I've been having a lot of fun with my computer today. I changed my desktop background back to a picture of me riding Stella. I also changed it so that the dock (I'm a Mac user) hides unless I mouse over at the bottom of the screen, which gives me a lot more work space. Then, I was daring and changed my keyboard to Dvorak. I'm picking it up quickly, but I'm not using it right now for the sake of time. I still mess up a whole lot (I can't help but switch back to Qwerty out of habit) and sometimes I have to sit and stare at the keyboard to remember which key is which. I thought about taping pieces of paper with the new letters onto each key until I learn, but I don't think I will. I'm still slow and inaccurate, but I'm getting it.
There was a computer science study session tonight. It was fun just like class usually is, and we talked about the stuff that will be on the exam. I'm sad because 110 is going to be done with, but I'm excited for 220 and 125--CompSci I and Discrete Math. I looked at some study material online for Discrete Math, and I already know a whole lot of it. I don't think it's gonna hurt too much. I might even be able to take Calculus II next semester, which is what I'd like to do. I'm also excited about my Classics class and my Latin literature class.
Latin lit has Catullus on the syllabus!!! Catullus is my favorite, just because he's vulgar and witty and funny and sweet all at the same time.
I'll see about taking Calculus II next semester. I guess it'll all depend on how well Calculus I goes. I'll do anything to pass both of those classes, though. I'm taking one over the summer. Seriously, does that not scream, "I really want to be a Computer Science major!" ? :D
Sometimes I think I should post cool links and stuff here, just because my life is boring and no one cares about me and I do find a lot of cool (maybe?) things. So...
Here's an amazing video of a dressage test ridden by Isabell Werth. The music is all by Nine Inch Nails, one of my favorite bands in the whole world. Dressage and NIN--can it get much better?
Enjoy. I've got a date with Aeneas. Sorry Dido, you should go jump in a fire or something.
EDIT: I just posted that video to my other blog and... I attempted to save the entry by pressing escape, then typing ":wq" I don't know what to say to that.
Sigh. Nerdiness FTW.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
The things I think of while brushing my teeth...
I'm not studying for my chemistry exam that's tomorrow morning.
Why?
I was brushing my teeth this morning when I had an idea for a fun program to write. It's a "Latin composition tutor," and I'm already having fun with it. I think it's going to evolve into a summer project, mostly because I need to be studying and it's going to require a lot of Latin as well as a lot of programming--and surely a lot of debugging.
I'm excited.
...And hungry.
...And going to fail my chemistry exam if I don't quit doing this and start studying.
Why?
I was brushing my teeth this morning when I had an idea for a fun program to write. It's a "Latin composition tutor," and I'm already having fun with it. I think it's going to evolve into a summer project, mostly because I need to be studying and it's going to require a lot of Latin as well as a lot of programming--and surely a lot of debugging.
I'm excited.
...And hungry.
...And going to fail my chemistry exam if I don't quit doing this and start studying.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
It's time to crack down
I just got back from the Computer Science department picnic, which was awesome. I explored new lands, took shots of Liquid Javascript, chatted with CompSci and Chem majors, tossed around a frisbee, and even made an attempt at volleyball.
I kinda got lost on the way over there because I didn't know where the school's apartment complex is. Finding the buildings was easy enough, but finding the courtyard was difficult. I wandered about for a while until I spotted a bunch of people gathered under a tree. I asked a girl about it, and she confirmed that I'd made it to the right picnic. Her name was Becky (or some variation of it--I'm terrible with names) and we talked. She told me that she's a Chemistry major, which I think is pretty impressive. I also talked to a lot of actual CompSci majors, which makes me feel accomplished. One of my goals for this year was to be more social, and I think I've made some progress. We started tossing a frisbee around the courtyard, which was pretty funny considering how clumsy we all were. The disc frequently deviated from its intended path, flew right past the recipient, and even hit some unamused sunbathers. We had a good time with it.
Then, the "superstar of the CompSci department," Stephen, showed up and people started to eat. I gnawed on some Nutter Butter cookies, nasty vanilla wafer crisp cookies (I liked 'em when I was a kid...), and lettuce leaves from the burger toppings plate. I started with some Hawaiian Punch, then moved on to a hybrid Punch-Lemonade mix, then had way too much Mountain Dew, and finally made a smart choice to stick with water.
I was recruited for a game of volleyball, which wasn't too much of an epic failure. When we were practicing before the game, someone bumped the ball to me and I did a beautiful, ballet-like, jumping-on-one-foot number. It was pretty funny. I'm not good at volleyball at all, but it sure was fun to try. The team I was on lost, but it was all good. There were lots of awesome games afterward, and it was also lots of fun to watch.
The whole time they were setting up, I had one thing on my mind: "How many people does it take to set up a volleyball net?" The answer is... A Chem major, a handful of CompSci majors (One is required to wear a kilt.), and a professor.
There were lots of computer science discussions--people talking about the projects they're finishing, people discussing different programming languages, people talking about what classes they're in and what they're taking next semester. I don't know any programming languages other than Javascript, so I didn't have much to say even though I had a nice time listening. I've looked at Java, Python, and C++, but I definitely can't say I know anything about them. I think my next computer science class is a Java class, which is exciting. We talked about the way computer scientists start "slinking" around, which was really funny because it's kinda true :) Stephen's kid sat beside me and stuck a cup over my ear. At first I was confused because the kid was out of my peripheral vision and I had no idea what was happening to the side of my head. Then I thought it was pretty funny because I like most kids and think they're really funny. The title of "nerd" was officially bestowed upon me once Becky(?) read the front of my shirt ("Lingua mortua sola lingua bona est!") and found out about my double major. Now that I think about it... Aggh :P
All in all, I had a great time. I got all socially anxious and stuff, but I sucked it up and went anyway. I'm working on myself, and I'm making progress little by little.
Amber and I went to dinner tonight. The dining hall's food SUCKED. Most of the rooms are closed on the weekends. I started out with a PB&J, then had a salad, which consisted of romaine lettuce and some Italian dressing. I also made some plain oatmeal and added some hazelnut coffee syrup to it. It would've been quite tasty except the syrup made it taste slightly alcoholic, kind of like tasting artificial vanilla flavoring straight from the bottle. It took a few bites for me to determine that it was disgusting, and then my dinner was finished. We went to the Nest, a cafe on campus, because I have a whole lot of dining plan "dollars" that don't roll over to the next school year. I got a few things to snack on and a big scoop of the most amazing ice cream in the whole world.
Normally I don't eat ice cream. I just don't. But one day I realized that they had something called "birthday cake" ice cream. It tastes like a birthday cake. OHHHHHHHH IT'S GOOOOOOOOOD. That is one thing I will definitely miss over break :P
I kinda got lost on the way over there because I didn't know where the school's apartment complex is. Finding the buildings was easy enough, but finding the courtyard was difficult. I wandered about for a while until I spotted a bunch of people gathered under a tree. I asked a girl about it, and she confirmed that I'd made it to the right picnic. Her name was Becky (or some variation of it--I'm terrible with names) and we talked. She told me that she's a Chemistry major, which I think is pretty impressive. I also talked to a lot of actual CompSci majors, which makes me feel accomplished. One of my goals for this year was to be more social, and I think I've made some progress. We started tossing a frisbee around the courtyard, which was pretty funny considering how clumsy we all were. The disc frequently deviated from its intended path, flew right past the recipient, and even hit some unamused sunbathers. We had a good time with it.
Then, the "superstar of the CompSci department," Stephen, showed up and people started to eat. I gnawed on some Nutter Butter cookies, nasty vanilla wafer crisp cookies (I liked 'em when I was a kid...), and lettuce leaves from the burger toppings plate. I started with some Hawaiian Punch, then moved on to a hybrid Punch-Lemonade mix, then had way too much Mountain Dew, and finally made a smart choice to stick with water.
I was recruited for a game of volleyball, which wasn't too much of an epic failure. When we were practicing before the game, someone bumped the ball to me and I did a beautiful, ballet-like, jumping-on-one-foot number. It was pretty funny. I'm not good at volleyball at all, but it sure was fun to try. The team I was on lost, but it was all good. There were lots of awesome games afterward, and it was also lots of fun to watch.
The whole time they were setting up, I had one thing on my mind: "How many people does it take to set up a volleyball net?" The answer is... A Chem major, a handful of CompSci majors (One is required to wear a kilt.), and a professor.
