Sam M. '07 | November 10, 2005
"4"
I'm working desk for 4 hours tonight to get a head start on my 10.302: Transport Processes homework. I have a busload to do this weekend and I'm going to see MTG's Star Wars: Musical Edition on Sunday, so I really have to get a move on early, even if it means tooling the night before a three-day weekend.
In the meantime, I'm going to be your very own Kiefer Sutherland and write a real-time blog entry.
10:04 -- Okay, Michael '08 just brought back Stephen King's It (in Burton-Conner, we let people check out movies from our dorm collection for free), and although he's a trustworthy fellow, I decided to open it up and look in side as per deskworker rules. Lucky that I did, because the thing was FREAKING COVERED WITH A COLONY OF ANTS. What is even edible in a DVD box? Do I even want to know? Mike just took it back to the bathroom to wash it off.
10:12 -- There's a bag of Oreos sitting here and nobody know's . Kenny '06: "It's okay, they're not double stuf. I can resist them as long as they're not double stuf."
10:16 -- Michael decides to check out Batman Begins. Excellent choice. Hopefully he can bring it back not COVERED IN ANTS! Or worse, COVERED IN BATS!!
10:17 -- I discover that unlike Kenny, I cannot resist Oreos, even if they're not Double Stuf.
10:19 -- Start on 10.302.
10:23 -- Got bored, starting 21M.302 composition assignment instead.
10:36 -- I keep giving these Oreos to people as they walk by. Amanda '08 asked me whose they were and I realized that I do not know. I'm so open in dispensing others' foodstuffs. This composition assignment is less-than-cool.
10:37 -- Random thought: I hate Sudoku.
10:39 -- Okay, some guy just took an Oreo without even asking me if they're free while telling his friends a story about how he woke up naked on somebody's bathroom floor or something. Oh, he's on the list. I hope something more interesting than this bag of Oreos happens to me tonight. I thought it started off so promisingly with the ants.
10:49 -- Shouts of "Oreos at front desk?" abound from down the hallway as five gentlemen come to claim their bounty. One asked if he could just take the whole bag. I replied democratically that I'd prefer he didn't, because some other people might want some Oreos also. Still, taking two each, they manage to polish off the bag with little effort. Oh, how I seethe at desk.
11:07 -- One boy and one girl stand behind desk and criticize our movie selection continuously for five minutes. Completing a joke that kinda wrote its own punchline, they very nearly get Gigli before asking me for my recommendation. I suggest Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter and Spellbound, and the girl chooses the latter... because she wants something to help her fall asleep. Thanks, girl.
11:20 -- Done with 21M.302. No relation, or at least only very marginal, to 10.302. Here is the finished product--a bland, uninspired harmonization of a decent melody, featuring a descending 65 sequence.
11:21 -- Random thought: twins creep me out.
11:38 -- Someone returns "Fever Pitch" unhappily after realizing that it's not the Drew Barrymore/Red Sox one, but it in fact about soccer. Providing movie reviews and recommendations is just another thing that is really not part of my job description, but I'll gladly do anyway. Other things that are not part of my job description, much to the surprise of dorm residents: making change, procuring power tools, supplying aspirin and other useful medical supplies.
11:39 -- This girl came down and was like "Hi Sam, how are you?" and she checked out "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days" but I don't know her name and it's not something you can ask in this situation. However, proper deskworker procedure dictates that I mark down who rented the movie in our excel spreadsheet. Conundrum!
11:43 -- Jeremy '09 is shooting staples over my head into the trash can. I am not wearing shoes. I hope he is accurate.
11:53 -- Mark '09 passes down en route to pick up a pile of junk in Building 1 that he heard about on Reuse.
11:55 -- Jeremy offers a solution to my conundrum -- "Just ask how she spells her name. And then she's like, 'A-M-A-N-D-A'"
12:00 -- I finally get smart and facebook her. H-O-L-L-Y.
12:13 -- Random fact: I am deathly afraid of ferris wheels.
12:15 -- It's Laura. Hi Laura! Laura checks out The Princess Bride. I have still not seen this one, although I would like to.
