So... I missed last week’s post, obviously. And I’m coming close to missing this one as
well, for many of the same reasons- I’m rather exhausted, and it’s much to hot
to really think. So if this post is
rather disjointed, or confusing, or anything to that effect, we should put it
down to the fact that it’s about 85°F inside right now, and I’m only now
starting to catch up on a somewhat appalling lack of sleep that I’ve
accumulated over the past two weeks.
Since it’s summer, one might assume that I wouldn’t be too
busy to sleep. In that case though, one
would be assuming that I’m a sane person who would just take the last few weeks
off of work, since I was well aware that there were other things I should be
doing. That assumption would be false
though... I’m in the (extremely fortunate) position of enjoying my job too much
to want to be gone for even a relatively short amount of time. Plus then I would need to figure out various
things like who would take care of my cells while I was gone (it’s remarkably
similar to having a pet) and when I’d be able to catch up on work (which will
be more difficult once the semester actually starts). So, like a crazy person, I just continued
working while simultaneously trying to get ready for the start of the semester.
There were several mildly amusing and/or exciting things
that happened in the past two weeks, so I’ll try to go through some of them...
I’m rather likely to forget some things though, which is one of the perils of
not posting on a weekly basis. But I’ll
try to write down what I remember, and hopefully it won’t be too boring. :P
Last time I posted, I was just moving in to Burton Conner
for the year. I started the year out
strong by completely forgetting my room number when I was moving in, and
getting the wrong key as a result. I
then continued the strong beginning by locking myself out of my room the next
morning, and getting an early introduction to Burton Conner’s new
security/spare key system. I somehow
managed not to be late for work, but it was somewhat close. I further continued my strong beginning by
forgetting my towel in my room when I went to shower that evening. Of course, I only remembered that I needed a
towel when I was finished with my shower, so I got to put my clothes back on
and sprint to my room, which was pretty much the furthest thing from
enjoyable. Luckily everything from then
on has been fairly smooth, so I (knock on wood) will hopefully not forget my
keys for a while now. :P
In the week between when I moved into Burton Conner and when
freshmen arrived on campus, I helped a bit with prepping for our orientation
activities. I unloaded a cram-packed car
after a Costco trip (I literally don’t think they could have fit anything else
in the car... there was stuff on top of all the people in the car, and
everything was so solidly packed that nothing fell out when the trunk was
opened). I also participated a bit more
actively in a Shaw’s run (Shaw’s is kind of like Safeway for everyone on the
West Coast). My major accomplishment on
the Shaw’s run was picking out 100 bananas... we pretty much cleared out the
banana section of Shaw’s.
Then, on Saturday, REX/Orientation began. REX is a period that overlaps with our
orientation period, during which the freshmen go around campus doing fun
activities that allow them to talk to upperclassmen about what the dorms they
live in are like. It’s always fun, and
more than a little stressful, since there are events going on from pretty much
8 am to 4 am everyday, and there’s always something that I should be helping
with. It was fun though- I ran one event
and helped with several others, and I met a lot of freshmen.
At the same time as REX was going on, my parents were
dropping my sister off at Brandeis.
Since they’re so rarely in the area (given that Seattle is a few miles
away from Boston), it was nice to see them and hang out a bit. They got to see lab and meet the grad student
I’m working with, which was ridiculously embarrassing, but also fun. My grad student and my father both enjoy making
fun of me, so hanging out with the two of them was something of an
adventure.
After my parents went home, REX ended, meaning that it was
time for Floor Rush. Floor Rush happens
once all the freshmen have decided which dorm they want to live in. At that point, they go to the dorm they’ll be
living in during the semester, and there’s an in-house rooming process. In Burton Conner, that consists of each floor
holding small activities that are somewhat representative of the floor’s
culture, and the freshmen go around to each floor and see where they think
they’d fit best. After a series of
events, the freshmen are placed on the different floors. Our floor’s Floor Rush had an obstacle
course, Dance Central, and Kool-Aid tasting, where we mix together various flavors
of Kool-Aid and then people guess what the flavors are. And, of course, Floor Rush wouldn’t be
complete without ridiculous amounts of fried food. Compared with last year, Floor Rush went
surprisingly smoothly. Which is to say
that I only got extremely stressed and started ordering people around about
three times, rather than the ten or so from last year. Altogether, I’d say it was more or less a
success.
The highlight of the remainder of the week was when I sat on
a yellow jacket. Given that I’ve never
been stung by a bee/wasp/yellow jacket before, it was a new experience. It kind of freaked me out a bit, although I think
I conducted myself rather well. It was
surprisingly painful though- sort of like a continuous very hard pinch. It got rather itchy too, particularly during
the walk back to Burton Conner to get ice.
Luckily I appear to be not allergic to yellow jackets, although
according to my research even people who are severely allergic to yellow
jackets only swell up about 50% of the times that they’re stung, so my results
are hardly conclusive. Luckily my
stupidity didn’t lead to the death of any yellow jackets, since they’re able to
sting people multiple times without dying.
A small comfort, perhaps, but a comfort nonetheless.
This week school will be starting, so I’ll give you a rundown
of my classes in next week’s post. There
will probably be lots of science-y words involved, so get ready for that. :P
Until next week! (Or possibly the week after, given my
current track record... :P)
Alycia
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