It's the Little Things

Most of the time, I miss the obvious things about MIT: my friends, challenging classes, La Verde's infinite selection of drinks, Boston's awesomeness. Every now and then, though, something little catches me off guard and I spend the rest of the day pining for the T and Sebastians sandwiches.

Today: chirping at a crosswalk.

I was biking to class, and as I was stopped at an intersection, I heard that familiar chirping noise. I was oddly disappointed when it seemed to stop short, and then I realized I wasn't standing at 77 Mass Ave, waiting to rush across four lanes to get to a class or meeting. And then I really realized I wasn't standing at 77 Mass Ave and wouldn't get to for a while (at least not as a legit MIT student).

Energy

It's clearly been a while... My apologies for that, everyone. I could give you a million excuses, but I'm not going to. I could also give you a lengthy update on my life, but the details even bore me. Instead, here's the short version:

• Spring term sucked. I hated my classes, I passed all my classes, and I realized I want to go back to MIT.
• I'm taking summer classes - physics and vector calculus. More along the lines of what I'd take at MIT, and I'm so much happier.
• I have a job at a local pizza place washing dishes some nights and serving pizzas/cleaning up after people on other nights. I work weekends, which is unfortunate, but the people are awesome and the pizza's delicious.
• I'm going to be on the newscrew for the National FFA Convention in October! Needless to say, I'm beyond excited.

There really haven't been any other major things going on, unless I'm forgetting something. Anyway. Expect more regular posts here! Well, hopefully. I'm toying with the idea of switching to a tumblr site that's a little less text-heavy and energy-intensive (the thought of sitting down and writing out a blog is a little boring these days), and continuing writing about focused topics on another site. I'll keep you all posted!

Recovery Plan

Things have been surprisingly busy post-MIT. Moving to Corvallis, figuring out OSU stuff, and helping out with FFA contests has taken up a lot of time, and otherwise I'm hanging out with friends, appreciating my time at home without classes.

Oregon State took their sweet time getting back to me, and I finally deduced that I was accepted only a week and a half before the start of spring term. Fortunately I have connections and was able to register for classes before I received the official letter (which showed up at my house last night). And I could not be more excited about classes. They're not anything special, but they're such a departure from what I was taking at MIT. I'm excited for a change of pace and a chance to recover and feel intelligent again. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy Ornithology, Wine in the Western World, and Tree and Shrub Identification. I'm going to try to take a math class, and maybe an English comp class, but a ton of classes are full so I need to find something I can get into. Regardless, with just those three classes I'm going to have a fun term.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything back on the job front. I've applied, so now I just get to wait... Some friends have given me some good suggestions, though, so I'm going to explore a few different options. Classes start in a mere five days, so I guess I'll see just how busy I get and go from there!

Oregon FFA's state convention was this past weekend at Oregon State. I helped judge Marketing Plans, and helped out a couple of teams. I was definitely reminded of just how much I love FFA, and how important agriculture is to me. It was very strange to be there, though, without the stress of competing, or a million things to do. Also, I wasn't in the blue corduroy jacket. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place. My advisor always hinted to me in high school that she thought I should be an ag teacher, and after this weekend, I'm definitely considering a little bit more seriously. Just another reason it's a good thing that I'm taking time off, I suppose, so I figure that out.

At the end of the day, I still miss MIT (and everyone there) a lot, and I'm not sure how long I'll be back here in Oregon. But being back in Oregon is definitely fun, relaxing, and the perfect way to recover from the stresses of MIT.

Press Conference

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. That's a black turtleneck.

That's also my empty closet. In my empty room.

Empty. As in devoid of my things. Those things are now in cardboard boxes that are patiently waiting for the nice UPS employee that will be coming on Monday to pick them up and set them on their way in an epic journey across the country, toward their final destination of my family's front doorstep.

I guess I should provide some backstory. When I was first admitted to MIT, I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to come here. I was seriously considering going to Oregon State to major in something related to agriculture. But, you don't say no to MIT. So I came here, and every term was far from perfect. I loved certain things about MIT - the people, the culture, the location - but I certainly hated the academics.

This past term was especially far from perfect. Swine flu, stress and a million other factors contributed, and it was clear that this was not sustainable.

As such, I'll be taking at least a couple of terms off from MIT. My game plan is to attend Oregon State and explore majors related to botany and horticulture (definitely not options available at MIT), catch up a little, and take some time to figure out what I really want to do. It pains me, because I am going to genuinely miss my friends around campus, at WMBR and my sisters in Pi Beta Phi. Unfortunately, this seems to be the best option for me, so I can get back on my feet. Thanks to everyone who's been so supportive thus far! And thanks to Zoe and Ahmed for helping me pack this afternoon.

