Ooooh, candy!

I love this place. Some random girl with three big bags of candy came through the library, sprinkling goodies for overworked Reedies.


See how happy it makes us?

Thucydides - the Warrior Scribe!!!

I have no idea who came up with this or why (in God's name, WHY?!?) but I find it endlessly amusing. All romantic portrayals aside, Thucydides was a long-winded, poetically senseless aristocrat who saw fit to use the most complicated language possible to meander his way through the History of the Peloponnesian War. Pfft. The 'Warrior Scribe'. He got exiled from Athens because he sucked as a general and so many citizens died under his leadership.

Harvest Ball!

Michelle was the Morton Salt girl and I... well... I dressed weird. When asked, I was either "Vibrance as a concept" or "Dr. Seuss's acid trip."

Root Beer & Jay Mellies Tribute Pt. 2

Today was the last lab in the Microbiology section of Bio - as a celebration we popped the (lovingly self-crimped) tops on our homemade rootbeer and sipped away. Note my dormie Jane's doofusness and the series of tadpole development statuettes in the background.



Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to publish the last few Jay Mellies quotes that particularly piqued my interest:
When referring to Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin, "He was, as the Brits would say, 'going on holiday' and 'tidying up'."
“I’m gonna write out Major Histo-compatibility Complex for you – it’s kind of a mouthful without a lot of coffee.”
“Sounds kinda early in the morning to be talking about gastric juices.”
"My cell kinda looks like an upside-down duck."
On the topic of the innate immune defenses, coughing and sneezing, "Trying to expel the little buggers onto your neighbor.”

And the final and possibly best Jay Mellies quote, "Don't eat shit and wash your hands."

Back at Reed!

Hoo yeah! Here I am again, putting off my reading, just like old times (old times being a week ago). See? "Ancient and Classical Greek Art" - Cult, Politics, and Imperialism. I don't know what that means yet, but there is a section called Sexuality and the Standing Male, so maybe it'll be interesting.

Breaking News!

Scientists discover a large, swirling dark spot on Uranus!



Hahaha! I don't care if I am old enough to vote - jokes that good are few and far between.

A Tribute to Jay Mellies

This is a tribute to my Microbiology professor, Jay Mellies. Now, before you scoff, I want you to understand that this man is hilarious. He has this big ol’ ears that stick out, he’s a bit jumpy and often awkward, but he knows his bacteria and dammit, he’s a funny guy. A sampling of Jay quotes, fresh from the lecture hall:
“Fructose, sucrose glucose, thiscose, thatcose.”
Gonorrhea is a type IV pili, as it attaches to your genital system and them transfers genetic information “like nobody’s business.”
“Why study bacteria? They’re fun and exciting, and they’ll kill you.”
“We’re gonna vortex the daylights outta this thing.”
Osmolarity??? “It’s water activity dammit!”
“This cute little squid lives off the coast of Hawaii” (voice from the crowd: “Hawaii has a lot of coasts, Jay.”) “Dammit, it lives off the coast!”
Plus, he taught us how to make root beer, so we'll be popping the caps on our homemade fizzy goodness in a couple weeks. "It's a simple aerobic fermentation."

Tania Pérez-Salas

Oh my god... This dance performance was amazing. I teared up at the sheer awe - these dancers were fantastic, absolutely out of this world, I just want to go lift weights so I can dance like them. Oh man... Here are some pictures, but they won't do it justice:

RKSK Strikes Back!

It's flu season at Reed, oh yes indeed - the campus is one big cough nowadays. But never fear! The communists are here! In a supreme breach of pseudo-security, I shall publish the communique regarding the fantastic anti-sickness table in the library lobby:

"kounter revolutionary bourgeoisie kapitalist agitators (pretty mutsh the worst kind of kapitalist agitator) have unleashed the flu virus upon our skool in an effort to inkrease sales of their flu vakkines! but fear not, the state is well prepared for germ warfare. we have stokked the library lobby with vitamin k [by which we mean vitamin c, as you may have guessed --ed.] tablets, orange juice, kleenex, sterile latex gloves,airborne, khikken (ramen) noodle soup... feel free to leave a get well soon kard on the table for a komrade. unfortunately, unlike the bountiful stim table, supplies are limited; kome quikkly! and klean up after yourselves! and finish your damned midterms!"

I love this school - my nose is blown and as I walk my pockets jingle merrily with the sounds of chewable Vitamin C tablets.

Me, you, and the stuffed animals.

I feel like a prop. I'm enthroned upon a pile of communist stuffed animals, dutifully going over my lecture notes (well, I WAS), and a couple herds of prospies walk by. The tour guide points me out, "As you can see, this is where most Reedies spend their time, the library, and there are plenty of stuffed animals here (provided by RKSK) to keep our diligent students comfortable during their long hours in the Hauser Fundome" -- (the Hauser Fundome is our name for the Hauser Library) -- he continues, "Feel free to gawk at the Reedies, you can feed them too, but don't get to close to their mouths - they can get snappish." All the parents sort of chuckle and the prospies gape, wide-eyed, at the real, authentic Reed College Student.

Extra, Extra - Read all about it!

Sorry, bad joke - I had to do it. Today I was an extra in the new Sean Penn movie, "In the Wild." It was not very glamorous, but I did get free food and 75 bucks (Ooh! And I saw the girl who played Donnie Darko's girlfriend!).
Maybe I'll even watch the movie when it comes out.

I found my cell phone!

Honor Principle rocks! Some awesome someone turned my phone in to the Safety Office - now my poor baby is charging, as her battery is all worn out after such a big adventure.

I'm a NINJA!!

We're so stealthy... they caught us eventually though, crouching between the door and the refrigerator in the Scholz 1 common room. Otherwise - black as the night, fast as lightning!

I lost my cellphone...

And I KNEW I was going to! "Anna, putting your phone in your back pocket is not a good idea..." but did I listen? Of course not! Who ever listens to their own good advice?

Reed Kommunal Shit Kollective

These posters were all over campus before RKSK freshman bootcamp. I'm not at liberty to give any details, except that yes, those animals are, in fact, communist.

The Things We Find Funny When Overworked...

There's a particular girl at Reed who generally wears obnoxious shirts that read things like, "I'm too pretty to do math," and "I'm just here to annoy you." Recently though, after I had concluded that I don't like word shirts in general, she wore what I deemed to be a genuinely funny shirt: "You have beautiful eyes... can I touch them?"

Balinese Shadow Puppetry

Last night I went to a Shadow Puppetry performance, from the Balinese tradition. It was really cool, and they sang in this ancient language that has died but for these performances. The translator characters were pretty comical - these buck-toothed English-speakers, in ridiculously casual language for the formalness of all the rest of it. If any of you ever get the chance, I'd recommend checking out a performance.