Tonight I was walking back from the T along the street where the food trucks are usually parked when I began wondering where the food trucks go after hours. Do they all go to one big parking lot together, like school buses? Maybe they go for an after-work drink at the Asgard? Maybe they go home to their wives, the ice cream truck, and spend the evening listening to "Pop Goes The Weasel" play over and over again? And so I came up with this little ditty, to the tune of Ed Helms's "Tyson's Tiger Song" from The Hangover. Ahem -

Where do food trucks sleep at
when they take a little food truck snooze?
Do they dream of serving MIT kids
or getting a liquor license to serve booze?
Don't you worry your food trucky head
We're gonna see you in the morning, Jose's Mexican
And then we're gonna eat at Clover Food Truck
so we can have a sandwich with bacon that's vegan.
Veeeee-gaaaan, ohh,
veegy veegy veegy, vee-ee-eegan.
But if they raise prices to eight bucks a sandwich..
Well then we'll go to Cosi.

I'll be here all week, folks. (And by all week, I mean until they let me graduate. So more like until the end of May. Eating vegan bacon sandwiches.)

Speaking of throwbacks, three years ago during my freshman spring, Sam held a dinner party. (You can actually read my blog entry about it here, it'll be almost like you were there!) It was a pretty epic dinner party - there was Ina Garten's Butternut Squash soup and entirely mismatched sets of flatware - but it was also not long after I'd moved to Burton Conner. Let's just say it was kind of a weird time in my life - I'd just moved to a new room with a new roommate who I didn't know all that well, to a new floor surrounded by new people and a new dorm; in a lot of ways I was starting all over. I felt awkward. Much like my fourth-grade-self. Did I mention from about 1994 to 1996 I mostly only wore hand-me-down XXL t-shirts? Not because I actually was an XXL, but it was like wearing pajamas to school? Growing up is a beautiful thing, ain't it?

Moving was bittersweet, and one of the only people I knew in Burton-Conner at that time was Spam. But it also gave me the fresh start I needed, and it gave me a whole new perspective on MIT - especially its pretty amazing housing system. (If you're new around here, each of our dorms has its own unique culture, amongst which you can move with relative freedom if you wish. Burton Conner is organized by suites of 4-12 people, each with its own kitchen and bathroom, and trampoline. What? Of course I'm not trying to peer pressure you into moving into my dorm! Our housemasters definitely don't ever bring you free Egg McMuffins and there are no free massages ever! Who told you that??)

Things have changed a lot in the last four years. I no longer live on that floor and I've switched rooms three times since then and suites twice; I've gotten to know my new floor like my family and am so at home here that I sometimes forget to wear pants in the hallway. (But then again, who doesn't?) We go on trips together; we all go to cheer each other on at varsity volleyball games and jazz concerts, and sometimes, we even hold dinner parties. My suite this year has held three big potluck dinners - somehow I managed to move into a suite with excellent culinary prowess - and they've all been ridiculously gourmet. There was piccata. There was pavlova. There was flounder in a white sauce that would make even the Little Mermaid convert to pescetarianism.

But I've never cooked a whole three-course-meal by myself, and so in a throwback to that first original dinner party - one at which I first began to feel like I was in the place where I belonged - I held a dinner party myself last Friday, for old friends and a few new ones. A dinner party to celebrate how far we'd all come since those early days, where we're all going in the next year and the other major transitions to come. Complete with Ina Garten's Butternut Squash soup, and totally mismatched flatware.

This entry brought to you by the fact that I am like eight hundred years old, especially since most of you guys were all born in 2009 and are all going, "Which baseball team was Ace of Base on?" I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS STUFF.

Photo Courtesy of Andy Ryan

Bright Star, would I were stedfast as thou art –
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart.
     – John Keats, "Bright Star"

The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same.
The Cambridge skyline welcomes a new Player: the MIT Media Lab Complex.
Alas, here I stand. Under the starry sky, with my eyes frozen on the glowing building.
It's the opening ceremony, mellow, so I hum the Smiths ~ "take me out tonight, where there's music and there's people and they're young and alive...." ("There is a light that never goes out")

As I walk inside, my pulse slows; the air is of another planet. The lighting is simply ethereal. Hush...Moonlight Sonata,
A feeling of weightlessness.

