On The Move…

  

Salient Party (28 Oct 2006)Originally uploaded by J Y.

There was classical music playing over the fancy speakers at the Salient “All Saints Eve” party. I didn’t stay for very long.  (A couple of other Halloween weekend pictures are on my Flickr photostream – just click on the picture above.)

From left: me, Ryan

I wore my chinchilla to my film class screening of Nanook of the North (1919) this afternoon and felt pleased with how apropos this was.

Thank God I wasn’t born an Inuit in Alaska in the early 20th century. Ugh.

I intensely disliked the second film we had to see. I had half a mind to boo (or cheer in relief) when it finally ended.

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Just attended a very useful thesis-time-management workshop that left me with warm and fuzzy feelings. Yay.

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The urge to sketch is becoming stronger. I really do want it to go away pesky thing.

View From My Window (15 Oct 2006)

Originally uploaded by J Y.

I was laying on the floor of my common room one day and noticed how dramatic the sky outside looked. And I wanted to remember the view just as it appeared that Fall afternoon.

View From My Window II (15 Oct 2006)

Originally uploaded by J Y.

I love thinking about the stories I could tell about the items in the foreground, which are a jumbled mixture of Stuff Sale finds and treasures from Madagascar, including the butterfly textile, the valiahs and the marble coffee table game.

This has felt like a really long week thanks to its general eventfulness. There were the thesis issues, the iPod affair, the midterm, the papers…

I already want a vacation.

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And earlier, while browsing the fantastic festive menu offerings at the dining hall*, a stitch on my alligator hide cardcase somehow got hooked on my Missoni sweater vest and pulled a thread. Aggravating.

*It’s “Diwali” ie Deepavali, so everything being served is Indian food tonight. I had the basmati rice, chicken korma, bengali tomato soup, shrimp in coconut gravy, vegetable pakoras with tamarind sauce and a bit of the mango chutney. I’m actually glad that I went so early that most of the food wasn’t ready yet 🙂

Food log for the day (exhaustive):

9am: 1 banana, 1 mug of French Vanilla coffee with Lactaid
11am: 3 servings of Trader Joe’s Reduced Fat Cheese Crunchies (ie Twisties)
3pm: 1 Venti Maple Macchiato with peppermint from Starbucks.
4pm: 2 chocolate-covered strawberries and 2 seedless green grapes

And sometimes I wonder why I have complexion issues.

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I haven’t posted a style report in a while…  and I’ve been itching to.  Maybe sometime soon.

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I took part of a diagnostic GRE last night.  I am now very scared.  *scared*

     

Oktoberfest in the Square 1 (8 Oct 2006)Originally uploaded by J Y.

Having never previously experienced it, I was determined not to miss the Oktoberfest street fair in Harvard Square again during my final year in college. I had the pleasure of exploring the fair with many Dins and Pitches, especially (from left) Miriam, Caitlin and Sam.

What’s there to say?

I could talk about the tragicomic performance the Dins gave for the Harvard reunion Class of 1961 at the Harvard Club of Boston, but it was really such an awful/hilarious affair that I don’t think I can do it justice here.

Yesterday’s walk about Oktoberfest street fair in Harvard Yard, last weekend’s relaxing day trip to The Big E (the annual New England state’s exposition) and Andrew’s 21st birthday “Cake-stravaganza” all warrant at least a passing mention.

I might want to record the mock consulting “case” interview I had on Friday (which was pleasant and enjoyable), and the amusing experience I had in the waiting room surrounded by wannabe-I-bankers.

Perhaps I should talk about the momentous new step I took today in the direction of academia by emailing off my first journal submission. Very exciting. I can only pray that it will be accepted.

And in other news, I’ve dropped the Medical Sociology class, which leaves me with a courseload of five. That’s still a little on the heavy side for a thesis-attempting senior.

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Till next time…

I’ve had a great day today. For some reason I felt absurdly upbeat and happy all day. Even though the ESPP thesis-writers’ and e-recruiting intro sessions should have been quite a downer. Maybe it’s because I got quite a lot of sleep last night.

So I’m currently enrolled in the following classes:

VES 71: Silent Cinema – this would satisfy my last Core requirement (Literature & Arts B, non-literary arts). Today was the first actual lecture with actual content about silent cinema, and I was really startled and surprised by how strangely riveting and compelling the films were. I’d been suspecting that as a 21st century viewer weaned on music videos, TV-thrillers and CGI-packed action films, these pre-1930 films would be unbearably primitive, jerky, badly acted and relatively contentless. But in fact they were nothing of the sort. Maybe I’ll talk about why some other time.

Ec 1010a: Microeconomics – Taught by my favorite Ec professor. It’s a huge class… I quite like it so far. Ask me again when the problem sets and exams start up.

Ec 1018: Cultural Economics – really cool class taught by a great visiting professor (from the IMF) with a lovely Italian accent. What’s not to love? Other than the econometrics with which I have no prior exposure…

ESPP 99r: Thesis Research Seminar – I still currently have neither a fixed research topic (or even area), nor a confirmed thesis advisor/sponsor… I should work on that.

Soc 162: Medical Sociology – excellent professor, interesting material. A bit heavy on the reading, and also a little bit of a stretch outside my field. I’m not entirely sure if I’m going to take this for a letter-grade, or at all.

Lit-Arts A-64: American Literature and the Environment – supposedly one of the best professors at the college, with a remarkable and profound new field scholarship. It does meet at 9am though, which is a timeslot I’ve successfully avoided since freshman year.

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Speaking of 9am classes, I have to get to bed. Now.

I’m almost done unpacking. I’m hurrying against the immovable deadline of the social I’m hosting in the suite tomorrow for the Singapore-Malaysia-Indonesia community (and friends). I’m excited.

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Classes started two days ago, and already I’m feeling a touch overtired. Today I managed to fall asleep in a cultural economics class while holding a grande soy green tea latte, leading to the tipping of the cup and having starbucks spill on the upholstered seat and carpet. And then later I dozed off again and drooled on my Barneys COOP shirt. Embarrasing. I really liked that class though, and I shall strongly consider taking it.

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The experience of being a senior is really different. I no longer feel like I have to take any classes, given that I’m essentially done with almost all requirements and electives suddenly seem like a pointless distraction from the central focii of senior year – honors thesis, grad school/job applications, consolidating relationships with friends and faculty. We’ll see what I decide to take in a little bit.

Time to finish a little more unpacking and call it a night.