24 Feb

Only one more month of classes! I can’t believe it. Hooray! Our housekeeper came by a little later than usual, so I got to sleep in a bit more before she came. After calmly eating lunch and reading the news, I left for my linguistics seminar. The class was fun, though the weather outside was nasty enough to make me go right back to the dorm afterwards. I hung out there reading and such until dinner.

Right before we went downstairs, I read my e-mail from the housing director at UNC. To my shock and great sadness, I learned that one UNC student died and another was in critical condition after falling through a third floor window in Stacy Hall. I did not know the students personally but it was still a horrible thing to contemplate. If anyone knew Keith Shawn Smith personally, I am deeply sorry for your loss.

I watched Olympics and read some time after dinner. The “incident at Stacy Hall” as the resident director called it stayed on my mind all day and it was kind of hard to really enjoy the ice skating exhibition or the final hockey match. Liane came over around 9 to talk about the play “Resurrection Blues” by Arthur Miller that is playing at the Old Vic theater (where I saw IAN McKELLEN). Gregg came by too and we made plans to watch it next Wednesday after class. It’s one of Miller’s last plays and will star Neve Campbell of “Scream” fame. All the big names come to London (after they’ve been to New York). They stayed over to watch the Olympics with me and after making fun of the announcer for the Russia vs. Finland bronze medal match, we just talked for a long while.

Tom stopped by around 24:00 to talk too and then left around 1 to watch Gregg’s copy of the extended edition of “The Fellowship of the Ring.” Gregg, Liane, and I talked more until Tom stopped by again around 2:30 and asked if the movie really was so long that he was only halfway through. I told him that the second half was the best part and he decided to stick with it and watch it. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that movie so I said I’d watch it with him. My computer refuses to play DVDs and Tom’s screen sucks, so Gregg was kind enough to let us borrow his laptop while he went to bed. Liane had been yawning for some time and also called it a night. She and Gregg are going to Dover tomorrow to see a castle and the famous white cliffs.

I had to try my best not to keep making comments on the film and tell Tom a lot of the “behind the scenes” trivia I’ve picked up by watching the DVD extras. He’d never seen the film before so it was also hard not to ruin it for him. Once you’ve watched a movie like that so many times with people you know well, you get used to talking a lot while watching it. I hate it when people talk during new movies or films I’ve never seen so I did my best to keep my mouth shut and only talk when he asked a question. The movie was over around 4:15 and after Tom left I packed up the computer and returned it to Gregg’s room. I got ready for bed and managed to fall asleep around 5. What a night! Cheers!