Get ready for an epic post. (5,000+ words.)
I started writing in a personal journal at the end of 8th
grade. The catalyst was a week-long trip to Yosemite, where, upon returning
home, I read through my school-assigned journal and realized it would preserve
my memories forever. From then, I started writing in 80-page spiral bound
notebooks for an hour before bed.
Junior year of high school, July 28th, 2005, I
transitioned to Microsoft Word. I could write 5x as much, but it was a curse: unfiltered
thoughts are 80% junk. That’s why blogging is better than journaling – I’m
beholden to a story; it’s not a memory dump.
In college, I went through a personal archeology dig every 6
months or so, poring through old entries, wandering back to simpler times.
We’re going to do it again today: here are, almost verbatim, my journal entries
for every September 7th since 2006. This is literally what I did on
this day for the past 6 years. (I’ll update with my handwritten 2003-2005
entries in a year, when I’m back home). Exciting, right?
I was tempted to copy and paste, but I’ve gone back and
re-written poor stylistic paragraphs, like a good author would.
You’ll note that sensitive
names have been replaced with the names of Pokémon. If you want to know the
Pokémon to human cipher, just email me and I’ll give you the key.
Unless you know me (or can guess the Pokémon) these entries
aren’t really that interesting. I’d recommend 2007, but it’s similarly filled
with references only a few people understand. And if my high school stuff doesn’t
make sense, it’s because I don’t understand either. I think my 16 year old self assumed I
could jot nebulous notes that would instantly spark my memory later on.
This isn’t the juiciest or best-written stuff.
I’ve literally taken a random thin slice and placed it under the microscope.
Maybe I’ll do a “best of” someday. For those of you who wondered what I’m
writing about every day, well, prepare to have your mind blown (yea, right).
There’s so much psychoanalysis to be performed here, but
I’ll leave that up to John Song. Here we go!
September 7th (in original fonts)
2005:
Written on
Wednesday, at 10:17 p.m.
Summary: Photo 1st
pictures, French skit, Chem. tutoring, Peer editing, Dentist, Golf
Word Count: 937
Note: this entry is heavily
edited for clarity. I could barely read it before, run-ons galore.
8:42 a.m wake-up. Long time getting ready: shower, clothes, hair, Altoids.
I ate breakfast with Erick, but when we walked to school, he walked behind me. In photo, we worked on pinhole
cameras: I tried to take a picture of an apple core, but forgot to
close the lid. The pictures I left in the water tray were gone by the end of
class. Successes: a shoe, a scythe, a tree, and a building.
I told Katharine my
hair fell off, and she half-believed me. She told me her stomach hurt, and mine
did too, for a minute. Stephen asked if I had taken this class already, and I
said no. He said, “I could have swore you did.” I didn’t have time to finish
developing my pictures, but Mr. Sackman said would hang it up for me.
I was nervous about
my skit during 4th period. Ms. Lemur asked the class what they did
this weekend. When she asked me, I told her I studied French. Our group
volunteered to go first. I was so nervous my legs were shaking. Ms. Lemur threw
us a curveball: try not to read off the script. I didn’t really have it
memorized, but the class still laughed a lot, especially the part where David
gets punched, the part where we both say the same thing, part about “belle
filles,” the virgin part. Here’s a peek at the script.
V : Pierre, après l’hôtel, tu vas aller au cinéma ?
D : Oui, il y a un bon film, dans le cinéma. Le film s’apelle « The
40-year old Virgin »
V : SHHH, C’est une secrète.
P : Vikram! C’est un film! Nous ne parlons pas de toi.
V : Oh. Oui, je sais… UM Pourriez- vous m’indiquer ou se trouve le cinéma l’Elysee?
Final score? 48/50. David got 49/50. Beautiful. The rest were ok. Ilya’s was good but I didn’t understand it; Lillian’s was funny too.
