Thursday, July 14, 2016

E - Wander and Wander Until You Find A Wonder

Dear Reader,
Lunch sq-quad.
Google Maps is my best friend.
Generally speaking, I check my email at night, but not in the morning. My computer is off until I come back from class at around 4, so I head to class unknowingly that we've had a classroom change, something our instructor sent out while I was supposed to be eating breakfast. I walk to the building of our old classroom to find it deserted, and my first instinct is that I'm late and the class has gone on some outdoor exercise. Upon checking the time, I would be less than 1 minute late, and wander around trying to find some hint of where the class could be. After asking a lady at a nearby
service counter, she said she doesn't know where the classroom moved, but to check my email, maybe my instructor left details. It turns out our new classroom is in the Regenstein library, 3 blocks down and a drain on my tired legs, as I've been running around everywhere trying to find people. I end up 13 minutes late to class, but the instructor is completely chill about it, as he actually gave out the wrong room number at first, too.

Class today was highly interesting, pulling on something that had been mentioned the previous day: perspective (point of view) and person. Our main assignments for the class might seem silly, but the exercise was to write about a fictional break up. It could be between friend, lovers, family, you name it, but consider this -- you are in a room full of angsty teenage girls/guys, which is going to be the most prevalent type of story? Oh yeah, romance.
Excerpt from a class assignment.
The point of the exercise was to write a short story in 30 minutes about a break up in 1st person and write it from the POV of either the breaker or the breakee. After sharing many of our creations we were told to switch our gears and write the same story -- but from the eyes and mind of the other person. Often, main characters in books are highly developed and three dimensional, but the side characters are left flat on the page. It's important to be in the minds of both your characters, so you can have fictional conversations and know what each would respond depending on their personality. Writers are great -- our best friends are our pens. Sorry Google Maps, you're second to this instrumental writing tool. Haha I was thinking, if I was talking about my violin (also a very good friend), that sentence would be very punny. Okay, enough of being lame.

Finding the secluded bookshop.
After class, a couple classmates and I walked to 57th bookstore to buy a book, one of the class assignments we had. It could be any book, but I couldn't afford any of them because I had left my wallet in a different bag, safe, but out of reach. They said they'd hold the books up to three days for me, so that was nice. I just have to find it again...

Since there was a milkshake store three shops down, some of the group decided to get milkshakes, while others went back to the dorms. I got a mocha milkshake because the guy at the counter recommended it. It was pretty good, but there were a lot of bitter coffee bean flakes inside that I didn't particularly take to. Avoiding those, it was a tasty milkshake that I got sick of 3/4 of the way back to the dorms and threw away. Instead of taking a direct route back to my dorm room, I detour because I hear the music building. Most people might not understand what I mean when I say a building is singing, but musicians can definitely picture walking past a building and just hearing the sounds of different instruments ringing from it.

Way etter than the pianos under our dorm rooms. :D
Intrigued, I went inside, where there was a hallway of music practice rooms, each with a baby grand piano, but also people, practicing their instruments (you'd think I'd be inspired by this to practice, right? And I do, just not enough). I hear the Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata in it's beginning stages of development, and a masterful piano player who was old enough to be a teacher. Ohhh. Maybe he was one of the music teachers, just practicing to warm up his fingers. I found an empty practice room after a girl left, and starting playing random things on the piano because I didn't bring my music with me to class (a sensible decision), or looked sheet music up on my phone. It was nice playing on a baby grand because the sounds are much richer than those of an upright piano (plus, it was a Steinway!)

Lightweight drawing of Ryan.
I spent quite awhile there, mostly just listening, but then headed up the building just to explore a bit. I came across a recital hall that I had seen previously only from the balcony view, as well as an empty classroom. The classroom had a blackboard, so I started drawing little things and eventually made my way up to drawing Ryan, Mauricio, and Alice. However Ryan's is the only one that even looks somewhat like him, so there's the extent of my artistry, a figure that ancient artists are famed for drawing and sculpting: the young European male.

Eventually, I make my way back to the dorms where I finish most of my assignment in my room until it's dinnertime, and go to eat with Doris. We end up sitting next to Tom, Rick, Emily, and Mauricio, and chat about how Tom really shouldn't strain his arms by carrying 18 books at once, just because he is a "one-trip person".




Following dinner, I decide to finally use the butter (and other ingredients) I bought, which is waiting for me in the first-floor kitchen of my House. The original plan was to create corn bread muffins, but we didn't have milk, oil, or eggs. However, we were advised by an RA to just take some from the dining hall. The friend I was with poured in too much milk though, so I scrouged around in my head for another idea, and see the bread in the DC. Bread pudding -- that's it! We take like, 9 slices of bread and head back to the table at first to avoid suspicion, though I doubt anyone would stop us. I probably looked weird, holding a plastic ziplock bag full of corn and what looks like chocolate milk. The friend is holding a plate with fries, white bread, and multi-grain bread. Perhaps they just think he's a starch fanatic. Anyway, we end up making two batches to use up all the ingredients and give most of them away to stranger, save for Ryan, Tom (who's next door), Alice, my RA (it was his baking pan), and Kevin. On our way to give Doris one we got distracted by strangers and gave them to, well, them. The strangers were given bread pudding muffins, if that wasn't clear. Lol. BPM. Beats per minute. Bread pudding muffin. Oh, while we were baking, it started raining realy hard, so I walk outside for fun and get soaked. Great times.
Here's the result of our baking antics.

We asked a ton of strangers if they liked the muffins, most said YES OMG THIS IS AMAZING, some didn't say anything but were contentedly munching, and one person, just one, said was "rough", which I don't really know how to respond to. After baking we sign-in for curfew where I meet up with Doris, who says it's totally okay after I apologize for not giving her a muffin. There are plenty of times to bake, she says. Tom got a curfew violation because he was self-taking an ACT. Is this a sign that we shouldn't be studying? Heh.

Kidding, sadly.
Yours,
eh.


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