Technochocolate!

Did you ever make those chocolate lollipops when you were growing up? You know, the ones where you have these white chocolate wafers that you melt down and pour into molds and then let them harden in the fridge?

So currentlee and I went to a craft store last week. And I was hungry. And I bought a bag of those chocolate wafers, since they're kosher.

I've been eating them out of the bag since then. They are quite good. But I am going to run out soon and will have to buy more. Though I doubt it merits another trip to the craft store.

I guess I'll have to go back to eating swiss chocolate after this. :-p

Orientation

So far, orientation has been a blast. I met a bunch of really nice people. Actually, everyone in the program that I've talked to is really nice! This is crazy! And we had a hospitality suite in Andover Hall with not only food and drinks, but also Legos, a limbo stick, silly putty, rock painting, a bouncy ball (like the kind you play 4-square with) and bubbles. Actually, I think I should bring chalk tomorrow (not that I have any) and get a 4-square game going outside. I bet I could find people.

Though I am a bit worried about the workload, since one woman was talking about how much harder than college it is, and that even after a week you could fall behind. But thinking about it, it's possible that her basis for comparison is very different than mine. She was talking about getting all As in her undergrad classes, and being disappointed with an A-. And teachers liking the smart students who care about what they're doing, since a lot of people didn't really try. So I think Penn was more academically rigorous than this woman's school, seeing as I never got all As and usually was happy with an A-. In fact, I always got higher than I expected to. But there were lots of Bs in my academic career. I didn't even get straight As in high school!

And I'm used to not being a super-star in most of my classes. The exception would be my anthro classes. Though even then it varied. Like in my death class, there were a bunch of us who contributed a lot to discussions. Or any of my seminars, where everyone had something to say. I usually had a lot to say in Ben's class, but so did a bunch of people. And it wasn't like I was the only one to know about Judaism there.

So we'll see what happens. She painted a picture of having no free time at all whatsoever. I wonder what she would have said had I told her that I don't work at all on Saturdays.

And I think I'm bringing my drop spindle tomorrow. A lot of people commented on my knitting today. I made a calorimetry headband today. Or rather, I made most of one. I have one row left plus casting off. But I literally started it this morning and worked on it all day and am finishing it before I go to bed! The first time I made one of these, it took me a week!

I've also decided that if the weather is nice, I am going to offer free knitting classes, on Harvard yard. If I can find a public place inside where tons of people walk by, I'll do it there instead. People will have to buy their own yarn and needles, but once they do, I'll show them how to knit. I think I've gotten a lot of practice with my class this summer, so I'm a decent instructor as long as you're not asking about advanced techniques. Maybe I'll offer spinning instruction as well, though I'm not an expert spinner, and there really isn't that much technique involved once you get the hang of it.