No lunch; I didn’t
want to wait in line. The Chemistry room was chaos. An Indian guy approached me
and asked if I was his tutor. I guess I was. I got his last name. Then I headed
to the career center to sign up for college talks; the lady told me not to sign
up for them all. I chose Caltech, Upenn, Brown and Princeton. I talked to Nick,
Vikram (officer for NHS), and Nandini, who convinced me to take the SAT in
November or January. I talked to Jon about oral composition; we threw stuff and
made fun of my hair. I talked to Rohan and Anshul about the club idea. We’re
set. We don’t need a secretary; it’ll just be me, Arvind, Anshul and Rohan.
I was so lost in
Literature. Mr. Kanda told me I looked skeptical. Then I smiled, and Mr. Kanda
said, “There’s that smile again!” We discussed East of Eden. Connie joined the
class and sat behind me. As I left class, I was talking to Spencer, and this
tiny girl comes up and says, “Hey, I think I know you.” Problem is, I don’t
know which one of us she’s saying it to. I turn around anyway and realize she was talking to Spencer. I hope to see her again and see her
reaction. My goal is:to smile at
everyone that I see. (sic) That is my goal, and I will see where it takes me. I
walked home with David, met up with Prabhu. David and I talked about the makeup
she was wearing and how I could have tutored her friend. Apparently she didn’t
want alone time. I told David he was a pimp. I talked to Roman on the way home;
he lives on November but I don’t ever see him because he only has 6 periods.
At home, I surfed
online. The dentist said nothing was wrong, just push in harder. What a waste
of a trip. I did homework, even Chemistry. Wrote an SAT essay; think I got a 4. At
golf, it was me and Michael. We talked Interact versus Octagon, Michelle L. and
the freshman president, the balls we were picking up, chem. tutoring, girls who
he has, my weakness, and random stuff. Eric Green was working.
Back at home, I
turned on the computer and spent 1.5 hours correcting my paragraph, but I'm still not satisfied. This is the best I can do with limited time. I looked over it
one more time and went to sleep. Tomorrow tutorial I’ll have a chance to finish
some homework. Saw Pikachu going to school and she smiled at me, nice. It’s 10:47
p.m, too late, so I’m gonna go now…Good Day ^^ > ]
2006:
September 7, 2006
Word Count: 1,056
Summary: Up and down
day; fantasy sports good, promo day good, freshman bad, tire bad, Charmander good, surf bad, eat good, flat tire bad, tired bad
Up and down day for
sure, though when I think about it, I had some really reactionary joy. It’s not
the ever-lasting kind that comes with an ASB position or anything, but rather
the joy that comes with what the ASB position provides, which is the incessant
ability to flirt with as many girls as possible. (editorial: this….made me
laugh out loud. At least I’m honest, right?)
All my classes were
fine. I didn’t finish all of physics notebook one, which sucked, but I put it
out of my mind. I talked about potatoes. Clarke knew my name, which was sweet. 2nd
period, Kanda caught me slacking, and I don’t think he was too happy. In 4th,
I had fun with Recktenwald, but he caught me folding my legs. Mr. Keep came in
and it got a bit tense. 5th period I will describe at length later.
Fantasy Sports went
really well. I made the poster with Raju. I wasn’t expecting anyone, maybe just
3 or 4, but a plethora of people came, the regulars Matt and Vivek and the
other Matt, a new kid whose name I forgot, Vijay, and Jason. Bui didn’t come,
but that was to be expected. We asked if everyone could draft at 2 p.m.; they all
said yea, except that Matt and Vivek were going to be at the Giants game, but
there was wifi. I put Matt into the other league. It was a short meeting; I
said next week we would predict the division champs. After they left, I said to
Sturgill, “Wow Sturgill, this is beyond my wildest imagination.”
He said, “Yea the
turnout is great.”
Then I said, “Yea it
is the advertising early that gets people going.”
He said, “Yea, def.”