There were lots of computer science discussions--people talking about the projects they're finishing, people discussing different programming languages, people talking about what classes they're in and what they're taking next semester. I don't know any programming languages other than Javascript, so I didn't have much to say even though I had a nice time listening. I've looked at Java, Python, and C++, but I definitely can't say I know anything about them. I think my next computer science class is a Java class, which is exciting. We talked about the way computer scientists start "slinking" around, which was really funny because it's kinda true :) Stephen's kid sat beside me and stuck a cup over my ear. At first I was confused because the kid was out of my peripheral vision and I had no idea what was happening to the side of my head. Then I thought it was pretty funny because I like most kids and think they're really funny. The title of "nerd" was officially bestowed upon me once Becky(?) read the front of my shirt ("Lingua mortua sola lingua bona est!") and found out about my double major. Now that I think about it... Aggh :P
All in all, I had a great time. I got all socially anxious and stuff, but I sucked it up and went anyway. I'm working on myself, and I'm making progress little by little.
Amber and I went to dinner tonight. The dining hall's food SUCKED. Most of the rooms are closed on the weekends. I started out with a PB&J, then had a salad, which consisted of romaine lettuce and some Italian dressing. I also made some plain oatmeal and added some hazelnut coffee syrup to it. It would've been quite tasty except the syrup made it taste slightly alcoholic, kind of like tasting artificial vanilla flavoring straight from the bottle. It took a few bites for me to determine that it was disgusting, and then my dinner was finished. We went to the Nest, a cafe on campus, because I have a whole lot of dining plan "dollars" that don't roll over to the next school year. I got a few things to snack on and a big scoop of the most amazing ice cream in the whole world.
Normally I don't eat ice cream. I just don't. But one day I realized that they had something called "birthday cake" ice cream. It tastes like a birthday cake. OHHHHHHHH IT'S GOOOOOOOOOD. That is one thing I will definitely miss over break :P
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Yay life (no sarcasm this time).
I got so much accomplished today. I'm feeling full of myself :)
I went to Professor Houghtalin's office hours today to get some help with scanning poetry. I was doing all of the lines correctly by the time I left.
In Latin, I "won" the "sack of Troy award" simply because I was the final person to translate for the semester. The clock was ticking by and I was a little sad because I didn't think I would get a chance to read today. I got called on for a single sentence, the final line of Book II, and I gave the class quite a nice sight translation. Now I'm ready for Latin 305 next semester!
I also finished my final computer science project for the year thanks to Stephen. His office hours were packed, so everyone went to the lab and worked in there. I had a few undefined arrays that I fixed myself and a few that Stephen had to fix for me. I was absolutely ebullient when my save and load functions finally worked once they were fixed. I was even happier when the whole thing worked. I felt pretty dumb when Stephen pointed out that I was missing a curlybrace at the end of two different functions, but at least they were easy to fix!
Javascript is crazy, but it's so worth it in the end.
Stephen tried to assure me that not all computer science is like Javascript. I thought that was funny. The debugging and high level of anal-ness doesn't bother me all that much. I actually think that's what attracts me to it. Debugging is like a game. I'm patient. Sure, I need a "victory" every once in a while, even if it's just adding a little CSS to the page to make it look good. But it's fun to dig through everything and sniff out problems. It helps that I'm crazy about misspellings and similar errors.
I was working on my chemistry project late last night, and one member of my group asked me what I'm majoring in. I got a few surprised, awkward looks and a half a laugh when I told them. It's a little strange at first glance, but I really do see a relationship between Latin and computer science.
The chemistry project work session was a little weird last night. We did get some stuff done, but we need to bust butt tonight in order to finish for tomorrow. I drew a diagram of the battery setup for the electroplating experiment, and the whole group was impressed. I hope they like the finished product! The work session was also where I discovered the Liquid Javascript that wouldn't let me sleep last night.
I should be working. I've been productive so far, so I shouldn't slack off now.
I went to Professor Houghtalin's office hours today to get some help with scanning poetry. I was doing all of the lines correctly by the time I left.
In Latin, I "won" the "sack of Troy award" simply because I was the final person to translate for the semester. The clock was ticking by and I was a little sad because I didn't think I would get a chance to read today. I got called on for a single sentence, the final line of Book II, and I gave the class quite a nice sight translation. Now I'm ready for Latin 305 next semester!
I also finished my final computer science project for the year thanks to Stephen. His office hours were packed, so everyone went to the lab and worked in there. I had a few undefined arrays that I fixed myself and a few that Stephen had to fix for me. I was absolutely ebullient when my save and load functions finally worked once they were fixed. I was even happier when the whole thing worked. I felt pretty dumb when Stephen pointed out that I was missing a curlybrace at the end of two different functions, but at least they were easy to fix!
Javascript is crazy, but it's so worth it in the end.
Stephen tried to assure me that not all computer science is like Javascript. I thought that was funny. The debugging and high level of anal-ness doesn't bother me all that much. I actually think that's what attracts me to it. Debugging is like a game. I'm patient. Sure, I need a "victory" every once in a while, even if it's just adding a little CSS to the page to make it look good. But it's fun to dig through everything and sniff out problems. It helps that I'm crazy about misspellings and similar errors.
I was working on my chemistry project late last night, and one member of my group asked me what I'm majoring in. I got a few surprised, awkward looks and a half a laugh when I told them. It's a little strange at first glance, but I really do see a relationship between Latin and computer science.
The chemistry project work session was a little weird last night. We did get some stuff done, but we need to bust butt tonight in order to finish for tomorrow. I drew a diagram of the battery setup for the electroplating experiment, and the whole group was impressed. I hope they like the finished product! The work session was also where I discovered the Liquid Javascript that wouldn't let me sleep last night.
I should be working. I've been productive so far, so I shouldn't slack off now.
OMG CAFFEINE.
I swallowed my pride and used Firebug last night to help me debug some Javascript for the project. Actually, this was the first time I was able to make it work, but... Hey, it's nice. Just sayin'.
I also discovered the wonderful thing called Mountain Dew. It has this thing in it called caffeine, which is a stimulant drug. Mountain Dew now has a new name:
Liquid Javascript.
As you can tell, this project is beating me.
Short post this morning. It's just after 6 AM, and I'm doing computer science, Latin, and chemistry from sunup to sundown. Yay life.
I also discovered the wonderful thing called Mountain Dew. It has this thing in it called caffeine, which is a stimulant drug. Mountain Dew now has a new name:
Liquid Javascript.
As you can tell, this project is beating me.
Short post this morning. It's just after 6 AM, and I'm doing computer science, Latin, and chemistry from sunup to sundown. Yay life.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wonderful day
I'm currently listening to some Nine Inch Nails that's just loud enough to hear, a heavy rain, and the joyous laughter of a group of people who are frolicking in that rain. I'd love to be out there as well, but I've got to do Latin. I'll definitely try to complete this later, as I've had a wonderful day. It always makes me happy to write about wonderful days.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Success!
I just finished my presentation for my Human Animal class--the powerpoint, the presentation, the paper, the blog, everything.
The guy who went before me had the same topic that I did. He did an excellent job, and he was obviously pro-vegetarianism. He defended the position that humans are actually herbivores and opportunistically omnivorous. I'm not sure I totally agree with that; I'm more along the line of thinking that we're slightly omnivorous, that we're well-suited to a vegetarian diet but that we can definitely eat some meat if we desire. I personally have never been comfortable with the idea of eating animals.
My presentation explained that we've evolved to be omnivores, but we should ultimately choose the diet that best suits us as individuals. For example, I eat about twice the recommended amount of sodium and my blood pressure is STILL through the floor. Yes, through the floor. I've even hit the floor on several occasions because I've blacked out and collapsed from orthostatic hypotension. Most people would be on blood pressure medication if they ate what I have to. I'm also perfectly happy and healthy as a vegetarian, but my presentation highlighted the Inuits as a group that simply couldn't be.
The presentation went very well. I got a little nervous at the very beginning, mostly just when I was walking up to the computer and starting with the introduction. As usual, however, my tension melted away as I got going. I did stumble over a few things, particularly when I couldn't differentiate my left from my right while discussing pictures on the screen and flat-out stating that herbivores are adapted to eat meat, but it's all good. I simply reoriented my thinking for the former and corrected my rather obvious stumble for the latter. I honestly don't mind public speaking after I'm settled and going with my presentation. I also didn't pick up on too many nervous things--no plucking today--except that I shifted my weight every once in a while and I said "um" a few times. I wonder if anyone saw how I knew the URL of my blog. I walked up to the computer desk, opened Firefox, and yanked my sleeve up to reveal the address to my blog written in gigantic letters along the inside of my forearm. My habits are so amusing.