In Which I Complain a Lot

Somehow I did a dandy job of picking the coldest spot to work in Rotch Library. I mean, I have a nice view of building 11, and I'm surrounded by books about the National Parks and forestry and agriculture, but I also happen to be surrounded by vents that are spewing coldness.

Working in Simmons was not working, unfortunately. There were too many distractions: my ukulele, my friends, and my largely unread copy of Infinite Jest. So instead I packed up my stuff and trekked over to Rotch Library (a location I am wishing I had discovered sooner, except for this one section that is apparently an icebox) to buckle down and work on this chemistry p-set. It's not much better than Simmons, though. There are tons of books that I could spend hours perusing, and I'm sleepy. Also, with Thanksgiving a mere week away, and my flight home only four weeks away, I find myself missing home more than usual.

I'm not heading back to Oregon for Thanksgiving, though I do wish I was. You have no idea how badly I want to see friends and family and all the people that are honestly just too far away from me for my liking. You have no idea how badly I want a Kahlua Kicker from Dutch Bros (maybe MIT could develop the magic to transport hot coffee over long distances... Course 8 people, you guys should get on that), or pizza from American Dream (why is all of the pizza in Boston so terrible and greasy?!), or any of the myriad of other things Boston just fails at having. A quick peek at Expedia's prices for flights home next week makes it a bit easier to stay here for those four days, however; a roundtrip ticket is around $1000. So instead I'll be relaxing here in Boston, working on a paper, p-sets, a presentation, and starting the studying-for-finals marathon. Oh, and I'll be sleeping a lot. I'll also be working on getting over this lingering swine flu-y cough that just won't go away. Hopefully the sleep will help with that.

My last complaint of the evening: the latest Spoon EP (Got Nuffin) is not the greatest ever. Let me just say that Spoon is one of the bands that I will unconditionally love, no matter what they produce. But Got Nuffin pushes it. The title track is legitimately good, but of the four tracks (one of which is a remix), only two are actually enjoyable to listen to. Maybe I need to give it another listen, but I was definitely less than impressed upon first listen. I'm crossing my fingers that their upcoming album (due out January 26th) is better.

... YES. The vents of iciness that are all around me are no longer trying to freeze everything in the vicinity. I think I can finally get some work done, meaning I will stop complaining.

Coming soon: MIT's Obama-madness, why I'm switching majors (SURPRISE!), and probably a lot more complaining.

Yes, I'm Still Alive

So, it's been pointed out to me twice this weekend in Facebook wall posts that I haven't posted in a while.

Sorry about that.

There have a been a number of contributing factors: lack of topics, lack of time, and lack of energy. All lousy excuses, I know. So here's what's been going on over the past few months for me...

Summer
Summer was... well... awesome. I spent it with awesome people doing awesome things, which is precisely how summer should be spent. Highlights: barbeques galore, an eight mile hike, buying a ukulele, visiting fairs and rodeos, and just having fun.

MIT
I realize that this is a given. But I don't know if it's possible to convey in print just how severely MIT has been kicking my ass this term. Like, it's seriously on a level that I didn't know was possible. I do actually like one of my classes, though. My ecology class (1.018 for you MIT-ers) is amazing! The CI-M part (a term paper) can be a little obnoxious at times, but the subject material is incredibly interesting, and something I could spend hours happily working on. Physics and chemistry... well... they're a different story. Things outside of classes are keeping me busy as well. Pi Phi and the radio station take up some time, which is fine. But by the time I manage to make a dent in the amount of work I have, the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is blog. Typically I just want to sleep.

I'm actually going to be incredibly lazy right now and just post some pictures from the past few months (because, well, I want to sleeeeeeep). These are all from MIT, and the few moments I've not been studying. Enjoy!

The Cambridge side of the Charles River.
Boston's John Hancock Tower.
Boston Public Library's courtyard.
There's some construction going on in the Infinite Corridor, and these signs appeared. Naturally, MIT students had to add their commentary.
Obama paid a little visit to campus back in October. This was the car he was in (my photography skills failed me for a moment). I'll actually be posting more about this...
Girl Talk played at the Boston House of Blues earlier this month. It was one of the most epic dance-y shows I've ever been to. If you have no idea who Girl Talk is... well... you need to fix that. Go. Now. I won't be offended.
People always complain that MIT has an ugly campus. I actually have to disagree with them.
As much as I complain about being in New England, I must say there are times when I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. These moments are typically on gorgeous fall days...

So. A post! I promise you that there will never again be a four-month unannounced hiatus. And thanks Ms. Behrle and Nathan for hinting (though not so subtly) that I needed to update this.

