What to do, what to do...
My free time at work just started to accumulate, so why not
create a page for daily observations and ponderings on life so I can occupy said
free time! What a great a idea, I think I just will...
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the writer and the writer only, and do not necessarily reflect those of HSU. If something offends you then read the rules of this site. Regardless, just sit and enjoy these ramblings and realize that the writer is only digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole...
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August 28, 2002 - School started this week and I am ready
to spill the beans on everything that has happened!
But first, a recap of this months major events:
August 6-17 - I worked, slept, played games, watched
movies, and hung out with friends. Basically it was the same thing I had
done the entire summer. Major events included all night LAN parties, movie
nights, and getting shoved in a girl's car trunk for a trip to subway.
Aug 17-19 - One of my friends from Texas came up and stayed
the weekend at my house. On Friday I threw I an end-of summer party which
included multiple 8-person Warcraft 3 deathmatches, lots of grub, and anime
movie showings until 6 AM. After it was all over we slept until 3 PM. Ah,
the joys of summer. The rest of Saturday involved a few WC3 games, a trip
to the movies, and a night spent chilling at the gazebo with Red Bulls and
exotic cigars. Finally, on Sunday my friend had to go home but not before we
played one last game of WC3.
August 20-22 The end was near. My last few days of summer were
spent practicing the piano and attempting to play my trumpet after a 6 six month
hiatus. When I wasn't musically active I was either throwing the frisbee
for my dog or playing GTA3 for the last time.
August 6, 2002 - If I was 5 years younger, I'd be in
heaven
Two words - cheerleader camp. There was a
time when I enjoyed being around campus when the cheerleading camp was
happening, but now I try to avoid looking whenever I can. These girl
keep looking younger and younger, and yet I know they are all in High School. Oh
well, I guess I'll just have to wait until the college cheerleading camp
starts... or does it? Well there's always ESPN.
This past weekend was awesome, I was actually disappointed it ended
so soon. Friday morning was pure torture for me (as I reported in August 2
entry), so I took of work early and went home to get some sleep. I finally
woke up about 4 PM and was ready to start the day anew. The rest of the
afternoon was uneventful, but when 9:00 came around the fun factor exploded.
Three of my friends brought their consoles over to my house for a night of
gaming. We played multiplayer game most of the night, with a brief
intermission where we went for ride in a girl's trunk (as in car trunk).
After two of the guys had to go home, John and I jammed on the piano and guitar
for a while. I played all the music I knew by memory and he improvised to
it while I called out the chord changes. When we were finished it was
about 3 AM so we decided to watch a movie and call it a night/morning. After a
night like that I was worn out, and I didn't wake up on Saturday until 2 PM.
An added luxury to having the party was everyone left their games and consoles
at my house for the weekend so I played games most of the weekend, something I
haven't done in a long time.
August 2, 2002- Sleep is for wussies
Well, considering another few weeks has passed since my last post I have
many things to talk about and a very short space to put it. Instead
of the usual chronological updates, I am going to start with what I can remember
now, and work backwards. Hopefully I can stay awake (see below) long
enough to give accurate updates but I am not making any promises.
Friday (August 2nd) - Here I am sitting at my
computer desk and the my clock reads 8:50 AM. This marks a milestone for
me because it is the first time this summer I've been at work at 8:00. I'm
only required to work 4 hours a day so I usually work the 1-5 shift, but my
hours aren't set in stone so I can come in for an early shift if I feel like it.
Since I have a "busy" nightlife I have yet to make it to work at 8:00 AM this
summer (while I have been here at 9-12 a few times). Most days, I am asleep
during the 8-12 shift since I usually don't hit the sack until 3-4 AM.
What can I say, I am far more productive after midnight, especially without all
of the distractions.
Today was different though. I have discovered a way to show up for work
at 8:00 and still be able to work on my projects from midnight until 3 AM: I
just don't sleep! Yes, its such a novel idea. Why miss working at 8:00 due
to sleep when I don't have to even sleep at all. I've been away for nearly 24
hours and I feel great!
Or not.
Before you jump to conclusions, I am going to say I
was merely being sarcastic through most of that. While it is true that I
haven't slept in nearly 24 hours (something which use to be alot easier for me
to pull off), it was not something I did on purpose. It was actually
caused by one of those random events usually reserved for Hollywood teen movies.
