Why am I two floors below my room with my laptop? Well, let me see if I can sum up what's been going on in my room the last 48 hours or so...
FRIDAY NIGHT
Getting ready to go to sleep, I see something scuttle underneath my doorway. I figure it's at worst a roach, but since the light's off, I can't see anything. When an extended search of the area reveals nothing, I convince myself it was a trick of the light and go to sleep.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Returning to my room after havdala, I open up my laptop and check my email. I then begin watching a youtube video.
TEN MINUTES LATER - FIRST SIGHTING
Something quickly moves across my desk behind the laptop.
First thought- What the heck was that?
Second thought- I think there's a mouse behind my desk.
Third thought- OMG there's a mouse in my room!!!
I move back from the desk and quickly put on my packers slippers. There's a brief moment where I see nothing- I then see the mouse very quickly move from behind the desk under the doorway. I carefully peer out the hallway, and see nothing. I suddenly realize that this is the thing I saw last night. Commence jibblies.
I head down to the guard on the first floor and let him know of the situation. He writes my room number down on a piece of paper, and calls someone, telling them I've seen mice in my room. After a ten second conversation, he hangs up the phone and tells me "housekeeping" will put down "traps" in my room. When I ask him if it'll be done tonight, he says "I don't know about that." Okay, worse things have happened. So I sleep with the mice for one night. Sudden realization that housekeeping does not come on Sundays causes more jibblies.
However, I don't see the rodent for the rest of the night. Believing it to have left my room, I block the bottom of the doorway with luggage, and watch dr who until 2:30, at which point I am comfortable enough to go to sleep.
SUNDAY MORNING
No sign of the vermin, but still on edge. I spend most of the day at my sister's apartment, returning at around 3:00.
SUNDAY 3:00- SECOND SIGHTING
I open the doorway to be greeted by the mouse. As if to welcome me back to our humble abode, it quickly scuttles from behind the desk under the doorway of a closet near the door. Not having checked that closet the previous night, I suspect that the mouse has and had been living there, although there's no food in there. Just a TV box. I move the luggage in front of the closet, take my laptop, and leave the room.
Now I'm going to head back up there, grab my wallet, and head over to rite aid to find some way of killing this thing. I have less than no faith in "housekeeping" coming tomorrow and laying traps. We will fight these rodents on the seas, we will fight them on the beaches. We will defend our dorm room, whatever the cost may be. We shall never surrender.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Hit the ground running...into a volcano
Coming back from these long vacations, I always kind of feel like a plane landing. After spending so much free time up in the air, relaxing, the hard thump of the wheels hitting the ground wakes me up and reminds me of where I am and where I'm going. The plane has touched the ground, but is still going nearly as fast as it was in the air. Over time it slows down, until finally it reaches the gate, and I suppose my vacation metaphorically dies at that point.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Pesach. Well, this Pesach was without a doubt the best Pesach I've ever had in my life. I've become more aware in recent months that you appreciate something more and more the less you have it. Now I have not exactly been separated from my family for a tear-jerking amount of time (as my mom put it, my limit so far has been six weeks), but by my standards, it feels like years. So when I finally come home, and all of my brothers and sisters are there, it's just such an amazing time for me. People say there's nothing to do in Milwaukee- but I don't really need anything. As long as those guys are around, I'm having a good time. My brother happens to be going away to the Israeli army soon, and I probably won't get another good look at him for the next fourteen months, so we spent plenty of quality time together (although most of it was in shul, I guess). One regret I have from this break is that I spent so much of it working. Well okay I guess that's not true, I spent maybe three or four mornings doing my superhero work downtown as a mashgiach. I'm not totally sure why I took up the requests- I guess it's because usually they don't ask me, and this time apparantly they really needed me, and I have a hard time turning down money. There were one or two days where I turned them down, and I'm really glad I did, because that meant more time I got to spend with my family.
But now I come back to New York and am once again faced with the realization that things like this don't last forever. Even when I do come back for summer break, it won't be the same as it was over this vacation, since my sister will still be working in New York, and my brother will still be in the army in Israel. Sometimes I just can't believe I'm thinking about going to Israel next year. I mean, it's true a lot of my friends will be there, but I have a rough enough time dealing with going to New York, I can't imagine what things would be like for me if I were to leave for six months at a time. I tell myself having friends there will make things better, but that's far from a guarantee. And I guess I need to go to Queens this weekend to check Landers out.
I guess in theory I shouldn't have time to be thinking about this (or writing it) since I have like two tests and a paper due in the same week I come back. But I really just can't bring myself to study economics right now. Maybe in ten minutes.
