Omg College.

Oh man, I finally updated O: Lol, I've actually been working on this for a long time, as you can see, and wrote every entry on the day of the title. I didn't put it up because I hadn't compiled all the videos and pictures I'd wanted to. But now I have, and here you go! Don't hate me too bad.

Wednesday, 9 September.

Today was pretty awesome. First, I didn't have to go to my Gender & Society class. Of course, it's a shame to miss it, but I'm glad that I didn't have to wake up for it lol. My German homework that's assigned for Friday is very easy: find the weather for Friday morning in some German speaking city. I picked Vienna. If you're wondering, they're going to have a high of 74 and it will be mostly sunny.

I went to my mailbox today, too, because I was expecting a package from Mum. She was going to mail me two books. What I wasn't expecting was a BULBASAUR POSTCARD FROM SARA ♥ !!! That totally made my day, because, as awesome as the package was, I was not expecting the postcard. My package included the two books I'd asked for and also the last installment of Fruits Basket ♥ and some little things for school like a super awesome portable stapler and tape dispenser that sticks to stuff with suction power. Don't worry, she knows how easily amused I am, so these were good gifts =P . Oh! And SOCKS.

Music theory class was total B.S. because we only went over everything we "learned" from the reading last night. Which was NOTHING. KILL MEEEE. Only when I'm in that class, though; please arrange it so I live for the rest of the week. I biked around, ran a few errand-type-things I had to take care of, and biked to an early dinner, just for the fun of it. Then I came right back to the dorm and did all my theory homework just because I knew I wouldn't want to be bothered with it later. Ew.

And Victor called! He finally told me I could start going to group lessons at the Niantic Arthur Murray. But I tried to figure out the bus schedule, and it wasn't so easy. Then I realised that I might not be able to go at all because it seems the bus to Niantic only runs until early evening, before the classes even start, so forget about getting back. I might call a taxi service, or maybe just give up the idea entirely [though I feel bad, putting everybody involved through all the effort :'( ], or maybe try to convince Mum that I can bring the car back with me after I visit home *coughcoughcough*.

Oh yes, I never watched Heaven, and the phone people still haven't showed up.


Tuesday, 8 September.

Today was so chill. I had my theatre class, so I got to sleep in until about 9:30. I was ready by 10 and so I had breakfast in the Smith dining hall, which is like three steps from my dorm. Theatre class was fun. We did some mini-performances and I got quite embarrassed when I received a lot of compliments. I'm not very used to that at all. We had lunch in Knowlton again today, but despite sitting at the Spanish table, we did not speak Spanish. That's probably because there was no one at that table that we didn't know, hahaha. It's 3:24 now as I write this, and I've long since finished all my homework, besides a quick Music Theory article I was supposed to find [but I came here instead...], oh well. I'll do it eventually. I really hope I can watch Heaven tonight!! :D


"I said play it, bitch!"


Monday, 7 September.

I had my first Gender & Society class today, which was really cool. The teacher seems very chill, and she seems to remind me a bit of Madame Steffener. Also pretty great, she said she'd be out of town on Wednesday, so we don't have class again until next Monday.

We called the people to fix our phone and TV again. Hopefully they'll show up tomorrow. -.-

We had lunch in Knowlton, the language dorm. We had to sit at the Spanish table because French was full and we don't actually have a language in common between Najam, Kelsey, and me.

I also had my first Music Theory class. Apparently, I've had some awful scheduling mix-up v__v;; Oops.

I think I found my audition song! I'm going to see "As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver!, but obviously not in the same key as in the musical >~< . I can sing it decently, I hope.

Sunday, 6 September.

It's so weird being here. Certain things about it seem so wrong or so temporary. I can't bring myself to call my room or dorm 'home' or even 'house' because it is not either of those things, physically or emotionally. I'm hesitant to call the people here my 'friends' because they're not. I've known them for a week. Everything I do feels temporary. Even using this laptop as opposed to my old one, which is still at home, feels like, oh well it's not really my laptop. Showering in these little tiny stalls. Trying to go to the bathroom while other people are in the room. Thinking of doing something like band without Jesson or Bryan or Greg.... And feeling like, oh, I don't need to get too attached to these people... I have my real friends back at home and I'll see them soon enough. It's all so bizarre. I'm here. This is my home for the next four years. And yet...?