Below: Tod Machover, professor of music and media, discusses his interaction with the space.

Just a bit of background: the new building was designed by Fumihiko Maki & Associates architects. It's an extension to the existing Media Lab built by I.M. Pei, and it'll house certain programs in architecture and planning and comparative media studies, among others. It was envisioned as a forward-thinking building to increase transparency and collaboration among the various programs there. Undoubtedly, there's a certain pervasive energy that's felt instantly.

The building as the organism.

One of my favorite interior elements is the UFO. In the lobby, a saucer-shaped den becomes a cosmonautic meeting-space. Welcome to the space age! So mod!

**We’re on the set of Space Odyssey: 2001! Mad props to John, my ardent photographer! ^_~
Style inspiration: structured shoulders from Balmain’s FW 2010 Collection, redux theme;
minty melon color palette from Balenciaga’s FW 2010 Collection, 60’s pop mod much?

Notice the curved panels that wrap around in a futuristic fashion? For some reason it reminded me of the Guggenheim Museum. Frank Lloyd Wright’s spiraling rotunda—inspiration through vertigo.

Guggenheim’s rotunda. (Photo: JMG galleries)

Talk about concentricity!

Since we’re on the circular theme: artist Alyson Shotz did an exhibition at the Guggenheim of 18,000 fresnel mirrors caught in suspension with staples. A crystallized curtain of lenses.

The Shape of Space, 2004, Alyson Shotz. (Photo: Kristopher McKay)

Isn’t it magical—what light can do to a space?
A surreal feeling, like the lighting of the new Media Lab Complex. To create a perfect view, Fumihiko Maki designed with louvered windows, injected with argon!

So anything you see through the windows undergoes a pixelation effect.
The light diffuses through the building, and is amplified in all the glass structures, like this floating staircase. Creating pure luminosity.....

It’s a light that never goes out.
A Bright Star.

Today. I. Joined. Quidditch.

The awesomeness is still sinking in. This afternoon was the first warm, sunny, beautiful day we've had here for a while. I bike year-round, but today was the first time since fall that I went on a bike ride for fun, instead of just to get to class. After exploring the Minuteman trail (including a statue of Uncle Sam; did you know that the original Uncle Sam was born near Boston?) I headed to MIT's campus to take some pictures of MIT"s newest sport. I started out as an observer, but soon got caught up in the magic and was flying (er, running) around a soccer field on a broom.

Today's practice was mostly about getting used to moving on the broom and handling the ball with just one hand (since the other holds on to the broom). We used a volleyball as our quaffle. We haven't practiced with them yet, but we have dodgeballs for bludgers. We also have a cross country running who has volunteered to dress in gold and play the snitch. The snitch is allowed to run around the entire campus, instead of staying on (or even in sight of!) the playing field. If you check online, you can find some pretty funny videos of existing Quidditch teams and their snitches. Some of the snitches will do flips and cartwheels to taunt the players as they run past.

One thing that surprised me about practice was the wide range of students who came. Out of 11 students present, I think we represented 10 different dorms/Independent Living Groups. It was great to meet people from all over campus with a common interest.

Another surprising thing about practice today was the spectators. Given that the sport is brand-new, I expected the stands to be empty. There were some people at MIT (I think there was a swimming tournament?) who noticed us practicing and stopped to watch and cheer. I gave them my camera and it is thanks to them that you have the three action photos!

To MIT students: We have practices weekly, on Sunday afternoons. Sometime this month we will scrimmage Harvard. Several other schools are interested in playing us as well. Email quidditch-execs at mit dot edu to get on the list for more info! We would love more players and/or more fans :)

To pre-frosh: We will have a CPW event! I am pretty sure it will involve us playing a demo game, and you will likely have a chance to play as well!

Today. Was. Awesome.

Because my EMT-B state exam is coming up in just over a week, I've spent the past few days cycling between an absurd sense of calm and an overwhelming sense of panic. I've forgotten so much of what I learned in the EMT class I took over IAP, and I haven't had a whole lot of experience on shift. The latter, though, might actually be a good thing, since - as I discovered earlier this week - I'm not that great at working the stretcher when anyone more than, say, 10 pounds is on it. So basically, that's everyone minus newborn infants. Yay.

