10:51 PM, on the farewell eve of Infinite Activities Period: School resumes in twelve hours, a carton of eggs waiting to crack and hatch their embryonic guts over the creamy, supple blankness of winter vacation. This morning, I peddled a small piece of my soul in exchange for my academic advisor's signature on a pastel triumvirate of white-pink-yellow forms identifying me as a certified member of MIT's Academic Indecision Society. I walked into her office with eight classes slapped onto my registration form like those profuse GOOD JOB! stickers on a first-grader's unbrilliant grammar homework, quarterheartedly (like halfheartedly, but squared) chatted about classes with my advisor for 10 minutes, and walked out with seven classes and her pen (oops- if any of her other advisees are reading this, I sincerely apologize if she wasn't able to sign your forms after I skipped out), with which I almost completed an entire Statistical Mechanics problem set earlier tonight while waiting for iTunes to load*.
*Not that this is supposedly impressive. Probably half the problems were just to take logs (the math kind, not the kind that President Lincoln lived in, which are much harder to take). Speaking of which, you should check out my friend Phil's blog, blogarithm, not necessarily because of the content but because I thought of the title.
After my advising meeting, I loitered for a few hours, had a meeting with the Department Head of Physics not worth blogging about (yet), caught an elevator* to the 6th floor of the Kavli Institute, and nearly fell asleep four times on a sun-dappled sofa while waiting for my UROP supervisor to finish his phone call. In the meantime (between sleep cycles), I started to debate the redundancy of phrases such as “stick of chapstick,” which has bothered me so deeply in the past that I've refused to use chapstick of any flavor, texture, or bee-produced ingredient in fear of getting belittled by my peers for repetitive word choice. Unbeknownst to me, there was an unopened stick of chap in my coat pocket, a complimentary gift from Cedar's Hummus Company that annoyingly happened to be peach-flavored instead of hummus-flavored. I later gave it to a British exchange student by the unlikely name of Nimrod, who remarked, “Wow! It's chapstick flavored like hummus flavored like peaches!”
*The elevators in the indubitably tall Building 37 are visible from Earth only slightly more often than Halley's Comet.
Tomorrow, I will (1) wake up, (2) attempt to get a career at the uncareerlike hour of 9 AM, and (3) sit through six hours of classes, in body if not in spirit.
Lastly, I'd be remiss not to publicly observe that my bed is a right triangle. I sleep on the hypotenuse: conveniently, (Wall length)^2 + (Wall length)^2 = (My height)^2.
Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)
Posted by: anonymous on February 1, 2010
I don't like your posts very much. They are terribly written and I think you should take some writing class at MIT. I'm so sorry I don't want to be rude in any sense.
Posted by: Anomimi on February 2, 2010
I love Yan's posts!
Posted by: neongreen on February 2, 2010
I feel that too;
I like Yan's photography much, though.
Posted by: Armin on February 2, 2010
Posted by: 0 on February 2, 2010
Write about cheating in MIT, how frequently does students cheat? How they were punished, and did you ever cheat YAN?
Please write as humanly as possible
Posted by: Armin on February 2, 2010
Posted by: Steph on February 2, 2010
How could a MIT student know how frequently students cheat if it does not happen in her/his class? Maybe you want to share your school's cheating statistics or your own experience if any?
Posted by: 0 on February 2, 2010
If you are taking 7 classes this term, try the following 7 classes my son took in the fall of his Sophomore year:
8.06(A+)/8.14(A)/8.323(A+)/24.900(A)/14.05(A)/ 21F.502(A)/18.443(A+)
Posted by: 0 on February 2, 2010
I wonder how I would <a>line up</a> such a bed along the Earth's magnetic dipole for optimizing REM sleep.
Posted by: Resonator on February 2, 2010
Your son is a nerd! (Just kidding) Actually, I am taking a couple of the same classes... 24.900 (Introduction to Linguistics) and 21F.502 (Anime Speaking 2.... errrr, I mean, Japanese 2).
