Todo Tiene Su Como-Se-Llama

Just Another Quiet Evening in the Ice Cave

I am sitting in "The Office" with my three apartment mates, and have been for over three hours.

A steady stream of visitors pours in and out the door (open-door policy, you know). Anna sits out on the sofa, grading math homework or reading or whatever. Randy strolls in, pretending to discuss something related to one of the classes we have together, but he's really just looking for an escape route from the homework for said classes. He eventually leaves to "get back to it," but he'll be back, probably several times. His return will remind me that I've probably been sitting still too long.

Meanwhile, some very shady characters and other such subversives stop by to see Scholl. He talks to them in the other room so that we won't be legally liable for having heard whatever they're discussing. Or maybe it's so we won't have to listen to "dawg" at the beginning and end of every sentence. Whatever.

The sound of a random song, punctuated bya high-pitched giggle, signals the arrival of Paige, probably with Bar- errr . . . "someone" in tow. One brief stop on her nightly whirlwind tours of campus . . . and she's off again, to parts unknown. Ziggy wanders through, searching for whatever Moore has left lying around here this time. Moore himself will probably be stopping by to raid the larder later on . . . except that it's still empty, Moore.

Bryan might IM to ask me if anything fun is going on tonight, but he has a lot of work to do so he probably won't . . . and even if he did, I haven't got the time for planned frivolity this evening (although it's usually less time-consuming than all this unplanned stuff). If there were anything going on, Martinez and Uncle Doug might find their way down here, as well. We might also see Sharpton and Scott. Who knows, Ardith might even visit, tearing herself away from . . . her books, her computer, her job, her soccer games, her homework . . . Nah, probably not. Poor Ardith.

And eventually my girlfriend will be here. She'll either be really tired and start falling asleep on the nearest piece of comfy furniture until she is dragged to her dorm, or she'll be really tired and talk really fast and jump up and down and clap her hands together until she is dragged to her dorm. Don't worry, Rachel. I'll be happy to see you either way.

Side note: I'm going to be in so much trouble.

And throughout all of this, we all remain at our stations, doing our respective "things."

Scholl sits in front of his computer, multitasking like a madman. E-mail, IM, web surfing, and . . . lots and lots of things I don't recognize (or can't afford to admit that I recognize, as the case may be). Every now and then he decides we've all gotten a bit too placid and plays something like The Llama Song for us. Most recently we have been treated to repeat viewings of Magical Trevor. When he isn't bouncing around his computer like Rachel on a sugar high, or singing along with the 50th rendition of Kenya, he's finding and sharing warped links of all varieties. Tonight, on the less-warped end of the scale, he decided to be the prophet of Robert Hamburger, worshipper of ninjas and author of this book. Personally, I think it's about time he visited Anna in the living room again. Be that as it may . . .

Gallagher has taken a break from his relentless gaming tonight. We've gone through Super Mario World, Lux, Neverball, and many, many similar crazes this semester . . . Right now we're having a hard time tearing him away from Neverwinter Nights. Can't say I blame him. If I had a 13th-level rogue/shadowdancer saved on my computer, I might want to spend more time with him than my friends, too. On second thought, maybe not.

But, as I said, he has taken a break tonight to get some grading done. And you all know what that means . . . Frequent outbursts of pained moaning and noisy, frustrated yelling at his monitor as poor Gallagher loses patience and hapless Data Structures students lose points. Lots and lots of points. Fortunately, I know just how to deal with this. I send him into the kitchen to have a piece of Anna's delicious Golden Rectangle cake, and he returns in a more benign state of mind. Keep the food coming, ladies. The Data Structures students will be eternally grateful.

As I write this, he's back at the game again. He levelled up, and now he's whining about the low XP yield from fighting skeleton warriors. Oh, well . . .

Meanwhile, Wilson is staying busy as well. He actually has a bit of free time tonight, which means that he isn't grouchily filling out a worksheet for he-who-must-not-be-named or blissfully researching his latest academic paper. Instead he's just enjoying himself with the sort of activities that many of us would still classify as work, mixed with a heavy dose of frivolity. Wandering through his links, he turns up an eclectic mix of strange or scholarly (but always noteworthy and newsworthy) items.

The boy links to 38 "friend and acquaintance" blogs, 25 news sites, 40 blogs of academic interest, 36 random sites (including libraries, reviews, and government sites), and 8 sources of bizarre humor, and it takes him awhile to finish browsing. But, that done, he turns to lighter activities . . . like photoshopping pictures of sharks so that they look like clowns (a little present for Paige, who seems to have a pathological fear of both of the above).

Eventually open dorms will end, hygiene will call, and he will disappear into the bathroom for awhile. On an especially quiet night, one might just be able to hear the lyric strains of some unidentifiable air floating out to caress one's ears. This will prompt me to turn to Gallagher and ask, "Is he singing?" To which Gallagher will reply with a chuckle, "Sounds like it."

As for me, I sit here and pretend to do work, but I'm always willing to be distracted by any of the above goings-on. If that fails to distract me, I'll wander through my own, small blogroll, or maybe see if any of the web comics I read have updated since I last checked. And I have my own rounds to make on the web. I check up on the latest entertainment and book news, for instance. Tonight I found this preview of ROTK: EE which made me quite happy. And Scott sent me the link to this very entertaining quiz, (I was 47% Dr. Prunesquallor and 33% Lord Sepulchrave, btw). Meanwhile, I'm playing Ice Cave DJ. My "favorites" playlist contains over 21 hours of music, and it runs the gamut of all the weird crap that I like. Soundtracks, Classical, Oldies, and . . . other things. I can't think in genres right now. I trim things off the list when one of the other Ice Cavers complains, unless somebody else supports it. Which means that I rarely listen to Scholl. I mean, c'mon! He doesn't like The Hamster Dance! Or the theme from High Noon! Or anything from Moulin Rouge! Lately I've been on a Beatles kick, which is mostly Wilson's fault.

A lot of songs get sung along to . . . things from musicals, especially . . . like "Good Morning" from Singin' in the Rain, or "A Hymn to Him" from My Fair Lady, or even "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago. We sing along to the Beatles . . . "Yellow Submarine" is popular. Then there are songs like "American Pie" . . . etc. The list goes on and on. Right now we're all more or less singing along to "Money" from Cabaret.

*sings* "A mark, a yen, a buck, or a pound!"

Anyway . . .

If even these distractions don't work, I always have one thing to fall back on: This blog. Inspiration comes to those who wait, most of the time. In any case, I hope you have enjoyed reading this little snapshot of Ice Cave life of an evening as much as I enjoyed writing it instead of working.

Whether you did or not, that paper isn't writing itself (curses!). It's not a big deal . . . I could write it in my sleep. But if I don't hurry, that's exactly what I'll be doing.

Posted by Jared at December 8, 2004 10:00 PM | TrackBack