's approval. It should be pretty obvious after a certain point. Good times were had. We watched more of Da Ali G Show with Borat in job interviews and Bruno at Daytona Beach interviewing wrestlers and then telling them it was for gay TV. Good times were had by all. Tomorrow is a work morrow.

*Did I actually say goaded? Wow. I haven't used that word ever. Nice vocabulary, March Me. Keep that up.

I am so ridiculously proud of all of you guys - obviously the ones who got in but also the people who had the guts to apply early in the first place and the people still chipping away at supplements. I didn't apply anywhere early but I cannot wait for the second onslaught of good news that's sure to come next year.

I honestly can't stop talking about you guys because you're sooooooo awesome. I can't wait to see you.

More detectivity: day 42 is a Friday. It's very possible that this is Friday, March 26, 2010. Let's go with that. I got the newsletter yesterday. I had forgotten about it, though it littered the dining hall in our last two weeks. I was ecstatic to hear all the faculty members' voices again, especially Jack in his column. I could see him walking into the class, pausing for a moment to glance at the frontier words we've put up before stepping to a point on the board and writing RULES in his all-caps handwriting. I could hear each inflection in his voice, each pause as he takes of his glasses and calls out someone in our class by name, asking them to imagine cotton as the 'death cloth', inventing some character to correspond with that phrase, ending its brief existence smiling and laughing to himself, 'I don't know what the heck that was.' I'm so glad that this constant tie exists. I can't wait for June, to see Spring '10 in the last page. I can't wait to see it slowly pass into the back. But above all, I can't wait to read that column and think of it as old news.

Day 42

Started off today waking up at 7:05, as I set my alarm. That was a mistake. I woke up for real at ~7:30 and got the NCAA standings from the library internet before a breakfast of banana bread, oatmeal, and a stubborn orange. My fingers felt cold, tired, rusty. History went well for a first class; I participated a fair amount talking about American strategy surrounding D-Day and internment camps. We looked at slides of propaganda, one of which was on cracked's list of unintentionally hilarious works. I did the reading in my free, sitting next to Isaac. Precalc was fun; we learned about expected outcome in gambling and whatnot. I sat with Rachel and Megan B. Hallie, David and I did the homework in the following free without many problems, even in the section 3 work. I didn't get the last one though, mainly because the answer didn't make sense in context.

Lunch was leftover pizza and sloppy joes. I filled in for Hallie on cook's crew with Megan K as an apprentice. That went well. Oh, also, the skim milk was sour and I drank a glass for breakfast. 2% had run dry by that point. Science hike with Pat (not Tina, as I requested...) was fun enough. Zoe RA, Hallie, Patrick, David, Chelsea, Shizue, Kyra, and a few others joined me in measuring the size, density and domination of trees in a belt of a randomly selected spot: practice for next week when we would do the same on our sites. I rocked the rain jacket. Didn't rock the rain pants, though. Spanish went well enough; we finished the melancholy Suite Habana movie and talked about possessives. Easy stuff. Dan read letters from the Nicaraguan family at the start of class.

In E. Sci we discussed how glaciers affect our big backyard, and at the end prepped our chapters. I know almost everything, except how to work in the angle of the sun's rays and the angle of the earth... it seems so complicated, when I know it simply as “the sun's rays change and are the cause of the seasons.” Dinner was mac and cheese, salad and cornbread, but I was mainly concerned with refilling the milk. It came from Hood this time, not in crates, so there was additional difficulty in getting it positioned correctly into the crate, and then half of the bags went sour a week ago. Eventually Becky, Hallie, Jay, Aidan and I got both Skim and 2% full of drinkable milk.

I returned to my table (Shizue, Rosii, Rachel, Megan K, Jimmy, Tina, Gwen) and finished my dinner, then ate Yomalis' and Kemi's birthday cake. After dinner I got the news in the library: new coke bottles, dead whales, increased spending, Moscow bombings, and a legendary Onion party. I did Spanish homework in the dorm after walking back with Sarah and David, albeit with interruptions on the pill front (I actually took the study pills! And did head medicine!) every page. [I have no idea what this is. I do not recall anyone having any study pills ever. Did we get them on our first trip to town? Did someone bring them? Any help?] It was only 3, so no real deal. The ending was confusing- did someone get stabbed? With a rock?

Rafi found his door while Jimmy, Taylor, Sam P, David and I were watching the Ali G show, with lolz abounding. Arya messaged me after Science hike saying she missed me. I miss her too. Rafi got back around 3- David and I went to Miles to greet him and found Taylor and Sam P already there. We laughed a lot when he found his door missing. We put it back around 8:15 to mess with him. This whole scene was very fun to pull off. Uhm... Dan came up with Kosher brownies. I cleaned up and unpacked. As of 10:34, Jake still isn't back. Kit might be picking him up. We had a fire drill with Dan. Tomorrow should be another solid day- my first actual work period.

Day 41 marks the end of Spring Break; did I forget to mention that in Day 40? Anyway, if I want to continue listing the actual days, I will have to do some extensive detective work to learn exactly when break ended. S'11's break will start on Friday the 11th, but the last day I had was the 10th. Looking at a calendar, it might be that we got out on March 12th (as I cannot, in my extensive Googling, find a copy of our handbook). I also know that, due to the way our calendar works, the year 2004 had a Wednesday, March 10th as well; finding an archived mountainschool.org page from that date would prove more challenging. I found a page from that year, but the calendar would not open! When inputting the direct calendar page, no websites came up! So, to take Occam's Razor to this problem: we left school on the 12th, since a Thursday release date? Weird. HOWEVER! This means I have a LOST DAY! Thursday, March 11th, 2010 is nowhere to be found! And every day following must have 2 added to it to continue the consistent nature of the journalistic nomenclature!! THE HORROR!!

