Day 12
Woke up at 7:30 this morning; rushed to the shower and to my chore. Only had time to do the bathrooms before breakfast, which was a lovely French Toast and grapefruit. I got a little bit out of it, bit I feel like I can still get more fruit from it. I also had a glass of milk, which does not go well with grapefruit. At school meeting, it was announced that there would be a valentine's dance, and my date, at least for the door, was Megan B.
Aidan and I cut down seven trees in wood crew, and we got our axe licenses. Wood crew is sick. There's just something awesome about cutting down a tree and sawing it into tiny pieces. The test for the axe license was kinda hack, though. Lunch was a soup (that I didn't have), spinach, cheese, and pesto souffles (of which I had the second two), Irish soda bread (of which I had two slices), and brownie pie (that Charlotte made. It was very good.) During my free period I read the English reading and was inspired to go to the place, Glacier Peak. I listened to some Rush and played guitar some, and in doing so was late to History. Well, I was on time getting there, but then I tried to print my essay on the slow computers and was late. I put it in Kit's mailbox afterward, so it turned out okay.
There was a good discussion in History today- I participated a fair amount, though Matt and Nell still owned the table. In English we didn't really accomplish anything, David, Taylor, Charlotte, and I. We mostly laughed about things. I was assigned Mellifulous as a word to define. After that I had a meeting with Susie, but on my way to said meeting I ran into Hallie, who greeted me with a “long time no see”. It was a great meeting- we had a nice conversation, and she even knows Throw It On The Ground! It's always nice to find another TIOTGer. During my free I did the Spanish exercises and chatted with several people online. Jackie wrote on my wall saying they missed me and I replied, I talked with Kasey about Nacho's coat and college with Ines, and Arya about (what else?) Brophy problems. She really seems to miss me- I think she'll be surprised at the dance concert. [I totally surprised her by showing up. She was like, "WAAOOOW you're here!" and I was like, "sup."]
Dinner was lasagna and good bread. Afterward Sue Kruse explained my new chore to me- keeping the pantry clear. Before dinner, or sometime during today, Hallie came over and said she missed our interactions. Wait, that was right after dinner. Anyway, she missed that time last night. My new chore involves sweeping, but less of it that Offices. I also organize food packages and fold boxes.
I went back to Miles after it being explained and read what History I had to. Sam and I eventually got it done. I then read the English section and now I really want to go there. Sam and I laughed at Lonely Island songs and WTFed at the Bad Romance music video. We installed the christmas lights in the common room, and are saving a lot of electricity with them. The Stewie Football is also a great hit. My parents sent me a chocolate heart and an odd Cupig card. Check-in with Comfort was fine, more good times. I'll read the last page for History after this, then get ready for bed. I'm glad I wrote my journal for Jack on Saturday; everyone is stressing tonight. I like the lights in the common room- they really make it seem like a home.
Another day, another entry. I've been asked how I found the time to do these. Well, I did it after check-in, whether I had work or not. In our room, there'd be three kids tapping away at laptops. Jake would ask Sam a clarifying question about dirt or energy, and Sam would say something about Susie's class; they were both stressed. Then I'd pipe up: HEY GUYS? WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR LUNCH TODAY? WAS IT PASTA? I CAN'T REMEMBER. And somehow they didn't hurt me.
Day 11
Oh boy today. Breakfast was delicious- sausage and gravy on toast. I had my humble today, and in the morning I told the story of Sylvie putting water in a cup. We had a Scavenger Hunt in Farm Seminar- just finding farm-related things around campus. We were grouped by dish crews, and though Phoebe had good energy the rest of us were lackluster. E. Sci. was stressful. Printing out my rough draft (which lacks real flow... I think I'll still understand it by the end though.) was way too hard. Lunch was turkey melts, chicken melts, and corn chowder. It was some turkey with cheese melted over toast- quite good. The chowder was also a consistent hit.
I chatted with Grace before Work/Activities, and that was fun. In Bruceworks we built two sawhorses, or sawbucks as he calls them. There's probably a small difference. It was fun drilling everything together, though we didn't get to saw anything. We also sifted ash from trash cans. The cans were very heavy and my fingers were hurting by the end. I was covered in dust afterward, and Bruce took an air hose and blew the dust off Katja and I. It smelled funny. We were wearing masks and goggles to protect us from inhaling dust, and it was hard to breath.
