In other news

I'm typing this at my Dad's house. I had my last final today. Christian Monasticism final. And that was fine. Actually, all my finals went well. I feel like all in all its been an excellent semester. Next one is going to be better though. I can feel it.

I'm listening to my cousin's band's cd right now. Its really good. Awful story: the band's singer, a good friend of my cousin, died of super-sudden and malignant cancer a couple weeks ago. Pretty heartbreaking. The guy was only 21 and an amazing talent. Such a shame.

My grandma just sent me a copy of their cd. Very odd to be listening to this right now.

I'm going to go read about pirates. I'll post more later. Just wanted to keep the momentum going.

Be well,
Isaac

A proper posting to provoke a flood of more

Hello fellow TASPers,

It's 1:01AM. I'm sitting in total darkness waiting for my execution by physics final to begin in the morning. And somehow, this seems all too familiar.

I can pick out a couple of cool happenings around here (I went flying with my advising group, put a zelda triforce on MIT's dome (http://web.mit.edu/unlocked/Public/zelda-triforce/pages/DSC_3468.html) , went to IHOP at 4AM, and maybe even slept some. But the thing is, I have no idea when anything happened. This semester has just been a blur of grueling weeks and fleeting weekends, ceaselessly pounding along. I love it here, but I'm to the point where I just need classes to be over so I can breathe normally again. Next month is Independent Activities Period, a no-classes exploration dealie-o, so I'll be working in the day and cutting frame members for Formula SAE at night. If any of you are going to be in Boston in January or early February, you should really stop by MIT. I'll launch a snowball at you with a homemade catapult, and I'll make you like it.

On a more serious note, I met a TASPer from the year before ours, and it just reminds me how lucky we were as a bunch to work so well together. Her TASP was fraught with the kind of sectarianism that plagued Jenny's year, and also was host to some really shockingly nasty behavior (hit me up sometime if you want to know). I suppose I never expected that other people would have had a really bad experience at TASP, so it just reinforces how all-around awesome we are. But you knew that.

As a final note, if you want to feel drunk without drinking a drop, try playing mario kart upside down sometime. Guaranteed motion sickness! And that's all the wisdom I have. Oh sweet physics, take me now.

-Charles

One Absentee Blogger Checking In

It was a good quarter. Math was just another math class (albeit a fun one - our professor turned out to be a former professional magician, specializing in card tricks and mind-reading, and our TA came to class once in a pirate costume). Introduction to Humanities moved up the charts when I was permitted, nay encouraged to write a sci-fi short story in lieu of a rigorous final paper. Computer Science was a joy until I tried taking the practice final the day before the real one - fortunately, it was over less than 24 hours after that.

Stanford released me after the aforementioned CS final on Wednesday. I packed up my stuff, vacuumed up the graham-cracker crumbs I've been meaning to deal with for the past two weeks, and even filled out my course evaluations (Stanford is hoping to "Beat Yale" in percentage of student body to fill out online course evaluations - we would hope to beat Cal, but they don't have an online course evaluation system). Unfortunately, I didn't take down the Christmas lights - if my roommate didn't do it before he left, we'll probably both be hanged by Residential & Dining Enterprises upon our return. In the meantime, I'm in Utah, relishing the first chapter of my 3.5 week Christmas break.

Next quarter I'm hoping to study the history of genocide and mass violence, play in a jazz combo, get a sane amount of sleep, and learn multivariable integration. Call me crazy if you want.

Isaac and I have encountered each other 4 times since the beginning of the quarter. Isaac showed me the castle he inhabits and the massive, next-door open-air music venue where nationally famous artists perform, snubbing my less fortunate side of the Bay. Later we met up for a Meters concert in San Francisco and, just this past week, I dragged a couple of family members to a poetry slam this past week showcasing 15 of Northern California's finest slam poets - Isaac took second place.

My sister Ruth is looking at TASP 2007 applications right now. !!!

Groetjes,
Sam

To think... only a year ago we too were stressing about college applications and existential questions about the future. Now, it's our turn to taunt our underlings as they go through the same process. Which begs the question: Henrik and Nestor, what are you guys up to next year?

Also: It's finals week or past. Do write more.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PROFESSOR CLAGUE!!!!!!!!

LOVE,
tasp '05

Egads, editing a post!Here is the cake, and a fine cake it is. Belated greetings from me. -Meredith

Smith & Johnson Dry Goods

Hey, so blog activity is frighteningly slow. No excuses people; it's final time and we all need to procrastinate, so keep in touch!

I've decided to quit orchestra. I've gotten really involved in a the environmental action group on campus and the student newspaper, so I'm giving up playing with the ensemble so I can focus more on those and be lessed stressed. My last performance with the group was last weekend when we put on the Messiah with Calvin's alumni oratorio society. The orchestra here is really a wonderful ensemble for the size of the school and the oratorio society is terrifically impressive. I think I had the best seat in the house: right next to the harpsichord, the stellar string bass player (who I recently discovered beat me in a middle school spelling bee, funny how things are), and the phenomenal cello section. I don't know how much I've talked about faith with you guys, but there are certain parts in the Messiah - like when the chorus comes in with "Sure-ly sure-ly he hath borne our griefs" in #24 and "let him deliver him, if he delight in him" in #28 - that are so powerful and rich and layered and genius that God just hits me, if I can say that. Anyhow, it's pretty impressive music if you like baroque, regardless of any theology behind it.

In other news, life is good. How're things for you?