Things that have been going on

It didn't even break 30 today. Seriously, not once since yesterday has the temperature around here been above freezing. Unfortunately, it's a dry cold, so there hasn't been any real snow either. On days like this, life becomes a series of mad dashes in between buildings in order to escape the cold, followed by finding whatever excuse you can to stay in that building for as long as possible. This was especially apparent last night when I walked to the dining hall to get some hot chocolate and briefly considered just spending the night there rather than walking all the way back to my dorm room.

Tonight I'm going to brave the scary world of Brattleboro in order to see Quantum of Solace. From what I've been reading, it seems like exactly the sort of movie I'll enjoy. I'll go into it hoping for the best and write up a review later on. I'm not much of a Bond fan, but I really enjoyed Casino Royale and in my opinion Daniel Craig is the most human Bond yet. I couldn't really say the best because honestly I have no idea what criteria to use other than perhaps how close to the James Bond in the books the actor seems, but having not read the books, this is somewhat difficult. Most people just seem to go by how much like Sean Connery's Bond the current Bond is and thus will always say Sean Connery was the best Bond. This definition of a good Bond seems a bit skewed to me, but each to their own I suppose. Anyways, at the very least it will be interesting to see a James Bond movie directed by the same guy who directed Finding Neverland.

As an interesting side note, I think I've reintalled/replaced my computer's operating system at least five times since being here. Fortunately I know how to do that without permantently losing any valuable data, but it is still something of a nusance. I think most of the problems are related to the wireless network card not playing nice with the drivers which cause some annoying behaviors ranging from the computer freezing for a couple of seconds to the computer suddenly, and for no apparent reason, shutting down. I'm sure I'll eventually figure out some solution to the problem, but for right now the best thing I can do is learn to live with it.

Anyways, I'm off to dinner and then James Bond. I'll check in later. Maybe.

It snowed today. Not a whole lot and it didn't stick at all, but still there was definitely snow falling from the sky. Aside from that not much is new. I'm going to be hosting a prospective student tomorrow, which may be interesting. Kind of bad timing for it, but I'm sure I'll deal somehow.

Fortunately the heating system in here is pretty good. Most of the buildings stay pretty warm compared to the outside, which is very nice. Also, the fact that everything is somehow uphill from everything is also very helpful in keeping warm.

Anyways, that's all I got for now. I'll try to post again soon.

The Past Month

Okay, so it's been about a month since I last updated this blog, as a couple people have astutely pointed out to me. I apologize for the lack of updates, I've just been busy trying to get a foothold here, both socially and academically, so blogging has been fairly low on my priorities list.

I'm only taking three classes this semester, for a variety of a reasons. Mostly, I was vying for a Social Psychology course and by the time the professor got back to me on whether I was in it, or not, I wasn't interested in any of the other class that fit into my schedule. It works out fairly well though because it means my workload isn't insanely heavy and I won't spend my first semester here being a giant ball of stress.

Currently, my classes are as follows: Ancient Political Thought, Latin, and intro to programming with Python. The workload has just now started getting heavy enough to really be stressful, but with a bit of effort I ought to be able to keep up. Ancient Political Thought is probably the class I have the hardest time with because it touches on two subject I don't much care for: philosophy and politics. I've determined that the reason I don't like philosophy is that I'm inclined towards philosophical thought myself and find a 50+ page dialog defining justice rather irritating when I've already come up with my own personal definition of justice that suits me fine. I'd rather have a philosophy class that asked me to define justice rather than a politics class that forces me to read the definition someone else came up with 2000+ years ago.

Politics, on the other hand, isn't so annoying in itself as it is when people talk about it. I could go on and on about the things that annoy me about political science and politics in general (without mentioning a single candidate or politician, I might add), but I won't because that's not the point of this blog.

Apart from classes, it's been an interesting month. People here are pretty interesting, though to be honest it's pretty much the same demographic that was present in my high school. I haven't made any really meaningful social connections quite yet, but I have met plenty of people and by now a good percentage of people on campus know my name.

It's turning out to be a very beautiful Fall up here. It hasn't been terribly wet and rainy, so I've been able to enjoy mild weather and the changing of the leaves, which is starting to be fairly spectacular. I took a bunch of pictures the first couple of weeks I was here, but has neglected moving them to my computer due to some computer troubles that have yet to be fully dealt with. I'll try to post pictures within the next couple of posts, which will be within the next couple of weeks as opposed to month.

Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Be back soon.

Quick update

Well, I went caving, which was a blast. I went through several tight pinches, swam across a lake and managed to navigate the Gun Barrel (just imagine an underground gun barrel made of rock). My group was pretty interesting, though I can't say I bonded with them a whole lot. Also, we started out the trip by stealing the bust of a former (and unpopular) college president that went by the moniker of "Prez Paul." We returned him in good shape by the end of the trip, but just imagine that's how the trip started.

After getting back, I was pretty much busy non-stop. I've had so much to do recently and when I don't have stuff to do I just want to chill for a while without any obligations. I wish I'd had a chance to update this blog sooner, but I'm sure we'll all live. Anyways, we took some survey thing, which was really annoying, we took a writing placement exam, which was interesting, I met several new and interesting people (and also learned that my former host is now my half-RA).

I've spent a good deal of my time in the library, which has to be one of my favorite places in the world. I haven't actually picked a book to read or anything on account of the aforementioned lack of time, but I just enjoy seeing all the ones I want to read. It does get a tad uncomfortable in there for some reason though. You know when you're in a room alone with someone, but you are both engaged in separate activities and being so quiet that unless you see them, you senses shouldn't be able to tell you someone else is in the room, and yet you can still kind of sense them? Well, that's the feeling I get when I'm in that library, even when I know I'm totally alone. I've heard the library is haunted, but other than that feeling, and a cold spot in the periodicals room, I haven't seen any weird stuff going on.

I can't wait until classes start. Right now I feel like people are hard to talk to for some reason, even the ones I've gotten to know fairly well, and I think having classes will help with that. There will be tons of fun intellectual topics to discuss. And I'll be learning Latin (finally). That probably won't help with my social situation, but I think it will be really cool anyways.

I really enjoy the freedom to just wander where I want, when I want. My roommate and I joke about how little I'm actually in the room (usually when I see him in the dining hall). Most of my time is either in the library, or with some friends elsewhere on campus. However, now that my roommate bought some adapters, so I can plug my laptop computer into the sockets in my room, I may be spending more time in here.

Well, I'll get back to you later. It's about midnight now and due to a certain East facing window I'll probably be getting up around six. See you around.

In South Woodstock, Vermont

So not only did the last motel not have internet (which I had hoped was becoming a standard), it also didn't have breakfast of any sort (except for coffee), which I had thought was a standard. Fortunately we planned ahead and brought some cereal and milk. Unfortunately, we didn't plan far enough ahead and forget to get some bowls and spoons. It was one of those mornings.

Yesterday, we did a bit of hiking in a some state park (probably Calvin Coolidge State Park) and that was pretty fun. Except for some weird Fungi (Is there such a thing as normal Fungi?) we didn't see a whole lot, but I still enjoyed it. There was also a neat Farmer's Market in Woodstock with tons of very delicious looking food.

It's hard to remember most of what we've been doing the past couple of days as it has mainly consisted of driving around to places with things to do. I had originally intended to go hiking around a place called Texas Falls today, but the road to the falls was closed, meaning we had driven a whole 45 minutes for nothing. We ended getting a bit of hiking at another state park, but some of the fun was taken out of it. I have discovered that driving around in the morning kind of irks me for some reason. Probably because once I'm awake, I have a decent amount of energy and I want to use that energy doing things that aren't just sitting.

In other news, I got a haircut today, which is nice. I'm not too sure when I'll be able to get another one, so I got it cut to the length known as "the length of hair that always prompts my friends to complain about how short my hair is now." Actually, that happens pretty much everytime I take any more than 1/4 of an inch off the top, but whatever. The point is, I got a haircut and I'm rather happy about it.

We also went to a farm today, where they make Maple Syrup and Cheese (which is incredibly delicious). That was quite fun and kind of made me want to work on a farm. Something I'll probably look into one of these summers. I tried some four year old cheddar and have to say it was probably some of the best cheese ever. If, for some reason, anyone out there feels compelled to get my cheese for some special occasion, aged chedder would be a good choice. Also Wensleydale, but only because I've always wanted to try some.

We're currently staying at a bed and breakfast in South Woodstock, Vermont (I'll bet you had forgot about that bit by now). They have good internet and breakfast, which is a huge step up from the place we were yesterday. I'm currently posting this from up in my little loft bed about six feet above the floor. Of course, due to the 'heights are really scary' effect, it looks more 15, but I'm not one to let the idea of falling at least six feet to the floor and potentially breaking a few of my favorite bones (like the ones in my neck) deter me.