These last few hours, if you'll let me go on a tangent, have been hard- trying to write an essay about something I don't know. Kit gave us no question- we had to devise one ourselves- and something as open-ended as that becomes hard for me when I don't know on what to focus. I feel like he's the teacher, he should ask us what he wants us to know. Maybe I should've just written 500 words on everything I know about the 1890s. Deja vu here for some reason. Anyway. Odd thoughts over.
Spanish was actually cool- we had some good discussions. I went first so I could say something and space out. I did well on the reading quiz we had, and I feel the upcoming homework will be easy. Past tense this time, oh boy. I gave my retooled Hangover speech as my nighttime humble to a great response. Dinner was steak tips/pot roast, corn, and mashed potatoes was gravy. All of it was good. Upon coming back to my table, Rebecca did that thing she always does where she goes “hey, good job” and throws out a fist-pound in an overly nonchalant manner. I don't know what she means by that.
I had the auditions for the musical afterward, and I gave it my all. I was loud and invested. It was fun; I think everyone enjoyed it. I didn't sing though. Hallie and I went to an English room to do Precalc homework, and for some reason we spoke in cockney accents and discussed swearing. It's fun doing work with her; it makes it go by quicker (it seems) and it's just nice to do work a day early. I finally went back to my dorm and wrote an awful History paper: no real consistent thought, too much explanation... just 522 words. I hope the quiz will be different. The not-working part of tonight was very fun. It's just in the working part that I'm getting into Amanda Palmer-music mode.
Patrick played his guitar at check-in and we all devoured a box of Cheezits and a bag of Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles. Blake says is next? Yes, it is. I really know this album well. Blake Says after Leeds United. Maybe I'll play some Wolfmother next... I haven't listened to the Dropkick Murphys in a while... hm. Hm. Arya wrote on my wall that she misses me. I sort of do- I really like most people here, and my roommates are awesome- but there's also how she always does the same thought problems with herself. I guess I like seeing her more than not. I'll tell her stuff when I get back. Things are getting odd. I don't know what might happen with people, but I guess I have four months here. That's a lot of time for things to happen. Amanda Palmer really is some sad time music. I'm not really sad though- just tired of writing bad essays. I'll brush my teeth and listen to some, I don't know, Beatles.
Another solid day. You know, I really admire the strength of a tree. I'm taking an engineering course this year, and I am amazed at how nature got to be so sturdy all by itself. I bet a man could be at the top of any tree on TMS campus with no danger whatsoever. Anyway, the previous sentences will probably have nothing to do with the entry today. Just random thoughts. Another: I enjoy it when a story is being performed and it's broken up by songs. Wouldn't it be dandy if there was something like that at TMS? Pay it no mind. More random thoughts.
Day 10
Oh snap, we in the double digits now. I woke up at 6:59, which left me plenty of time to wake up again at 7:30 and hastily do my chore before breakfast: popovers, potatoes, an orange and a glass of skim milk. I had History first and had a hard time keeping my mind on the discussion: a recurring theme. We have an essay due Wednesday, and I don't know what I might write mine on. I'll ask Kit later. In my free next I mostly hung out on Digg, saw an awesome smbc comic.
I think I printed out my English essay on paper that was only blank on one side. Facepalm then, but Jack later said he was fine with it. I think I heard him say he was proud of me, which makes no sense. In Precalc, [Redacted. Not a nice thing.] I did that work with Hallie during fourth, helping her through problems but not making them explicit. Lunch was a rehash: pizza and corn chowder, but there was a tasty chicken and broccoli casserole that I'm pretty sure was new.
Taylor and I helped Nick get meter readings during Work/Activities, and we installed energy monitors in the rest of the dorms. Some of my iTunes songs are being odd in terms of skipping and rapidly increasing/decreasing volume: The Answer Lies Within and Dyer Maker come to mind immediately, but there are others. After installing the meters, we all went back to Derby and read the instruction manual to see how to program them so they could output different readouts. It was very boring, and I progressed into that stage where I'm really tired and act quite crazy. Spanish was average; we discussed themes in the reading and had a quiz on the present tense, commands, and gerunds. I could practice a few commands some more.
Apparently Pat fell while talking about bending a birch tree. He was okay during our E. Sci. class (take note of the epic typo: “He was oaky”.), and explained parallax with gusto. That class is going to be like Geometry, in that we have chapter summaries. I sat with Kit, Comfort, Rowan, and Cedar during dinner. Shizuei, Kate, Kiana, and Danny were admiring Cedar the whole time. Rowan kept mentioning Sir Topham Hat, and how Cedar was him. They served more rice and beans (this time they were different- with tomatoes and other vegetables) and fried chicken (Cajun chicken today). For Charlotte's birthday, there were cupcakes. We had two stare-downs before dinner in the classroom, both of which I won. There was a third in the dining hall that I think we forfeited, and apparently I was tearing up and my eyes were turning red. I did not feel anything. Her cupcakes were rich and cold, but the paper did stick to the cake a bit too much.
