Two Equals One?

I feel well rested again. Sleeping at 11:30 PM last night and waking up at 7:30 AM today gave me eight hours of much needed rejuvenating sleep. After showering and eating a banana, I headed for class with Emily. We saw our professor walking across the street from us and quickened our pace to beat him to class. In class, we divided into groups for our group projects and picked topics. I’m in a group with Emily, Ellen, Thomas, and Johnny, and our topic is BRIC economies. BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and this group of countries has rapidly developing economies that will be interesting to research.

During lecture, we covered chapter 3 in our book, which consists of the supply and demand curves and the competitive market. Mr. Coleman also talked about consumer and producer surplus and Arthur Laffer’s curve, which assumes that after a certain tax rate, government tax revenue will decrease. On a side note, Mr. Coleman showed us a proof for the ridiculous notion that 2 = 1. The equation looked right, but the only problem was that it called for dividing both sides by 0, an impossible feat. So in the end, while the concept was interesting, 2 does not equal 1. I snapped a couple of pictures in class with the permission of our teacher.

After our usual lunch after class, my macroeconomics friends Kimberly, Emily, and Rachelle and I went to Rockefeller Library to work on our homework. The chapter assessment questions our teacher assigned were long and required a lot of critical thinking. I applied what I learned about supply and demand to effectively graph the hypothetical questions I faced. After three productive hours, I finished my assignment due tomorrow and began to work on a worksheet due Friday. Grace, a student taking Themes from Existentialism, came later and joined our study table. Her class discusses the “meaning of life” so she brought up questions presented by her teacher. This actually led to profound, intellectual conversations about love, freedom, abortion, and stem cells. Our discussions were thought-provoking but at the same time, hilarious. I had so much fun during our study session. Before we left the library, we all added each other on Facebook!Rachelle and I went to dinner at around 6 PM. There, I met up with Erinn and Huiyang, a friend from China. Fadeka and Susan, two of my floormates, also sat down at our table. Our RAs were holding a “girls night in” at 7 PM for the Marcy House so Erinn, Fadeka, Susan, and I finished our dinners and found our way to Caswell Hall, where our event was held. Many girls were there, and we had the option of drinking root beer float, eating popcorn and cookies, watching Jeopardy, and painting nails. I personally love Jeopardy so I sat on the couch sipping my root beer float with a bunch of other girls trying to answer the esoteric questions. After Jeopardy was over, we started watching What Happens in Vegas. I would love to have stayed, but I rushed back to my dorm to video chat with my parents because my mom and brother are leaving for China tomorrow.

At 9 PM, Erinn and I walked over to Salomon Hall for the showing of Freakonomics, a documentary adaptation of the mega-hit book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I was already planning on buying the book before I came here and watching the film makes me even more eager to read the book. For those who haven’t read the book or seen the documentary yet, I won’t spoil it for you, although there isn’t much to spoil. I highly recommend Freakonomics if you’re interested in explanations or experiments for random but very interesting topics, ranging from baby names to cheating in sumo wrestling to incentives for high school freshmen to succeed.The weather took a turn today. It has rained all day, but unlike Bay Area rain, the air is still warm, although cooler than it has been the past few days. Fortunately, I listened to Don and brought an umbrella.

Unfortunately, I left my umbrella in my dorm when going to watch Freakonomics, and right after the documentary ended, it was pouring outside. Erinn and I literally sprinted back to our dorms in the rain, splashing in deep puddles that drenched our shoes and socks. I was soaking from head to toe by the time we finally made it inside. Note to self: bring an umbrella at the slightest chance of rain.

I look forward to tomorrow as always!