12:19 -- Continuing my discussion with Jeremy, I discover that he will apparently have a guest-starring role in a comic in The Tech this Tuesday.
12:20 -- Start 10.302. No, really!
12:21 -- Wow, I haven't worked for a whole hour. Maybe this real-time thing was not such a good idea. Not only does it take time to do, but it serves as an effective log of my inefficiency. "Nothing ever bears out in practice what it promises incipiently." --Thomas Hardy
12:31 -- *ring ring* "Burton-Conner front desk." "Uh, hi, we just need an impartial judge here..." "Okay, what can I do for you?" "...yeah, we need to know the age of Lindsay Davenport." "Lindsay Davenport?" "Yeah, the tennis player." "Okay." *pause* "Okay, according to Wikipedia, Lindsay Davenport was born on June 8, 1976." "Alright, thanks man." "Have a good night." "You too, man."
12:42 -- Another thing that is not part of my job description: taking pictures.
Gemma and Marine on their way back from the fall formal at the Park Plaza hotel. Incidentally, I believe that my senior prom was called "A Midsummer Night's Dream: Dreaming of You." The Shakespeare work and the Selena song actually had nothing to do with each other, except they both had the word "dream" in them.
12:45 -- Jeremy depledges his fraternity from my computer while behind desk.
12:58 -- Wow, that was a really busy hour. Now, for coolant in cross flow past a heated tube.
1:03 -- It's actually pretty lonely. And cold. I close a window.
1:19 -- Michael '08 returns Batman Begins, not COVERED IN ANTS. Then he checks out The Phantom Menace. Hopefully it won't come back COVERED IN JAR JAR BINKS. I know that joke might be getting a little tired right now, but really, the next time you casually open a DVD case, imagine a colony of ants crawling out of it. That's about how I feel about this whole issue right now.
1:30 -- Kendall '07 comes down and informs me, as many of the dorm's residents and visitors have in the recent past, that it is cold outside. She makes me touch her hand to confirm this. I suggest that I get a picture of her since I'm blogging this entire evening, and she wants me to get a picture of her freaky scar and stitches. "AAAAH!" I scream. Then I catch her off-guard and get this one instead.
1:38 -- Nicola '07 is going to watch Star Wars for the first time. Proof that you don't have to be an all-around nerd to get into MIT. Actually, she just wants to watch it so she'll understand what's going on in the musical. She evaluates her action: "That's uberly nerdy. You don't have to be a nerd before you get to MIT, but you will be once you get here."
1:51 -- With nine minutes left in the shift, I look down upon my work and despair. In four hours, I have calculated the Reynolds Number for one problem.
2:04 -- Time to get a little sleep. Handing it over to night security now.
Dave is the friendliest night security worker you will ever meet, and he helped me move several thousand pounds of my room all the way across the dorm at 4 AM this summer. Actually, come to think of it, they're all pretty great people... Carmen, Mike, Sofia... I really wish we'd get the television put back here so they'd have something to do all night.
This is what you get working the night shift at front desk.
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Responses To This Entry:
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I <3 Sam.
Posted by: Ben on November 11, 2005 02:20 AM
omg, I LOVE sudoku. How could you not?
Posted by: beyondme on November 11, 2005 10:35 AM
i'm with beyondme. or actually, i hate sudoku because i love it.
i like the log -- did you actually type it up the minute it happened?
Posted by: nehalita on November 11, 2005 03:51 PM
24 is the best show ever!!!!11one
Next season starts January 15. I hope you actually watch it.
Posted by: Armand on November 11, 2005 09:23 PM
The Princess Bride was good. I enjoyed it. Thank you, friendly deskworker!
And Dave is the friendliest guy ever.
Posted by: Laura on November 12, 2005 01:06 PM
yeah those punks that don't like the movies. PUNKS. And also, i don't get it, so it was holly? or amanda? what's going on?
Posted by: Ling on November 12, 2005 11:05 PM
You are, in fact, deathly afraid of ferris wheels--a fact I did not know until we were halfway through our first revolution on one. :-) That made me smile!
Posted by: Alaina on November 13, 2005 09:04 PM