Chemistry went pretty well today. We did a practice test for the ACS final, round two. Mike also gave us our quiz scores from Wednesday. I got a B, which was very exciting. I never thought I'd reach a point where I'd be getting satisfactory grades in chemistry, but I did it. The best thing of all, though, is that Mike complimented the lab project that we designed last week and are supposed to conduct today. Last Friday, he wasn't so sure that it was a good idea, but he later told our group that it was an amazing project, something he would even consider graduate-level. We all actually planned something together that's worthy of his praise, and we haven't even done it yet. Wow.
Mike is keeping me in check, though. I also went to see him for some help on a lab last Friday. When he looked at my lab sheet, he said, "Oh, wow, you actually almost got that one right." I wanted to laugh out loud because I thought what he said was really funny, but I didn't.
He's so brutally honest. I love it. Sometimes I go to his office hours and leave feeling pretty accomplished, like the day I finally mastered stoichiometry. Sometimes I leave and feel terribly stupid, and not even in the "haha-that-was-a-silly-mistake" way. I guess it all balances out, though. I've made lots of progress in chemistry since the beginning of last semester, but I'm never going to be truly good at it, nor will I ever be able to say that I love it. Ergo...not pursuing chemistry any further :)
I really don't go to office hours for any of my other professors, with the exception of my computer science professor. Sometimes I can't figure out how to upload images (I never would've figured that one out by myself.), or Javascript is being wonky, or invisible typos and logic errors undermine my entire beautiful program and I just need a little push in the right direction. Stephen's a really nice person, though, and I can't imagine leaving his office feeling like an idiot. I often leave having been reminded that I'm perfectly capable of making very silly mistakes, but it's always a positive kind of thing.
I need to go to office hours with Dr. Houghtalin in the very near future. I have meter issues. She claims that it's fun, so I guess I'll wait and see how it goes. She's really nice, and I really, really would like to finally learn how to scan poetry. How bad could it be?
I dunno, but I'm hungry.
Meh, I have lots more to talk about, but I'll do it later.
The guy who went before me had the same topic that I did. He did an excellent job, and he was obviously pro-vegetarianism. He defended the position that humans are actually herbivores and opportunistically omnivorous. I'm not sure I totally agree with that; I'm more along the line of thinking that we're slightly omnivorous, that we're well-suited to a vegetarian diet but that we can definitely eat some meat if we desire. I personally have never been comfortable with the idea of eating animals.
My presentation explained that we've evolved to be omnivores, but we should ultimately choose the diet that best suits us as individuals. For example, I eat about twice the recommended amount of sodium and my blood pressure is STILL through the floor. Yes, through the floor. I've even hit the floor on several occasions because I've blacked out and collapsed from orthostatic hypotension. Most people would be on blood pressure medication if they ate what I have to. I'm also perfectly happy and healthy as a vegetarian, but my presentation highlighted the Inuits as a group that simply couldn't be.
The presentation went very well. I got a little nervous at the very beginning, mostly just when I was walking up to the computer and starting with the introduction. As usual, however, my tension melted away as I got going. I did stumble over a few things, particularly when I couldn't differentiate my left from my right while discussing pictures on the screen and flat-out stating that herbivores are adapted to eat meat, but it's all good. I simply reoriented my thinking for the former and corrected my rather obvious stumble for the latter. I honestly don't mind public speaking after I'm settled and going with my presentation. I also didn't pick up on too many nervous things--no plucking today--except that I shifted my weight every once in a while and I said "um" a few times. I wonder if anyone saw how I knew the URL of my blog. I walked up to the computer desk, opened Firefox, and yanked my sleeve up to reveal the address to my blog written in gigantic letters along the inside of my forearm. My habits are so amusing.
Chemistry went pretty well today. We did a practice test for the ACS final, round two. Mike also gave us our quiz scores from Wednesday. I got a B, which was very exciting. I never thought I'd reach a point where I'd be getting satisfactory grades in chemistry, but I did it. The best thing of all, though, is that Mike complimented the lab project that we designed last week and are supposed to conduct today. Last Friday, he wasn't so sure that it was a good idea, but he later told our group that it was an amazing project, something he would even consider graduate-level. We all actually planned something together that's worthy of his praise, and we haven't even done it yet. Wow.
Mike is keeping me in check, though. I also went to see him for some help on a lab last Friday. When he looked at my lab sheet, he said, "Oh, wow, you actually almost got that one right." I wanted to laugh out loud because I thought what he said was really funny, but I didn't.
He's so brutally honest. I love it. Sometimes I go to his office hours and leave feeling pretty accomplished, like the day I finally mastered stoichiometry. Sometimes I leave and feel terribly stupid, and not even in the "haha-that-was-a-silly-mistake" way. I guess it all balances out, though. I've made lots of progress in chemistry since the beginning of last semester, but I'm never going to be truly good at it, nor will I ever be able to say that I love it. Ergo...not pursuing chemistry any further :)
I really don't go to office hours for any of my other professors, with the exception of my computer science professor. Sometimes I can't figure out how to upload images (I never would've figured that one out by myself.), or Javascript is being wonky, or invisible typos and logic errors undermine my entire beautiful program and I just need a little push in the right direction. Stephen's a really nice person, though, and I can't imagine leaving his office feeling like an idiot. I often leave having been reminded that I'm perfectly capable of making very silly mistakes, but it's always a positive kind of thing.
I need to go to office hours with Dr. Houghtalin in the very near future. I have meter issues. She claims that it's fun, so I guess I'll wait and see how it goes. She's really nice, and I really, really would like to finally learn how to scan poetry. How bad could it be?
I dunno, but I'm hungry.
Meh, I have lots more to talk about, but I'll do it later.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Progress
I just got back from the Speaking Center. Dr. Dolby required all of us to visit at some point during the semester, and it seemed most logical to go for our first actual speaking assignment. I feel sorry for anyone else who wanted to make an appointment after me. They were basically booked when I got there. The session wasn't terribly mortifying, not that I expected it to be. In fact, I think my previous teaching experience has helped my public speaking skills. The girl who helped me said that I had decent eye contact, and she didn't mention anything about my volume even when I asked her to pay special attention to that. Everyone else's normal makes me feel like I'm screaming at people. I got a "louder" hand signal from Sara at GALL the other night. So, I "yelled" at the girl today and everything was good.
Public speaking doesn't send me into a panic, but I did have a few nervous things that I did during the presentation today. I started plucking at the side of the podium, which I noticed but didn't care to stop. It gave me something to do with my hands. I tend to gesticulate wildly during public speaking events, but not quite as much during normal conversation. When I wasn't plucking at the podium and relishing the loud, woody "plick," I was waving my hands around under the podium. I kind of wish I'd asked her to videotape me now. The only time I've ever seen myself speak was early in my teaching class, during the speech that I had to cut short because I had an averse reaction to the topic. All I had to do was talk about myself, so I printed out a picture of me kissing Mac and decided to talk about the horses. When I was standing in front of the class, I pulled out the picture and realized that I wasn't yet comfortable talking about my dead horse. The whole class got to watch me pause, close my eyes, mumble a little, and abruptly end my speech then and there--twice. So now, whenever I have to do a public speaking project, I just think about that and don't worry because that's about as awful as it gets. I completely blew it twice in that class. That was the first time, and then I lost my train of thought in the middle of a lesson on verbs. The rest of the class helped me out by being especially cooperative and volunteering to play the verb game for a majority of the lesson :) One of the first public speaking tips that Mrs. Weddle gave us in that class: people would rather see you succeed. I tell myself that before every single speaking assignment I've done since.
Ah, but I do wish I'd asked her to videotape me. I can't think of anything that can make a person feel as awkward, uncomfortable, and self-conscious, but nothing really compares when it comes to correcting those little things. Plus, I think it would've been funny to watch my hands.
I still need to work on my programming project, but I can't do it now. My problem is that I have to leave for Latin in less than half an hour. If I go in and start working on stuff, I'll consider skipping Latin because I can't force myself to quit. The same thing happens when I try to do some work before my computer science class. The same thing happens when I'm translating.
Public speaking doesn't send me into a panic, but I did have a few nervous things that I did during the presentation today. I started plucking at the side of the podium, which I noticed but didn't care to stop. It gave me something to do with my hands. I tend to gesticulate wildly during public speaking events, but not quite as much during normal conversation. When I wasn't plucking at the podium and relishing the loud, woody "plick," I was waving my hands around under the podium. I kind of wish I'd asked her to videotape me now. The only time I've ever seen myself speak was early in my teaching class, during the speech that I had to cut short because I had an averse reaction to the topic. All I had to do was talk about myself, so I printed out a picture of me kissing Mac and decided to talk about the horses. When I was standing in front of the class, I pulled out the picture and realized that I wasn't yet comfortable talking about my dead horse. The whole class got to watch me pause, close my eyes, mumble a little, and abruptly end my speech then and there--twice. So now, whenever I have to do a public speaking project, I just think about that and don't worry because that's about as awful as it gets. I completely blew it twice in that class. That was the first time, and then I lost my train of thought in the middle of a lesson on verbs. The rest of the class helped me out by being especially cooperative and volunteering to play the verb game for a majority of the lesson :) One of the first public speaking tips that Mrs. Weddle gave us in that class: people would rather see you succeed. I tell myself that before every single speaking assignment I've done since.
