Breakfast, 'Sex' and a new computer

On Friday, I had breakfast with my friends Erika and Mike, in advance of Erika's departure for a summer internship in California at Disney. A lot of the Media & Entertainment Club folks ended up doing pretty well for themselves, I must say. We've got SOM-ers going to Sony, Paramount, PBS and, in my case, The AP. That's just what I can recall anecdotally, although I imagine there are other impressive placements.

After breakfast, I went to campus to pick up my laptop, which I had dropped off the day before because the monitor frame was cracked and a piece in the back was loose. (Every student at SOM gets the same laptop.) A couple months ago we were offered a Windows 7 upgrade, which I never got around to getting. Anyway, it turned out when I picked up my computer that I was not actually picking up my computer -- I'd gotten a whole new computer. Same one, with the same Yale School of Management engravement. I think the engravement is to prevent theft, and coolness.

In the evening I saw "Sex and the City 2" with some friends, preceded, appropriately, by an overpriced cocktail across the street at Kudeta. I was a fan of the original show on HBO, even though I came to it a couple years after most people. The movies are a bit too silly for me ... not that the series was gravely serious, but it at least resonated as realistic enough to draw lessons about life, love, friendship and career. The films, on the other hand, seem more like extended dream sequences. But they're a pleasant diversion.

Speaking of "the city," I'm moving there soon, either tomorrow or the day after. It's taken me several days of waking up early, tossing and turning with an ever-growing pain in my stomach, for me to come to terms with the fact that, despite what I said recently to the contrary, I am indeed nervous. Maybe slightly anxious is a better description than flat-out nervous. But this morning I was particularly troubled by a flood of task-related questions, which included but are not limited to: (1) Should I have bought an EZ Pass so that it arrived in time for my move? (2) Do I have enough dress clothes for work? (3) Should I buy a bag, and if so, what kind? (4) Where will I work out? Should I join the Yale Club? (5) Do I have time to clean the apartment before my parents come to visit tomorrow? (6) Should I have been paying more attention when the girl I'm subleasing from showed me which grocery store and laundromat she uses? (7) Is it a mistake to bring my car to Queens? Will I be able to park? (8) Am I being naive in thinking that packing won't take long and that I'll be OK with just suitcases and no boxes? (9) Have I been paying enough attention to the news recently, considering I'll be working for the world's largest newsgathering organization? (10) Will I fall flat on my face?

I could go on, of course.

Fortunately, each of these questions either has an answer or will reveal itself in due time. I decided this morning to start with No. 1 and order an EZ Pass online. The site was down.