Vijay came back and brought
2 more people, who left their email addresses. That’s 22 members, which
means we’re starting a third league. Way beyond my expectations.
5th period was the
freshman introduction, but Mr. Dong was non- responsive and people left during
it. Cindy was doing weight training now; Matisse told me the pinky thing, so
stupid it was funny. At the bell, I distributed pictures with Akshay. It was
too loud, so I asked them to repeat it over and over. Some were cute, some
weren’t. Katharine was there, and gave me a hug. Pikachu’s sister was there too,
but she seemed kind of cold. The freshmen were turning their heads to watch us.
I saw the hip hop
crew: the moves were OK. Starmie was hot. I drifted around. Blastoise was
trying to be all cool, whatever. Charmander came up and said hi, and at this
point, I was thinking of doing the Phil routine, but as the seconds pulled by
it was getting harder and harder to pull off. Next time, I’ll be like, “Charmander,
give me a hug.” Or she’ll wave, and I’ll wave, and then I’ll say, “Oh, so I
don’t get a hug now, huh.” She told me I reminded her of Arthur: always smiling
and laughing. I said, “I hope that’s a good thing.” She got distracted by Blastoise.
Then she asked me what I was doing Saturday. I told her I hadn’t signed up for
McClellan, but that Jono would hook me up. She responded, wow alright. I was
like haha nice. But she wasn’t as pretty as I thought she was before. I don’t
know why. She said her friends had ditched her, which is why she was talking to
me.
I saw Mew and went
up to scare her, but ended up taking some of her bagel. She laughed. I told all
the clubs there was 5 minutes left. All of them were like, oh, alright. Charmander
said, “Boo!” out of nowhere. To Mew, I wanted to say, “Guess who?” but she
turned and I ended up poking her. She laughed and didn’t mind. Then Charmander
came up to me again and said, “Hey, I have an orange, want to peel it for me?”
I said, “Alright, let’s do this. Wait, my hands are too dirty, you do it.”
This other guy interrupted to talk about Biology. I opened her
orange, but got juice everywhere. Then I said, “Cya.” Not a perfect
conversation, but still, it’s all good.
When I was at Speech
and Debate, I said, “Wow, dude look behind you.” Butterfree was behind us. Everyone
started laughing, and they were like, “Dude, anorexic girls, why Peter why?” I
responded with, “Dude she’s so hot, it’s the eye shadow that turns me on.” There
were all these hotties in the library but I didn’t feel included, and so I
didn’t like life. (editorial: what??!!) That girl there, I want to bump into her sometime – she was
hotter than before, amazing legs, her and Pikachu’s sister were walking to
7-11, omfg.
I drove back to
school, parked, watched Shree debate, printed 10 pages out, highlighted. Gave a
speech in front of Katz, Tomasz, Ram. Scared because of lack of practice, but I
did fine – just a little fast.
Bought 3 subs,
smiled at the lady, ate them but didn’t like the peppers, talked online until
8, wasted so much time, now it’s 1:17 a.m. 1:18 a.m. Good Day ^^ > ]
2007:
September 7th 2007
Word Count: 1,124
Summary: First Friday night at Yale
Everybody went out. I wanted to get some so bad, no more
meeting people, especially with Jynx like totally shitfaced and bumping into
the glass at Ivy Noodle and whatnot haha. What the f is Eevee trying to play at, there is no way that I will be in a threesome with Porygon. Basically I
told her that I wasn’t the one yelling in the room, but she responds with, “I
didn’t see you at the party at all.” What the f does that mean? What the f.
Alright anyways.
But today was a good day, by many standards. Wore all brown
(which looked good for sure), flirted with Wigglytuff all of Chinese class MOMENT.