Boston: The Music

[I originally had a really really long post planned, covering the past couple of months, because I've been a terrible blogger and owe you all a legitimate post. Problem is, it got to be about the length of a novel, and I figure that breaking it up a little will make it more readable. This first installment, I'll just cover my experiences with the Boston music scene.]

In the Boston area, more venues are 18+, as opposed to 21+ like most of the good venues in Portland are (e.g. the Doug Fir, Berbati's Pan). It seems as though all ages shows are a bit rare in Boston, but as a college student over the age of 18, it's is heaven for shows!

The Orpheum (Boston)
The Orpheum is a stately venue in Boston, right off the Park Street T stop. Oddly enough, it has seating. I saw Andrew Bird there in January, and it was my first show with seating like that. While I think I still prefer shows where you stand, the seating situation wasn't terrible.

Portland/Oregon Equivalent: the Crystal Ballroom
Shows Seen Here: Loney, Dear/Andrew Bird

The Paradise Rock Club (Boston)
Located directly across from the Pleasant Street T stop on the Green Line, the Paradise is in the heart of BU-land. It's a pretty nice venue, and they have these platform/balcony areas at different heights along the sides and back of the room so you can sit or stand up there if you want, or you can be up against the stage, like I was for the Of Montreal show I went to back in April.

fire Zuave and Sugar and Gold opened, and then Of Montreal played in all their glory. For some reason, they didn't play a cover, which actually was really sad. Though, Kevin Barnes did prance around on stage a lot, and he kept his clothes on. I ended up going home covered in glitter and feathers (they dropped feathers on the audience from the ceiling twice over the course of the show), which is a fantastic way to leave a show, in my opinion.

Portland/Oregon Equivalent: the Roseland Theater, but far less sketchy
Shows Seen Here: fire Zuave/Sugar and Gold/Of Montreal

(The first two photos are of Sugar and Gold, and all the ones after them are of Of Montreal.)

TT the Bear's Place (Cambridge)
I saw the Wombats here back in September, and the venue was mind-blowing! It's phenomenally intimate, and really close to campus, which is really nice. Big names don't really play here, but if you listen to more obscure stuff, it's great because it's so small.

Portland/Oregon Equivalent: ?
Shows Seen Here: Paper Tigers/the Postelles/the Wombats

The Middle East (Cambridge)
The Middle East is essentially this complex on a corner in Cambridge, up in Central Square. They have a bar and restaurant, as well as two concert venues, Upstairs and Downstairs. I've only seen shows in the Downstairs, and I feel like more recognizable groups play there. Downstairs is fairly small and intimate, with a low ceiling, and it's really dark thanks to the black paint (a la the Roseland theater in Portland). They also start the shows an hour and a half after the doors open, which is pretty annoying. Shows there run pretty late, but it's really close to campus (it's right next to TT the Bear's), so walking back isn't really a big deal.

The Thermals show was amazing! I ended up crushed up against the monitors at the front of the stage with my friend Zoe, and the former general manager of WMBR, Ben, was there as well. The show was energetic and fun, and totally worth the bruises.

Dan Deacon was AWESOME! And I mean that in the induced-awe sense. That man has some amazing power over people. At several points during the show, he climbed down off the stage into the audience, and then instructed us to do things. He first had everyone in the room running laps (Zoe and I sat on the bar on the side of room to avoid certain injury), then he had people dancing like it was the 1800s, and the final crazy thing he got the crowd to do was incredible. He had everyone go to one side of the room, then he had some people form a tunnel with their arms, and then told everyone to go through the tunnel, and once they got to the other side to form another arch with their arms to add onto the tunnel. This tunnel clearly had to go somewhere, so he had the tunnel go up the stairs, outside through the side door, around the corner to the front door of the restaurant, in through the restaurant, and back down the stairs again. And people actually complied. Basically, the show was a huge dance-fest, and is probably one of the best shows I've ever been to. Unfortunately, the pictures I took were deleted by my computer (this is why I'll never own a digital SLR... but that's another rant), so I can't post any of the awesomeness for you.

Portland/Oregon Equivalent: ?
Shows Seen Here: Murder By Death, Point Juncture, WA/the Shaky Hands/the Thermals, Future Islands/Dan Deacon