Ah, but I do wish I'd asked her to videotape me. I can't think of anything that can make a person feel as awkward, uncomfortable, and self-conscious, but nothing really compares when it comes to correcting those little things. Plus, I think it would've been funny to watch my hands.
I still need to work on my programming project, but I can't do it now. My problem is that I have to leave for Latin in less than half an hour. If I go in and start working on stuff, I'll consider skipping Latin because I can't force myself to quit. The same thing happens when I try to do some work before my computer science class. The same thing happens when I'm translating.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
All GALL (A collective poem)
We did writing exercises in GALL tonight. It was really fun, and the products of our labors were wonderful. My favorite exercise was the collective poetry, where each person wrote two lines, AB, and someone else wrote two more. It ended up as an ABAB rhyme scheme. The catch was that we could only see two lines of what was already written. We got some really wacky (and very GALL-like) poems, so I'll share the one that I started and ended.
ALL GALL
A poem by...all of GALL.
Squirrels play in the tree
And then one falls out.
When falling he felt free,
Twirling and spinning about.
When midair he met a bee,
That stinky, slimy lout.
And they copulated free
From self-consciousness and doubt.
Though no one suspected there'd be a fee
Which changed their expressions to a pout.
All the white men met at first tee,
Except the oldest, plagued with gout.
The youngest was infested with fleas.
They were so sad, they had to pout.
They weren't allowed to have their peas.
They went without.
That wasn't the best one, but I still like it. I just love the idea of everyone almost-blindly writing something together to make something. Squee :D
I might write some more here later on, but I'm really busy and I have to get some work done. My Human Animal project is the most pressing thing right now, though I'd much prefer working on my computer science project. Meh, actually I need to do some Chemistry. AGGGH. CHEM QUIZ. NOOOOOO! TOMORROW.
G'night.
ALL GALL
A poem by...all of GALL.
Squirrels play in the tree
And then one falls out.
When falling he felt free,
Twirling and spinning about.
When midair he met a bee,
That stinky, slimy lout.
And they copulated free
From self-consciousness and doubt.
Though no one suspected there'd be a fee
Which changed their expressions to a pout.
All the white men met at first tee,
Except the oldest, plagued with gout.
The youngest was infested with fleas.
They were so sad, they had to pout.
They weren't allowed to have their peas.
They went without.
That wasn't the best one, but I still like it. I just love the idea of everyone almost-blindly writing something together to make something. Squee :D
I might write some more here later on, but I'm really busy and I have to get some work done. My Human Animal project is the most pressing thing right now, though I'd much prefer working on my computer science project. Meh, actually I need to do some Chemistry. AGGGH. CHEM QUIZ. NOOOOOO! TOMORROW.
G'night.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Major justification.
I forgot to write about how my Latin teacher inspired me the other day. We were talking about the life of Vergil, and my professor expressed her dislike for the "Georgics." She compared the didactic farming poetry to a computer programming manual written in dactyllic hexameter.
Well...
You know where that went.
No, I did not write a computer programming manual in dactyllic hexameter. I'm terrible with meter.
I wrote a few Javascript programming "tips" in Latin. They really aren't helpful, but hopefully they'll get a smile out of everyone who has had the wonderful experience of learning (and fighting with) Javascript. Maybe one day I'll be good enough to write them in Latin dactyllic hexameter, but that's a long way off :)
So, here we go:
Javascript Programming Tips (I don't feel like making up a word for "Javascript".)
IN LINGUA LATINA (In Latin)
Tene has in memoria: (Keep these things in mind:)
I. Est perculsus, sed noli desistere. (It is demoralizing, but don't give up.)
II. Desine cum semicolo, aut persaepe plorabis. (End with a semicolon, or you will cry very often.)
III. Annotationes utiles et festivae sunt. (Comments are helpful and fun.)
IV. Assuesce cimices-errores. (Get used to "bug-errors.")
V. Bonus somnus infimis est. (Good sleep is for the weak.)
VI. Aliquando de id somniabis. Noli sollicitari! (Eventually you will dream about it. Don't worry!)
I'm willing to bet that I did a bit of unintentional language-butchering, but that's okay. I'm learning. This was good practice with the imperative!
Do you like the computer term that I invented? "Cimices" was the accusative plural for the word "bug," but the word was actually referring to an insect and not an irritating coding mistake. Therefore, I added the accusative plural "errores" for "errors." I like it better than using either word alone.
Anyone have a good idea for putting the word "Javascript" into Latin? I was thinking "Javascriptum," simply enough.
Well...
You know where that went.
No, I did not write a computer programming manual in dactyllic hexameter. I'm terrible with meter.
I wrote a few Javascript programming "tips" in Latin. They really aren't helpful, but hopefully they'll get a smile out of everyone who has had the wonderful experience of learning (and fighting with) Javascript. Maybe one day I'll be good enough to write them in Latin dactyllic hexameter, but that's a long way off :)
So, here we go:
Javascript Programming Tips (I don't feel like making up a word for "Javascript".)
IN LINGUA LATINA (In Latin)
Tene has in memoria: (Keep these things in mind:)
I. Est perculsus, sed noli desistere. (It is demoralizing, but don't give up.)
II. Desine cum semicolo, aut persaepe plorabis. (End with a semicolon, or you will cry very often.)
III. Annotationes utiles et festivae sunt. (Comments are helpful and fun.)
IV. Assuesce cimices-errores. (Get used to "bug-errors.")
V. Bonus somnus infimis est. (Good sleep is for the weak.)
VI. Aliquando de id somniabis. Noli sollicitari! (Eventually you will dream about it. Don't worry!)
I'm willing to bet that I did a bit of unintentional language-butchering, but that's okay. I'm learning. This was good practice with the imperative!
Do you like the computer term that I invented? "Cimices" was the accusative plural for the word "bug," but the word was actually referring to an insect and not an irritating coding mistake. Therefore, I added the accusative plural "errores" for "errors." I like it better than using either word alone.
Anyone have a good idea for putting the word "Javascript" into Latin? I was thinking "Javascriptum," simply enough.
Meh.
I'm a little bummed about the Day of Silence on Friday. PRISM (the campus gay-straight alliance) recruited GALL to help with the Day of Silence this Friday. The e-mail just came out with the times to do our performances, and I'm in class during all of them. I was really looking forward to helping out with the demonstration, but I can't skip class. Nevertheless, I'll show my support with a black Sharpie and complete silence.
Today was quite a lovely Easter. I went out and blew bubbles with the kids, and then my uncle let us see his rabbits. One of them ate some bread out of my hand, and she was really cute. The kids hunted for plastic eggs in the yard. I stealthily went around snatching up Sixlets, which are amazing. I ate a whole lot of chocolate this morning and at various other times throughout the day. Mm.
I got to talk to Aaron, who's going to be heading off to a special language school very soon. We're the logophiles of the family, often spotted speaking in Latin at various family gatherings. We usually make off-the-wall, silly comments or ask random questions over dinner, and sometimes we make references to the textbook that everyone knows and loves, "Ecce Romani." He's much more fluent than I am, and I'm the Latin major :) He's also amazing with Arabic, and he's going to the school to learn yet another language.
Everyone kept asking me what I'm majoring in now. Most of them knew that I went into college hoping to become a Latin teacher, so most of them were pleasantly surprised when I announced that I'm pursuing something a little less "frivolous." I personally think my parents are a little happier, though I doubt either of them would admit it to me. I was chatting with my grandma and uncle earlier in the day, with my dad sitting nearby. My uncle is still set on the idea of me becoming a teacher, even though I think he's given up on the idea that I'll ever teach Latin. He dropped a hint that I should teach computer science at a community college. I don't think he's going to let go very easily.
I had another one of those amazing slushies again. It was yummy.
Things are starting to get a little stressful now that the end of the semester is coming. I've got a project due in my Human Animal class on Friday, and that's worrying me to death. I've also got a project due in computer science on the last day of classes. That's not worrying me too much, except for the fact that my friends are playing hard to get, even though I've promised them that helping me doesn't even require them to know how to turn the computer on.
I might work a little on the Human Animal project. Then it'll stop freaking me out so much.
