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School: papers and people
Dec. 14th, 2006 09:47 pmI had to go to my department's holiday party this evening; it was much less terrible than I expected! Not that I hate parties or holidays, but I know approximately three people in the department, and I was dreading the thought of either following them around continually or attempting small talk with strangers. It was fine, though. I followed my three for a little while, and then one of them handed me off to another group, which I appreciated. I'm perfectly comfortable talking to people I don't know as long as I don't have to start the conversation. I talked to them until they dissipated away, and then wandered over to sit on the edge of a group with some people I knew distantly.
Have I complained already on LJ about how I don't know any of the other first-year students? Because I don't, and it's terrible. When I was deciding what classes to take this semester, there were a few ones that are intended for all the first-years to take together. "Oh, whatever," my advisor said. "You can take those next year. There are these cool archaeology classes available instead which are so much more important and offered less often; take those!" Which sounded alright to me, so I did. But now I don't know any of the other first-years, because I might run into one of them once a month, and thanks people, this schedule was totally a genius idea. Except not.
Anyway, I wandered over to sit by them, and felt awkward for a few minutes, until a girl who'd had her back to me turned and noticed me and Oh! How had I been and it'd been so long since she'd seen me and what was up? I would swear I'd never met this girl before in my life, but she knew my name, so she must be better informed than me. I'm fairly accustomed to this happening, actually, because I have a terrible memory for faces, but you would think even I could remember a tall, very animated, blonde with a heavy South African accent. Not that I minded; I never mind people adopting me for their social circle.
It is sort of strange to be playing the "how the hell do I know this person" game when they're pratically sitting in your lap, though. But it made sense in context! We were all sitting on the stairs to a sort of stage/upper level of the room and were crowded fairly close together anyway, so when as part of something she was saying, she put her feet up on my thighs, it was not as weird as it sounds. Either that or she (I still have no idea what her name is) remembers me way, way better than I remember her, from wherever it was we know each other.
I still have that paper to finish it tonight. It started going much faster when I decided to look over the handouts other people had made for their presentations, and I realized that I did not actually need to invent a new theory of life, the universe and everything, but could just summarize the research I'd done. Thank you, brain, for that one; I'm not certain why I was so convinced that it needed to be incredibly complicated. I'd prefer to go somewhere, work straight through until I finish it, and then sleep all day tomorrow, but I'm having trouble finding 24-hour coffee places. My favorite, which would be open at least till midnight, is closed for its own holiday party tonight. I've googled up one that I'll try, but whether or not I'll have internet access there is uncertain. Not that I really need it for the paper, but it'd be nice.
I really need a school icon.
Have I complained already on LJ about how I don't know any of the other first-year students? Because I don't, and it's terrible. When I was deciding what classes to take this semester, there were a few ones that are intended for all the first-years to take together. "Oh, whatever," my advisor said. "You can take those next year. There are these cool archaeology classes available instead which are so much more important and offered less often; take those!" Which sounded alright to me, so I did. But now I don't know any of the other first-years, because I might run into one of them once a month, and thanks people, this schedule was totally a genius idea. Except not.
Anyway, I wandered over to sit by them, and felt awkward for a few minutes, until a girl who'd had her back to me turned and noticed me and Oh! How had I been and it'd been so long since she'd seen me and what was up? I would swear I'd never met this girl before in my life, but she knew my name, so she must be better informed than me. I'm fairly accustomed to this happening, actually, because I have a terrible memory for faces, but you would think even I could remember a tall, very animated, blonde with a heavy South African accent. Not that I minded; I never mind people adopting me for their social circle.
It is sort of strange to be playing the "how the hell do I know this person" game when they're pratically sitting in your lap, though. But it made sense in context! We were all sitting on the stairs to a sort of stage/upper level of the room and were crowded fairly close together anyway, so when as part of something she was saying, she put her feet up on my thighs, it was not as weird as it sounds. Either that or she (I still have no idea what her name is) remembers me way, way better than I remember her, from wherever it was we know each other.
I still have that paper to finish it tonight. It started going much faster when I decided to look over the handouts other people had made for their presentations, and I realized that I did not actually need to invent a new theory of life, the universe and everything, but could just summarize the research I'd done. Thank you, brain, for that one; I'm not certain why I was so convinced that it needed to be incredibly complicated. I'd prefer to go somewhere, work straight through until I finish it, and then sleep all day tomorrow, but I'm having trouble finding 24-hour coffee places. My favorite, which would be open at least till midnight, is closed for its own holiday party tonight. I've googled up one that I'll try, but whether or not I'll have internet access there is uncertain. Not that I really need it for the paper, but it'd be nice.
I really need a school icon.
