Booth Addendum

There was so much in the last entry but so much happened and I left a few things out. The first story was when Ben came up to me and asked "What booth needs booth?" I didn't intend to give a nonsense answer (and that is probably what made it so funny) but the ridiculousness of the question caused me to answer, "That's good true." I don't want to put the next story in here but for those who know, lauan:wood::gold-plated:jewlery. The bush we had to be the burning bush in the booth was a real bush. I took it back and planted it in our yard. I think I did a good job. It looks good where it is, even though it isn't in a place that we've had a bush before. I hope it lives. I think it is nice that it blesses our house. Unlike people who did small things such as hieroglypic tiles or beanbag frogs, there wasn't anything for me to take away from the booth, but the fact that I was able to plant and leave something from the booth makes me feel good. It will hopefully be there for a few year and I'll be able to come back and say, "that's the burning bush." The last thing I forgot was a pointer to my carnival pics.

Passover

Booth really put me in the right mindset for passover. When we said, "Because of what God did for me when I was a slave in Egypt," I feel as if I really was. After all building a booth is hard labor and we were even building pyramids.

At one seder I went to, instead of cups of salt water, they had spray bottles of it. It seemed like a good idea until a little kid got hold of it and decided to give me a shower and no one thought they should stop him. I was so salty when I left I thought I'd gone on a Seder at Sea.

One thing that bothers me every year, especially at school, are people who complain about Passover food and how it sucks. These people don't know what passover food it. Sure it is an inconvenience not to have bread or corn syrup or whatever, but that isn't the problem. Some people who aren't from more religious backgrounds may be used to Passover food as regular food minus the bread. That is certainly what Bob does, but he hasn't be taught better, and he couldn't know. I don't blame them, a hamburger on matzah is a really bad idea. However, real Passover food is special recipies that you only eat once a year. They aren't the greatest thing ever, but for once a year it is great and worth waiting a year for. My favorite thing from home was the Passover rolls my mom would make. I got the recipe for Bob, but then I just started making them instead. My goal is to show people that Passover food can be OK, or at least suggest that they don't understand because they aren't doing it right.

It really is true that one good deed begets another. The great possitive feeling that I got from cooking all of these rolls for everyone to enjoy made me want to go perform a random act of kindness. I decided to bring some of these rolls to Kate in the studio as a snack because I knew she'd be up all night working. It was so weird to go back into the drama building. I've been out for so long. I didn't quite feel welcome, but there were things that were definately from my time that I remembered. It was weird. We just talked while she worked. I wasn't going to stay but then I did. I wanted to talk to her about my decision. No one can make it for me though, and I wish they could.

ETC, no MIT, no wait, I don't know.

Part of the reason the decision to go to MIT once I got in was so hard, was that I had started planning out my life in the ETC, and was getting ready to enjoy it. Then it took a while to realize that wasn't going to happen. Finally though, I was starting to accept having to leave and starting to move on. I felt as if planting the bush was part of leaving things behind. Just when I was almost ready to decide, MIT, things got shaken up again. I found out there might be a possibility for me to not have to pay for ETC. By being staff I would get paid and classes are free for staff at CMU. It would take me 3 years to graduate though. Not a bad deal, still not quite as good at MIT but close enough that other things start to matter again. A week ago I would have taken that offer and decided ETC, instantly. Now I'm not so sure since I was almost ready to say MIT.

The personal, familiarity benifits of CMU should not be overlooked. It isn't just the friends and the setting. Yes, it would be nice not to have to change, but I could make new friends and I think I'd enjoy that. I'll see these people again and it isn't like many people aren't leaving anyways. However, I've always felt glad, when interacting with grad students, that I'm an undergrad here. It seems to me that as a grad student you don't get as connected to the university community. At CMU I'm ingrained with the traditions and spirit here. I am part of the community. At MIT I don't know that that would happen. More importantly, I have built up many connections. AEPi, Stage3, ABTech, and all the people I know. When I want to do something I have tons of resources. It could be a personal project or one for school but I can do great things. At MIT I don't have connections and I think it is harder to build them as a grad student. Plus, I'm not there for very long and I need them right away, whereas here I have spent 4 years building them. I call this, the Tablesaw Argument. I don't know.