Either way, the first day back from break was pretty cool. Hilarity in Miles, Love in the Library, Pizza in the Kitchen. Your usual Mountain School.

Day 41 (43?!)

Well, there was break. That's mostly just stories for another day. I arrived at TMS at 3 without my trademark gray hat, but full of spirits to be back. We all put my stuff in my room and hung up the Hangover poster with difficulty. I took my family to see the goats and the chickens, and after we went up to the dining hall. I saw Taylor on the walk up, and Phoebe in the kitchen. I checked my new activities, and found that I don't have an activity. Odd. I'm still on Pat's science hike... oh well. I'll try to meet and talk with Tina some time or another. [I had requested Tina's science hike so I could actually get to know her a bit. I did get her wood crew; that was fun.]

Back at Miles, Sam P and Jimmy were present. My family left; I saluted and waved. I hung around in Tobold with Rachel, Danny, Nell, Zoe, Chelsea, Shizue, and maybe someone else. We talked about stuff. Isaac arrived. At around quarter past 5, Miles and some other people went to the dining hall to get started on dinner. I subbed in on cook's crew, setting out salads and dressings. Adian was my counterpart; he cut his hair. Everyone slowly trickled in; I don't remember the exact order. The pizza for dinner was excellent. Peppers, onions, mushrooms, and pepperoni make the perfect pizza. The orange juice was rotten; there were moldy pancakes in the kitchen; Sarah or Adrija's soda was moldy in Tobold. The milk was running low, but upon entering the walk in fridge, there were no replacements to be found.

Taylor had birthday cupcakes whose wrappers were stubborn in coming off. I remember David entering; I thought he wouldn't be back until the next day. That was a nice surprise. We all chilled in the library, lying on each other. David, Jimmy, Sam S and I tied Megan K's, Nell's, Rosii's and Danny's shoelaces to Megan B's bracelet and Rachel's leg. And David's hoodie string was in there too. We were all lying there waiting for the New York kids to arrive on their bus (previously we were all crammed into Derby, ~30. It has benches on its lawn now.), and then Sarah, Rebecca, Lex (who is cool now) and Charlotte burst in. We said hi (with massive amounts of hugs and screaming) and then greeted the rest in the dining hall.

The rest was just Halllie, Kemi, and Caitlin for some reason [For some reason here expressing confusion at her being this late]. After saying hi to everyone, Miles went back and found a party in the laundry room, thanks to the couch that Rachel and Rosii took the initiative to bring down. We all sat in there in the heat for a while, eating candy, when the idea came up to move a second couch to the Miles porch. David, Isaac, Patrick and I walked to the sheep barn, carried it down and around back, then lifted it up the stairs and over the railing to slide down perfectly in place.

It was snowing by that time; a nice solid stream. David went to the laundry room. We carved MILES S'10/PIDI on the center cushion and sat there, saying how this would be something out of the hangover. Eventually we went to the laundry room to see if David was bringing anyone up, but he was just sitting there. We went back to Miles to see what was up before check-in. Kit brought up chocolate frosted banana bread and made us take the couch out. Previously, Taylor, Sam P and I thought up the idea of taking Rafi's door off; by this time there was only one screw left keeping it on.

Taylor, Isaac, David and I tried moving the couch into the common room, but it got stuck. It got stuck again trying to push it over the edge. We eventually got it down the stairs and all the way to the top of Miles inside stairs when Kit gave the executive order to throw it out. Why? It was a nice enough couch, I thought, even though it couldn't fit inside. Taylor, Isaac and David squirmed it out, perhaps with the help of Patrick, and threw it away, but not before cutting out the square with MILES S'10/PIDI. Kit thought we were idiots for bringing it up. I thought it was a great idea and a great time. After Kit left, we unscrewed the last screw keeping Rafi's door on; to our surprise it was around 3'' long. We hid it in Miles East closet, then hung out and got ready for bed. I did the History reading; it wasn't too bad. Let's see how tomorrow goes; I have excitement.

This past week has been just terrible. I didn't sleep all week because I've been working on this huge project and then last night my boyfriend broke up with me. The only thing that's going to get me through these next couple weeks at school is the thought of shortly seeing all your beautiful faces. You all are my strength. I love you.

you'll be in my heart

Thank you for being in my heart. This sounds so cliché. You really are all there for me when I need you. If I'm feeling sad, or lonely, I think of all of you. I know you would cheer me up, and that thought cheers me up. I feel the same level of friendship with all of you right after a phone conversation as I do after months without talking to anyone. I am so excited to see you all!! Is there anyone who cannot make New Years??

Memories

i was talking to one of my friends who is at tms right now and he was asking what the last week was like since their semester ends on the 19th, a week from today. as i started telling him what is was like, i started remember other things, random days from before spring break, the first few days and how much closer we grew after spring break, after solo and especially in the last week. then i remembered closing caucus and the closing ceremony and how we were all sat out on garden hill on friday night and then on library hill on saturday afternoon and then actually saying goodbye to people and watching them drive away. i got a lump in my throat and my eyes kinda welled up and even as im writing this now i feel like crying again. i guess as this semester comes to an end, i am finally realizing that we will never be together like that again. after mountain school, i just blocked the end out, the tears, leaving and thinking about the way we were. im a little depressed because of it and its really comforting to know that in 3 weeks, most of us will be together, probably crammed into some small space just like we were on that first night back from spring break in the derby common room or during the closing ceremony how we were all in the center circle. memories like that is what is going to keep me going through the last week of school before vacation. i love you spring 10.

