I’ve moved in for real now. Things are good. I have a computer, speakers, and wires all over my desk. It took me a while to figure out how to make tea with my new tea machine (or hot water dispenser, but I like tea machine). It took even longer for someone to point out to me that I have a microwave and do not need another machine to make hot water. So I feel, after all that effort, I deserve this Darjeeling.

Classes are on Wednesday, but I’ve got a lot of panicking to do before then. I am not particularly homesick (yet?) but I am somewhat weirded out by the heightened social-ness of the college experience. Probably I will get over it.

Today I received my very first phone spam on the cellphone I got yesterday! Those telemarketers are tricksy, it seems.

I am moving in tomorrow! Today I am packing. So far it has taken me about eight hours to transfer my music collection and files to a portable format, and I have been packing real things for only about an hour. I am shocked at the amount of stuff I need to live. Still, I think I prefer my shoebox full of face paints to a Tyler Durden-esque enlightenment.

I have finally joined the ranks of civilized on-the-go types and gotten a cellphone! Facebook has the number.

I was horribly lethargic all day today. Whenever I tried to work on something, I’d end up staring blankly at the screen. No amount of coffee helped. My mom’s diagnosis was that I was “intellectually out-of-shape” due to spending an entire month on vacation, doing nothing more mentally strenuous than read The Fountainhead.

Professor Bump of my upcoming World Literature class sent out a questionnaire recently. Some of the questions are causing a minor identity crisis: what would you rather do than go to college? Whose idea was it (yours or your parents’) to send you to college? Going to college was always an utter certainty for me, not even worth thinking about. My parents had accomplished an impressively Orwellian level of indoctrination! I’ll still go, though. I want to maintain as long as possible the illusion of possibility, and put off the realization that my future is more or less predictable, and probably always had been.

Kickboxing today, finally! I think kickboxing is both physically and emotionally therapeutic. Also it will probably make me less pretentious in the long term, since it is such an inherently ridiculous activity.

I am in awe of Google Answers. It’s an excellent idea. Also, I am in awe of this guy’s crazy ranting. He thinks he is Jesus and takes out big expensive ads saying so. There was also something about Batman. (I like Batman.)

I like the strange things that the internet turns up.

I exist in a state of anticipation for the start of college. Meanwhile I am sitting around and taking notes on The Worldly Philosophers, but mostly drawing my hero, Henry George, in the margins.

I haven’t seen a computer for a week, because my family and I packed up our tent and bug spray and dirtiest sneakers and went camping in Maine. “Camping” in this case means running water and nice bathroom facilities (even though hot water showers cost 50 cents), but I found the entire thing to be a satisfying approximation of “roughing it.” Especially the bugs were very convincing.

Maine is remarkable for its hiking opportunities, excellent climate (foggy, damp), and blueberries. Overall, I derived the most enjoyment from the local fauna, particularly the bioluminescent plankton, which are extremely neat. I also read Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, a 700-page ode to the individual. I have to admit I really liked the style, but have not decided what I think of the rest of it. I think Rand will impact my views on philosophy and ethics, but not politics.

Oh my god, college in three weeks. I feel like I’m not nearly old enough.