Saturday, 5 September.

Today was... wow. I got to sleep in :D That's always a plus, lol. Kelsey wasn't around all day, and I basically spent the day moving between my room and Harris for food. When Kelsey finally came back, I was pretty happy [yay, company!].

We went to dinner [we being Benito, Andrea, Tanaha, Kelsey, Najam, Kevin, Eric, and me]. Najam told us a funny story about how he was playing a guessing game earlier that day. He had a card with an animal on the back, and he had to give his friends clues about what the animal was, so he said, "Okay, it likes peanuts." Tanaha guessed "Elephant" and Najam said, "You're right, it's an elephant." The picture was of a rhinocerous.

Back in the room, both Kelsey and Wendy were doing homework. This upset me because I had no one to talk to =P But we had a little drama, about which it would probably be impolite for me to go into detail. After three hours of uncomfortable silence and complaining, I went to the boys' room. That was a nice change because Eric and Benito were cracking up, and I could make noise O: Benito dragged me to a rave, which was fun. I actually danced *everyone gasp!*. After that, I watched House at like 12:30am with Eric and Ben and some other people. It was season four, episode two, which is the one where the intern games begin. If that means anything to you. Then I came back and went right to sleep :]


Friday, 4 September.

I slept rather poorly last night, but I got to sleep in this morning, which was great. My class was Elementary German at 10:25 am in Blaustein. I found it okay, miraculously. German is an intimidating language o___o;; and starting the class in a completely foreign language is equally as intimidating. He told us, "Guten Morgen! Ich heiße Jim McFarland. Wie heißen Sie?" And we all had to answer him O__O;; Lol. But I'm very excited. And I have easy homework: learn colours lol.

I ate lunch with Najam, Andrea, Benito, Eric, and Tanaha. We wanted to eat in Knowlton, because we would sit at the French table there and speak French! But it was closed. So we spoke a little tiny bit of French in Harris instead, lol. Kelsey went home for the weekend, and I basically just fooled around in my room all afternoon, until I realised it was evening and would probably be wise to get some food. I ate alone, but decided to wait for Najam. He was slow though, and I ended up dining with Dan [not the one from Montclair... oh this is going to get too confusing too fast o_o], Kevin, Bo, and two new acquaintances, Brian and Jesse. After that, Dan, Jesse, and Bo and I went to see if the game room was open yet. It wasn't. I ended up going to an a Capella concert for about half an hour; it was amazing, but too stuffy, so I left. It's crazy how many people turn up at these a Capella performances!

After that, I came back here. All in all, a boring day. As I sat at my computer, Najam walked in. Apparently there was something of a party going on in his room, but he had to read EIGHTY pages for bio and asked if he could study in here for the time being. So of course, I let him. After a while, though, Benito came in and apologised to him. He was saying things like, man, we made those roommate agreements, what I did wasn't cool, you just have to say something, you know 'man I gotta study,' and we'll leave. I felt like that was really mature of him, and... well I don't know. I just liked that he did it. And the party moved down to South Campus somewhere, just like that.


Thursday, 3 September.

Today, I got to wake up at 9:30. That was fabulous, except I skipped breakfast. I found my theatre class after much searching. Awesome two hours. At the end, I got talking to this kid, Dan. Turns out, he's from Montclair! And he used to date Blair, lol. He knows a few people from my school and he's even seen a play or two LHS. Pretty awesome, lol. We had lunch together, and met up with Najam, Eric, and Kelsey, and also Benito. Dan and I made waffles, and the waffles have CAMELS on them O: It's really awesome :3



After lunch, we went back to the poster sale, and I bought yet another, larger, cooler, A Clockwork Orange poster. Heh. Since we'd both finished the day, Kelsey and I basically hung out all day and didn't do much. We took short naps, and some random girl just walked into our room -- it turned out to be Tanaha, but Kelsey and I were semi-sleeping, so we were freaked out -- because apparently Wendy gave her our key -.- We had to a Convocation ceremony, which is basically a reverse graduation lol. It was awful. I read A Brave New World and Bo was sleeping [and snoring]. We decided to skip on the whole-school-and-then-some picnic, and we ate in Oasis, the snack shop in Cro. I had a toasted bagel :] I'm still full lol. We haven't... done anything... all night, lol.



