Back to the everyday monotone routine that is college. Second year is no better than first in that nothing I'm learning has anything to do with what I have my sights on. At least I have an abode that I can call mine - even if the only furniture to speak of is a mattress and box-springs situated in the middle of the floor. WIth nothing on the walls and cardboard boxes filled with things I call "mine," my world is continually turned upside down every time I walk into this tiny 'home.' In between visits to the hospital to see my father recuperate after his recent hip replacement and doing my futile homework, I barely have time to breathe let alone unleash my creative energy. But today, I told myself to log in.

In the spirit of futility, here are some riddle-like problems that made steam billow from the hair follicles of my scalp:

1. An old man comes to a river and needs to get to the other side. With him is a carrot, a goat, and a fox. If he is with the aforementioned carrot, goat, and fox, all are behaved. If he is away from them, the goat will eat the carrot and the fox will eat the goat. He can only carry one across the river at a time. How does he manage to get them all across?

2. In the basement of a two-story house there are three light switches. Only one of them controls a light in the attic. If you only have a single trip up and down the stairs, how do you figure out which switch is the one that control the light in the attic?

3. You are in a large room suspended in the air by 100 foot stilts. The room is 50 feet wide, 50 feet long, and 50 feet tall. There are two ropes hanging from the ceiling a foot apart from each other and there is a square hole in the middle of the floor with a loop on the outside. The only tool you have is a knife and the fact that you are a skilled climber and knot-maker. You cannot climb the stilts in any way because you cannot reach them. You cannot split the ropes in half because in doing so would make them too weak to support your weight, and the maximum distance you can fall is 10 feet. How do you get out?

I assure you, there are legitimate answers to each of these. Don't beat yourselves up too much - I couldn't come up with the answers! Besides, just for trying, I'll give you a cookie.