Today was the legendary day of the legendary Find-Your-Way-Back-To-Campus-Van-Disaster. In other news, Charlotte is a good cook, Claire knows about Raymond Carver, Shizue and I don't have a laundry party, Jake, Scibetta and I do run around for energy, Aidan and Becky are responsible on wood crew, and I get the news chore. Today is Wednesday, March 10, 2010. I'm Ian Kernohan, and for the first time I can truly say that I am bringing you the stories of yesterday, today... and tomorrow.

Day 40

My last day on cook's crew started with cream of wheat and muffins for breakfast. It was tasty, but not necessarily the most filling thing possible. Our school meeting involved Matt and Gaby talking about cheating... fun times. We had to write down times we cheated, talk about why people cheat... it was quite boring. That took up most of the time, and afterward Hallie mentioned that she was feeling tired and sort of sick. I was feeling not up to the task in wood crew. Maybe it was due to my first two trees not being able to be cut due to either trunks of other trees in the way or branches of other trees ensnaring it. I cut down two, three, maybe four, and dragged them up to the processing station (Jack dragged one part of one), and then subbed out for David. Sawing was fun, more fun that chopping, at least right then it was. I traded off arms to get strong (totally works.), and tosses my logs into the piles instead of walking over and placing them, like Aidan and Becky.

We were, for a period, out of wood, but Nora and Phoebe brought us more. We arrived a little late to lunch, but that was fine. Charlotte cooked bagels and brownie pie, this time with cream cheese. I had a sesame bagel with said cheese, and one with some weird baked vegetable things. I made it into a sandwich with turkey, cheese and mayo. It was yummy. I had like three pieces of brownie pie, since I was covering for David on dish crew. I swept. It was not fun: I whined to Phoebe when she asked how I was. It was fine though. I wasn't hurt, like the people whose van to Find Your Way Back to Campus tipped over on a muddy road. Jake or Sam S will tell you all about that. Jake has pics, so it happened.

After lunch I was on the internet, and I might've done some work for History during that class... I was not very productive. In English I sat with Rachel, Maddy and Claire, a group I don't usually sit with. We discussed Cathedral, wherein a guy gets high with a blind man. Claire told us about the drama involving Richmond Carver, the author, and how his famed trademark, short, choppy, sentences, was really the effort of his editor. During my advisor meeting with Susie we walked down to see the goats and sheep. We talked about chores and work. It was nice-- I'm always amazed at how different she is between time at school and the slow, calm version she is on our meetings.

Shizue said she had sugar crew during our arranged time, so I could not have a laundry party with her then. I still took my stuff down: it's still there. Maybe tomorrow. I went up to Miles, chatted with Taylor, Jake, both Sams and Rafi before doing English, Spanish, and E. Sci. I still have a letter to write in Spanish. After that was done, it was dinner: spaghetti. That was decent. You can't mess up spaghetti. Hallie was sick (she was at lunch, but just teaching Becky how to cook's crew.), so Caitlin was back on. I gave a cheesy sitcom series-finale ending line upon hanging my apron up for the last time: “Well, I guess dinner... was served...”

I went to the library to get the news, which was fine. Rachel guided me. I got one story from the Onion, and some from BBC, NYT, and digg. After that I went back to Miles to do History, but Sam S, Jake and I ran up the hill for energy. Sam S and I grabbed oranges with Freddy in the dining hall. I did that work in Miles then. Comfort did check-in. There was a new light in the bathroom. We stressed and did more work. It was mostly just words on a page. Now it's midnight, the latest I've ever stayed up working, [Cue Rosii-style "ha-haaa!!"] and that's pretty cool. Jake, Sam S and I were talking a lot, bonding. Adrija wrote Sam S a song that she played for him during a math study session. That was awkward. Sam S agrees with Sarah: they will get me someone by the end of this.

Hi everyone!

I know that college decisions are beginning to roll in, and I just wanted to echo what Megan K. said right before we got our SAT scores. These are not a reflection on who we are at all, nor are they the be-all and end-all (gotta love some Macbeth quotage). No matter what happens, we have all shown an ability not only to deal with difficult and sucky situations, but to make them fun. We can do it again. This community is better than any college acceptance.

That said, good luck to all!

Love, Kate

Strange

When I was at the mountain school, my dorm was such an important part of my memory. I spent so much time in my dorm, with my dorm mates, and had so much pride. Nothing has changed, per say, but whenever I think about TMS now, I think of us all. All 45 of us together, one cohesive group. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010. At a rate of 3 days per week, we'll hit day 69 and its shenanigans on February 2nd. Can you two wait that long? In other news, I just printed out my ticket for a bus ride to New York! And... yea. Short day today.

Day 39

I did some E. Sci. in a free this morning, after a breakfast of toast and eggs, with cranberry-apple juice. That's Hallie's invention- she did cranberry-grape yesterday. Jack liked my essay- 93. In Farm Seminar we listened to a guy talk about bees. He spoke slowly, and it was not very interesting. I sat next to David and Charlotte. Lunch was, um... a thing. 3-bean salad? Some Caesar Salad? Sure, why not. Jay, Rachel, Zoe, Taylor, and Steph were on dish crew. Hallie was at a meeting, so I did the majority of cook's crew solo.

