boston, ma

8/29 to 9/2 to settle the other brother into boston college, which on the one hand was terribly exciting, but on the other means that it's been 8 years since i was a freshman. as burt ward famously, said: "holy senescence, batman" (ok, maybe not). photos imminent here*. BC actually has a much nicer campus than i'd pictured, and would be perfect if not for the fact that it's built on the steepest hill in new england.

the good
1. i only got mistaken as being the father twice.
2. von! it's been too long. my records say jan 2nd, 2007, so 2.5 years. too, too long. i hold you to visiting philly. there will be *ahem* tincture.
3. toscanini's. i fully understand why the boston people have blogged about it like 8 million times.

the bad
1. chastised for getting a hotel in lechmere and dragging von all the way out there to see me. (a) he offered (b) it's his town (c) i'd been to cambridge 2 days ago. note to everyone: if you're passing through here for 2 days, i will travel all over creation for you, promise.
2. took the overnight train to boston with the intention of sleeping all the way. hours of sleep = 0.
3. undergrads are yukky. it doesn't matter that they're not my undergrads; i've just been spoiled for life.

the ugly (but slightly awesome)
ran into one (1) s******rean dad who spent like an hour talking about himself and his pull with the government and how he's going to get his son out of NS and into harvard yale stanford princeton and how the super amazingness of his business acumen has made him the best and wisest and most wonderful person in the universe. this is addressed mostly to the mother as i concentrate very hard on eating a chocolate-chip cookie, and when he finally pauses for breath (the mother has literally not been able to get a word in edgewise for minutes), she looks at him, and says just one word: "Yah", in the MOST PERFECT WITHERING TONE, and i have to dive into her bag pretending to look for something so that he can't see that i'm cracking up all over the place.

* stupidly forgot to bring my camera. you would think that by now i'd have figured out how to pack a suitcase, but no.

pa

was tweaking a few figures in my MS and took a "short" break, during which i found funny farm. guess what happened the rest of the afternoon.

also of interest, the MIT mystery hunt. von: shall we form a team?

oh, and re: tincture, the seven are or, argent, azure, gules, purpure, sable and verte. if this makes no sense to you, just move right along.

sg

1) back a week, and lodged uncomfortably in the brother's old room, where it's stifling hot all day and night. the attractions and demerits of this country shift continuously depending on where i am who i'm with at any given moment. e.g.: woo!.

2) i have decided that i'm quite firmly in denial about everything, and would like it to remain that way as long as possible, preferably until death or senility. for instance, i've decided that i know longer want to think about graduation. perhaps if i do that hard enough, it will cease to be a real thing.

3) to the people who've talked to me, thank you, at least, for being sensible and wise.