Saturday, July 26, 2008

Sport Death, Rock On, Break a Leg, and Integrate

The many roles of the student... The last few days have been pretty outrageous, as the policy here is to be extreme in all things, including the Having of Fun. It takes precision, balance, and too much energy for the molecules of the normal human body system to realistically hold. Give supporting evidence, the Writing teacher says; And I shall! says I. This Tuesday was the eve of the due date for a Calc problem set. Since I had spent the previous night and weekend writing essays and finishing Physics (see last post), I was faced with a one-night time parameter for the entire Calc assignment. So I got in at five o'clock, fully intending to start my p-set right away, feeling perky and awake and up to the job, just let me sit on the bed for one moment to check my email-ZONK. I was awoken at ten o'clock--yes, TEN--by my friend rapping on my chamber door to make sure I hadn't died. What ensued was a frantic rush to Office Hours that I shall hope will never be repeated. Sleep debt is a very real, very stealthy thing.
But come the weekends, one feels one can let down the defenses and commence in the Having of Fun. Consequentially, a Rock Band video game system graciously provided by a guy named Tim--thanks, Tim!--was dragged out of its hiding place and put into full gear. The game is like guitar hero but equipped with drums and a mike in addition to a guitar, resulting in high-capacity crowd pleasing. I haven't spent as much time on it as other folks, but it is quite the addictive machine...
I also went last night to see a play by the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble. It was loosely--VERY loosely--based on Macbeth, but it was still pretty good. One guy in it, a Theater and Electrical Engineering major (yeah, find THAT someplace else), was the villain, and he had long brown hair streaked with pink. That means he's from East Campus.
Segue to...I'm going to be living in East Campus. Well, not technically, since Senior Haus is directly across the street from the physical East Campus, but the two intermeld in location and mindset. I found this out the other day and have been excited ever since: while Senior Haus has not the foam weapons that are Random, nor the plywood amusement park rides that are East Campus, it has the tire swing, yearly steer roast, basement mosh pit area, and annual bouncy ball drop that IS Senior Haus. It's the oldest dorm on campus, and it's right next to the Institute President's House, so it's got some history. Its motto is "SPORT DEATH, FOR ONLY LIFE WILL KILL YOU." Good stuff...
And about the pink hair... I've been told that dying hair is specifically an East Campus/Random/Senior Haus thing, with Randomers tending to be green and blue and the others gravitating more towards pink and red and orange. I've already been warned not to buy hair dye because they have a dorm-wide stock. I was thinking, though, of sort of trying to unite the dorms and dye my hair every color I can find... Just kidding, Mom. I'll stick to green...
Well, I've got to go exercise, for tonight is Patrol (see last week), and I have no other time to do so.
Hope everyone is enjoying the last throes of summer back home. Send me some sweet corn and green beans! Just throw it in a box, it'll be fine... Cheers and whatnot...