??????? wheel…!

October 11th, 2008

I am rapidly running out of three things that every college student needs: toothpaste, laundry detergent, and hard drive space. I also need an allen wrench to mod my scooters and more ethernet cables. Many many more.

So I’m going home on Sunday morning and staying until Tuesday. For some reason, Purdue transplanted the first two days of Thanksgiving break into October.

Don’t worry, I’m not going alone. My friend, “Larry”, is going up with me. He and his circle of international student friends are going up to Chicago to do the whole “tourist” thing. Since all my white friends went home by dinnertime Friday, I ate with Larry and his friends. To say it was awkward would have been unnecessary. You probably felt a wave of awkwardness pervading your being from across the state. It was like sitting at a table of eight ‘me’s. Everyone was quiet and didn’t make eye contact. I don’t blame them. I can relate. I mean, what else could they have done? I don’t exactly fit in with them. I stood out. Here’s a sample of conversation.

Larry: ????????????????谢谢???????
George: ????谢谢?????????? tennis ???????谢谢!
Cicy and Hannah (in unison): 谢谢??? wheel ???!

So I was a little lost because I only know one word of Mandarin. But they were nice. Larry tried to find us topics of conversation but we had a little trouble sustaining any.

I figure that it’s better to be awkward early than to be awkward on the 3.5 hour train trip. We leave on the daily Amtrak to Chicago at 8:00AM Sunday (Saturday’s train has been booked for months) and arrive at Union where the Metra station is just a short power walk away.

I stay just long enough to see some old friends, return stolen goods, steal some more goods, and upstage Cassidy. There’s also some dentist and medical related stuff on Monday at 1:00 and Tuesday at 11:00. The rest of the time, I’m free to see old friends/go clubbing/back up my hard drive.

Posted in Day-to-Day | 2 Comments »

rand($musings)

October 11th, 2008
  • I learned that I am very good at two games. At orientation, I learned that I was finally, after years of abstinence, good at Twister. (One of the side effects of having big hands and feet.) The other game is Rock Band, which I played at John’s house the night after we were at the beach and right before I left for Purdue. I managed 99% on “Dirty Little Secret” vocals on medium. It probably stems from my Karaoke predilection. (One of the side effects of being Chinese.)
  • My unibrow came back even worse because I got rid of it before move-in day. Alex says I should have it waxed like his.
  • One day a suggestion box popped up in the floor bathroom. I suggested, “Ignore suggestions”.
  • There is a mop sink near the elevators. We are supposed to use it for several purposes that we can’t do in the bathroom:
    • storing the floor mop
    • throwing up in
    • washing dishes

    Hopefully not in that order.

  • All my friends here text each other. I’m just a simple boy with a simple cell phone plan. Amanda, though, thinks I’ll break before the end of the year and give in: getting a texting package. It would put a halt to calling and waking up people when asking where everyone goes to lunch.
  • People here are good at playing Euchre and Guitar Hero and Super Smash Bros and Halo 2. I am master of none and am therefore socially inept. Well, you know, more socially inept. Unequipped. I am cut off from the bonding experiences of a guitar battle, or being hit with a hammer by Pikachu or a killing spree or whatever analogous event that Euchre has.
  • I get better phone reception in the middle stall of the bathroom than in my room.
  • F^#$ IT! moments so far:

    • running shirtless through a fountain
    • Singing karaoke
    • Most Wednesday lunches
  • People call Organic Chem “orgo”. I call it O-chem because I fear Freudian slips. Like with “secant x” in sophomore year. I was supposed to put a trigonometric proof on the board and I did, only I accidentally wrote “sec x” as “se x” without realizing it. “Orgo” is just a bit too close to “orgy” for my tastes.
  • For Ochem lab reports, we have to write procedures in passive voice. This is torture; they are undoing everything that McD accomplished. I can’t hold out much longer…
  • Every big ten university needs a direct fiber line to Facebook’s servers. It’ll take the burden off of the rest of the Internet. You know, the productive part.
  • I’m too short for the peephole in my room’s door.

Posted in Random | 1 Comment »

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