i live in a zoo

I was walking back to my dorm from class today, and per usual, there was a large group elderly tourists congregated outside my entryway. Except this time, the tour guide had the gumption to stand on the very steps of my door, effectively blocking anyone from going in or out.

I made my way to the steps politely as possible, displacing the tourists from my path. Then the tour guide said, "This is the second female we've seen entering the building. We saw a male earlier, so the males and females live together. "

Am I an exhibit at the zoo? Species: homo harvardius, subspecies: Hollisian?

The visitors need to go away.

the internet is a strange loop

I am taking a seminar about the Internet.

I am writing a blog about a seminar about the Internet.

I am conducting research about blogs about classes about the Internet.

I am writing about conducting research about blogs about classes about the Internet.

The Internet is a strange loop.

a general observation

Acceptance into one of the most prestigious universities in the world grants you, out of all things, rejection.

Everything is a competition here and not everyone can win.

Harry Potter and...what?

I must have stooped to the lowest of the low today. Typed the following in my Google search box:

harry potter sparknotes

Why, you ask, would I do something as ignominious as defile the runaway phenomenon of modern publishing? Because, dear readers, I don't remember a stinking thing from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Not even who the Half Blood Prince is. But unfortunately my Sparknoting plan was foiled because Sparknotes was only caught up to Harry Potter 4. I had to resort to Wikipedia.

As I skimmed through the plot overview, I couldn't help but be very confused: Who's Rufus Scrimgeour? Ginny and Harry kissed? Really? Ron and Hermione are going out? The Horcrux was fake? Snape was the Defense of the Dark Arts teacher? Did I even read this book?

The unfortunate answer is yes, thus demonstrating my extraordinary capacity to read a lot and remember little. This is a very useless life skill.

All this memory refreshing is expressly for the purpose of Harry Potter 7 in less than 6 hours. Obviously, my Harry Potter interest has waned since the days I awaited my Hogwarts letter, but some nostalgia draws me toward it. After all, it is the last Harry Potter.

Hallmark Card of the Day: Every Ending is a New Beginning

My first livejournal entry was about how much I disliked LJ. Alas, my first impressions held true and here I return to the blog I started. No eulogies please. It's a resurrection.

It was an established community of high school friends and acquaintances that first drew me to LJ. I had my own corner of the world wide web carefully arranged, but what use if no one came to visit? Driven to fits of nostalgia by the impending end of high school, I longed to cling to those last memories. Yes, we will separate, but we'll always keep in touch through the wonderful thing called the Internet.

It's now deep into the summer--the end of June--and I can feel all my high school connections dying. The strongest connections are stretching, fraying at the edges as we all tug in the divergent directions of college. The tenuous ones have already snapped, like string pulled too thin and too tight. But distance always grows during the summer; it's a natural consequence of things done alone and time spent apart. Usually though, we have September to retie those strings, double knot them, and become one again for the school year. We giggle and gossip and suddenly we are all friends again. Our different experiences during the summer are tantalizing exotica to share in conversation. Our differences made us unique, but it was our similarities that bound us together.

This year, there will be no September, or at least no September together. This year, distance will continue to grow. Our college experiences will become occasional wall posts, status messages, LJ entries, phone calls, and maybe anecdotes to tell at get togethers, but they will always have a foreign tang. With no more mutual experiences, the glue that bonds us dries and cracks, and we have only the past to bring us together. Our pasts may be shared, but we look toward the future and see divergent paths.

I admit to not really trying with LJ. I kinda just cowardly gave on trying to friend more people because by that time, I really was ready to move on from high school. I write about friendships fading and connections snapping, which regardless of the connotations of those words, I find to be liberating. I will go longer be bound by the expectations of my friends, classmates, and acquaintances. I am sad that the people I have shared the last 6 years with will not be with me, but I have accepted that as all right.