Chemistry was so boring, though. I fell asleep after meeting
Cloyster. I think I’m going to drop the class, I really don’t like it. Prepared
for my interview: a page of notes, pep talks; Yuan (be enthusiastic) and Amit
(I’m a good fit). 50 minute nap. James got me and we went to Berkeley, which was
a tremendous choice; after getting bitched out by the cafeteria and sitting
next to all the Asians, I talked to Critch and Matt, Lena and Sherry, Zach and
his crisis (computer broken) that made him sad. I was a good wingman for the
guy.
We left the place as a unit. When we crossed the road, I saw
Bellsprout walking to the bookstore so I ditched the rest of the group and talked
to her about Chinese class. The conversation flowed very decently. I don’t know
what to make of it after the aggressive white guy moves I’ve seen, because
they’ve never happened during high school. But I’ll see her at the Asian barbeque.
I went back to get dressed.
I thought the interview went great. The big things: why I
want to be a freshman liaison and what was my cultural identity. I hit all my
points, and at the end I said, “You said collaboration was biggest asset; I
know that I can work well with a team and be enthusiastic. This is the perfect
job for me.” Hope that slight bit of arrogance helped.
I was really happy when I returned to the dorm. Stopped in
the entryway MOMENT and talked to Sabrina about her meeting people streak; her
goal was to include every single entryway at Yale, all 1500 people. I talked to
Dugtrio, confusing him with Drowsee. I tried to flirt with Vulpix, because
she looked gorgeous in that sundress, and talked to Ninetails, though she was
taken for sure. I guess that’s how it is. After that I watched Just Add Water
(I ended up missing all the workshops); when we walked back I talked with
Caterpie instead of James. Best decision I made, because we finally said
everything.
1. She doesn’t like walking with me because we have to stop
to say hi to everyone. 2. She was afraid I was spreading myself too thin. 3. She
told me not to change myself for her. Crossing the yard, I acted loud. She told
me to quiet down. I said, “You are changing me!”
Paid 100 bucks for course packets. Crazy. At TAS I tried the
polar bear line – it worked every time, Kabutops, Golbat, Seel, Will’s friends,
the 3 girls on the couch. All these new girls, awesome. At Hillel, I talked to Nidorino
about how cool the Jewish thing was, about the next 4 years here MOMENT – hope,
for the next 4 years being all about good conversation and great friends.
The volleyball game was amazing, but Andy didn’t play in the
soccer game, which sucked. I talked to Caterpie about cheering; Electrode asked
her if I was gay. They wanted to leave early, but ended up staying haha yea!! On
the bus, I said, Caterpie, we need to talk about the pyramid, classes, and what
I want from life and family and the world. I wanted to tell her everything. We
scheduled Sunday on OC. Wow, this is great.
Next: Ivy Noodle, ballroom dancing (Gyrados was awkward,
Jason was expert). But seriously, I want
to be able to have someone say hi to me every 5 seconds. We split up back
on Old Campus. Zach and Tommy were rapping and banging on tin pots and made 4
bucks MOMENT. I sat with them while Sanjeev was yelling in British and meeting
people. Back at the dorm I saw James and Sam with the girls and everyone else. I
was so hyper as we headed out. But there was nothing good: no dancing, all
drunk, Jynx totally out of it, saw Footies, talked to no one, met no one, it
was stupid. Went with John to the God Quad, where I saw Eevee and Porygon
dancing on the side of the sticky floored room, and started to laugh when she brought
me in too, but once I saw Porygon’s hips gyrating, I said, “I’ll see you later.”
Outside, I talked to Sherry and Susie, but I was still
thinking about how good a freaker Porygon was, the movement up and down and
everything. Walking back with James, I saw Caterpie chilling in corridor, met
Electrode’s roommates, saw Clefairy, had the Alakazam twins ask us if we could
walk them to the Sigma frat, talked to Chris, and saw Olga, who hugged me and
asked if I was drunk. Ha! All this was in Branford circle. I missed the chance
to apply for Elmseed; there are so many applications due. Whatever.
