April 11th

I recently noticed that the bulletin boards changed in our hallway. It's very amusing to me that the RAs can, I believe, post whatever they want, so long as they change their boards every so often to something different. One board, which used to be devoted to how to dress to impress, now covers Feng Shui...or colors. I realize now that I didn't actually take in the theme of the board when I took this picture. This piece just caught my eye. Green is my favorite color. In fact, my walls at home are painted bright spring green. According to this, green "promotes health and family, tranquility and freshness." I'm sure there are some people out there who are super into this type of thing, and obsess over the importance of color and stuff. I'm not one of them. Certain colors just make me happy.

The boards on our side of the hall used to be ninja themed. Before the aforementioned board was about clothing, it was about ninja health tips. This board here also clearly used to be about something ninja-esque; in the corners are pictures of throwing stars and katanas. Now the board talks about, "Alcohol: What's normal? and What's not?" I think the ninja remnants really give an edgy feel to the piece.

April 10th

This shadow bared a striking resemblance to a bear's head (and perhaps a paw underneath. It is very difficult to take a picture of a shadow in a dark room, but hopefully you can see what I saw.

I had a wonderful weekend with my David. I was coming down with a cold, and having him come down to visit me was a great comfort. Have I told you how wonderful my wonderful boyfriend is? Pretty wonderful, let me tell you.

April 8th

Oh, how sweet it is! This one's for you, Marcia-Marcia! I miss you, Marvel!

Benjamin agrees. If he had thumbs, he'd be giving a thumbs up right now.

April 7th

This lone tree is surrounded by large rocks at its base. I have a few guesses as to why. Perhaps someone thought they were doing the tree a good turn and giving it some support so it wouldn't topple over. Perhaps someone was going to set the tree on fire, but decided to make a campfire ring of rocks, just to be safe; only you can prevent campus conflagration, you know. Perhaps someone thought it looked neat for some reason. Maybe it was someone's favorite tree, and that person wanted to mark which one it was so as not to forget. Or maybe someone just had a bunch of rocks and needed to put them somewhere, and laying them in a circle around the base of a nearby tree seemed like the most practical idea. Maybe the person even realized it might make people wonder.

This is Doo-dah, a little stuffed bear Steph gave me last Christmas. He's pretty much absolutely ridiculous, and exuberantly happy all the time, so, like the wind-up toys, if I am ever feeling blue or irritated, I can just look at him and can't help but smile. The picture really doesn't do his insanity justice.

April 6th

Today the sky was blue, the air was warm, the sun was shining, and the campus was beautiful. These are a couple photos I took while walking to class. The first is a picture of the Lakeside Building, a building which I hadn't really noticed until quite recently, because I'm not often on the side of campus past the chemistry building. I have no idea what's inside it, but I kind of want to find out. I bet it's just a bunch of fancy offices. The building sure is stately looking.

The second photo's subjects are the bright red fire hydrants along North Eagleville Road. They're so bright and happy. They made me smile, so I took their picture. It's the little things in life, you know?

You may have noticed the leafy background change. Springy, right? I think I'm going to mix things up like that from time to time, because that, too, makes me happy. Try to contain your enthusiasm.

April 5th

This morning the campus was eerily quiet. The grey sky and damp ground were like bookends to the oppressive silence hanging in the air. Last night, the campus celebrated the men's championship victory; today, silent streets and low attendance are the only remaining traces of the great revelry of the night before. The air is misty and cool, dripping with moisture, unnoticed until you go to pull a notebook from your damp backpack. Walking to class, the wind whipped through the trees and tugged at our jackets. The wailing cry of an ambulance punctuated the silence and brought the hard, ominous feel of the morning into stark focus. I laughed with fearful excitement, not even aware of my nervous joy until my friend inquired about my seemingly out-of-place reaction. My heart was reveling in the dark apprehension that hung like a sinister fog over the campus. There is breath-taking beauty in nature's gloom.

April 4th

Free T-shirts are always great, but free hats, not so much. Neat idea, crappy follow-through. You can't see the back, but it has a stretchy band around the base. The hat's also not exactly baseball cap-shaped, but more flat on top, kind of like a mailman's hat. It was a nice try, though, UConn.

Last night, the women's basketball team lost to Notre Dame. It's a very solemn day on campus. It was very quiet last night, in stark contrast to the night last week when the men won their Final Four game. Tonight is the men's championship game, and many Huskies are headed to Gampel to watch the game on a huge projector screen. I've never been much for sports, so I'm staying in to work on a paper I've been putting off. I might turn on the TV to check the score now and then, although if there are groups of people in the building watching the game on their TVs, I'm sure I will be able to hear when we score or not. I'm only a little bit scared to see the great drunken enthusiasm that will break out on campus if we win. Tuesday's going to bring with it some very hungover Huskies. I wonder if my classes will be sparsely populated.

This is the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It is excellent and you should read it. David and I are almost finished. And then? On to Infinite Jest! Unless he has another book in mind.