Wednesday, 2 September.

Today I had to register for classes. Registration opened at 8:30, and you sure as heck had to be online ready to go when that clocked turned. Well, in our room, we had so much trouble even just getting in the page. After a good fifteen minutes, I still hadn't even logged in. So I had to go to D'Larys' room to do it. I missed out on the "Introduction to Mathematical Thought" class, but, eh, small loss. I've ended up with my freshmen seminar, "Gender and Society," an acting class, "Elementary German," and "Foundational Theory for Musicians." I have to go buy books, which is going to suck.

Oh. I bought books. The day sucked. We bought all these posters at a poster sale. I bought two from A Clockwork Orange and one from Taxi Driver.



We came back, found a necklace in the stairs, and smelled smoke. It got stronger as we entered our floor, which worried us, considering this is substance free housing. We knocked on someone's door to ask about what we should do with the necklace, and when she opened the door, the scent grew stronger, flooding out and surrounding us. We kept our cool but freaked out once we were in our room =*( And then, after that, we were just chilling in our room when we hear a scream. Wendy turns and looks out the window just before we hear a crash. Kelsey and I are a little slower to the window. Wendy shouts that that girl just hit a parked car! She went out to help, while Kelsey and I watched from the window. We were so freaked out, we didn't know what to do. We couldn't get a good view to see what state she was in, which only made us freak out more. Wendy went to the emergency room with her. We went out to see the damage on the pick-up truck, and it looks like it was hit by a small car! Kelsey called her dad and I called Viggi. So much freaking out in one room o__o;;

Two hours later, on Skype with Vigg the whole time, we had to go to a house meeting, which, in itself, was awful. We came back. I showered, and Najam was in there the whole time, singing "This Little Light of Mine."

Tuesday, 1 September.

Happy September! Today I slept through breakfast again >_<;; I was just so tired. I did, however, hear the national anthem playing at eight in the morning. That was fun. I woke up finally at 10:30. I muddied around for a while until I had to go to an adviser meeting at 11:30. That went well, but I don't know what to do about French. Classes are being picked tomorrow.... I just hope the Internet doesn't die before I can submit O: I went to check my mailbox because I was told that the college puts mail in them to get us to go see if we can get it. Mine was full of a few papers, a letter regarding my AP scores, oh, and a condom. "Proper attire is required for entry" decorates the wrapper. I asked around all day though... no one who has been to their mailboxes have found condoms inside. Then I ate a sandwich for lunch. On my way back, I met Andrea, and we decided to meet at two to get our IDs. I tried to set up my television [finally!!] but I don't have an extension cord I can use :( and I can't get the cable to work. Long story, though. At two, I went to get my ID. Well... it looks like me, at least. We went to Cro to look at books, but I was lazy and didn't buy any. We chilled out for a while and went back to my room while I tried to fix the cable but to no avail. We went to dinner with another friend and Marisa even came and sat with us too! We had to go to a skit series which was AWESOME. There was a performance of some Michael Jackson - Beat it and Thriller. It kind of made me miss Bryan :P Check out the video!

Oh, and after the skits and such, I was attacked by flying condoms. One just flew from the sky and landed on my lap. Another was slingshotted [is that a verb? lol] into my chest -___-;; I'm starting a collection, and I have plans for it.... mwahahha. But I can't say them online because it's a surprise O:



We came back to the dorm and hung out for a while. I met some kids, one of whom is a big Switchfoot fan, which was awesome. Alex. He said he was going to perform in Open Mic Night and that he might play "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine." I told him that if he did, I would wear the shirt.



