Strange Memories

In second grade, a good friend of mine was running by me coming in from recess. For some reason, I stuck my foot out and tripped her. She scraped her face up on the asphalt pretty badly -- she had a scratched up face for weeks. I felt so horrible afterwards. I still have no idea why I did it. There was no explanation at the time, and no explanation now.

Why did I do it? Why would I want to hurt someone like that? I don't think I wanted to seem cool, or impress anyone. But I did it for a reason. I must have had some thought running through my head when I stuck my foot out.

I wonder if I was in the same situation today, if I would do it again. I hope I wouldn't -- especially not knowing that she would actually be hurt. I keep thinking that I didn't actually mean to hurt her, I just wanted to be playful and trip her for some reason, but that simply doesn't make sense.

It bothers me that I have memories of doing things, and no memory of why I did it. I seem to recall that even at the time I didn't know why I did it thoug, I just did. Thought that doesn't really make things any better.

Tunnels

The difference in the tunneling systems at UIUC and at MIT is that one is fully institutionalized as a part of the MIT experience, and the other is something more likely to get an administrator to suspend you than excited about your story. In googling for the MIT/Kremlin tunnel reference, I came across a Family Weekend 2006 activity listing: On the list?

"MIT Tunnel Tour: A subterranean landscape of the campus
5:30 pm and 9 pm (45 minutes)

One-sixth of a mile long, the Infinite Corridor is the backbone of a subterranean system connecting labs, classrooms, offices, and libraries. Legend hails it as the third longest tunnel system in the world, after the corridors of the Kremlin and the Pentagon. Come explore guided by the MIT Student Ambassadors. "

That almost takes some of the fun out of it.

ETA: Clarification from someone more knowledgable than me brought to light the fact that MIT has a public/open tunnel system -- described above -- and a steam tunnel system which is not public. So, UIUC doesn't have the equivilant of the 'open' tunnel system, and the steam tunnel system maps more closely to the only existing UIUC tunnels. I just didn't realize they were seperate.