I've never actually had my own fish before, but I was told Betta aren't very high maintenance so hopefully I won't kill him too fast.
Friday, November 23, 2007
I have a new friend
So today Erin, Mitchell, Ally and I went to Walmart to get Erin a fish. As we looked I decided that I needed to get one for my apartment, so I got little 마술 (pronounced ma sool) here.
I've never actually had my own fish before, but I was told Betta aren't very high maintenance so hopefully I won't kill him too fast.
I've never actually had my own fish before, but I was told Betta aren't very high maintenance so hopefully I won't kill him too fast.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Trapped
So Friday night I planned on going to Sprague's orchestra concert at 7:00. I had also promised my friend Renee that I would bring her back to Salem, so I told her I would pick her up between 5 and 6 (which should give me plenty of time to drop her off and maybe stop by home before heading to the concert). Well at about 4 Erich decided he was going to go to the store and Goodwill, which was fine because he promised to be back before 5:30. 6 o'clock rolled around when Erich finally showed up. In a bit of a panic I grabbed the keys and asked Erich where he parked the car. He replied "In the garage" so I took the elevator down to the parking garage and searched, but no luck. I then started back for the elevator rifling through my pockets for the key for the door to the elevator/stairs. Whoops! Left those on my desk.
So now it was 6:10 and I was trapped in the parking garage which apparently can only be exited by someone with either a key or a car (the gate out has a pressure sensor). Time to call Erich. He released me from my concrete prison and informed me that he had parked in the other parking garage next door. I rushed to Renee's picked her up and sped (not literally of course) toward Salem. It was 6:30.
I dropped Renee off at about 7:45 and went straight to the concert. Luckily I caught the Camerata's last piece, which sounded great. It was so exciting getting to see everyone. I got lots of hugs, which is definitely the thing I miss the most. We all went to Dairy Queen afterward and then I had a small Mario Party party at my house. All-in-all it was a perfect Friday night.
So now it was 6:10 and I was trapped in the parking garage which apparently can only be exited by someone with either a key or a car (the gate out has a pressure sensor). Time to call Erich. He released me from my concrete prison and informed me that he had parked in the other parking garage next door. I rushed to Renee's picked her up and sped (not literally of course) toward Salem. It was 6:30.
I dropped Renee off at about 7:45 and went straight to the concert. Luckily I caught the Camerata's last piece, which sounded great. It was so exciting getting to see everyone. I got lots of hugs, which is definitely the thing I miss the most. We all went to Dairy Queen afterward and then I had a small Mario Party party at my house. All-in-all it was a perfect Friday night.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Midterms=Loss of Sanity
So apparently, as indicated by the following photo, 8 hours of solid-ish psychology study is not so good on the complexion. I've lost a day of my precious youth (as well as large handfuls of hair) and gained the knowledge of hundreds of years of wickety-whack. And to make studying that much more fun, the author of my textbook seems to enjoy occasionally adding random personal first-person statements which I believe are intended to be funny but are obviously wasted on me.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Week 2
After a nice relaxing two and a half hour drive (due to traffic) which was made up for by a nice relaxing hot tub with a hot babe (Staci), I was home. It felt good to see my family and my Sophie again and it gave me the strength to endure another week of terrible enjoyment and constant action.
By my second week I'd pretty much gotten used to the whole college thing. I knew where all of my classes were and I was way ahead for homework in all of my classes. I had 3 more dictation quizzes in Korean (on all of which I got 10 out of 10). I also had my first chemistry quiz. It was brutally easy and I finished it in about 3 minutes (literally). Luckily I got 100% (It would have been pretty embarrassing after all that talk about how basic the class is if I had failed). In my running class I constantly run 3rd of about 30 students and although I'm still in the slowest 5 in my swimming class, I already feel like my strength and endurance are improving. My favorite class is Korean, my favorite homework to do is Chemistry, and my least favorite class would have to be Psychology (I don't find it very interesting and quite frankly I don't really buy into it).
In the science colloquium our guest speaker was a solar energist and I'm just gonna say that an hour and a half of hearing about sun scatter and solar panel angles has revealed to me one area of science in which I have absolutely no interest (I actually almost fell asleep).
