The Masochist's Institute of Technologyanecdotes of an ambitious MIT student

What I planned to do this weekend:

• Catch up on 15.401 (Finance Theory)
• Revise 14.05 (Intermediate Macro) paper
• Spend time contemplating life
• Finalize ADT plans for next year
• Redo resume
• Redesign ADT’s site
• Finally get Vivian-lee.net up and running

What I’ve actually done this weekend:

• Experienced waking up without an alarm – it’s so nice; my body feels totally refreshed!
• Ate delicious dinners at IHOP with friends… twice
• Was extremely challenged by the latest Dance Revelasian routine (it’s so fast!)
• Saw Boston Ballet’s production of Coppelia – now one of my favourite ballets by far!
• Sang karaoke with Chao on Saturday night, and found some new music to enjoy
• Finally mastered how to play ping-pong
• Failed miserably at playing pool – 8.012 taught me a little too much…
• Joked around way too much with Chris Luna…
• Played Rockband for the first time since IAP – I’m definitely out of practice…
• Had interestingly deep conversations with friends – they actually provoked a lot of these blog entries!

It always seems as if there’s a lot of time over the long weekend to do things… but the truth is, we oftentimes get into the rut of thinking, “Well, since it’s such a long weekend, I can relax just a little bit more right now… right?” or “The point of a long weekend is to relax and recuperate!”

Unfortunately, time and tide wait for no man; I had my fun the past two days, and now it’s time to tackle the to-do list!

I swear I’m channeling Kusumi Koharu…

I arrived back in Boston on March 28th with a suitcase packed full of dance items, a backpack so heavy I had to bend over backwards to accommodate it, and a heart full of determination.

It was the start of productions week for MIT’s Asian Dance Team. Our reputation and future success hinged on this first opportunity to show the MIT community that we were every bit as amazing as our rival groups (DanceTroupe, Harvard’s AADT, and more). As soon as I arrived home, I shot out a half-dozen emails about the week’s rehearsals and fell asleep to the tune of traditional Chinese music. Inspiration for the rough week ahead, of course.

What follows below is a very fragmented but very real account of what happened last week, and why it will probably remain in my mind as the best time I have ever had at MIT. (For the record, all photos in this post are by Brian Chan, and are from the actual day of showcase. Unfortunately, we were too busy capture the essence of rehearsals on camera…)

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If everything went according to plan, I would be making my first two performances with Dance Revelasian today. One of them would even be on Kresge’s stage, at the CSSA College Festival Gala, in which all of Boston’s 12 colleges plus a handful of professionals will be performing. It would be excellent exposure and I would probably be positively beaming after being in the spotlight. However, life must hate me or something, because last night the worst thing that could happen to a dancer managed to happen to me:

I sprained my foot.

It’s a rather long story as to how I actually accomplished it. To shorten the anecdote: I was basically running on my way to Ashdown, trying to make a meeting at 6:15 (it was 5:50 at the time). I had dashed across Brigg’s Field, but for some reason the open gate on the south side doesn’t have a corresponding open gate on the north side. After anxious pacing back and forth along the north end, finding no open gate, I ran back to dorm row and around the student center.

Just as I was about to dash across the street, I tripped over myself and landed in the middle of the road. Thank goodness the closest cars were a good distance away, but nonetheless I managed to roll/crawl my way back to the sidewalk, where I clutched my foot and willed the tears not to come out of my eyes.

I have twisted/strained my foot before, but it had never hurt this much in my life. I merely sat there in a ball as I called my friends to come help me back to the dorm. Since I had hurt my foot and healed easily before, I decided that there was no need to go see MIT Medical. In fact, I did quite a bit of hobbling/walking around last night to prove to myself that I would be okay for tomorrow’s performances.

After waking up, however, my foot is throbbing with pain. I can barely stand, much less walk or dance. And to a dancer, this is the worst feeling ever: not being able to dance when you want to dance. I had especially wanted to perform today, and even told all of my friends to come watch. Now I’ll be reduced to a member of the audience, and my performance-loving self is simply incapable of bearing this.

Why now, and why me?