— Ellen Cushing, Columnist
Monday, 7:01 am
7 a.m. in the Frisc is truly one of my favorites. It's just before the early-morning crew trickles in to print out their papers or do some-last minute studying before 9 a,m, exams, which means that pretty much every single person here has been in it for the long haul, since last night. And though our numbers have dwindled considerably — especially, it seems, between 4 and 5 — our noses are to the grindstone and our spirits are surprisingly high. Only the strong survive.
Monday, 2:13 am
Perhaps less well-documented than the 2 a.m. Rock migration, but no less fascinating anthropologically: the 2 a.m. caravan to Store 24 to buy coffee/cigarettes/snacks before it closes. Tonight's count: at least 5.
— Ellen Cushing, Columnist
Friday, 3:20 am
Post 3am and we're still at full capacity. This means business, kids. The free coffee is already all gone.*
*after the cafe closes, the extra coffee is left out. Tonight, it did not last very long. Shocker.
Friday, 2:32 am
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Friday, 1:09 am
All is shockingly quiet and calm in the basement. But this phenomenon won't last long. Sleep tight, orgo kids. We'll see you back here after your exam.
Thursday, 9:01 pm
I spy some thirsty help desk employees and a case of 2 buck Chuck. Maybe they are developing some sort of new SciLi challenge.
— Joanna Wohlmuth, Guest Columnist
Wednesday, 7:34 am
Pre-8 am is crazy time. And time for the crazies. I spy three people sleeping, one girl reciting a speech — complete with hand motions, two blankets, a table filled with junk food and more Red Bulls than I can count.
Wednesday, 12:43 am
Out of the Science Center bathroom, and straight into a crowd of naked people. Hello, kid that I worked with on a neuroethics group project. I will take a jelly-filled munchkin.
Wednesday, 12:31 am
People block the stairs. "But where are the naked people going to go?"
Wednesday, 12:21 am
Spirits are unbelievably high in the Frisc. A full-library "Happy Birthday" just echoed all throughout the space. Hell no was that 50 decibels.
Wednesday, 12:06 am
The basement is always insane. This is nothing new. But why is tonight different from all other nights?
Let the countdown to Naked Donut Run begin.
And no, it is not because the first final exam slot is tomorrow.
Let the countdown to Naked Donut Run begin.
Tuesday, 11:37 pm
Up in the fourth floor airport hangar, where the fluorescent lights shine bright, moving furniture seems to be the new trend. If only we had been making a slow motion movie since last night.
What an odd space. It's just begging to be Friscafied.
Tuesday, 10:30 pm
Brace yourself before you get off the elevator on the third floor. You will be faced with a teeming mass of students. Bio 20 TAs are in high demand. Brown wireless is sluggish. Competition for the SciLi's resources has become fierce -- did your Bio 47 class teach you how adapt to this hostile environment?
Tuesday, 2:44 pm
LiSci is the SciLi's opposite in more than just cutesy alliterative names. The lobby of the Life Sciences building, the most well-kept secret on campus (oops), is probably the most desirable place to study. And every feature is distinctly a mirror of those in the Frisc.
The space is sun-lit and air-filled with tall ceilings and enormous glass windows. And none of that zen garden crap; we're talking the real, wild outdoors (or Pembroke). The couches are functional, but comfortable; the colors are subdued — not that we don't love a nice shade of Gatorade green. Outlets are gratuitously available, built into every table and scattered around the floor. Though there are no decibel signs posted, the noise level would probably comply with at least the 25s.
Come celebrate opposite day! Just make sure you do it before 5 pm, when swipe access ceases for those of us not actually entitled to be here. At least the SciLi is an open, accepting place.
Monday, 11:47 pm
SciLevators are nothing if not problematic. Currently, the middle elevator is stuck somewhere near the 14th floor and the Lobby button refuses to light up in at least one of the others.
To make matters, well, more interesting, reading period is a tenuous time to travel anyway as studiers set out for new territory, trying every. single. floor.
So Frisc users, here's a tip: Do not take the elevator from the basement to the lobby. Hell, don't even take it from the basement to the mezz. Chances are you haven't had a chance to leave the building in a while, so take the opportunity for a little light fitness. No more of this ride till we die attitude; the cables just cannot take it.
Monday, 11:30 pm
With Providence weather still dipping into the 40s, one would think the time for air conditioning has not yet come. Well, welcome to frickin freezing Frisc. (And the fourth floor ain't too cozy either.)
