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Before I begin, this week several prominent figures- Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and Peter Cullen- passed away. Yayoi Kusama also passed away on the 14th, but her death was only announced on the 27th. May they rest in peace.
Prologue: So Go Back To The Cluuurrrb
Thursday, the 20th of August, 2026
As I write this, it is almost 10 PM, and I am four shots of cherry vodka, one pre-mixed vodka/Gatorade cocktail, and one PBR deep. I’m still aware of my surroundings, and my choices right now are the same I’d make if sober, although as a precaution I’m likely to refrain from sharing this until morning (or at least until I sober up).
Life’s been good. Hanging out with my friends almost every day until classes, so that’s nice. I returned the government-issue electronics from my summer job today, and while I was out and about, I stopped at Tractor Supply and completed the side quest I meant to do all summer. I plan on going to the Ren Faire with my friends this Sunday, and I have D&D tomorrow and plans afterward, hopefully.
Tuesday, the 25th of August, 2026
Most of this post will be a retrospective on the past two to three days. But before I begin, a gentleman (presumably a 1L, since I haven’t seen him around before) who strongly resembles Clavicular just sat down at a nearby table. Astonishing.
Chapter I: Faire Is Foul, Foul Is Faire
“Arise, Champion!” rang in my head Sunday morning, louder and clearer than any bell. A message from far beyond, or maybe from so deep within it makes no difference. That day, my friends from Drexel Kline (NLG/Spelljammer) and I went to the Ren Faire. In many ways, we were extremely fortunate: since it was a Sunday, the crowd wasn’t bad, and the expected rain likely scared off additional people. Traffic is usually a nightmare for the Ren Faire, but we didn’t have to deal with it on the day. Once admitted, the lines for food weren’t bad at all, and it was easy to make our way through the fairgrounds. Furthermore, although it occasionally showered during our time there, these were very brief and easily avoided. Furthermore, the rain kept the temperature pleasantly cool. I drove my DM, Jared, and his wife, Dani; aside from the poor quality of Pennsylvania roads, I did quite a fine job, if I may toot my own horn. In the interests of sticking to the bit (see below), I put on a playlist of Sea Shanties for the duration.
The theme of the weekend was “under the sea” or suchlike, and my costume’s gimmick was initially “Punchy the Pirate.” I wore my plated mail gauntlets (the ones I got by bartering away Grand Arbiter Augustin IV to the former owner of Steel City Comics & Games). With my weight loss, I cut a suitably imposing silhouette for the bit.
Lunch was a basket of fish and a basket of chips, while dinner was some Mac & Cheese I ate during the end-of-day joust. I also had some soft-serve cinnamon ice cream, which was excellent. On the topic of the joust, the heels didn’t win this time, truly heartbreaking. They can’t keep a girlboss (Sir Lillith) down forever, smh my head. On the topic of activities, as a group we played the BaRPG drinking game, which Jared found underwhelming; Jordan was selected to roll, though, and got a Nat 20, so I’d wager she enjoyed it the most. We also did an escape room, save for Alex (who had to leave early in anticipation of yesterday’s classes); we finished it in an exceptionally brief eight minutes, which we were very proud of. I got a Tarot reading, and the results weren’t necessarily unexpected (many such cases for the King of Cups), but they were still useful inasmuch as cartomancy can be. Mostly, we walked around and went shopping. I got a book on calligraphy around the world, as well as two dip pens (it was cheaper to buy the handles and nibs individually, which is why I was able to double up). I also bought a blue potion bottle, which I brought to class yesterday for fun (filled with a mana potion, of course). The biggest purchases were a set of Wizard101-themed dice (which came with a QR code for three months of premium access; some of my friends still play W101) and a Xenopixel lightsaber. I suppose I ended the day a space pirate, given I ended up with a blade. It was nice to treat myself.
Chapter 2: Snap Back To Reality
Classes yesterday were all but back-to-back, starting at 10:30 with Dean Oates’ Evidence and ending at 3:30 with Prof. Lior’s Essentials of IP. Prof. Abu El-Haj’s Con Law filled in the gap. Some brief thoughts on each: Oates is as engaging a presenter as he was at orientation last year; Abu El-Haj runs a strict “no devices” classroom (respectable, but it means I need an actual wristwatch since there’s no clock in the room); one of my bosses from the summer told Lior good things about me, and I was able to ask a burning question (since middle school!) about derivative works and get it answered. My intuition was right, but it’s good to have that backed up; furthermore, I was directed to the governing case on the subject. Thank you, Lior, very cool!