Today was quite a lovely Easter. I went out and blew bubbles with the kids, and then my uncle let us see his rabbits. One of them ate some bread out of my hand, and she was really cute. The kids hunted for plastic eggs in the yard. I stealthily went around snatching up Sixlets, which are amazing. I ate a whole lot of chocolate this morning and at various other times throughout the day. Mm.
I got to talk to Aaron, who's going to be heading off to a special language school very soon. We're the logophiles of the family, often spotted speaking in Latin at various family gatherings. We usually make off-the-wall, silly comments or ask random questions over dinner, and sometimes we make references to the textbook that everyone knows and loves, "Ecce Romani." He's much more fluent than I am, and I'm the Latin major :) He's also amazing with Arabic, and he's going to the school to learn yet another language.
Everyone kept asking me what I'm majoring in now. Most of them knew that I went into college hoping to become a Latin teacher, so most of them were pleasantly surprised when I announced that I'm pursuing something a little less "frivolous." I personally think my parents are a little happier, though I doubt either of them would admit it to me. I was chatting with my grandma and uncle earlier in the day, with my dad sitting nearby. My uncle is still set on the idea of me becoming a teacher, even though I think he's given up on the idea that I'll ever teach Latin. He dropped a hint that I should teach computer science at a community college. I don't think he's going to let go very easily.
I had another one of those amazing slushies again. It was yummy.
Things are starting to get a little stressful now that the end of the semester is coming. I've got a project due in my Human Animal class on Friday, and that's worrying me to death. I've also got a project due in computer science on the last day of classes. That's not worrying me too much, except for the fact that my friends are playing hard to get, even though I've promised them that helping me doesn't even require them to know how to turn the computer on.
I might work a little on the Human Animal project. Then it'll stop freaking me out so much.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Oh, snap. Catch it!
I was going to write something last night, but I really just ran out of time. I've been very, very busy lately. Now I have to remember what I was going to write last night.
Oh.
I was going to write about all of the silly little things that amused me yesterday, particularly the rain.
I woke up with my to-do list printed clearly on the side of my face. I have a habit of writing appointments and other things I should do during the day on my hands. I made a note on my hand before bed, and I got a good giggle when I looked in the mirror. The ink print was surprisingly very clear. Maybe I should've scrubbed off my hand and gotten a reminder for my advising meeting each time I washed my hands! :)
I also had a whole lot of fun walking in the rain throughout the day. I enjoy that feeling of nice rain dripping on my head, eventually working its way down my nose so that I have to shake the droplets off. I like seeing the rain, and smelling the rain, and feeling the rain, and hearing the rain, and probably tasting the rain too. I like watching people walk with umbrellas. I really like watching people sharing an umbrella, particularly when a tall person tries to share a short person's umbrella. It's comical. I like watching people who don't have umbrellas scurry around like the rain is 12M hydrochloric acid that'll burn their skin off if they don't hurry inside. I love splashing in puddles. One time in high school, Robert, Gretchen, and I were caught outside in the morning during a torrential downpour. Robert and I sloshed through all of the puddles, sending up fantastic sprays of water. Robert got quite a bit of pleasure out of directing the sprays in Gretchen's general direction. It's amazing how such simple stuff can be so entertaining. I really do love the way the world smells when it's raining. When I was in my computer science class yesterday, someone told my professor that it smells like "worms." I've never sniffed a worm, but I don't think they're the source of that wonderful, after-the-rain smell.
Wow, that's a lot of talk about rain.
Today was also a good day. There were pancakes at the dining hall for breakfast this morning. I love their pancakes, particularly with strawberry syrup. Yum yum. I also like it when they have watermelon, but they didn't have any this morning. I got all of my translations finished this morning, and then I went to Latin. Class was quite good. Dr. Houghtalin received our National Latin Exam scores, but it'll be a while before we get them. I'm excited. I only got to take the NLE once in high school, but I received a medal for it, and a certificate that was signed by my favorite, favorite, favorite Latin teacher in the whole world, our dearest extraterrestrial :) That class with that wonderful man... One of the things I actually miss about high school. Ecphrasis. That's a new word we learned today. It's one of the many strange, strange poetry terms that we've learned, and it's a DIGRESSION. Which I've done once again. Dr. Houghtalin's husband taught our class last week and lectured on Book IX of the Aeneid.
One memorable quote from that lecture:
PROFESSOR: "And what do you think Virgil was doing at the time of his death?"
SOME RANDOM STUDENT: "...Dying?"
(ANSWER: Studying philosophy.)
Hey, I thought it was funny.
I didn't get to translate in Latin today, but that's okay. I think I'm finally picking up on meter, which is a miracle. I've had countless English teachers try to teach me how to scan, along with my so-called AP Latin teacher(s), and only Mrs. Weddle came close. I'm finally starting to get it, though, and I'm even starting to understand where to elide. I know I worry lots about my Computer Science major on here, but I worry about my Latin major quite a bit, perhaps even more.
I eventually have to take a Latin composition class, which scares me to death. I also know that if things get wonky, I have to drop a major--namely, the one that isn't contributing to the Sam Likes To Eat foundation. Sometimes I even worry that I'm not good at Latin anymore, or that I don't like it for one reason or another. Those feelings pass pretty quickly. I think most of those were the result of a terrible experience in AP Latin and then a whole year to brew on it before picking up with the language again. By that time, I was plenty bitter and plenty rusty for 201, but I'm getting back into the swing of it. When I read in Latin, I can tell my vocabulary is growing once again, and I'm getting back to the point where I can give all of the "vital information" on just about every word. I really need to teach myself about the subjunctive again. I remember that we beat a liar and some other things, but that's it.
After Latin, I went to my first protest. Mmhm. SDS had its sleep-in against hotel housing this afternoon. Things were slow for a while, but we had almost 25 people at the end. A lot of people came for a short amount of time and had to leave, too. It was a really fun event, and we had lots of blankets to help combat the chill. Someone cut four gigantic bamboo rods that we used to hold up an even more gigantic canvas banner with our message painted on it. Since we only needed three of the bamboo rods, we kept the fourth nearby in case things got out of hand ;) Seriously, the whole thing was a decent, peaceful, sane protest that simply requested more student involvement and more visibility. The head of Residence Life even came out to see us, laughing about how another student went to her office to warn her about our actions. She told that student that she didn't care because protests are good and students who care are good. We had a long talk, exchanged suggestions, and ended the whole thing with me feeling very satisfied. A few tour groups passed by, and we got a couple of questions. We got lots of questions from lots of people. It was a good thing. I guess I'll go to the meeting tomorrow night. Maybe they still need and/or want me for something.
There was also a GALL meeting tonight. We didn't do any sort of project, but we did some planning and played the Snap Game. I learned about the Snap Game at the SDS meeting, but I actually played tonight. IT WAS TOO FUN. One person "tossed" a snap to someone, and that person "caught" it. I couldn't snap my fingers very well tonight, but the game was great--dropping it, eating and regurgitating it, stomping on it, disinfecting it, baseball hits, volleyball hits, almost breaking the lamp, snap juggling, and everything else we could think of. It was a good improv game, and it really set a wonderful mood for the rest of the meeting. I think that I'll toss a few snaps around with myself when things get stressful from now on.
Oh.
I was going to write about all of the silly little things that amused me yesterday, particularly the rain.
I woke up with my to-do list printed clearly on the side of my face. I have a habit of writing appointments and other things I should do during the day on my hands. I made a note on my hand before bed, and I got a good giggle when I looked in the mirror. The ink print was surprisingly very clear. Maybe I should've scrubbed off my hand and gotten a reminder for my advising meeting each time I washed my hands! :)
I also had a whole lot of fun walking in the rain throughout the day. I enjoy that feeling of nice rain dripping on my head, eventually working its way down my nose so that I have to shake the droplets off. I like seeing the rain, and smelling the rain, and feeling the rain, and hearing the rain, and probably tasting the rain too. I like watching people walk with umbrellas. I really like watching people sharing an umbrella, particularly when a tall person tries to share a short person's umbrella. It's comical. I like watching people who don't have umbrellas scurry around like the rain is 12M hydrochloric acid that'll burn their skin off if they don't hurry inside. I love splashing in puddles. One time in high school, Robert, Gretchen, and I were caught outside in the morning during a torrential downpour. Robert and I sloshed through all of the puddles, sending up fantastic sprays of water. Robert got quite a bit of pleasure out of directing the sprays in Gretchen's general direction. It's amazing how such simple stuff can be so entertaining. I really do love the way the world smells when it's raining. When I was in my computer science class yesterday, someone told my professor that it smells like "worms." I've never sniffed a worm, but I don't think they're the source of that wonderful, after-the-rain smell.