When I got back, Porygon talked about the shoe incident and I
found out it was drunk Articuno (4:27am), but Porygon thought I did it and
confronted me at the door. I didn’t do it. It took a bit before Articuno talked
to him to clear it up. There was the Machoke story about how she’s messed up,
energetic, almost went all the way, the bush. Magnemite and Koffing were
already cuddling, I don’t have a girl yet but I can’t force it, can’t think too
much. I walked with Clefairy to the 4th floor, got her number, left.
Went to Caterpie’s room, and with Grimer I taught them Napoleon, tried to
maintain contact with Caterpie, her foot, I’m sure she noticed it, it was
awesome. Listened to music (The General) and liked it. It’s such a transition from
one stage to the next. To do list: ring the bells in Harkness, CASA ,
Cityscape.
2008:
September 7th
2008 Sunday
Word Count: 627
I should have written
about it before, but my philosophy right now is that I get to know someone
every day, whether it’s developing a relationship or starting one. It's heavy
work, and I haven't found that instant 2 hour conversation that Zapdos is
having, but I know that I'll get there eventually, especially since there's
such a range of people here.
I woke up Sunday at
around 12 because I thought I was going to church at 4pm. That didn't happen;
instead, I ate breakfast and went to ballroom with Tommy, dressed in the blue
Lacoste and plaid pants I bought in China. It was cool, I met this Asian girl I
ignored; the key is push-pull. I didn't
even look at Diglett, until she asked me to dance. She was expecting to be
turned down, almost as if she answered her own question. Like, “Oh no? Never
mind then, I'll just fade into the distance.” But I danced with her, as well as
others whose names I don’t remember now; there was a senior, Annie or
something? It went by so fast; I learned 2 dances, and to be honest, I loved
doing them. I can actually perform formal foxtrot! They’ve been teaching us to push
a girl a certain way in order to direct her; I had never been that forceful
before.
Tommy and I left and
played pool; he was solid, really good, and hit the ball hard. I didn't hit as
hard but still beat him once or twice. He went to brew his beer; I went to the
computer lab and when I left it was 5 pm.
I went to dinner
after that? I forget what else I did. The bagel bar opened at 9pm; I talked to
Dragonair at 8 pm. From 5 to 8...reach out reunion: ate everyone else's stuff,
the shrimp was delicious. Paid in coins; the guy didn't get mad at me, it's
money too. But the girls were like Peterrrr. I ran into Lapras and Kangaskhan
on the way. Love talking to Lapras: relationships, her Stanford tour; she
laughed at my jokes. Really had to pee, ran back. Talked to Vaporeon for a
while. Pivoted off Anne and Allison to ask her a question about the MTV award;
transitioned into college decision, how she’s adjusting, etc. Seems like a nice
girl. Glad she’s cute, or else I wouldn’t have made the effort. I need to
branch out into other ethnicities, really. I'm hanging out too much with the Chinese
at Yale. Besides, I would have gone to Harvard if I wanted that right? I don't
know....
Afterwards: workout
time. Talked to Tommy about brewing, but the hops were bitter. They thought it
smelled good, but it really didn’t. I brought down the Stanford shirt for
Vaporeon. Worked out for an hour immersed in good thoughts; biceps and triceps,
ran a mile at 7:53 pace. Proud of myself: relaxing, and sweating so
badly. Played pool with Maruca, which is an experience because he's such a bad
sport; so fun though. Paul saw me miss the 8 and was like, “Peter how could you.” I slept afterwards. At
1145pm, I talked to Dragonair for 45 minutes about Thanksgiving. It was sweet. Rob
was already asleep, so I had to tiptoe around the suite. That’s it!
2009:
Monday September 7th,
2009 12:45am
Word Count: 465
I’m going to sleep, right now. It’s
going to be great. And I’m not going to pretend to work out before class, so my
alarm’s set at 8:30. I realized acne comes because I’m not sweating enough or
washing my face. Today was a pretty good day, composite-wise.