Last night (or this morning) I was working through my daily reading at 1 AM when
someone called me on the telephone. This is odd in itself, I mean who
calls at 1 AM??? Anyways it turns out it was one of my friends from the
dorm that I haven't seen since May, and he asked me if I wanted to do something
that night. Well I said yes (really, how often does this happen, I had to do
it!), and the next thing I know I am speeding my way down the highway to meet my
friend at Waffle House. Much to my surprise (and joy), my friend also
brought along two female friends to join us. We hung out most of the
night, first at a place labeled "hicks beach" which is named quite well
considering who all I saw there. After we escaped from that horror (
through the cunning use of excuses), we traveled over to the tried and true
location called the Rock. A quick summary of this morning's events at the
Rock: We got out of the car; the place reeked of dead animals; started the
hiking journey to get to the Rock; accidentally stepped on a sleeping copperhead
causing all kinds of fun/trouble; stood around for a few tense moments as we
waited for the snake's next move; snake moved, we ran like hell; forced to
carry the two females on our backs for the 200 hundred yard hike because they
were "scared they would step on a snake" (cowards!); reached the Rock; found
anonymous camper living in tent on rock.; departed from the Rock; arrived
at "rope swing"; laid out the blankets and talked for 4 hours; watched
the shooting stars and finally the sunrise over the lake; packed up and headed
back to the Waffle House watching our steps for random snakes.
By this time it was almost 7 AM, and I really didn't feel like going to
sleep and waking up at noon to get ready for work. Instead I ate breakfast
at Hardee's, and then went home and cleaned up so I could go to work and get it
out of the way for the day. I didn't feel tired until I actually arrived
at work. Now that I am sitting at a computer with nothing to keep my
interest, I feel like I am about to keel over and die. Now if only I can
find a way to type 3 hours worth of entries into this journal then maybe I can
keep myself from passing out at the keyboard. Today is one of those rare
days where I wish someone would call me asking for help (I am the Help Desk
after all), because I need something to keep my mind occupied. *Note to self*
Always sleep before coming to work or you will not survive!
Anyways, let's keep moving backwards to see what else happened this week.
Thursday (August 1) - Nothing too spectacular happened
at work. I hooked up my new computer and started the process of setting it
up exactly like my old computer was set up. I ended up not being able to
find the same desktop picture I had previously, so instead I took a screenshot
of my old desktop and set that as my desktop wallpaper. Since I don't have
Photoshop installed yet, I couldn't edit the screen shot to remove the pictures
of my shortcuts. Thus my desktop has twice as many shortcuts on it, while only
half of them work since the other half are merely pictures of my previous
desktop. If you ever want to play a good prank on someone, take a
screenshot of their desktop and set it as their background. Then hide their
icons in another folder. They will try for hours wondering why they can't click
on their icons on the desktop. What they won't realize is that they are looking
at a picture of their desktop and icons and not the actual icons themselves.
Thursday night I didn't go to Kenpo because it was work-out night
with my mother. My father was still in Boston and my sister was who knows
where, so it was just my mother and I for the night. We went to the cross
country track with my two dogs (one of whom is really fat) and we ran a couple
miles. I was impressed because my overweight beagle stayed with us the
entire time and never slowed down. That dog does nothing but sleep all
day, waking up occasionally to eat. The last time we took her for a walk
around the block, I ended up having to carry her for the last 100 yards.
Yet, when we took her long-distance running she ran the entire time and stayed
with us. I'm surprised she didn't keel over when we were finished, but I
guess dogs have a tendency to surprise you. You could tell it had rained
alot during the summer, because the "short grass" that usually surrounds the
running path is now over 5 feet tall. You can't even see over it in some
places, to it looks like you are "walled in" when you are running.
Also, I finished reading book 5 in the Wheel of Time series and I started the
next book within a few minutes of finishing the last.
Wednesday (July 31) - Work went as usual today nothing major to report. Wednesday night I went to a friends house where we watched some funny movies and played some multiplayer games. Also, HBO premiered it's new series showing the Dallas Cowboys training camp, and my family watched it hoping see my cousin. We think we saw her for a few seconds when the camera panned across the cheerleaders but we couldn't really tell since the camera was too fast.
July 16, 2002 - Rain drops keep falling on my head
Nearly two weeks have gone by, I better catch up quick!
