'gatelife

The Never Ending Countdown to Thanksgiving

So it's Monday afternoon, most of my friends are home by now, or on their way, and I still have two meetings, two classes, a study session, and a quiz before I can gleefully proclaim that break has finally arrived.  My sister, who also attends a liberal arts college in the Northeast got a whole week off, so she has been home since last Friday.  When all I want to do is snuggle up on my couch with a good Disney princess movie, some hot chocolate, and maybe some of my mom's Christmas cookies, it sure is difficult to motivate myself.  I spent yesterday on a pink couch, taking notes for an approaching paper (that happens to be in the same class as the quiz.... yikes) and I am avoiding continuing said note-taking with this post.  But I'm wondering:  When did Thanksgiving Break turn into Thanksgiving Study Hall?  Why do I feel like I am practically being assigned work to finish during what is supposed to be my vacation? 

And let it be white with snow.

"Snowflakes, like people, are all different and beautiful, but they can be a nuisance when they lose their identity in a mob"

And So the Snow Begins.

What would November at Colgate be without at least one good snow storm?  I woke up early this morning totally surprised by the scene outside my window.  Even now, the snow is continuing to fall and I'm sure that by the afternoon it will be prime-snowman-making-time.  Snow always makes me think of certain Colgate memories.  My first-year, I remember making the long walk up the Persson steps after a night downtown, or the snow ball fight my friends dragged me outdoors for at midnight.  I also think of hockey games (Go Raiders!) and slipping on the ice.  Probably my favorite memory is from last year's snow season.  Sitting on a couch, trying to write a paper, you often realize how important your friends are when they force you to take a ten minute break for a dance party in the living room. 

I can't tell if it's 4:30 or 9 and other travails of college life

It's 4:30 and the streetlamps are on. I'm sure they were on before then, too. Maybe since 3:30. It always amazes me how early it gets dark here in the winter since I always forget about it. One benefit of it--at least, off the top of my head--is that night sledding can be more fun than day sledding, but that requires snow to be on the ground. Unfortunately, that has yet to happen in significant amounts.

In other news, a new diner opened just up 12B called VJ's. It's pretty good (I recommend the pancakes, then again, I've only been there for breakfast so far), and it has a nice atmosphere--you know, something different than that of a dining hall or pizza place or McDonald's.

This November has been one long assignment for me so far. Couple that with two computer malfunctions keeping me off my laptop for a net two weeks just about, and it's been a heck of a month to say the absolute least. Right now is the furthest possible time from my next assignments' due date (two ~6/7-page papers, naturally due the last day before break, Monday), so I think I'm just going to take it easy for an hour or two and then do some research for them. It's quite the relief that they're both on topics of my choosing.

Coincidentally, I think that by Monday night, I will be the world's foremost authority on the Continental League of the late fifties/way early sixties. If I can't find a book about it (which I can't, save for a whole chapter in David Pietrusza's book Major Leagues: The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present that has given me a large majority of my info), I plan on writing one myself. Expect to hear from me within the next few years, McFarland Publishing.

P.S. - If anyone out there does have any info aside from anything from the 1958-60 NY Times or Mr. Pietrusza's book, please please please please get in contact with me somehow. It'd be a big help.

First Snow..

They have landed ladies and gentlemen, the first snowflakes that is :) It has been pretty cold the last few days but today it was made official. As I walked out of Frank(dinning hall) there they were. One of my friends wished me a "Happy Winter" today which I thought was nice. I think it'll be a looong time before I can say it was our last snow but that is okay because I like snow. The seasons here are sort of like 30 seconds of fall,  months of winter, 30 seconds of spring and a months of summer.

On another note, I am going to Washington D.C. tomorrow with my Psychology class, it will amazing(I hope)!
An 8 hour buss ride sounds horrible but I am actually excited about it because a lot of my friends are in the class too!

Hmmm, what would an "Amina post" be without mention of Organic Chemistry! So I took an exam a few days ago, and got it back and all I can say is, "eeeek" :) Oh well, whats done is done, so I guess I'll study more next time... Tomorrow morning I have my orgo lab, at 8:20 :( but I'll be out by noon and on my way to D.C!!

Speaking of that lab, I have to go do a write up of it now..I just want a naaaaap!

United we stand divided we fall.

He who experiences the UNITY of life sees his own self in all beings, and all beings in his own self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

The college blues

It's late autumn, everything is going fabulously and BAM!  You have your first cold of the season.  Oh, you knew it was coming.  As the air starts to get colder the windows stay closed more often, no one feels like cleaning up their own mess, and germs spread faster than the news that Parkside is burning down. 

(Yes, we recently lost a much loved Colgate dining experience.  Perhaps we are all getting sick because our immune systems are suffering from the lack of fried mozzerella sticks.  But anyways...)

You look around, and your mom is no where to be found, you are out of cough syrup, and the pile of crumpled up tissues grows higher as the days go by.  When you finally drag yourself to the health center, they shake their heads knowingly and hand you a bottle of some kind of antibiotic.  You'll feel better soon... you just hope that by then the stack of neglected work isn't higher than your discarded tissues.   

Halloween in Hamilton

Halloween.  A time when all the crazies come out of the wood work.  And no where do people get crazier than in college.  If you really want to be entertained, just take a night or two to observe a campus population during Halloween week (yes, here at college Halloween constitutes an entire week).  You could see anything.