A new 2 page from Nick to pass along!
I’m off to Montana for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad, I’ll likely leave on
Tuesday, if not then on Wednesday, assuming no blizzards. Will let you
know for sure when I leave.
Zack had fun with his engine-less car this weekend. He rented a car trailer
Friday morning, so he and I managed to get his car pushed up onto it. It
was raining, and we ran out of momentum 1/2 way up, but we somehow went into
extra he-man mode and got it up. Then he drove the trailor and car to
work, then that night dropped the car off at Jessy’s Dad’s farm. But there
was a mis-communication and it got dropped off at the wrong spot, so today
he gave up on that plan and picked the car back up and brought it back here
and now has it parked beside our garage. Hopefully the neighbors won’t mind
too much. So, after spending about $100 of his hard earned monnies in
rental fees, he got the car moved about 10 feet from where it was!
Bruce
—–Original Message—–
From: Nick Winter [mailto:Nicholas.Winter@oberlin.edu]
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 9:44 PM
To: bruce@misterhouse.net
Subject: The one and only leprosy kitten monger
Have you ever seen a zombie movie where the good guys are trapped inside a
building with zombies attacking them and coming through the windows and
everything, and then a few of the good guys get eaten by the zombies but the
others escape, and the zombies chase them but zombies don’t go very fast so
they get away and the good guys are like, “Oh man! That was close, dude!”
but then they turn around a corner or run into a street or something and
there’s just eighty-three zombies standing around, which all whip around
(well, except they’re zombies and they don’t really whip so much as stagger
slowly so as to be facing the other direction) when one of the characters
sneezes or steps on a twig or accidentally blows something up, and then it’s
all a huge shamblefest?
Except with so many zombies, the movie people have had to get somewhat
less-than-dedicated extras, and there’s always that one zombie who, instead
of shambling, rotting, and moaning, is wandering in the wrong direction,
zombiewhistling and admiring the clouds and feeding a kitten during the
shot–you know that zombie?
…
Wow, I completely forgot where I was going with this. It was going to be
such a good intro, too! I think. That, or I was trying to foreshadow my own
impending undeath/reanimation as a happy-go-lucky walking corpse. Probably
the first one, though. Fiddlesticks! I’ve spent ten minutes pondering,
perpending, puzzling, and puddle-praying, and I can’t remember what I was
going for with the zombie metaphor! Woe.
My classes are going well, I think I’m still getting an A- in Chemistry (I
had to start studying for the quizzes though since I dreamt through some of
the lectures–but I’ve yet to open my $120 Chemistry textbook, which is
utterly useless except for bashing demons and enraged marmots). Computer
Science is very tantalizing, but we can’t write programs that solve the
universe or have graphical interfaces or taste very good without herbs and
spices such as garlic, cinnamon, and peanut butter. I’m floating happily
through the class though. And I’m floating happily through Words that Matter
too, although I had to write a six-page paper explicating a poem, which made
me sad until I wrote in the phrase, “…and he is hoping she is really bad
at math and doesn’t realize that he wants to enjoy her spleen.” Bill made me
delete that part though. Poetry is going decently, except for one class when
we were workshopping someone’s sesquipedalian poem and I fell asleep and
woke up right when he was reciting the thoughtful conclusion–but when I
woke up, I let out this crazy zombie moan, and it was oooooops. I don’t know
how loud the moan was because I was just waking up and not hearing my own
moan except for the last part of the moan, but I’m a little worried about
how the professor is going to grade me on effective in-class discussion.
I’ve gone to a dozen concerts this month and some of them were okay, but
most of them were sweet. And I went to go see The Arcade Fire in Cleveland,
whom I’d never heard of before, and it was so awesome that I almost exploded
and imploded at the same time! It was like wow. Yesterday, there was this
totally awesome sarod (which is like a lute, from India) player, Rajeev
Taranath, and he was very mindblowing, too. What with the Conservatory of
Music and all, I can’t believe how much music there is at Oberlin! It almost
feels like I’m the only person here who doesn’t play an instrument or sing.
Ahh, how lucky for I, serenaded always. Yesterday, there was a
student-written musical that was very good; it had hipsters in it and one of
them played a very emotional cowbell and screamed.
I’ve been introduced to new culinary delights, too! I’ve discovered that I
like: at least six kinds of Chinese food; more types of shrimp than just
popcorn shrimp; orange guava juice; some supposedly ubiquitous type of Asian
peanut buttery sauce; and salads. Granted, my conception of a salad is a
plate full of little tomatoes with lots of cheese on them, but tomatoes are
kind and wise. I’ve also tasted tea for the first time ever, and I liked it
(chilled chai, warmer chai, and some green tea thing; I didn’t like the
really spicy chai though). Mom, why didn’t you tell me?!
Last night, I slept outside as part of an awareness thing about
homelessness. It was very cold and wet, and most people were unable to sleep
at all because they were freezing, but I am from Minnesota and my last name
is Winter and I am invincible! We woke up at six a.m. and the other
“sleepers” were saying, “Finally! I was looking at my watch all night and I
would so totally die right now if I was really homeless and didn’t have a
dorm to go back to! Let’s get out of here and go to sleep!” I was like,
“mmmmm… few more minutes… zzzzzz.”
I also watched Singin’ in the Rain, Magnolia, About a Boy, Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind, and The Incredibles, all of which are now among my
favorite movies, especially Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: sooo
good! I watched Aladdin again too; any time I want to watch basically any
movie that might seize my fancy, I can go around and someone is bound to
have the DVD for me to borrow! It’s frabjous.
I think I’ve broken the cell phone. Was I supposed to leave it plugged in?
It turns on for a few seconds if I press the End button, but only displays
the Sprint logo. So I don’t know how to make outgoing phone calls.
Telephones are too new-fangled for me; I am sorry. If you call me, though,
at 440-776-2394 and I’m actually in my room, I would be delighted to talk to
anyone, everyone, and cats. There is a cat that lives outside near my dorm,
and I fed it today; it liked my philosophies. I respond readily to e-mails
and instant-messages (I’m quartzsphinx on AIM), honest!
I’ve registered for classes for next semester: more intro Chemistry and
Computer Science, Discrete Mathematics, and some Developmental Psychology
class that I know nothing about, unless I get into (I’m on a waitlist) a
cinema studies class, Documentary Forms, which I also know nothing about
except that the professor is supposed to be great. Later, I will sign up for
ExCo’s, possibly including capture the flag, knife throwing, or swing
dancing. For winter term, I’m probably going to sign up for Aikido: six
hours a day, five days a week, three January weeks of intensive martial arts
training and I have no idea whatsoever if I will like it! Fun. I’m staying
here for Thanksgiving weekend I guess, but they kick you out of the dorms
for winter break, which is from Friday, December 24 to Saturday, January 1;
Aikido starts on January 5th. So I think I’m going home, but maybe I will go
to somewhere else if there’s somewhere else to be gone to.
Sorry for being so completely out of touch; I’ve been spending every one of
my free seconds being overwhelmingly in love with Emily, of whom I’ve
attached a picture and am keeping many secrets because I think it’s
delightful to perhaps tantalize the family!