On Wed, the former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak came to speak. I waited 1.25 hrs the Friday before for tickets and was very disappointed when I, the 1761st person in line, had no ticket (They were free to Stanford students). So I ended up on the waiting list. Luckily, they released more tickets, presumably those that would have been sold for a hefty sum or otherwise donated. I had class during the speech so I had to miss a lecture on the Book of Job - but I'd have to say that hearing Mr. Barak speak about what happened and why he is for a war with Saddam Hussein was worth it. This was a good complement to the Sunday "Teach-In" - a mostly anti-war series of workshops in the History dept.

Today, at 2:30 pm - I took my first midterm (in math). I was so stressed out earlier because most everyone else took the test the night before (during which I had class) and told me that they did horribly on it. This was coming from people whom I usually seek math help from! Actually, things turned out to be quite different. I am impressed by the trust the school gives us. I walked in to my prof's office (by the way - he called me by my name the other day in class! - unfortunately, he knows me not because I ask intelligent questions but rather because I struggle with math and ask stupid questions quite often) and he handed me the exam. I was told to go to the library upstairs and be back in 1.5 hrs. The students know that this is a closed note, closed book, etc test. I would not have cheated anyway, because that would be against what I believe in - but I am still amazed by unproctored exams. (Maybe because the penalty for cheating is 1 quarter suspension and 40 hrs community service). Compared to most exams, this was difficult in the sense that it was timed and I probably got 60% correct if I was lucky. However, it did not seem anymore difficult than the tests I had in AP Chem - I am very happy that I had the experience of the kind of tests that are very difficult but are scaled back on a curve. (Not unlike Academic Decathlon!)

[Editor's Note: Sadly, the grade for this midterm would be the highest grade of the K@ would receive in this math class, percentage-wise, and percentile-wise, despite many many hours of increased studying time and office hour visits for the next midterm and the final. Moral of the story? Maybe studying more isn't the key... or maybe the K@ has hit a ceiling in terms of mathematical ability :-/)

Then, this evening, I heard FBI Director Robert Mueller speak on Int'l Law, Terrorism, and the US. That was good - but Barak was a better speaker. I missed former Secretary of State Warren Christopher's (Stanford '49) panel discussion because I was at the midterm.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to hear Supreme Court Justices William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor (Stanford '52) reargue an old case about President Truman allowing the seizure of Steel Mills.

I feel so lucky to hear such prominent people speak :-)

Jumping back to last Saturday, I tried Quiz Bowl, something like Jeopardy or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in the sense that many of the questions asked come from trivia. Last Sunday, I started Swing dance lessons from a Swing Dance club on campus. And I auditioned for the play Lysistrata. Having made the play and being more delighted with Swing, than being faced with questions for 7 hours straight, I decided to go more for the performing arts (aka, no more Quiz Bowl) :-) Tomorrow afternoon is a rehearsal for the play.

I came back from swing dancing tonight. It was great - not necessarily because of the music, but because people, for once, were willing to dance with new people. There were no dates, and people just traded around randomly. It was also good because some people actually know how to dance well, and did not mind teaching others. .