Happy Halloween!

Last night was the dorm council's Rocky Horror Picture Show, being run by yours truly. It was fantastic fundraising; we got around one hundred fifty dollars in donations. I figured you'd enjoy the picture.

Liqu-or Treat!

Last night was great. Bryant had a fantastic idea to get people on our floor to participate in a drink trick or treat. So, yesterday, some people went on a booze run, purchasing around $200 in liquor and beer. Then, people took their respective alcohols, came home and made drinks. Afterwards, people would go room to room and sample the drinks. There was a huge variety: Dirty Girl Scouts (peppermint schnapps and chocolate, poured into your mouth while you’re lying in the floor), frozen Cosmopolitans, Margaritas, some rum and juice drink that was really tasty, and some crazy Brazilian drink with limes that was extremely sour, but good. The best part was that it was one huge floor party – housing doesn’t permit parties larger than ten people, and there weren’t any rooms with more than ten people in them because people kept moving around. I think that drinking with friends is a lot better than going to a frat party, and last night definitely proved it.

Drunken things matter

I wish that things that I do when I’m drunk were written out of, you know, the general history of life. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. But it would be pretty sweet if it was. In reality, though, drunken things matter. It’s a sad but true fact of life. So, I’m faced with a dilemma. I enjoy drinking with my friends a great deal. However, if I’m at a party I might do things which I would later regret. But at the same time, I would have a lot of fun. So, I can drink less at parties and perhaps have less fun… or I can do things which I would later come to regret. I guess the first step is accepting the fact that parties are not a suspended state of reality. Everything is different when I wake up the next day because inebriated people think differently than sober ones.

It’s not that this is about me avoiding responsibility for my actions. I always take responsibility for them. It’s that I wish there weren’t any actions which I would have to take responsibility for.

A lucky turn of events

I took a nap this afternoon and slept through my appointment with the psychologist. That was kind of lame, because it costs ten dollars every time I miss an appointment. However, it turned out that she was sick anyway so I didn’t get fined! That was quite excellent.

We’re showing the Rocky Horror Picture Show in my dorm this weekend (for Halloween). I think it’s a fantastic idea. Hopefully lots of people will come. I’ve never been to a showing but hopefully it’ll be very amusing. And besides, dressing up in drag will definitely be an interesting experience.

Frustrating first years

My all nighter on Sunday night went fairly well. I got my econ problem set done and I think I wrote a fairly good Sosc paper. I guess we’ll find out in a week or so.

So, yesterday, we had a House Activities Resource Council (HARC) meeting. Now, HARC meets weekly to examine proposals for house activities, some of which it funds and some of which it doesn’t. The meeting was simply a disaster. It went way too long and I felt extremely frustrated by the new members. One trip proposed transportation and dinner downtown for $13. I felt that we had no reason to fund the trip because $13 is ridiculously cheap for charter bus to drive you downtown and then for you to get dinner too. However, one of the new members felt that we should fund part of the trip because they had put forth the effort, which should be rewarded. Welcome to the real world, lady. Effort doesn’t mean jack.

I was going to do work yesterday

Really, I was! But somehow it didn’t turn out that way. When I got home from hanging out with my dad, I sat around and read a little for class tomorrow. I also had a lot of Compton Café stuff to do; I had to organize the new stuff in our kitchen, design new menus, and put them up all around my dorm. The Resident Masters were having their reception for the parents so we went down to grab some food (fine cheese and pate, delicious). When we got back to our room, Bryant and I watched an episode of Battlestar Galactica (great show, by the way). Afterwards, it was already evening, so I went to Chinatown with Chris, Jenna, and the Frenchies for dinner.

When we got back, it was REALLY late. Emily’s sister wanted to go to see what a real frat party was like (as if we have real frat parties here). So we went over to DKE, which was free and only two blocks away. It was a pretty crappy party because they didn’t want to lose that much alcohol so by the time we got there they already ran out. However, one of the brothers took out a bottle of Bacardi 151 and apple cider and started making drinks. Now, my views on Bacardi 151 are fairly clear. It’s an evil, evil drink and it should be banned in all states. However, as of yesterday, I have decided that Bacardi 151 is quite passable with apple cider. The cider completely kills the horrible taste.

