Before I even wrote the second half of that last entry (the chronology splinters and refracts), Ester whisked me off to Trotter for the quirkily publicized History Department party. The food was good - mini-pitas filled with shrimpiness, cakelet cubes, crackers with fish and cheese, jumbo grapes - but the people were not my kind of people. There wasn't anyone I felt like talking to except Rubin, and he was busy chatting with/up various profs. So we sat outside Ester's Poli-Sci father Vallele's office and watched a file of his students arrive to hand in their papers. We went to McCabe where I thoroughly searched the whole building for Blair, who said she was there, but just found Rob, who agreed to help fix my computer. Score. Then to Kohlberg(?) to meet my fellow SAC members for our dinner. We numbered ten by the time we arrived at Iron Hill Brewery in Media: Gabe, Dave, Kristina, Amanda, Sarah, Laura, Emmanuelle, myself, Peter Austin, our chauffeur, and Jenny Yim our benefactress. I took to heart her instructions to order anything we wanted (except alcohol), putting the school's money to good use and performing a feat calculated to impress those who are impressed by that kind of thing. My meal included an appetizer of salmon spring rolls, a cup of Maryland crab soup, a cordon bleu pizza, and a dish of vanilla ice cream. And a glass of home-brewed root beer. The food was on the better side of how you would expect it to be at a place like that, and, um, filling. I couldn't finish even half of the ice cream it was so rich. That with the saccharin root beer would make a hell of a float. While I chowed I talked with Gabe, Amanda, Peter, and Kristina, amassing quite a store of gossip. They're [Gabe] quite the 'mongers, with willing to smack or share information on old roommates, specs and seniors, all kinds of professors. On the way home, Sarah asked me what do you want to do with your life? and we talked about it nicely for a while.

I got back here and curled up on Ester's bed amidst Stef (sheltering) and Rebecca (nose-prodder), supposedly stat-projecting. Off to my radio show, where I ran into Jenny (burning Migala, TV Personalities, Unwound) and met Blair. She read me the two scenes of the musical she has written, each with a set of clever lyrics, as well as a hilarious parody of a small-town newspaper review of the piece. We're definitely collaborating it looks like, and although I feel like I'm sort of stealing her thunder, it will be fun to write some tunes and add a couple scenes of my own. She envisions a grand dramatic "strangulation" duet and a gossipy number in the tradition of "pick a little talk a little." Her work so far draws almost as much from music theatre references as from the material of the course, but it's really good and really funny. We're meeting Bruce tomorrow to run it by him, although I'm sure he'll be somewhat skeptical. I told her about the Christmas capers. Also, I got an e-mail from Alyssa saying that she's living in ML. Cool. Blair's hall as it turns out. I'm excited at the prospect of eating in the ML breakfast room at some point. Happy tidings. I had a good show, and taped most of it:

Air : Californie
Apples in Stereo : Signal in the Sky
: If You Want to Wear a Hat
Death by Chocolate : Olive Green
: Ice Cold Lemonade
Beulah : Popular Mechanics for Lovers

Jeff Mangum : Glow
Ryan Adams : Oh My Sweet Carolina
Sixth Great Lake : Across the Northern Border

Old 97s : Bird in a Cage
Dandy Warhols : Get Off
Yo La Tengo : Stockholm Syndrome
Unwound : Look a Ghost!
Blur : Beetlebum

The Kinks : David Watts
Talking Heads : Air
Elvis Costello : Almost Ideal Eyes

Shuggie Otis : Inspiration Information
Common : Retrospect for Life
Scanty Sandwich : Because of You
Plaid : Eyen
The Moldy Peaches : Who’s Got the Crack?

Guided by Voices : 14 Cheerleader Cold Front
: Back to Saturn X Radio Report
Built to Spill : Center of the Universe
The Magic Magicians : 123 to 9 to 5
Vic Chestnut : Until the Lead

Erin McKeown : La Petite Mort
Silver Jews : Let’s Not and Say We Did
Dump : Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi
Mazarin : A Tall-Tale Storyline

Reindeer Section : Will You Please Be There for Me?
Hood : They Removed All Trace That Anything Had Ever Happened Here
Elliott Smith : No Name #4

[DJ Raust Harmonica Solo]

Apples in Stereo : Seems So

Popped downstairs to see Brigid's lack of hair, and ended up watching two movies with her instead: "Maths on the Street" (a documentary short she's been raving about for months, about Brazilian kids adept at oral math but frustrated in school) and the first act of "Noises Off." I didn't experience that as a movie so much as a continuous sequence of triggers of memories. Man, Jennifer Hoffman, Jon Silver, Jessica Ladiges. What a cast. What a terrific play. What a great girl. What a cool palindrome: doc/note/i/dissent//a/fast/never/prevents/a/fatness//i/diet/on/cod

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