hi guys, I'm still alive

It's been far too long since I've posted. Lots of things are going on, so there's really no excuse for the hiatus. College thus far has been quite the trip.

Classes are wonderful (I'm taking a writing course on civil disobedience, intro to political philosophy, hebrew and intro macroeconomics). I'm even learning things, but by far the most valuable pieces of information from the last 7 weeks are how to iron a shirt and how to do laundry. I learned both skills from my roommate, he's very domestic. The room is in pretty much ship-shape all the time- but when all the parents came in for parents weekend they wouldn't believe that it was like that normally and that we hadn't just done it for them.

I've been going to hillel every week and playing intramural soccer (its very intense and Harry Potter-ish, the residential colleges all play against each other the entire year, and at the end the college with the most points from all the sports together gets the Tyng Cup). But by far the biggest time-consumer has been a capella. Singing basically takes the place of Greek life here- the frats are a joke, but there are 18 acapella groups and a month-long tryout process that they even call "rush." There are concerts and rush-meals and auditions and callbacks and singing desserts up the wazoo. After the whole ordeal I ended up on this all-men's group called the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus (affectionately the SOB's). We tour for a weekend in November and then for most of Winter break and all of Spring break, so there's a decent chance that I will be able to visit people. Unfortunately, the SOBs have a tradition to tell the freshman almost nothing for the whole year. I went to a weekend retreat blindfolded in the back of a car. My mom didn't like that so much. So, I will not know where we are touring until I'm quite literally on the way, and I won't be able to give anyone much advance notice.

Nonetheless, the a capella experience has been amazing. We have two practices and a concert every week, and we just had a big concert at parent't weekend. The guys on the group are an amazing bunch, so I'm willing to put a little faith in the 'all will be revealed' system.

Other than that, I just got my first claim to fame (right.) in the form of being quoted in the Yale Daily News www.yaledailynews.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=33894. It's nothing to compare with being the stat guy on Maryland basketball radio, that is extremely cool.