nitrogen, erbium, dysprosium

this morning i volunteered at an event on campus, the national science olympiad. junior and senior high students, coaches, and parents from all over the country converged on the university for this three-day competition. i was originally assigned to the disease detective event, then moved to microbe mission, and finally, became a roving room monitor to make sure noone damaged the new union. here's an idea: if you're worried about damage to the new union, don't hold an event with hundreds of junior and senior high school students. or let undergrads anywhere near it.

each school was assigned to a room or area of the hallway (the hallways were wide with chairs and couches) as their 'homeroom', a place where they could put their backpacks and models, have meetings, etc. my monitoring route consisted of the movie theatre, the hallways, the computer lab - where, by the way, kids were not facebooking or checking e-mail, they were reading about molecular structure and physics-y stuff - and four meeting rooms. in almost all the rooms, i had to ask groups to take down things they had taped to walls. when i went by the first classroom a second time, the paper they had had taped to the window was still there, just lower, on the sill. i went up to the coach, prepared to ask again, when he said angrily, 'it's just leaning! and it's weighted with a penny!' i told him that was a really creative solution, he must be a science guy. i wanted to tell him to relax, but i didn't.

the second room was the allergy room. nope, not kidding. this room was for the kids with allergies, who needed to be quarantined so they didn't come into contact with anything that could cause a reaction or so if they were on medication, they could be monitored closely. this was the only room that was allowed to bring in food, due to severe nut allergies.

nothing interesting about the third room except that they weren't supposed to use the table. really? why put people in a room with a table that they're not allowed to use?

same story with the fourth room except they were allowed to use the tables and this was the junior high room. they were very well-behaved and so tiny!

on one of my pass-throughs, an irritated coach asked if i was security. i pondered that for a second and then said, 'more or less'. he proceeded to complain about the number of schools that had been assigned to each room. 1) as if security could do something about that, and 2) as if he wanted me to create more rooms out of thin air. i listened and nodded and said i would pass on his message to...someone. ah, the life of a security/room monitor.

several kids were wearing shirts with this on them, which i thought was awesome.

after my shift was over, i gave back my t-shirt - i mean, really, what am i going to do with a bright blue t-shirt with print all over it? unless those sponsors are paying me to promote their brands, i aint wearin' it. then i went and got my nose re-pierced.