Thursday (July 4th) - I threw my clothes in a bag and took a road
trip to Dallas (er, Denton) to see some of my friends from my home town, none of
whom live there anymore. Of course I could never go on a road trip without
taking pictures, so I took my trusty digital camera along for the ride. The
drive is supposed to take around 5 hours to complete, and I made the drive
seeming go by faster by bringing as many audio CDs that I could. I
actually stopped counting how long it takes me to drive somewhere in minutes,
instead I now use CDs to count the time spent in the car. The drive to
Denton took me 3 1/3 CDs, which equals to about 4 hours (don't ask). This
time is including the detour I took when I got lost finding a new shortcut,
effectively adding 1/4 of a CD to my final time. The first thing I did
when I arrived in at my friends house was basically pass out from sitting so
long, then when I awoke I greeted my friend and we reminisced for a while.
After some a brief piano playing stint we went to Grapevine Mills Mall to seen M
II B (Men in Black 2) and then hit Gameworks for the rest of the night.
I really think I am cursed(?) when I go to Gameworks, because every time I do I
end up being hit on by pretty girls I have no chance of ever seeing again.
The first incident happened when my friend (John) and I ate there last year and
the cute waitress came and sat at our table to talk with us while we ate.
She was very attractive and surprisingly smart, but she was also the waitress so
it's hard to tell if she was talking to us for fun or for a great tip (which she
got). Another time I was In Gameworks I saw someone else from
Arkadelphia too, and she hit on my friends the entire time (which really is a
curse). My most recent visit to Gameworks happened to fall on ladies
night, so there were quite a few women there. I went over to play Dance
Dance Revolution (DDR) when I saw a girl was already playing it. I wait
off to the side for my chance to dance, and next thing I know the girl asks me
to dance with her (for free I might add). Of course she totally
annihilated me in terms of score/style/effect/technique (she was a pro, I'm a
newbie) but I kept dancing with her regardless (plus, did I mention it was free?
oh, and she was cute too). After about 5 games I couldn't handle
getting my but kicked anymore (that and I was feeble from exhaustion) so I
stepped off the machine a bid farewell to my dance partner. After
departing Gameworks I went back to John's house and introduced him to the world
of Warcraft 3.
Friday- After sleeping until noon (a vice which I enjoy during the
summer) John and I played multiple games on his computer before departing to
visit my other friend. On the way to his place I stopped by my cousin's
house (yes the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader). She was working on a
picture book for a her and was just happy to talk. I even scored free Six
Flags tickets from her since I told her I hadn't been in 5 years and she had a
friend who danced there who could get me in for free. After a nice long
chat I bid her farewell and drove to TCU with John to meet my other friend
Jeremy. On the way he called us on the cell phone and told us to meet him
and his girlfriend at the local Chillis. We both get there at about the
same time, and the first thing Jeremy does when he sees me is nearly run over me
with his truck. Aaah, the memories, we use to do that all the time...
Anyways I meet his girlfriend who seemed very nice, yet quiet, and we had a
great time the rest of the night. After the movie we went back to his dorm
room (he works at the TCU dorms and gets a free dorm room out of the deal) to
see his set-up. After a few hour we all went to downtown Fort Worth and
watched M II B...again. Then we had Marble Slab ice cream, which I
still believe is the best Ice cream I've ever had. It's not true ice cream
unless you watch someone cream it on a marble slab! By this time it was
really late and the downtown nightlife was just starting to kick up, but we were
all under 21 (just a few more months...) so we couldn't enjoy it. Instead
I went back to John's place and we played WC3 until we passed out.
Saturday- We got up early (11ish) so we could pick up Jeremy and
get to Six Flags during lunch. Six Flags brought back many memories, and
it was even better this time since it was free! The first line I rushed to
was the new Titan, which makes the previous uber-coaster, The Giant, look like a
dwarf. The line was relatively short for a new ride, taking us only 20
minutes to get to the actual ride. It actually took us longer to find the Titan
than it did to go though the line (seems my photographic memory of the Six Flags
layout has a few smudges in it). Only one word can describe riding the
Titan: AAAHHHH!!! [translation: This is so fun, but I can't move my mouth to
talk since we are pulling so many Gs. Whoa, did we just hit a bird?].
Afterwards I went over the the new Batman ride and rode it an hour later (stupid
lines grew longer in the afternoon). The ride was cool, but it
was nothing compared to the Titan. The next hour the three of us wandered
around Six Flags enjoying the scenery, and even played a few carnival games.
