Sorry for the delay. It's been one of those weeks.

I don't really remember what happened the week after Cheryl and Pat's visit. I have a feeling it was a pretty low-key week in terms of assignments and classes. The weekend was utterly ridiculous and not too relaxing though. Friday was Study Day (Skidmore's excuse for not having Fall Break) so Thursday night, everyone was ready to have some fun. A whole hell of a lot of people gathered in headquarters to hang out and it was a pretty enjoyable evening. It would have been a lot more fun if there hadn't been so many people.

The most unfortunate thing about the last few weekends is that the small groups I so enjoy spending time with have amalgamated into this big group that, as a combination of smaller cliques, contains all sorts of tension and animosity. Over the first weekend especially, there was a lot of unnecessary drama that was pretty exhausting. Seeing as this weekend was a little more of the same, I'm thinking about leaving to do my own thing when there are too many people around.

So, the week after Three-Day Drama Weekend was midterms week. I only had two. Art History was on Monday. I woke up relatively early and went to the library to study my amazing flash cards. The exam went pretty well, from what I can tell. I'll have to see my grade to know for certain. On Thursday, my midterm essay was due for Blacks in Film and the in-class exam was partially alright. About thirty percent of the in-class examination (fifteen percent of the overall midterm) was focussed on the one reading that I neglected to study, so I botched a bit of that.

Oh yeah. On Wednesday, Sarah, Tess, and I decided to go to NYC over the weekend on the $15 school-sponsored bus. I successfully changed my Saturday dining hall shift to Friday morning. In the afternoon, I kicked everyone's ass in Wii cow-racing/scarecrow-toppling (better not to ask) and then went to Target with Tess, Tyler, Henry, and John in Tyler's car, which had a flat tire and a run-down battery. It was an adventure.

Friday evening's festivities took place primarily in my dorm room. A group of us were hanging out when Maja and her posse stopped in between halloween parties. She was dressed as a "golf player," which was essentially a tennis player wearing argyle socks. Her skirt was rolled really short and Tess made a stab with a "I like your costume... but I think you should roll your skirt a few more times." It was epic. Before leaving the room, she turned around and said "I don't know any of you but I hate you all!!" Tess finally understood why I bitch and complain so much.

Saturday morning, I met Tess and Sarah in the hall at 6:50 AM and we went down to catch the bus. It was raining hard and continued to do so through most of the morning and early afternoon. We didn't really know where we were going, had no plans, and ended up just wandering through the rain on the upper east side. It could have been a lot more productive, but we got a taste of the city and a lot of exercise. I only ended up spending money on food. I'm sure if we had gone down towards Broadway, Chinatown, or Soho it would have been a different story.

Anyway, after leaving the Met at 7 PM and riding the bus for far longer than any of us wanted to, we arrived back on campus where Halloween festivities were starting up. Morbid Ball was the main event, a school sponsored dance that took up all three floors of the student center. It was really crowded and a little obnoxious. There were a lot of people who were far more drunk than they should have been, making their way around and harassing strangers. Eventually, a group of us left for Mike and Taylor's room, where we sat around and tolerated unnecessary tensions caused namely by a couple who had shown up uninvited and sat on each other while staring longingly into each other's eyes and a character who was putting us in a foul mood with his foul mood. After moving out into the lounge, I decided it would be a good idea to go to sleep, since I had to work at eight the next morning. Unfortunately, Maja and her ho brigade were in there, talking about all the things they did when they were drunk. They stayed until three thirty. Waking up was a bitch but work went really quickly and I actually got some stuff accomplished.

And now we're back to Monday. I'll try not to let things build up again.