Tomato Soup

Monday, May 31, 2004

SALLI!!!
Go here.

That is all.
Sarah - 9:14 PM - 0 comment(s)

Saturday, May 22, 2004

They did it.
They got rid of those enormous trees (well, mostly - there are some miscellaneous branches and bits of trunks left that they are still working on, but I expect it all to be gone within thirty minutes).

I'm sure I should be contemplating the meaning of life or something, but all I can really manage is "oh my gosh, I need to pack!" Bah! I'm the one graduating, I can do whatever I feel like. :P
Sarah - 8:39 AM - 0 comment(s)

Friday, May 21, 2004

This is the schedule.
We followed this part:

Friday, May 21


7:30-9:00 a.m.
Breakfast (coffee at 7:00 a.m.)
Peirce Great Hall

10:30 a.m.
Phi Beta Kappa initiation
Rosse Hall

11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Italian luncheon
Peirce Great Hall

1:30 p.m.
Baccalaureate Service - Speaker: Harlene Marley
professor of drama
Samuel Mather Lawn (Rainsite: Ernst Center)

Following Baccalaureate
Senior Sing (bring your camera!)
Rosse Hall steps

2:30-4:00 p.m.
Reception for the Class of 2004, parents and guests, hosted by President S. Georgia Nugent
Philip Mather Courtyard
(Rainsite: Ernst Center)

4:00-5:30 p.m.
Departmental receptions.

And then, at 4:30, just when we were getting ready to leave the physics building for step three of our whirlwind tour of departmental receptions, there was a tornado warning.

So we went to the basement. It was classic. The electronics/senior lab space filled with math and physics students and faculty and parents, looking up weather info on the lab computers.

Yay!

We were stuck down there until about 5:15, when the tornado warning was off. (The tornado went north of us by a bit.) We then trekked across campus to finally locate the political science reception. We had dinner afterwards, which was anticlimactic.

This is definitely the most storm damage I've seen here. We get a nice, good, solid storm or two every year, but I've never seen so many huge trees down. There's one in the middle of the chairs set up outside for graduation that is absolutely splintered and another one across a big chunk of Middle Path, not to mention the enormous tree next to the dorm across the way that appears to have been uprooted.

Apparently somebody's car was crunched down by the freshman quad, and there was a white car behind the physics building that you couldn't actually see anymore unless you got close (partially because the truck next to it is enormous).

I sincerely hope that they don't have to move graduation indoors tomorrow (in the gym, yuck :P) due to an "act of God" (read: trees down in middle of ceremony space).
Sarah - 6:58 PM - 0 comment(s)

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

I disappear for a couple of days...
...and this is the sort of thing that happens.

...

...

...

Yeah. I think I'll just faint quietly in the corner now.
Sarah - 4:25 PM - 0 comment(s)

Monday, May 10, 2004

Bleh.
Due to virus problems, they took down internet access from the residence halls. Brilliant. Incompetent people who never patch their computers or go to windows update get viruses. Competent people are barred from the internet. WHY??? How does this make sense? How is it even remotely fair?

I sincerely hope that the reason I am seeing this annoying new interface is because I am using a lab computer with an out-of-date browser. I don't like it. I want to see a little list of previous posts below this one. I want to be able hit "post" and then I'll be able to see what this post looks like down below on the same page. The cutesy little "preview" option is not sufficient. It is annoying.

Anyway, the only reason I'm still here (I turned in a French paper, which I got up at 8 a.m. to finish writing, and today I have to study desperately for the thermodynamics exam) is because I figured I might as well hang around until the dining hall opens and I get lunch. Which I now can. So I'm out of here.
Sarah - 11:12 AM - 0 comment(s)

Monday, May 03, 2004

I am not going to talk about the housing situation.
Especially not the fact that my one lead just fell through and I can't find anything even remotely close to the seminary. That's too depressing, and I haven't the faintest idea what to do about it.

Instead, I'm going to talk about my little dragon-girl, because she's cute and she hasn't learned about angst yet. Her name is Daene ("dayn") and I'm not sure if she actually exists in the story, but she's pretty cute, hmmm? I don't normally go for weird hybrids (that's such a cliché), but this one is unique. The only one.

My dragons (I only have dragons in the one world) do not have human forms. That's really common, but it's really bizarre, when you think about it, and also a cliché. They all stay in the ordinary dragon shapes, just like everyone else stays in their own shapes. There's only one, ever who can shape-shift, and that is due to really extraordinary circustances which require divine intervention. (Ordinary Mortals cannot change their shapes, not ever.) And he is still entirely a dragon—dragons don't think like humanoids.

Anyway, there are two races—the dragons (Ankelté) and fire-elves (Anaré) whose cultures are very closely related. (Everyone thinks that the fire-elves are much more civilized, but I personally rather doubt that particular interpretation.) The dragons come in all shapes and sizes (well, they are pretty much all dragon-shaped and all have wings, but some are enormous and some are short and squat, etc.), with only a very small number having wingspan-to-body-mass ratios high enough to allow them to fly. Generally, bigger dragons are stronger and more powerful, but the smaller flighted dragons tend to do very well with their speed and agility. The fire-elves are entirely humanoid, with slightly pointed ears (and I mean slightly — no spears-for-ears elves in my worlds) and usually some shade of reddish hair.

The fire-breathing thing is a slight distortion — the truth is that the dragons and fire-elves all have a certain amount of fire magic, which mostly (okay, in its entirety) amounts to being able to project flames out of thin air, to varying degrees of success. It's a mostly psychic stunt, and the fire emanates from some point in front of the caster's eyes. They use physical techniques to direct and control it—the elves will use their hands (held in front of their faces, palms facing each other) and the dragons, not having hands (and also because of the position of their eyes), use their breath, which is why it looks like they are breathing fire.

I could tell you all sorts of interesting tidbits about the culture, but I shan't, because it would take far too long.
Sarah - 4:04 PM - 0 comment(s)

Saturday, May 01, 2004

Yearrrghhhh!
Every school year, prior to the last week of classes, the college brings in a bunch of bands and has games and such and a picnic.

A significant portion of the student body ignores their valiant efforts and spends the day getting drunk. They gather as early as 8:30 in the morning, just so they can be more drunk, sooner. They make a lot of noise. They shout. They drop their cups and bear cans on the ground. They play loud music (on multiple, competing stereos). They do all of this right outside my window.

I literally cannot stand to be in my room for more than about half an hour at a time. It's that loud. I have no idea how they can stand being outside in it.

I just want quiet. I put in ear plugs, which makes it marginally tolerable. Only just marginally.

We've having a sleepover in Salli's room tonight. I don't imagine it will be possible to sleep in mine.
Sarah - 6:11 PM - 0 comment(s)

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