Cohabitation
So I have reason to believe that my suitemate's girlfriend is currently living in the suite.
There was the previously blogged about mysteriously appearing q-tips, and I've also noticed that said suitemate has really girlie bedclothes. I can probably ignore that since I just lost some serious cred myself by using the word bedclothes. Another indicator of possible cohabitation has been the number of showers taken in our shared bathroom in the past few days.
Sidebar: What the frak is Dane Cook doing in an ad for the baseball post season?
Supposedly I share a bathroom with one other person. Given the average amount of times per day a college student showers, there should be about two showers per day in my bathroom. However, I have noticed that the number of showers taken has dramatically increased over the weekend. There hasn't been in increase in the number of bathing products, but from my own experience, I know that doesn't explicitly remove the possibility of extra people living here. Additionally The toilet paper seems to have been dwindling at a faster than normal rate, but that could just be my imagination.
I'm torn between my jealousy fueled need to cause emotional pain to people who are currently not single and my libertarian desire to celebrate the freedoms that can be found in the college atmosphere. To report or not to report, that is the question.
Also I've been having serious recurring back pain over the past week. The first time was at rehearsal, and just now I got hit with another. I'm not sure If it's a posture thing, if I'm using a bad chair or if it's possibly something more serious. I don't really want to go to the on campus quack shack so I'll probably just keep dropping Motrin. Yes, I admit it. I enjoy Ibuprofen.
Also I received a bag of gummie worms in the mail. It came with a bag of gummie bears, a jury summons, a passport application and a bag of lifesavers. I've been eating the gummie worms and have found six mutant worms. Typically worms come in two styles: green and clear, or red and yellow. Mutant worms contain all four colors. It's possible the bag contained more mutants, but I ate a lot of them in the dark so I couldn't tell.
Also I'm currently working on three different performance pieces. There is the play I'm working on at LCT, (
Laughter on the 23rd Floor,) a piece for my acting class (an excerpt from David Ives's
Ancient History) and a short monologue for my voice class (Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat") This is all very exciting, but I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my memorizing straight.
Relax Sheila, I've got you.
Labels: baseball, bedclothes, Dane Cook, girlfriend, gummie worms, indecision, jealousy, memory, Motrin, pain, passport, shower, suitemate
My Calculator
In ninth grade, as far as I can recall, I decided I wanted a graphing calculator. My mother and I went out and we plunked down the 99 dollars for a TI-83 Plus. It was a good entry level calculator with an instruction manual over an inch thick. I tried reading through it but only made it a few pages before I realized that it could more than I would probably ever understand. I instead began focusing on the things it could do that I could also do, like algebra.
In my science class, I began making very crude animations. Basically I would fill up the screen with 1s and 0s and when you scrolled through them it looked like it was moving. This activity allowed me to miss the soap opera drama that was going on all around me.
My friends at school also had graphing calculators that they used to create rudimentary programs. This made my little animations seem cheap but I didn't care; they were for my entertainment only.
One year at SUM/TAG a friend taught me how to draw using the graphing feature. A skill I promptly forgot. At a similar camp I used my calculator to figure out the necessary equations for a java based version of Settlers of Cattan.
In tenth grade I enrolled in a college algebra course at my local county college. On the first day of this course I received my very first college syllabus. Contained in said syllabus was a note requiring me to get a graphing calculator. I was not worried because I had my trusty TI-83 plus.
I continued using my calculator through out my high school career. My mother became a math tutor and teacher, and she would borrow my calculator when she was teaching. I was fine with this because I knew she would treat it well, and I could get it back whenever I needed it.
When I left for college, I had to take my calculator with me. My mother was somewhat upset by this because she too had grown fond of my wonderful mathematical friend. However I was going to be an engineer and all engineers need a good calculator. My mother recognized this and showed me her understanding by giving me her slide rule that she used in college. I still don't know how to use the slide rule.
In my engineering classes everybody brought their calculators. I'm afraid I must admit I was struck with a pang of jealousy when I saw the calculators of my engineering comrades. They all has T-89s at the least. But I stuck by my old friend and we managed to make it through together.
After my first year, I had learned that engineering would not be my path. My need for my calculator friend could be drastically diminished depending on what major I chose. You loyal readers will know that I ended up in theatre, a field not known for its heavy use of the calculator.
