I am full.

To take a break from applying for summer programs (woot) and stuffing my face with food (Superbowl + entry snacks = a happy stomach), it’s time for… preflecting on classes!  Yay!

‘06-’07: September | June
‘07-’08: September | June
‘08-’09: September | June
‘09-’10: September | December

Principles of Programming Languages: After last semester, I am wary of saying I’m scared of my CS class.  But… I’m a little bit scared of my CS class.

Seriously though, it’ll be great.  Just hard.  Just a little more theory and a little (or a lot) less Java than I’m used to having in a CS class.  I’ll bitch and whine about it, but I’ll live.

The class is pretty big– I mean, liberal-arts-college-big– I mean, computer-science-class-at-liberal-arts-college-big– so like, 30 people maybe?  I do not yet have stats on percentages of females/freshmen/people who haven’t taken 237 yet.  But I do have stats on the percentage of people who are awesome.  That would be 100%.  (FACT.)

Steve, based on his single lecture (about the most fundamental theorem in computer science… yeah, first day, no big deal), reminds me a little of Prof Sanders for some ineffable reason; something to do with the calmness and coherence with which they both lecture.  Whatever it is, I’m a fan.  And speaking of Sanders…

Syntactic Structure of English: … I clearly could not resist taking another linguistics class with him before he leaves (sob).  I can already tell this is going to be another sweet Pinker-esque class with a lot of people being anal about language, except with papers instead of problem sets.  I would complain about the papers, but these are no literary analysis papers, but like scientific deduction papers.  Which is probably what I need to learn how to write.

The class is predictably overenrolled, but still pretty small.  I know a handful of people from various places.  Or shall I say I know SOME PEOPLE.  For which reason I call this my party class.  Because it’s going to be a party.  In case that wasn’t clear.

Intro to Psychology: Hooray Psych 101.  From what I hear, this will be a breeze, as long as I take advantage of all those extra credit opportunities.  But it should be pretty interesting, provided it doesn’t repeat too much that I’ve read previously.  Man, I’ve read a lot of psychology books.

The class is large, as could be expected.  So is the group of faculty teaching the course; there are five, each of whom covers the topic of his/her expertise for a couple weeks.  It’s a good system for a survey course like this one, I guess.  Also!  Our JA Laura is a TA!  Office hours in the P3 common room, all day every day.  Win.

(Aside: Do you see how my courses this semester include CS, linguistics, and psych?  Do you see a potential MASTER PLAN???)

Differential Equations: OUR TEXTBOOK IS 1324 PAGES.  It’s like if my multivariable calc book ate my linear algebra book and became pregnant with a vector calculus book.  Or something.  Anyway, it’s fucking huge.  Thank god I didn’t have to pay for it.

The class itself should be pretty easy I think.  It would have the potential to be a little dull, but our prof is one of Williams’ notoriously enthusiastic and energetic math professors, so it’ll be fine.  He didn’t waste any time with boring first-day-of-class things like going over the syllabus; he was basically like, “Okay, homework, tests, grades, whatever.  Let’s do math!”  After 50 minutes going over the syllabus in Psych, I appreciated that.

Notably, he also encourages a lot more participation than I’m used to in a math class.  Since I tend to be talkative in math classes, this may be a good thing.  Unfortunately I don’t think I know anyone else in the class, so there’s no one for my to make snarky asides to.  Oh well.

People who must be thanked

1. Jeannie, for turning my stressful, panicky, “what the fuck am I going to do with my life, and more specifically my summer” morning into a more calm and confident afternoon.

2. Custodians, for cleaning our buildings, making wooden dinosaurs, and being generally wonderful people.

3. Will S., for saving my ass at least eleven times during the past two days prior to the rogue “Home, for me” event (just ask my phone’s recent calls list).

