I found white asparagus at Star Market, and I'm gong to have it for dinner. It's exciting because I had it a lot in Germany (I went there with my high school German class for a month). I'm sure I won't do as good a job of preparing it, but it's still exciting.

I'm having doubts about being here (at MIT) again. I'm just kind of overwhelmed with the prospect of doing research. It seems like a big time commitment. Yeah, I know everyone says that, but I was hoping I could live a balanced life. I guess I can if I want to; I'm the one who decides when I work and when I don't. I'll probably feel better tomorrow. I've been so wishy-washy about things recently. Grad school has turned me into such a wembler!

I just bought these incredibly soft slippers at the Payless Shoes in Central Square. They're like a really fine terry cloth or a velour with a really thick pile. Whatever they are, they're so soft! And only $8. I'm excited to wear them this winter.

I also stopped by an antique store looking for a floor lamp. It's just like Goodwill, only everything costs hundreds of dollars. Okay, there's probably a difference, but not one that I can grasp. But if I ever need overpriced scary mannequin heads, this is the place! There was a back room with like 20 of them all lined up on a shelf. Creepy.

As all of you crafty people assuredly know, Knitty is up and running. How exciting! I want to make the Rock Star scarf in the worst way, but since I'm still inching along on the Boston Hostel Shell, I'll wait. Maybe I can crank out the Rock Star scarf before it starts snowing here. Living in Boston is good because I can actually use my knitting! California gives fewer opportunities for bundling up in scarves and hats.

This whole Knitty thing reminded me I haven't taken any pictures of my Boston Hostel Shell progress. Click the link above or just look below. Those are the front pieces pre-assembly and pre-edging. The straps are all rolled up, so they're not as thick as I'd hoped. Maybe the edging will help with that.

Look at the cute little rainbow-colored chairs on the patio of the building across the street (that's part of our overhang in the bottom part of the picture). All the other buildings have metal chairs to match the tables; I don't know what possessed the people in charge of this building to do something different. But I like it.

The fire alarm went off at 4 am last night while it was raining. Our fire alarm system is weird because it plays this recording that says we should only evacuate if our floor evacuation signal sounds after the announcement. There have been three fire alarms that I've been around for, and our floor alarm hasn't gone off during any of them. So since our floor alarm didn't go off, I chose to stay in bed because I was warm and sleepy, and going down 8 flights of stairs and outside into the rain in my pajamas was not an appealing idea. Except then I spent half an hour worrying that I should evacuate. But no fire engines came, and I'm still in one piece today, so I guess I didn't have to evacuate. Good!

I think I'm going to drop my architecture class. It's fun, but it also takes more time than I want to give right now. Most first years are taking just the two core classes, so while I could probably juggle my four classes plus research and everything else, I'd rather take only 3 classes this semester and have more time for research and enjoying life. I'll try taking architecture again after the first year is over and I have more free time.

My problem is that there's an assignment due Monday in architecture, and even though I'm going to drop it, I feel compelled to do the assignment since I'll still be a member of the class on Monday. Sometimes I wish my work ethic weren't so strong...

I want a laptop! Patrick got one for free, for being a CS first year at Stanford. But it's not his to keep, so I guess I shouldn't be too jealous. But it would be useful for working in the office (I have an office--that's crazy!). My problem is that if I get a laptop, I want it to have a DVD drive so I can watch movies on my flights between Boston and Palo Alto. But that'll jack up the price a lot. Oh well!