Remembrances
Seeing all the prefrosh wandering around campus with luggage and parents in tow reminds me of how happy I am to be going home, if only for a week. Didn't realize I'd gotten homesick.
Of course, it also reminds me of when I was a prefrosh, moving into Ricketts. Dad was here - Mom had to stay at home and look after Kat - helping me move into Ricketts 7, the room I shared with Sarah Horst. I remember the night we were moving my baggage into the double, decorated with the blood red walls, pentagrams, and the demon sketch - the blaze of the firepot flickering around the courtyard, Skurves huddled around it and in the colonnade - and Dad leaning over and whispering to me, "Ah... must be the burnt sacrifice."
I remember being a little afraid of the Skurves (who hurled obscenities at me whenever I came through the courtyard), very afraid of the math problem sets, missing my dog, home and family and friends. I remember finding friends at frosh camp, feeling kinda overwhelmed and being quiet and shy to a fault. I remember feeling absolutely in awe of everyone else who was here - the brilliant students who deserved to be here - and feeling way out of my league.
I remember bits and pieces of Rotation - a swirl of faces and snatches of conversation - trying to decide between Lloyd and Blacker, and finally ranking Blacker first. I remember feeling ecstatic when I was picked into Blacker... Todd's voice booming out "The gods smile upon you!" and being picked up and hauled out to the Vatican shower. I remember rooming with Andrea Smith, the best roommate ever, in Cannes 30, the blue room... playing Loreena McKennitt and Sarah McLachlan a lot... living down the hall from Raycroft, Matt and Will, with Adam and Randy hanging around more often than not (always something amusing going on, like Delilah, Counterstrike and blood gods (and the blood goddess Amanda ;), hillbilly knife-throwing or rapelling).
I remember a diet coke exploding in the fire as I hid behind a black couch, sopping wet from a recent showering for puns, and another phase of my life beginning, shared with Adam. I remember the unexpected trip to Joshua Tree, overcoming my fears, getting to know upperclassmen and discovering the great fun of rock-scrambling (been addicted ever since). I remember spending Thanksgiving with Andrea in Long Beach because she took pity on her homesick roommate (yup, I had the best darn roommate ever). I remember my first orchestra concert as principal flutist - Brahms Symphony #1 in C minor, Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor, and the modern piece (Zwilich Violin Concerto) - and learning something new at every rehearsal about orchestral flute. And I remember sitting in the Cannes hallway on Saturday night after everyone else had left for Christmas break, reminiscing about everything that had happened, both the wonderful and the awful... wondering where the time had gone, how it had flown by so fast.

No matter how much time elapses, some things never change. Good night, all.
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FYI - I'm leaving caltech Saturday morning around 10:30, and will be back next Saturday (before Rotation) - not sure if I'll be able to update, but I'll be losing my wisdom teeth and doing a lot of work on my SURF paper and the Blacker name/doortags. Miss you guys, and see you in a week.