Bruceworks was next- Katja and I put together a cubby set for laying hens to put their nests in. I drilled 96 holes in wood blocks; then put them together with glue and screws. Precalc was fine- I learned some things. Becky, Hallie, Anika and I put problems up on the board. I did the last part of my problem wrong, but I corrected myself. In Spanish, David, Megan and I acted out a scene from La pistola, and then we watched a movie about Havana. There was minimal dialogue, and I sort of dozed off a bit. Dinner was potatoes, applesauce, pork chops, and cornbread. After dinner, I skyped with Arya some more... people interfered: Isaac, David, Matt, Charlotte... yea. Nora threw me an orange to peel since I moved up to the balcony. I threw it back, but she and Isaac did not catch it. I went back to Miles, read a weird English story about getting high with blind people. I'll start my History essay after this.

hey, there we are

today i attempted at teaching my astronomy class parallax.

tomorrow is bright dim bright periods, cepheid variables, emission spectra

missing pat

Hey everyone, how's life? Good, glad to hear it. What's that? Oh yea, she doesn't know what she's talking about, don't worry. And yes to the other question. What do we have here? Some Dish Crew praise, a juice-mixing craze, and last but not least, a laundry room rave. Just another wonderful day. Monday, March 8, 2010.

Day 38

Breakfast today was oatmeal, for sure. In History I sat next to Kiana, and Yomalis sat next to me. She was kind of awkward. We listened to songs and watched videos about the situation of people in the Great Depression, especially a longer clip from Grapes of Wrath. During my frees today I worked on History corrections and finished my topic proposal. I also refilled the skim milk. I understood P(X|Y) and P(Y|X) in Precalc, so that's good. Lunch was grilled cheese and leftover pizza. It was a dry meal, and I downed my milk too quickly. Jack sat with us and raved about Sofia Silverglass' name. I convinced Shizue that a guest was named David Shek (Real name was Tom or Tim or something) and played Pinocchio in Shrek the musical. That was fun. All the recent cook's crews were fine... Jake covered for me in my absence, and David covered my dish crew on Sunday.

No work today, either, so I messed around on digg and stumbleupon for an hour or two before doing three problems for math homework. They had multiple parts, though, so it was more like fifteen. In Spanish I offered an excellent interpretation of the play we read: the guy's act of bringing a gun home represents his bringing home his positive fertility test results, and she doesn't want children, which is why she has the nightmare she has. We read it, and Anika and Rachel liked the way I said “ninita” in one line. Oh, yesterday Kasey convinced me to take Spanish Film. It will make my schedule hell. But it will be sort of fun. I hope [It is.].

Dinner was a rice stir-fry that, according to Hallie, had 10 cups of oil in it. We sat with Sam S, Charlotte, Sarah, Matt and Yomalis. It was a sick cook's crew. We did things. Hallie made Cran-Grape juice today, and tomorrow is Cran-Apple. We shared some oil-less rice and stir fry after we finished. The talk about the table was old nicktoons: Rocket Power, Dexter's Lab, Chalk Zone, Fairly OddParents, etc. I did Spanish homework while also skyping with Arya (only text this time) and on stumbleupon.

I went back to Miles, walking with Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel, who invited me to the laundry room at 8:45 for food and fun. I did a short History reading before heading down. Adrija and Kiana entered with me to find Sarah sitting there. We ate Oreos and peanut butter- a very dry combo. I had minimal peanut butter on one, and then just had double-stuf Oreos the rest of the time I was there. I went back up at around 9:15, and ate some Ramen during check-in. I spilled some of Jake's, cleaned it up, learned that it was all gone, then started my History essay only to discover its identity as a DBQ. I am now waiting on the document. And I want to sleep some. Tomorrow is Tuesday; not a bad day in terms of work.

My Senior Page

So in the yearbook, every senior gets a page that they create and this is mine. I had limited space and had to not include some photos of close friends, but you should all know that every single one of you are in my page. Hope you enjoy!

I find Mountain School everywhere

We are reading Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf in my English class and I read this passage and immediately thought of you all, and our life together:

Shout, embrace, swing, be up at dawn; carry sugar to ponies; kiss and caress the snouts of adorable chows; and then all tingling and streaming, plunge and swim.

It is like a rush of the senses... thats how I think of our semester together

David's Video

So I just watched David's video (first of all- shout out to david for that incredible work, you are the sweetest in the world)
But I got this knot in my stomach.

I remember when we watched the slide show on the last day of Mountain School, and all of the portraits went by one by one towards the end, and I couldn't help but wish that the slide show would never end becuase the sooner it did end, the sooner the day was over, and the sooner we would all have to leave. That was by far the worst feeling ever. I kind of just relived it... but in a good way... I think.

I miss you all more than I thought I did. I miss that place. We were all so free to be who we wanted, but also be a family. I know that's cheesy, but I can't help but be a little nervous for the reunion becuase I just don't know if it will have the same vibe that Mountain School did. I don't want us to be weird with each other, or not say what we want to each other. I want to pick up where we left off, all in love.

The road trip ends with one of those days where you realize no work will be done. Another words, most days. Heh heh.

Day 37 (written day 38)

I woke up today and did some more thatguywiththeglasses.com-ing. Breakfast was oatmeal and bananas, courtesy of Mom, who is now in on oats as a tasty food. I packed all my laundry that I brought with Leo into the green suitcase (Leo and I also shared some peanut M&Ms), along with a 6-pack of Ramen and ~200 spoons into my backpack. I played Love Spreads, China Cat Sunflower, Perfect Drug, and Creepin' Up the Backstairs (twice) on RB2 before driving to the bus station. I was delayed a bit by the need to print out a ticket at home. Dad couldn't find a parking spot, so Mom and I walked in. I was feeling a bit nervous. I got a quarter-pounder with cheese and McDonalds for lunch, and said farewell to Mom. For four days, at least.

