Friday, December 12, 2008

Step Two

I finished my cereal this morning. Contrary to what I wrote last night, I did NOT have a serving left. I had a handful or two, which did not make me happy. Now I'm desperate to eat something. But that's not what I came to write about. I guess I can suck it up for an hour or so.
I cut the big panels of my cereal box and saved them for my stencil. 
Now I need an exacto knife--a scalpel, maybe? I know we have one of those at home--and some spray paint. At the rate they're going with Lee Hall, I hope the wall is still up by the time we come back from break. I would cry if they took it down before I got to paint my picture. 
Oh, and I lost my Sharpie. My good, new, retractable black Sharpie. I used it the other night, and I swear I put it back in my cup holder, or at least somewhere on my desk. I can't find it. That also does not make me happy. 
I need to get something to eat; I'm absolutely ill.
EDIT: I am retarded. The Sharpie was right in front of my face. Wow.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Puddle-Luscious

Exam week hasn't been terrible. I've been studying a lot, making sure I eat good stuff (and cookies) and sleep plenty, and I've finished all but one of my exams. My Chemistry exam was absolutely BRUTAL. It was some kind of national exam from the American Chemical Society. I studied almost all day for it on both Monday and Tuesday, and I studied several hours on Wednesday and today. I don't know how I did. I guess I'll find out eventually.
When I got out of my Chemistry exam, it was 9:30 PM. That wasn't terrible, considering I was used to getting out of lab at 10 PM on Thursdays. It was POURING rain, though. I live all the way across campus from the science building--I can get from there and back in 15 minutes, running (If you can call "run, walk, run, hurt hip, limp, stop, walk" running...), and I can go one way in a little over ten minutes at a moderate pace--and I only had my Chemistry textbook and a light jacket with no hood. I actually enjoy rain, so it wasn't so bad. After walking for a minute or so, my feet were absolutely soaked. I only have a single pair of canvas-type shoes with me at school, and they take on water really quickly. 
Since I was already soaked, I decided to jump in every puddle, splash water everywhere, giggle like an idiot, and probably make some people worry for my sanity. I had a great time. Water was dripping down my nose, my hair was soaked, it was dark, and I was just a happy, happy person. When I'd almost reached my dorm, however, my knees and ankles started hurting really bad. I guess they got too cold for their liking... 
I walked into the room sputtering, wiping my eyes, and dripping water from every inch of my body, but I had a huge, goofy grin on my face that told my roommates that I'd been out having fun. 
Was the rain a pathetic fallacy in my life story? Should I assume that I failed that awful exam? I don't believe in that stuff, but even if I did... The rain made me too happy. The rain always makes me happy. 
It was actually raining, foggy, and a tad chilly the day I fell in love with this place. Every time the weather is like that, I'm reminded of the first day I set foot here, and I feel so happy.
I know I say this a lot, but I am desperate for some decent food. I'm going to see what I have on my shelf. I have just enough cereal and soymilk for tomorrow morning, a serving or two of chocolate soymilk (which I will probably drink as soon as I finish typing this), some pecans (which I don't feel like cracking because I want to play on the computer, and because they're messy and I'm lazy), some granola bars (I already had one today, so I won't eat another), the last of the chocolate chip cookies that I baked on Sunday (there's one more, so I'll eat that tomorrow before I go home), and...nothing. Soymilk time! 
I probably should change my pants. They're absolutely soaked from the knee down; even though I have them rolled up, I'm still cold just sitting here in my room.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Art of Computer Science and Falling Out of Bed.

