The Highway
(1-10 February 2002)

10 February 2002
-A pretty good drive home, including oxygen deprivation with Chetan & Beth when talking about the room where they stayed last night. There was definitely discussion of yak's blood in small jars. Then there was Counting Crows & more serious discussion. Now I'm exhausted beyond belief.
-Waking up is tough on Sundays, especially when alone.
-I can put off schoolwork... silly schoolwork!

9 February 2002
[from New York City]
-Our little Gris has grown up a great deal. But I guess we all have. Plus, Uglytown may be disintegrating soon? Say it ain't so! The world of leasing has its perils.
-This tournament has greatly exceeded expectations.
-When I have a bad feeling about someone & that proves itself right again & again, increasing over time, I feel both good & bad. Mostly bad, I guess, as though my intuition had something to do with their manifestation of its negative attributes. Regardless of which, there's people one just can't trust on APDA & I'm going to leave it at that.
-A ballot short of a qual, for the second time this year.
-Did I say this tournament exceeded expectations? Good Lord! Emily won finals on a 17-0 decision & I was somehow top speaker. & what a tourney to be top speaker at... they give you a Tiffany's crystal apple & an LSAT prep course. Does anyone wanna buy the LSAT prep course? I've heard they're worth quite a bit more than I'd ask. Either way, I was stunned, & the NYU team even started to make fun of my embarassment, which precipitated one of the best things Emily's ever said in front of all of GA. A crazy wonderful weekend.

8 February 2002
[from Princeton, New Jersey]
-Lots of cards with Em, Dom, & Lauren after the fairly good drive down from Beantown. Now it's early & I'm tired, but I'm quite looking forward to debating with Chetan in a few hours... seems like he's excited about it. & I get to see Gris! Woo. Also exciting is that I'm leaving late for an NYU tournament, because I'm leaving from NJ! & that's all the excitement I've got for now.
-Why do people insist on thinking that opening up to me (or to anyone) is a burden?! I guess some people might not want to hear the problems of their friends, but I'm always imminently curious about them, & more to the point, interested in helping if at all possible. Who are these punks out there making people feel like their problems are a burden?

7 February 2002
-Silly Greg, I don't go to class on Thursdays!
-Everybody call. Everybody call.

6 February 2002
-Not only were my internet servers down last night (the whole Mep House was immersed in hours of resulting crisis), but my FTP server at home doesn't like me anymore. It can't handle big files. I find this problematic, because it may just force me to archive on a much more regular basis.
-There's something about the first paper of the semester that's plain impossible. I've been facing two bland two-page response papers & now I'm going to ditch a class just to get them done. & instead, I'm here, wasting more time. I guess I do understand what it's like to spend too much time in front of the 'puter & get nothing accomplished. Trouble is, I don't see anything better about spending time in front of a random professor & getting even less accomplished.
-Fish & Kate both lay claim to that quote, but it's mine today.
-Well, what I discussed with Drew on the ride back from Montreal continues to be the case... APDA has gone mad with preparing for tournaments early. I dunno if it's Crack asking people to make teams for tourneys 2 full weeks ahead of time or Stanford posting registration for it's 8-9 March tournament a full month before the show, but either way, I can't believe it. I'm sorely tempted to post a message to APDAnet inviting people to the Brandeis tourney in November.
-Wrote both papers (sad though they may be) & archived a bit. Yeah. After class, I should be doing MUCH better.

5 February 2002
-While I do find the late "What the Blank are You" online quiz trend a bit dubious, I must admit that the following analysis (courtesy the Font Quiz at extinguished.org) to be somewhat compelling: "Wowie! You are Tfu Tfu! You're the odd one out, there are few places you fit in. Others don't understand you very well and tend to treat you indifferently and take you for granted. But then again, you don't really give a damn about them anyway." It's almost scary.
-Work just isn't as fun as it used to be.
-I'm amazed how some people assume that I mean schoolwork whenever I say "work" & how others have time to read the online journals of people they don't know! I guess I'm somewhere between.
-I work so hard to entertain you all... now there's new stuff! Remember to look for links on all these pages to stuff you haven't seen! Now I'm almost late for dinner...

4 February 2002
-A fantastic drive back, despite raging snows in some areas. Excellent conversation all around, mostly focusing on theology, actually. Which is something I can discuss more readily with Drew & Nik than with most folks.
-I am not ready for schoolweeks. At all.
-So while I hate classes & disrespect the way most of them attempt to challenge me, I do have to admit that they give me immense rumination time. For example, I almost always chew my nails while in class (sorry Dad), because there's nothing else to focus on. I often write quotes to keep my attention. But tonight, I created an idea for a third novel. It's really something I should've thought of much much earlier. But I didn't. Still, it's really cool & it's time for me to start writing it immediately, or soon. Problem is that I still want to graduate from 'Deis & debate for another semester. So it'll really have to wait till summer (let's be honest), & that's distressing. Because I'm now inspired to write two full novels with developed plots. & that short story. Sigh. As in so much of life, I'll never be caught-up in writing. But if only I could spend all my time writing... Lord, I feel like I have so much to say...
-This is random, but could someone please remind me that I have work from 1-3pm tomorrow? It's actually a sub-shift that I signed up for. & I guess this record will serve as my reminder, if I check. Since the Library chopped everyone's hours, it's going to be too easy to remember them, but hopefully I can sub a lot.
-I really seem to like 8's this year. 3 in a row & 4 total.

3 February 2002
[from Montreal]
-So it goes.
-Told you so.
-Oh boy, here comes the first day apart in 36 days. Not auspicious. Knowing the best month of one's life is ending is a difficult thing.
-3rd speaker? Crazy! I was a little frustrated with how we lost quarters, but very happy to be there again anyway. Drew persevered like a champion this weekend through losing his voice & taking us to the break anyway. But not only was I the top American speaker (next being Amy Phillips at 8th), but I was the only person in the top five to have never attended the University of Toronto. & two more from the top ten not in the top five were from Hart House as well. Sheesh. So that's a moral victory.

2 February 2002
[from Montreal]
-Today is better. Everything's better.
-Cards really are a fun time. I don't know if I crave card games QUITE as much as Em does, but it's gotta be close.
-Fun rounds all around today.
-Finding out that you broke before 6th round (by knowing you're in a 5-0 round at an all 5-1's break tourney) is one of the most exciting things ever. Even if the round that followed was really marginal, it's all good.
-I'm trying. That's really all I want people to remember sometimes; nay, most of the time. Just trying.

1 February 2002
[from Montreal]
-One of the worst days in any kind of recent memory. Driving up in a snowstorm from Beantown to Montreal not only convinced the entire population of Vermont & New Hampshire that we were lunatics, but put every kind of strain on the Kia & its driver that it could. & even after two decent rounds of debate, I'm upset with everything & I don't know how to deal with what's shaping up to be a lousy weekend.

Introspection, My Worst Friend* (Current)
Ye Olde Archive (Past)
The Blue Pyramid (Source)

Tell me this is not the end...*


*-lyrics from an as-yet unreleased song, "The Same Old Frontiers", by SWClayton.