As you can imagine, an EMT that can't handle a stretcher with someone on it isn't all that useful. Channeling the spirit of "practice makes perfect," I e-mailed a few of the crew chiefs on duty this last week, asking if I could come in and tinker with the stretchers a little bit.

And thus were born the scratches, the soreness, and the wary suspicion that biceps and triceps might need to be a larger part of my life - asap!! I was slightly jealous of the other members of my EMT class, none of whom seemed to have any trouble lifting people on the stretcher. For me, every moment was a struggle, and my mind juggled with constant reminders: Place your feet properly! Lift with your legs, not your back! Pull the trigger! Don't let the wheels drop! Communicate with your partner! Ahhh, brain overloaddd.

It was certainly a learning experience. On some level, I'm grateful that this happened, since I'm now aware of the limits of my strength and the techniques I need to work on. I'm also now fully aware that MIT EMTs are some of the kindest people around - close to ten people encouraged me, helped me, and stuck by me as I fumbled my way into a modicum of stretcher grace. A special thanks to Vidya '12, who came in when she wasn't even on shift to bravely be my patient and to further my ambulance-related education :)

Also - a thanks to all of you EA Admits who participated in the event last night. Your questions were great, and both Paul '12 and I had a lot of fun answering them. I hope I made sufficient eye contact; I think I forgot that the webcam was there, absorbed as I was in reading the questions. I'm sorry we couldn't answer all of them! If you have any queries you really want answered, feel free to drop me an e-mail.

Good luck to all of you waiting for RA decisions!!

While you wait...
Jenny recently blogged about CSC banquet. She showed you the end of the show...and here is how we kicked off the beginning of the show...

* Please excuse my lack of acting skills :P

Credits to Trevor Newsad '11.

Receiving your decision online is as easy as pi. When decisions are released, simply visit decisions.mit.edu and log in using the same username and password that you use to log into your MyMIT account. There are no interim screens, so you should be sure you are ready to receive your decision online before logging in to decisions.mit.edu.

To ensure that you will receive a decision online, please visit decisions.mit.edu and enter your username and password. Decisions.mit.edu will be available through the decision date for applicants to confirm their login ability and decision eligibility.

If you've forgotten your MyMIT password, you may use our automated system to reset it. Simply visit my.mit.edu and click on the lost password link. There is a similar link for forgotten usernames. If you're having trouble using our automated username/password recovery process, please email mymitpassword@mit.edu with your full name and mailing address.

Admissions decisions will be available exclusively online. Decisions will not be released via email, snail mail, carrier pigeon, or Nekobasu special delivery (still working on that). Following the release of admissions decisions, however, we will be mailing necessary materials to admitted students.

I wish you all the best!

I completely disagree. I work desk when I need money. I blog whenever I find something interesting. As a relatively uninteresting person, this translates to me rarely blogging. Stay tuned, though, for an upcoming post about my favorite door on campus.

(No, that is not a joke. It's an ultra-cool door.)

I'm in the middle of a tough week where I'm racing to finish up an incomplete in a class from last term by Friday's deadline and surveying everyone and their grandmother for an experiment in 9.61. A lot of my work involves living in the New Media Center, where most of what I do is staring at a computer while it tells me how much time is left on my conversion to a movie in Final Cut Pro. (Two hours? Four? Should I just leave and get a sandwich now?) I still don't have a job. I still don't have an apartment. The cardboard boxes I've been hoarding in my room in case of housing emergency become more and more of a certainty each day.

Sometimes I want to find the living embodiment of MIT and slap it around a little bit. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME??? WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY WARN ME?! WHY DIDN'T I LISTEN WHEN PEOPLE WARNED ME ABOUT THIS PLACE?! WAHHHHH."

Luckily, an email from some of the deans on campus about the MIT Senior Survey gave me the chance to figure out what I really thought about MIT. At the very least, it was a 20-minute break where I got to click on a bunch of buttons. On the last page, though, there were two final questions that most of my fellow seniors seem to be asking themselves nowadays (although in language notably more informal):

Please use the space below to comment on what your school could have done to improve your undergraduate experience or what you wish you had done differently, or both.

