Hola hola

Ho snap!

Major update time. :) Greetings to everyone from Brown! I'll make this a bullet-list because...well, I really like those. So on we go!

• Finally decided on my major...and it's Comparative Literature with a focus on translation! I'm still declared as International Relations, though, so I should, er, go change that. :D Huzzah. Oh, and I'm taking a class on medieval poets this semester and we mentioned the Lais of Marie de France. My heart did a little flip 'cause I remembered our TASP. ^_^

• I'm part of a co-ed frat: Zeta Delta Xi. What? A frat? Right. In fact, I'm Corresponding Secretary and one of the two Pledgemasters this semester. In short, this means I deal with alumni and that I'm in charge of organizing the entire pledging process, which is...intense. Actually, Zete seems similar to TASP in a lot of ways, which is pretty cool.
  

• Currently Head Chair of the Brown Queer Alliance. My involvement in all things queer has been varied, but now I've simultaneously stepped it up and stepped down--I'm not involved in as many subgroups (the QA is technically an umbrella-group), but the ones I'm in, I work hard for (and being Head Chair is not a piece of cake). Currently I'm going nuts with bringing Sister Spit: The Next Generation to Brown, as well as Alix Olson, that amazing spoken word poet (who was slated to come a week ago, but she got sick and we're trying to reschedule for sometime in December). Lots of lovely things are going on and I'm excited about 'em. :) Also stressed, but hey.
  

• I'm also getting really involved in the kink/BDSM/non-Brown-queer world, so I'm currently organizing KFA Providence ("an ad-hoc informational unconference on sexuality for anyone and everyone"), trying to go to workshops, presentations, and conferences as often as my schedule permits, and just...being active in "the communities" in general. I also helped contact colleges to advertise for the Transcending Boundaries Conference (which I sadly can't attend due to pledging duties), a con "for bisexual/pansexual, trans/genderqueer, intersex and polyamorous people and our allies," so that was cool. It's really fun and I love meeting new people. These are personal interests, so they get me out of the Brown bubble and it's something I'm doing for myself, which is really exciting. I'm just very passionate about kink, education, outreach, and making dialogues about sexual health and pleasure more available and visible.

• Trying to blog more and make worthwhile posts for the interwebz, so I write my own stuff here and there you can find links to my other online haunts, including a collaborative blog about gender/feminism with students from Vassar, Wesleyan, and a few other places. If you're into stalking me, you can always check out my DailyBooth account (which I mainly set up to keep up with a friend who's taking a year off, but still).
  

• Speaking of sex and blogs and things...my goal is to start up a sex mag at Brown next semester (since this semester I just don't have the time) in the style of Vassar's "Squirm" and Harvard's "H-Bomb." Any name ideas are always welcome. :)
  

• In Telluride news, I applied for factotumship this year (last year I also applied, but didn't get an interview) and I'm headed to Ithaca in November for my interview. :) I think Martin also got one? And Joy Liu--from another '06 TASP--also got one (she goes to Brown!). So basically I'm super super excited and I hope that I can get to work as a factotum. :) Wish me luck! (Also, let's talk about how unfortunate it is that we only have THREE TASPs this year!)
  

That's about it for now, I feel? I really wish to see y'all again. I was gonna try to organize a reunion this past summer, but then I failed at life. So yeah. :) Hopefully we'll keep in touch somehow, even if it's via random blog posts every 10 years.

Cheers, everyone! Feel free to drop me a note anytime!

Dispatch from NYC

Hello everyone!

Since I'm still subscribed to this blog, Johes's recent post showed up one morning in my inbox and was welcomed as much as a bacon /egg / toast breakfast. That is to say, very much. I won't put the time into restoring some of the things that have since broken with the blog (mainly just the missing header), but the subscribe feature is still working and I strongly encourage you to contact those with whom you are still in touch and get them to subscribe too. Posts may not come very often, but I for one, enjoy these random updates. Do it for the children.

Onto updates from NYC...

I am now a junior (whoa!) Biomedical Engineering student at Columbia University with a minor in computer science. While I enjoy the subject greatly, it does involve a rather daunting amount of work. Unlike Johes, I actually have pretty girls in my engineering classes, something I'm thankful for since computer science isn't exactly known for its female/male ratio. On a side note, I'm now dating a redhead art history major, I wonder how that happened. I'm still premed, but am considering other options much more seriously than I ever have since middle school. I guess I'll post back in a couple years letting you guys know what I ended up doing ;-).

At Columbia, we have a volunteer student ambulance corps. It provides free transport and care to Columbia students and affiliates 24/7. I got EMT-B certified last semester and since then, the corps has consumed way too many hours of my life. I'm getting promoted next Monday (hopefully) and I'll finally be able to finally drive that ambulance around with lights and sirens. I'm terribly excited. It's an interesting experience driving a two ton ambulance through city streets. Very different from my minivan back in Ohio. Interestingly enough, "Sir, calm down" is something I now say on a regular bases.

I'm still running that webdesign company from back in the day. It's gone though a couple changes, but it's still moving along. I won't link to the company site since I'm rapidly making some changes, but www.cuems.org is a project I'm working on now. It's not 100% complete, but it's definitely mostly there.

If any of you guys will be around the East coast, I highly recommend popping in to visit the city. You're very much welcome to crash at my place and I can show you around a most excellent city. I hope you guys are doing well. Seriously. I'm not giving up hope that I'll see at least one or two of you guys sometime in the future. It is my sincere wish that you continue to do delightfully at life.

Take care,
Gawwy

From Far Away

Hey all,

This blog seems to have slowly faded away. I randomly stumbled across it while I was updating my Picasa account. It's weird. TASP seemed like such an important part of my life and now I can't even recall all your faces without going on Facebook. I can't tell if that means it really wasn't that integral to my development or if it just has become one of those many things about myself that I don't even need to think about anymore.

Anyways, on with the updates.

I'm now a junior at Stanford majoring in Electrical Engineering and minoring in Comparative Literature. Don't worry, I actually enjoy Electrical Engineering. When I first came to Stanford, I refused to even consider it as a possibility, but I guess stuff happens sometimes. CompLit is, of course, wonderful. Part of the reason is that I actually see girls in my classes, unlike EE courses. It's just nice being able to look at something pretty while I'm stuck inside on a beautiful spring day.

Aside from from my academics, I play Taiko (Japanese-style ensemble drumming) as a part of Stanford Taiko and I love it. Beats and rhythms are taking over my hands and mouth. We got to go to Thailand for a two week tour where we got to play everyday, see a beautiful country, and ride elephants. It made me happy.

Right now, I'm studying abroad in Berlin. The city is amazing and the people are friendly. Thankfully, they almost all speak English because my German is terrible. One of my favorite parts of the city is the subway system. It goes everywhere and runs all night on the weekends. I've met some great people by just picking up conversation on the train.

For all of you, we probably won't see each other again. So good luck with the rest of your lives, I hope they all turn out beautifully.

Johes