Deadlines and Dorm Rooms: BBQ and Buckling Down

It’s hard to believe I’ve already been here a month – a quarter of the way done, and even further along if we don’t count the weird time between Thanksgiving and finals. On the one hand, it’s like I never left. I’m not constantly running, but I get up early and go to bed later, so the days seem slow. Especially when I’m looking forward to my end-of-week treat, the weeks seem to take forever to pass. And yet it’s flying by; I have so many longer-term things to finish before I’m out of college and out into the real world, after all these years.

Shorter term, things are going smoothly. Midterms are coming up, so this weekend will be spent studying. I have a history paper due as well that I still need to edit. In Logic, I’ve been having trouble because between all the rushing back and forth, I keep mis-copying problems or skipping parts, even though I do well enough when I actually read the question correctly. I just need to recheck the details more, but details aren’t really my thing, and especially when I’m feeling lazy, it takes an awful lot of willpower to keep going back over the little things.

My extra-curriculars are going fine. ROTC went much more smoothly this week; if this keeps up, my job will be a lot simpler than I expected. It’s pretty simple being in charge of discipline as long as no one is causing major problems. In FUEL, I’m still experimenting with new formats; this past week I read Psalm 23 in Hebrew with piano in the background, and I think it went well. And in LIFE Group we’re going through Philippians, which is probably my favorite book of the Bible, so I have that to look forward to on Wednesday afternoons after a long morning of ROTC and class.

I did have quite a bit of ROTC this week. We had the Joint Service Field Meet yesterday at MIT, so I played dodgeball for the fourth and final year and managed to get smacked in the face with a ball (I was the only one left on the court; it was hard to miss me). It sounded like everyone enjoyed it, though, and we finished an hour early, so I’m not complaining. Because that took up Wednesday morning, we had a lab on diet and exercise on Tuesday morning. The talks were very practical and in-depth, although being me, I’ve already done all my homework, so there wasn’t much new to learn in a generalized talk.

Also for ROTC, last Sunday we had a Battalion BBQ on the river to help everyone get to know each other. Fortunately, the weather was nice; it’s turned cold and rainy since – perfect weather for curling up with hot loose leaf tea and studying for midterms, which I plan to do this weekend. I did briefly delve back into Netflix, which I haven’t used in a while, to watch some episodes of Supergirl. I was hoping a female superhero would boost my workout motivation, but her superpower appears to be binge-eating pizza and donuts every episode without gaining any weight, which isn’t helpful.

The one other long-term project I’m quite focused on at the moment is my thesis planning. We had our first official writing workshop meeting on Tuesday to discuss our plans, but everyone else was doing more government or sociology-related topics, and when I tried to explain my very non-linear philosophical reasoning, everyone just looked confused. Hopefully I can get my epiphanies into communicable form before I need to turn anything in.

So that’s my life right now; as you can see, I have a very exciting weekend planned, but I do plan to enjoy it. Also, Rosh Hashana is coming up, so a few of my classes are cancelled on Monday, which gives me more wiggle room. (The ‘o’ in rosh is pronounced with a tall o, as in pope, by the way, and for any DC Comics fans, it means head, from the same Semitic root as the Arabic ‘Ra’s’ in Ra’s al Ghul – which is also always pronounced wrong.)

Have a lovely rest of the month, and I’ll talk to you in October!

Pictures: I don't have as many this week; I haven't been to many new places. I did go back to Fresh Pond, though.