GT Survival Guide - please read it when you have lots of time to waste

Finished my programming language final - Pheeeew!

During my exam, there was a guy who finished his test and ran out screaming: "I am out of college!!!" Repeating and repeating it, so loud. Same with me, I wanted to scream at him and tell him to wait for me so we could celebrate together ;) but at the end, it became a bit annoying because he just wouldn't stop screaming and I couldn't concentrate one bit on my exam with all the noise. (Ya ya ya blame my lack of concentration aaaall on him just for celebrating too early.)

This semester I only went to library a grand total of two times - the last visit was on Monday. And it turned out there were lots of interesting things going on there during finals week. One of them was shocking: there was a *sleeping bag* on the floor of one of the big group-study cubicles! Sleeping bag in the library ... what? Maybe I was lost. Is this a library or am I in a dorm?

Ok so it was really a sleeping bag, not in the dorms or camping ground, no: in *the library*. I even have a picture to prove it - I didn't think anyone would believe me otherwise. (Sorry, maybe you all have seen sleeping bags in libraries, but not me, it was my first time, so I'll admit I got a bit too excited to photograph it for evidence).

So I just want everyone to know, I am not as big of a geek as Ernita, Merry, Han2, and Lani try to accuse me of. At least I have never SLEPT in the library ... well wait, I mean: I've taken a nap before, I guess (have you seen our textbooks? zzzzz) but hey, at least I never brought a sleeping bag EXPECTING to take a "nap" for eight hours! Not even a blanket.

But this all gave me an idea: how to stay in GT without paying anything... can it be possible? Yeah, now that I think about it, actually someone *can* stay in GT without even having an apartment. How? Take a look:

STINGY GT SURVIVAL GUIDE
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Q: Where should I sleep?
A: You can sleep @ GT library from Monday - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday (GT library closes after 6pm on Friday). Then Friday sleep in Student center... big Tv, lots of computers, and there are comfy sofas. Definitely better than Library. Maybe switch between them, so people would not notice that you use these places for sleeping.

Q: OK but now I smell like sofa. Where do I shower?
A: You can take showers in CRC (GT exercise center), and you can rent a locker to put all your bathroom stuff. And if the CRC is closed, you can go to the old Boggs Building, I saw one of the restrooms there has a shower. Or maybe ISYE...? I can't remember where I saw the other one, but I notice in the old buildings, the restrooms still have showers connected sometimes. Looks a bit creepy, I remember saw them during my 1st year in GT.

Q: OK now I smell good, but my clothes still smell like sofa. What do I do?
A: Now if you want to be much cheaper - even completely pennyless - you can keep some of your stuff in your friends' house and wash clothes at their place too : ) maybe do them a favor as an exchange. I dunno if you have to pay for laundry when you live in the dorms. (P.S. Lani & Han2, I washed my clothes @ your place because I was too lazy to go to a laundry place, not for saving money! I'm serious. Stop that.)

Q: I'm really tired of carrying all my stuff with me. It's embarrassing when I go to class with my alarm clock and microwave. What should I do about storage?
A: Like I said, got any friends?

Q: No. I smelled really bad until you gave me the showering tip, so all my friends left me.
A: Hmm... well dang. Then I cant find another way for saving money on laundry and keeping your stuff except for help from your friend ... hmm, think think .... tik tok tik tok ... OK your time's up - I can't find any places without a janitor finding it. And any more advice from me will cost you $$$ (which you don't have, otherwise you wouldn't be asking these ridiculous questions).

But if you can get a job, using your new clean smell, you can hide stuff at your workplace.

Q: OK wait, can I have one more question before you start charging me?
A: Was that a question?

Q: NO!!! Don't count that one. Here's my last question: all of the shower stuff is nice, but walking around and showering everywhere has made me REALLY hungry. What should I do for food?
A: Aha, the most important part: for food, you can pretty much get it from different departments at GT for free almost every day! Every department has free food sometimes (free pizzas mostly, and Diet Coke). If you know which department has it and you go around lunch time, you're pretty much guaranteed some leftovers at least! It's a good idea to go and save some for the next meal too. You can heat your food in the student center during lunch hours, and at night you can go to the library downstairs to reheat your leftover leftovers.

Oh and, this all reminds me of one of the old news from Stanford (or maybe Yale or NYU, I can't remember where...) there was a student who lived homeless inside the school library... so it is possible! He even got housing and scholarship in the end, when the administrators found out. (And CNN found out... hehe)

So using my handy guide, this can happen in GT too - lots of resources, no problem.

Dang, I'm still such a dork. : (

Q: Yeah you are!
A: Shut up!

December 13, 2005