I just got out of my computer science exam. Believe it or not, I had fun taking the exam. That was mostly due to Stephen's brilliant sense of humor working its way into the exam questions. 
One kid's hobby was "nose blowing," there was a true or false question about something he shared with us at the start of a lecture because he was frustrated ("You guys like gadgets? Yeah? Well, this is one that I really like. *holds up a stapler* They're pretty cheap; you can get them at the bookstore. You use it like this... *staples a paper* I suggest you guys buy one and try using it." He was joking around with us, but I'm sure he didn't appreciate how some people had turned in mountains of unstapled pages.), and the first question asked us about the most important thing we learned. 
I told him that I realized that I like computer science and that I'll be seeing him next semester in 110 :) 
Oh, yeah, and I woke my roommates up at 6:50 this morning when I "fell" out of my loft bed. It was a total accident. The alarm clock went off, I turned around and started climbing down the ladder, and then I felt a "hypotensive attack" coming on. I have orthostatic hypotension, which isn't a big deal until I stand up. My blood pressure drops rapidly, I lose my vision, and I lose my balance. That isn't usually a big deal either, unless I'm standing on a flippin' ladder. I knew that I was less than three feet off the floor, so I decided to jump off. That didn't work too well, because I couldn't make myself let go of the ladder with one hand and I lost my balance. I jumped and threw myself into the television, my plastic drawer, and the big cabinet. I had regained balance and vision by the time the cabinet caught me, and I wanted to laugh hysterically. Then I realized that my roommates were already awake and confused, so I kept myself quiet until I got into the bathroom. 
I had an idea last night. There's a big wooden wall on campus that is open for clubs and individuals to paint and spray graffiti, and I always enjoy walking by and seeing fun slogans and wonderful artwork. I was tired of studying Chemistry (I'd actually been studying for almost two days straight, minus sleeping/eating/etc.), and I worked on a stencil design so that I could do my own picture on the wall. Right now, it's just Sharpie on copy paper, but I'm almost finished with my cereal, so I'll save the cardboard from that to make the stencil more sturdy. It says "AMO LATINAM!" in funny letters. 
I don't know if Mrs. McCranie would be proud of me or not. On one hand, I'm actually using the lettering skills that she taught me. She's a calligrapher herself, so I had a lot of calligraphy and lettering lessons in my three years of high school art. On the other hand, she probably wouldn't approve of my doing graffiti in any form, regardless of whether it's legal or not (I wouldn't vandalize someone else's property--the wall is there for the students, at least until they finish renovating Lee Hall.). 
I'm planning on visiting my old high school next week, and I plan to visit her when I'm there. The inevitable question will be, "Are you doing any art at college?" I'm going to answer with, "Oh, well... I painted a few t-shirts [I'll leave out the part about going Jackson Pollock at the Glow Zone party during orientation.], and I've done lots of photography. I've done a little bit of drawing. I've also done some graffiti, and I'm in GALL--you know, pseudo-vandalism, social experiments..." 
She'll freak. I mean, she freaked when Robert splattered paint on his canvas and did a few drawings that were blatantly anti-religion. But I'm doing a whole lot more art now than I ever did in high school, and I'm having a whole lot more fun. 

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Stupid SQL

"I didn't write this. I didn't make it hard. It's not Stephen Query Language."
Well, Professor Davies, who DID write it? 
I want to know so I can put a bucket of ping pong balls at the top of his door and peanut butter under the door handles of his car. 
I have about a million (Yes, a fine example of hyperbole. But it feels pretty close to a million.) SQL queries to write before tomorrow, and I still have to touch up my database for my presentation tomorrow.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Title? I don't need no stinkin' title.

My mom called me during lunch to give me the results of my MRI. The doctor said that I had a very slight bulge in the disc between L4 and L5, but that it was nothing to worry about right now. Therefore, we're moving on to my hip joints. I don't know when I'll be able to get in for the next MRI. I guess I'll try to schedule it when I'm out for winter break. 
Winter break is almost here!
I really don't have anything interesting to write. 
I was on Pandora earlier, and it was being really, really slow. Nothing would play, so I opened Garage Band and got ready to play along with Massive Attack's "Teardrop." Right as I played the first note, Pandora erupted with some LOUD Rage Against The Machine, and I had no clue what was going on. I think my expression would have been hilarious to see. 
I actually played the part of "Teardrop" that I know on an actual piano over break. My grandma's piano isn't tuned at all, but I had so much fun. It actually sounded really good, too, even though I made a whole lot of mistakes. 
I have an advising meeting this afternoon. Blahhhhhh.