MIT
Yep, MIT. Every year, MIT puts on a shindig in April, with a big concert in the athletic center, and a million other little events. This year, WMBR also put on a free spring music festival on the steps of Kresge auditorium. I had an event with Pi Phi during most of it, so I missed out on quite a few of the bands, but I was able to help the Harlem Shakes clean up after their set, and I saw +/-! I then went to the Ben Folds show. Hotel Lights was the first opener, and they weren't too fantastic. I guess their drummer was sick, so they did an acoustic set, but it was painfully boring. They were followed by Sara Barielles (or however you spell her name). While I don't normally listen to her music, she was great live, mostly because she's a good performer and said hilarious things in between songs. Part way through Ben Folds' set, I realized I had stopped keeping up with his music in 2005, after I saw him live with Ben Lee and Rufus Wainwright. I didn't know many of his new songs, and he played very few songs from the Ben Folds Five era. He also wasn't as all over the place as he was when I saw him the first time. A lot of people I talked to thought the sing-along portion was pretty great, but I just kind of shrugged in response, because the other time I saw him he did that too, but while standing/jumping around on top of his piano. While I was kind of disappointed by the show overall, there were two parts I am so happy I had the opportunity to hear. A while back, Ben Folds officially retired his rendition of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit" from his live repetoire. I had heard him play it live already, so I wasn't devastated by this news, and I didn't expect it when he played at MIT. The audience, however, was pretty insistent, and he ended up playing it. Which was awesome. The other amazing thing was the song he made up on the spot about MIT. He sang that he "loves me the gym" because of the echo, and poked fun at MIT, singing that we just "think about intellectual techinical shit," and that the crowd was siginificantly less drunk than the crowd at the show he had played the night before (which is probably true). Overall, the show was okay, and was not helped by the room getting disgustingly warm.

Portland/Oregon Equivalent: Oregon State Fair Pavilion
Shows Seen Here: Harlem Shakes/+/- (plus/minus), Hotel Lights/Sara Barielles/Ben Folds

+/- on the steps of Kresge

Overall, the music scene in Boston is probably the thing I like most about the city. Maybe it's because the shows are more accessible because I live in the city (rather than driving two hours there and back in Oregon), but whatever it is, I like it.

One Down, Three to Go

I am officially done with my freshman year at MIT.

(Well, okay, so I technically am still a freshman at MIT until the class of 2013 arrives on campus in the fall, but I don't really like this whole "conservation of freshman" mumbo jumbo, so whatevs.)

I only had two finals this week: 18.01 (single variable calculus) and 7.014 (biology with ecology). After studying a fair amount (I'll post pictures of where I studied, soon, by the way; any bibliophiles will love the Boston Public Library), I took the 7.014 final on Tuesday morning, and then finished my 18.01 final Wednesday morning. And now I'm completely, 100% done with freshman year. Any control over my grades is no longer in my hands; all tests are taken, all p-sets are turned in, and all papers have been submitted.

It feels kind of... strange. I actually feel like a real MIT student to some degree. I don't think I'll actually feel completely like an MIT student until I have the huge hunk of metal known as a Brass Rat gracing my right-hand ring finger (which will happen in less than a year!), but I at least know that I can survive the classes here. Hell, not just survive, but thrive; I got an A in my writing class (21W.732) (this prompted a jumping-up-and-down-and-laughing session this afternoon when I checked WebSIS - totally warranted!). Granted, I still hate, and am terrible at, physics, and I'm still not the greatest at math. 7.014 only strengthened my love of biology (though my TA did make me a little frustrated at times), and my writing class made me ridiculously happy. Getting an A in that class, and considering how much I enjoyed it, has pushed me to consider a career (at least for a while) in writing a little bit more, and now I don't think it's such a far-fetched idea. I think taking classes on topics I enjoy definitely correlates with better grades (though I still am waiting on my 7.014 grade...), and that realization makes me excited for next year, when I'll be taking classes that actually matter for my major. Regardless, I can survive at MIT.

Of all the things I've done in my life, surviving at MIT feels like one of the top accomplishments. And that's just surviving. If I can somehow manage to do remotely well here, I will be the most content person in the world.

Dead Week Deadness

I'm alive, I promise.

Quick updates:

Finals week is next week. As such, I'm fairly stressed over studying and papers, etc. I don't really have time to think.

Allergy season is in full swing here in Boston. Consequently, I've basically been feeling like crap for the past couple of weeks, and over the counter medication was not cutting it at all. Flonase for the win!

I saw Dan Deacon live with my friend Zoe last night. Let's just say that man is a god/genius/wonderful human being, and I wish I had that kind of power over people. I guess I just need to invest in a vocoder? A detailed post is coming, I promise. I also saw the Thermals last week, and despite being squished up against the monitors, it was totally worth it - such an amazing show!

Just wanted to let you all know I haven't dropped on the face of the earth, and that I'll be posting real, legit posts in about a week, after my 18.01 and 7.014 finals are over and I'm packed and ready to head home. I have a lot of fun stuff to write about, and when I have time and I'm not thinking about integrals and Taylor series and recombinant DNA all the time, I'll post again!

MIT students: Good luck with your finals! And freshman, enjoy your last week of the year! One down, three to go...