Yan, what does your schedule for the Spring semester look like? 10 classes?! I assume you plan on jettisoning some of those classes. Me, I am only signed up for 66 units and a 20 hour/week job.
-Kim '12
Posted by: Kim '12 on February 2, 2010
Posted by: Juan on February 2, 2010
yep, turgid, pedantic prose. does help explain why so many journal articles are unreadable, though. MIT, teach more english NOW.
Posted by: anon e moose on February 2, 2010
Her posts are unusual that's certain. She has her own style and i suppose it's either you like it or you don't.
Posted by: Brad on February 2, 2010
Posted by: Anon on February 2, 2010
bruises must occur to sleepers like me.
And sorry, somehow the vanilla-colored tent-top thingy reminded me of underwears...
Posted by: tree on February 2, 2010
Posted by: the urbanest on February 2, 2010
For those unfamiliar with Yan, she registers for a large number of classes, and then settles on a smaller number once she gets a better idea of how each class is run. A number of people, let's call them "college students," do this at the beginning of the semester.
Posted by: ??? on February 2, 2010
Can I send you a thank-you e-card? You're right-on. I intend to keep my record as the biggest slacker currently enrolled at MIT. (Read: drop from 8 to 4 classes within 3 days).
Posted by: Yan on February 3, 2010
Posted by: niki on February 3, 2010
Problem: I only have four folders. I can't decide whether I should buy another folder or drop another class.
Posted by: Yan on February 3, 2010
May I know which 5 classes you are taking? Maybe I can share my advice.
Posted by: 0 on February 3, 2010
8.04/8.044 (these are non-negotiable)
21M.340 (Jazz Arranging and Composition, previously known by the hilarious, let's-belittle-every-other-music-class name of Practical Harmony)
8.962 (General Relativity)
18.04 (Fxns of a Complex Variable)
Posted by: Yan on February 3, 2010
It's like you're here speaking to me, and all of the *'s to random facts make me laugh
Just thought you should know.
Posted by: sunshine on February 3, 2010
Hmmm, don't think I've ever heard anyone say "stick of chapstick" actually...usually just "chapstick?" But meh...
Also, are you continuing the UROP? (if yes, YAY!)
Anyways, you're taking GR???? OMG AWESOME!!!!!!! How is it?? And how on earth are you managing a grad class in soph. year?
Posted by: Rutu '12 on February 4, 2010
Why limit yourself to currently enrolled at MIT? The real MIT slackers wouldn't.
Posted by: 0 on February 4, 2010
I'd drop 18.04 because 8.962 seems quite interesting! Though you really didn't seem the slacker type (well, besides the love for sleeping more than the avg. MIT student!) The Jazz course is HASS right?
Last Q. (slightly irrelevant)- your iTune favs?
Posted by: Vaibhav on February 5, 2010
I was thinking along the same lines for 18.04. It looks like a good class, but I'm not sure if I have the motivation to put in X hours per week for it.
I sleep 6-7 hours per night usually (including weekends and vacations, etc.), although it was down to 4-5 sometime in the middle of IAP. I'm guessing that's around average, so my slackerness is more accurately put in the take-less-classes-and-do-less-activities-while-awake department.
Yep, Jazz is HASS.
I listen to a lot of 20th century orchestral stuff, but I'm currently enamored with Nirvana's last album, MTV Unplugged in New York. It's 100% live and acoustic. Really excellent.
Posted by: Yan on February 5, 2010
Posted by: '18? on February 5, 2010
Posted by: Jess '12 on February 5, 2010
That's pretty slick, '18. Also a little scary.
Posted by: Ryan on February 6, 2010
i <3 u
Posted by: Ryan on February 6, 2010
Posted by: 0 on February 8, 2010
and it that a laptop on the radiator?
Posted by: anon on February 8, 2010
Posted by: Ka-Wiz on February 9, 2010
Posted by: Ka-Wiz on February 9, 2010
Posted by: Jason Chee on February 9, 2010
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