I’m sitting here
at my desk watching Tampopo and reviewing kanji at 2:46 AM. I have no clue why I can’t sleep… I really
didn’t nap that much when I was sick.
This weekend I came down with a cold that always develops into
bronchitis because of my vulnerable, asthmatic lungs. Although I couldn’t breathe enough to fall
asleep during the night, I compensated for that during the day. I think my circadian rhythms have been messed
up.
Nothing much has
happened this week, but last Friday I attended an amazing Freshman Formal night
with Pranam at the Ledyard Canoe Club, and of course with everybody else at
Alumni Hall. We had planned to go to Yama
with some other friends and classmates, but the communications failed. No worries, we really enjoyed the time to
ourselves and the delicious calamari salad and mussels (haha). I like to think Pranam and I were the ones
who started off the dance, since before we decided to stay, E-man said that
people came and left, but the event never really caught on. By staying, we encouraged more people to stay
and at least enjoy the photo booth and mock tails, and in about a half hour we
had attracted a pretty good crowd.
And the Greek
scene? I’ll definitely write more on this
after Green Key Weekend. So far it’s
been pretty laid back. Friday afternoon,
I was invited by classmate/fellow Gleeker Diana to make Boo Boo Bunnies” at
EKT. It was a really cute community
service event; we rolled up and decorated little hand towels to distribute to
DHMC’s children’s hospital. If it wasn’t
for all the mandatory parties, I would have been willing to rush there in the
fall. The night before, I went to Alpha
Theta’s Mellows again. The theme this
time was Dirt Cake! I wonder what to
expect for this Thursday…
Flashback to
Wednesday – this was a pretty special day because Pranam gave his first
presentation at Dartmouth Japan Society.
I’m so proud of him and Mameshiba!
Evan actually might take him seriously now! (LOL) Speaking of presentations, it’s my turn this
week. I have to whip up a Prezi
slideshow for Issunboushi, a Japanese folktale that I am also writing a paper
on in Japanese 3. It’s about a little
thumb-sized boy who saves a princess from ogres and becomes a human-sized samurai.
Before I realized
I had insomnia, I was making arrangements for Professor Pulju to come to
McCulloch 1 for a dinner discussion on comparative/historical linguistics of
Indo-European languages. Earlier I was
approved for SIPS (student-initiated programs) funding through East Wheelock,
so I have a couple hundred dollars to pay for catering. After being intimidated out of my seat by
Jewel of India, I decided to go with Everything But Anchovies for appetizers and
The Orient for main platters. There was
a lot of discussion going on over Facebook with Etai (experienced event
planner) and Pranam (Indian food connoisseur)… and, of course, a lot of unnecessary
polling. I was inspired to host such an
event after attending special lectures offered by the linguistics
department. So far I have been to two –
the first one was about the morphology of an Indian language and the second was
about vowel-raising in Vermont.
And that brings
us to when Tai, Meili’s brother, came to visit during First-Year Family Weekend. What an emotional roller-coaster. The morning was so much fun, watching movies
in the dorm and baking for Phi Tau.
While Meili and I experimented with Nutella cookies (actually we ate
more than we baked), Pranam gave Tai a tour of Frat Row. However, the afternoon was incredibly
stressful. We all went to Topliff courts
to play tennis together, but there were none open, so we got impatient and
asked this Asian father and son to play doubles. That was a huge mistake. Only a couple (losing) points into the game,
the father gave Pranam a massive serve that dislocated Pranam’s shoulder. It was really horrifying to watch him faint
from the pain. Addie and I tried to
catch him, and in the process we popped his shoulder back in, which is probably
what woke him up. He almost fainted
again on his way to the bench. My adrenaline flooded, and I think I yelled at a couple people who said he couldn't drink water, which was actually bringing him back from the depths. Luckily,
Meili called over an entourage of medical personnel that checked his shoulder
and brought him back to the dorm; they said that the fainting and nausea were
symptoms of vasovagal syncope, which I experienced this summer when I developed
an intense stomach pain. Since Pranam
couldn’t handle stairs, I let him crash in my bed while I
finished homework. I'm really glad he agreed to stay in my room, because I felt much more secure being able to know how he was at any moment. For the next 5 hours, he was so sound
asleep that I had to keep making sure he was breathing! Now, he’s back to normal,
playing cello and basketball (very carefully), and I am so relieved.
The following
day, they all came to my Glee Club concert!
I was so happy to have good friends to sing for, since this term’s
performance was a special one – celebrating the release of a Dartmouth songbook
and demo CD. It made me smile to see
their faces light up when we sang the Ivy League Medley, Football Medley, and
Alma Mater. Some of my favorites were
the beautifully dissonant new-age Sleep by Eric Whitacre and the upbeat Joshua
by Moses Hogan.
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