Christmas is Coming!

I can tell because my classes are over...and Christmas lights are up on Main Street...and I have "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" stuck in my head...and I put my face in this Muppet Christmas Carol picture. I'm Bob Cratchett!

Countdown

3 days, 17 hours, 50 minutes, and 5 seconds...4 seconds...three seconds...

Wow...

That last picture was so depressed-looking that I felt the need to put up a happy one. Apparently I act too well for my own good. : )

A Somber Note

Everything in my life is pretty great right now. I'm really happy and I'm really excited to see everyone at Thanksgiving. But here I would like to address some of the misfortunes currently in my life:

First, my film readings. They're trying to kill me with endless pages of big words and meaningless sentences...that and tiny, tiny print.

Second, the fact that I can never convince myself to bring my umbrella with me unless it's already raining, and somehow Dartmouth weather patterns always make sure that it starts to rain after I leave my room. By the time I get a chance to come back (all wet) and get my umbrella, it has usually stopped raining.

Third, I have not as of now found My Future Husband yet. Of course, I have time, and yet I have to ask myself: why is it so hard to find a guy who's not on drugs, not a heavy drinker, has a good personality, and doesn't have a girlfriend? That doesn't seem like so much to ask. (Of course my criteria, outlined on my Boyfriend Application Sheet, also take things like SAT scores, future prospects, favorite color, appreciation of Jane Austen, and ability to cook into account...)

Fourth and finally, pudding cups are too small. Every time I eat a pudding I find myself thinking that I would have been satisfied with just one more bite (i.e., three bites). Not that I'm, cough cough, eating pudding a lot. But I still think they should be bigger. And they should be designed so they're easier to scrape.

As you can clearly see, life isn't all fun and games for me right now. But luckily there are a few perks despite the tragedies of the film readings and the umbrella. Sunday brunch, movies at the Hop, good grades, free Tuesdays...if only these small pleasures were enough to make up for tiny pudding cups.

: )

Cycles

I have a system. It goes like this: I let my room get really messy on all the days when I'm really busy: stuff on the floor, dirty dishes piling up, clothes all over. (Photo A). And then on the days when I'm not busy, I clean it all up at once. (Photo B).

As you can see in Photo A, sometimes it takes a while to get to a non-busy day. 

I also wanted to put up a picture of my earrings because I think they look cool.

In other, non-photo-related news: I voted today! I am now a responsible and civically active citizen. It's exciting. It was weird though because New Hampshire uses the paper ballot system, and it felt very strange to be selecting my choice for the next Leader of the Free World (I don't really like that title but I'm using it for emphasis) by using a marker to fill in a bubble. They had better not miscount my vote!

Anyway, now all there is to do is stress out subconsciously until the results come in. 

Halloween!

Well, I'll admit, I was unimpressed with the Halloween social scene...but people did have some very creative costumes! And I had a lot of fun painting my face...and dyeing my hair...and spending time with my friends. So all in all a pretty good Halloween. (You can probably believe that at midnight I was in the shower with a mirror and a lot of scrubbing...)

Being Sick at College is Like...

losing your contacts (or breaking your glasses) while you're camping. It's bad either way, but all the normal recourses you would have at home are suddenly gone, and now you have to figure out new solutions, all without the benefit of your eyesight.

In case that analogy didn't make sense, I blame the delirium.

Bad things about being sick at Dartmouth:

1. It's not home. There's no mom or dad or even Zan (well-protected against infection) to help me and bring me juice and talk to me and call the school to tell them I'm not coming in.

2. You have to tell your teachers that you're sick (and I'm always paranoid that my teachers will think I'm lying). But then you have to go in sometimes anyway because you have these "midterms" that are supposedly "important" or something, whatever that's about.

3. it's cold.

4. I called Health Services to schedule an appointment. When I told them my symptoms, they said I probably had a virus and there was nothing they could do. Which is what my doctor at home often tells me, but at least he gives me the courtesy of an appointment first.

5. You have to be all gross and sick and nasty in front of people who have not known you since your birth.

6. ...I would continue but I've lost my train of thought and I need to go back to bed. : (

Ohbers.

Beautiful Pictures of Dartmouth Foliage at Night That Don't Even Come Close To Capturing How Pretty It Really Is

So Many Celebrities, Such Bad Photography

Oh, the joys of college life. Everyday another email about a visiting celebrity. Academy-Award nominated actress Laura Linney. Bestselling author Joan Didion. Acclaimed actor Kal Penn (from The Namesake). Howard Dean and Ralph Nader. It's hard to avoid running into famous people. I don't even have the time to go see them all.

So of course being a mere mortal I want to take pictures of these people. And I'm given tons of opportunities! And I have a great camera! So how is it that I can't manage to take even a single decent picture?

The truth is it's karma. It harkens back all the way to my second trip to NYC, when I posed with a wax model of Nicolas Cage and tried to pass him off later as the real thing. Now, I am forever doomed to be in the presence of the stars and capture only horrible photos of them. See examples above (Laura Linney and Kal Penn, of course. Couldn't you tell?)

I Am Not A Crook.

My fellow Americans:

Despite insinuations made by my parents, I am not in fact a delinquent. On Friday night, not only did I do nothing wrong, but in actuality I spent the evening knitting socks for soldiers and playing with the college dog, Checkers.

(I may have also melted a hole in a plastic dock, but really -- I don't think they should make plastic docks that look like wood. That's just unsafe. And anyway, it's not going on my permanent record or anything.)

God Bless.

A Sample Saturday In the Life of Rin

A wedding on the green...

On the bridge to Vermont...

