After the show and the departure of parents, the musicians lingered. One of the pianists sat down and played Jeff Buckley's 'Hallelujah.' All the remaining students in the hall stopped, circled the piano, and started belting out the lyrics. Swaying together with a mixture of laughing and singing, nobody cared that my poor singing ability was only ( Read more... )

After only two and a half years at Columbia, I was exhausted. The pressures of school punctuated with the usual stresses of growing up wore me down. I needed a break so I went to Australia. It was a good choice, but as my time down under winds down, I appreciate Columbia more than ever before. Sure, it can still be a soul-sucking bureaucracy that ( Read more... )

I went to bed at eleven last night. It seemed like a rebellious act as if by going to bed I was somehow sticking it to the man. We're reaching the height of the school year; I have six long papers due in the next three weeks, but people are still drinking five or six nights/mornings a week. It is expected to wake-up Thursday morning and find vomit ( Read more... )

Being from the Rose City, I thought I knew rain. Growing up, every Halloween outfit had to fit under a Columbia sportswear jacket. I've always scoffed at umbrellas as being for wimps (Californians), and the old family photos are set against a grey backdrop of cloud cover, a testament to having grown up in nearly continuous rain ( Read more... )

My computer is up and running again!!!

I'd better go catch it.

"that dim waystation of undergraduate debauchery." -Diana Trilling, wife of the famous literature professor Lionel Trilling ( Read more... )

My computer has passed on! My Mac is no more! It has ceased to be! It has expired and gone to meet its maker! It's bereft of life; it rests in peace! It's pushing up the daisies! Its computing processes are now history! It has kicked the bucket; it has shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! I ( Read more... )

"Tasmanic Depressive: someone suffering from a rare and intense desire to return to Tasmania ( Read more... )

You know that kid who's absolutely certain he has a good idea but can't quite articulate it. The one that just keeps rephrasing the same notion over and over again. All the while, everybody in the class is rolling their eyes feeling superior, and as soon as that kid's idea comes into focus, the class and professor realize at the same moment that ( Read more... )

As midnight approached, I learned what burnt pubes smelled like, and it wasn't pretty ( Read more... )