That's about all for week two. The most interesting place that I went was a tattoo parlor, my favorite thing that I learned is that 5+2=cucumber, my new favorite food is xbot pancakes, and the strangest experience I had was when several strange girls ran away giggling after I caught them spying on me while I practiced my violin.
By my second week I'd pretty much gotten used to the whole college thing. I knew where all of my classes were and I was way ahead for homework in all of my classes. I had 3 more dictation quizzes in Korean (on all of which I got 10 out of 10). I also had my first chemistry quiz. It was brutally easy and I finished it in about 3 minutes (literally). Luckily I got 100% (It would have been pretty embarrassing after all that talk about how basic the class is if I had failed). In my running class I constantly run 3rd of about 30 students and although I'm still in the slowest 5 in my swimming class, I already feel like my strength and endurance are improving. My favorite class is Korean, my favorite homework to do is Chemistry, and my least favorite class would have to be Psychology (I don't find it very interesting and quite frankly I don't really buy into it).
In the science colloquium our guest speaker was a solar energist and I'm just gonna say that an hour and a half of hearing about sun scatter and solar panel angles has revealed to me one area of science in which I have absolutely no interest (I actually almost fell asleep).
That's about all for week two. The most interesting place that I went was a tattoo parlor, my favorite thing that I learned is that 5+2=cucumber, my new favorite food is xbot pancakes, and the strangest experience I had was when several strange girls ran away giggling after I caught them spying on me while I practiced my violin.
End of Week 1
Thursday morning I surprisingly knew all of the vocabulary that had been out of reach in my panic the night before. I had my first 3 hour long chemistry lab session at eight. Turns out I ended up with a T.A. (Rika) who can't get out a coherent sentence. I'm not sure if she had an accent or a speech impediment, but it kind of sounded like she was talking through a mouthful of marshmallows. When one student asked her whether we turn in assignments to her or the professor she felt the matter was cleared up (after several minutes of confused conversation) when she stated that she was not Professor Exon then turned away to help someone else. The student who asked the question stood dumbfounded for several minutes before slowly returning to his work. Rika then attempted to show us how to light a Bunsen burner but only succeeded in filling the room with methane. The lab lasted less than 30 min so I got out 2 hours early.
I spent my extra time sitting outside the chemistry building people-watching and making sure I knew my Korean vocab. Across the street a student showed up with a "Free Hug" sign and across from him stood an older gentleman wearing a "Trust Jesus Christ" sandwich board handing out pamphlets. Sadly neither seemed to be getting much business. Once I was in chemistry I figured out that the class is going to be a review of the past 3 years. At least all of the homework will be easy, but lectures are pretty boring when there is no hope of actually gaining any new information. I heard mention on the streets of an honors chem class. I wish I had known about it earlier because it sounds like it could be a little more interesting.
When I turned in my homework in Korean the instructor said I was smart and gave me a pen (because I was the only one that had put spaces between the words for the writing assignment). My quiz didn't go to bad. It turned out I had studied the wrong list of words, but I still knew most of the words from the correct list.
On my way to swimming I realized that an unfortunate side-effect of once again wearing a backpack is that the weight seems to have caused me to shrink several inches. My pants now drag along the ground resulting in a very annoying scratching sound with every step. Turns out swimming makes me want to kill myself (which the workout nearly accomplished on its own). We had a sub and before we were even half-way through the class I was worried about not having enough strength/energy to prevent myself from drowning and I had been asked by the teacher to move to a slower lane. It was quite demoralizing, but I pushed on and made it through without requiring CPR or lifeguard assistance (though I think the lifeguard was keeping an eye on me due to my gasping and sputtering). When the regular teacher returned for the class on Tuesday we were informed that the sub had thought we were a different class and had administered a workout much more difficult than anything we would ever have to do again (a fact that several students would sadly never know seeing as they had withdrawn immediately after the first class).
Once classes were done I went to hang out with my new friends. We went to dinner, got free cake and watched the Boondock Saints. It was a nice relaxing way to wind down from a busy day (and I wasn't even attacked by shadowy figures on the way back to my apartment).