So at ten, we went to Open Mic Night. I taped a comedian and Alex. Alex actually gave me a shout out and asked me to stand up, which was quite embarrassing and I turned pretty red. Any way, check out his rendition of this awesome song.




After a few more acts, we headed 'home.' And we basically did nothing. A little hanging out, a little chatting, but nothing huge. And now it's time for bed. Big, early day in the morning.


Every day since Saturday.

On Saturday I woke up at 5am and headed out at sixsomething. It was a long car ride, but I got to eat a bagel. Also, there was torrential downpour hurricaine weather for much of the drive, which is really scary! When we showed up, around 10ish, we were greeted by some very enthusiastic [and wet] sophomores in ponchos, and a dancing camel. I moved in and met my roommates, who seem great. Kelsey is very nice, and Wendy knows everyone, so our room, being SO HUGE, is something of a social centre between the hours of 10 and... three. Ew. But Kelsey and I have learned to appreciate sleeping! *Yawn* I'm making other friends, too, but I'll write about them more later. Here, enjoy my photos thus far.

Uncle Yo, Learning Express, enV-ous

**All links open in a new window, click on pictures to enlarge, etc**


First of all, I'd just like to call attention to my first post. I finally embedded a video from the cosplay picnic that I meant to include earlier but forgot. It's nothing special, don't expect it to make your day... I just wanted to let you know it was there.

Second, this post is dedicated to Ying because I miss her so much and she's missing so much [lol].

So let's get started, shall we?

My Saturday morning and afternoon was uneventful, mostly because I was asleep all day. All that to-do with drawing on Dan's back and watching Hostel: Part II really wiped me out. Also, I'm a lazy fatass. So when I finally showered and decided to leave the house, it was three-ish. We were having a block party! It was fun and I got to talk to Ying's little brother [who doesn't remember me =( oh well, I didn't expect him to, haha, but her dad did and he said hi to me before I even realised who he was (weird seeing people out of context, i.e. Ying's dad without Ying)].

Around 4:30 I went to pick up Viggi, but that took a lot longer than it should have. First, getting into my car, I realised I'd forgotten my glasses - hold up number one. Then, when I drove down to the end of the street, I realised that they blocked the street off with cones, so I had to park, get out, move the cones, drive four feet, park, run back, replace the cones, and continue driving. Then there was usual Saturday S. Liv. Ave. traffic. And then, up by McClellan, I saw the adorable Jenny Wang [from band!] and we chatted for a while, during which I was stopped illegally, blocking a driveway, halfway in the road, no flashers, talking to a girl three years my junior who is standing in the street... hmm... so naturally, when the cop drove up behind me I cut off our conversation with an, "Oh shit," and a "Goodbye!" and drove away. So I picked up the Vigg, and we headed back to my house. After waiting a few minutes for Mum to get ready, we were OFF TO NYC!!

The journey there was fun. We listened to the Watchmen soundtrack, which, if any of you have ever had the extreme pleasure of riding in my car while listening to this album, you should know, include a fairly epic moment at the end of the disc. That moment, of course, is blasting Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries at max volume and rolling down all the windows. We got to do it at a tollbooth! Awesome! We also listened to some Sinatra while trying to find a parking spot.

However, in NYC, we got held up by a GIANT BIKER PARADE WITH A POLICE ESCORT. Not even joking, we were there for like fifteen minutes just waiting to turn left. Vigg estimated a good 3 miles of bikers. Check out these photos:


The venue itself was in a basement, under some other store or restaurant. The place was called Drom, and the photos on the website made it look a lot bigger than it really was. Not a problem though. The food is really cheap, but kind of strange in taste. I don't know. We got a fantastic table front and centre - okay there was one table between us and the stage, but it was still right there and perfect. And better than standing. The pink-haired rock star [or something? you can find him in some of my photos of the cosplay picnic! he's the guy dressed as Shu from Gravitation] opened for Uncle Yo, and he was alright. He seemed nervous and his special effect video thing didn't work [:(]. Suddenly, Uncle Yo appeared behind him and everyone was very happy [and relieved, eh].

