I own a tuxedo.

One thing I've learned about people, whether it's pitching an idea, telling a story, or more generally trying to relay information is that:

1. People respond very positively towards lists.
2. They read and/or listen quite carefully to every word, oftentimes without immediately compiling the information or trying to anticipate your next point.
3. They will read this point even after having been warned by the foreshadowing in the previous item.



What follows are positive and closely correlated negative experiences, respectively.

1. Transportation
+ Owning and riding my bike often / not having to worry about a car.
- Riding my bike in a rotary, or traffic circle.

2. Cuisine:
+ Multiple Course formal dinners
- British food (yes, it's horrific)

3. Shopping
+ Buying a tuxedo for a reasonable price given how often it's required.
- British prices (everything costs double or more)

4. Privilege
+ A Multi-course dinner boat cruise along the Thames in London paid entirely for by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
- Being treated differently than other brilliant Cambridge students because of the Gates Scholarship.

5. Churchill Community
+ Churchill PAV dance party
- Churchill PAV dance party

6. Academics
+ Being way ahead in classwork.
- Not having any way to gauge my progress in class through homework or testing (We have two big qualifiers in the spring)

7. Communities
+ A vibrant and intellectual Gates Community.
- Feeling somewhat outcast back at Churchill as an elitist in spite of efforts.

8. Television
+ Not having American pundits vomit nonsense into my brain through talk shows or other television analysis.
- Losing Law and Order.

9. Humo(u)r
+ General appreciation of my cynical and often wry sense of humor.
- Those who don't get satire of the American system dressed up as patriotism.

10. People
+ Brilliant, passionate, and obsessively endeavoring individuals.
- Rich, entitled snobs


Some more pictures for those who have just doubled their daily reading after trekking through this post:

Some bridge in London we passed under during our boat trip. In lieu of forgetting its name, let's call it a London bridge.



My tuxedo, taken via webcam.



Several of my friends and I sitting down to a home-cooked dinner... in avoidance of hall food.