25|11|01 00:40 pst The past five days have seen some pretty desperate reloading of everyone's websites, as if hits could magically accumulate into an update. Then I realized that I, too, was guilty. Whoops!

So here I am, alone but not lonely. The hall's empty, save for one guy next door. The first night, I felt weird going to bed without having people to talk to; restless doing my reading without rooms down the hall to escape to; odd going straight to dinner without the lengthy corralling of folks. I love dorm life, but this has been a very welcome break. I've had time to read, write, organize, fold paper cranes, hang out with Suzie and other folk I don't often see, and generally be completely selfish (with a couple of phone calls and letters written on the side).

Tomorrow, of course, I'll borrow Karan's vacuum cleaner to give the place a thorough going-over, and the paper shreds and eraser boogers I've scattered all over our floor will be all gone. Throughout the afternoon and evening, people will be trickling in from airports and road trips, recharged for the final three-week push until winter break.