Beetle, what you doin' there?

So it's been a while. I've had a busy few weeks. While I'm drawing a blank on what actually happened, I'll just start talking about some random things and hope it comes together coherently in the end.

Here's a little music for you:



I'm a lucky guy (for many reasons, especially apparent soon enough). When the exchange students were given housing applications, we were asked to rank in importance some attributes on where we should live. Some people choose "sport fields close," others chose "strong community." I chose co-ed roommates and my own bathroom (which has worked out well so far). There seems to be a greater depth of perspective in our apartment, and that lends itself to creating a more intellectually diverse atmosphere. It's like our kitchen is a normal common room in a dorm, except populated by though-provoking friends (missing the idiots).

However, to get back on track. Housing placed me in Winkworth, which is self-catered (7 of us share a kitchen). Other halls have this attribute, but few have a cleaning lady come in to cleanse the kitchen once a week as ours does. Her name is Jan. She's around 65-68, has great-grand children and lives with father (who is losing his mind). I eat lunch each week and listen to her talk about her life, usually in a somewhat depressed fashion. She was talking about how she didn't want her kids to go through what she is going through right now (having to attend to her father as if he were a child). I was fine listening to her until she made a statement that when somewhat like this: "I don't want my kids to go through this. Sometimes I think that I should just takes some pills, go to sleep, and never wake up." I didn't know how to continue chewing my tuna sandwich when she said that. I had no response. Luckily she followed that with "but that isn't any time too soon" or something like that as she must have seen me turn whiter than a KKK member who works for Clorox (crappy comparison). I don't know how I'd respond to someone who is considering suicide. During my engineering peer mentoring training, we were told that some-outrageously-large-statistic of students the next year would be suicidally depressed, but we just shrugged it off as we seemed to know that freshmen don't do that kind of thing (their newfound unlimited freedom offsets UPII). However, when all freedom has been given up for others and you disappear in the eyes of a crazy old man, it's difficult to talk to someone, as I've have not experienced that situation. I still don't know what to say to her, so I've just joined in with my roommates for keeping the kitchen tidy and being a good listener so she feels appreciated.

So that's Jan.

Here's a beetle:


It's down by the river!

I'm hungry now, and need to do some matlab. But I'll write more fairly soon, as I figure out where I'm going this break.

Peace.