HOW I FAILED AT MIT

{1st written on September 15, 2007 - Saturday}

For Blog's sake, I dust the cobwebs off some memory strands, and let you take a dip into the waters of my * pensieve* (for you Harry Potter fans).

When I was studying Chinese, someone came to my class and asked for people to practice English with some Chinese scholars. I volunteered. Why not? "Fang Wen Xue Jia", Chinese government-sponsored visiting scholars, were on educational exchange programs at US universities as part of Deng Xiaoping's new Modernization initiative.

I became great friends with this group of Chinese ex-pats. They were the first people allowed to leave China since the Cultural Revolution (and Mao Zedong's death). All left behind families in China, thus ensuring their good behavior and eventual return. Although nearly a generation older than I, some came to lean on me for friendship while they sort of worked out issues ranging from being shell-shocked because this country was so well-off and China was so poor, to having to live in dorm-like arrangements with other forty-something-year old Chinese, to getting mugged.

Most of the scholars had research positions at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. for you noobs). One time I went to an office to meet one of them. Around this time someone was stalking me. I was paranoid, and I mixed up my routine so that I was very hard to find. Often I would go eat dumplings at their apartment just to delay my hours to get home and to enjoy their humble parties.

I went to an MIT lab building, to my friend's tiny office in the basement. We were chatting, I recall sensing the walls shake. "Did you feel that?" "Feel what?" "The walls are shaking... We are having an earthquake."

I'm sure we used a little translation dictionary. He looked at me, cocked his head. He knew I was afraid of the stalker. He suggested, maybe I needed a little rest, I need to relax. He didn't notice anything. I firmly stuck to my story. Didn't I feel the trembling, and didn't I even hear a little rumbling? I insisted and insisted (was a bit stubborn?). I kept staring at the walls. All's quiet now. Oh well. So we dropped it, and it was time to leave.

MIT's campus is this labyrinth of buildings, some architecturally striking and some like cement boxes without a name. To exit, I would go back how I came: through the archetypal LONG L-O-N-G main lobby that is MIT's heart & soul. This "lobby" actually connects several building together and I don't know its name but it would take me through campus from the East and out onto Mass. Ave. Then I would walk to the subway for the Red Line to home.

Deep in thought, I started the walk down the lobby. I entered a large "great room" or hall, part of the lobby. Suddenly I saw - i dunno? - 15-20 guys?, all guys (white guys?) sitting in one long line at several folding tables parallel to lobby path. They all, each and every one, whipped out and held up these 8x11" signs . Every sign read "2". Just I, the only female, and them. In an instant, time switched into slow motion.

"What are they doing?" "Are they talking about me?" "2?" "O shit." "You can't stop." "Don't falter." Can I turn around and go back?" "No this is the way out." "Continue forward!"

As if nothing happened, I kept walking. I put a pleasant little fixed smile on my face, stared ahead, and kept going. Did I twitch? It was the longest 10 or 15 seconds. What is the time period of this memory? This happened not long after the movie "10" with Bo Derek came out - and everyone was ga-ga over the movie. I had not seen it. I never will. My uncle would talk about how hot Bo is, and assign numbers to different women. I heard him talk.

"Am I a 2?" "O, God, I am ugly!" "I don't compare to beautiful girls." "Wait." "They put those signs up too fast... and all at once... and they didn't have a chance to really look at me..." "They all say 2." "I'm not a 10, but I'm not a 2!" "Well, maybe a mixture; but surely not all the same score from every guy." "Yeah, that stupid movie '10' with Bo Derek; that's it." "I reject sexist crap that rates women." "Whoever falls for that crap is stupid."

And then I started to laugh or giggle. I completed most of the walk with a real smile and giggles. It's a good joke, a cool joke, might as well go with the flow. They were all jolly, not loud. As I was about to exit the hall, I caught one or two of them in the eyes, and heard them say -- something like (can't remember the exact words) -- maybe "you're nice"?? -- and for sure "you've got a great sense of humor". That's how I failed at MIT. How do you think the other women who passed thru the hall that night reacted?

The next day, the Chinese scholar phoned me. The news reported an earthquake in New Hampshire the previous day. Some tremors were felt as far south as Boston (maybe 60-100 miles away?) and beyond. He could not believe it!! He was very happy. He was listening to the radio - and he says he usually does not listen to the radio. He says it was his destiny to listen to the radio in order to know I was right after all. He says I have excellent senses!

Sorry if this blog is too long! Who can corroborate the date and time of this story (by looking up earthquakes in NH after the release of "10")?