Why I Should Have Learned to Drive

Jay called me up the other day with an offer- he has to dash off to Rome - lala, dashing off to Rome- and he needed someone to stay with his daughter, who is, I believe, fifteen or sixteen, for the duration. Pick her up at soccer practice, hang around with her in the evenings, etc. Of course, I had to turn him down, because I can't drive. I could hardly carry the girl home from soccer on the handlebars of my bicycle. I'm very disappointed by this and I'm not sure why- babysitting someone so close to my age would be awkward (I prefer the two to six range), and spending a week living in Amherst would be inconvenient in the extreme. I don't think I'm merely being avaricious, although I daresay there's a bit of that. I think my disappointment is mainly due to my habit of saying yes to everything. Being forced to say no is a wrench, even when there is literally nothing to be done about it.

On the bright side, however, I guess Jay must hold me in pretty high esteem if he wants me to stay in his house and shuttle his daughter around, so that's nice.

Also very nice- today I was assisting at Conversations, which is when the professors all stand around in the ITT and talk to incoming students about their departments. During a lull, Jim asked me what I was taking this semester, and I told him, and said I was a bit nervous about calculus.

"Well, please feel free to stop by my office and talk to me about it any time," he said gravely. "I feel somewhat responsible for you." I don't even have him for Calc! That's pure milk of human kindness, that is. He went on to talk about how even people without strong math backgrounds can go on to become successful set theorists and so on, which was very encouraging. Set theorists, I'm given to understand, don't have to know how to drive.