4. Lenelle Moïse, for being brilliant and moving and fierce in her spoken word poetry performance.

5. Emily, for being Emily.  And because I think she’s overdue for a blog shoutout.

Things that must be blogged about

1. I took a break from my overwhelming dead week responsibilities to visit Kati at Hampshire, record an audition for her, edit and burn a DVD of said audition, meet a few of her friends, eat Indian food in Northampton (ah, Northampton love!), dream about sledding and clichés, get acquainted with the Hampshire media resource people, etc etc etc.

It was more than a little hectic, but fun, because I kind of love Kati a lot.  Hampshire is a cute school.  Their financial aid office is in a barn.  Sorry, sorry, I won’t make fun of it… it’s really a pretty cool place.  It’s got beautiful scenery, it features a unique academic program, and it’s near Northampton and copious amounts of civilization in general.  Oh civilization.

2. … And because I KNOW you’re wondering, the trip was pretty uneventful, except the whole getting a ride from Pittsfield to Williamstown with complete strangers thing.  They were Williams students at least.  And the only reason I even did that was because the stupid Pittsfield bus station closes at freaking 6 PM and we had a two hour layover and it was cold and I’ve already spent enough hours in that damn pizza place.  Well, I made some new friends I guess.

3. First day of classes!  The preflection post comes after Friday, but suffice it to say I’m a little tiny bit scared about CS, and I managed to not sit next to Ben and Alex in linguistics.  And I had like an hour long lunch.  And I have work to do again, and it feels weird.

4. The ethnographic theater production that just won’t die, “Home, for me,” that one I’m teching, is having a rogue performance tomorrow evening.  It’s a little unofficial, and a little last minute.  The rehearsals are even more last minute.  And we’re having trouble getting in touch with the other more skilled techie, and I don’t have keys to any of the rooms, and I still don’t know whether I’m even allowed to do this as a job, and GAH.

5.  Chris stained his white linen pants.  It was a moment of great tragedy in the entry.  Let us observe a moment of silence for Chris’s white linen pants, during which we contemplate the remote possibility of him tie-dying them.

Week of DEATH

… AKA dead week, AKA the week between winter study and spring semester, AKA the week when nobody does shit.

What I have done: practiced some piano, did some laundry, eaten a lot of Mission food, watched a lot of movies and a lot of internet TV, explored Chapin Hall a little (for no particular reason (promise))…

Oh, and I purchased between 75 and 100 percent of my books for the spring semester.  Williams has a new system for textbooks for financial aid recipients now.  Instead of the 1914 Library, which I appreciated but which KILLED MY SPIRIT in the fall, now we can stroll over to Water Street Books (admittedly a rather arduous stroll in -20 degree with windchill weather), swipe our IDs like the credit cards we wish they were, and be done.  Total cost?  Zero bucks baby–and spirit still alive and everything.  Thank you Williams.

And by “between 75 and 100 percent of my books,” I of course mean “either 75 or 100 percent of my books.”  Unless I need exactly two-thirds of a textbook for diff-EQ or something.

Speaking of math, I had a great dream last night where I had to remember Stoke’s Theorem and just couldn’t and it freaked me the fuck out.  Which is funny, because in real life I also cannot remember Stoke’s Theorem (not off the top of my head, anyway) but it does not freak me the fuck out.

Anyway.  Tomorrow I’m going on a little adventure to less-western Massachusetts, and then actual school starts up again at last.  So that’ll be interesting.

The end

Last day of winter study.

Doughnuts in class, watching someone solve the Rubik’s Cube with chopsticks, running errands (who knew there were Williams College offices in the same building as Tunnel City Coffee?).  Waiting for sandwiches at Grab & Go, because they’d ran out.  Taking an extra cookie out of spite.

Walking very very far to buy a bus ticket, wondering whether it’s a good idea to wear my Williams sweatshirt on a bus to Amherst (I probably will, even though it’s really not), exploring the ‘62 Center, not falling during ballet class.