Um. Easy.

"I wish my grades had been better. But hey, who doesn't?"

Please use the space below to describe the most important outcomes of your time as an undergraduate. Where possible, be specific about how your college or university contributed to these accomplishments, changes or other developments.

(Hoooooo boy. Where to start?)

"When asked what I would have done differently if I could start MIT all over again, I wrote, "I wish my grades had been better. But hey, who doesn't?" It does partially bother me that my grades have been strikingly average here. That said, early on in my undergraduate career, I realized that in order to get the most out of my education, I was going to have to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible; that meant my grades weren't guaranteed to be stellar, but I figured it'd be worth it. Looking back, it absolutely has been.

I've had a show at the radio station for four years, been president of my dorm, organized one of the largest alumni reunion events on campus, learned a ton about photography (and had some of my work included in an exhibit in a Boston gallery), seen Sonic Youth and the Pixies in the same week, produced a musical, discovered my passion for teaching, and even learned a thing or two about brains, all while living and working with some of the most amazing people alive.

It's scary seeing the last four years of my life fit in a couple of sentences. It seems like almost nothing at all, but it's all meant so much to me. My only hope is that more people keep in mind that an MIT education is more than just the purely academic; if that's what you believe, then you're doing it wrong."

Keep this in mind. This place is so much more than the classes and the grades you get in them. If you forget this, you are doing it wrong.

That's my theory, at least.

will.i.am
by Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70

Will likes to see stuff at MIT whenever he is in town. This time I took him to see robots in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, wearable computing in the Media Lab, and miscellaneous cool stuff in the Precision Engineering Research Group. It wasn’t hard to find people to help out.

We walked around for three hours. Then, he was off to do soundchecks. A few hours after he learned about energy-storing inverse lakes, he and his Black Eyed Peas played to a sold-out crowd at the TD Banknorth Garden.

I always like amazing people, like Will, who is highly creative, does interesting things, and is interested in the future. MIT attracts amazing, highly creative, interesting, interested people like honey attracts bears.

And on top of all that, Will is a fan of my field, Artificial Intelligence. Be sure to play the video on the Peas homepage.

Anyway, when Will and his entourage were about to leave, and all the obligatory pictures were taken, he asked, as he generally does, if I could use a few tickets for the show. “Hey, that would be great,” I said. I like the Peas, and besides, I hadn’t been to a good concert since the Rolling Stones were in town in ‘06.

Alas, my daughter seized the tickets. “You’re nowhere near cool enough to go,” she said, “and I have some friends.” Maybe I should find a new place to buy clothes.

Here's the video Prof. Winston was referencing (will.i.am getting excited about AI):

According to MIT CSAIL, will.i.am is "an amateur robotics enthusiast." They note, "During his tour of CSAIL, the artist had a look at projects from Daniela Rus' Distributed Robotics Lab, Russ Tedrake's Robot Locomotion Group, and Nicholas Roy's Robust Robotics Group."

Prof. Winston posted a whole bunch of will.i.am/MIT photos on his site -- check it out!

RA applicants: I know you're all anxious for Regular Action decisions, but I'm sorry to say that I don't have any announcements about a decision date yet. As always, I promise to let you know as soon as I can -- hopefully soon! In the mean time, the Admissions committee continues to work towards Regular Action decisions.

All applicants/admits: If you haven't yet, you should submit your financial aid application as soon as possible.

Math ninjas: [via AoPS/rrusczyk] You'd probably enjoy Street-Fighting Mathematics on OpenCourseWare.

iPhone owners: MIT released its iPhone app. It's most useful for current students, but has some goodies for everyone.
learn more | download

Sports fans: The MIT Men's Varsity Basketball team once again made the NCAA (Division III) tournament! You can follow all of the news on the official and unofficial pages.

