Big Red Ambition: 44 Things This Cornellian Did

(Note: An article in today's Cornell Daily Sun inspired me to write this blog post)

There's a list of 161 things that every Cornellian should do. Now that graduation is over (nearly 5 months over, actually), it might be a good time to reflect and comment on items of that list from my personal experience. So, in numerical order:

11. Go sake bombing in Collegetown (for the over-21 crowd only!).
I was wearing a red Dragon Day shirt that day too. Ironic for an Asian person going sake bombing.

12. Order ice cream at the Dairy Bar.
One day, our ENGRG 150 class walked to the Dairy Bar and ordered ice cream for everyone out of the course budget.

14. Listen to a full chimes concert from the clock tower and guess the songs played.
Well, I have listened to 3 chimes songs from the top of the clock tower. I'm not saying that they're bad at playing music (quite opposite that, in fact), but I don't recognize most of the songs they play, likely due to my lack of popular culture knowledge.

20. Play frisbee on the Arts Quad.
Quite a common activity, especially during junior and senior years. An equally-viable alternative location would be the Engineering Quad.

25. Bomb a prelim.
Yes. Especially if final exams count too.

31. Enjoy Ithaca's two months of warm weather by spending a summer here.
Summer after freshman year. It was really warm during the summer.

33. Watch the AAP students parade down East Avenue on Dragon Day.
To tell the truth, the AAP dragon >> ENG phoenix.

34. Enjoy corn nuggets at the Nines.
I have had corn nuggets at the Nines on more than one occassion, and I have enjoyed them thoroughly.

35. Build a snow penis, or count how many you see around campus.
Both, actually. I'll omit pictures here.

48. Have dinner at a professor's house.
During junior year's ENGRG 1050 class, as a peer advisor for the class of freshmen. We had chicken parm at the professor's house, and listened to cool stories all night long.

49. Get wasted at a professor's house.
Not really "wasted," but had some dranks at a professor's house, along with most other people in the class.

62. Go to Wegmans on a Friday or Saturday night.
What can I say? Food is important.

66. See the brain collection in Uris Hall.
Arriving too early for class in Uris Hall, I'd wander the halls and stare at brains in jars behind a glass display.

69. Take part in a psychology experiment.
Quick and easy way to make $5 at a time.

73. Ace a prelim.
I think "ace" is a universally-agreed synonym for getting 100% or higher. Only three instances of this though.

76. Eat in the Risley dining hall.
Ate there once for dinner during freshman year. It was meh.

77. Play at least one game of Texas hold-'em.
Does online count? During sophomore year Taylor and I played on Facebook often.

84. Go bowling at Helen Newman Lanes.
Fun physical activity, just like frisbee on a quad.

85. Hand out quartercards on Ho Plaza.
Thanks CSA for giving me several opportunities to perform this envious task.

86. Take an unplanned nap in the library.
I think this speaks for itself.

90. Boys: Get thrown out of Balch Hall.
Fun fact: if you are unaccompanied by a female resident inside Balch Hall, the RA's will escort you out the door. Literally.

93. Walk to the Commons and back.
This was usually done during university breaks or for the law school's Trial Advocacy Finale that I had to videotape. I did walk past the Commons to Kinko's to print CSA membership cards on more than one occassion though.

96. Eat pizza at the Nines.
It's difficult to surpass the excellence that is Nines pizza.

98. Drink bubble tea.
Countless times. Usually on a whim too, like when someone randomly suggests "wanna get bubble tea?!" while walking home from class or studying. It was at Cornell that I learned what bubble tea is (freshman year fall break).

99. Eat a Pinesburger.
I did eat a Pinesburger once, which was followed immediately by three more Pinesburgers, my photo on the wall, and a Glenwood Pines t-shirt.

100. Walk to a fraternity party with your entire freshman floor.
It actually wasn't my freshman floor, but once upon a time I did go to a frat party with Mickey's freshman floor.

106. See a concert at Barton Hall.
It was a free concert, so it wasn't anything like All-American Rejects or Maroon 5. It was a concert at Barton Hall nonetheless, and it was pretty cool.

108. Eat brunch on North Campus.
This was a frequent activity when I lived on North Campus.

109. Do your Freshman Reading Project before you graduate.
I did the freshman reading project before freshman orientation, back when I tried to be a good student.

112. Go ice skating at Lynah Rink.
My only time ice skating, ever.

118. Make a chalking; weep when it rains that night.
Thanks again CSA for the opportunity.

120. Meet Bill Nye '77, "The Science Guy," and give him a hug.
Well, I didn't actually meet him nor give him a hug, but during fall break junior year I spotted Bill Nye from across an empty and dark Upson Hall.

121. See how long you can go without doing laundry.
This was another frequent activity, although unintentional. It was usually no more than 10 days I can last without doing laundry.

127. Go to the Pyramid Mall, realize it is severely lacking, then drive to Carousel Mall in Syracuse.
The only times I went to Pyramid Mall was to buy stuff at Target or to watch a movie. Carousel Mall was pretty cool, especially watching Stephen build a Lego tower at the toy store only to have to come crashing to the ground. Don't worry, we cleaned up the place afterward.