Watching the snow fall and finding it extraordinarily beautiful– and it’s not like I’ve never seen snow before.  But it seemed more magical this time.  It was like being in a snow globe.  Maybe it was just because I was in such a good mood.

Rotting my brain with internet TV and feeling surprised at how quickly the entry has emptied out for dead week.  Yay dead week.  Most morbid name for a vacation ever.

Winter study

So it turns out that winter study doesn’t last forever.  I mean, who knew?

And it’s not even like I necessarily want winter study to last forever, because you know me: I’m excited about my spring semester classes, I care about school, and I want schoolwork that I need to care about.  But during winter study, there’s this mentality you get into almost against your will, in which spring semester is like the moon– always far away and never getting closer– and all those things you told yourself firmly you would do “during winter study” can always be put off till tomorrow with no negative consequences.

I know, you’re thinking, “April, that’s called PROCRASTINATION, and virtually every human on the planet is a champion at it.”  You’re right, really.  You’re astute like that.  That’s why I like you.

Yet somehow, during winter study, things are different.  Even procrastination.

Theater nerds own my life

Yesterday, I was peacefully eating a late breakfast at around 11:30 when my phone started buzzing.  It was Will telling me that I should be at Goodrich NOW to program lights for the ethnographic theater production I will be teching on Tuesday.  I considered telling him it would take more than NO TIME to finish eating, get my shit together, and walk to Goodrich.  I decided against it.  Of course, after rushing over, it turned out that they barely needed me.  They like to keep me on my toes I suppose.

At 2 was “A Celebration of Sondheim,” which was a revue of a bunch of showtunes Sondheim had composed or written lyrics for.  Now I’ve heard and played some Sondheim, and I like to think I know Sondheim well enough to appreciate the man and his music.  But sitting next to some seriously obsessed Sondheim nerds, I felt like a complete ignoramus.

The show was pretty spectacular– Williams kids, damn talented as usual– but it was all just prelude to the real event of the day: Stephen Sondheim himself coming back to his alma mater to be interviewed by NYT columnist Frank Rich.

I repeat: Williams “kids,” damn talented as usual.

I would’t have been surprised if hearing Sondheim speak had been more impressive than enjoyable, per se, since I feel like brilliant people don’t usually explain things well to non-brilliant people.  But Sondheim was incredibly articulate, interesting, and funny.  He said some especially fascinating things about writing lyrics, writing lyrics for “Somewhere” specifically (“there’s A place for us….”), musicals being made into movies, how Williams changed his life…

Sure, he seemed arrogant at times, but only in the way that we’re all a little arrogant when we decide we have standards and refuse to lower them.  And it’s not like Sondheim doesn’t have a reason to be arrogant or anything.  It’s not like he’s written music and/or lyrics to any musicals you might have heard of.  Or any incredible musicals that you should have heard of.  (Assassins I’m looking at you.  I’m looking at you with great love and awe.)

… Sorry, I keep trying to work on this post while sitting in the common room with a bunch of people, which is a very poor idea.  So pretend that this is a thorough and eloquent description of what Sondheim talked about, and how lucky we were to hear him speak, and how I’ve spent so much of the past couple days in the company of theater nerds, and stuff.

Gah, how is winter study ending so soon?

Not a post about Last Night

Our entry just completely failed at rounding up a team for broomball.

Wait, have I mentioned broomball before?  Broomball is basically the worst idea to ever hit Williams’ winter study, with the possible exception of Last Night.  Think highly aggressive college students at varying states of inebriation, running around on an ice rink in street shoes, swinging broomsticks at a hard rubber ball.  They have helmets sometimes and padding never and shirts most of the time.  This is broomball.  People get hurt.

Yet in some strange insane way, like so many other human pursuits, it’s also awesome.

Pratt 3 usually gets pretty into it, but tonight we weren’t.  Some people were watching a movie, some people were sick, some people were MIA, some people were getting manicures, and no one really wanted to play, with a couple exceptions.  A couple extremely disappointed exceptions.  Some of whom threatened to throw the couch I was lying on out the window.  I didn’t move.