I awaken at 9:15 to the sound of oldies drifting from my alarm clock, and then proceed to alternately listen to the good music and snooze over the commercials until approximately 10:20. At which point I finally get up. (The bad news is that my "roommate" can hear my alarm through the wall...the good news is she always gets up earlier than I do, so it's not a problem.)

I hang out in my room eating Cheerios, planning my weekend, and checking my email for a little while, and then at noon I meet with some people to have lunch at the Hop (a turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce pita, which was good...I can't wait for Thanksgiving...). After that we walk to Vermont because it's a lovely fall day and Vermont is only about four minutes away. We go to a town called Norwich (about a half hour walk), which is a cute little New Englandy town (I think Julie and Brian stayed there) and visit the general store to stock up on supplies that don't cost a million dollars before eating apple cake at a picnic table in the park. Then on our way back we stop at Dartmouth's pottery studio and make pots. 

On our way back to our dorms passing the Green, we see a wedding taking place (aww...). In my room I spend 40 minutes doing homework (=ten whole pages of my film textbook read) before we head out to dinner. Then back to the room for more homework (a total of 40 pages read -- almost halfway done with film!) before going to see Cellofourte, a group of cellists who play original rock music...strange-sounding, but really good.

After that I hang around in my room putting off the actual act of going to bed for an impressive length of time...and finally I sleep. : )

Classes are...

Well. My classes are all relatively interesting...but they each have their pros and cons. Let's examine:

PCS: Is an interesting discussion course about relevant issues involving overpopulation and clear writing. Downside: the reading takes FOREVER to get through and is NOT a good example of clear writing. 

Linguistics: Is an interesting topic, if not a fascinating course...the professor has a very neutral voice which is sometimes hard to hear/pay attention to and the lecture setting isn't ideal. But the real Downside: I just discovered that there are like 50 symbols for various phonetic sounds that I have to memorize, in addition to the mass of terminology that has been dumped upon me. Phonetics: Grrr.

Film: is super! We watch movies! And I've only had one lecture so far, but it was captivating...the professor is passionate about movies and he gets the class involved as well. Downside: It seems easy...too easy. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

In other news, the foliage is getting pretty. : ) I hope everyone is well back home and I hope mom feels incredibly guilty for eating grape pie without me. 

Classes Start Tomorrow!

So of course I'm posting instead of going to bed... : ) I'm taking three classes this term, as follows: Intro to Linguistics, Intro to Film, and a writing seminar entitled "Population, Consumption, and Sustainability". Or PCS as I would rather call it. My earliest class is at 10 and on Tuesday I have no classes at all, which is pretty nice. 

Part of me is rather worried about classes (see picture). On the other hand, part of me is glad they're finally starting so I no longer have to feel like the fake college student whose just mooching free food off the establishment (the other day I got free crepes! Yum. Also: free cookies, free hamburgers, free organic vegetables, free apples, free brownies, free drinks, free pasta salad...it balances out in the end though because the food here is really expensive.)

Anyway, I actually am going to go to bed now. For real. Really, I am. No seriously! Right...

now. : )

Fun!

See this ring? It's silver and I made it myself in the Dartmouth jewelry workshop. It's a really cool program; for $10 a term, you can come in any time and make whatever jewelry you want (the ten bucks also gets you into the woodshop and the ceramics studio) with help from professionals for only the cost of materials (the ring cost me $2.20). Guess what everyone's getting for Christmas....

The last picture is proof that I need a poster. I love Julie's collages (I also have an Aunt Anne picture up...but it's not in this photo) but my wall is large and white and in need of more relief. Luckily we have a poster store.

By the way, feel free (but again, not obligated) to post comments on my blog entries...there should be a "post comment" underneath each. For example, you could write "Hi Rin. My ring size is 7, and I prefer gold." Or something : )

Organic Farming Trip!!

Hey everyone! I got back yesterday from my fantastic organic farming trip, which consisted of many, many games, a lot of dancing (Michael Jackson, anyone?), swimming in the frigid Connecticut River, eating homemade pizza fired in a brick oven and topped with organic vegetables, harvesting cherry tomatoes and other vegetables (broccoli, beans, peppers, eggplant, beets, etc.), and sleeping outside under the stars. The pictures are, in order: the river, which was especially gorgeous in the morning covered in fog; some of my "trippees" making dinner; me blocking the crop field with my head; our "tent" and gear. I didn't get too camera-happy because I didn't want to break my camera, but there are a couple of pictures Dartmouth took that I'll have access to later. Final conclusion: so far, so good.

Notes on Packing

Packing is the scourge of life. I think it was designed so that no matter how awful the subsequent away-from-home experience may be, it'll seem delightful compared to the horrible hours of packing you've just been through. I want to go a on a trip once in my life where I pack absolutely nothing, and simply purchase anything I might need once I've arrived. Hopefully it'll be a cheap place like Peru as opposed to, say Britain so that this doesn't bankrupt me.

The best way to cheer myself up from my Mid-Packing Depression is to look at the adorable pictures Ella and Fiona took of themselves on my computer. : )

Hmm.

So at Aunt Gail's suggestion, I have decided to create a blog detailing all the fascinating happenings in my life to my loving family and friends while I'm away at college. I can picture it now:

Thurs, 10/16, 4:32pm. Did laundry. Ate pb&j sandwich. Tired. Will now go to class.

Just kidding. I'll try to be at least vaguely interesting. Anyway, if anyone feels severely Rin deprived, as I'm sure you all will at least once in the next four years, you can check up on my life here...or, you know, call me. Or email me at k.kendig@dartmouth.edu. There are really just so many options.

So that's it for now.