When we got back, we tried looking for parties in my dorm. However, these were not to be found – the one on the twelfth floor was being broken up when we got there. We also somehow managed to run into the twelfth floor RA with open beers, which was a bad idea.

So, we went back to our room. We were out of beer and hard liquor, but Sebastian, a cool first year (I know, I know, they don’t exist) had some Guinness and some Dutch beer which he gladly donated to the cause of drinking. Bryant showed us how to make car bombs – Guinness and Irish Cream. It tastes good, but it’s nothing special. We also opened up a bottle of wine; Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon. It was decent as well.

The party was pretty awesome. We had good music, some dancing, and some sitting around and talking about nonsensical things. Bryant and I went over to visit Janet, Melodie, and Kat, and on the way back we lay down on the floor and Emily had to come rescue us. Sebastian passed out on the couch, so we wrote on him. No hard feelings, of course. When I fell asleep, I dreamed that I was throwing up. However, in reality it was not the case. Unfortunately, I was hung-over, but that went away in a few hours.

The Usual Suspects is an excellent movie

Very tricky, with an awesome story. I was pleased to figure it out slightly before the detective.

It’s the weekend, but it doesn’t feel like it. I have to read the Constitution (that’s right, the whole Constitution), write my Sosc paper, and do an Econ problem set. And that’s just for Monday.

My dad came here for parent’s weekend, which is awesome. Yesterday, we went to dinner together downtown and then today we had brunch and went to the Smart museum. I’ve never actually been to the Smart museum, which I’ve always considered a travesty, so now I feel slightly vindicated. Against myself, of course. Afterwards, Bryant and I went to the Resident Masters’ reception and ate tons of fine cheese and pâté. Good times.

Conversing with Dr. Freud

In the span of three years, I find myself in a psychiatrist’s office once again. It’s sort of fun – you sit in a comfy chair and have a conversation with someone who can’t tell anyone else what you tell them, after which they give you helpful advice or help you reach conclusions about your problems. Psychiatrists are amazing people. I wonder if I should be worried about the fact that I’ve felt the need to see a psychiatrist in the span of three years. Maybe I just don’t like coping with my problems on my own…

Today was basically an introductory day. She asked all kinds of questions about my past and what I was there to see her for. My goal in seeing her is to try to figure out what I want from Charles to be able to be friends with him again. I hope it works out. My homework this week is to figure out my current relationship with Charles. I think it’s a lot better than on Monday, when I literally walked a different way in order to not greet him. Now, it seems like such a silly thing to do…

I love Wednesdays!

So, my Legal Reasoning midterm went alright. I might have screwed up on the first question – of the people I’ve asked, half put my answer and the other half put a different (but equally viable) answer. I guess we’ll see.

I also got the Blue Chips presentation of Kenneth Cole done. If you want to buy a good stock, buy KCP. It’s undervalued and has good growth potential. The presentation wasn’t that great because two members of my sector were gone, so I had to present the information that they gave on the fly. That wasn’t very fun. And then, I got grilled with tons of questions that I didn’t quite know the answer to. Objections aside, I think it’s a great stock.

Two classes in the next two days – it’s like it’s the weekend already. Pity I have a Sosc paper do on Monday. I hate Mondays.

Hilarious Hegel is hard to handle

The support from my friends has been, to say the least, wonderful. I’ll probably be able to look back to this whole ordeal in a month and laugh. I hope that I will someday be able to rebuild my relationship with my roommate. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

So, yesterday, I’m sitting in my Legal Reasoning class when a girl walks in, interrupts the professor, and tells everyone in the class (25 people) to look around for her ID. My professor, a very distinguished professor at the law school, turns to her, and says, in a very menacing tone, “I’m trying to teach a class.” The look on her face was simply priceless. I bet she was a first year. Who else would interrupt a class to look for something as insignificant as an ID card?

I am in shock

I don’t know what to write. I’m trembling. My roommate confessed to me that he liked and hooked up with the girl that I had hooked up with earlier and had a crush on. I don’t understand how he could have allowed something like that to happen. This isn’t something that happens in real life. It’s something that happens in books, in movies; the betrayal by a friend. That’s how I feel – betrayed.