Debate fans: The MIT Debate Team of Adam Goldstein ’10 and Bill Magnuson ’09 won the North American Debating Championships -- "regarded as the most prestigious debate tournament in North America" -- by defeating McGill University in the finals. MIT also won the Championship in 2003; MIT, Yale, and Toronto are the only three schools to have won multiple titles in the past decade.

J-pop fans: I've been reading MIT applications long enough to know that some of you will be super-excited to learn that Hikaru Utada was hanging around MIT, getting ice cream with Prof. Ian Condry. (If you are among those who are excited, you wil probably enjoy Prof. Condry's course Japanese Popular Culture, being taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays this term)

I’m just popping in to show you guys a video from an exciting event at MIT last weekend. The Chinese Students Club (CSC) hosted their annual Chinese New Year Banquet. There were plenty food, skits, performances, and festive spirits – but the highlight came at the end. You see, this year, CSC (whose exec board includes our own Celena) brought Far East Movement (FM) to MIT’s Walker Memorial – you know, the same place I took both of my calculus finals. But on February 21st, the building was raging for very different reasons.

See for yourself.

[full]

Sorry for making y’all dizzy. :P A tidbit of info on this electrobop/hip-hop/rap group: FM’s songs have been featured in “So You Think You can Dance”, “America’s Best Dance Crew”, “Entourage”, “Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift” and more; they also recently toured with LMFAO. FM ended the performance @ MIT with their new song, “Go Ape.”

On a similar note, the Student Activities Office is bringing hip-hop/funk group N.E.R.D to campus for Spring Weekend. Last year, I waited four hours in the rain to see N.E.R.D. I would absolutely love an encore – but this time, under the protection of Johnson Athletic Center --

Here are the Valentine's Day pictures that I got!

The first entry comes from Jess W., from frigid North Dakota! (wow ND - look at all that snow in the back!)

The second entry is from Emily C., from San Jose! (where it's probably sunny now? - and yes, gummy chocos are pretty awesome, and your isef shirt is too :P)

What's better, a Gummy Choco tube or a MIT tube? (The choice is obvious)

And we have Lindsay S., from Scottsdale, AZ. Have you run out of frames to frame your MIT certificates yet? ;)

Then we have a Californian trio of Esmeralda R., Michelle C., and Helen W., representing San Diego, San Diego, and Goleta, CA. Michelle and Helen, are you guys holding beaver plushies? :P

Thank you all! :D Welcome to MIT and see you all at CPW! ^_____^V

(where are all the 2014 guys? :p)

-----

Want to be famous?

Want to be famous like Shannon was before she even became a blogger?

SEND ME your name, location, along with your best pose with the tube, the early admit card, the early admit poster, your brita water pitcher, your neighbor's cat...WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH THE MIT STUFF and I'll post them on the blogs! :)

My email's up on the banner :D

For inspirational examples, see:
the 2013 kids!
and
the class of 2012!

You have till 23:59:59, Valentine's Day, Samoa Time Zone.

GO!

-----

Non Sequitur, November 3, 2009

How are you prefrosh? Long time no talk, although some of you got to enjoy our sweet dance party a couple of weeks ago (which included a friendly visit from the MIT police before our party's ultimate demise). I write to you for several reasons. The first (and, sadly, primary reason) is that I am poor. That's right, the money I earned over the summer is dwindling rapidly (for a variety of reasons) and blogging is one of the few ways I am able to support my spending habit. I have a theory that bloggers from juniors on up tend to blog more when they need money than when they feel like they should blog. This is just a theory though.

Anywho, I'm running out of money. Why am I running out of money? It all started over Christmas break, when I started spending lots of money because it made me feel good. I have a propensity to see something expensive, want it, and buy it. Now, if I worked for Amazon or Google or something, this would not be a big deal, but when I worked for my dad out on our acreage, there's only so much of this "I want I want I want" spending that can happen before destitution sets in.

My first big purchase was a new camera. Amazon had it on sale for $409.00 and I pulled the trigger. It's a Canon XS and my first DSLR. I've wanted a DSLR for quite some time, but the price was never right. I checked the reviews and the XS turned out to be a sweet camera for a sweet price, so I'm now the proud new owner of a "Real Camera." I know (knew?) absolutely nothing about cameras so I put in the effort of reading through the entire manual for the camera, learning what all the different functions and settings do, and then also read a bunch of photography blogs and websites (dpreview anyone?). I'm very happy with my purchase, but am poorer as a result.

