Toxic When Ingested
This weekend started in the most auspicious way possible— with free food. I got an email Friday morning from our ASCIT president about an alumni reception that night. Seems that they like to have a few members of the current student body on hand to talk about what’s going on at Tech. Well, I’m current, I’m a student, I have a body, and as a frosh blogger, I’m all about what’s going on at Tech. Plus, you know….food.
I was in.
At first, I didn’t know what to do or say. Here I am, in a room of adults I don’t know, with really no clue what they want to hear about.
I’m usually pretty fearless when it comes to meeting people, but I just didn’t know what we had in common beyond, “Hey, you went to Caltech? Yeah, me too.”
But that’s just it. After a few minutes of talking to alumni, it hit me. That WAS what we had in common. Not just that we went to Caltech, that is. But that we’re Techers. That’s why, sitting down to dinner with Jon (’90) and Michael (’62), I found us all using the same Caltech slang, talking about parties and traditions that span all of our tours at Tech, and (somewhat frighteningly) profs with which we were all familiar. After mentioning that I should have brought along a camera to take a picture for my blog, Jon pulled out a camera phone and snapped this shot of the three of us. Yeah, that’s right…we’re Techers. I looked around the room and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being part of something much bigger than myself. I may just be a frosh, but hey, I’m one of them!
Saturday was pretty standard. Saturday’s my errand day. You know…go to the bank, stock up on delicious frozen foods, haircuts or fresh clothes when necessary…that sort of thing. Even if I don’t really need to do anything, it’s still nice to get out, so around 3 (which is still kind of morning), Megan and I hit up Subway, Target, and Trader Joe’s. I’m going to have to stop for a second and ask you all a favor. See, at Target this week, I decided to replace my usual, boring, gross One-A-Day multivitamins with much more delicious Flintstones Sour Gummies vitamins. Problem is, well…they’re too delicious. Now, we all know vitamins and minerals can be pretty toxic in high levels, but I just can’t help myself, so if I’m found passed out in my dorm room, please let Caltech know that I ate too many Flintstones gummies. In the mean time, I’ll work on my self-control. So, yeah…that was Saturday. Oh, and I’m sure there was some homework somewhere in there too…maybe.
Speaking of homework, let me tell you why my physics TA is the man. (For those wondering, I have Ketan.) See, at first, I was a little ticked at him for giving out questions for us to do between sections, and then really ticked that we’d be called on in section to give solutions. Hey man, I already have a physics prof giving me homework; I don’t need another one. But I tell you what, having a few short no-collab problems to do during the week really helps pinpoint parts of the lectures that I’m not understanding while we’re still learning them, and before they show up as poor homework or quiz grades.
Plus, hey, he’s funny and explains things really well. So, I salute you, Mr. Really-Good-Physics-TA-Guy, this week’s Real TA of Genius.
Ok, enough of that. Though I do have one other academic topic to discuss. I had been wary of “wasting” units to take French this term.
Should I be taking something required instead? Am I going to fall behind because I didn’t take a lab or frosh hum this term? Well, after a week, I’ve decided that I don’t care either way, because French is fun. Simple as that. Taking a class just for pleasure really doesn’t seem like work and gives me something to look forward to on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Even if it means having a few more units than I’d like, or putting off a class until the next term, I’m going to try and make room for a “fun” class every term. It’s just better that way.
It’s late. I’m tired. There’s a phys set to be done. I suppose that’s good enough reason to stop here. Goodnight!