I ate sitting on my bags, listening to Wolfmother through broken headphones. Maybe if I clean out all the earwax. On the bus I wrote an outline for that sci-fi dystopia-ish short story where the guy becomes like a robot [It's better than that, I promise], but couldn't actually write it. I instead watched more AVGN/tgwtg and, at the end, rested. When we finally got to Hanover, we pulled in beside Dartmouth and I stood in the Dirt Cowboy Cafe (not a strip club, as my Mom first thought. Darn.) for a while before finally ordering a large English Breakfast. I had work to do, and I was going to do it. I wrote my English journal about the people there while slowly downing the tea. Gwen then pulled up in a white Prius, and we drove to another bus stop to pick up Nell from a debate tournament. Standing around, I encountered a woman with a very large, very deep, very loud voice. It was really annoying. Nell arrived and we drove back up in 97% silence.

Upon arriving, I saw small goats and said hi to everyone before getting more tea and working on my History and English. I skyped with Arya a lot; she dumped Brophy problems on me. We did video chat this time, even though I could not speak. I eventually made my way back to my messy dorm, wrote an essay about intellectuals, cleaned a bit, and slept. I didn't really have a dinner- just some blueberry rhubarb cobbler dessert.

somebody in my class made a group like ours and now everybodys being really obnoxious. not anywhere near as much fun as it is chatting with all of you at the same time. not to mention i see them everyday so whats the point of talking online???? im a little frustrated with my grade if you couldnt tell

David Parker, you've saved me. Thanks.

I'd like to take this time for two brief confessions. This was going to be in the journal header but it got too long, so it's its [Grammar ftw!] own post.

1) I've said that life is fun, school is cool, all that. That's true, but I'm leaving out family time. While my relationship with my sister has never been better, I'm growing tired of my parents. Maybe it's just me getting tired around dinner time with the lack of food, but family dinners drag. My mom and I are cool right now, since I'm making efforts not to be a recluse doing work. My dad especially is very predictable in his jokes and sayings, and the fact that several people commented on our similarity recently plays to a fear of mine that I'm becoming exactly like him. I don't want to be. I really don't want to be mini-him. I'll take influences, but a clone is not what I want. On the topic of fears,

2) I have another fear that I'm incredibly shallow. You may know that I have not had the best success with the ladies. This fear has been stemming from an event two years ago where I had a girl approach me (an event echoed this summer) with romantic intentions, and I said no. We've maintained friendship (it's kind of a hilarious story how we interact nowadays. I'll tell it sometime.), but even then I knew that she was funny, smart; we'd make a great couple. But during the big conversation, I was just feeling nervous and off. So I'm either shallow and need a supermodel or I'm a robot who can't feel love.

What's this?! A trip back HOME?! Egad! What excitement! What commentary explaining backstory between me and folks of my hometown! This is a pretty great insight into my daily life back home, and remembering this evening, I recall feeling like I almost didn't belong (odd, since I've been at my school longer than some of the freshman have been aliveHOLY SHIT I AM OLD). But that's neither here nor there: enjoy Saturday, March 6, 2010!

Day 36 (written day 38)

Breakfast was probably oats or something... dunno. I spoke with Brigitte and Leo to confirm my ride back home after getting to cook's crew late for the second day in a row. I had no work in the morning, so I sat around on the internet! Leo got directions back after lunch, which was leftovers or something. The drive back was kinda awkward... not much talking. We listened to the radio. Memorable songs: Hello, I Love You; If You Like Pina Coladas; Benny and the Jets; Hot and Cold; Night Fever. It was weird seeing Boston again. I directed Leo, a student at Brown applying to the French teacher position here, to my house, through the town I grew up in, and pulled in at 4ish. As I was saying thank you and goodbyes, he started saying “good luck with your semester”, but I was already closing the door and it was awkward for a little bit.

It was nice seeing my family again- Mom and Grace got haircuts (the day I arrived, as I was arriving). Mom liked hers; Grace did not. I gave and received hugs, showed pictures, ate grapes... hung out before the dance concert. I went with Grace, and stood in the doorway to King hoping someone would come by that I knew. I saw Ainikki [A girl I was briefly interested in, but her general attitude of being spacey as fuck turned me off. Nice legs though.], and I'm pretty sure she saw me, but no moves were made on either side. I ended up watching it with A-Wang [Austin Wang. He was on the wrestling team; his younger brother was Little Wang.] and Eric Bohn: good kids from two different crowds.

I tied knots [Yes I brought Pat's string down with me. Totally legit move.] while waiting. The concert itself was really cool- there was a jazz number, two Indian numbers (one of which Arya choreographed, both of which featured her in solos), a Michael Jackson number (with an insane dance by Andrew Nwachuku. I like Michael now.), some step numbers... it was cool. I waited around afterward, said hi to Jasmine and talked with her and Heyna, got attacked by Arya and her massive hugs, and then went home after waiting some more to decide with her that we would skype later [She never logged on. She apologized. I said it was cool. It wasn't.] I talked a bit with my parents at home, then went to b- the internet. I watched several Nostalgia Critic and AVGN videos, along with Hello, I Love You on youtube several times. Also some raocow on youtube. Ended up sleeping at 2:45. Classic.

Friday, March 5, 2010. I had a dream last night where I kept receiving college acceptance letters addressed to all of you, and so I got to call everyone and deliver the great news. It was pretty cool. This is another brief period where I didn't write for a while; these usually happen on weekends.