The truth is I don't have very much school left. I go home in another six and a half weeks, and I only have classes for about half of that. Finals shouldn't be too terrible, but I need to actually get back on top of things. It could just be because I came back with a lot of things I had to do outside of school, which hopefully by the end of today are all taken care of. I had to mail back the car keys I accidentally left in my pocket, wheel two gigantic, 50 pound boxes over to my sister's apartment, close a checking account (haven't done that yet), cash a check...I think there are more.
One problem is that it's hard for me to focus on my schoolwork, and think about if I want to stay here for next year at the same time. If I wait on that decision until the schoolwork is over, it'll likely be too late (dorm registrations are due April 21st...so I guess I need to know by then).
It's just that I've come back from the most amazing vacation ever, and I find myself back in the middle of all of these things. It's so hard for me to re-orient myself. I didn't know what I was going to do with all this stuff three weeks ago, and I haven't made much progress since. I guess I've had kind of a hard landing, not unlike the entire Polish government. Except I think I'm really just half off the runway, not half a mile away from it. If I can just steer myself in the right direction, I shouldn't have much of a problem dealing with these last six weeks. Then I can start looking for a summer job two months too late. Ugh.
Oop, it's been at least ten minutes. I should really study some economics now. With any luck, I'll at least feel like I did well tomorrow, and I can focus on my other tests.
Aaah, I've heard it both ways...
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Pesach. Well, this Pesach was without a doubt the best Pesach I've ever had in my life. I've become more aware in recent months that you appreciate something more and more the less you have it. Now I have not exactly been separated from my family for a tear-jerking amount of time (as my mom put it, my limit so far has been six weeks), but by my standards, it feels like years. So when I finally come home, and all of my brothers and sisters are there, it's just such an amazing time for me. People say there's nothing to do in Milwaukee- but I don't really need anything. As long as those guys are around, I'm having a good time. My brother happens to be going away to the Israeli army soon, and I probably won't get another good look at him for the next fourteen months, so we spent plenty of quality time together (although most of it was in shul, I guess). One regret I have from this break is that I spent so much of it working. Well okay I guess that's not true, I spent maybe three or four mornings doing my superhero work downtown as a mashgiach. I'm not totally sure why I took up the requests- I guess it's because usually they don't ask me, and this time apparantly they really needed me, and I have a hard time turning down money. There were one or two days where I turned them down, and I'm really glad I did, because that meant more time I got to spend with my family.
But now I come back to New York and am once again faced with the realization that things like this don't last forever. Even when I do come back for summer break, it won't be the same as it was over this vacation, since my sister will still be working in New York, and my brother will still be in the army in Israel. Sometimes I just can't believe I'm thinking about going to Israel next year. I mean, it's true a lot of my friends will be there, but I have a rough enough time dealing with going to New York, I can't imagine what things would be like for me if I were to leave for six months at a time. I tell myself having friends there will make things better, but that's far from a guarantee. And I guess I need to go to Queens this weekend to check Landers out.
I guess in theory I shouldn't have time to be thinking about this (or writing it) since I have like two tests and a paper due in the same week I come back. But I really just can't bring myself to study economics right now. Maybe in ten minutes.
The truth is I don't have very much school left. I go home in another six and a half weeks, and I only have classes for about half of that. Finals shouldn't be too terrible, but I need to actually get back on top of things. It could just be because I came back with a lot of things I had to do outside of school, which hopefully by the end of today are all taken care of. I had to mail back the car keys I accidentally left in my pocket, wheel two gigantic, 50 pound boxes over to my sister's apartment, close a checking account (haven't done that yet), cash a check...I think there are more.
One problem is that it's hard for me to focus on my schoolwork, and think about if I want to stay here for next year at the same time. If I wait on that decision until the schoolwork is over, it'll likely be too late (dorm registrations are due April 21st...so I guess I need to know by then).
It's just that I've come back from the most amazing vacation ever, and I find myself back in the middle of all of these things. It's so hard for me to re-orient myself. I didn't know what I was going to do with all this stuff three weeks ago, and I haven't made much progress since. I guess I've had kind of a hard landing, not unlike the entire Polish government. Except I think I'm really just half off the runway, not half a mile away from it. If I can just steer myself in the right direction, I shouldn't have much of a problem dealing with these last six weeks. Then I can start looking for a summer job two months too late. Ugh.
Oop, it's been at least ten minutes. I should really study some economics now. With any luck, I'll at least feel like I did well tomorrow, and I can focus on my other tests.
Aaah, I've heard it both ways...
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