In Which I Say Adieu
November 16, 2014
Wednesday was the usual day of heavy classes, and at this point in semester they were all starting to blur together. I practiced piano for a little in the afternoon and attempted to make some slow progress on machine learning. Unfortunately that night I missed having dinner with Dad but I did however get a lot of work done and also manage to keep up my rehearsal attendance. The day was otherwise not notable.
Thursday was a little different. A good physics lecture in the morning followed by an hour of work and then lunch at Hillel. Today I decided to try something a little different and went for the ‘pasta action station’ whereby Kenny from the Hillel dining staff made up a pasta as per my request. It was pretty tasty and made me resolve to try and get to Hillel more often for lunch. I then had a meeting with the Pipers and the House Dean of Harrison to arrange space usage for an upcoming concert with a group from Brown. I struggled to then drag myself back to Engineering so ended up taking a nap first. I made it back to my lab just in time for ‘lattice club’ and, after an hour of that and some work in Moore 100, was ready to have dinner with Dad again.
That night we went to Hamifgash, and both ordered a mixed grill (with felafel for entree). We had another chance to chat for a while and eat some more nutritious food. However at the end of the meal it was time to say goodbye to Dad for five weeks, until I would be returning home for a visit. It was hard to say goodbye, especially given how helpful it had been to have his support over the past week. I returned to my room, a little dulled in mood and tried to get some more work done. After it became clear that wasn’t going to happen I walked in the freezing cold and icy rain to get to the glouse for board game night. And while games started late, and I hadn’t the patience for anything too serious, I had a good time and it helped me to forget about saying goodbye. I went to bed a little later than usual, and set my alarm for the next day, which was to include the big trip up to Connecticut.
In Which I Consume Mama’s
Sunday was another chance to spend more time with dad. After a bit of a sleep in we set out together and headed in to center city. First stop was Macy’s, to find a suit and a few other assorted odds and ends needed for Glee. After that I walked him back up to 17th street for lunch at Mama’s Felafel, which was delicious, filling and as a bonus fairly cheap. Following that, a little more shopping at Marshall’s, another stop back at Macy’s to pick up what we had left behind and then a taxi back to campus. After a very short nap, I convened with the Penn Pipers at the glouse for rehearsal. Once that was through, dinner was with Dad and Luke which was nice, but soon the two of us had to return to our lab to and get some work done. Luke and I were fairly productive together and worked until around 10PM at which point I walked home and went to sleep, trying to regain my health.
Monday was fairly standard, the usual run of classes, nothing spectacular. Rehearsals of preparing for our upcoming Glee tour to Yale continued, as did the choral society’s work on the Handel, Dixit Dominus. I had dinner with Dad and he managed to find a place with good gluten free options (he has coeliac disease) so I was pleased that he wasn’t the only one getting fed!
Tuesday was less productive than I needed it to be. Physics was still interesting (learning about the effects of geometry of the universe of the way rotations work). Security reading group was on a paper that I really enjoyed with a great title: “The geometry of flesh on the bone” by Hovav Shacham, an academic who I admired a lot. Following that I had a meeting, and then an appointment with the dietitian (thankfully gaining a little weight since my last visit). Tuesday night I was again with Dad which was still as wonderful as the first night and we had a delicious dinner together before I raced back to Penn just in time for a late night Glee rehearsal that ran till just after 11. Following rehearsal, I worked alongside Pearl for a time, collapsing when the hour got to lap and dragging myself back to my room.
In Which I Find A Renewed Appreciation for Parenthood
November 10, 2014
A huge highlight of Wednesday and Thursday was a chance to see someone from home. Dad. He had arrived a few days early before his conference in center city, in order to spend a little time with me and therefore I freed up my schedule as much as possible. Pretty much every meal we managed to spend together (with one or two exceptions).
Thursday afternoon was pretty busy, I first had a meeting with the director of Penn Global as part of ISAB. The meeting left me with more questions than answers but things were going in the right direction. Following the meeting I rushed off to the Annenberg Performing Arts Center to see a performance of Sweeney Todd presented by Penn Singers, the university’s light opera company.The performance was really fantastic and quite minimalist too. Two of the leads were the sole accompanists for the show, taking turns on a piano played centrally on the set. The stand out performance was that of Genna Garofolo, playing Mrs. Lovett. Nearly pitch perfect and full of character, she helped to carry the show. Another special mention to Eric Lifland who played a chilling impression of Mr Todd.
Friday was again packed full. Class, followed by a meeting with Nadia, lunch with dad, a rehearsal and then finally a sort nap and off to Hillel to meet Dad. Hillel was fairly deserted for dinner that night but Dad and I found company with a few others who had remained behind. I tried to get to sleep early that day but I was restless and couldn’t sleep for a few hours.
The next day I woke up late, still a little sick but a little bit better. I met Dad at Hillel and we talked to Rabbi Levi from Chabad for a bit. Lunch was with Ariella and Moe, and we mostly talked about differences between Australia and the US. My afternoon was quite delightful as I had the chance to read a book for pleasure, “The Rosie Effect”, gifted to be my Abi for my birthday. I really enjoyed the book and even finished it in time for a nap after.
After Shabbat Dad and I had dinner together and then went to see “Gone Girl” at the local movie theatre. While I quite enjoyed the movie, it was a little too gratuitously violent for dad. More than anything I enjoyed the sound design and scoring which mixed calming classical notes with staccato electric tones to provide a constant high tension, on-edge feel to the movie.
Afterwards, I worked for a little and went to bed well satisfied with my weekend thus far.