Wow, that's a lot of talk about rain.
Today was also a good day. There were pancakes at the dining hall for breakfast this morning. I love their pancakes, particularly with strawberry syrup. Yum yum. I also like it when they have watermelon, but they didn't have any this morning. I got all of my translations finished this morning, and then I went to Latin. Class was quite good. Dr. Houghtalin received our National Latin Exam scores, but it'll be a while before we get them. I'm excited. I only got to take the NLE once in high school, but I received a medal for it, and a certificate that was signed by my favorite, favorite, favorite Latin teacher in the whole world, our dearest extraterrestrial :) That class with that wonderful man... One of the things I actually miss about high school. Ecphrasis. That's a new word we learned today. It's one of the many strange, strange poetry terms that we've learned, and it's a DIGRESSION. Which I've done once again. Dr. Houghtalin's husband taught our class last week and lectured on Book IX of the Aeneid.
One memorable quote from that lecture:
PROFESSOR: "And what do you think Virgil was doing at the time of his death?"
SOME RANDOM STUDENT: "...Dying?"
(ANSWER: Studying philosophy.)
Hey, I thought it was funny.
I didn't get to translate in Latin today, but that's okay. I think I'm finally picking up on meter, which is a miracle. I've had countless English teachers try to teach me how to scan, along with my so-called AP Latin teacher(s), and only Mrs. Weddle came close. I'm finally starting to get it, though, and I'm even starting to understand where to elide. I know I worry lots about my Computer Science major on here, but I worry about my Latin major quite a bit, perhaps even more.
I eventually have to take a Latin composition class, which scares me to death. I also know that if things get wonky, I have to drop a major--namely, the one that isn't contributing to the Sam Likes To Eat foundation. Sometimes I even worry that I'm not good at Latin anymore, or that I don't like it for one reason or another. Those feelings pass pretty quickly. I think most of those were the result of a terrible experience in AP Latin and then a whole year to brew on it before picking up with the language again. By that time, I was plenty bitter and plenty rusty for 201, but I'm getting back into the swing of it. When I read in Latin, I can tell my vocabulary is growing once again, and I'm getting back to the point where I can give all of the "vital information" on just about every word. I really need to teach myself about the subjunctive again. I remember that we beat a liar and some other things, but that's it.
After Latin, I went to my first protest. Mmhm. SDS had its sleep-in against hotel housing this afternoon. Things were slow for a while, but we had almost 25 people at the end. A lot of people came for a short amount of time and had to leave, too. It was a really fun event, and we had lots of blankets to help combat the chill. Someone cut four gigantic bamboo rods that we used to hold up an even more gigantic canvas banner with our message painted on it. Since we only needed three of the bamboo rods, we kept the fourth nearby in case things got out of hand ;) Seriously, the whole thing was a decent, peaceful, sane protest that simply requested more student involvement and more visibility. The head of Residence Life even came out to see us, laughing about how another student went to her office to warn her about our actions. She told that student that she didn't care because protests are good and students who care are good. We had a long talk, exchanged suggestions, and ended the whole thing with me feeling very satisfied. A few tour groups passed by, and we got a couple of questions. We got lots of questions from lots of people. It was a good thing. I guess I'll go to the meeting tomorrow night. Maybe they still need and/or want me for something.
There was also a GALL meeting tonight. We didn't do any sort of project, but we did some planning and played the Snap Game. I learned about the Snap Game at the SDS meeting, but I actually played tonight. IT WAS TOO FUN. One person "tossed" a snap to someone, and that person "caught" it. I couldn't snap my fingers very well tonight, but the game was great--dropping it, eating and regurgitating it, stomping on it, disinfecting it, baseball hits, volleyball hits, almost breaking the lamp, snap juggling, and everything else we could think of. It was a good improv game, and it really set a wonderful mood for the rest of the meeting. I think that I'll toss a few snaps around with myself when things get stressful from now on.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Another day
I'm feeling a lot better, but I'm still not myself. I'm getting there, though.
I had the best slushie today. It was something called "mutant berry," which sounds like something you shouldn't put into your mouth, but you really, really should. I think it was Hawaiian Punch "juice" and citrus-lemonade stuff mixed together, and it was amazing. I couldn't even mix my slushies as I normally do. It was that amazing.
I'm so busy...agh. Yet, I'm still doing this.
Tonight, I have to finish my chemistry reading, finish two chapters for my Human Animal class, write a survey thing for my computer science class AND administer it (Don't think the administering thing will happen tonight...), and work on the press release.
I've got an advising meeting with my first-year/Latin advisor tomorrow at 4 (Why doesn't he schedule it for maybe 20 minutes later? Then I could make it there on time for once!), and I need to hunt down the head of the mathematics department. I think that's going to be a particularly difficult task. I also need to hunt down four guys and four girls who are willing to answer some odd questions to help me complete my computer science homework. See, my friends are really getting difficult to contact. It's depressing. Robert just deleted his Facebook for the umpteenth time, and I've completely given up on contacting Drew again. I could get Gretchen, Heather, Amber, and...maybe my little sister. There's four females. Where are all my guy friends when I need them?
I could go to my professor and tell him that I'm having difficulties in finding four more people, but... I feel like a loser already. There's no need to broadcast it. SOB. :( :( :(
:P
Seriously, though...
I had the best slushie today. It was something called "mutant berry," which sounds like something you shouldn't put into your mouth, but you really, really should. I think it was Hawaiian Punch "juice" and citrus-lemonade stuff mixed together, and it was amazing. I couldn't even mix my slushies as I normally do. It was that amazing.
I'm so busy...agh. Yet, I'm still doing this.
Tonight, I have to finish my chemistry reading, finish two chapters for my Human Animal class, write a survey thing for my computer science class AND administer it (Don't think the administering thing will happen tonight...), and work on the press release.
I've got an advising meeting with my first-year/Latin advisor tomorrow at 4 (Why doesn't he schedule it for maybe 20 minutes later? Then I could make it there on time for once!), and I need to hunt down the head of the mathematics department. I think that's going to be a particularly difficult task. I also need to hunt down four guys and four girls who are willing to answer some odd questions to help me complete my computer science homework. See, my friends are really getting difficult to contact. It's depressing. Robert just deleted his Facebook for the umpteenth time, and I've completely given up on contacting Drew again. I could get Gretchen, Heather, Amber, and...maybe my little sister. There's four females. Where are all my guy friends when I need them?
I could go to my professor and tell him that I'm having difficulties in finding four more people, but... I feel like a loser already. There's no need to broadcast it. SOB. :( :( :(
:P
Seriously, though...
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Yes, sick.
I don't get sick often, but when I do...agh. I get hit hard. I didn't get to bed until late on Tuesday night (for obvious reasons), so I blamed sleep deprivation and a hard lesson for my Wednesday fatigue. I used the same excuses to explain my "blahs" on Thursday, at least until after my Latin class. Then, I actually took a nap. A half-hour nap (which is long for me, as I usually don't take naps) became an hour nap, and eventually I decided to surrender and sleep on and off for the rest of the afternoon and into the night.
Eventually, I woke up and couldn't move. I was weak and achy, my stomach was upset, I was alternating fever and chills, and I had an awful headache, so I assumed I was getting the flu. My inability to move was made all the more tragic because it was terribly difficult for me to climb out of bed. I've got a loft bed at school, and it can be difficult to climb down safely even under normal conditions. My roommates were really nice to me, though. One of them left the room to talk on her cell phone because I was "sleeping" (actually, lying there and wishing it were possible to sleep more), and the other was actually concerned when I banged my knee up against the safety bar.
I popped a few ibuprofen when I mustered the strength to work my way down the ladder, and that really helped me. I also wet a towel to help keep me cool when I started getting too hot. Even though I felt terrible and showed plenty of telltale flu signs, I never developed any of the nastier symptoms. I guess I'm pretty lucky.
On Friday, I ended up skipping my Human Animal class. I took a walk halfway across campus early that morning. The rain felt wonderful, but I was gasping for breath at the end of such a short walk. I went to the campus center to get a disposable thermometer, which I couldn't figure out how to read, and quickly decided that I was too weak to make it all the way to class without collapsing on the stairs. After that, I only had to worry about my chemistry lab. Missing a lab is something you just don't do. They're worth a whole lot and they aren't hard, so I make sure I do them well to help my grade. It's also impossible to make them up unless you plan in advance.
