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[ Tuesday, September 02, 2003 ]

 

The craziness called Cal

Last week, as I was waiting at a stoplight, a guy handed me a neon green flier:

"Monkey Knife Fight
Live at Blake's
Friday, Aug. 29th"

On the top of the flier there was a pic of characters from the Simpsons watching a monkey fight. (doh!)

Speaking of "doh!" there's a library here called Doe Library...always reminds me of Homer Simpson. Heh, randomness.

As I walked through Sproul Plaza last week, I saw these two white guys wearing white Hari Krishna type outfits. They were both sitting on the steps leading to Sproul Hall. One of them rang a bell as he swayed and the other one played the harmonium (Is that what you call those Indian/pakistani instruments?) as he tried to sing qawalli type stuff. It was so random that I burst out laughing before I could help myself.

And the bongo guys are pretty cool. So are the skaters with dreads.

Last Thursday was my dreaded 4 hour Chem lab (conveniently at the end of the day!). Cal has a ridiculous policy that freshmen who just left high school are expected to come up with their own method for experiments! The stupid lab notebook just tells you the tools you get and what they want us to explore. That's it! We're expected to blindly know everything. My group was the last one out and we were still so confused. Well, for one thing I ended up messing up the control and had to get a new one...Hey, at least I didn't break a beaker like I did in my first high school chem lab! My friend, Saba, and I totally laughed it off! For a group that was doing horribly, we sure laughed a lot! I think my chem TA hates me. It's his first time being a TA so he doesn't know what results the experiments should have, and even if he did, he absolutely won't help! He looks kind of jolly and everything, but man...don't be fooled; he's a stubborn guy!

I finally gave up hoping my books that I had ordered online would come soon, so I ended up buying my textbooks from the bookstore. I'm so behind in my reading that I'm still trying to catch up. And that's one thing about Berkeley...Don't get behind because it'll be impossible to catch up! I spent most of yesterday doing my Chem reading and it was crazy b/c the "Fundamentals" section that I was reading contained everything I learned in High school in a year...I'm dreading the rest of the thick book that I'm going to have to learn.

I had missed my Social Welfare class about Homelessness last week, so I went there for the first time today. It turns out that it isn't a seminar like I had thought. It's actually an upperdivision class. I'm the only freshman in a class of mostly seniors and some graduate students. A bit intimidating, especially when I'm behind in the reading (1 fat reaader as big as my Chem textbook and two books). If I sat on my reader, I'd be 3 inches taller! I also have to complete 6 hours of community service per week working directly with the homeless...plus term papers. Bleh!

All this talk about social welfare reminds me of a homeless guy I passed by on Telegraph Ave last week. I ignored him because sometimes I get intimidated by them, but as I walked by I happened to read his sign: "Does it even matter what I write?" It took me a little while to figure out that he meant that no one looks at him anyway, so it doesn't make a difference what he writes on his sign. That made me feel sad; That, and watching a homeless man rummage through garbage cans on my way home today.

Anyway, I finally ventured into the comfy reading room in the Doe University Library. It's great! Once you get used to the sight of people with their shoes off, sleeping on couches, it's very relaxing and you can get enough reading done if you're focused. No one talks in that room. There are so many comfy chairs, foot rests, and sofas to choose from! And best of all, no one can kick you out...well, until the reading room closes at 5 pm.

What else is new, you ask? the Aps and my room is almost done! Well, actually, it still needs to be textured and painted, and a couple of doors need to be added here and there...but man, it no longer looks like a garage! Daddy keeps joking that he's kicking us out of the house...into the garage! We picked out the paint color this weekend, and our room is going to be light lavendar! Woohoo! And we have a walk-in closet! And insha Allah it'll be awesome!

When did I become such a rambler...I guess college does that to you...scatters your brain so that you can no longer have any cohesive thoughts.

On a serious note, though, I can feel myself changing little by little, and for someone like me who doesn't like much change, it's kind of scary seeing it in myself. Maybe it's a good thing.



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