January 18
I was really sore when I woke up, probably because I'd gotten the first real exercise since I got to Earth. Just trotting around the neighborhood isn't a good way to exercise completely, but it's better than nothing.
I decided in climate science class that since I could mostly fly unrestricted now, I was going to get a cloud and bring it in. It's one thing to talk about them, but totally different to be touching them, feeling what makes them work. I'll keep an eye on the sky every morning, and when I see the right kind of formation, I'll go up and get one.
Surely one won't be missed.
Philosophy class started with Aristotle today. He's Socrates and Plato's successor, and he refined their philosophy.
The textbook also mentioned that he made other contributions to society, including some of his descriptions of animals which weren't rediscovered until a much later date. I get the feeling that something happened to humans not all that long after Socrates was around. It's probably why their calendars count down and then back up again.
Anyway, one of the things that the book mentioned was that Aristotle discovered octopuses have a hectocotyl arm, which is basically a penis arm. I don't know why they would have that (or why he would have studied it), but I'm never shaking hooves with an octopus.
I wouldn't have known what a hectocotylus was, but when I came across the word in the textbook and even Peggy didn't know what it meant, she told me about Google Search, which is something my computer can do. Now every time I come across a troublesome word, I can look it up! That's really amazing, and it will help me learn more English.
Rather than invent an imaginary cave full of prisoners who don't know what outside is, he assumed that everyone knew and agreed on what virtues are. That's one thing that humans and ponies can agree on—it's probably universal. You can't have a society if everypony, or everyperson, is only looking out for themselves. That kind of shortsightedness never pays off.
At lunch today, Aric stopped by my table on his way to the dark room (that's what I'm going to call it from now on) and asked if I wanted to come out and play cards tonight at a coffee shop. He said that they did it every Monday night.
That sounded like a lot of fun to me. I'm getting pretty good at euchre, and games are a good way to bond and make friends. I'm more used to physical games, but I don't think I'll be challenging anybody to a sky-race anytime soon.
He said he'd come by my room and get me when it was time to go, and I could bring Peggy if she wanted to come.
I spent the rest of the day looking forward to that, even though Peggy decided that she didn't want to go unless I really wanted her to, and I would have liked it if she'd wanted to but I didn't want to have her do something that she didn't want to. And I didn't really mind going alone; Aric is the kind of person who I can trust, I think. Even if he likes eating in the dark room.
Aric came and got me at seven. I thought we were going to walk, but he wanted to drive his truck, which he called Winston, even though it says Chevrolet in big white letters across the tailboard.
It was not a very nice truck. Where all the other cars I've been in so far were clean and sleek inside and out, this one was scratched and dented and rusted, and the seat was torn, and the front glass was cracked, and when he started it it was noisy and smelly.
He said that they don't build them like they used to. I can see why they don't!
Still, it got us there. It looked more difficult to control than any of the other cars I've ridden in; there was a lever he constantly had to move, and it had twice as many foot-pedals as Cobalt, which he was also using all the time.
He bought a mint mocha, which sounded pretty good (I love mint), so I got one too. They put whipped cream on it that stuck to my muzzle when I tried to drink it, and I had to lick it off.
Upstairs, a lot of his friends were already sitting around a big table, waiting for us. Keith, who I vaguely know, explained the rules for me. Malcolm helped explain, along with Aric. They called the game Durak, which is pronounced drock. It's kind of like euchre; it has a trump suit, but otherwise it's very different. Instead of a winner, the game has one loser, and that's the person (or pony, as it turned out) who still has cards when nobody else does.
If cards get beaten, either by a higher-value card or by a trump, they're discarded. If they don't, the person whose turn it is has to pick up all the cards, and the turn moves to the next person.
I lost the first game, and I would have lost the second except that I got lucky and was able to play my last cards on somebody else's turn. They weren't very good cards. Then Aric suggested that I should hold trump cards until late in the game, and that was a better strategy. Aric lost the last hand we played, but I think he did it on purpose. I know that there's an element of luck to games like this, but he did very well in the first two games, and he was doing much better than I was in the last hand, but all of a sudden his fortune reversed for no reason I could determine.
A couple of other people didn't feel like walking and wanted to ride back in Aric's truck. It's not as practical as Cobalt, since it only has one seat in the front and then behind that it's just open space. I offered to walk with the rest of them back to campus, but he said we'd all fit if we crowded in.
When we all got in, though, I could tell by his face that he wasn't so sure of his decision after all. I had to sit on Keith's lap, and he wrapped his arms around my barrel, while I braced on the dashboard of the truck. James and Elizabeth shared the center part of the seat, with James right next to Aric.
I hadn't realized it was so late until I got back to the dorm room, and Peggy was already in bed with the lights out. I'm going to be sleepy in the morning, and if I go again maybe I'll leave a little bit sooner.