70 Comments
There’s a silence over campus, which will only be punctured by tonight’s Primal Scream. Heads hunched in Butler or in dorm rooms, the collective Columbia population slogs through the start of exam week. Ugh.
But we at the Bwog wanted to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel – all those things waiting for us over winter break. We’ve compiled our own list, and encourage you to add your own (or, of course, ridicule ours) in the comments.
- A warm fire
- Reading books that I’ve actually chosen
- Catching up on TV (Thanks Hulu!)
- Hours upon hours of English soccer
- Actually enjoying Christmas carols
- The inauguration of Barack Obama
- Using an automobile (“I’m going to the grocery, Dad. Wait, you mean I don’t have to use my own legs to get there?!”)
- A mattress without stains
- A tile shower that won’t make my toes sprout mushrooms
- Movie tickets that cost less than $12 each
- Not needing to swipe an ID to enter my home
- People standing “in line,” not “on line”
- Eating real food
- Sleep
- Not doing laundry
- Boxsprings
- Introspection
- Putting insanity on pause, literally
- Reducing Gmail to a trickle
- Not gambling on the functionality of washing machines
- Deer
- Live television
- Mid-season premieres
- Spacious aisles
- Well-rested, well-adjusted, well-fed, normal people
- A view from your window
- Sunlight in your room from said window
- A bathtub (for some)
- A dryer that’s not a steamer
- No MPAA or RIAA or anti-free-culture University watching your every move (for Europeans)
- Planning out all the classes you’re going to take in the semesters to come (well, they seem fun and interesting *now*…)
- A real refrigerator
- Christmas tree(s)
- Christmas/holiday food
- Christmas/holiday music
- Not having to go up four flights of stairs and half a ramp to get your mail
- No print quota
- Not having to worry about the fire alarm (being too sensitive or being too tolerant)
- Air conditioning
- GPS- and WiFi-enabled public transportation
- Being half a year ahead of the TV schedule (for many abroad)
- No Uggs or Crocs in sight
- No cheeseburgers
- A reliable heating system and, with it, the ability to feel my toes (god damn you Woodbridge!)
- High school friends
- High school drinking playlists
- The wonderfully tacky jewelry I will receive from ancient relatives.
- Being able to walk to the movie rental store.
- John’s Roast Pork
- Sleeping in pajamas, not jeans.
- (Santa!)
- My couch
- Protein in my diet
- A fridge that doesn’t freeze all of my vegetables or make everything soggy
- My sister!
- Sketchy south Jersey bars where every night is Ladies’ Night
- The beach being 5 minutes away
- Eating all of the food groups every day
- Not drinking coffee
- Singing along to the music of Barnard’s Sarah Dooley while driving with your friends
- Not having to worry about flooded parts of campus and the risk of wet socks
- Lower costs of living
- No more lucid dreams about writing papers
- The 60+ Santa Clauses that will be decorating my house. My mother collects.
- Yule log
- Driving to the hills or the beach to watch the sun set
- Christmas shopping…for everyone. Two days before Christmas.
- Drinking with my grandmothers
- Hippies!
- Being at home as a legal dependent for maybe the last time in my life
- Another degree of removal from the financial crisis
- A piano I can play without being embarrassed
- Bike rides with dad
- Ferries
- All the Culturally Important TV Series I’ve missed out on over the past four years
- That air of cosmopolitanism from being a New Yorker on the West Coast
- That fear of retribution from being a New Yorker in south Jersey
- Baking
- My mother and I decorating the tree, while my stepdad tells us that the tree is askew.
- Sleeping
- Receiving holiday cards
- Being with my family
- Upgrading my Ubuntu server to Intrepid (hopefully someone will understand this)
- Turing my Debian server into a mail drop so I can use imap on my pop3 account (again, hopefully someone gets this)
- Eggnog!
- Stoves
- Real food, especially stained glass cake (a family dessert; I recently inherited the recipe)
- Most requested classical music countdown on WQXR
- Watching a Charlie Brown Christmas with my mom
- Not worrying about when the next problem set is due.
- Road trips
- Samosas
- Knitting in front of the tv
- Borrowing movies from the public library
- Getting a ricer to make the creamiest mash potatoes mmmm!
- Time to be idle, to think
- Counter space
- Weaver Street Market ( http://www.weaverstreetmarket.com )
- Touring Christmas lights with the fam
- Guinea pigs (all five)
- Making Chex mix with my father
- Being among last-minute shoppers on Christmas Eve
- Patrick Stewart’s one-man “A Christmas Carol” on audiotape (that’s right, cassette tape!)
- As I walk up the stairs at night, looking down on the darkened den and gazing at the flecks of colored light cast on every surface from the Christmas tree
- Finishing The Wire
- Finishing Magic Mountain
- Finishing the frozen Thanksgiving leftovers in my home refrigerator
- Showers and baths that make you feel cleaner, not dirtier, than you had been previously
- Chestnut Hill Coffee Co.
- S
- L
- E
- E
- P
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70 Comments
@how about... how about how soft the toilet paper is?
@Hmm -Eating not being a gut-wrenching chore
-Doggy!
-Kitties!