Just a sneak peek of things to come!

Beautiful Weather = Photos!

It's officially springtime in Boston! As such, I've taken a million pictures with the snazzy new digital camera I got for my birthday a while back... I promise a real blog with actual text about the amazing stuff that's been going on around MIT and Boston is on the way. But for right now, I'm going to rely on the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, and leave you all with some photos! Enjoy...

[Mmmmm, dining... My camera has a "food mode" that's supposed to help make the food look "more appetizing". I think food from dining is going to need a bit of help in that department.]

Donuts, Fish, and Maple Syrup

It sounds vaguely like something you'd find at Dunkin' Donuts.

(Okay, I'll stop making fun of Dunkin' Donuts now. I still don't understand why people like them, though. I really just miss Dutch Brothers...)

Something actually ate donuts, fish, and maple syrup, though. But it was a bear. I don't know why, but I found this story to be kind of comical. Maybe it's because of that disgusting food combination...

Wily black bear succumbs to donuts, fish in trap

Coming soon: a blog (with pictures!) about the Of Montreal show I went to (AMAZING!!!), Spring Weekend, and the Independent Film Festival Boston 2009. Sorry I've been a little lax about blogging lately - the term has been a little busy. It's going better than last term, though, and it's almost summer!!!

One last thing: The police definitely called in the bomb squad for this this morning. Clearly, it's not ACTUALLY a bomb, but I think it was probably a good call just to investigate. Better safe than sorry? Sort of like the bomb threats we had in high school (ahhh, public schools...) - it's a pain in the ass to have to deal with bomb squads and whatnot, but it's better than potentially dealing with a bunch of injured bystanders...

Well, I declare!*

*Note: best when said with a Southern accent.

It was three sheets of carbon copy glory: white, yellow, and pink pieces of paper, all clearly stating the same fantastic fact.

I am now an environmental engineering major!

MIT doesn't allow freshman to declare their major until the end of their first year (we're too busy taking the GIRs oftentimes, to worry about classes within our major just yet), and then all of a sudden in the middle of April you meet with your advisor and you're given a form where you just check a little box and that's all it takes to declare. Despite the fact that the form is clearly boring and the whole process is rather anticlimactic, it's still kind of exciting to think that now I'm officially going into environmental engineering, that I'm almost a sophomore, and that freshman year is nearly over!


B-T-Dubs: the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs is not half bad. I wish they had played some of this at some of the CPW parties I went to last night (all the frats throw dry parties for the prefrosh!), because it's boring when they play rap music the whole time - it all starts to sound the same. Bad DJs make me sad.

Impressive!

Yes, that time stamp is correct.

It's official, ladies and gentlemen! I have officially just pulled my first all-nighter here at MIT. There's really no point in me going to sleep before my 10 AM class. I've also set a personal record for number of hours spent in the Student Center Reading Room. My previous record was around seven hours, but I just upped it to ten.

While I am going to crash at some point today, I can crash easily, knowing that I am finally done with a massive paper! I can also crash easily knowing that I sent a million and two e-mails to people in a million different departments about transfer credit, declaring my major, and the like.

The most impressive part, though? I've managed to do all this and the only caffeine I've had in the last 36 hours has been a bottle of Coke. This is weird, because I am rather addicted to caffeine, have it all the time, and normally I need a lot more to even remotely feel the effects of it.

This can't be healthy.

WOLVERINES!

Fear not, my dear and faithful readers! I am, in fact, alive. MIT and the usual things that just come up in life have kept me from blogging. Exams, papers, p-sets, resumes and applications for government jobs that probably don't actually exist because of budget cuts (thanks a lot, NRCS), helping run MIT's debate tournament, and Spring Break have basically made life incredibly busy. Well, saying that Spring Break is making my life busy is kind of a lie - I'm spending Spring Break here in Boston, with very little to actually do. I guess I've been exploring the city, using my camera, and reading, instead of blogging. On the upside, I finally saw Watchmen.

(Funny story - I went and saw it by myself in the afternoon a couple of days ago at the AMC Loews (a.k.a. professional wallet rapists - $8.75 for a matinee? REALLY? and $8.50 for a small popcorn and a small soda? REALLY?) in Boston Commons, and looking around the theater, I noticed something. Everyone there was there by themselves. Yep, I saw Watchmen with all of the other single, loser comic book (... I mean, "graphic novel") fans, most of whom were probably seeing it for the fifty bajillionth time. Needless to say, I walked out of that theater with a little less dignity than I walked in there with. Oh, and my verdict on the movie: it was awesome! I don't care that the ending was different, I was completely happy with the movie all the way through.)