Here's a photo of the menu, of Vigg, and of both comedians together on stage:


UNCLE YO WAS GREAT. Let me just say that. A lot of things made this performance awesome. This was a non-con performance, so he had liberty to speak about non-anime / non-gaming things. Of course, it was mostly geek things, but still, when he wanted to talk about his life in the restaurant business, or gripe about New Yorkers with strollers, he could. It didn't seem out of place. Second, he knew his jokes better. At AnimeNEXT, I got the feeling that he'd written many of them quite recently. This time, he seemed much more confident, and though he kept checking his paper, it didn't hinder anything. Third, he did use some of his older material, but he used the good ones - like the Safety Sanity Box!! Ah!! - and didn't rely on as many old jokes as other times. This 'review' style thing makes me sound like an unsympathetic 'ho, but, well I'm sorry >_<;; My point is, he was fantastic. I don't remember many jokes because, well my brain is useless for that sort of thing. Some good ones, however, included his Tetris / Birds & Bees thing, but using the mic stand to demonstrate, and his shock at what one might find in a girls' [home] bathroom - "This is the one that makes her hair smell nice! And this is the one that makes her skin feel so soft! OH! Where's the one that makes her go CRAZY once a month!?!?" [general lolz] "I'm going to THROW IT INTO THE SUN." Standing ovation. Oh, also, he had more time than at ANext. I did, however, miss the singing =(

Enjoy some photos of the performance [they're blurry because "not blinding the comedian" was one of the rules]. He heard music, so he danced, he got a plastic bag on his head, I discovered he has a lot of blurry body parts, but mostly I just like his funny faces and poses. He was also mad about getting upstaged by a woman with a dog on her belly, and he spoke about his hopes for the apocalypse [if you're wondering, he hopes there will be zombies]. And at the end, some other guy put a weird blue hat on his head and [I don't get the reference] Uncle Yo just says, "Oh my God it's from Geass." Here you go, enjoy!


After the show was over, I got to speak to him very briefly and, yeah you guessed it, get another picture to add to my collection. I've got three now. In your face, Ying ;D Vigg wouldn't be in it though. And, I forgot to mention, I brought the Cube along! Sorry guys, I tried to get some action shots, but it just didn't work out. But when I brought the Cube with me to speak with Uncle Yo, his face lit up and he shouted, "CUBE!" and I laughed. Hence, photo. [Well this sucks - I really thought the "In your face, Ying," bit was the perfect ending to this part of the entry, but it doesn't fit anywhere besides where it already is, so now you get this awkward aside instead.]


Oh, a funny little anecdote. As we were leaving, Mum noticed a basket as Vigg and I were half way out the door. She turns back to get a mint, and is greatly surprised when she realised the basket is not full of mints. It's full of condoms. Yup.



So today was a totally new day.

It was my last day working at The Learning Express. And it was busy. WTH? It's never that busy on a Sunday, but I was on my feet for hours straight. Charlie came to visit! As a result, I never got to finish my book, but eh, Charlie > Dorian Gray. I also discovered that the breaking part of my phone is now the broken part of my phone. Ex-phone. I gave up, couldn't last that one more week... I bought an enV Touch. I'm too used to the enV, so the keyboard is a little awkward, but that's the same reason why I absolutely couldn't imagine getting a 'normal' phone. Eh. I'm happy, but I don't think this warrants a photo. Oh yeah! You'll be glad to know that I got a case for this one. Especially after how the last one turned out -____-;; Other than that, I had dinner, did my laundry, read some manga, and did this. My poor dog, Tilly, she's getting so old. She was so excited over the prospect of food that she completely misjudged the edge of the porch! She fell off three times, but luckily she's okay. I don't want her to be old :( Oh, also, I got that unlimited texting rumour cleared up. I do have unlimited texting, so please, text away!! ;D