-Reading for pleasure
-Catching up on House and Eli Stone
-Comfortable bed
-Uninhibited torrent downloading
-Finishing old TV series
-Baths
-Going to the store not being a trip to plan the afternoon around
-No special relativity
-Isolation from my crush=Getting over it? Please?
-HS Friends
-Staff at old haunt
-Frasier reruns
-Will & Grace reruns
-Actually watching Stewert/Colbert
@weaver street!! I love Weaver Street Market!!
I seriously dream about the the whole grain pancakes they have at brunch.
@overworked incredibly boring post — reads like a middle school blog. the comments themselves reflect the narcissism of it. come on, bwog, step it up!
@can't wait not getting or receiving texts that say,
“are you in butler?”
@the sound of silence …the never appears in the city, but is always present in the woods
seeing high school friends
sipping hot tea with my parents
expressing sympathy for my siblings as they trudge back to school come Jan. 2
hanging out with my sister and making sugar cookies with the huge jar of cookie cutters we convinced my mom to buy one winter because we *needed* it
playing dolphin olympics 2 with my brothers and watching them starslide to planets while I try to get to the moon
playing christmas carols on the (wonderfully in tune) piano while my siblings sing along, as loudly as possible
making hot chocolate for everyone and then surveying the damage afterwards (cocoa powder on the counter, whipped cream here and there, six empty mugs)
seeing my dog one more time before she passes on to the great dog pasture in the sky
jazz at the local coffeehouse
catching up on all the latest movies
long, luxurious baths
…why isn’t it break yet?
@sleeping without the company of two other people and not in a bunkbed.
ahhhhhhhh. glorious. to be as loud as i want in the mornings, play music in my room so i can hear it in the shower and as i get dressed.
and utter darkness at night, when all the lights are off, and the blinds and curtains are closed and you can’t see a single thing even after your eyes have supposedly acclimated.
SO. GREAT.
@oblivious? I’ve lived in Manhattan since I was four years old; and, I must have never noticed this standing “on line” thing…I’ve always said and heard “in line.” Is this an upper west side thang?
@JEW PRIDE Hanukkah. geez.
@YES props to Magic Mountain.
beirut!
free food!
Lessons and Carols!
@FRANCE MASTURBATING TO FRANCINE TAN’S FACEBOOK PICS
@procrastinating -curling up on a couch in front of a fire with a novel that I choose to read
-decorating the Christmas tree
-Listening to the Christmas CDs I forgot to upload onto Itunes
-coffee every morning that I don’t have to pay for
-Really good wine every night that I don’t have to pay for
-Watching movies on something larger than a computer screen
-Seeing high school friends and family
@the chance to have a normal conversation without being assaulted by the other person’s social ineptness. THAT is a complaint i attribute entirely to this campus.
@i can't wait for the complete collapse of the american financial system. i already stocked up on spam and cup ramen
@what good will that do for anybody?
@from NY I sense that a fair amount of the complaints that the list has about being here at Columbia are actually complaints about New York City.
@ttan You *#$@&#* who live in America have no idea how lucky you are.
@wicked cool people nuff said
@mistake that was in reply to the question
who calls it BEIRUIT??
@LMX Being a New Yorker and actually being in the city again.
Amen.
Wondeful, truly wonderful list, BWOG!
@from LI.. what’s wrong with “on line?”
@Can't wait for... southern accents!
And not being laughed at for wearing cowboy boots.
@... when i look forward, all i see is what they want me to see. but it’s okay, i heard some greek dude is comin’ soon and he’s got drugs. i heard he’s a bit of a commie bastard and he tries to push it on everyone. but whatever, it’s a small price to pay.
@SENIOR -Going to the beach and coming back to school with a number of plausible answers to the question:
“So what are you doing next year?”
@also new year’s twilight zone marathon
@mefier holy shit Bwog linked to Metafilter! Does anybody else read the site?
@I can't wait for... — Hot dogs wrapped in soft pretzels.
— No hipsters.
— The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.
— Vicarious excitement for my brothers when the district schools get snowed out.
— Christmas carols. Singing them, listening to them, and bringing them around the neighborhood in slightly tipsy groups.
— My kittens!
— Free movies on demand.
— “Know what I feel like? Banana pancakes.” And then getting them.
— Not having to be anything to anyone.
@is a primal scream occurring with pillow fight? or only second semester?
@N. Greensboro St. Who lives in the Triangle? My house this summer was two blocks away from Weaver Street, and I spent half my time there. Sir or Madam, I applaud your taste in happy places.
@perhaps if you have a problem with people who stand on line you should chose a different school
@nah nobody actually stands on line, they’re just too ignorant to know they’re standing in line.
@i am excited for.. rewatching lost and getting ready for the next season, which conveniently starts the week we get back!
@I really just want to keep my wallet safely in my back pocket.
@Mmmm My puppy dog. How I miss her.
The mounatins.
Being referred to as “the New Yorker” by smalltown people.
Nights with my best friend laughing at the most pointless things.
Hoping he’s having a good break.
Unfortnately, however, the Crocs will never go away. I will be working at a shoe store…
@i also have a puppy!
she’s new to the family, and this’ll be her first christmas with us.
i really want to meet her, but i might die of sleep deprivation before i board the plane to texas.
