The Map, The Parisians, The Christmas Party, and The Sunday

The Map: within a few weeks of my time here at Cornell, I noticed that the world map in Olin Library (dated 2004) was labeled with the Gaza Strip but not Israel. I decided this was an omission I would not tolerate. I spoke to the maps librarian and he was polite about it. A few days later, my friend Ari, who knew what action I had taken, texted me to let me know that Israel was now on the map, side-by-side with Gaza Strip. I went in today to thank the maps librarian. He is a middle-aged, racially ambiguous man with an equally ambiguous accent. He told me that the three major map databases in use in America do not have information including Israel, and he said "it might even be on purpose." Like...HELLO! YAH! But he was very nice about it, like I said, and totally agreed that Israel should be on the map. So now Israel is on the map in the same font as everyone else's countries and it looks very nice sitting there along the Mediterranean with a little chunk cut out here and there for the future Palestinian state.

The Parisians: I hung out with my foreign friends again on Saturday! I ran into them at lunch after babysitting and a little thrift store shopping on The Commons. We dined and then we reconvened for studying in the Uris Library! They are so interesting and unimaginably wealthy! It is quite an experience to hang out with them. They took cigarette breaks while we studied! Felix called it "a French concentration technique." I called it (to myself) a well-deserved victory for America! Victories for America are few and far between these days, mostly because of the obesity epidemic and general economic dysfunction, so I will celebrate this small win by listening to country music and wearing pigtail braids.

The Christmas Party: Before the Christmas Party at AEPi (a Jewish frat, naturally), I ate dinner out with Adina's family. Her wonderful, interesting, beautiful family. It was a Clinton Fan Club Meeting. After the dinner, we prepared for the Christmas Party, which, for me, involved putting vaseline on my chapped lips and brushing my matted hair and putting on appropriate footwear (ie fake leather boots that are easily cleaned with lysol wipes-thanks Chelsea!-to protect from the layer of beer on the dance floor). The Christmas Party was foreshadowed by a number of telling signs: a scary, wobbling, masked wolf walking ahead of us (always ominous!), the forgetting of my camera card and the failure of an alternative card, and the cloud of smoke and steam that surrounded the party house on a coldish, rainy night. The wolf represented dark and scary things, the camera card represented God's feeling that we ought not to have photographic evidence of the evening, and the smoky halo represented a smoke machine that was inside the party but not allowed to be inside the party and later set off the smoke alarm. Go figure.
The party deteriorated quickly. There were more creepers than usual, the friends from my floor decided to leave early, and personal issues for my other friends surfaced as well. By the time the smoke alarm went off and we all had to evacuate, it was a mess. Our coats and belongings (keys, cameras, ID cards) were locked in a room we couldn't access so we had to wait it out.
The night ended with a Cliff Bar at Nasties and sweatpants.

The Sunday: woke up at the butt crack of dawn to go to my stupid work training session at the hotel. I learned nothing but did get paid for five hours. Score.
Napped for what was originally going to be 25 minutes but quickly escalated into a full three hour slumber, complete with REM cycles and dreams.
Dreamed about 2012 and was surprised by whom my subconscious decided to save. It will create a riot, so I won't share it here. I also watched the world end, which was relatively traumatic.
Started making my photobook (thanks Mom, groupon!) and missed Nativ, Wheels, high school.
Went to ballroom dancing and tangoed with Joe. Our promenades are unbeatable!
Dined with Jake and had a much needed life debriefing session.
Snugged with Adina and Rachel and read for pleasure! and in case she's reading this, Rachel gets a lot of credit for my post-shower visit.

I love my friends.