Hmm, has anything else happened recently?  I really don’t think so– it’s not like winter study is particularly interesting or anything.  I teched a show for the first time, and somehow I’m teching another (and starring in it, despite not acting in it).  I’m well on my way to becoming “that girl” in my Rubik’s Cube class, i.e. the (only?) one who asks and answers questions and is generally obnoxious.  Zelda has returned.  I really like milkshakes.

Yeah, there’s clearly nothing else to say here.

This post is made possible by coffee

Hey!  So!  Last night was Williams’ semi-annual Trivia Contest, which was essentially intensely caffeinated (for me) Google-fu from 10 PM till 6 AM.

You can read more about it on the website.  The basic gist of it is that questions are broadcast on WCFM, the college radio station, and then a song plays.  The teams get the duration of the song to answer the question using whatever resources necessary (read: Wikipedia) and identify the song.  And the artist, which was annoying as fuck because they played covers and parodies and covers of parodies and parodies of covers…  You submit answers via AIM, which was a fun setup because we could beg our person for hints and make amusing joke answers and stuff.  And besides all that there were various more difficult bonus questions, and super questions, and ultra questions…

I took a break around midnight to go to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was sheer hilarious impenetrable insanity for a Rocky Horror virgin like myself.  I did get dressed up though.  It was almost too cold at 2 AM for fishnet stockings– almost, but not quite.  (It’s so warm today.  Like the above freezing/sunny/not windy kind of warm.)

Anyway, I came home, changed out of my (JA’s) skanky red dress, and helped my vastly diminished team forge ahead on the trivia contest.  We had a pretty solid score considering our circumstances (team size, location, etc.) were less than ideal.  Next year, we’re organizing better, we’re not forgetting to do the Hour #0 Bonus, and the other teams had better watch out because they’re going down.

By 6 AM, there’s really no point in going to sleep, so Ben, Kevin, and I opted to do Sporcle quizzes (I know, because we hadn’t had our fill of trivia yet) until breakfast opened at 7:30.  Well, Ben actually went to bed at like 7.  And stole my laptop charger while he was at it.  LAME.

I was still feeling incredibly awake and peppy, so I was tempted to just fuel up on coffee and power through the day– but alas, my better sense told me to get some rest.  So I got in a solid three hours of sleep between breakfast and lunch.  Then I went to Bronfman to do homework (!) and overhear Ed Burger talking about the moment he learned he’d won a rather important award. And I’m STILL feeling awake and peppy.  There might be something wrong with me.  But I feel so right.

The only logical conclusion is that having a mood that is strongly correlated with the weather and caffeine intake is a good thing.

A few kind of amusing things

NUMBER ONE.  Sunday morning.  Dude throws a tater tot at my head.

He was aiming for Julian (damn, I should know better than to hang out with crew people… except oh wait, they’re EVERYWHERE), but was surprised to realize that tater tots cannot pass through my skull.  He ran over and gave me a hug.  Only after that did he introduce himself.  It was mostly just really hilarious.  Tater tots: bringing people together.

NUMBER TWO.  Monday morning.  ”Hey, are you April?”  ”Yeah, are you Laura?”  ”Yeah, nice to meet you!”  ”Good, we’ve fulfilled the mission that Emily gave us.”

NUMBER THREE.  Tuesday morning.  Walking past the winter survival skills class, I overhear the instructor say with some consternation, “Is that a Snuggie?”

I turn to see a guy holding up a camo Snuggie, protesting ”Hey, I’ve brought it camping before!”  I just laugh.

Ah, Snuggies.  We definitely sat in the common room the other day (probably sometime before our ridiculous hours-long Sporcle marathon) and researched custom Snuggies.  Sadly, it seems you need to order a minimum of 48 Snuggies to get ones that are personalized.  Well, you can never have too many–

Oh wait.  You probably can.