I wonder if it was always like this in the the Ugli, or if it is as recent development. Although I didn’t spend very much time in them, I always got the impression that the the Rock and Gelman were super quiet food-free spaces.

Interestingly, the one thing I don’t see a lot is people napping, which I both observed and partook in both the Rock and the SciLi. I am 98% sure it is because there are few if any couches here. It’s all blocky wooden chairs and tables.

tell me when ratty has special dinner night. I’ll come eat with you for one last glorious sharp refectory meal.

Things to do before I go: hope that car has a mini-jack input, pack some more, clean up kitchen, take out trash, have dinner with Dan, pick up rental car, pack car, sleep.

P.S. Happy birthday Mummy!

Ta-dah!

Waterplace Park Safety Concerns

The Brown University Department of Public Safety is alerting the University Community of a robbery of a RISD student in Waterplace Park on the bridge near the GTECH Building on Monday, March 17th at approximately 5:45 p. m.

…

This sucks. It’s not even fully dark by 5:45 pm these days. Waterplace Park is one of my favorite parts of downtown Providence. I always walk to the mall because it’s so much nicer than walking along the road where they is barely any sidewalk. Some devleopment company is in the process of building some fancy condos inside the part right along the river. Maybe they could pay for better lighting under the bridges. And maybe the Providence police could spend more time patrolling downtown and Waterplace Park and less time giving people tickets for parking on the street overnight.

The sculpture made out of dead trees on the Quiet Green was destroyed by a dead tree this weekend.

The feeling begins about twenty minutes after you take the pill: a mental tightening, as though someone had refined your scope of vision into a narrow and penetrating line. All peripheral distractions disappear (you would make a very poor hunter or soccer player). There is a slight fluttering of the heart, and gentle, persistent waves of warmth that are not distracting unless it is hot outside. This is how I experienced Adderall; some people have panic attacks and others feel nothing at all.

Any actual amount of time spent under the influence is hard to describe, because time passes very quickly. It’s a euphoric drug, but also an alienating one. If I took a pill with my morning coffee, it would wear off by early evening. All of my work for the coming week would be finished, and I could take an aspirin, shower, and go to bed. Having missed the transition from day to night as well as all three meals, my dreams would be hysterical, but I always woke the next day feeling chipper and accomplished.

I would like to say that I concentrated in ethics and political philosophy. I would also like to avoid taking Moral Psychology in order to fulfill the seminar requirement of the standard track concentration. I think I will still take Epistemology even though it is not required if I switch tracks because it is a MWF class (50 minute meetings, phew!), the professor is on top of things, and being a philosophy class I know what to expect from it. Also the people in the class are enthusiastic and it meets in a nice classroom in one of my favorite buildings on campus, Smith-Buonanno.

So that leaves us with:

• Epistemology
• Environmental Economics and Policy: idealistic, yet practical
• Objectivity and Its Loss: a class in the interdisciplinary Science and Society department, which used to be the Biomedical Ethics department.
• Introduction to Scientific Computing and Problem Solving: programming in Matlab and C, mostly for Engineers, but seems like it will be fun

Shopping while sick has been a hassle. So far I gone to Environmental Economics, Epistemology, European Intellectual History, Intro to Number Theory, Intro to Scientific Computing and Problem Solving, and Moral Psychology. I need to take Epistemology and Moral Psychology to finish my concentration. I ruled out Number Theory after looking at the homework and the recitation times. Still unsure about European Intellectual History. Ruled out Environmental Economics because of a group paper (and let’s face it, I slept through the past two sessions while sick), but now that I think about it I might go to lecture tomorrow again just to make sure I don’t want to take it. Pretty positive about Computer Science — need at least one non-writing/reading course and it is practical. Shopping “Objectivity and Its Loss,” a bioethics class, today. I came across a syllabus for “Economics and Psychology” which looked cool, but it meets 3:00-5:20pm on Friday afternoon.

Yes, I am overwhelmed.