Birthday Fun

Last night was a lot of fun. I invited a bunch of people out to the Bell in Hand downtown to celebrate my birthday in costume. I was the tooth fairy. There were lots of other fun costumes and the band was great. It was a mix of Princeton friends, BC friends, Boston friends, and roommates of friends. I didn't end up drinking very much, which was probably for the best, and B got me a Grey Goose Gimlet which was terrific. Overall, a very fun night. The first time I've gone out dancing since I moved here.

Today, I've gotten lots of calls. One message was my mom along with little Alyssa singing Happy Birthday, but mostly Alyssa is giggling since she doesn't understand the concept of an answering machine yet and she knew I wasn't talking back. B and I walked into Harvard Square where he took me out to brunch. Later, we drove out to Concord and walked along the trails of the Revolutionary war battles. The foliage was gorgeous, and it was good to be away from the city.

Yesterday morning, I went to the Red Sox parade with B, Devon, Brett, Kelly, and Yvonne. I got to see my favorite players up close. It was awesome!! I saw Ortiz and Damon and Manny and Pedro and Bronson and Derek. I have some great pics and even some video! I might post it online soon.

Tuesday night Alexandra is having an Election Day get-together and I'm really psyched for it.

FLOWERS!!!

B sent me the most beautiful flowers as an early birthday present.  There are reds and purples and yellows with roses and some flowers of which I don't know the names.  They make my apartment smell so good!

Red Sox Craze and My Lesson

Wednesday night was a big night.  First I had a midterm, then my science demonstration, then game 7 of the ACLS.  The midterm was no problem.  My science demo went really well judging from the feedback I got from people.  Although after class, I went to the bathroom and noticed that my fly had been open.  Oops!  And on the day I decided to wear red underwear for the Red Sox.  I don't think anyone noticed.  Either way, my lucky drawers worked because the Red Sox got the job done, and my favorite guy, Damon, got a grand slam and a home run.  Too bad I missed them both since I was still in class.  I caught the 2nd half of the game with Megs and Alex in a bar in Harvard Square.  The entire neighborhood ERUPTED when they won.  It was crazy fun.  I have a pic on my phone but I haven't figured out how to get it off yet.

 

Now I'm off to hang out with B.

Anxiety and the Exclusion Principle

I have been feeling really overburdened the past few days and I seem to be missing a large part of my life. I'm not quite sure what to do about it, but the question of whether or not I am a good person keeps arising out of situations. Let me start by relaying a story about my friend V in Seattle.

V was a little extreme in his beliefs about friendship. V consciously made a decision to spend all social time with a few close friends. V found it a waste of time to go out with people that were not close friends. V mostly scheduled small gatherings and, every once in a while, would go to a large party to support a friend. Some people might say that V was exclusive and not open to meeting new people. I found that V did meet new people, but only continued to spend time with them if V thought it was worth it.

I am similar to V in that I have meaningful connections in small groups of 2 or 3 people, including myself. I have great conversations and get the most out of one-on-one situations. I enjoy going to lots of parties and hanging out in large groups, but I NEED a lot of small group encounters to feel fulfilled.

In Seattle, I was able to achieve this by having a few small groups of friends that only really overlapped for large parties. Unfortunately in Boston, hanging out in small groups is frowned upon. I feel like I have been reprimanded or given the evil eye for wanting smaller groups. People think I'm being exclusive. Maybe I am just selfish, but I don't think it's a mean thing. I want to hang out with lots of people - just not all together. My situation in Boston is extreme in that there's actually an email list with about 50 people, and all are invited to everything. When I invited some people over to watch the baseball game, I made up a smaller email list of what I thought would be a fun group. I got shit for not inviting all 50 people. I want to cry. In school we have many projects that can be done with 2-4 people. I always try to get a 2 person group, but the 2nd person always invites in more people. It becomes a scheduling nightmare, things take longer, and I think the work is lower quality because it becomes more about getting things done than collaborating. If I ever make plans without my roommate, I'm made to feel guilty by other people for not inviting her.

Perhaps I am letting other people's judgements get to me too much. This is ridiculous. I should be allowed to hang out with just a few friends without everyone going apeshit on me. I understand that some people prefer large groups. Maybe that means I need to extract myself altogether from this large group. I can't imagine that all of them are against smaller groups. To me it seems like taking the idea of being inclusive too far. If I want to grab a few drinks, do I really have to invite the 20 people on the list that I have never even met?

I think Bb in Seattle had a similar problem. After he moved away, when he would visit, he had to secretly schedule hang-out time with me and other people. I heard a few times that Bb was in town, but I understood if I didn't hear from him because I knew I'd get some quality Bb time when he was available.

Ack. I need some meaningful relationships.

Red Sox Nation

I’ve become I Red Sox fan since I moved to Boston.  It’s a fun team to follow but it’s not always easy.  Last night it took 14 innings.  Something like 5 hours and 48 minutes to beat the Yankees.  But they got it done.  We’ll see what happens in the Bronx tonight.  It’s a shame the Mets didn’t have a very good season.  They’re my true #1 team.  The Red Sox is like my adopted child.  Is that incorrect grammar?  Hmmm.

 

It’s a rainy day in Boston.  Again.  It seems like every Tuesday it rains.  My right sock is wet.  Squish squish.

 

Tomorrow I have to do a science demonstration on sound for my grad student class.  It should be good.  There’s a lot of banging involved.  I showed it to my roommate and she liked it.  I use a drum to show how the eardrum can pick up sound wave vibrations from the air.

