Loving Life, Murder in Shirley(!), and More

I know I'm not truly self-sufficient, nor am I a great cook. But when you eat a meal that you just made, which you got yourself, and paid for with your own money, it tastes, and feels, damn good (even if it's just a salad).

So I'm sick, and I never knew how expensive meds can be! Uncool.

Guys and Dolls is being performed by CMU, and Joe I. gets a couple of free tickets. We went and it was pretty good. I've always loved the song "Sit Down, You're Rockin' The Boat", but I've never seen the whole show.

Murder in Shirley! (It's a game.) I tried out this social experiment yesterday where I essentially released a serial killer in my dorm (just read the rules). It was supposed to last for days - but ended within several hours. Arg. Humans! At least I had a really good turnout (18+ players out of ~40 residents). This time around we've fixed some rules, and the Murderer seems to be laying low (no kills yet).

So I've been told that I'm a pretty skinny guy, which I usually take to be a good thing (it's not like I have an eating disorder - though my mother might disagree). But I had the strangest conversation. I was taking with a group of female homo sapiens, and it went something like this...

They're talking about guys - and their weights.

One says she doesn't like thin guys.

I ask why not.

Her answer was something like, "If you're going out with a skinny guy, and he's thinner than you..."

The conversation died there. So correct me if I'm drawing the wrong conclusion, but girls can be too jealous to like me? That's a hoot.

Scarves

I have not - to my recollection - worn a scarf (one of those big warm ones) in at least decade. This trend ended today. In celebration of such a monumental  event I have compiled a list of why scarves can be great:

They are:

warm

stylish

portable

cheaper than a coat

And can be used as:

a kite tail

a bandage

tourniquet

sling

hand towel

napkin

strangulation device

bindings

And you can tie them together to escape from locked towers.

So how many libraries does your college have? (Update 1x)

One of the great things about having a really low readership is that you can lampoon people - and they won't even know it. (Hence this inside joke of a title.) Those on the inside may appreciate my first typoed title, "So how many colleges does your library have?". I think this question is just as pertinent. 

On a related note, these past days at home have been awesome. I have loved spending time with my Cherry Hill friends and family. But I can't help but hate it. Every time I have to wrench myself away from them sucks* in the extreme. Can I still measure the time I'll spend with these people in years? Or even months? Is it down to days or hours left in my life where I will actually be with these people? OK, time to deny...

Hey, I also heard a terrible rumor concerning my favorite pair of star-crossed lovers. Anyone able to give ma a factual status update?

Update: Aack - tis true :(

* I try not to curse on The Blog. So when I do, I mean it.

Some Excitement (Update x2)

So a group of us Shirley residents were celebrating the birthday of one of our own (Natasha). The party progressed to a game of Murder in the Dark in our lounge. For those who have played Mafia, it's sort of like a live action version of that, with the lights off (there is a murder who kills, and a detective who tries to figure out who the murderer is).
Not five minutes into round one, things come to an abrupt halt as Can (Turkish, pronounced "John") had been injured leaping from a sofa to a pool table (unsuccessfully). His chin and mouth were bleeding. I ran to get some medical tape, and the others got him to a bathroom. And then there was general confusion. As the most qualified person willing to do it, I inspected the wound.  It wasn't bleeding very badly, but I was surprised at how wide and deep it was. At the very least, it was going to need stitches. So I, for the first time ever, decreed an EMS summons (you practice it with jest - but actually doing it is so spooky). 
After cleaning and patching up his chin (luckily Lee had grabbed a med kit lickity-split), I realized he really shouldn't be up and got him lying down flat. Then CMU police showed up, followed shortly by EMS. Who subsequently went overboard (even beyond playing-it-safe). I can understand the backboard and neck brace (it was a head/neck injury after all), but the oxygen? Even the older EMS guy who showed up later thought it was too much. More cops, EMS, hullabaloo, and time later, they got him off to the hospital. I have to say that this was the best use of my first aid training ever (though it still wasn't that bad), and it freaked me out. Holes in bodies, blood; they just make me queasy. Part of me got him bandaged up just so that I didn't start feeling faint.
UPDATE 1: And now I just got a call from Natasha, who tells me that Can might have a concussion (he had told EMS of some slight head and neck pain), and that they are waiting on chin x-rays to come back.

Update 2: Can is fine - just some stitches.

I'd Like Tech Support for 500...

So every once in a while I have to call Apple tech support cause I get totally lost, and they are really good at what they do - if you can get to the "Product Specialist". Now usually I just ask for an immediate transfer, but sometimes I like to have some fun with the first tier people (who often aren't native English speakers). Like confusing them by listing all the complicated troubleshooting steps I've already taken. Then sometimes I like to play the psychic game. Every time the guy on the other starts to explain the next step I should take (usually already done) I interrupt him, explain how and what he wants me to do, and explain why that won't/didn't work.

Oh - hint to the masses (or only the mass since only one mass visits this site) - if you don't want to take your Mac to your local Apple Store for repair, every Apple warranty includes on-site repair. But you have to know to ask for it.

Humor

So I've found that I've been asking God easier and easier questions. I've gone from "What is the meaning of life?" to "Should I bring an umbrella with me?" to "Where should I eat lunch today?". * I figure that perhaps God is like a small child who has all the answers, but is afraid of getting the answer wrong. So if I keep asking simple questions, perhaps God will be brave enough to raise his hand and answer me. 

* Note to grammar nazis - I have used here the Munroe style of quotation which permits this multiple punctuation.

Funny things profs say and do...

So here are some fun things my professors have said:

After one calc lecture: "I just wrote about a thousand sec(x)'s and I am proud to say I think I only wrote sex once."

One the first day of my Principles of Computation class: "Does anyone here have a physical disability? Football players?" (Just didn't segue well, but I found it hilarious.)

Same class, a month later, we were learning about binary trees (data trees which can only have two children per node) and I would have sworn the prof was talking about the "right children and love children" of each node. Though I'm sure he must have been saying "left children."

Professor Rouse (from my marxist World Hist lecture) has a penchant for playing Monty Python clips. But one day he decided to act himself. He pulls up five of us and uses cookies and teddy bears to demonstrate communal communities. Then, donning a Burger King crown and a plastic sword, he climbed his desk and took over the communists as an invading monarch. Someone even got video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90bATdSSTOc

Drama Design Minor - Here I Come

I've gotten permission to join the crew class! And as soon as I finish a drama class I can declare the minor. Weeeeee!

In other news, I got invited to an invitation-only Mac Specialist Interview Seminar - in Cherry Hill. Groan.