Day 35 (written day 38)
I am so, so sorry... I do not remember breakfast. Toast and eggs? No. Most likely oats, or some variant. Classes were fine. In Science Hike I walked about half an hour to my site and noted the nature around it: Ash in the center, hemlock and beech around it. Young spruce and fir are growing up. Rachel and I are getting closer. We're friends now. Lunch? What was that? Leftovers.

In English Megan K, Charlotte, Rachel and I had a good discussion about roles people might have in discussions. I tried to mimic a role as we were discussing it. The group didn't get it. Journals were fantastic, as always. During dinner (chicken? Leftover meatballs?) we had an intense discussion about the space-time continuum, and what choices today might have on the possibilities of tomorrow. Rachel also confessed she likes Devo, or at least has heard of them. Jay, Hallie, Adrija, and some others (unsure about Adrija; I know for sure Jay was there) also discussed evolution in the modern world, and if it was bred out almost. The [Friday night] discussion was about homosexuality... pretty boring. Whatever; we're all the same.

procrastinatin'













Happy thanksgiving all <3

Yep, it's this day. Definitely a day to be thankful for. March 4, 2010: Find-Your-Way-Back-To-Campus, Plate Tectonics, Pot Roast, and Library Craziness.

Day 34

Hallie's first day on cook's crew went well. Breakfast was toast and eggs. Meh. In Spanish... we spoke Spanish. I sat next to David and Rachel, for something interesting to put here. Pat talked about plate tectonics in New England in E. Sci. That was alright. I got a pancake with honey in the break. I didn't really do much in History. I sat next to Sam S and Phoebe. In English I became annoyed with Lex's voice, but another one of my frontier words was picked, so that's a plus. For lunch there was all manner of leftovers: I had lasagna and the too-rich sweet-and-sour meatballs. I had two whoopie pies for dessert too! We composted all of it, though people kept coming into the kitchen for whoopie pies.

I dashed to Miles to throw on some snow pants for Outdoor Program, and David, Rafi and I loaded into Alden's car, which took us first to a small area where I found our location on the map, and then to a second, further spot on the other side of Hemenway Tract. We strapped on our snowshoes (mine were from two different pairs) and headed up the hill, wondering about the history of the land. It used to be a farm, good for grazing, until the farmer couldn't keep up the costs. As we reached the summit of the hill, we headed left (northwest-ish) down to Back Brook, where we would then take back to the Sugarhouse and campus. Heading down, Rafi got stuck in some thorns. It was very funny.

When we reached Back Brook, it was at a spot where there were two small holes in the ice, one about the size of a dinner plate, the other the size of a small fold-up table. We lay there, taking a half-hour 5-minute nap. We took pictures, we ate Powerbars, we threw snowballs into the Brook. We marched upstream, eventually finding ourselves and Shizue, Charlotte, and Katja. We walked with them for a bit (they had to find Orienteering points, we didn't), tried to break Back Brook by jumping (and succeeding at times), and pelting Charlotte with snowballs when their group left. My feet were wet. We kept finding new holes in the Brook; they're reaching a respectable size. We found the sugarbush; I drank some sap that tasted like sugar water; we admired a tractor left in Siberia; we walked back with Sarah and Rachel.

During my free I read most of the English story and tried (and failed) to go on the slow internet. Derby minus Aidan was in the library. In Precalc I was sitting with David, Rebecca, and Rachel. It was a sick table. We were progressive in math and History, discussing Rachel's essay topic, and doing some homework. I had one problem on a mini-quiz that I thought had me draw a massive tree diagram for three rolls of an eight-sided die, but instead just for the rolls that were a seven or not a seven. It was a great class; I'm really getting probability.

Dinner was potatoes and pot roast. I approve and I enjoyed. We took the dishes away too quickly- Sam P and Matt came up asking for more potatoes. Hallie did a good job on her first day; it should be a good week. We did math homework after dinner; she was not as ambitious with problems as she was with fitting lots of food into small jars. I did the rest of my homework, or at least and English reading and a Spanish composition, before messing around with a third of the kids, taking pictures sitting on the balcony, doing the Scrubs EAGLE!@!! and having a good time.

I returned with David to Miles, he scared me on the walk back, not in the common room (he was waiting for me to enter; I threw my laptop on the couch and he knew I knew I was there so he left), did a quick E. Sci. reading, tried getting him by hiding under the table (the turned-off lights clued him in), talked with Dad about bus times and Mom and Grace about Blair, wrote this and talked with Miles before bed. I keep wanting to read more Spivet, but there's not enough time. These take so long.

thanks.

can't imagine my life without you all. today, i thought a lot about many different things to be thankful for, but throughout the day, the one thing that stuck with me was thank god i went to the mountain school, and thank god and every other single deity in existence that you all went there with me. that's what i give the most thanks for, any day of the year. i love you so much, i miss you so much, and i can't wait until new years.

I had a dream last night in which our entire semester decided to act in our own version of The Lion King. I don't remember much of it outside of the fact that Claire was hysterical as Scar... and the entire thing was very comical.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ahh, what a day. I think I'll write some college essays, don't you think? In the meantime, here's Wednesday, March 3rd, a day full of wacky dreams, wood crews, Ramen salad, random acts of kindness, and Bible salesmen. Coincidentally, there's an English class at my school reading that very story. One girl I spoke to about it found it hilarious when he stole her leg. Huh. Anyway, off to correct essays! It's what Wednesdays are for!

