Thursday, July 23, 2020

Oh the People You See

Oh the People You See Today was moving day. My role in life on May 25th, was to move all of my crap (believe me, a lot of it is crap) up a floor (onto Conner 3) and down the hall. This took several hours, partially because I didnt care enough to pack everything into 4 boxes and partially due to the fact that I have a lot of crap. 20ish trips and multiple breaks later I had almost everything moved and decided to call it a day. All thats left is bedding (should I just sleep in my old room tonight or move all the bedding up?), bathroom stuff, and kitchen stuff. Seeing as I bathe just about as much as I cook (Ill let you figure out the rate of each) neither should take very long (oops, gave it away). Now all thats left is to get all of this stuff out of bags, boxes, and various other vessels (of varying qualities of plastic), put away, and start enjoying my summer. After giving up on my packing I spent some time installing software (SolidWorks, Dreamweaver, Windows Video Encoder) and playing with the webcam I won for 6.270. Its kinda fun, actually, Ive never messed with webcams before, and its really easy to hook up so it streams online. Anywho, after playing with computers for a while (and listening to Blast! at a volume that probably have angered people on the floor above me had there actually been somebody there, I got a text from Jordan inviting me to an EMT barbecue over at East Campus. Free food? Yes. Two cheese-dogs, one normal hot dog, and a mushroom burger later I was uncomfortably full and ready to head back, but Jordan had an I lost my rugby ball epiphany and remembered that she had left it in one of the side compartments of the MIT ambulance so we walked over to the Stata Center to retrieve it (the ambulance lives in the basement of Stata). After successfully retrieving Ruggles (Jordan doesnt know Ive named him that yet) we headed back to Burton-Conner so Jordan could pick up her bike. On the way back we were chatting about various BBQ intricacies when we approached a couple heading in the opposite direction. I looked. Then I stared. Then I probably made a weird face (I hope they didnt notice) because I couldnt quite figure out what I was seeing. It looked a lot like Susan Hockfield, but it couldnt be. I mean, it was like 8:15 PM, nowhere near her house, and whoever this lady was she was wearing bluejeans and a shirt, definitely not what the president of MIT would ever wear in public, right? After staring directly at her for a good five seconds as she spoke with her husband, I realized that it was indeed Susan Hockfield. Something you will always find strange at MIT is seeing important adult figures wandering around campus. Sure, youll see Prof. Auroux every day in 18.02 but the instant you see him cross Mass Ave to go to the student center youll get this really strange feeling deep down inside. Prof. Sadoway anywhere but in 10-250 just doesnt exist, right? Seeing Susan Hockfield and her husband walk down Vassar street towards you is just bizarre, absolutely bizarre. They passed without noticing (at least, I hope. Remember, goofy face on this end). After a fair distance I nudged Jordan. That was TOTALLY Susan Hockfield. *looks over her shoulder* Youre right! I need to pay attention more. Weird. Yeah, I feel kinda weird, we were talking about barbecue. Hm. So, in order to make up for my lack of cordiality Id like to take this opportunity to say hello to Susan Hockfield. Hello Susan Hockfield. There, I feel a little better now. In other news, we landed on Mars tonight!