Monday, 8:54 pm
The renovated fourth floor is probably the strangest place in the entire Sciences Library. The open, brightly lit space brings to mind taking final exams in a high school gymnasium. The low, plastic sofas appear to have been transported from the preschool on Hope Street. The space could hold infinitely more work space and yet … it just doesn't. Reminiscent of another area in the library with questionable furniture placement…
The redeeming quality is that few people know this space holds anything different than the rest of the stacks, and yet this cross-bred hybrid world is just a short elevator ride away.
Monday, 10:31 am
The lack of heating in the bookstore cafe prompts a group migration to the Frisc. Oh, the warmer clime of 00 decibels.
Saturday, 10:46 pm
It's 10:46 on a Saturday night and every computer but one in the entire Frisc is occupied. O HAI FINALS!
— Ellen Cushing, Guest Columnist
Saturday, 11:10 am
Saturday syndrome: The basement is quiet, empty even. With rainclouds overhead, most students are still comfortably snuggled in their beds. But come 12pm, they will all flock to the Ratty and from there, it's only a matter of time before the great Frisc migration occurs. Enjoy your silence while you can.
[NOTE: This marks 100 TFTF posts. Thanks for reading.]
Friday, 2:36 am
I am frantically searching TFTF for a post on noise level, to no avail, so I have no choice to direct this little tirade to you straight. My apologies. But like, not really, because this is fucking unaccaptable. People are literally SHRIEKING and LAUGHING and not even attempting to whisper. This is a motherfucking library.
Please tell your dear, die-hard Rock partialist that this is some kind of bizarre anomaly and not normal Frisc behavior.
Please tell your dear, die-hard Rock partialist that this is some kind of bizarre anomaly and not normal Frisc behavior.
— Ellen Cushing, Guest Columnist
Tuesday, 8:27 pm
Migration season has begun. I am not ashamed to admit that I just took the elevator to the SciCenter in order to use the restroom.
Monday, 12:58 pm
The basement is flooded with students seeking refuge from the muggy, humid, Providence drizzle. How unusual that the Frisc climate is the desired one.
Sunday, 4:15 pm
When a hard working science student, bleary-eyed from reading countless journal articles that have been out of date for the past 40 years, finally finds that one article that is tangentially related to some small point in his grant application, it's a pretty big moment. After having been on the 9th floor for 7 continuous hours and now descending to our favorite 24-hour study center, looking for a reprieve from the repressive silence (science?) of the stacks, this intrepid science student was met with a complete and total photocopier meltdown. On the scale of Chernobyl, terror was felt throughout the Frisc as this frantic student went from one machine to the next attempting to photocopy this now irrelevant article. 1 yellow busted sign, 1 partial, but significant lack of toner and 2 paper jams later, this science student all but admitted defeat in the face of the technological powers of the Frisc "Could I just check the book out?", the now severely depressed science student asks. "No", says the clearly overwhelmed student worker, about 5 minutes away from the end of his shift, "it's a periodical, building only".
Well then, all this poor science student needed to do was photocopy 10 pages of a stupid article from 1967 and then he could go have his first meal since the bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, from what now seems like an age ago. Clearly sensing the desperation in this sad student's voice, the student worker heads back to get one of the more technologically savvy luddites workers, who, clearly frustrated from being called during their break, opens a few doors and somehow manages to instantly fix a previously insurmountable paper jam. At least we can say one thing about the Frisc, those binder-midner things certainly do make photocopying enjoyable.
— Ethan Mack, Guest Columnist
Saturday, 3:04 pm
Girl by the window, what are you taking a photo of with your high-tech camera? I see a Nantucket Nectar and a cup of coffee from the cart in the SciLi lobby. Please don't put that on Facebook.
Saturday, 1:43 pm
Once again, I write while betraying my origins. Yes, I am positioned in the Rock study room. What can I say? I demand sunlight, a table and relative quiet while writing a paper. Despite my love affair with the Frisc, not even I can argue all of those items will be found in one location in the fortress to the science gods.
But here's a major grievance I must air. I complain profusely about the bathroom situation in the Frisc. No one will argue that it is not dire — there is one stall, the sink leaks, the line is long even at 2 am. It's a lose-lose-lose-etc.
But it's got one up on the Rock study room, which does not even HAVE a bathroom. Despite hosting many of the buildings computers, printers and collaborative workspaces, the first floor lacks one of life's greatest necessities. Forgive me for being lazy and not wanting to walk up or down the stairs, but … actually, don't forgive me. I'm going to entitle myself to a little laziness while writing a term paper. Work with me here, ok? All we ask for is life, liberty and the pursuit of easy restroom access. Is that so difficult?