Tomorrow is the last full day of being with my mom here in Vermont. After that, I go camping for nine days and probably won't have any contact with anyone here on the internet. Of course, I haven't really had any contact with anyone anyways, but that's beside the point. Until Friday, there is at least potential for contact; after that I'm on my own. Except for the nine other people on the trip of course. I think we will unfortunately have to do some shopping tomorrow, because I just checked the list of stuff I need for the trip and I don't even have half of it. The real tragedy is that some of it I did have at home, I just didn't bring on the trip with me because I didn't think I would need it until school actually started. Totally forgot to take into account the fact that caves are cold, and sometimes wet. Oh well, I can usually make do without everything on the list, but there are a few things I think I will need to buy tomorrow.

That's all I got for now. I'll try to post one more time before I leave, but no guarantees. See you around.

In Manchester, Vermont

As the title subtly suggests, I'm currently posting from the town of Manchester, Vermont. Well, probably just outside the town of Manchester, Vermont to be more accurate. I'm in a motel called Northshire Motel (or something to that extent), which is pretty much the same as any relatively cheap motel. It has a pool, which I probably won't use, a small selection of videos you can rent from the main office (for free), some coffee which tasted a tad gritty to me, and no room #13.

The last couple of days have been pretty crazy by my standards. I don't think I got any sleep on the flight here, which I pretty much expected, but I forgot to take into account the fact that it's a little too warm to comfortably drink coffee here. I still do of course, at just about every opportunity I get, but it's just not very comfortably. The first day here (yesterday) we did some shopping for school supplies and the like. I pretty much just got whatever supplies I thought I might need (like a 60 pack of really cheap pens), though there are a few things I still want to get, like some socks, underwear, disposable razors, and probably a couple other things I can't think of right now.

After the shopping, we went to the Ben and Jerry's factory, which was sort of similar to the Tillimook Cheese factory, but more crowded. And with less cheese. It was super-high calorie fun! Seriously, I'm pretty sure I took in so many calories yesterday that I could have gone all day without eating today except for the occasional snack here and there. I think my favorite part about Ben and Jerry's was the Flavor Graveyard, which was a small mock cemetary of flavors they had discontinued. I think I mostly liked it because it was the least crowded place on the property, probably on account of it also being the place furthest away from the factory (except for some parking).

It also went nicely with Vermont's theme of having a lot of cemetaries everywhere you go. In Oregon, we have lots of space, so we just set aside huge areas of land for burying dead people. In Vermont, they have signifactly less space, so they just have a lot of little cemetaries. Also, most of the cemetaries here are older than a lot of the topsoil in Oregon. Not that really ancient topsoil you find in places of the state that don't get a lot of rain, but a good percentage of the topsoil nonetheless.

We stayed the night at a quaint (you'll probably see me use that word a lot) little bed and breakfast in Castleton, Vermont. They had a cat there that was the same breed as Polly, smallish and black with hints of white in certain areas. It seemed to be mostly run by a scottish lady, who was very nice and fit the place perfectly. Her husband was also around and did the cooking for breakfast, but he didn't seem so interesting in actually interacting with people. I had meant to get up early and go for a walk around the area, but that plan got kicked in the head when I passed out sometime around 10 (I think) and woke up sometime around 8. Earlier than I used to get up at home (during the summer at least), but not early enough to really experience the morning.

Most of today was just spent driving around to various places and eventually ending up in the Manchester area. I would have liked to do some hiking, but by the time we got around to finding a place, it was too late to really get any done. I'd like to do some tomorrow, but we'll probably be spending most of our time driving to Woodstock, Vermont, so we'll see.

Anyways, I think that's all the writing I have in my right now. I've still got some sleep to catch up on, so I'm going to do that now and hopefully I'll be able to post here tomorrow. Goodnight.

Leaving on a Jet Plane (I think)

So if everything goes according to plan, I leave tonight at 10:10 on US Airways flight 924. I'm having dinner with my family somewhere at the airport (at least I believe that's the plan) sometime around 7:00 (probably) and will hopefully pass through security sometime around 8:00 to 8:30, though that's a rough estimate.

Mostly I'm writing this down so I can remember what I thought was going to happen and compare it later to what actually happened (to be covered in a later entry).