an ecstasy of fumbling

NYU's registration system is absolutely batshit insane. You get access codes representing spaces in classes which you have to contactdepartmental registrars to obtain. No access codes left means no spaces in the class and no wiggle room. No shopping period, which is good if you're a TA because you're less likely not to lose your job, but bad if your'e a first semester first year student with no idea what you're doing. The online registration system is also reallys cary and says i have a financial stop on my registration, which is odd because my fellowship should cover all my coursework, but i think this is just because i haven't registered for all three courses yet, which is in itself a mess - the third class i wanted to take (George Yudice's Intro to Latin American Cultural Studies) is full with a waiting list, and the other class i wanted to take and got in to (a course on the Sociology of Knowledge) is apparently meeting now not on Tuesday as advertised, but on Monday at the same time as my required core seminar. Gah.

On the plus side, I now have an NYU ID so i can get in to buildings and use the library, not just watch people get arrested outside of it, and i'm wishing i'd taken the arrest too, but i'm sure there'll be more opportunities. I've registered for two of my three courses, and the three of the other four PhD students in my cohort whom i have met seem great. I also met all of the five M.A. students, one of whom I went to high school with and taught in the Bronx with six years ago, so that's pretty crazy, although not really. And late yesterday afternoon as i was walking down East 4th street, i bumped into my friend Sara, who i also went to high school with, allegedly stalked back in the summer after 6th grade, though i deny this outright, and last saw two and a half years ago while hanging out with Victor and Katie up at Columbia when Sara was still a student there. Turns out she's now transferred to NYU. (Sara graduated with me from high school but spent two years before college in Nepal and India and also took some more time after starting school.) I'm excited that she will be around.

I haven't told the pee story yet.