Lettuce see. On Wednesday, classes started. I didn't have a class until noon-twenty, so I slept in, had breakfast and shuffled off to Survey of Western Art. I was worried that a lecture class would send me straight to sleep but I was surprisingly engaged the entire time. After having lunch, I went to the art building for Visual Concepts, an introductory, prerequisite art and design class. The professor seems to be a little passive-aggressive/insane but it will have to be dealt with. We got a massive list of supplies that we have to buy, listened to her read the syllabus, were assigned lockers and drawers, and went on our way.

In the evening, I had my first taste of dining services employment at the D-Hall. Rather than give you a specific job to do throughout the year, Skidmore's dining services throws you in and teaches you to do whatever needs to be done, be it slicing vegetables, washing dishes or serving food. I started in on sandwiches, learning as quickly as I could how much lettuce, meat, grilling, cheese, etc. was required for each. I was saved by the student supervisor, who switched me to tables, which is exactly what it sounds like; I got a rolling cart, a pail of multi-purpose disinfectant and a rag and was sent around to clean up after people and wipe down tables. While it's a little early to make an overall judgement of my employment, I enjoyed the repetition and solitude that wandering around the dining hall and scouting out nasty entailed.

I don't remember what I did on Wednesday evening. Thursday was another day of classes. I went to my American Dreams class in the morning, where we were required to take a diagnostic writing test. It was dull but the professor acknowledged it and promised that no other class would be that way. In the afternoon, I went to my discussion section of Survey of Western Art. There are three different professors in charge of the lecture's four class sections and I got stuck with the crazy/nervous/passive-aggressive one. But, again, the royal we will deal.

After having lunch, I met with my freshman seminar for our first official class of Blacks in Film. We went over the syllabus and had a good discussion about an article we had read beforehand. I feel like my stance when arguing about racism and racial issues is fairly similar to my professor's, that straying from political correctness will not get you shunned, so I'm pretty excited for the discussions and controversy to come.

I have no classes on Fridays. (Hooray!!) I used the free CDTA bus to go downtown, where I visited Saratoga Needle Arts, Spa City Comics & Games and an art supply store, eventually returning to campus with a $20 skein of sock yarn, a copy of Flaming Carrot Comics and whatever art supplies were deemed immediately necessary by the Visual Concepts professor. (The rest I plan to buy online for discount prices.)

In the evening, I met up with Mandy and a crew. She had been invited to a gathering at the Scribner Apartments by a senior who spoke at Honor's Forum, so we ditched the crew and headed off to the venue. We weren't entirely sure what to expect but when we got there, were delighted to find that the party was centered around board games and Wii, with Rubik's cubes and Holy Grail references popping up here and there. I got a contact for Sci-Fi Sundays, when they watch Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who and assorted Sci-Fi television shows. I was damned excited.

Unfortunately, Mandy was also invited to a theater induction party, which she wasn't planning to attend until Theo, who was at the geeky gathering, announced that he was leaving for the Yucca Party. Halfway to the off-campus house, I verbalized my unhappiness with the thought of attending a theater party but figured it was important to stick along with my pal and make sure she didn't get killed or drugged or anything. Mandy asked Theo what a Yucca was and he explained cautiously that he could only tell us that we had a choice of whether or not we want to participate.

The entire thing was drowning in stupid Thespian ritual and secrecy and when we got there, the place was chockablock, hot, sticky and gross. I sat on an unoccupied couch to observe the scene and was joined by Nora, a fellow non-thespian who was dragged along by her roommate. We went outside, sat on the lawn and enjoyed peaceful conversation and a cool breeze while the Yucca ceremony took place. From what I gathered, it was awfully frattastic. They shook and passed around a Rubbermaid keg full of cheap vodka, assorted fruit slices and gummy bears. I came to the conclusion that I don't like theater groups and I don't like big house parties. Nora and I were joined by another set of renegades, Michael and Marshall, and decided to walk back to campus before wasting another minute around the ridiculous scene (which, incidentally, was broken up by the cops soon-after).