I was also pretty excited to get my hands on a copy of the new Decemberists album, The Hazards of Love. Reason #1340974519384 why I love being a member of WMBR: I was listening to The Hazards of Love last Saturday. It came out this past Tuesday. I didn't have to pay for a thing. Promotional copies are fantastic. This new album is the first of their full-lengths to not get a score of at least 8 from Pitchfork, and for once I agree (Pitchfork and I are usually not the best of pals - Pitchfork doesn't know this of course, but I tend to disagree with most of their scores, and their reviewers... but what do I know, right?). While this album clearly has the usual hallmarks of a Decemberists album, it lacks a few elements that make a Decemberists album truly great. This album is much darker than their previous works (yes, it is possible - gone are the days of songs of vindictive sea-faring orphans - they've moved on to talk of killing babies), and the songs are clearly intended to be listened to in order. The single, "The Rake's Song" can only be truly appreciated in context with the other songs on the album, which present the listener with a very detailed and intricate plot line that can occasionally be difficult to follow without the liner notes (which they've generously provided on their website). I once told a friend of mine that of all the musical groups I listen to and love, the only two that I feel can do no wrong are Spoon and the Decemberists. I still feel this way, and will continue to unconditionally love the Decemberists despite The Hazards of Love. I mean, I like it, but I think I'm going to go back to listening to The Crane Wife and Castaways and Cutouts.

There's no rest for MIT students, though. Well, I suppose I could have not done any work over break, but I would have payed dearly for it next week. So interspersed between all the exploring of Boston and photography and literature binges, I've been working on my 14-page museum exhibit design proposal for my writing class. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that bad. Maybe it's because I love writing, or maybe it's because there's not really any pressure right now. No clue. Regardless, I'm certainly not complaining. We also had a requirement to critique a speech or presentation for my writing class, which I'm knocking out tonight by going to a forum on food locavorism, which should be interesting. I'm interested to see how they portray agriculture and family farms.

And finally, the reason behind the blog title: wolverines are BACK! Those things are vicious, and I hope I never come across one while camping or hiking. I think I'd probably hyperventilate. Or have an asthma attack while running away. Actually, the asthma attack is probably more likely.

[Congrats to the MIT Class of 2013! Can't wait to meet you all at CPW and in the fall!]

Why do I do this to myself?

Holy mother of god, I just want this to be over with.

I have been sitting here in the reading room in the Student Center for approximately eight (8!) hours now, and I think I'm going to go insane. The two 20 ounce bottles of Coca-Cola, one bottle of XXX Vitamin Water, bag of Kettle Chips, bag of Mini Oreos, Kit-Kat bar, and iTunes mix of Spoon, Bobby Darin, YACHT, and the Builders and the Butchers are the only things keeping me from becoming a blathering blob of goo on the floor.

For some ridiculous reason, I thought it would be intelligent to leave my two papers for 21W.732 (Intro. to Scientific and Technical Communication [yes, I realize I don't have to take this class because I passed the FEE, but I'm considering a major in 21W.2 (science writing) so cut me some slack]) until the night before. Both regarding an exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science, one is a critical review (like one that you'd find in a newspaper) and the other is an analytical report (like one an auditor would submit to the museum directors). Combined page total: ten.

Of course, I've managed to find some fantastic distractions. The classy class of 2012 had a mild flame war, complete with the usual literature and disgusting links to porn videos (aaahhh, the internets...), and naturally I had to check my facebook regularly. And now I'm blogging about wasting time, which is obviously the best solution...

Goal: be in bed by 5 AM. Wish me luck.

[Also, Watchmen comes out this weekend! Who's excited?!]

(Drumroll, Please!) Presenting the Collegiate Laundry Challenge!

What you do:

DON'T do laundry for two months. Well, all you're allowed is two subsistence loads (subsistence load: your dirty jeans, and enough underwear and socks to make it until you have to do another of these loads).

What you'll discover when you finally do all (and I mean all) of your laundry at the end of the Challenge:

All that clothing you forgot you had? And all that clothing you thought you'd lost or left at home over break? It's really just in your laundry basket! It's like going shopping, but without spending any money! (This is great when you don't have a job/don't have time for a job - unless someone wants to pay me for blogging... Oh wait, that's right... Never mind.)

What you win:

Clean, nice-smelling clothes! Unfortunately, $4.50 will be taken out of your Tech Cash account for the three loads of laundry you have going simultaneously on three different floors, not to mention the time you have to take out of your day to sort, launder, and fold all of that laundry. On the night before a p-set is due (no, it really couldn't wait another day).