I did end up going to lab. I think it was a mistake, but at least the lab didn't take very long. We did a bunch of reactions involving magnesium, water, and various acids and bases. Some of the reactions were pretty cool, I'll admit. One of them made a beautiful purple solution, and one solution went from a brilliant, bright color to colorless once we stirred it. Some of the reactions involving HCl were spectacularly fizzy, and I enjoyed heating stuff over the bunsen burner, as always. Yeah, it wasn't a bad lab at all. It really wasn't. I felt terrible the whole time, though, and walking across campus twice really took a toll on me. I made it, though, and now I'm home and feeling much better.
I'm actually eating (rather inappropriate stuff for someone who was just sick) now, and I'm slowly regaining my strength. I did manage to go out to the barn for a bit today. There was a 4-H braiding clinic that I thought I'd attend just for the meeting portion. I hugged on Stella while she was eating in the paddock, sat through the meeting and the braiding demonstration, and snuck out after offering my starving buddies a few chocolate chip cookies. I also ate a cookie or two, but my stomach is fine now and I really do feel a lot better.
I normally don't go more than a couple of hours without nibbling on something, and I quit eating early on Thursday afternoon. By Friday afternoon, I was doubled over with hunger pains. I ate a handful of cereal and that made me feel a whole lot better.
IT'S CHRISTMAS IN APRIL.
Gretchen just dropped by to give me a Christmas/birthday gift. It's always so great to see her.
I think it's funny how I wanted to be a teacher when I was in high school, and she wanted to a pharmacist. Now, she wants to be a teacher and I'm doing something I thought I'd given up on. There are so many people from high school who were dead-set on a career and now they're jumping around, trying new things, learning about themselves, and changing their plans to fit. There's nothing wrong with any of that. In fact, I think it's brilliant. We're all learning, and half of it's not even within the walls of an academic building. Well, at least I am.
Meh. Hungry...
Eventually, I woke up and couldn't move. I was weak and achy, my stomach was upset, I was alternating fever and chills, and I had an awful headache, so I assumed I was getting the flu. My inability to move was made all the more tragic because it was terribly difficult for me to climb out of bed. I've got a loft bed at school, and it can be difficult to climb down safely even under normal conditions. My roommates were really nice to me, though. One of them left the room to talk on her cell phone because I was "sleeping" (actually, lying there and wishing it were possible to sleep more), and the other was actually concerned when I banged my knee up against the safety bar.
I popped a few ibuprofen when I mustered the strength to work my way down the ladder, and that really helped me. I also wet a towel to help keep me cool when I started getting too hot. Even though I felt terrible and showed plenty of telltale flu signs, I never developed any of the nastier symptoms. I guess I'm pretty lucky.
On Friday, I ended up skipping my Human Animal class. I took a walk halfway across campus early that morning. The rain felt wonderful, but I was gasping for breath at the end of such a short walk. I went to the campus center to get a disposable thermometer, which I couldn't figure out how to read, and quickly decided that I was too weak to make it all the way to class without collapsing on the stairs. After that, I only had to worry about my chemistry lab. Missing a lab is something you just don't do. They're worth a whole lot and they aren't hard, so I make sure I do them well to help my grade. It's also impossible to make them up unless you plan in advance.
I did end up going to lab. I think it was a mistake, but at least the lab didn't take very long. We did a bunch of reactions involving magnesium, water, and various acids and bases. Some of the reactions were pretty cool, I'll admit. One of them made a beautiful purple solution, and one solution went from a brilliant, bright color to colorless once we stirred it. Some of the reactions involving HCl were spectacularly fizzy, and I enjoyed heating stuff over the bunsen burner, as always. Yeah, it wasn't a bad lab at all. It really wasn't. I felt terrible the whole time, though, and walking across campus twice really took a toll on me. I made it, though, and now I'm home and feeling much better.
I'm actually eating (rather inappropriate stuff for someone who was just sick) now, and I'm slowly regaining my strength. I did manage to go out to the barn for a bit today. There was a 4-H braiding clinic that I thought I'd attend just for the meeting portion. I hugged on Stella while she was eating in the paddock, sat through the meeting and the braiding demonstration, and snuck out after offering my starving buddies a few chocolate chip cookies. I also ate a cookie or two, but my stomach is fine now and I really do feel a lot better.
I normally don't go more than a couple of hours without nibbling on something, and I quit eating early on Thursday afternoon. By Friday afternoon, I was doubled over with hunger pains. I ate a handful of cereal and that made me feel a whole lot better.
IT'S CHRISTMAS IN APRIL.
Gretchen just dropped by to give me a Christmas/birthday gift. It's always so great to see her.
I think it's funny how I wanted to be a teacher when I was in high school, and she wanted to a pharmacist. Now, she wants to be a teacher and I'm doing something I thought I'd given up on. There are so many people from high school who were dead-set on a career and now they're jumping around, trying new things, learning about themselves, and changing their plans to fit. There's nothing wrong with any of that. In fact, I think it's brilliant. We're all learning, and half of it's not even within the walls of an academic building. Well, at least I am.
Meh. Hungry...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Sleep? No, writing.
I feel kind of sick. I think I'm just hungry, as usual, and sleep-deprived. I hope I'm not actually getting sick. That would suck.
This "request to study at another U.S. institution" thing is a tad more complex than I thought it would be. It's going to take 10 business days for them to tell me whether my credits will transfer or not (They should...), and then I've still got to get force-added into Calculus II.
I can't decide whether or not this class is "for my major." It's a prerequisite for a prerequisite for a class in my major. I'm assuming that it's not, just because I don't feel like walking all the way down to my advisor's office and asking him to sign my sheet. I kind of feel like I should, though, just to be safe. I don't think I will.
Muahahaha, I stole a pen from the registar's office. It's a nice pen.
I still can't believe I'm subjecting myself to three more math classes. I swore I'd never take any more than I needed to graduate from college, but... Yeah. Plans change. The thought of being a Latin teacher terrifies me. I'm decent at public speaking once I get started, but I don't think I'm one of those people who have that amazing gift for teaching. I'd just add to the mass of tolerable-to-slightly-crummy teachers in the world.
I've got so many colored circles lying around on my desk and surrounding areas. I don't really know what to do with them. I don't want to throw them out. That'd be a waste of paper and all the time I spent tracing and cutting them.
Oh yeah. I wanted to write about my first SDS meeting last night. There's really an interesting story behind how I managed to end up there. When I was planning out my classes for next semester, I noticed that all of them were going to be in one academic building. I thought it was amusing, so I left my Facebook status as "...should just live in Trinkle next year."
A few days, maybe a week, passed until housing selection night. When I got there, I received a slip of paper that said that I was assigned to "hotel housing." Apparently, they ran out of rooms on campus and decided to dump us off in some random hotel. There are a lot of reasons for this that I really don't care to get into here. When I got back from housing selection, I changed my status to say "...is serious about living in Trinkle now. Housing assignment? Hotel." Later on, Mike (GALL Mike, not chemistry Mike) asked me why I didn't just live in the academic building. He convinced me that I'd spawned a good protest idea, so he asked me to come out to an SDS meeting and get it into action.
I told him that I'd come, so I felt obligated to go out. And, just as I felt all "socially anxious" about going to my first GALL meeting, I was absolutely shaking by the time I arrived at the meeting place. They were quite happy to see me, though, and I felt a little more comfortable since I recognized a few people from GALL. Sara even offered to sit by me, which was quite a comforting thing for me. They explained their hand signals--I don't remember all of them, but there were "upward sparkles" for liking something, "downward sparkles" for disliking something, "hand raising," "louder" (Of course, directed toward me when it was my turn to talk... Yet another reason I'm not going to be a teacher.), "clarify," and a bunch of others that I've forgotten--and a few other things, and then we got started.
I'm glad I was chewing a piece of gum, or I probably would've panicked. When housing came up, Mike silently urged me to speak up. I gathered some gall and raised my hand. Well, what do you know? We're gonna do it. Gah, what have I gotten myself into? I need to write a press release thing, and the guy who was supposed to help me has squicked out. It's exciting, though.
I need a nap and I need to finish this thing and I need to do homework and all sorts of other stuff.
My chemistry and computer science classes are cancelled tomorrow. Really.
This "request to study at another U.S. institution" thing is a tad more complex than I thought it would be. It's going to take 10 business days for them to tell me whether my credits will transfer or not (They should...), and then I've still got to get force-added into Calculus II.
I can't decide whether or not this class is "for my major." It's a prerequisite for a prerequisite for a class in my major. I'm assuming that it's not, just because I don't feel like walking all the way down to my advisor's office and asking him to sign my sheet. I kind of feel like I should, though, just to be safe. I don't think I will.
Muahahaha, I stole a pen from the registar's office. It's a nice pen.