Because classes were back-to-back yesterday, and because breakfast was some Celsius, I ended up having a late lunch of chicken and falafel over rice. I ate it outside in the little grove/courtyard nestled between the law building and the library, taking advantage of the nice weather. That’s where I read the aforementioned governing case (Anderson v. Stallone, about the rights to noted Cold War kino Rocky IV).
Speaking of, I have yet to eat today. I should probably do that!
Wednesday, the 26th of August, 2026
My sleep these past few days hasn’t been ideal; my dreams have been overwhelming, piercing, burning. Wheels within wheels, more real than reality, shadows of hands reaching out towards me, and me towards them, but only shadows in the cave, only players on a silent stage. I spend more time waking up than I do sleeping, I’d wager.
I’m wearing black today, like a silhouette writ large. My hair is good today, and NLG provided some much-needed breakfast in the form of donuts. They really were quite good. Classes today were Evidence and Con Law; Lior is abroad, so there’s a prerecorded lecture on Canvas but no class. In Evidence, we continued our discussion of Rule 606 (usually, you can’t impeach a jury verdict) & the Sixth Amendment, looking at Warger v. Shauers, 547 U.S. 40 (2014) and Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado, 580 U.S. 206 (2017), as they relate to the standard set by Tanner v. United States, 483 U.S. 107 (1987). Personally, I think the Tanner decision should be reevaluated in light of Peña-Rodriguez, in which SCOTUS drew a line regarding the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.
Saturday, the 29th of August, 2026
It’s been a busy few days, hence why I didn’t get this post up sooner. But things have been well. When I left off, I was talking about our Evidence cases, but truthfully, I can’t be bothered. Con Law was certainly a class; this first week, we’ve been looking at the historical basis of the Constitution. Because we live in a society where Abominable Intelligence runs rampant, our group project had to be either audio or video instead of a report (as was the case last year, according to my 3L friends who had Abu El-Haj).
Interlude: Mandatory Fun
We did that yesterday afternoon, after the mandatory 2L (and AJD) “reorientation”. Some of the presentations were genuinely very useful, but others could have been emails. They treated us to pizza for lunch and an ice cream social afterward, which was nice. I’m glad we finished the group project when we did, because otherwise it would be a royal pain wrangling us over Zoom (and I’d have to do that today, because it’s due tomorrow at 5 PM).
Chapter 3: Twenty-Four Hours
For your listening enjoyment. Alternate option.
I’ve been having a great weekend so far; as I write this, the clock just struck 7 in the evening. I’ll be switching some laundry around soon; mostly I’ve been making my way through my chore backlog in between studying, aerobics, rehearsing my routine for the talent show next semester, and DM prep. I couldn’t make Lancer yesterday due to other circumstances, and Liz is busy volunteering, so no Incunabuli/Wolves/Call of Cthulhu tonight. My friends from school suggested they might be open to me DMing, so I threw together a setting I think they might fw. Since good artists borrow but great artists steal, I’m using a rotated hexmap of Australia for the continent of Amir-Teldoren (maybe I’ll just change it to “Teldoren”), the “New World”. I’m leaning towards a darker tone, not really horror, save for the old adage that homo homini lupus est and all that jazz. Not sure how much of said themes (e.g. the rise of fascism and reckoning with it after its fall, cycles of violence, settler colonialism, etc.) I can directly explore (v. alluding to or implying).
To shamelessly crib terms from Keith Baker, the setting is very high magic but not very wide magic, at least when it comes to the arcane. I’m not counting artifice magic as arcane for these purposes; in my main/personal project I draw more from Daedalus and other mythological artisans, but here I intend to lean heavily into weird science (SCIENCE!) and a more technological flavor of the class. It’s further complicated by divine magic (as in casting) being wider than arcane magic, but the gods are more distant in this setting than is usually the norm. Anyway, all of this is to say that we’ll be using the low magic progression on the “starting at higher levels” table in the DMG (should anyone’s character die during play).
I’ve found it advantageous to take the medication I was assigned this summer alongside my ADHD med in the mornings. I’ve found I’m more productive later in the day, and my dreams are considerably less off. Because my earliest classes are at 9 AM, I can get up at 7 instead of 6 (as was the norm over the summer, given my commute was an hour by train).
I do wanna get this up and out sooner rather than later; I’m sure I’ll remember other interesting things. Maybe I’ll revise, or maybe I’ll wait until a future entry. It’s been an interesting month; I’m excited for what comes next.
Sierpinski Tetrahedron 