Points on a Compass

Classes start tomorrow, so this is probably a good time to make an entry (hmm is it, well it seems like one so whatever). Observations from the week gone by….

Always carry a flashlight, no matter what anyone says, no country is immune to power cuts. Not carrying a flashlight can be majorly annoying, and it isn’t exactly fun. Chemists don’t always stock flashlights, they do in some countries, but mostly they don’t. Oh and yes I have been loosing power on and off, something about a construction going on outside and well we have had two temporary repairs, hopefully everything should be back to normal tomorrow.

Try and carry a sleeping bag, you can probably get by without one, but sleeping bags unlike sheets and blankets can be used as comfortable pillows during midnight organ concerts. You probably don’t want to carry your own pillows into a room which in all probability is going to serve as your classics classroom for the next semester. People walk in rooms, pillows tend to get dirty, sleeping bags can kindda avoid both. Also always attend midnight organ concerts, they aren’t scary (that’s some sort of an urban legend perpetrated by Cartoon Network and the creators of Adams Family), they are fun, and they have nice effects to them. If you’re especially intelligent, like a friend of mine is, you’ll get the organ player to give you a tour of the entire thing, supposedly fun.

Plays can be fun, commenting on plays can be even more fun, the praise that you receive for your comments are not always fun. And by praise I mean praise, it is weird to have a car pull up in front of you at 8 in the morning, on a deserted street, have a 7’ guy who can obviously crush you into an extremely tiny ball of meat get out of the aforementioned car and have aforementioned guy tell you that your comment was cool. It is even weirder to meet a dozen people at a dance and discuss racial profiling, while trying to meld into the surroundings and eat good food. However do comment on plays, it is fun (oh and the play I am talking about did have a comment section).

If you do not like introducing yourself to people, have a friend do it for you, or better still follow a friend around and whenever they make a friend barge in. It works and it’s an effective way to find out about people without actually putting yourself through any awkwardness.

Gummy bears are hard pieces of jelly, if you are in a gummy bear finding contest, the jelly probably wouldn’t have lumps, the lump is probably a gummy bear. If you do happen to think of it as a lump in the jelly, don’t forget to mention it and crib about it, it may not get you a prize, but lotsa people find that funny, and you will probably find out more about a few people.

Find a group of people you can hang out with, it’s a lot easier than walking around empty streets, trying to find someone to talk to.

Always pick free stuff, it is often useful and umm free stuff’s good. So if someone’s offering you a tiny bottle of perfume you don’t really want, don’t refuse, just take it and keep it, someone might want it or something. Bartering stuff works, but giving i away for free is probably better, you get a friend, and when you need something they have but do not necessarily need you do get that stuff for free.

Do not cringe if your window looks out onto a garbage dump, often times it is funny to peer out of the window, and it provides a nice source of entertainment when you’re tired of reading stuff.

If you wake up at six, while everyone else wakes up at 8 or later, it is probably a good idea to shower and stick to your room, empty deserted streets are not always fun places to be. It is however OK to walk down to the nearest ATM, it’s not crowded and you can do whatever you want.

Banks in general are sources of evil, all bank employees however are not evil. Make sure the bank you sign up with has at least one good employee.

Oh well that’s about all I can think off. Oh and the title of this thing is something I borrowed from a compulsory class meeting I attended a few days ago, it was kindda fun, and it was probably the first time I have heard someone mention Sydney Brener’s name in a lecture for people my age. Hmm I liked the evolutionary geneticist who did that lecture (it was preceded by a lecture by someone who studied the history of South Africa), he was kind of funny, and well he was funny.

Ze Panda