I don’t know what to write. He said that he lost control of what he did, but that’s not an excuse. He has seriously compromised our relationship as friends and as roommates. I don’t know if I can ever forgive him for his actions. I felt a sort of catharsis in talking to him – I knew that he was hooking up with her but I somehow refused to accept it until now.

I feel unending sadness. I can’t let it overwhelm me like last time. Right now, my greatest fear is for my personal wellbeing. Last time I got depressed, I failed everything in my classes for two months. Can’t let that happen.

I wasn’t in love with her – it was just a crush. I feel awful because my roommate acted without respect for my feelings or me as a person – his actions were completely selfish. People need to be loved, respected, and cared for. Right now, I feel none of those. I just feel awful.

Hello

Hey, world. Hey, blog.

I wrote those same words when I first started my blog back in late May. Since then, I’ve had a pretty awesome summer, I’ve seen an endless amount of movies, and I’ve made at least fifteen hundred dollars from playing poker. I’ve written recommendations for my friend (who is applying to top tier business schools) and read Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, as well as JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price, among other books. I’ve ran a dorm-wide BBQ and influenced university policy on transportation and athletics. But I haven’t fallen in love. Oh well.

BBQ!

We had our dorm-wide BBQ today. Since I’m the dorm President, I had to run it all day. I think it was a fantastic success. We got it going fairly on schedule and we had enough food for everyone. Delegating authority to other people was pretty fun. All the volunteers showed up, too; I just wish there were more volunteers among the Resident Heads. Oh well, can’t have everything.

Yesterday was Blues & Ribs night; the night where, last year, I learned to love ribs. It was very awesome and the ribs were just as delicious as I remembered them. I met up with a friend who asked me, jokingly, why I was still sober. I told him I wasn’t; I think that wasn’t the answer he expected. He seemed a little dumbfounded.

I think that my roommate Charles went on a date with the girl that I hooked up with a few times a week ago (then we sort of fell apart). I don’t really know how to react. Should I be angry? Surprised? Amused?

As a reminder – tomorrow, I will be changing my blog URL to http://thoup.blogspot.com/.

Random news

Apparently, high doses of pot stimulate growth of brain cells. I mean, wow. I thought they called it dope for a reason.

I got home pretty late last night and had thirty pages of reading to do, so I didn’t get that much sleep last night. That might have been why I left my lunch, a delicious Subway sandwich, on the bus. I was talking with my mom and completely forgot about it. When I realized that I was ravenous two hours later and started looking for my sandwich, it was already gone. Damn.

I have been ridiculously busy with my dorm's council-related work. I spent at least three hours today sending emails to people about stuff that the council has brought up and that I need to inform other people of, like an improved bus schedule or more equipment for the weight room. Tomorrow, I’m running the dorm-wide BBQ, which will take another eight hours of my time. How do I ever get anything done?

As a reminder – in two days, I will be changing my blog URL to http://thoup.blogspot.com/.

Whoops

Who would have thought that putting soda in the freezer would cause it to explode?

I guess I’m still confused

The truth. Do we search for it, or does it search for us? I wrote that last night. I must have been really tired; it seems so faux deep, while it’s really not. In fact, it doesn’t even make sense.

We had a dorm council meeting today. When I asked for volunteers for the House System Disciplinary Review Committee, four people immediately raised their hands. I was slightly disturbed. Why would you want to be on a committee which decides disciplinary issues?

I also went to a student / alumni mixer for students interested in finance. I have to say, my school has some pretty impressive alumni. I met with the CEO of Morningstar, a senior vice president at Merrill Lynch, and a Vice President at Morgan Stanley. They seemed to really like what they do, as opposed to some lawyers that I’ve met. But then again, I’m looking at a biased sample, since these are people who have stayed with their job for a while and have been extremely successful.

Way to go, miscalculation

Last night, I thought that I could get my economics problem set, a mere three problems, done in three hours. WRONG. It took twice that time, and then another hour to check all of my work and work out my mistakes. At least I wasn’t off by an exponent, though – three hours? WRONG. Nine hours! That would been horrible and probably fatal.