I still can't believe I'm subjecting myself to three more math classes. I swore I'd never take any more than I needed to graduate from college, but... Yeah. Plans change. The thought of being a Latin teacher terrifies me. I'm decent at public speaking once I get started, but I don't think I'm one of those people who have that amazing gift for teaching. I'd just add to the mass of tolerable-to-slightly-crummy teachers in the world.
I've got so many colored circles lying around on my desk and surrounding areas. I don't really know what to do with them. I don't want to throw them out. That'd be a waste of paper and all the time I spent tracing and cutting them.
Oh yeah. I wanted to write about my first SDS meeting last night. There's really an interesting story behind how I managed to end up there. When I was planning out my classes for next semester, I noticed that all of them were going to be in one academic building. I thought it was amusing, so I left my Facebook status as "...should just live in Trinkle next year."
A few days, maybe a week, passed until housing selection night. When I got there, I received a slip of paper that said that I was assigned to "hotel housing." Apparently, they ran out of rooms on campus and decided to dump us off in some random hotel. There are a lot of reasons for this that I really don't care to get into here. When I got back from housing selection, I changed my status to say "...is serious about living in Trinkle now. Housing assignment? Hotel." Later on, Mike (GALL Mike, not chemistry Mike) asked me why I didn't just live in the academic building. He convinced me that I'd spawned a good protest idea, so he asked me to come out to an SDS meeting and get it into action.
I told him that I'd come, so I felt obligated to go out. And, just as I felt all "socially anxious" about going to my first GALL meeting, I was absolutely shaking by the time I arrived at the meeting place. They were quite happy to see me, though, and I felt a little more comfortable since I recognized a few people from GALL. Sara even offered to sit by me, which was quite a comforting thing for me. They explained their hand signals--I don't remember all of them, but there were "upward sparkles" for liking something, "downward sparkles" for disliking something, "hand raising," "louder" (Of course, directed toward me when it was my turn to talk... Yet another reason I'm not going to be a teacher.), "clarify," and a bunch of others that I've forgotten--and a few other things, and then we got started.
I'm glad I was chewing a piece of gum, or I probably would've panicked. When housing came up, Mike silently urged me to speak up. I gathered some gall and raised my hand. Well, what do you know? We're gonna do it. Gah, what have I gotten myself into? I need to write a press release thing, and the guy who was supposed to help me has squicked out. It's exciting, though.
I need a nap and I need to finish this thing and I need to do homework and all sorts of other stuff.
My chemistry and computer science classes are cancelled tomorrow. Really.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Happy April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is here, and the score is unfortunately still 2-0, me in the lead.
Last night was absolutely amazing. GALL pulled off an excellent prank involving at least a mile's worth of rubber bands. We went out to the plaza where the fountain is located and proceeded to wrap the rubber band string around lamp posts, trees, benches, and the pillars in front of the two dorms and the academic building that surround it. Three people, including myself, sat around and made flags to aid in visibility while the others hiked up lamp posts and placed themselves in precarious positions for the sake of our prank. People passed through as we worked. Some laughed and smiled, while some attempted to maintain a straight face. My absolute favorite reaction was the dropped jaw. People watched as we tangled rubber bands above their heads and questioned our motives. At one point, I saw the campus police heading toward us with their lights flashing--I think it would've been hysterical if they'd actually come to stop us. Alas, they quickly turned off of the main walk and onto an actual road. It took a little over an hour to complete the project, and the results were impressive. I admit I didn't know how well this was going to work, but I was stunned when I saw a massive tangled web looming over the heads of pedestrians throughout the day.
I also did a little something by myself ;) When I was leaving chemistry this morning, Jane asked me about it, saying that it was either "a professor or someone from GALL," and that the "someone" from GALL would be either Mike or me because we both frequent that particular academic building.
I did squick out on one thing that I'd planned, mostly because I was tired and needed to sleep and not entirely sure about it. I don't really regret the decision, though I may eventually attempt it. It would be very, very fun.
No one managed (bothered) to pull anything on me. In fact, the only other mention of April Fools' Day I heard (aside from GALL, the occasional Facebook status, and my own conversations with myself) was from Stephen, who wrote out a really wonky, redundant array thing on the board and then assured a student that he was just messing around for April Fools' Day when she asked why he'd written it in that particular way. Meh.
I'm catching on to arrays.
...But I'm having some math problems.
I have almost zero issues writing Javascript, and I can pick out actual Javascript errors with relative ease. The thing that screws me over is that, when I'm writing programs, I mess up the mathematical parts and have no idea what I've done.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm making a huge mistake by majoring in computer science since I suck at math; I also worry about majoring in Latin on a regular basis. I just don't feel like I'm any good at Latin anymore. I signed up for Calculus I tonight. I'll be taking it over the summer via distance learning. Next semester, I'm taking Intro to Discrete Math, Calculus II (supposedly, once I get the registrar to force-add me), an advanced Latin literature survey course (CATULLUS AGAIN!!!), Classics 101 (the professor/my advisor said he'd force-add me), Computer Science I, and hopefully a riding class. Even with all my worries, I'm still really excited about next semester. I got almost all of the classes I want so far, and that's more than most people can say. I guess busting my butt in high school with so many "useless" AP and dual-enrollment courses really has paid off because I get to register much earlier than most of my peers.
Oh. It's bedtime. And I'm really in a writing mood, too. I should write about my first SDS meeting, too. That was an...experience. It was like going back to those years when I couldn't swim, walking up to the edge of a deep pool, someone shoving me in, and then realizing that there are sharks in the pool, and then realizing that the sharks are vegetarians and nice and use really cool hand (flipper?) signals. Did that last sentence even make sense? I dunno, but I'm going to bed.
Last night was absolutely amazing. GALL pulled off an excellent prank involving at least a mile's worth of rubber bands. We went out to the plaza where the fountain is located and proceeded to wrap the rubber band string around lamp posts, trees, benches, and the pillars in front of the two dorms and the academic building that surround it. Three people, including myself, sat around and made flags to aid in visibility while the others hiked up lamp posts and placed themselves in precarious positions for the sake of our prank. People passed through as we worked. Some laughed and smiled, while some attempted to maintain a straight face. My absolute favorite reaction was the dropped jaw. People watched as we tangled rubber bands above their heads and questioned our motives. At one point, I saw the campus police heading toward us with their lights flashing--I think it would've been hysterical if they'd actually come to stop us. Alas, they quickly turned off of the main walk and onto an actual road. It took a little over an hour to complete the project, and the results were impressive. I admit I didn't know how well this was going to work, but I was stunned when I saw a massive tangled web looming over the heads of pedestrians throughout the day.
I also did a little something by myself ;) When I was leaving chemistry this morning, Jane asked me about it, saying that it was either "a professor or someone from GALL," and that the "someone" from GALL would be either Mike or me because we both frequent that particular academic building.
I did squick out on one thing that I'd planned, mostly because I was tired and needed to sleep and not entirely sure about it. I don't really regret the decision, though I may eventually attempt it. It would be very, very fun.
No one managed (bothered) to pull anything on me. In fact, the only other mention of April Fools' Day I heard (aside from GALL, the occasional Facebook status, and my own conversations with myself) was from Stephen, who wrote out a really wonky, redundant array thing on the board and then assured a student that he was just messing around for April Fools' Day when she asked why he'd written it in that particular way. Meh.
I'm catching on to arrays.
...But I'm having some math problems.
I have almost zero issues writing Javascript, and I can pick out actual Javascript errors with relative ease. The thing that screws me over is that, when I'm writing programs, I mess up the mathematical parts and have no idea what I've done.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm making a huge mistake by majoring in computer science since I suck at math; I also worry about majoring in Latin on a regular basis. I just don't feel like I'm any good at Latin anymore. I signed up for Calculus I tonight. I'll be taking it over the summer via distance learning. Next semester, I'm taking Intro to Discrete Math, Calculus II (supposedly, once I get the registrar to force-add me), an advanced Latin literature survey course (CATULLUS AGAIN!!!), Classics 101 (the professor/my advisor said he'd force-add me), Computer Science I, and hopefully a riding class. Even with all my worries, I'm still really excited about next semester. I got almost all of the classes I want so far, and that's more than most people can say. I guess busting my butt in high school with so many "useless" AP and dual-enrollment courses really has paid off because I get to register much earlier than most of my peers.
Oh. It's bedtime. And I'm really in a writing mood, too. I should write about my first SDS meeting, too. That was an...experience. It was like going back to those years when I couldn't swim, walking up to the edge of a deep pool, someone shoving me in, and then realizing that there are sharks in the pool, and then realizing that the sharks are vegetarians and nice and use really cool hand (flipper?) signals. Did that last sentence even make sense? I dunno, but I'm going to bed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
