Adam's in the university centre - January 6th

This might be a common theme (Adam in the university centre), because my roommate has taken over my dorm room's internet connection and, as a result, I have to come to the UC for wireless internet connection. The picture you see above is of the creepy fellow about 30 feet to my right, who has had his laptop turned away from the rest of the world and has been smiling to himself the whole time he's been sitting there. I managed to snap this picture on my computer ;). 

Before I go on about what's happening in the UC, I'm going to rant about my roommate.

For the whole first semester (save the first two weeks I was in res) I basically lived in a double room by myself. My old roommate - let's call him..."Tim" - was never around and, I later learned, took up residence off-campus. He left in his wake loads of dirty laundry, half-finished water bottles, half-eaten food and a collage of pictures involving him and a baby, which we were sure was his. Anyway, living alone has its perks - you can do whatever you want when you want, there's no need to be too too neat or clean, and when you actually want or need to do work you have a quiet place to do it. I took it for granted.

I moved back in on Saturday (Jan. 3) for the winter term, and found that I had a new roommate. He seemed like a pretty cool guy. We're going to call him "the Sal-train"...a play on words and a pop culture reference. Sal-train is from the Middle East, which I have no problem with, but the way he goes about things irritates me. For example, Sal-train ruined my internet connection the first NIGHT we were together, barely even two hours into his stay, in the process of taking my ethernet cable out of its port and putting it in the port on his side to see if it still worked. Obviously it still works, the fucking cables are still there. He does not understand that it doesn't matter which outlet you select to plug something into in a room. All of the outlets are the same and work perfectly. Well actually, my ethernet outlet no longer works - he damaged the port when he recklessly ripped the cable out of the outlet not after he asked me, but WHILE he asked me if he could try it. I love the internet, and my internet access is now dependent on Sal-train sleeping or a walk to the UC. My respect for him decreased immediately.

Sunday morning he woke me up at 8:00 AM ("Time to get up Mr. Adam!") and took me on a five-plus hour excursion to South Keyes (several times) and around the campus. I consider myself to be a nice and helpful person, but even for a best friend this would be over-stepping the bounds of one's friendship. His inability to do anything himself extends past simple tasks like eating himself or going to class himself - he asks me (and my comrades) to do things for him...things he should do himself. For example, I am forced to look at his registration documents, put keys on his keychain, etc. He gets ridiculously upset if I don't.

I'll rant more about my roommate later - we already have plans to "derail the Sal-train" - but I want to make five or six quick observations about the UC while I'm here.

- there are a lot of attractive women at university

- there are a lot of people wearing sweaters at university

- half the students are using either a laptop, cellphone or iPod at any given time

- 1 in 4 students has a coffee in their hand at any given time

and...

- you know a professor is important by the length of his beard (longer or bushier the better), the thickness of his glasses (thicker the better), the pigment of said beard (the whiter the better - additionally any professor without a beard is subject to investigation) and the pace of their walk. 

This, interestingly enough, works in two ways. A prof. who walks incredibly fast, as if to say, "My morning cup of coffee is more important than your education" is beyond a doubt very important, otherwise he would not need to rush to an important meeting. However, a professor who walks slowly and deliberately, as if to say, "Where I am going, they [and the rest of the world] will simply have to wait for me because without me, they and you will be lost" is equally if not more important.

That's all for now. I came here an hour ago to get my history reading off the internet and I've done nothing but check my facebook and listen to ABBA. If you're reading this, yes John you can borrow my "Atlantic Lives" book for the reading tonight. Peace out.