Of course, that didn't stop me from having it again tonight. Mmm...
This morning I attended Oriel's Freshers' Fair. I signed up for pretty much everything. 'Cause I've got freedom, and I can do whatever I darn well feel like. Except then I realized I have a double major, and I promptly began scratching out my signature from various sign-up sheets.
I signed up for rowing, but only because everyone's been telling me I should be a cox (yes, with an "x"). For those of you who don't know, the cox is the fella at the front of the rowboat who bellows at everyone to stroke in unison. Since the cox is basically dead weight, as he does no rowing himself, the ideal cox is very small as well as loud. I don't know why they thought I would make a good cox, but I decided to sign up just in case I didn't get into choir.
Still, I don't think I'd like being cox. I don't have time, I'd have to wake up at five a.m. every morning, and I can just imagine all my teammates all stealing bits of food off my plate at every meal to make me lose weight. I'm not very patient, so I don't have much more wait to lose.
I officially signed up for the OCU, and I made sure I signed up for both choirs. One of them only practices once a week, while the other one you get paid for being in, and you get all sorts of perks. For example, I'd get to go to not one, but TWO far-too-early Christmas banquets I'm definitely not going to enjoy. Still, it's not about the food. It's about the money. And a possible t-shirt. That's what really matters.
Of course, if you've been reading my blog since it started (about three days ago, WOW), you'll know that it's not really about the money for me. I kid, and I josh. It's about using my voice to honor God. 'Cause He gave us the freedom of choice. We can use our gifts to glorify ourselves (I'm looking at you, Bieber), or we can use our gifts to glorify God.
Anyhow, enough talk. More pictures!
Here are some friends of mine, who kindly invited me into their humble (though not as much as MINE) abode. In this here blog, I try to respect others' rights to anonymity, so instead of using their (fairly common) names, I'm only posting a picture of their (rather specific) faces. They gave me cake and I left them.
As it turns out, there was no reason to leave, since the friend I thought was waiting for me wasn't at my room, so I decided to start my Computer Science homework. Earlier today, we finally met the Computer Science professor. There had been a lot of mystery about him, rumors flying free around the room at bouncing off the sofas in a manner reminiscent of the wind's cameo at the beginning of the Great Gatsby. Some people told me he fought in the war. Some told me he was an Oxford man. Oops, sorry. That's not my CompSci professor, that was Gatsby.
I'm often told told that the professor's eyes pierce into your soul sometimes when he gazes at you with those unfathomable eyes (much like Professor Dumbledore), except that when he does that, he's actually just thinking. It's a bit unnerving at first.
I completed the first two problems in the Computer Science homework Professor Spirey gave us to complete before next week very responsibly, thank you very much. I got completely stuck on the third problem, but had a hint about it involving strong induction, so I did the extremely pretentious thing of actually going to the college library and looking for a book without technology. Like the Romans used to do. After spending an hour in the library and not locating any book that explained strong induction, I left the library and used my phone to find it on Wikipedia in fifteen seconds.
Not that it helped.
I finally figured out problems three and four by actually sitting down with some of the other Computer Science students. We sat there in the JCR on the couches and talked through the problems, thinking about a solution together. After two hours, to our utter astonishment, we had figured out two extremely simple solutions (well, to us, anyhow) to the two extremely confusing problems. We felt so liberated. All we needed for our freedom was each other.
And some paper, of course.
And a few pens. Some pencils. An assortment of mathematical textbooks, both in the library and out. All the chairs in the world (for a metaphor; it was the cornerstone of our solution). And a large piece of oxygen in our mouths.
But mostly each other. Y'know?
Afterwards, I went with other members of the Oriel Christian Union to a local pub. Still no drinks for me, but we had a good time before going to the G&D. The G&D is a fabulous ice cream store in Oxford city, in the type of fabulous that involves eating so much sickeningly delicious, high-cholorestal-building ice cream that it probably would've been healthier to go to a bar, get completely drunk, and form a rock band.
I ate every lick of that ice cream. I hated myself.
...But at least I wasn't this guy.
I ended the day with watching Django Unchained. Most violent movie I have ever seen, but also one of the most original. The actors' American accents made me feel at home while watching it. Is that weird?
Be free, my readers.
Most southernly,
John Khouri, Unchained
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