Back on campus, we plopped down on the green and talked about Stephen Hawking and the possibility of time travel and parallel universes. That got us onto a variety of subjects: the return of the De Lorean to the market and a YouTube spoof called Brokeback to the Future, among other things. We were joined by a few other wanderers, Max and John, and sat around until people started shooting off fireworks and freaked us out.

(Damn. This is getting to be a long entry.)

On Saturday morning, I opened my eyes at around 8:30 and decided to sleep a little more before getting out of bed. It was past noon when that happened again. I jumped off the top bunk, grabbed my shopping list and Slaughterhouse Five and rushed to the dining hall for breakfast, where I ran into Tess and Sarah. They were planning to go downtown and I was planning to go to Wal-Mart, so we ate and got the bus to Broadway. I sent them off on their Downtown Adventure and proceeded to wait for the Wilton Mall bus for over an hour. As a result, I got through a hell of a lot of Slaughterhouse Five and greeted some fellow Skidmoreans as they walked downtown. At Wal-Mart, I did the most extensive back-to-school shopping I have ever done. (It's strange to live somewhere where there isn't a stockpile of office supplies at your beckoning call.) The bus back to town came much more quickly than the bus out to Wilton and I got back in time to do some organization and go to dinner.

Dinner was awesome. I got a plate of delicious chicken caesar salad from Eric, a fellow dining hall employee and MC Chris fan, and sat down at a table very visible to those entering the dining hall. After greeting a series of acquaintances as they entered, I ended up with an overflowing table of personalities who had not yet met one another. Nora was first to join me and we talked about our older sisters, only to find out that they are the same age and attending the same college. (WHADDYAKNOW!) Hal, whose full-body suit I signed a few nights earlier for his art class, joined us with Nik, his roommate who I had talked to before. (It turns out that Hal is taking Intermediate Japanese and killed a sting-ray when he was fishing in Japan. He was there for six weeks and might even be one of my future tutees.) Doug, who is a member of their seminar, also joined us. Tess, Sarah and Tyler came, Max showed up and we had an explosive introductory conversation, which started with names, hometowns and seminars and somehow ended on PeeWee Herman, indecent exposure, and adult theaters.

When we were finished eating, I went with Nik, Hal and Doug to the dorm room of the first two, where we played Wii Sports and listened to Star Wars related rap while Doug created a character for D&D. It was glorious. The campus events of the evening were "Two Huge Screens of Wii in the SPA" and the Ad-Libs improv show. After playing a song of Guitar Hero, I headed towards the crowded basement of a resident hall for a surprisingly funny display of improvisation. My favorite game to watch was Beastie Rap, in which a word from the audience would be used as the final word of Beastie Boys inspired line of rhyme. Everyone in the improv troupe would say the last word together.

For example:
"My name is Richard but you can call me..." "Dick!"
"I'll beat you down with my hickory..." "Stick!"
"There's a problem with my jaw that makes it..." "Click!"
etc.

After going back to the SPA to watch some people dominate Guitar Hero, I went back to my unoccupied dorm to start my reading for Blacks in Film. It was productive and quiet and pleasant. Eventually, my roommate returned and I got into bed and read some more Vonnegut before going to sleep.

This morning, I decided not to make the same mistake as I did on Saturday and woke up at 9:30 to get a head-start on laundry before the Sunday rush. It was highly successful. I was able to read and study without fear of waking up my roommates and simultaneously keeping an eye on my clothings. After emerging from the laundry room with a warm pile of soft, good-smelling clothes and towels, I got dressed (Cozy, heated socks. Yum.), grabbed my remaining reading and headed down to the dining hall. I forgot my glasses and didn't have to feel bad about ignoring people since I wouldn't be able to recognize them until they got into a five foot radius of where I was sitting. I cooked myself some delicious eggs, had my Pops, and finished my Blacks in Film assignment for Tuesday. Now I just have to write two sentences defining design and drawing, buy a gigantic pad of newsprint and get started on my art history and English assignments.

WOO! COLLEGE!!