I wrote my first recommendation ever for my friend Dave yesterday. It was for his application to Harvard Business School – I really hope that he gets in. I’m writing another one for him for the Stanford Graduate School of Business in a week, but that’ll probably be fairly simple because I’ll be able to re-use some of the stuff that I wrote in the Harvard one.

Today, I went to the most boring investment banking presentation EVER. I can’t imagine being able to stand being around Bank of America investment bankers. They’re ridiculously boring people. They even had crappy food – they ordered pizza from the best pizza place in Chicago and it wasn’t even Chicago-style pizza. At least they provided us free taxis to come home…

A small change

Sorry that I haven’t been updating my blog in the past few days. I’ve either been incredibly busy (I pulled an all-nighter Thursday – Friday) or incredibly drunk (Friday and Saturday evenings). I also went apple picking on Saturday, which was a lot of fun. We got a ton of apples and a gallon of apple cider. I believe that there are plans for an apple-themed dinner tonight, which should be delicious.

I am going to be changing my blog address to http://thoup.blogspot.com/ a week from now (Sunday, October 16^th). This is in response to pressure from members of my family who feel that my blog is not anonymous enough. Although I could not disagree more, it is a fairly simple thing for me to do and it will provide them with some degree of security. I will post a reminder about this later this week.

That frog looks pretty happy

Maybe it’s because it’s sitting sideways on a vent. Maybe it’s because of all the helium that’s inside of it. I don’t know; I’m not a doctor. But I can tell you that it probably doesn’t have 60 pages of Adam Smith to read.

Tired? Why, yes

Today was a busy day. I had class from 9:30-10:30, I read Adam Smith from 10:30-12:00, I attended a McKinsey presentation from 12:00-1:30, I had class from 1:30-4:30, I had a House Activities Resource Council meeting from 4:30-5:30, and I was at a concert from 5:30-1:00. Right now I’m still awake because I have to do laundry; I lack clean boxers. On a bright note, I left my sandals in the laundry room for a week and nobody took them. I feel special – either that or my sandals look cheap.

The concert was pretty good. We missed the opening band because we decided to go to Chipotle to eat dinner – in my opinion, an excellent decision. The first band we saw was Weezer, which was decent. They had some really good songs, but the crowd wasn’t very enthusiastic. I was easily the most enthusiastic person in my seating section, but that didn’t really surprise me. Anyway, because of the lack of the enthusiasm, I didn’t enjoy Weezer as much as I did Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters was simply amazing. Everything about them was better; the light show, the sound, and the songs.

The only thing I found odd was that during the concert, I suddenly noticed around twenty cops in the seating area next to us. They arrested a few people, although I’m not sure what the reason was. In either case, it’s a fairly good deterrent again doing something illegal at a concert if cops will bust you for it.

Yesterday was fun

Although very expensive. We went to downtown, where Bryant bought an iPod nano. Those things are amazing – they’re tiny! Emily bought a cool techno CD which is awesome. Then, we went up to Belmont and had cheese steaks at Philly’s Best (although they were split up among a few people). We went thrift shopping and bought some very cool posters and tapestries for our room. I have no idea when we’re going to hang them up, because we’re very lazy people, but at least we bought them.

Then, we went over to Chinatown and had dinner at a pretty decent place. We also bought a ton of sweet Chinese groceries in one of the small grocery stores. Bryant got stuff that is either going to be very low maintenance to prepare or very fast to prepare, so it’s basically perfect food for college students.

Afterwards, we came home and went over to Lambda, the Asian fraternity. Although it’s usually an odd party – most Asians are rowdy when they’re drunk and get in fights – it was pretty fun this time.

Last night was INSANE

As usual, the night started off when Bryant and I started drinking. There were also some people who drank with us – a few first years, along with Charles and his ex.

Suddenly, John and Karen knock on the door. EVERYONE freaks out because we think that they were going to bust us. On our way out, John says, “Just so you know – whatever happens in there, we still really like you guys.” This proceeds to scare us even more. We come into the apartment, and John and Karen talk to us about how they heard a rumor that we were having a party last night – we wanted to have one, but later we scrapped the idea – and were unhappy because they didn’t want to stay up late and make sure that nothing bad happened. That’s all. They called us over because they wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to have a party behind their backs! Ridiculous.