I was too attached to my trusty calcy so I still brought him back with me my second year of college where I expected him to rest in my desk drawer for the majority of his last days.
But all was not lost between my calculator and I for I had a scenery class that required the occasional use of a calculator for drafting and the like. My good friend was waiting patiently of me at the back of my drawer, ready for action when I called. It was just like old times the two of us working together solving the mysteries of the math universe. A perfect team once again.
The next semester he returned to his drawer home, but it was nice while it lasted, and I knew he would be needed again some day.
Our story does not end here, for Jacie took a statistics class this summer and I was more than willing to let her enjoy my old friend as I once did. And I knew he would enjoy getting out for a little while. Jacie came and left my life but my calculator came back, if only to continue living its quiet life in my drawer.
This semester I am enrolled in the principles of lighting class. Lighting involves photometrics and photometrics involve math. on the first day of class, just like that day many moons ago, I saw on the syllabus that we would need a calculator. And just as before, I smiled because I had my trusty TI-83 plus waiting for me. while the rest of the class groaned at the thought of solving for x I rejoiced because I knew m calculator would not let me down.
The fateful day came today and I was prepared. I had placed my calculator in my backpack the night before, a feeling I'm sure it had missed. When we began working today it was like magic. My fingers flew across the keys and I was the first one finished with the worksheet. When checking my answers I found a wrong one, but it was a mistake on my part. My calculator didn't mind though because he knew that in my excitement I had just read the question too quickly and given him faulty data. It has happened to us before and it will happen again. We have an unspoken agreement not to let it get between us. Once we finished, I closed the case and put my calculator back in my backpack where I plan to leave it for just a while because I'll feel better with him near.
There's a part of the story I skipped, because it is painful. When I turned on the calculator today I expected to see that little cursor up in the corner. That single blinking eye letting me know my calculator was ready to work as hard as he could. I did indeed see that cursor when I hit the button to wake up my friend, but before the cursor was some text masquerading as an equation. The words JACIE + KEVIN = LOVE were staring at me, followed by that winking little eye. In this moment i became furious at my calculator. How dare he bring me this reminder of grief? Does he want nothing more than to hurt me? My rage subsided and I realized my anger stemmed from a misunderstanding. My calculator wanted to give me a pleasant surprise. He was just passing on a message that had been given to him to make me happy. How was he supposed to know what had transpired in his slumber? I quickly forgave him and we performed our mathematical magic, but I was saddled with the realization that I could never look at my calculator quite the same way again.
What ever happened to Fay Wray?
Labels: calculator, memory, story
I miss you
I miss you. All of you. Every person who was in my life before and has since left.
Today I looked back at all of the people I've known. Even considering that I'm not a terribly social person, there are so many people I've known. All of them have had some sort of hand in who I am today. Despite what I sometimes think, we are not in a vacuum. Everybody you meet has some effect on who we become. every human interaction is a butterfly flapping its wings in that chaos theory we call life. Here's a list of some of those people, in the order I remember them.
Eric
Anthony
Emma
Marcus
Tom
Robert
Lindsey
Lindsey (there were two of them)
Brandon
Tony
Max
Jack
Jim
Casey
Jordan
Travis
Kelsey
Kaci
Joel
Micah
Ben
Andrea
John
Max
Shane
Toni
Pam
Jessica
Stephanie
Francie
Beckah
Henry
Cathie
Chris
Mary
Lacy
Chris
Chris
Chris
Mark
Jacie
JD
Jessie
Taylor
Daniel
Pratheba
Katie
Will
Michael
Joey
Kyle
Debbie
Jack
Terri
Sherry
Bob
Austin
Andrew
Alex
Alix
Amy
Jamie
Van
Taylor
Marcus
Randy
Arron
Destiny
Daniel
Zack
Alex
Stephen
Brittany
Those are all the names I can think of at the moment, but there are so many more people I can think of whose names escape me. Which is a shame. I wish things could be the way they used to be. I wish I was as good a friend as I used to be. I wish you were in my life more. I wish you all will have incredible lives. I wish our paths may cross again.
I believe in you.
Labels: friends, loss, memory, wish
