parties

In addition to my power electronics and MEMS classes (which would be interesting to write about in a future post), I also happened to enroll in a Cancel Culture seminar run by the Theater, Dance, and Performing Arts Department to fulfill a breadth requirement for my Masters degree. 

If you wish to read about SOIMumps processes, how to wind an inductor, or wrangling with TPUs, please let me know. As no one has reached out to me about those topics yet, I'll ramble a bit about college parties and why I mildly dislike them despite attending a few with people whose company I enjoy. 

(Update: someone has asked me to talk about TPUs!)

I cannot think of a witty caption for this inductor.

I mention the Cancel Culture seminar above as we often talk about cancellation as a from of performance. A selection of ideas brought up in class on the nature of cancel culture includes collective movement, fulfillment and subsequent breaking of roles, performance of complicity vs rage, and elements of opportunism.

In terms of how this relates to college parties: yes,  I am Holden Caulfield. But also, I am explaining to a void why I don't enjoy parties so who's the real phony? 

Anyways, the following will enumerate a few of my social incompetencies for archival purposes.

Collective movement: 

• A culture necessitates a collective of people, preferably heading towards a common location, such as a house that is hosting a party. Time of arrival varies by commute distance, transportation method, and general mood, but can range between 1-3 hours.

Fulfillment/Breaking of roles: 

• I prefer to skulk in the corner, annoying the roommate's cats and eavesdropping on conversations. Imagining everyone else at the party fulfilling the same role elicits some shame, so I push myself in baby steps, first reading the labels on all the liquor bottles before settling on 100% juice concentrate, then asking the host if I can help prepare anything or wash their dishes. Eventually, I remind myself I am an adult with thoughts and opinions. Et voila, pleasant conversation. Before long, I flirt with the idea of attempting to sing karaoke, but thankfully my senses are recovered and I retreat back into the corner. 

Complicity vs rage:

• Complicity towards the assumption that I am not a frolicking type of person has permeated my subconscious to the point where I've convinced myself that I am genuinely out of words on some occasion. Rage (or middling motivation) to contradict that would be misplaced, as it seems like I have plenty of words (as evidenced by this blog) but not much faith in people being interested, and thus preemptively choosing silence. Oops. 

Opportunism:

• In seminar, we always ask if the timely cancellation of a public figure benefits some power structure in the shadows behind them. Whether feigned or genuine, levity (particularly of the inebriated variety) does provide the opportunity for enlightening tidbits of information to be dropped. 

Complaining aside, I appreciate the people who try to pull me out of the shell and take my atypical conversation responses in stride. 

I am filled with determination.

Happy Thanksgiving! 😀

~~~ Encore ~~~

If you're happily anticipating the oncoming season of festivities and group activities -yay! Otherwise, I recently spent a Saturday reading this book, finishing at 1AM, realizing no one was awake for me to talk about the book with, then texting five separate people the same message about my feelings about aforementioned book.   

While criticisms and ways to find fault with the book is always possible, I really enjoyed it! It had a lot of elements that I cherish in books (world-building maps, dark academia vibes, footnotes!!!, some historical elements, long-winded technical explanations, fictional death). >:D

Who needs Goodreads?