football game

I hawked water for the football game today. Three dollars per bottle of water is the stadium price! That said, my hawking partner and I sold over two hundred bottles. If he had let me carry the bottles as well, we'd probably sell over three hundred.

I basically walked up and down the aisle and yelled "Water! Three dollars!" I got to see most of the game for free and I somehow made nine dollars in tip.

perhaps a productive summer

"The ViTA program is the companion to our 'Study Abroad in America' workshop series. Through ViTA, IVCE actively recruits and develops a group of Vietnamese-American college and graduate students to teach TOEFL, SAT, GRE & GMAT workshops to students this summer in Vietnam."

I'm really considering it. It'll look good on my empty resume.

someone is always watching

I took a nighttime walk with my roommate tonight. We tried to get lost in darkness. We succeeded and found ourselves hitting some sort of highway. Eventually we spotted a secluded playground surrounded by fences. I could swing for hours, I must have said.

The gate is locked. There is no real way to get into the playground. Part of me wants to leave, but you know...

We find the lowest rising gate and jump over. Great! Now that we're inside, what do we do? We look around for the swings. It's dark and eerily quiet. Disappointed, we try for the slides but they're wet (from rain?). We approach the sandbox and it's covered by some sort of sandbox covering mechanism. We lift the sheet up and observe the sand.

She says something like, You know this is how horror movies begin, right? I agree, feeling the rough grains of sand between my fingers.

Forensics, I think, but instead I say, I like dead people. She freaks out and commands me over the other side of the park.

I agree, and with my mini key chain light, I creep into the shadows. I continue the dumb-girls-who-scare-each-other-and-end-up-dead horror scheme by hiding behind a tree. She'll get worried and look for me, I think. I wait. And I wait.

I see a shadow behind a tree nearby. It's obviously her. I wait. She doesn't come for me so I walk to her. We see each other and laugh it all off.

She thinks I look scary when I talk in my monotone, serious, cynical way. I shine the flashlight under my face and apparently it's even worse. She points to a shed and tells me it's creepy. We investigate.

We walk really slowly now. We hold onto each other's shirts a little. We come closer and closer to the little shed in the playground. She yells, What was that? I don't know what she's talking about. She asks me if I shone my light on the shed. I did not.

She tells me that there was a small blue light shone on the shed. She is scared and so I explain it to her: Someone is always watching. We, as people, are always being watched. My eyes must have widened or something.

A police car goes by. We'll explore some other night.

Oh, the potential of the night. So much could have happened. I could have done so many things. The story is actually much longer, but I must sleep or study or something.

on not reading my political science book

I just got invited by a friend to a poetry writing session. It's more of a sit under a tree and write kind of thing. I'm not a poet and I sure do know it - but this is still tempting. I have an urge to read poems and do writer-y things.

OR I could do my reading assignment. =\

midnight stroll

I took a late night stroll tonight. I wanted some time alone to walk and listen to my music. People find it odd that I'm off alone at night. They think it's dangerous. This place doesn't threaten me though. Even finding a quiet and dark place is difficult on campus. Penn State is so crowded and well-lit, even at night.

Although I come from a busy city, the busyness is different here. I used to be able to walk to and from school in solitude. I listen to my music and pass the faces of people I don't recognize, don't see. The streets are noisy and narrow, but they're real and welcoming.

On campus, the people are all students. They seem to exist as a collective. I don't mind being a face among thousands. I don't mind going with the current. But here, it's difficult to distinguish between their voices and my own.

Maybe it's just a difference in culture and lifestyle. I don't really know what I'm trying to say. I need my time alone. I thought that among these trees I'll find my relaxation, but instead I find grasses cut too neatly and paths laid out too well.

My roommate is concerned about my walking in the dark. I even ran into someone I know. If I don't get something better out of this, I will no longer walk in the dark alone.

true blood

Penn State does not have HBO. In fact, no one on campus seems to have HBO. Last night was a disaster. Today I found True Blood on surfthechannel. They are amazingly quick with this whole streaming thing.

So as I was watching the show, I realized that I should have locked the door. It's just in case someone walks in and misunderstands. Some scenes are indiscreetly pornographic, like when the girl goes down on Jason or when he returns the favor. Even worse is when what's-her-face records her sex with the vampire and then Jason. I'm now glad that they don't have HBO in the tv lounge. Housing would not have appreciated me watching fang bangs on their big screen tv.

I don't think I'll follow up on this series.

I went home for the weekend. Penn State is looking good so far. The environment is quite different from CAPA/Philly though. I don't know if I like that yet.

I may need the urban cities with slumps and ghettos.