I headed back to Miles shortly after with Danny and Rosii talking about swears in different languages, and listened to some Wolfmother before starting my Spanish reading. I then typed up my E. Sci. chapter, or at least a rough rough draft, with diagrams to be added in tomorrow, and will get a History outline prepared after writing this at 9:08. I might include the time now in these. Also I might add the date. I have my humble tomorrow, which should be fun.
Check-in later will probably include Kit sternly talking about quiet hours. Alright, let's see what I might write an essay on. (Well, it was Dan [doing check-in] and my keyboard occasionally double hits some keys. Odd. I think we should play Jane Says next, and Dan approves. There's talk of a musical. I don't know if I'll do it or not. Might as well try. A concert and short plays would be better, in my opinion... Lots of time now before lights out and no work to do. I feel a little bad for not having any work while everyone else is slaving away at essays, but I guess I'm just better at managing time. [Holy shit I cannot believe how much of an asshole I sounded like... wow. I am ashamed.] We'll all learn how to do well sooner or later.
Day 9
Woke up today and tried to get ready without waking Jake and Sam, but when I came back in after my shower they woke up. Before brunch I was in the library doing some History reading and some digg-ing, with my chore in between. Brunch was very big- I had some sausage lumps, rice and beans, eggs, milk, an orange, and some crepes with strawberry toppings. Afterwards, Sam, Kiana, Phoebe, Gabby and I had dish crew... what a blast. I really don't like sweeping anymore. Washing pots is still neutral. Pork and Beans was playing on the radio at some point, and Jack showed me almost every job there was, so I guess that was a plus. Also, while I was sweeping, a faculty kid showed me his money. He seemed nervous. It was odd. [I think this was Cole, maybe Benjamin, with Monopoly money]
We finished dish crew around one, at which point I think I went back to Miles to do some History readi-no, it was the library. I had a sick chat with Grace [My sister, who's a dancer and performed with her company the previous day]: You missed a great dance show. No I didn't. Yes you did. Was is you silly duckling performance? Yes. Then no, I didn't. Yes you did. It was you silly duckling performance? YES. Then no, I didn't.
I also chatted with Brophy. He's sad his History class is so hard. I wonder how the class structure changed with the addition of Sofia. She's in two pictures in the office, with the same bright smile in both. It draws the eye to it. After finally getting most of the reading done I headed back to Miles to write that E. Sci. letter; I ended up choosing Mark and Anne to write to, since Dad already knows most of that, probably. It took me a while to finish- Jake, Sam and I were having laugh riots involving label makers and the putting up of maps. I finished that, Jake left, and Sam and I took like an hour to read two pages. We laughed a lot.
We finished that and headed to dinner: pizza and a type of rich peanut-butter chocolate cake. I had some everything, meat-lovers, pepperoni, and plain cheese pizza. It was very filling. Sam, Freddy, Rosii, Shizuei, Kiana, Adrija, and Sarah were having a conversation about risque dancing and other stories, but Sarah was being a bitch. [Much love, Sarah. But my story about the kid named Surindra, his brother Avindra, and his dad Steve is QUALITY!!] We have coat hangers in our cave [Our cave being a closet in our room]! After dinner I decided to write that English essay about water having rejuvenating powers. So I wrote that English essay about water having rejuvenating powers. When I finished throw it on the ground [An SNL digital short and favored procrastination technique of Miles East Triple], I went up to the dining hall, but everyone was in the library studying. That was no fun.
So I went back to Miles and chilled with Sam, Jimmy and Jake. Jake's doing work. We're laughing. My parents called, and we had some good talks. Oh, right. I would've watched the Super Bowl, or listen to it on the radio in the dining hall, but not enough people were there and it didn't happen. When I was talking with my parents they said the Saints had just scored, so I know it's at least 7-0. We tried to watch I'm On a Boat, but it's apparently silent study hours, so Comfort quashed our sing-along. I worked on that MS Paint TMS logo some more: cleaning up on the white spots along the edges. We talked about SNL Digital Shorts before check-in. Comfort brought up some brownies that were dry and cakelike, but went well with the popcorn Rafi discovered in his room. Oh No is a good album.
