Math Team Isn't Math Team Without...

I'll try to recount the math team adventures as well as I can, but it is probably going to be a very difficult task. Especially the more, uh, interesting parts, for lack of a better word.

Anyway, Friday (the day of the New England math meet) was also our school's designated Day of Silence as well, so early Friday morning I met with my fellow DoS'ers outside the auditorium, enjoying our last few minutes of "talking time" before the actual "silence time" started.

Of course, our dismissal was after the first period, so when I came down to the main foyer, where Tea, Argon, Micro, Tybalt, and Bryant (who was in chem with me prior) were already there, I was still silent. We waited a while, and then Irving showed up. So now we were just missing Mario, which was sort of typical. Tea said that she did not see him during gym earlier, which launched speculations of whether we should find someone else to substitute him.

"Mario is probably going to show up right after someone else comes down," Tea said.

Irving went outside to call Mario, and returned with a quoted, "The king is coming." Well, now we were sure that Mario was coming and not stranded at some isolated Starbucks (although if only one of them was stuck, the others would still be able to come if they really wanted).

After another five or ten minutes of holding up three other schools (who were waiting in the bus outside), Mario arrived, and so we all filed out and onto the bus. Tea and I sat together, with Tybalt and Bryant to our left and Mario and Irving behind us. Remember, I was still silent at this time, and Tea, bored with only talking to herself, tried to make me talk. Finally, I drew a "nine" with my finger.

"What is that? A 'P'?" Tea asked. I shook my head and tried again. Tea imitated my motion and then said, "Nine? You're going to talk at nine?" To which I nodded.

"What time is it now?"

After asking Mario, we ascertained that we had twenty minutes to go. I spent those twenty minutes trying to explain a geometry question to Tybalt in pantomime, but it was not very helpful. After what was probably one of the longest twenty minutes of my life (I discovered later that those twenty-minute sections on the SATs are longer), it was finally nine.

Tea and I spent the rest of the bus ride playing word and alphabet games. Well, all the way to Providence anyway. We had trouble finding any sign that had the letter "J," "Q," and "Z," but I got lucky at the very end and found a sign ("Regency Plaza") that had both "Y" and "Z." Of course, Tea had finished long ago, but I had been stuck on the "Q," so I took much, much longer.

We came to a stop at Providence Place for lunch, but the first store we ever went into was the Apple store. There, near the door, were a whole table of iPads. Everyone immediately started playing on the fancy gadgets. Tea and I first played with the air hockey app, then the piano app, then this maze app with a small, silver ball that reminded me of Silversphere. After a while, we decided that food was more important, so we went upstairs (following Irving and everyone else, who seemed to know the way) to the food court.

Here was probably the most difficult part of the entire day: deciding what to eat.

I suggested using a random probability simulator, but then we saw the swivel chairs at this fast food place whose name I have conveniently forgotten, so we got food there instead. We sat on the swivel chair for a while, before one of the people behind the counter said, "The bar's only for full service," and promptly asked us to leave. Whatever "full-service food" meant aside, since we were out-casted by the Mario/Irving/Tybalt/Bryant group anyway, we went and found more high chairs and sat there instead while we ingested what had to be the fattiest food we'd ever eaten in days (if not weeks, but I think weeks is too long for me).

Then we went downstairs to the bookstore, where I bought a (pink, shiny) recorder. The line took a long time, so by the time we got out, everyone else was already in the bus, waiting for us. After we got on the bus, it took off, and then stuff happened here but I should be studying/coming up with the Santiago part of the trip in Chile so I'll stop here for now. I'm thinking of just cutting out everything that happened during the meet (since it wasn't nearly as fascinating) and just jump right to the bus ride back, but we'll see.