Running Around Crazily

I think I finally understand what it means to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off. If the past three days are any indication, it has something to do with going from activity to activity to activity with no breaks while you’re awake, and then rolling into bed when it’s time to sleep, because you’re so tired that you physically can’t stay awake any longer. That’s pretty much how my return to MIT has felt. As a result, the past week is a little bit of a blur, so you’ll have to excuse me if I forget anything.

The first order of business to take care of is actually something from last week. While I was home, there was a mouse running around in our garage. My dad, after much effort, caught it, so my house is again mouse-free. He has also requested that I mention that he found a vole in a filter in a thing in my grandparents’ basement. I’m not doing the story justice at all... I will leave it to him to tell the real story in the comments, if he so chooses.

And now for Monday. Monday was my mom’s first day back at work from her vacation. She took a week off while my German cousin and her friend were visiting the States. So... on Monday I got to play with babies! It was pretty much an amazing day. Even though it was a little bit crazy running around after two three-year-olds and a six-month-old, it was surprisingly relaxing not to think about science for a week.

Tuesday was even crazier, since there were four small children running around. We took them on a walk to the pet store to see the animals, which was a good way of getting out of the house for a bit. That being said, I believe that I took a nap on Tuesday afternoon, so the running around after four children was still very tiring.

Wednesday and Thursday were more of the same- I played with babies until they took a nap in the afternoon, at which point I read or napped until they woke up, and then I played with them some more until they left. (I should probably mention at some point that my mom is a nanny... the majority of this post probably doesn’t make much sense without that information.) After the babies went home, my family and I would eat something delicious for dinner, and then we would hang out, or watch a movie, or do some activity together.

The one non-routine thing that I did while I was home was picking blackberries for a pie. I got a little bit scratched up (battle wounds- totally worth it) and covered in blackberry juice, but the pie was delicious, so I’m certainly not complaining.

On Thursday night I flew back to Boston. I was excited to go back, but sad to be leaving, which seems to be a theme when I’m going places these days. I arrived in Boston at 7:30 Friday morning, Boston-time, and then began my trek back to MIT, which was pretty painless. I spent some time rearranging my room and finishing up one of the murals that we had been painting on our floor.

Saturday was the semi-official beginning of REX, MIT’s Residential Exploration Period. I hosted two events: a mural painting event, at which there were no freshmen, and an event where we watched random YouTube videos that was actually pretty well attended. My roommate came back to Burton Conner that night, so we re-rearranged the room so that we could fit everything in, and lifted my bed, which was a lengthy, complicated process that only resulted in one injury, surprisingly.

On Sunday I helped out at a bunch of events and worked desk for an hour, during which I was quizzed about life at Burton Conner for about twenty minutes by some parents. It was a lot of go-go-go, and I was very tired afterward. More people came back on Sunday though, so I got to see a good number of my friends who had been gone over the summer, which was wonderful.

I am obviously missing home and cookies though, because I have recently become addicted to a game where you make virtual cookies. It’s not all that realistic though, since I’m making almost 200,000 cookies a second right now. That’s not really feasible in real life, I don’t think. :P

I have to go to another event in a few minutes, so I’m going to end it here... I hope everyone has a great week!