The Globetrotting Geek

In Which I Try On A Derbie

November 28, 2014

Friday was scheduled to be busy. Shabbat was due to come in at around 4.20PM and I had a full day planned before. From class in the morning, to a planned lunch with a friend and then Pipers in the early afternoon, I didn’t know when I’d have time to prep. However, after machine learning I received a text that my friend was in fact ill and couldn’t make it, thus we rescheduled for the next week. So too did I receive a message from the Pipers informing me of a rescheduling of our rehearsal to the next day (which I was not pleased about). I ended up using the free time to work a little more and then take a nap, which extended itself well past the hours it was supposed to. I woke up after services and headed to dinner at Hillel. Post people this week were at external meals and so I sat with a few new people which was lovely.

The next day I woke up late but immediately had to go to rehearsal, missing lunch at Hillel. Luckily I had been prepared for this and had bought challot and some grape juice for myself, which I promptly consumed. Rehearsal was fun, and much needed given our concert later that evening with the Brown Derbies, one of their more entertaining all-male acapella groups.

In the afternoon I attended a theatre show put on by Pearl and a company she was managing. It was really well put together and was enjoyable. I then managed a brief nap and a quick dinner before helping to prepare for our evening’s concert.

Soon the Derbies arrived and we started our show. First the Pipers performed a set of some mixed light barbershop and a few 70s pop tunes. Then the Derbies performed a very high energy set of more typical modern acapella. Finally, the Pipers closed off with another set of barbershop and close harmony singing.

From Penn Dance, Schmush, Avalon, Lainie and Kendra all came along to support us. Talking to them after the show Avalon mentioned that she was going to see the latest Hunger Games movie, and invited Bhavish and I along. I thought it was a nice opportunity to get to know both of them a little better and was eager to do so.

I rushed home to get changed, stopped off quickly at the Glouse, and then met Avalon at the theater. Unfortunately all the tickets to the 10:30PM screening were sold, and so after ‘umming and ahhing’ for a little, we decide to wait an hour and see the 11:30 screening instead. We purchased our tickets, and had a good hour to kill, so we walked to the Glouse to give Bhavish his ticket. Bhavish unbeknownst to us, had decided to stay in and work, and so when we arrived he wasn’t there. We ended up chilling for an hour, and almost went to a bar, but then realized we were low on time for it and so walked back to the theatre.

This was a great chance to get to know Avalon a bit better as Bhavish didn’t show up until just before the movie started. And so, I got to tell her my favorite story about how I came to be at Penn. Bhavish eventually arrived, and showed us a few of his magic tricks, which were superb as always and impressed both Avalon and I (though I had seen them before). The movie itself was fine, not spectacular but fun and probably worth seeing. We all walked back to Harrison together, and then I had the luxury of a deep sleep.

In Which I Encounter the Spizzwinks(?)

November 24, 2014

Saturday I woke up, just as Sai was leaving the house to go to the accelerator, but I was far to tired to make a move. However, after a minutes thought and just as the door closed, I sprung up. I realized that this would be my only opportunity to explore Yale! I quickly got dressed and started sprinting in the direction of the science park hoping to make the 10:30 free tour. I arrived a few minutes late due to the lack of a map or a sense of where I was going. When I got there I saw a long long line, stretching all the way around the car back and looping back. As I had nothing better to be doing, I joined and waited, trying to spot Sai in the crowd. A member of the crowd then informed me that this was the line for the 11:30 tour, the 10:30 tour never existed! I now felt lucky that Sai had gotten the time wrong! About fifteen minutes later, I saw her join the line at the end and invited her over so that I had someone to talk to and could get to know her better. We chatted until just after 11:30 when we were finally let in. The accelerator was great, though not the most impressive I had ever seen. Things like that remind me why I choose to study physics.

After the tour, we both walked back to the apartment for lunch, and then I sat down to read again for most of the afternoon. As the sun was setting, it was time to head to the hall where we would be performing. When the Glee Club entered, we realized that the stage was far too small for most of our production numbers, and only barely fit the band and all of us. We quickly rejiggered our show to make the most of it, and soon the lights were down and the stage was set.

The New Blue of Yale were up first, and Liz completely blew the crowd away with a giant voice, that surprised many as coming from someone of below average stature.

They were really in tune, and quite fun to watch perform!

Next up was a standard Glee Club set, some choral numbers, vocal jazz, a little barbershop. However following that the Penn Pipers (including me) had a chance to show off some of what we had most recently been working on. Including some fun staging to ‘Goodbye My Coney Island’.

When we left the stage there was a large whoop as the Spizzwinks(?) (sic) ran on. Dressed up in black and white, they both looked and sounded mighty fine. While stylistically they were very different from us, I truly enjoyed their performance. Their sound was more modern, and they chose more recent pieces. However, one way in which they outshone us was in energy and variety of facial and bodily expression. Hopefully I wasn’t the only one to take note.

After the show, everyone went their own way. The residents of my suite went back and had a few drinks together and I stayed chatting with them for a few hours, before making sure I was well enough rested for a full day of work on Sunday.

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.