I spent my extra time sitting outside the chemistry building people-watching and making sure I knew my Korean vocab. Across the street a student showed up with a "Free Hug" sign and across from him stood an older gentleman wearing a "Trust Jesus Christ" sandwich board handing out pamphlets. Sadly neither seemed to be getting much business. Once I was in chemistry I figured out that the class is going to be a review of the past 3 years. At least all of the homework will be easy, but lectures are pretty boring when there is no hope of actually gaining any new information. I heard mention on the streets of an honors chem class. I wish I had known about it earlier because it sounds like it could be a little more interesting.
When I turned in my homework in Korean the instructor said I was smart and gave me a pen (because I was the only one that had put spaces between the words for the writing assignment). My quiz didn't go to bad. It turned out I had studied the wrong list of words, but I still knew most of the words from the correct list.
On my way to swimming I realized that an unfortunate side-effect of once again wearing a backpack is that the weight seems to have caused me to shrink several inches. My pants now drag along the ground resulting in a very annoying scratching sound with every step. Turns out swimming makes me want to kill myself (which the workout nearly accomplished on its own). We had a sub and before we were even half-way through the class I was worried about not having enough strength/energy to prevent myself from drowning and I had been asked by the teacher to move to a slower lane. It was quite demoralizing, but I pushed on and made it through without requiring CPR or lifeguard assistance (though I think the lifeguard was keeping an eye on me due to my gasping and sputtering). When the regular teacher returned for the class on Tuesday we were informed that the sub had thought we were a different class and had administered a workout much more difficult than anything we would ever have to do again (a fact that several students would sadly never know seeing as they had withdrawn immediately after the first class).
Once classes were done I went to hang out with my new friends. We went to dinner, got free cake and watched the Boondock Saints. It was a nice relaxing way to wind down from a busy day (and I wasn't even attacked by shadowy figures on the way back to my apartment).
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Day 3 (Wednesday)
So now I've started to get into the swing of college life. I'm not quite as clueless as to what class I have most of the time and I'm learning my way around. I had my first actual lecture in Psych. It was made by the GTF who still doesn't seem too sure of himself. I can tell that there is going to be a lot of very interesting information gained from this course. He informed us that a significant portion of our grade is participating in research. That sounded fun until it was further elaborated. Apparently participating in an experiment means being the subject of the experiment. We have to submit ourselves to 4 hours of being lab rats in the psychology experiments of the more advanced classes. We were assured that most of the time it would be painless and they aren't allowed to do scary stuff (he mentioned electric shock) any more (yep, any more). One surprising fact I learned during the class was that I am an extensive note taker (I don't believe I've ever willingly taken notes before other than copying down what's on an overhead).
After class I had an hour and a half to burn till chem, so I decided to walk around campus. I went up and down streets for what must have been over a half hour (passing what I'm pretty sure was a five foot tall Justin Timberlake) then sat down outside the chemistry building to do some studying. I looked at my phone and realized it had been less than ten minutes. I have no idea how that happened, I'm thinking there is some sort of wormhole or something near this really weird abstract sculpture that I passed. Well, it turns out I made the mistake of sitting downwind of a thoroughly tattooed student just lighting up a cig. He seemed the type who would just love to get a reaction (such as me moving to somewhere with cleaner air) so obviously I stayed put refusing to grant him the satisfaction. I'm pretty sure he'll think twice about lighting up next time I'm around.
Chemistry was a very simple review of the basics, which it seems a lot of people don't know at all. I guess I do have quite a bit of chem background compared to most. The same confused girl sat next to me again, but I'm starting to think she was not so much confused as trying to start a conversation with me and looking... well, not smart. This time she turned to me and began the following excruciating conversation:
Girl- "His [Dr. Herrick] cartoon erlenmeyer flask's name is Erlen right?"
Me- "I think so"
Girl- "Wouldn't it be funny if one day he dressed up like an erlenmeyer flask?"
Me- "Yeah, I guess." *accompanied by really awkward laugh*
Because most of you probably have no idea what this means I'll give a brief explanation. Dr. Herrick's lectures are generally accompanied by visual aids, which come in brightly colored fonts with colorful boxes. Occasionally there are even little cartoons such as Erlen and Erlene, two erlenmeyer flasks who give thoughtful tips and insight on the material being presented. Here are some examples:
Click for a larger view.