@I can't wait for Warm and sunny weather!
Long days spent at the beach!
Epic parties that are never shut down!
Not having to worry about getting into the best bars and clubs!
The advantages of living where most vacation!
@wow tooool
@Huh? WHAT IS THE ‘PRIMAL SCREAM’? EXPLAIN TO ME COLUMBIA! EXPLAIN!
@I can't wait for open country spaces
purry, furry, warm kitties
a working fireplace
hanging out/shopping with my mom
family vacation
time to myself to to whatever i want
making jewelry
knitting a new hat
a cabinet full of tea and really good coffee
sparklers and fireworks at new years
@I can't wait for... -Dealing with the fallout from poor Thanksgiving break hookup decisions (and maybe making those bad choices again)
-watching PBS documentaries with my parents
-Being allowed to sing along to music while you’re travelling, without fellow travellers thinking you’re schizophrenic
-baking christmas cookies
-playing endless rounds of beirut with high school friends cause there isn’t much else to do
-realizing sometimes you miss not having much else to do.
@random Who the hell calls it Beirut!?!?!
@$4 for a movie Where I live it’s only $4 to see a movie during the day, and $6 at night, at all 4 of the nearby theaters. Two of these are brand new and have stadium seating, etc in case you thought it was some shitty theater in nowheresville.
@but where is it?
@hmm – going downstairs and throwing open the cupboards, revealing so many free snacks that taste good.
– eating all of them
– parents attempting to ground you/impose curfew even though you’re 22 (it’s cute, isn’t it?)
– going through TV seasons in one day
@hmmm -going home and feeling great about being away from columbia
-re-realizing how dysfunctional my family is and how much i hate being around them
-leaving home 4 weeks before break ends and coming back to school and having that wonderful feeling that i have 4 weeks to read, go to museums, and relax
@i can't wait to see my dog…
and the fucking “on line” thing is so true and sooooo fucking annoying
@Can't wait for: Sunshine
Sunsets
Pets
Doing Nothing
@not happy about no access to a gym…
@yeahhhh unless you’re writing your senior thesis and then what do you look forward to?
@How does santa stop his sled?
With a christmas brake!
@YES People standing “in line,” not “on line”
yes yes yes yes
@Silly Rabbit Stressful facebook statuses from friends who still somehow manage to find the time to post on FB.
SNOW- not this new york sludge that lasts 12 minutes. Real Toronto snow.
Not having the coordinate with 3 people beforehand to take a damn poop.
NOT reading the bible (Yay secular family that views christmas as a period of excess rather than religious holiday!)
Unwillingly finding myself questioning the life and times of Jesus Christ because I read the damn bible. Stupid John.
Not being surrounded by either hipsters or people in sweats. (There’s something in between, right?)
Not seeing that guy with the big beard in the Butler cafe every damn time I go there with a stack of books.
Forgetting my UNI password for a while and growing unfamiliar with courseworks.
Still reading BWOG because I’ve been conditioned
Wondering what my silent crush is doing.
@cupcake who is looking forward to seeing high school friends?!
must be a freshman.
@junior I look forward to seeing my high-school friends. I don’t know why it’s strange to be able to maintain close relationships despite distance.
I am looking forward to
-seeing my friends
-my puppy dog
-not having to do dishes
-reading… FOR FUN
-normal sleep schedule
-no more problem sets! my calculator will sleep for 1 whole month
@DHI I’m senior and I didn’t contribute to this but I’m looking forward to seeing my high school friends because they’re good people and I like hanging out with them.
@Anonymous Amen to that. i love my high school friends. those are the people you remember your whole lief
@Anonymous thanks bwog…this made me feel all warm inside.
also looking forward to….
-hooking up with guys from high school who you already have history with so there’s no awkwardness
-redecorating my room
-spending time with my family not through emails and four minute phone calls
-buying CHEAP food
-staying up till 4 am and waking up at 1pm
@hungry and broke free snacks. all the time. oh glory be!
@i'm from an inhabited part of america, so the “Movie tickets that clost less than $12 each” doesn’t apply to me either :(
seriously, where are tickets significantly cheaper (like, less than $10)?
@Minnesotans get them cheaper! I can’t wait to go home.
@head to southeastern ohio. it’s four bucks for your ticket, one buck for pop corn, and one buck for pop. you can’t beat it.
except the rest of the area sucks. BUT cheap tickets!
@i'm from arkansas. and movie tickets are 7.75 there. no, really.
@i'm from new york so the “Movie tickets that cost less than $12 each” doesn’t apply to me :(
@Ummm If you’re from New York (the city), can’t you get movie vouchers from TIC?
http://www.cuarts.com/tickets/discountMovies.html
@RSM quitting smoking, for real. even when i’m drunk
@bwog I can’t believe how frequently you’re posting. It’s hard to believe you are empathetic without seeing you struggle with finals.
@yet.. you’re the one reading bwog… hmm…
@so close and yet so far.
@heh People standing “in line,” not “on line”
Damn straight.
@Nicole Amen to finishing The Wire.