Moral of the story:

Having to do laundry sucks. I mean, I did my own laundry most of the time at home anyway, but it's slightly more painful here at college. I have to spend money on laundry that I could have spent on food (no, really, that $4.50 could have been a bagel and juice tomorrow morning), and I have to go to a million different floors so I can do multiple loads at one time. Also, letting it build up for two months is a REALLY BAD IDEA. I think I almost broke my laundry basket because it was so full. So kids, learn from my terrible mistakes and do your laundry!

Playing Catch-Up: Part One

I have officially been the worst blogger ever, and I sincerely apologize!!! IAP, the beginning of the spring semester, and extracurriculars have eaten up every spare moment I have, and unfortunately blogging hasn't been too high up on the priority list lately. Now that I have two p-sets due tomorrow (and I haven't started either one), blogging is suddenly the most important thing EVAR. Aaahhh, procrastination...

A lot of things have gone on since I last did a real update (not my "Ah! Look at this cool site so I can feel like I am actually posting something you'll want to read so I don't lose the meager readership I have because that would be lame! And I really don't want to be as lame as I already am!" posts), including the wonderfulness that is IAP, a couple of fantastic concerts, Pi Beta Phi recruitment (yes, a sorority...), and the first couple of weeks of my second semester here at MIT. Because this is a lot to cover, I'm going to split things up a bit. This is the first installment in a series of posts I'll be making over the next few days that cover what's been going on in my life so you know I'm not dying out here in Massachusetts, and that I can still form coherent (or somewhat coherent) sentences as proof that MIT hasn't completely broken me just yet.

So first thing's first: IAP!

IAP was amazing. I feel like I could have done more with my time, but I also feel like I could have relaxed more. In the end, I think relaxing was the better choice, because it made the start of the semester a little easier. So, here's what I did over IAP:

1. Darkroom photography class: I had blogged about this a little earlier, but that was in the middle of the class. It ended up being a very worthwhile class for me to take. I've had a fair amount of experience with darkrooms in the past, but it was a nice refresher, and I learned about printing with colored filters, which I had never done before. I still have a lot of photos I need to print, but this is one of my favorites that turned out even remotely well and is the product of many hours of frustration and many wasted pieces of photo paper:

2. Retaking 18.01: yeah, that didn't work out so well. I didn't do so well on one of the exams, so I ended up failing it again over IAP. As a result I'm retaking 18.01 again this term. I've accepted that I am just completely terrible at learning math, and it just takes me more time than most people. Oh well. Thank goodness MIT has such wonderful grading policies freshman year.

3. Debate Tournament: NorthAms is a debate tournament that happens every year, the title a shortening of "North Americans." Teams from a number of Canadian colleges that participate in CUSID and American colleges that have APDA teams gather either at an American or Canadian school (it switches every year - this year it was in Amherst, MA at Amherst College) for a debate tournament. The rules are this strange hybrid of CUSID and APDA styles, and to be perfectly honest I actually really like these rules. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling too fantastic for most of the tournament, but I still had a good time, and it was fun to debate one last time before the insanity of the semester prevented me from doing so.

4. New York City trip: waking up at 5:30 AM, walking across campus in 14 degree F weather, sitting on a bus for three hours, and walking around in 12 degree F weather? Totally worth it. A group of friends and I went to New York the weekend of Mystery Hunt (we missed it, yes... lame, I know) and had an amazing time. We ate lunch at Becco, worked off all the calories from all the pasta we ate by walking to the Met through Central Park, saw only a fraction of the Met (favorite exhibits: Impressionism and contemporary photography), had life-changing chai lattes at Mud (and when I say "life-changing" I mean life-changing - I thought I knew what good chai tasted like, but the chai at Mud is so incredibly good it blew everything from back home out of the water), ate dinner at a little dumpling place, got cupcakes, and then caught the bus back home to Boston. It was a long day, but a fantastic one.

5. Andrew Bird Live!: ANDREW BIRD IS A GENIUS. I'm not even exaggerating! He is so incredibly talented, it's ridiculous. Loney Dear (and no, I did not misspell that!), a Swedish group, opened with a great set, and I definitely think they are much better live than they are in their recordings. Bird's set was fantastic; he played mostly songs from Noble Beast, but threw in "Imitosis" off of Armchair Apocrypha and "Tables and Chairs" off of ... And the Mysterious Production of Eggs (one of my favorite albums of all time). The show was the last Friday of IAP at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. Oddly enough, the Orpheum has seating. I'd never seen a show while sitting down before, and it was kind of strange. The show also got over at about 11 or 11:30 or so, which is the earliest any show I've ever been to has ended. Enough of my blabbering, here are pictures! The first one is Loney Dear, and the rest are Andrew Bird.
There was a review article in The Tech, but I can't say it was a good article. Not only is Loney Dear misspelled (just a little pet peeve of mine), the author clearly didn't do her research (the custom built gramophones are just for this tour, as one example...). Overall, I don't think it did the show, or Andrew Bird, any justice. Though he really did take his boots off and perform in pink socks, and there were so many hipsters there it was a bit like Urban Outfitters and American Apparel decided to have a convention with all their models.