My second big purchase was a pair of snowblades. Go ahead and judge me, all you snowboarders and skiers out there, but I love snowblades and have a great time. They're a nice transition from rollerblading (which is what I'm most comfortable with) and don't require me to lug around poles. That, and they're smaller less expensive. Lucky for me, my cousin had a pair of snowblades that he was no longer desirous of, as well as a pair of ski boots that, while too large for him, fit me perfectly. For $100 the price was right, and I bought both the snowblades and the boots from him. I bought a helmet from some sketchy website that had inexpensive helmets, some ebay brand goggles (I still can't find them on any other website), and some comfy gloves and am now all set for mountain escapades. Those of you who do any winter sport know that, the cost isn't just in the gear, it's also in the travel/lift tickets. I've been skiing three times since being back, each time at ~$75 (plus food at the mountain) which is wiping me out even further. MIT has a Snowriders group that makes it really easy (and affordable) to hit the mountain for a day, transportation included, but it's still not cheap.

Next is Toy Fair in NYC. Last weekend was my third time at Toy Fair and, as always, I had a blast! I met tons of CEOs, saw (and played with) lots of awesome toys, and even bought a 7x7x7 V-cube (better than a Rubik's Cube). Of course, the bus to NYC and back was expensive, as well as the food I ate there, but again, these are the prices to pay for entertainment.

So here I am, with a rapidly dwindling supply of cash. What is an MIT student to do? Work! This means blogging and UROP for me, in addition to some more work for Livescribe (three jobs!? what am i, crazy???). I work for SmartCities in the Media Lab now, helping to design the caster system for the CityCar (seen below)

My semester is crazy this time around, and I don't know how I'm going to pull it off, but I'll certainly try. I'm taking 60 units of classes (a chunk of which is TAing for Toy Design), doing Pistol (Nationals are coming up), am i3 chair (along with Jess Kim, be on the lookout for the Guide to Residences and the i3 DVD this Spring, Jess and I are working to make an awesome video), am doing NextACT (a play put on by Next House during CPW), am Social Chair for Burton-Conner, and have a UROP. I feel like this could backfire, but for now, we'll go with it.

One last thing before I go. This will sound creepy, but I don't want it to. Two friends and I are going skiing/snowboarding during Spring Break at Sugarloaf (which is in Maine). Due to a variety of reasons (none of which, I promise you, are ill intentioned), we are looking for one more female to join our trip. We'll be leaving MIT on March 21st and getting back March 26th. It costs just $300 for 5 nights lodging and 5 days skiing, which is an incredible deal. If you are interested in joining us and live in the greater Boston area or Maine, shoot me an e-mail at ask-snively@mit.edu and we can work out details. It should be an awesome trip and it's a deal you really can't beat. For more details, check out our trip on Snowriders:

http://snowriders.mit.edu/details_ride.php?id=325

As the host school, we didn't actually compete in the contest; we did, however, perform the opening number:

I'm really proud of this video! We practiced sooo much for this performance. It seriously feels as though I spent more of last week in dance practice than I did in class. Most everyone on MIT Natya has been walking around with bags underneath their eyes for quite some time now. Saturday (the day of our show) was particularly chaotic, though I admittedly had fun using the "Build Your Own Pizza" app on the Domino's website to order pizza for all the teams.

MIT Natya is one of several dance teams on campus; I chose to be a part of it because Indian classical dance has been a part of my life for well over ten years now. It's been a huge outlet for me, an activity that compresses all of my pent-up frustration and energy and translates it into emphatic footsteps and sharp movements. It's easy to smile when performing on stage and even easier to forget that the audience is there. And dancing with the other members of MIT Natya is rejuvenating - it feels like a lively celebration - with the best of friends :)

For your viewing pleasure, here's a set of photos from Laasya ~ all photo credit goes to Arfa '13.

Oh - and a shout-out to Brian '13, who not only supported MIT Natya by coming to Laasya but also desperately wanted to be mentioned in the blogs :)