I couldn’t get up to work out.
Instead, I arrived at Kroon right on time (almost didn’t go). It was worth it.
I learned about climate (the currents, why there are beautiful sunsets in New
Haven). Got to Econ of Natural Resources late, tried to hit (really weakly) on
the girl next to me, worked online because I knew everything already. Lunch
wasn’t open. Ate nuts, went to Nordhaus. We reviewed the Cobb function again,
so I read Yahoo Sports on low visibility. Walked out of class alone, feeling kind
of sad that in a school of 5,500 people, I wasn’t walking with anyone after
class. In BK, I ate lunch with Vileplume and Onyx, and it was a quiet lunch
where nothing happened. A placeholder lunch. Though Vileplume was really nice,
and smiled a lot.
The party and election class: I saw the
really attractive girl that’s been in every PLSC seminar, but other than that
the class sucked. Left after 10 minutes. Spent time in a room online. Went to
Cog Sci, and realized how easy it was. I’m taking it Cr/D/F, then taking 240 for
the science credit. Perfect. I alternated between listening, falling asleep,
reading sports at low light, and closing my computer because it was really hard
to read in low light. Crashed back in the room in the hammock for 10 minutes
before working out for 45 minutes. It was so tiring. So tiring. Oh my gosh it
was tiring. But I felt good afterwards. Spent some time chillin, then had
dinner with Bulbasaur.
I missed talking to her—I can tell
her everything and feel completely comfortable. I heard about her love stories
in Europe, about her research, told her about my love interests, our progeny.
She was definitely more tan, more ancillary pretty. E-board was popping; set a
date for board bonding event. TAS was fun. Had fun acting the fool during
speeches. But in the end, the girl who looked like Rapidash left right
afterwards. Understandable. I’ve totally boxed myself into the AASA community,
which, funnily enough, has totally precluded any chance I’m going to have with anyone.
Whatever, the Rapidash look-alike wasn’t actually that cute.
Watched Persepolis after I got back.
Love Actually sucked. That was it.
2010:
Tuesday September 7th 2010
Word Count: 1282
Summary: Great Day
It’s 9:05am and I’m sitting in the intro architecture
classroom, because I didn’t know class starts 15 minutes from now. Oh
well—more time to get my thoughts down about yesterday.
It was pretty good, not going to lie. It was also really,
really packed. I woke at 8:50am for Econometrics; sat with all the Asians, but
not consciously. Benkard was a great lecturer, and I learned about probability
tables quickly and easily. Left right afterwards to pick up Fadiman’s copies of
A Native Daughter. I felt legit
asking Roman for a copy. Copy in hand, I hit up the post office, the Master’s
office, and my room, to shower, write a to-do list, and prepare for
bitzkrieging the day. The little sticky note (I’ve been taken to using my
actual business card, I still have like 500) was almost completely full of activities. So legit.
-
Talking to Santos was good; she basically told
me 492 was good for Novemsky.
-
Forgot to buy laundry detergent at Walgreens but
took the extra from the basement. My pictures were mixed up with a Mexican
family’s but we sorted it out.
-
Hypno lunch was interesting. We filled out the
FOOTie forms and I realized how many cute girls were in the dining hall. There’s
that sophomore that looks like a shark; Ninetails; Vulpix; Caterpie; and Muk. I
couldn’t believe it. And the dining hall was cozy, too. I talked to Seaking in
a high energy conversation about our professor getting drunk and proclaiming to
turn the class around!
-
Got more food in SY and BK (I love how I can go
to multiple places in the same day), and headed to Perna’s class. It was
interesting: I have to do outside reading if I want to succeed, but my
classmates are cool. Told him I’m working at --, and he said, “Very good.
