Im Shipping Up to Boston

I’m Shipping Up to Boston Tomorrow morning I fly back to MIT, and Im writing to you with absolutely no feeling in the lower left-hand quadrant of my face. Its as if all the feeling there decided to concurrently take a few hours off to siesta, and have left me to use only my eyebrows for expressions (I dont have very expressive eyebrows; for the past half hour Ive been mostly looking either surprised or confused). I just got back from the dentist, because even though there are dentists at MIT Medical that are covered by student insurance, I have not gone since last year, since there is little else I love more than lying there digging my nails into my palm trying not to scream. Its not the drill I have about as much tolerance for oral pain as the next guy its my active imagination that really gets me in the dentists chair. Inevitably after theyve numbed one or both of the bottom quadrants of my face, the dentist leans over and does some stuff in my mouth that I can NO LONGER FEEL. Its at this point that it occurs to me that Dentist and Nurse are probably involved in some kind of elaborate hoax in which they put tubes and drills and silver poking tools in my mouth, but arent actually doing anything. (in my head) DENTIST: (secretly communicating with Nurse by morse code) Hahah! She thinks shes getting that cavity filled when all were doing is HOLDING THIS SUCTION TUBE AND MOVING IT AROUND! NURSE: Were BRILLIANT! Here, pass me that plastic purple gun that is actually used for ear piercings. ME: Wow, Im sure glad theyre fixing all my teeth and not actually creating a huge waste of time! As of yet, this has not occurred (as far as I can tell). Inventing preposterous hypothetical situation amongst ordinary days, however, is just one of many things I have done in during my summer here in the beautiful Bay Area. (As well as chewing on my tongue, which I also cannot feel.) This year, as opposed to last year when I was a freshman, my summer also consisted of: Work. I started out the summer working as a production assistant at Pixar. That means I was mostly at my desk every day, but got to deliver things whilst riding around the foyer and in between departments on a scooter. About a month into summer, shortly after the release of Ratatouille, I finished archiving film reels with the post-production department and headed off to instead both work at the Apple Store and volunteer at an emergency room in San Francisco. I had been at my other two jobs for about a week when one of the sound editors called my cell phone to ask if I had seen his scooter around anywhere, to which I answered shiftily, er no. (I really didnt steal his scooter. I did, however, take a really excellent Dory pinata from the free pile outside the animators offices.) Celebrating Harry Potter. I wouldnt consider myself a serious Harry Potter fanatic at least, not compared to some people and Id never gone to see the opening of the movies at midnight, or been to a book party, or even dressed up as a non-Muggle. I figured it was my last shot (for the book, anyway), so for the movie my buddies and I dressed up (we didnt go as far as to wait in line another friend of ours, a TRUE fan, saved our spots for 12 hours) and ended up winning the costume contest. When the book premiered, Praxy 10 and I went to Barnes and Noble at midnight to see if we could get a copy just by being there after bypassing people whod been there since 2 PM; after an hour of reading chemistry books, we decided to go home and sleep. (We ended up getting our copies from Costco the next morning, like civilized people.) Reuiniting and reminiscing. From watching the Perseid meteor shower go by from a moonlight boulder on top of a mountain, to making smores on a bonfire on the beach; from learning to wakesurf to rock climbing to celebrating the most epic birthday ever it was amazing to see all my friends from high school again. The best parts were not in crashing and bruising on waves going 30 miles per hour on an inner tube, but in the quiet moments when wed share our memories from schools all around the country. Also its weird how people you havent seen in months sometimes grow beards. (I just had to. Its one of those things you have to do. Like girls can have babies, and guys can grow beards. Its kind of like makeup, except grosser.. and its free! -my friend Nick, on his newly furry face) Tomorrow, its back to numbers, p-sets, and late-night pasta dinners; tomorrow, my face will regain consciousness. (Hopefully. If Im not smiling when you see me next, its not because I dont like you, its because my nerves are deader than Harry Potters parents.)