Jeremy and I played a water gun game where you have to shoot a bull's-eye with
water to make an electric meter rise to the the top of the machine and the first
person to reach the top wins the game. I should have guessed something was
odd when Jeremy asked me to play against him, because as soon as we started he
started shooting me with the water instead of the target. Nevertheless I
won the game and received a giant stuffed bulldog as a prize, plus I was much
cooler for the rest of the day since I was wearing drenched clothes.
After Six Flags, we drove over to Grapevine Mills
for a little more Gameworks action. But first, when we arrived in
Grapevine we decided to continue a tradition at the local KFC. We ordered
a large 12 piece family meal for the three of us and then just wolfed it down as
fast as we could. No one ever expects us to be able to finish it all since
we are all pretty thin, but thanks to all that (waning) metabolism we can eat
whatever we want and stay as thin as we want. After dinner we went
into Gameworks and proceeded to play arcade games for most of the night. I
also snuck in the digital camera and got some pretty good pics of us playing
DDR, Guitar freaks, and Marvel Vs Capcom 2. For those of you
curious, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a new game where you dance to different
songs using a digital dance pad. On screen there are 4 arrows, and on the
dance pad you have 4 arrows (up, down, left, right). During each song
arrows will rise from the bottom of the screen and when they reach the top you
have to step on that arrow at that exact time. The easy levels are
great but they get boring fast. The harder levels are where the challenge is,
especially when you start having 10 arrow appear in less than 5 seconds.
The hardest songs go by
wickedly fast.
Here's a collection of pictures of Jeremy and I playing DDR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
After playing a few time we were ready to collapse (they usually keep
water next to the DDR machines but for some reason they didn't this time), so we
decided to try a new game called Guitar Freaks. This game was a little easier
for us since it required us to play a guitar instead of dancing. On the
guitar you have 3 color buttons where the frets should be, and then one "string"
button which you "pluck" to make a sound. On the screen you have 3 color columns
that match the color buttons on the guitar. Notes rise from the bottom of a
column, and when they reach the top of the column you have to press the matching
color button and pluck the string to play a note (Ex. a note will rise in
the blue column and when it reaches the top you press the blue button down on
the guitar and strike the guitar string like you were playing it). We did
better at this game the more we played it, especially since we were playing
blues songs which have some really nasty syncopation.
Guitar Freaks pictures
1
2
3
4
Finally, John decided to play some Marvel vs Capcom 2 since,
which is a common fighting game where you pick famous Marvel Heroes or Capcom
heroes and then fight another player's heroes. It was nostalgic to seem
him play, since we all use to play X-Men (the earliest version of the game) at
the local 7-11 when we were in 9th grade together. His opponents were sad
though, they epitomized the stereotype that most gamers try to avoid. They
all hang out at the arcade 24, and play when they aren't playing games at the
arcade they are playing at their house [Which oddly enough is exactly what John
and I did while I was in Texas. The difference between us and them is that when
we are at our respective houses, we do OTHER things than play games. John and I
only play games together because that something we only get the chance to do
once or twice a year]. They do nothing else but play games and talk about games,
which is more than I can handle. But I guess it's not all bad because they
play in tournaments around the country and win prizes ranging from $500-$10,000.
MvC picture:
1
After we were all gamed out, we went to a DVD store and
bought some DVDs which begged to be in our collections, each one priced under
$10. You find some great deals when you live in a large city... By
this time it was after midnight and we went to Jeremy's dorm room to watch some
movies, play a few games, and hit the sack.
Sunday - We packed up, said goodbye to Jeremy, burned a
few CDs for the road trip, and then John and I headed back to Arkadelphia so I
could show him what we do for fun time in Arkansas.
July 3, 2002 - Is it hot in here?
Another week gone, another summer rushing by. Life is
short and so is this intro, on to my week!
