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September 26, 2004This morning, I picked out the most God-awful test-taking room on campus I could think of (26-100) and did the October 2003 LSAT. I've taken three practice LSATs over a period of ~2 months and scored within 1 point of my original score. That is one consistent test. Or I am one consistent test-taker.On Friday, I had a lemonade with Ed Barrett, one of my favorite writing professors. We talked about my law school application essays and then about the LSATs. His youngest daughter is a senior in high school and applying to colleges, including Columbia in NY. He says she's sick of jumping through hoops like the SATs. Apparently her guidance counselor recommends she try to boost her math score into the 750's by retaking the test, and she's not too thrilled about the idea. After Ed's story, I told him that I started taking the SATs in 7th grade through Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program. In the end, I think I took the test 4 or 5 times. Ed's jaw dropped and remained at the lowest possible point for several seconds. He was much more surprised than I would expect for some who's been around MIT kids for a couple years now. I tried to explain that by my 4th or 5th SAT, it was just a game. My score wasn't improving drastically at that point -- it was just a matter of seeing if I could scoop up those few points I lost. I know that most people who don't enjoy it as much wouldn't take it over and over again, just for the chance of pumping up the score by 10 points. I have never enjoyed taking tests in physics because I usually didn't do well, and I didn't like the subject. But the SATs or the LSAT logic games -- I know I can do them, and they're fun. Also... If you really want to go to a school like Columbia (or do anything that requires more work than you'd rather do), I think you just have to suck it up and do it. Last night Jack and I saw Marcel Marceau in action. The first half of the show was Marcel solo. He did several of his Bip routines, including "Public Gardens" and "The Mask Maker." In "Public Gardens," he imitated the various personalities you can expect to find in such a place: the aristrocractic mustachioed gentleman, a gossipy knitting woman, and giddy children bouncing balls. Jack and I couldn't quite figure out a couple of the characters, but perfectly understood all of "The Mask Maker." In that routine, Marcel is a mask maker who tries on different masks, a perfect context for one of the most famous of mime routines. A fabulous moment: the mask maker puts on a happy mask that gets stuck. You can feel his agony and frustration as he tries and fails to remove the mask, but the happy face on top of it all just makes it hysterical. During Marcel's solo pieces, I was thinking to myself: this is an actor who has perfect control over his body. His motions weren't athletic, but I am sure they take extreme concentration and precision. The second half featured Marcel and his company in three contemporary pieces. The way he moves is very different from the way his younger co-mimes do. They're much more smooth & fluid, in a cool jazz sort of way. They look much more like "dancers" than he does. In all three of the pieces, I felt like I was watching a dance performance rather than a mime performance... Which brings about the question: What's the difference between mime and dance? Today is a day for WORK. HOME-work more specifically. Onwards! |
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