On the Ways of Mudders

Ah, Mudders... I am increasingly adopting a philosophy which states that Mudders work hard to play hard. Let me explain...

I have experienced sleep deprivation over the past week or so. This has led to some unpleasant feelings in the morning. However, often, I am working hard so that I can do something ridiculously fun later. For example, last weekend I spent much time doing my Hum 1 essay and CS on Saturday so that my Sunday was free. That was so I could attend the latest Magic the Gathering prerelease with a bunch of other Mudders. I worked hard (and stayed up until 4:00 AM or so) so that I could play hard (that prerelease was crazy fun!). And I must repeat again this week. In order to be able to spend my Friday doing Quiz Bowl practice and D&D, my Saturday at Disneyland, and my Sunday at a Quiz Bowl tournament, I must work quite diligently during the week. There are many opportunities for fun at Mudd. But because of the courseload, you must work hard to earn the extra time you could spend having fun.

Zen and the Art of Blogging

Like many students entering Mudd, I've mostly written for AP tests. And as you may or may not know, those essays are highly guided - we're given topics from which we may not stray. This fact is forcing me to give myself a theme for writing the present and future posts. I plan on focusing primarily on the social workings of Mudd at first, until I feel experienced enough to begin commenting on the academic (at least past the half-semester).

I would like to focus this post on the issue of the dorms. The eight dormitories are generally divided into two classes: the inner dorms (named after the cardinal directions) and the outer dorms (Linde, Case, Atwood, Sontag). The inner dorms possess stronger characters. The average Eastie is Geekier, the average Southie is quieter, the average Westie is more pyromaniacal, and the average Norfie is more athletic. However, be careful to note that I said that I referred to the average person. As we were cautioned during orientation, assuming these generalities to be true in all cases is both offensive and incorrect. Now, the outer dorms may not be as colorful as the inner dorms, but they generally have better rooms. For example, Atwood (my dorm, the best of all dorms - it contains three floors), has really nicely furnished suites. And the suites' personalities are actually pretty well unified (for example, my suite is fairly "South," although I'm trying to add some "East"). However, many other suites I would classify as "North." These clashes in suite makeup make it difficult for a single unified culture to develop. But as I mentioned, one merely needs to stay within a single suite in Atwood to find a strong character (making it a synthesis of sorts of the two classes). As my father is fond of saying, "everywhere you live has its pros and cons." And that aphorism is no less true here at Mudd. Inner dorms have their unity, outer dorms have their diversity. Inner dorms have their proximity to academic building, outer dorms have suite couches (caution: pun). And Atwood has the best of everything. And three floors.

It Lives!

And so this blog shambles into some semblance of life. Much like me this morning, really. Because today is Thursday, we (the vast majority of the freshman class) don't have any classes until noon. Which of course means that we stay up late the night before doing whatever we classify as fun. For example, I stayed up until two or so playing Magic last night. And as we all know, most things become more ridiculously fun as sleep deprivation develops. Let me just say that by one o'clock, we were well entertained.

So, continuing on with a weekend prognosis, it looks to be good. Not too much homework - mainly a take home math midterm (woo, honor code). And between an RPG-l meeting (I want me some D&D already!) and a Cracked gaming session (never played Enemy Territories before - new experience ahoy), it looks like there'll be some deliciously nerdy goodness. Look forward to a report on these activities (I command you to)!