Day 8: Yellow umbrellas look like the sun.

I started today with yoga and Shakespeare's Sonnet 8. Lest it seem that I am already beginning to favor William in my completely scientific and objective analysis of him as compared to Stephen, let it be known that reading a Shakespearean sonnet is a feature of my every gap day. Today's sonnet compared one's family to the strings of a guitar.

Appropriately, I followed this reading by making a recording of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." It's a little rough (to say the least), so I will be working to polish it over the next few days (hopefully accompanied on piano by Miss Priya Gill).

Next, I left a quick message on Mr. Chanania's AP Environmental Science blog, encouraging students to let me know if I can help them with anything during the year. I know that for me, having the support of older students like Kenneson Chen, Morgan O'Grady, and Tierney Manning really made all the difference.

Then, it was Hawking time. I must say: it's not fair to him that the chapter based on which I am comparing the merits of A Brief History to those of Othello just happened to be the most difficult one thus far in the book. Chapter 4 describes the Uncertainty Principle, which certainly brought a great degree of uncertainty to me. And most unfortunately, while knowledge of Latin may aid in comprehension of Shakespeare, the same does not apply to understanding Hawking. Let's just say I will need to read a bit more of each author to settle this question "definitively."

Attempts to watch a movie this afternoon were made futile by my inability to hear the television over the rain, and picking up Priya resembled a bath more than anything else.

This evening, I watched the Presidential Address to Congress. I thought Obama's direct, colloquial tone was really bold. Especially striking was his repetition of the unadorned phrase "pass this bill," and especially effective, in my opinion, were his citations of measures similar to those of his bill which have been approved by both parties in the past. His appeal to the "American" identity was exceptionally compelling, and I loved the ring of his closing lines: "We are Americans. We are tougher than the times that we live in, and we are bigger than our politics have been. So let’s meet the moment."

Before going to sleep, my sister Laura and I planned a grand D.C. adventure for tomorrow!