Out of Eugene, into Portland

I went to MLC today, but they aren't allowing visitors. I wandered into the school and into the counselors office and talked with her for a bit, and she told me I should go to the office and get a visitor's pass. Hmm - that's new. Went there, talked to the scary-and-always-grumpy secretary, who said no visitors passes are given out, or maybe it was none for former students, but anyway, I can't be there until the end of the school day. So I walked up to the Northwest library to use a computer.

There's also a new MAX line that goes by the Greyhound station. Portland is changing, MLC is changing, and the fact that they're actually excluding me strikes a vivid, sad note to me. MLC is not my school anymore.

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Yesterday was a long day, but not the kind of "long" that is synonymous with "bad" or "harrowing." In fact, it couldn't have gone more smoothly. It was simply another one of those days where by the end you think "did all that stuff seriously happen since the last time I slept?"

My first final (of the day) was at 8am. This was my solar & renewable energies final. It was easy, as expected, and I walked back to my dorm to do a little bit of computer stuff and study for my next final, chemistry lecture at 10:15. It went swimmingly; it was pretty much just like the quizzes only longer and on more topics. It was different from last term's in that Dr. Page does more and simpler problems than Dr. Williams.

Had lunch, got a burrito for dinner and spent the last of my meal points on nonperishables. I did my last packing and cleaning, and by the time my lab final was up at 3:15 I was already thinking "was my solar final really today?" Lab, which I have with my old lecture prof Dr. Williams, was the one I was a little worried about, but it wasn't too bad. It was definitely a Williams final, challenging and requiring reasoning at least as much as knowledge. I appreciate that. I feel like I did pretty well, although there were certainly some questions I wasn't sure about. So I walked out thinking "wow, I just powered through three finals and they all went well - and now I'm really hungry." Brains use a lot of sugar.

Then I left and took the bus back to Portland with Dancing Physicist. When we got in, I showed him around NW a bit - first MLC, and after that our route evolved organically. We ended up going to the playground in the North Park Blocks and checking out Powell's Technical through the windows, though it was closed. We got back to the Greyhound station in excellent time to get my bags out of the locker I'd rented without any additional fees, and continued our conversation about people we know and love over fig and chocolate chip cake. In the end I caught the MAX that I wanted at 11:28, and got home about midnight just as I'd intended. It all worked out perfectly.

To do over Spring Break:

- Read Dune
- Practice driving
- Apply for summer internships