They all go on to become executives of big companies.” I just smiled. He also
realized I was from San Jose, and started looking at me after every reference
to Redwood City. And Ayele became A Yalie haha. I don’t know if I can handle
the class, but given the reviews, I should be able to manage, though if I can
pull off an A is another question altogether. I almost want to drop the Econ
major because of this.
- Took a nap for 20 minutes (talked to Tommy for a
bit) and headed to Novemsky’s class. The 562 and Frederick undergrads were
there; it was like a reunion! Except there were so many people I don’t know if
I want to take it, or even if I’ll get in. We’ll figure it out. If it works,
I’ll ask him if I can do directed research instead of signing up for the class
itself.
-
Walked back to my room all the way alone, which
kind of sucks, to be honest. But ran into Klip and Sam and we talked on
cross campus, where I was introduced to the idea that the Golden State Warriors
were hiring. Great idea. Spent 40 minutes chilling. Talked to Rasesh. It takes
me just 9 minutes to get to UCS. Niceeee.
-
Ekans and Beedrill and Venonat and Lickitung were all
there; we discussed applications before listening to Cambridge presentation. It
was the new chic thing. Left at 6:50 pm; great advice about actual
recommendation letters.
Then came the cool stuff: I walked to the presentation with James and John and Volkan in our Sunday best; I liked passing
by people on the way (Bellossom). We were 5 minutes late, but the presentation
didn’t start until 745, like James had predicted. I grabbed my nametag, looked
around awkwardly. Molly introduced herself to me before sitting down. Metapod
and I talked during the presentation
surreptitiously—the partner from Team Rocket really wasn’t too energetic or
excited, and she stumbled quite a bit trying to find words. Eh. Everyone else
thought she was great – maybe I have really high standards.
200 people were there, all juniors and seniors whose
faces I had seen before. When the formalities were over, no one came up to
immediately, but I ended up talking to 4 people. Introducing myself was pretty
cool, too—it was what I had been waiting for this entire summer to do. And I
just did it. Nice. I ended up talking to Molly a bit, John K., Flareon (I
really didn’t want to talk to him), Monica, and Jolteon, who I had met freshman
year and simply didn’t remember. Until she mentioned that she was Rhydon’s
girlfriend. Nice. Walked back with James, talked to Pinsir for a long time about
freshman counseling and Barclays. It was nice to have a friend like that to
talk to.
Then came the best night so far at Yale: Jeannette’s
house for the FOOTies. It was great to hear how all of them liked their
classes. The cookies they made were also really, really good. Kabuto talks a
lot now, Kabutops is a bit more reserved, but I guess that’s just how some things
end up. KASY meeting was legit. Talked to James and Joe and Charmeleon, who said,
“What up, bitch,” again, to my face. Hilarious. I met James Kim, the 3rd
one here at Yale. Walked back with Charmeleon, who couldn’t stop laughing
whenever I said anything.
Back in BK, I got progressively more and more excited, yelling
at the top of my lungs when Zach was proselytizing about soccer in his room.
Ran outside without shoes to play the vuvuzela and Sam’s didgeridoo, kicked the
soccer ball everywhere—then in Snorlax’s suite BSed with Electabuzz for the
longest time about colleges, consulting, the YCC, Tim Tebow. It was fun making
fun of him for his Asian fetish; he told me he thought Magmar was really good
looking, which is a plus, I guess. Talked with Hitmonchan about his success in
high school with all-state football. He wasn’t modest, but it was amazing how
much he loved the sport and how good he was at it. Not modest, but the
passion really came through. Snorlax brought up a really salient point: our
relationship is a chess game where we battle for position, but in the end, we
don’t actually want the checkmate – we just like circling each other. Which is
totally true.
When I picked up my laundry, I saw Tommy and John playing
ping pong. I got in on it; lost on a wicked back bounce to Tommy 21-19. I was
mad, but it was a great game. Then John owned me in free throws because I lost
concentration. I was up 2-1 at one point, which is awesome. Slept at 3 a.m.
Hahaha.