My Words
Monday, 14 May 2012
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GRΣΣK
For a while now, I've been thinking of making a comic that pokes fun at the Greek system (in general, though the MIT Greeks are my source).
Funny, strange, and wtf things happen in fraternities and I think it would be neat to make them into a comic of sorts.
Today was my last kitchen crew (EVER). For those who have never done a kitchen crew before, it involves lots of food service kind of things and janitorial things. Wiping tables, setting up plates and utensils, sweeping floors, mopping floors, cleaning dishes, serving food, taking out trash, recycling, etc. That coupled with house jobs where one might have to clean bathrooms and hallways and stuff... always reminds me that I could very easily become a janitor with the "skills" I've learned from being in a fraternity house.
Another one is the different concept of the word "shotgun" which is normally used to grab the front passenger seat in a car. I remember one night a chapter from Florida came and they were really fratty. They ran up and down the main stairwell, near my room as I was trying to sleep, yelling, "Florida chapter's here! Let's shotgun some beers!" "Let's shotgun some beers! YEAH!"
Another one involves the impression that sorority girls get a lot more attention from Greek men. It's just a strange reflex of the system. I'm a Greek guy, you're a Greek girl, let's mix (and date?)! Maybe not so true at MIT (or maybe it is..?).
Speaking of girls, it's so funny when new girls get introduced to the house. While it is the "right" thing to entertain and chat up guests so that they feel welcome and stuff, I know that whenever an Asian girl steps into our house, the yellow fever radar gets turned on in the house... I remember this one time a girl from Wellesley dropped by for the first time as the friend of another Wellesley friend and all (= at least 3) brothers had the intent of pursuing her.
Often girl-deprived and horny guys gives you a rough idea of what fraternities could be (at times). Come to think of it. If a girl was an inherent attention whore, a fraternity would be the best place for her.
Sexual topics are definitely very open in a fraternity... For some reason, my kitchen crew is really strange and we talked about how mopping floors is like sex. For the third time this semester.
Some other thoughts involve the concept of rush (and rush meetings) where a funny way of looking at fraternity rush is seeing a bunch of brothers rushing really hard with the idea: "Let's make new friends! Yay friends! I love friends! New friends!" in a "Oh look! A new toy!" kind of way.
Or how sketchy rush vans are... "Hey, well we've got this van here that'll take you back to the house" *slams door* "Have fun now!"
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Weekend Thoughts
Starting with Saturday.
Formal wear is not my thing. I was staring at the suspenders and cuff links and stuff like that, just wondering...oh boy...what do I do.. *opens Google/YouTube*. I do like how the tux fit on me though.
Erica showed up at ADPhi in a simple and very pretty red dress; it complimented her fair skin very well. At the Media Lab taking pictures with everyone, she pleasantly surprised me with a boutonnière. I don't know really how to describe it, but it was the best symbolic moment of the night. Like...I don't know... Bah, I suck at words. I was happy.
At Senior Ball, received my first flask ever. It looks neat, though I have no clue when I'd ever use one. Decoration lol.
I think the most interesting thing is realizing how other 2012's don't know as many other 2012's as they thought they did. I knew that I didn't know that many (I wonder why) but it was interesting that (some) other people felt the same way. Especially in ADPhi, though this is definitely a fault of the house...which we call the "Lambda Phi bubble."
Another interesting thing is meeting someone for the first time, even though you've heard about them for quite some time before, and having them also have heard about you too. Oh gossip (well not gossip, but just friends mentioning other friends).
Beantown Taqueria has become the new place for ADPhi brothers to get lunch. It's not McDonald's anymore (thank god) 'cause now it's Beantown. The price is probably even better and it's definitely loads healthier for you than McDonald's. The staff is so friendly, and the options are pretty good. They have your typical Tex Mex menu, like chimichangas, burritos, etc. And then the legitimate Mexican menu with things like enchiladas and flautas. Even though flautas are fried, they're what I usually get. $6, plus $1 for rice and beans makes it a plate and it's so worth it.
Our RA at ADPhi is leaving to assume an assistant professor position at Virginia Tech. In his spot, he said a lot of things that were surprisingly not new to me...things I had learned from reading "How To Win Friends and Influence People", things from "Just Listen", and you know, it sounded like he was telling us this stuff from experience (since he's been around for far longer than any of us) and I thought to myself, "Wow, I'm so happy I'm me. I already know all of this."
Slightly narcissistic, but I'm proud of myself and how I've developed these past four years. I'm far from perfect or where I want to be, but I'm happy with myself and my attempts at self-help and self-improvement.
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deviantDursday: Late, So Late
Plus an extra.
Saturday, 12 May 2012
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Sunny and Electronically Sad
The past 17 hours have been really sad for my electronics.
My right earbud died on me. Long story short, I was getting ready for my DJ shift at 10pm, and I don't like over the ear headphones 'cause they never seem to fit in a comfortable position for me. So I yanked its male 3.5mm plug out of the female 3.5mm to male 1/4in adapter (which goes into the DJ console) and plugged in my earbuds, with more force than it should've required. I was told that the DJ Console was somewhat broken as it only outputs to the left channel...
Then when my shift was over, I had the hardest time trying to get my earbuds out of the adapter. I had to pry it apart using scissors and I don't know what happened, maybe I tore a connection inside, but my right earbud is dead.
Today, I was curious about whether it was the DJ Console or the 3.5mm-to-1/4in adapter that wasn't outputting to the right channel. I tried the over the ear headphones on my laptop, no adapter and both channels were playing. I plugged it into my amp with the adapter, only the left channel was playing. I unplugged the headphones from the adapter, leaving the adapter in my amp while it was on. Then I decided to take the adapter out. I then noticed that my amp doesn't power on anymore. Wait. What.
The conclusion is that the adapter is faulty and an electronics murderer!
So, right earbud and amp are kaput. Sad face. At the very least, this gives me an excuse to buy a new (better) amp... It has all of these presets and stuff, it's sort of complicated, but it's amazing and you get lots of bang for your buck with this one. I think it was the Fender Mustang I 20W. Amazing reviews.
Oh shit. My amp is dead...
Thursday, 10 May 2012
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A-Movement Analysis of the Double Genitive's
To appear.
The title of my paper is pretty clever because the title itself is a double genitive, and if the movement I'm arguing for is A-movement (as opposed to A'-movement), then it's a clever way of sneaking A-movement into the title as well. Unfortunately, it might turn out to be A'-movement...which sucks...oh! I hadn't thought of that before: A'-movement is a possible reason why the theme can't bind the possessor...
I was talking with Ozzie in 21M.361 today and he was saying how in the last 5 days before his Course 3 thesis was due, he thought up several paper titles that he thought would've been clever and was (marginally) tempted to change his thesis topic just so he could use these clever/interesting paper titles. One of them involved a mineral called cummingtonite (I swear, I'm not trolling, it's real and named after Cummington, Massachusetts). That particular one is pretty obvious...
Listen and Speak
Minds and Spirits
Spiritual Identity
- Name: Anton
- Gender: Male
- School: MIT
- Major: Course 24-2: Linguistics
- Xangan Since: 10/25/2004