128. Eat mongo at RPCC.
Probably the only reason I'd ever eat at RPCC after freshman year.

129. Attend Cross Country Gourmet at a dining hall near you.
These did not live up to their hype and characteristic long waiting lines.

130. Complain about your writing seminar to no one in particular.
I complained during the fall semester, but little did I know that writing seminar was nothing compared to the one during the spring semester.

136. Go to a coffee house in JAM.
Went to one of these when Mickey lived in JAM. Watched people play music in a room.

138. Watch people play Dance Dance Revolution in Appel.
Usually, I also participaed in DDR in Appel.

146. Wake up at 6a.m. for CoursEnroll, realize that it is still better than waiting outside Barton.
Who would have guessed that waking up at 6 AM in college was near-impossible, even though I did so everyday in high school?

151. Take the BASICS program.
What a joke.

153. Walk to class in the snow, uphill both ways.
Story of my life, especially during freshman year.

156. Eat at each dining hall at least once.
Appel, RPCC, Risley, Cook, Becker, Bethe, Rose, Keeton, Okenshields, Jewish Living Center...did I miss any?

161. Climb all 161 steps to the top of McGraw Tower.
Well worth the climb, in my opinion. Great photo opportunities at the top.

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So, that's something like 44 out of 161 items. At that rate I'd need to be at Cornell for ~16 years before I exhaust the list.

Lawl school stories

I've been working various part-time jobs at the Cornell Law School during the last 3.5 years, including library assistant, Interlibrary Book and Copy Service, A/V tech support, and computer lab consultant. I don't think I ever fully knew my way around the corridors and stairways of the law school until this semester. There are so many secret shortcuts you can take through doors and stairs.

One perk of working with the A/V team is filming all-day law school events. Of course, you're stuck in a room for most of the day, but they have free food (usually breakfast and lunch). This weekend and next weekend are the Trial Advocacy finales downtown in the real courtrooms.

The mock trial cases are interesting sometimes. Today's was interesting in particular. In the beginning of the trial, it felt like the objection rulings were always in the defense's favor (despite the numerous objections that the plaintiff's team threw out), but at the end of the trial when the defense called up their last witness to testify as an expert, they were unable to have her admitted as an expert. Three times the defense tried to lay foundation questions for expertise of their witness in a different (but related) field, and three times an objection against the defense was sustained. It must be very frustrating to prepare questions for a witness that you couldn't actually ask because they could not be identified as an expert, but it was impressive how calm the law students were.

I think that watching mock trials for the Trial Advocacy class for 4 semesters has familiarized me with some legal jargon, but if I use legal jargon in my everyday language, I'd be talking about stuff that I know nothing about. I feel more comfortable sticking with cameras and projectors.

Happenings around campus

Two (2) Cornell engineering students committed suicide via gorge bridge jump 2 days apart from each other this past week. Also, a month ago another student jumped the bridge, which brings the campus suicide rate to 3 within the past month. As I understand, in the past there is an average suicide rate of n per year here, where n is between 0 and 1.

Why have campus suicides spiked in frequency lately? I wish I knew, but may never know. It's disheartening, for sure, even though I did not know any of these students.

Cornell Fail

Excerpt from an email that I received today:

"Last week, we learned that a Cornell-owned computer that was stolen earlier this month contained your name and Social Security Number. Please accept our most sincere apologies for this unfortunate event."

Makeshift Movie Theaters

After living in the 'trols room with the right nut and the seabass for 12 days, final exams and final projects have officially ended for the Fall 2008 semester (and grades are being rolled out as I type). Occassionally there was a study break that involved a movie on the big screen in a classroom somewhere in the Engineering Quad. Personally, I have not seen a movie in all of the rooms discussed here, but here is a brief review from personal experiences and word-of-mouth of the available options in case you seek a similar study break:

• OLIN 155 - This is by far the best option. This lecture hall has a very large screen, a projector that doesn't flake out on you, and comfortable seats. The only drawback (and this is a significant drawback) is that the room is locked after 9:30 PM. Also, at the time of this writing, there is some construction (renovation) work in Olin Hall, so it can be rather noisy at times.
• THURSTON 205 - This room is a very good one. It's not a big lecture hall. The equipment (projector, seats, etc.) are all in good working condition. Nothing spectacular, but it works.
• OLIN 255 - This lecture hall has insane stadium seating. Insane meaning that this room alone looks like it takes up 2 floors due to the steep incline of the stadium seating. The equipment is in good working condition, but if I remember correctly some of the lights stay on in this room.
  
• UPSON B17 - The home-away-from-home for mechanical engineers like us. The projector turns off after 40 minutes of inactivity, which gets very annoying.
• KIMBALL B11 - Pretty much the same story as Upson B17. The projector goes off every once in a while, forcing you to get up and turn it back on.
• PHILLIPS 203/219 - The projectors here work well, but the drawback it that not all of the lights go off. Either that or we haven't figured out how to kill all the lights.
• PHILLIPS 101 - First you must find your way from the back of the room up to the front podium in the dark in order to turn on the lights in the room. After that you realize that the audio cable is frayed, so this room is no good for watching a movie on the big screen (unless it's a silent movie).