So that was my IAP. When I wasn't doing one of the things listed above, I was hanging out with friends watching movies!

Now, for a video from Nerdist for G4, all about MIT's Mystery Hunt:

(I don't know why he keeps calling it "Puzzle Hunt" because that is definitely not what it's called... Oh well... This is the price of a bit more fame for MIT, I suppose?)

And I just can't resist linking to this article about movie projects involving things like vampires, Elton John, and Jane Austen novels. It's just too fabulous.
Plus, you should reward yourself for reading this much of this post. It was really long. Sorry about that! There was just so much to cover...

More coming soon...

GUESS WHAT?!

This Saturday is a holiday! Well, two holidays, to be precise!

Not only is it Valentine's Day, it's also the 150th anniversary of Oregon's statehood!

In honor of the state that spawned Kettle Chips and Tonya Harding, my radio show tonight will consist entirely of music from Oregon bands!!! So, show Oregon some love and listen in!

http://wmbr.org at 10 PM PST/1 AM EST, 9/10 February!

And I will do a real update soon, I promise! I have to blog about IAP, concerts, and spring term, so that's what you have to look forward to! This week is looking like it's going to be a little hectic, so I can't say when I'll be posting again, but I will try to make it soon.

In the meantime, here's a nerdy video featuring music by The Fall and chemistry. I officially love the EU.

Home State... Pride?

I won't deny it: I love Oregon.

Naturally, I get pretty excited when Oregon comes up in the national news arena. I'm always so pleased when I see my home state portrayed as something other than a land of meth addicts and crazies. However, things appear to have gone to crap since I left. (Okay, me leaving and moving to Boston clearly has no impact on the behavior of the citizens of the Beaver State. I recognize this... Just go with it.)

First off, there's the scandal business with Portland's newest mayor, Sam Adams. The local news stations have been buzzing about it for a while, and it's now made several appearances on the New York Times website.

"The Great Gay Hope" - Timothy Egan Blog

Portland Journal: A Mayor’s Lie Throws a City Into Turmoil

What it boils down to is this: Adams lied about his relationship with a significantly younger male in his campaign for the mayoral seat (the issue is not that this relationship was with a male - Portland is the largest city with an openly gay mayor in the US - it's the age differences). He's since come clean about it, and a large number of his former supporters are calling for his resignation (they can't recall just yet - Portland has a law that you can't recall a mayor for the first six months they are in office), which he has refused to do. In my opinion, Adams has done the right thing. Honestly, I don't think it's impairing his ability to lead the city in any way, and there are politicians out there that have committed far more egregious acts and we've allowed them to remain in office. Obviously we shouldn't be letting this slide, because it could be seen as a condonation of behavior we don't really want to see from a mayor, but if the man can actually do a good job of leading the Rose City, then I think we should let him.

Secondly, there's some crazy CIA stuff going on. Apparently, a man and his son from Eugene have been caught committing espionage and selling information to the Russians.

CIA Spy Enlisted Son to Collect Espionage Debts, Feds Say

I think the father is held at the Federal Correction Institution in Sheridan, judging from the article. Which is kind of weird. That's definitely only about ten miles away from my house. I guess this article isn't as interesting or controversial as the ones about Sam Adams, but it's interesting in that it went on so close to where I lived...

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Back here in Boston, things are going quite well. IAP is swiftly coming to an end (Registration Day is Monday! AH!) and spring semester is starting next Tuesday. Things I have to worry about are shifting from dividing time between sleeping, hanging out, what movie to watch next, studying and eating, to class schedules, study habits, studying, eating, and more studying. IAP has been a lot of fun, but I think I'm (sort of) ready for the semester to begin. I just want to get it over with. Then there's the problem of figuring out what to do with my summer. And camp is no longer an option, for a number of reasons. Hopefully I'll get something figured out...

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

It's my brother's 15th birthday today! In honor of this, I naturally have to post cutesy baby pictures of him that I just know he will appreciate. Okay everyone, on the count of three... Awwww!


I would just like to point out that this kid is now a good five inches taller than I am. I would also like to point out that I am sort of thankful I'm not going to be on the roads back home - Jesse can officially get his permit now.

In other news: IAP is in full swing here. I still have a concussion, and it hurts a lot. I finally have access to the darkroom in the student center, and I finally managed to make a decent print with a negative that I was having some difficulties with. And now I need a nap.

[Happy Birthday, Jesse!!!]