Pizza

I miss pizza.  I missed pizza a lot when I was in Seattle.  It used to be a Friday treat when I was growing up in NY.  A nice thin crispy slice of cheese pizza.  Yum.  In Seattle, you have to buy a whole pie, and they never can get it quite right.  I thought when I moved to Boston, I'd be able to eat good pizza again, but I haven't had one good slice in Boston since I moved.  I need to do some exploring.  I know a great place in Harvard Square but the only time I'm there is with B, and he's not usually in the mood for pizza.  Since he doesn't have many food restrictions and I'm so ridiculously picky, I can't really force him to come to pizza.  But one of these days I really need a good slice of pizza.  Pizza pizza.  Yum.

 

The lesson went pretty well.  The class wasn't as far ahead as the teacher thought they would be, so I couldn't teach what I had planned.  I made up a new lesson during lunch about "1 more, 1 less, and equal" but the language I needed to use was "1 more, 1 fewer, and as many."  They really seemed to get it when we sat in a circle playing with cubes and solving problems.  They could even come up to the whiteboard and figure some out.  But when we got to the worksheets, they suddenly couldn't figure out what "fewer" and "as many" meant.  Those worksheets are so confusing!  It stinks that we need to use them.  I learned that the word "fewer" is a new word for a lot of first graders.  "1 less" is easier.  They just take one away and re-count.  "As many" also doesn't make any sense at all to them.  Does it need to?  I don't think so.  I think as long as they understand the concept of equal and 2 piles being the same, then that's fine.  The vocabulary will come later.  It's hard for them to complete worksheets when they have trouble reading the word problems since they're just learning to read too.  I think it's a fun challenge.  Next time I'm going to do the originally planned math games.

My First Lesson

I have my first lesson of the semester at school today.  Hopefully I won't screw it up too badly.  I'm reviewing two math concepts: odd/even and greater than/less than.  Both are math games, so it should be fun for the first graders.  Should.  I don't usually pack a lunch to go anywhere, so all I had in the apartment was peanut butter and jelly.  That'll be kind of embarassing in the teachers' lounge...  I had to wake up before the sun today.  That's going to require some getting used to. 

 

Bummer about the Red Sox 0-2 with the Yanks.  Hopefully at the home games this week they'll pick up their game.  Johnny Damon's my favorite player. 

bad smells and baseball

rough night. (not really.)  my apartment reeks of coffee - i happen to be grossed out by the smell of coffee, and the yankees are beating the red sox.  they have 6 innings to come back.  i'll cross my fingers.

 

it's hard to find time to blog.  time seems to be going really fast, but it feels productive too.  life is generally very good.

 

last weekend i went home to ny from friday night to sunday afternoon.  it was good to see my parents and everyone else.  i raided the bookshelves of my little cousins for an assignment and played some wiffle ball while i was over there.  i also got to watch some fun bike tricks and push little alyss on a swing.  friday night i caught the end of the nyack high school homecoming football game with my mom.  it was cool to see all of that again.  not much has changed.  the cheerleaders have better uniforms now.  nyack kicked butt.  mr. pesner the gym teacher was the announcer.  it was a good blast from the past.

 

i'm enjoying all this presidential stuff, learning about so many issues.  unfortunately i found out that washington has become a swing state, and i already changed my voter registration to massachusetts.  oh well.  everyone i know except for my old boss was voting for the better guy anyway.  i trust that they'll come through.  i'm creating a 3rd grade social studies unit on voting.  if you have any good information/games/links, let me know.

Web Problems

I had a little problem with my link so I tried to fix it and I had a new problem - the disappearing post. I think it's all back and fixed. Blogger was having major issue's on the Boston College campus. I wonder if they block posting or something. Anyway, no problem at all; everything's back on track. I should be writing a paper right now, yet somehow I choose to blog.

I had to make a cheesy website for my math class. http://www2.bc.edu/~mulcahkg They insisted that we have an entire page with a mailto: link instead of just having the initial Email/Contact link be the mailto: link. We were also required to use cheesy clipart. My first attempt wouldn't load on a Mac. I had to fix it since my professor uses a Mac. I ended up with a "Super job on this website. Full credit." Pretty exciting. The website I worked on at MS was a bit more challenging.

The Communist Party

Ben's birthday was today and there was a big party at his apartment last night. The theme (having nothing to do with Ben) was "The Communist Party." People had the option to wear red, dress like a famous communist, or make up some creative costume. My favorite was the couple (Devon and Devon) that came as The Warsaw Pact. See the pics for details. There were headshots of famous communist dictators on the walls along with red balloons and a birthday cake with a hammer & sickle.

People got pretty drunk and a few even did kegstands, not including myself. I think it's kind of gross that everyone puts their mouth on the spigot thing. People didn't seem to want to leave even when the music was turned down. I eventually went to bed at 3:15 since I was exhausted with all the birthday planning. Ben came to bed at 4:30am.

We had a fun day today. We did the present opening in the morning, then I took Ben to brunch at a funky place in Harvard Square. We also drove up to this outdoor sculpture park and walked around. The leaves are beautiful! The views out here are so different from in Seattle. Usually Seattle wins out, but not this season.

I know this is a pretty boring entry but my brain is so fried this weekend and I still have homework to do. My roommate should be returning from a blind date any minute and I'm sure she'll have lots to say about it, so I best get back to my homework.