Dr. Herrick also uses old-school terms like centigrade, and at one point during his lecture in an attempt to say "forward reaction" he mistakenly said "forward erection" much to the class' silent but obvious amusement.
Korean was much of the same. We took a dictation quiz in which the instructor would say a syllable and we would have to write down which one she had said. I'm pretty sure they were all the same.
My last class before I got a nice three hour brake was running. We did some stretches and warm-ups then ran a timed mile. It was enjoyable until the last half when some fellow taking nice shallow raspy death rattles decided to kick it up a notch and run uncomfortably close behind me. I tried speeding up, but he did too (leading to an increase in the intensity of his frantic breaths). In the end, my time (7:24) ranked about 4th in the class.
During my free time before piano I showered and did some light studying, then I was off. After the last class, the teacher had decided to split the class into two separate groups. Sadly, Erich and I are not in the same group. Each person was given headphones so they could play without hearing everyone else and each group was instructed for half the class while the other worked on their own music.
Later I went onto my chem class' website and saw that Dr. Herrick had posted a "pressure quiz" which contains questions from quizzes in previous years. I took it and missed only 2 of 20, both due to significant figure (scars on the face of the beautiful science that is chemistry). One problem with the quiz is that throughout the entire thing, there are little clocks with their hands spinning around quickly to make you feel rushed. After the quiz, I started studying for my Korean dictation quiz the next day. After a long time without getting very far I decided to call Jenna for some Asian support. We talked for quite a while, but eventually I had to go. Erich and I went to Meaghan and Jordan's to see Stephen who was down visiting. We then went to the store to stock our empty cupboards. I then continued studying franticly until 2 am at which point I collapsed in bed still in a panic.
After class I had an hour and a half to burn till chem, so I decided to walk around campus. I went up and down streets for what must have been over a half hour (passing what I'm pretty sure was a five foot tall Justin Timberlake) then sat down outside the chemistry building to do some studying. I looked at my phone and realized it had been less than ten minutes. I have no idea how that happened, I'm thinking there is some sort of wormhole or something near this really weird abstract sculpture that I passed. Well, it turns out I made the mistake of sitting downwind of a thoroughly tattooed student just lighting up a cig. He seemed the type who would just love to get a reaction (such as me moving to somewhere with cleaner air) so obviously I stayed put refusing to grant him the satisfaction. I'm pretty sure he'll think twice about lighting up next time I'm around.
Chemistry was a very simple review of the basics, which it seems a lot of people don't know at all. I guess I do have quite a bit of chem background compared to most. The same confused girl sat next to me again, but I'm starting to think she was not so much confused as trying to start a conversation with me and looking... well, not smart. This time she turned to me and began the following excruciating conversation:
Girl- "His [Dr. Herrick] cartoon erlenmeyer flask's name is Erlen right?"
Me- "I think so"
Girl- "Wouldn't it be funny if one day he dressed up like an erlenmeyer flask?"
Me- "Yeah, I guess." *accompanied by really awkward laugh*
Because most of you probably have no idea what this means I'll give a brief explanation. Dr. Herrick's lectures are generally accompanied by visual aids, which come in brightly colored fonts with colorful boxes. Occasionally there are even little cartoons such as Erlen and Erlene, two erlenmeyer flasks who give thoughtful tips and insight on the material being presented. Here are some examples:
Click for a larger view.
Dr. Herrick also uses old-school terms like centigrade, and at one point during his lecture in an attempt to say "forward reaction" he mistakenly said "forward erection" much to the class' silent but obvious amusement.
Korean was much of the same. We took a dictation quiz in which the instructor would say a syllable and we would have to write down which one she had said. I'm pretty sure they were all the same.
My last class before I got a nice three hour brake was running. We did some stretches and warm-ups then ran a timed mile. It was enjoyable until the last half when some fellow taking nice shallow raspy death rattles decided to kick it up a notch and run uncomfortably close behind me. I tried speeding up, but he did too (leading to an increase in the intensity of his frantic breaths). In the end, my time (7:24) ranked about 4th in the class.
