housewarming

i was on campus in the afternoon when one of the singaporean undergrads (BONDED) who i hadn't talked to in over a year came up to me and invited me for a belated zhong qiu dessert thingummy in one of the freshmen dorms. it clashed with my housewarming party, so i had to say no, but he wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise for about five minutes, and went on and on about the various sweets they were preparing and how i absolutely had to be there because it was going to be so so awesome. it kind of surprised me that i would still be wanted there (and so badly) -- surely a solid year of determinedly not attending SSA activities should have inured them to my absence -- but apparently the mentality is 'once singaporean, always singaporean', or something to that effect, so perhaps the invites will continue in perpetuity. i might even have gone too, if i had been available, and there had been or nee.

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i worried a lot that there wouldn't be enough to drink, but people were good and brought beer and wine and that concern was laid to rest early in the evening. i worried also that we wouldn't have enough space, but a magical thing always seems to happen at parties where folks diffuse into unexpected places in gatsby-esque fashion. almost all the first and second-years showed up, and jared and syl and kinjal and co., and the other housemate's lab people, and a couple of random people who i'd never seen before. i was actually rather gratified that the random people showed up -- the sign of a successful do, to me, is when the host doesn't know everyone. it seemed that a lot of them were named emily.

everyone got the tour, and i went upstairs and downstairs 20 times, but it wasn't tiresome and everyone was most impressed. it was good seeing the place with fresh eyes, reminding myself that the house is nice, a notion that has kind of gotten lost over the last few months. and not just that, but to hear, articulated by other people, that this was a tremendous undertaking that could have ended very badly at numerous points along the way, was something i badly needed.

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at half-past midnight, i found myself out front with kinjal and pavel nursing a screwdriver and reciting the walrus and the carpenter, and comparing bulgaria and singapore and how far each has fallen.

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i was going to end this entry with something kind of personal and honest, but i've changed my mind because i sense it's something i might regret. here's a photo of two drunk people instead.