Just finished off everything for the school year (related to classwork...the research never ends). It feels a bit odd to be stopping in mid May, but I'm glad that I'll have more time to focus on the important, long term stuff now.

Also, Illinois has the funkiest weather. It was threatening to rain the entire day, but was ~20C for most of the time despite really dark clouds. I felt I was in a coolish sauna really--it was really hard to decide whether to keep my coat on.

It's been a whole week since I moved into my new room at Caltech, and I must say that I'm finally starting to settle in. Today's actually the first day I've had prolonged periods of *free time,* so I thought I'd stop for an update (I was suffering from serious HP fanfic withdrawl till I could settle down in front of a computer on Thursday =P).The south houses are doing renovations, so for this year, members of those houses have to stay in temporary "mods" that are like the bungalows that you see on overcrowded middle schools. I'm staying in a Fleming triple room for now, which is kind of nice because I have much more personal space than those people who have doubles (those rooms are only a foot larger than the singles).

Orientation was pretty fun for the most part. We spent Monday through Wednesday at a resort hotel at Lake Arrowhead, enjoying the first rain and thunderstorm for years high up in the mountains. Apart from getting wet, we managed to build a boat out of junk (waterbottles, tongue depressors, elastic bands, and LOTS of duct tape) that looks like a cross between a lobster and the MIR space station). It actually didn't do that badly in the race (ours was one of the only boats that consistently went STRAIGHT). We also got to meet Dr. Drew for an eventful talk about...well, what he's good at discussing....>.>

Rotation for the houses have started, and classes start tomorrow morning, so things are going to get busier from here. So far, I've dined with Blacker (the moles), Ruddock, and Ricketts, and things are *interesting* to say the least. Flying projectiles abound at the dinner tables, people who don't follow the rules get dumped with cold water (they actually did this to the Blacker House President), and pounding on the desks replace clapping for the houses that I've visited so far.

Ryan, you'll be happy to know that I've joined the Women's Glee Club, one of the singing groups at Caltech, as a soprano. The first rehearsal is tomorrow evening, (fortunately well after classes). That should keep me from going too insane (sanity certainly isn't something that is too common around here...)

So call me obsessive compulsive, but I've already started to pack two weeks before I'm due at Caltech. It's not the first time I've packed, but doing it for a holiday is completely different from packing to leave home for good. It's quite amazing to find out how much stuff I've amassed. I've already got two boxes, a suitcase, and a duffle bag practically filled, and I haven't even packed a pillow. There's so much that I want to bring (I wish I could just transport my entire room), but at the same time, I'm always afraid that I'm taking too much stuff with me. The book that Caltech gave us said that we should bring books, posters, and stuff like that, but how much do I take without either making the dorm too impersonal or too crowded?