Life by mind.

I have a...beawwwd. Mmmm....buddaw.

I'm having trouble writing about New Orleans as an experience, so far. I'm going to try and dish something out up here the next time.

So last night I met James Keane (spelling?) and participated in what I consider to be one of the great friendship triumvirates of our modern age. There were (not in any particular order): gin and tonics, there was random word association, blueberry pancakes, friend making, dessert before dinner, snuggling for three, song writing (I wrote a song with Molly! Probably the most amazing writing experience I've had in a while...), skipping the universe, romantic interest, fear, grocery shopping, the reading of sensitive documents, and the cubing of intensity surrounding physical interaction by unpracticed arts. Vagueness is shyness, and shyness is pride (for me). Lately I haven't been vague much, though. Just directly more proud than usual.

Now, I'm in the computer lab. Molly and company will be going to V for Vendetta tonight, something I'm really excited about, but instead I'm going to set up an academic foxhole with Pantea, and try to get my wheels back on the track. All this dry steering is really fun and dizzying, but as I have never really lived the way I am these days (Friends and careers shooting off the charts with schoolwork lagging somewhere in the background, feeling like it's moving slower than an uphill pancake.)

My father is asking me to write 100 things that I've learned during college. I want to write 20 things each for 5 categories. The five abstract categories I'm considering using for inspiration are:

1. Seeing.

2. Touching.

3. Hearing.

4. Smelling.

5. Speaking.

It's kind of a massive intellectual project, now that I think about it. I think I'll have to outline my emotional, academic, and extracurricular involvements over the last 4 years in order to even begin to approach everything.

There are some things that the mind does well--you can fight your mind and do everything perfectly (or take medication trying), or you can relax and let your mind work behind the scenes for you. In my experience in the last few days, both ways get similar amounts done with similar quality of work and similar stress levels.

Things I'm doing:

• Making a list of things I'm doing.
• Going to the gym.
• Doing things.

Mood:

INIGO
I am waiting for you, Vizzini. You told me to go back to the beginning. So I have. This is where I am, and this is where I'll stay. I will not be moved.
He takes a long pull from his brandy bottle. He stops as the Assistant Brute comes into view.
ASSISTANT BRUTE
Ho there.
INIGO
I do not budge. Keep your "Ho there."
He waves his sword dangerously.
ASSISTANT BRUTE
But the Prince gave orders --
INIGO
-- So did Vizzini -- when a job went wrong, you went back to the beginning. And this is where we got the job. So it's the beginning, and I'm staying till Vizzini comes.

My favorite thing I said today:

You should

see the

place

I come from, it is

colder than it

is here.