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Hi everyone.  They kicked us out of New House today and I'm currently sitting in Hayden with Rashed, because both of us have work we would like to get done.  You may comment that the fact that I'm blogging means I'm not getting work done.  I just want to say that I have glanced over in Rashed's direction a few times and he is on The You Tube.  I have been on The Gee Mail dealing with email backlog (thanks for being patient, Xiaoyue <3).

Sumin emailed me recently and said I should blog, and I said that I would wait to blog until I had pictures, because I like pictures and I don't like blogging without them.  Then I realized I have a bunch of pictures, so I'm going to post some of the things I've been up to.

Last week was the first week after finals.  It was also the week of Harvard's commencement.  I had a good friend graduating, so I spent a lot of time up there at various events.  Harvard's commencement is opened by the HIGH SHERIFF OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, which was pretty funny.  He strides on stage, strikes his staff three times and bellows, "AS THE HIGH SHERIFF... OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY... I DECLARE... THAT THIS... MEETING... IS IN... OOOOOORDERRRRRRRRR...." and does something pretty similar for declaring the meeting adjourned, but I've used up my capslock quota for this blog post.  Here's a picture of Oprah, who was speaking.  (At a certain point me and my friend's sister just had fun competing with each other to get better shots of Oprah).  Yeah, we were sitting pretty far back.  After Oprah talked, I ran into Adam, who was there because his brother was graduating, and it was hot so we got froyo together. 

In contrast, MIT's commencement was not very hot.  I took a bunch of pictures, some of which are on facebook, but here's one that I took of the stage through my poncho.  I was very glad to have a poncho.  It was raining a little.  I ended up moving closer to the stage because those seats didn't end up filling - they were reserved for people who didn't come.  So on that note I'll say congratulations again to our seniors!  Despite the slight muddiness of the day, it was truly a pleasure to get to be at your commencement, and I'm super proud of you and sad that you won't be around as much next year.

Other things I have been doing include watching Sherlock with Noah, UROPing, procrastinating on work, going to the dentist, and voice lessons.  I'm being introduced to vocal repertoire, which is an edifying experience.  I didn't know that Aaron Copland (of Appalachian Spring) wrote voice things.  If you're interested, I'm working on Long Time Ago by Copland right now.  That link is a very pretty baritone recording. 

I'm looking through the pictures uploaded to my computer for inspiration for things to write about, and this prompts me to say that I think there is a Wood Thrush living in the tree outside House 5.  I keep wanting to take a picture but I only ever have my phone on me so you can't really tell it's a Wood Thrush from the resolution.  I'll include it anyway since I mentioned it.  That little blob of a bird sitting on the left pedal of the blue bike is a wood thrush.  Male wood thrushes are able to sing two notes at once. :]

mmmmm... that's all from me for now.  In the next few weeks I'm going to be working, going to NYC with caitkw and alrashed, going to Chicago for ESP, going home for my sanity, and you know... other stuff.  Miss everyone and would like to hear about how everyone's doing.