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As asidely mentioned, I'm at Kay's house in Washington for Thanksgiving break, together with Jonah. (Lillian also came along for the ride up but was ceremoniously dumped partway here.) Jonah and I spend our nights, in sleep or otherwise, in the nearby guest house, which has neither October beetles nor frogs in the sinks! Everything that's broken here is our own fault. I have earned the nickname "trundle" by sleeping on a corresponding bed, whereas Jonah now insists on being identified as Paternoster. Kay and her mother, whom latter personage we had met a few weeks ago at Parents' Weekend, stay in the main house, where they react in grievous (mock?-)surprise each afternoon when Jonah and I stagger out into the kitchen. On Thanksgiving itself the house was much again fuller when relatives and neighbors from across the nearby area came by to eat and share food and good tidings. Thanksgiving is always a problematic holiday, and the amount of vegetarian food was less than at last year's Sub-Free Thanksgiving (or, according to Renee, this year's), the Co-Op's, or my employer's, but it wasn't bad, and they were very sympathetic and faultless, and they tried.
Yesterday was a big work day, once awake, so hours went by with all of us in the same room, silently staring intently at our respective assignments, and (I, at least) marveling how different they all are. Jonah and Kay aren't people with whom I ever had classes, aside from Acting Lab, but last year there was definitely Hum110 to bind people together: this year, we have to come together based on who we are as people. Jonah's work is the most understandable to others, as he's working on American Slave Narratives, whereas Kay is analyzing (I think) the extent to which a particular work of music falls into a certain definition, looking at criteria such as the bass part going continuously under everything else. Meanwhile, of course, I'm trying to reconcile three different kinds of passive morphemes, some suffixal and some prefixal, with a varied cast of applicative constructions, generally meaning that case markers are insane.1
We generate blank looks through our academics, so instead we go for late night walks, play numerous games of poker (introducing Kay to the entire game, as well as many specific variations -- we're up to King Spot-Low so far), quote (and listen to) lots and lots of musicals at each other, and chat about random things from our presents or pasts. Maybe it's just that I'm actually in a house with people for a change, but the road trip up gave a similar impression, and I feel really happy with this whole trip from a social perspective. We've worked somewhat less than we'd hoped, but some progress has been, and will be, made. One way or another, these brief days with Jonah and Kay and Kay's mother have felt much more like spending time with, well, non-Reed friends, in a good way. Sitting around playing poker, categorizing shirt buttons, prying into Kay's past, or manufacturing crazy Jenga structures, is so much more like old homeschooling or birthday parties than it is like anything I do with NAFAL or in the fantasy dorm, and the industrialized ARG is different from living-room floor gaming. I really want to find a way to achieve this feeling more often at Reed itself -- perhaps this is what Lara and Christina and such get out of their numerous restaurant excursions? Further investigation must follow. One way or another, this has been an incredibly enjoyable excursion with two people whose company I really value... we're going back to Reed today, so that we'll have full access to the library and ETC and everything tomorrow, but we'll explore Seattle a bit on the way just to round off the trip. To those reading this, I hope you as well had (and continue to have, as it's only early Saturday afternoon) similarly lovely Thanksgiving breaks.
Excelsior!
1. I've since decided that the suffixal morphemes are not passive at all, but rather active, and that the antipassive is what results from their absence.
Yesterday was a big work day, once awake, so hours went by with all of us in the same room, silently staring intently at our respective assignments, and (I, at least) marveling how different they all are. Jonah and Kay aren't people with whom I ever had classes, aside from Acting Lab, but last year there was definitely Hum110 to bind people together: this year, we have to come together based on who we are as people. Jonah's work is the most understandable to others, as he's working on American Slave Narratives, whereas Kay is analyzing (I think) the extent to which a particular work of music falls into a certain definition, looking at criteria such as the bass part going continuously under everything else. Meanwhile, of course, I'm trying to reconcile three different kinds of passive morphemes, some suffixal and some prefixal, with a varied cast of applicative constructions, generally meaning that case markers are insane.1
We generate blank looks through our academics, so instead we go for late night walks, play numerous games of poker (introducing Kay to the entire game, as well as many specific variations -- we're up to King Spot-Low so far), quote (and listen to) lots and lots of musicals at each other, and chat about random things from our presents or pasts. Maybe it's just that I'm actually in a house with people for a change, but the road trip up gave a similar impression, and I feel really happy with this whole trip from a social perspective. We've worked somewhat less than we'd hoped, but some progress has been, and will be, made. One way or another, these brief days with Jonah and Kay and Kay's mother have felt much more like spending time with, well, non-Reed friends, in a good way. Sitting around playing poker, categorizing shirt buttons, prying into Kay's past, or manufacturing crazy Jenga structures, is so much more like old homeschooling or birthday parties than it is like anything I do with NAFAL or in the fantasy dorm, and the industrialized ARG is different from living-room floor gaming. I really want to find a way to achieve this feeling more often at Reed itself -- perhaps this is what Lara and Christina and such get out of their numerous restaurant excursions? Further investigation must follow. One way or another, this has been an incredibly enjoyable excursion with two people whose company I really value... we're going back to Reed today, so that we'll have full access to the library and ETC and everything tomorrow, but we'll explore Seattle a bit on the way just to round off the trip. To those reading this, I hope you as well had (and continue to have, as it's only early Saturday afternoon) similarly lovely Thanksgiving breaks.
Excelsior!
1. I've since decided that the suffixal morphemes are not passive at all, but rather active, and that the antipassive is what results from their absence.