Day 33

Breakfast was pancakes today! There were no apples in the walk-in fridge, so I brought up just oranges and grapefruit. During school meeting people talked way too much about where our fruit comes from. Jake woke me up early at 6 unintentionally. I then had a dream where me, Sam P, and Yomalis were in an obstacle course that ended in a 100, no, 200, no, now it's growing to 500 and beyond meter race. I was about to win but then Sam made a comeback, so I turned around and we're in a waterpark! And now Danny [Lamere, a kid from my school] and some other cross-country people are there! And maybe we're climbing on ropes in the waterpark, and maybe we're in a tavern-ish thing.

Back to the day: I cut down 5 trees for wood crew; 4 got processed. I cut down the 5th just as time ran out. My first was a warm-up, the second was bigger to combat Phoebe's choice, and the third was a massive maple. It didn't take that long to carve the hinge out, but once I made the back-cut it got tricky. It was stuck up in the canopy, so Jack came over and helped. I chopped away at the hinge to get it down to a point (with Jack's assistance on my stroke), and then took a makeshift club (Jack sawed off a branch of some brush) and whacked the trunk off the stump. We couldn't move it after that, as much we tried, so we flagged it. Someone will get it with a chainsaw later. My fourth tree was a joke- a tiny one with hardly any sugarwood. I also helped Phoebe carry one of her trees to a new processing station. I wasn't wearing snowpants, so my feet got very wet. Not cold yet.

Once I got back to the day-pack room, I wrung out my socks to find a lovely mixture of snow and sweat and smelled lovely. I like the smell of sweat, the smell of a locker room. It means good work was done. Lunch was amazing: quesadillas and fudgy oat bars. Charlotte doesn't know how to spell quesadillas. Also, there was a Ramen salad that apparently only I liked. Everyone else who talked about it (3 people) said they didn't like it. In my free I did the History reading, which was actually tonight's work (I'm pretty sure). I'll get these notes from David- I still did the pink book readings. History was long- I took good notes, but I was drowsy. So was Sam S and Sam P- they mentioned it later. Matt actually put his head down.

Earlier, before lunch, my feet were so cold and bare, but Freddy out of nowhere offered some sandals. I wore them until the end of the day. That was really nice. In English we discussed “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Lex, Charlotte and I. I liked it, and to top off class, Lex picked my frontier word: impetus. In my advisor meeting with Susie I had a strawberry-flavored white Lifesaver, that I bit but apparently one sucks them first. She always is sort of down during the meetings, which is odd since she's always on otherwise. We discussed getting to and from Milton. During my free I did no work, because I was talking with Arya on skype. She unloaded some problems on me (what else is new), and I told her about the drama up here.

At around 5, 5:15, Hallie and I went to the dining hall (I went there earlier to read the English story, but it was too long and the room was too loud. There was popcorn though.) to see who was there. I gave her a brief overview of cook's crew, during which she seemed... bored is not the right word. Uninterested? She wasn't like she was yesterday, or at least earlier, when she found out. She, Rafi, Phoebe, Aidan, Jake and I all chilled with Pam until dinner was ready. I wrote the sign: salad, petite peas, lasagna, bread italiano. It took me a while to find the petite peas in the walk-in freezer; I was cold in my sandals and I imitated raocow.

After dinner I... went to the library for a bit, then went back to Miles and listened to Wolfmother. I got my boots beforehand. I read the English story, tried to ignore Jake and Taylor being loud with Sam P (I'm differentiating now between the two) in the common room. It was a weird story: a fake Bible salesman takes wooden legs, glass eyes, from women. I played guitar in check-in, Isaac recognized Passage to Bangkok, Comfort had a nice conversation with us, Rafi and Sam S had us write a question for the girls (Jimmy was asking too), and then I wrote in my other journal before bed. Fun day.

Today I remembered that I had herds of long underwear left over from last winter that I could wear if it got too cold up here, which made my morning. This day, about 1/3 of the way complete, had a bunch of personal nonsense at the end, regarding classes at Milton that I cut, but also the first and last weekly card night after dinner! I remember Lex and I kept planning another one, but it... never happened. Or, maybe, it did happen and I just missed it. Waagh! No! That can't be true! Just in case! I'll play 2 hours of solitaire... starting now!

Day 32

Hey! These March days line up perfectly: day 32 is 3/2! sweet! This'll be a fun week. Breakfast today was blueberry muffins and oatmeal. Cook's crew is now a routine, not a chore. In my free (it seems so long ago) I... worked a bit on my E. Sci. chapter, did a bit of internet. In English we discussed how words bring up images. I sat with Taylor and Charlotte, and when the word 'meadow' was introduced, I said 'Bruno' to get points with Taylor. Jack didn't like the essays as much this week- his speech before giving them back was very depressing. I got an 85, but that's to be expected. I was anticipating somewhere in the low 70s, so this is actually better than what I thought was going to happen.

Farm seminar had us discussing an article by Michael Pollan about food. I was not that interested. In E. Sci. I finished the final edits on my chapter, and printed it out, only to find some final formatting edits put the images too high, so there was one line of text below them that was supposed to be on top. I didn't want to reprint, so I turned it in and am now hoping for the best. I'll explain that to Pat later. I had really good cheesy bread for lunch, and a baked potato with sour cream and cheese. I ate around three more bread pieces during cook's crew. I had a free in Work/Activities, so to the library and the internet I went.

Bruce came in a few minutes in telling me I should've told him where I was. I did not know, but now I will. The internet was being slow, so I did the regular routine of closing windows and changing networks. Grace informed me Blair got expelled, which was old news to me. I read the English story and set out the History reading, but that'll wait until my free tomorrow. There was a relatively surprise quiz in Precalc. I got all but one right, I'm pretty sure. I feel fairly confident with combinations. I was sitting with Lex and Maddy during the quiz. The next chapter we're doing is actual probability, so that'll be fun to do. I only remember doing 'pulling marbles out of a bag' problems in seventh grade, so I enter with a fairly open mind.

