Rutgers, and Laying Off the Burgers

I visited Rutgers for all of Thursday and half of the day on Friday. It was a lot of fun: on Thursday I was seeing people from 9 in the morning to 2 the next morning. And I didn't have a drop of liquor. How's that for an impressive day at college? It really felt comfortable to see people I hadn't seen in months - most of the before I left for Geneva. My friends at RU are unlike my friends are Cornell: Cornell friends are always out to be studying and have less time than Rutgers friends do to hang out. I feel a rush to add value to "hanging out" at Cornell. Do we have an objective to hanging out? Should we even have an objective? I am friends with people who I just have a good time to be around. Whether we get anything important done is besides the point. Fun is fun!


I am going to be more open to meeting new people, friends of friends, and just trying to have fun. What is this nonsense of having to deal with these overly stringent rules? Can't I just kick back and have fun without harming others? I want to say 'do crazy shit,' but it seems to include activities I wouldn't have fun doing. People are friends because they have fun doing the same things!


When I was at Rutgers (Friday afternoon, actually), I saw the verity of something my dad told me before I left for college. He told me to have fun, because college would be the most fun I would ever have in my life. When I first heard it, I thought it was a very bold statement. I was more concerned about taking classes and doing well than having "fun." But now I understand. I have virtually no responsibilities at college. No obligations to work a certain amount of time or to hold others' priorities above your own. Sure, there are classes, but we can decide how important they are to us. When we are stripped of responsibilities independent of our own, we can really tell what our priorities are.


Anyway...
Ever since this semester has started, I have had a few bad run-ins with commercial cheeseburgers. They've sent me on stomachaches and make me want to hurl all the time. The same with french fries. What does this mean? Could it mean I can no longer enjoy the staple of American cuisine: the burger and fries? I think it is the heavy amount of grease and other things in the burger that have been upsetting me. It is too dissimilar to the foods I am accustomed to. I do not mean I have been eating especially healthy. I just have not been eating junk food or foods with particularly high-concentrations of grease and fat.

So I have resolved not to eat cheeseburgers and french fries unless I know how they are specifically made. If I know how they are specifically made, I will decide whether to eat them based on how much expected grease is in them. I don't want to send my stomach on these roller coasters anymore. Nor do I want to accustom myself to eating food I currently find disgusting.

Let the Good Times Roll

1.   Cornell (12) beat Wisconsin (4) and Temple (5) to make it to the Sweet Sixteen where it will meet Kentucky (1). Shooting 61.1 percent of the game against Wisconsin, the Ivy League hasn't done this well since 1979. However, this only pales in comparison to other major upsets: KU (1) losing to ... heck anyone, Villanova (2) to St. Mary's (10), Vanderbilt (4) to Oakland (14), Georgetown (3) to Ohio (14). Knock yourself (and your bracket) out for more by looking at the actual bracket.

2.   I have actually been doing homework over break, studying for linear algebra. This event was aided by the fact I have an exam next week - April 1st of all days - so I am expecting a tough exam.

3.   Assassin's Creed II is ridiculously addicting.

4.   Healthcare Reform bill has passed the House. "This is what change looks like." - Obama. So hello to a few more years of health coverage for me.

5.   Fall 2010 Course Roster is up today! And as a rising senior, I get to select first. Three years of oppression is finally reversed!

6. Have not made any headway on Harmless Econometrics. I think reading books for leisure is something best left to the big vacations...

Pi Day Celebration!

First, I have a gripe about today. It is March 14, 3/14, Pi Day: where we celebrate the wonders from this great number. It is also Daylights Savings Time, when we "spring forward" one hour. Why this specific number? Because of... Pi? Yes, without Pi we would have Daylights Savings Time, but an inaccurate one at that. We would spend years of trial and error trying to calibrate our time systems without our dear Pi. The gripe? I demand an extra hour today so I can study for my exam (midterm, prelim, whatever) tomorrow.

Next, there have been an increasing number of student deaths at Cornell via the bridges. It is difficult to properly address the irrational activity of such students but... no, I can't talk about this. It just doesn't jive well for me.

Anyway, my spring break (unofficially starts) this Thursday! I am going to be taking the bus back early Friday morning to get home in the late morning. I did the same thing last summer and I remember not being able to sleep on the bus as I originally planned. Maybe I should buy some sleeping pills? Or I might just sneak some liquor on board and pass out after the bus drives by Binghamton. I will probably do neither and just force myself to sleep by eating a lot of food. That's a pretty safe way to go about doing it.

Here are my spring break goals!

• Play Assassin's Creed 2: I did not buy FFXIII. While I could finish it in the one week of time I have, I would also neglect other freedoms on my spring break - such as eating and sleeping - so I am going to wait until the summer to sign away my life on it. AC2 is a substitute, and I won't miss it as much when I come back to campus.
• Visit RU: This is pretty self-explanatory. The only problem is how to get there. The RUPD is pretty stringent about parking so I will have to bum a ride from someone. I think I will spend two days and a night there, I am not completely sure yet. There are a lot of people I want to see and party with, so it will be fun!
• Read Harmless Econometrics: I borrowed it, need to finish it.
• Try not to think about my research project: I have been thinking about instead of daydreaming, and I used to daydream a lot. Even though I am doing it for my personal gratification, it feels more and more like work than play.

Pre-Gaming

If you want to do something for a long time, you should try it out first to see if you like it.
Let's define "try it out." For most people this is an internship or research position at an organization or with a professor where they (let's face it) do bitch work. Things in the intern market have gotten better since the "get me coffee and make copies of this" phase." (I'm not even sure if that was the previous state of the intern market: any studies out there on intern conditions?) But it's still pretty monotonous stuff.
It's also pretty important monotonous stuff. I've been doing some thinking about my research project and where I am going to get my data from. I'm pretty sure I will have to go down to the SAS Registrar's office, get on both knees, and beg for data like my (academic) life depended on it. Then proceed to the Institutional Research and Planning Office, get on both knees, and beg for some more data. Did I mention they may not even have the data I am begging for?

"Have you no humility?"
In short, no. When it comes to getting a proper "try it out," I want to expose myself to every inkling of experience there is to offer. Down the road, I would rather not have to do these things when I could get it more easily at an equal or lower cost. But for now, this is going to be pretty cool! I'm excited.