During my free time before piano I showered and did some light studying, then I was off. After the last class, the teacher had decided to split the class into two separate groups. Sadly, Erich and I are not in the same group. Each person was given headphones so they could play without hearing everyone else and each group was instructed for half the class while the other worked on their own music.
Later I went onto my chem class' website and saw that Dr. Herrick had posted a "pressure quiz" which contains questions from quizzes in previous years. I took it and missed only 2 of 20, both due to significant figure (scars on the face of the beautiful science that is chemistry). One problem with the quiz is that throughout the entire thing, there are little clocks with their hands spinning around quickly to make you feel rushed. After the quiz, I started studying for my Korean dictation quiz the next day. After a long time without getting very far I decided to call Jenna for some Asian support. We talked for quite a while, but eventually I had to go. Erich and I went to Meaghan and Jordan's to see Stephen who was down visiting. We then went to the store to stock our empty cupboards. I then continued studying franticly until 2 am at which point I collapsed in bed still in a panic.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Day 2 (Tuesday)
So day two went off without a hitch. The effects of my late night were neutralized by sleeping in (a very fortunate consequence of not having class until noon). Korean was again very enjoyable... until we received our syllabus. It turns out that there are a few expectations which I don't know haw willing I'm going to be to meet.
Ridiculous expectation #1: Acting out a scene from a Korean soap opera... in front of the class... uh huh, sorry ain't hap'nin.
Ridiculous expectation #2: Record 2 songs and 1 rap in Korean. Yes, actually record myself rapping in Korean and turning it into the teacher. I would rather die.
Now I know I'll end up doing these things because I have zero capability of defiance, but I will silently fight it till the very end. Just a warning: If my body is found in my room and it appears that I've shoved a microphone down my throat or hanged myself by the cord, this assignment is the cause.
On to happier things, my only other class was learn to lap swim which I am no longer enrolled in. It turns out the class is for people who barely know how to keep their head above water so I was advised to switch into swim conditioning which will hopefull be a better fit for me.
After a few hours of relaxing (watching FOX News while blogging) I met up with some new friends (I know, Me? New friends?) from class for dinner. Luckily we finished when we did because as we were leaving the cafeteria the fire alarm went off, much to the surprise and displeasure of many students (loud cursing filled the room). We went back to one of their dorms and hung out for the rest of the evening. It felt great to laugh and talk with people. I hadn't had much interaction until then.
Once the dorm's quiet hours started I headed home, which I expected to be fairly uneventful, but I was wrong. About half way across campus I started noticing figures in all black hiding behind trees and in bushes. I quickened my pace and pulled out my cell phone. All of the sudden I heard yelling and several people burst out from behind a nearby building in a heated game of night tag. I resumed breathing and continued on my walk without encountering any more surprises.
Ridiculous expectation #1: Acting out a scene from a Korean soap opera... in front of the class... uh huh, sorry ain't hap'nin.
Ridiculous expectation #2: Record 2 songs and 1 rap in Korean. Yes, actually record myself rapping in Korean and turning it into the teacher. I would rather die.
Now I know I'll end up doing these things because I have zero capability of defiance, but I will silently fight it till the very end. Just a warning: If my body is found in my room and it appears that I've shoved a microphone down my throat or hanged myself by the cord, this assignment is the cause.
On to happier things, my only other class was learn to lap swim which I am no longer enrolled in. It turns out the class is for people who barely know how to keep their head above water so I was advised to switch into swim conditioning which will hopefull be a better fit for me.
After a few hours of relaxing (watching FOX News while blogging) I met up with some new friends (I know, Me? New friends?) from class for dinner. Luckily we finished when we did because as we were leaving the cafeteria the fire alarm went off, much to the surprise and displeasure of many students (loud cursing filled the room). We went back to one of their dorms and hung out for the rest of the evening. It felt great to laugh and talk with people. I hadn't had much interaction until then.
Once the dorm's quiet hours started I headed home, which I expected to be fairly uneventful, but I was wrong. About half way across campus I started noticing figures in all black hiding behind trees and in bushes. I quickened my pace and pulled out my cell phone. All of the sudden I heard yelling and several people burst out from behind a nearby building in a heated game of night tag. I resumed breathing and continued on my walk without encountering any more surprises.
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