In Spanish we did a lot of vocal activities, and I could actually speak! Dinner was mashed potatoes and breaded chicken: succulent with gravy. The bread was not right for the meal... I couldn't eat too big of a bite before I felt like it was too much. Sarah and I fed the cows again. We talked a bit more about relationships. I'd like to keep talking with her; she's an Arya-like vent here, but one that doesn't foist problems on me.

Oh, I am going to take the bus down to see the Dance Concert on Saturday. Arya and Jasmine should like that. Kathie? Is she in that? I dunno. I did some probability problems with Hallie, Sam, and Caitlin after dinner, but Hallie was distant. Is she trying to yield to Charlotte? Could I use Sarah to figure that out? After doing Math I played some cards with Lex, Sam, Nora, Steph, Isaac, Caitlin, Phoebe, and Jay. Hearts was alright; I didn't lose. Egyptian Ratscrew was annoying; Caitlin is too good. I do not care for that game. President or Mao is more fun. Actually, just dealing out poker hands is the most fun for me. Seeing all the different combinations and reveals is enjoyable. Lex had us play a weird 'Jumanji' game that had the player who played a face card make an animal sound, and then the next time that face card was played, that player would mimic that sound. It was fun in terms of 'haha, this is kinda lame'.

Our next (and final) game was BS, which I came in second in, and during which we were all being too loud. Charlotte came in and there was a big pile involving her and some other people at the end... I don't know. Oh, we also played Tongues, which is like Pig. In the hall, she was telling everyone what animal they looked like. Why is she so odd? Sam and I met Jake on the way back and got Sam's laundry before heading up. He put my Grimey's shirt in with his shirts, so I was confused. Isaac's mom made donuts for dipping in maple syrup for check-in, and those were very good. A little too reliant on the syrup for sweetening, but maybe they're better fresh. Our topic for discussion was the Miles-Derby rivalry. My parents called in the middle, so I talked with them about taking a bus down and back over the weekend.

Tomorrow is going to be sweet: two classes, lots of free time to do work and play. That'd be nice. In Spanish class I was fidgeting with my USB drive, popping the top on and off, and it fell multiple times (twice). Dan took it away. I'll write my family a song.

Another fairly uneventful Monday. Some highs, some lows, but overall the silly mountain life continues. I just got back from a showing of that new Harry Potter movie, and I am glad to say that there's a bit in the middle (to kindly avoid spoilers: it involves a story) that left me wanting more of it. An overall enjoyable experience. Oh and Tobold: OMELET NIGHT! teehee.

Day 31

Breakfast was brunch leftovers... sausages, eggs, pancakes, the works. History was a decent class. I didn't participate much, but it was mostly Kit talking, moreso than a regular class. I did zone out once. During the free I did some Precalc work that wasn't hard so much as tedious. I found out Blair got expelled for smoking on the hockey bus. That was a 'finally' experience. In Precalc Lex and I teamed up for yet another all-class quiz that we aced. After that I complied with Sarah and Sam's requests and finished my awful English essay. 517 words, including quiescent [A frontier word]. That's the only redeeming quality.

After I finished that Jay and I did the Pokemon quiz on Sporcle. We did alright, ~100/151. We couldn't spell exeggcute and exeggutor and forgot the fossil Pokemon. I stumbled some, freaked out with Rachel, Anika and Caitlin over Blair. Ben Torren got expelled too; I don't know him at all. Lunch was more leftovers- I took a reasonable portion of BBQ chicken. We really didn't do much in Energy Time with Nick; instead, we played with tape measures and Nick taught me the Queen's Gambit in chess. I played a game with Taylor, my first in I don't know how many years, and I lost, predictably. I really didn't care- I was more focused on tying knots in the tape measures and poking people in the library.

In Spanish we discussed El Sur some more, which involved a powerpoint. In E. Sci. I worked on my chapter a bit: compiling mostly. Dinner was rice and sweet-and-sour meatballs in an overly rich sauce. Sarah and I went to feed the cows halfway through; we had a nice talk about Charlotte, Hallie, and girls in general that I hope to continue. All my cook's crews were fun, especially the dinner one. I was that special type of crazy where I get work done (my hands have a lot of small gashes on them. They hurt.) and at the same time yell and stuff.

Before heading back I played a game of President with Jay, Caitlin, Steph and Nora and got VP. Becky took Nora's spot and complained about our rules, then tried to foist some lame 'poker hand' rule on that would make the game over too quickly. If a game ends in three turns, that's a feat to be in awe of, and that would happen far too often with the poker hand rule. Jay agreed with me. I went back to Miles, wrote my chapter, supplemented with some of Lex's diagrams. It was hard to get a good starting point, so I just wrote out a lot of words that I had as note form before. I'll edit tomorrow.

Tonight was omelet night at Dan's house: to prepare, I cut peppers and got some of the onion smell from Rafi. My omelet was more scrambled eggs with peppers, mushrooms and cheese. It was still quite tasty- the addition of salsa on top made it much better. While waiting I played darts. I was fairly good. After that, I returned to the dorm and was playing guitar when Comfort told me off. David and I did some Precalc corrections and we all talked about the supposed Miles-Derby rivalry. Well, tomorrow is looking to be busy but fun- I'll talk to Mrs. Gerrity about taking two English courses and not taking Spanish. I'd still make myself read National Geographic.