Binary Solo!

So. Oxford.

Tom stole my idea for the entry, which I'm a bit annoyed at, but whatever. I was GOING to list off all the top inside jokes from the week, but he beat me to it, although he neglected to mention our repeated use of Sim slang ("Flama-Jama! Fablee!"), although he did hit on the fact that we played about 6 hours of Sims II my last night in Oxford. That's so us. Two drinks at a pub and then hours and hours of computer-generated life in a house with Basshunter as a roommate.

And though Tom mentioned this as well, it bears repeating. The number-one joke of the week was started by our very own Jim Whitehead, referring to the mailboxes everyone has at Oxford, which are called pigeonholes, typically shortened to "pidge." This leads to all sorts of slang expressions, such as "just put it in my pidge," "I'll pidge it to you," etc. Jim pointed out that this sounds vaguely dirty, and so for the rest of the week we used the word as a "nonspecific sexual euphamism." In every other sentence. I think other people stopped finding this humerous quickly, but it kept up full steam as far as we were concerned. (I pointed out early on that while I may not have a pidge over here in Madison, I do have a box.)

Other notable quotes which I wrote in the back of my journal:

"One if by land, two if by sea, three if my formal hall." - Jim, in reference to...something. I forget.

"I like how comfortable you are handling birds." - Tom on Ed's prowess with our roast duck

"Does he ask you to wear wool sweaters in bed?" - Tom to Jamie, on Ed's affinity for sheep

"Dude, if virgin's tears had magical powers I'd have cried a lot more when I was young." - Tom, on the Munchkin card "Virgin's Tears"

"You're cleaning." "What? I'm supposed to be fucking!" - Jamie and I, concerning the behavior of my character in the Sims

It was a great trip. Our Thanksgiving meal was AMAZING, although I missed stuffing. The ham turned out delicious, and I think we did a good job showing our British, Indian and South African guests why America has such a fat reputation. I ate until I almost exploded, then took a walk around Worcester in the freezing cold, then ate two slices of cheesecake. Even posting about this is making me hungry. We played a bunch of Munchkin afterwards and listened to Tom's eclectic music collection, which took me back in time with pretty much every song. Really, the trip was just relaxing in the extreme. I got to do everything I wanted to do: leave Madison for somewhere totally different, spend a lot of time with my friends, eat a lot, drink a lot (which arguably I did a bit too much of, when all is said and done), and not worry about school. I had adventures, I have some fun stories, and I was reminded of how lucky I have been in friends. And I have a ton of candy for the stockings, so everybody wins!

Also, general shoutout to Hertford. I love pretty much everyone I've ever met in that college, and this trip's new faces were no exception. Everyone was so cool and friendly (and crazy), and made me feel like I fit right in. Jamie's lucky to have done so well, and I'm glad to know she's at the helm of a ship that deserves her.