Tuesday- My cousin and her boyfriend stopped by my house again on their
way back from their vacation. After an enjoyable seafood dinner I took the
two of them out to "the rock" for a little summer swimming. The water was fairly
high since it had been raining most of the week, so the jump was only about 10
feet high. What I wasn't expecting (especially this late in June) was the
temperature of the water being so cold. That first dive in the water
hit like a million needles stabbing into the skin. To make it worse I dove in
instead of jumping so I traveled about 7 feet underwater before stopping, and
that water was alot darker and colder than the water above. Not one to let
a little thing like hyperthermia stop me (call me stubborn) I took the couple
over to the rope swing and swam over there for a bit. Interesting enough,
the water was warmer, either that or I was completely numb. The water was
warm in some places and then it dropped 10 degrees in bands/strips of cooler
water. In the end it was a worthy trip and I think my cousin had a great
time, maybe now she will come to visit more often... and bring her cheerleader
friends to boot ;) That night we watched The
Majestic together, and then I started playing a game that would eat up my free
time for the next week: Warcraft 3.
Wednesday- I accidentally didn't show up to my biology class,
which was expected since the semester was almost over and I had yet to miss
class. I don't think I've even been to a class that I didn't miss at least
once in the semester. After work the rest of the day involved me
"working" at my computer on crafty war techniques...
Thursday- This was my last regular day for biology, and my last day
for biology lab. We got out of biology early so we could study for the lab
practical (thank god!), and instead of studying I went home and... well... WC3.
I passed the practical with ease (98), and then went to work as usual.
Once again not much happened out of the ordinary Thursday night, but then again
it's summer so nothing should.
Friday- Sunday - Fun, it's the weekend!! Not
much to explain, I did pretty much the same that I always do, except this time I
did it with WC3...
Monday- I didn't have a test in biology today since this is the
last week of class, instead my test was on Tuesday so I had to study what I
could today and pray that I pass this final test.
Tuesday- I took the final biology test and was ready for the class to be
over, just one more day to go. Tuesday night was spent playing WC3, and
creating a 5 minute presentation for the final class on Wednesday.
Wednesday- I gave my last-minute presentation over cloning in class and
earned my bonus points. Turns out I made an 88 on the final, which gives
me a final average of 92. I actually got an A in the class, and was only
one of three (out of 42) who did it. With an accomplishment like this I
went home and played WC3 as a reward to myself, and then I packed my stuff up
because this July 4th weekend I was taking a road trip...
June 25, 2002 - Not this again...
I had a rather enjoyable weekend and I was rather sad to see it
end. On Friday after I got off work I had a good friend come over and eat
dinner with me and then we were off to the movies. It was a great night
overall and wish she would stop going on month-long vacations so we could go to
the movies more often. I guess I'll have to wait until after she comes
back from Russia before we get to do it again, in the mean time I can work on my
grilling skills so I don't burn anything (again). On Saturday I slept in
as usual and did the same routine of practicing piano, playing games, working
out, watching TV, and swimming with the dog that I usually do on the
weekends. Later I went to the movies and saw both Minority Report and Sum
of all Fears. All I can say is a Neo-esque "woa" , because those were some
great movies. I can't even comment on them because I am still trying to
fathom what I saw (especially Minority Report).
Most of Sunday was spent doing the same thing as Saturday, except I
watched Six Feet Under instead of going to the movies, and I worked on a side
project of downloading and ISO from an FTP so I could extract it to fit
correctly on a common CD. I was suppose to study for my biology test on
Monday but I kept putting it off, especially with the whole ISO project I was
working on. When Monday rolled around I jumped out of the bed and started
cramming the notes into my head so I could at least pass the test.
Luckily, the test was a multiple choice test and it wasn't too hard, well at
least compared to the fill-in-the-blank tests he usually gives. Alot of
the questions were trick questions since there was more than one answer on them,
but no one realized that. And some of the questions had 10 choices
to choose from and you had to pick all of the correct ones to get the question
right. But I felt better after taking this test than I have after the
previous two which is always a good sign. The rest of the day at work was
uneventful, except for some odd weather during the day.
I was outside walking across the campus quad
and wondering what was going on. Yesterday seemed like any other day, you could
look around and see blue sky with a few small clouds everywhere, and the sun was
shining brightly across the campus. Except it was also pouring down rain, and
hard rain at that. It was the weirdest feeling in the world to see blue skies
and bright sunlight, and also feel the sun's warmth while at the same time have
a torrential downpour of water...
June 21, 2002 - Too much
Well another week has passed by and already it seems like Summer is
slowly draining away. Which technically is true considering today is the
Summer solstice - ever day after today we are leaving summer and heading towards
fall. At least I know I've been somewhat productive during this time, which is
more than I can say for last year.
So what have I done this week?
Sunday- It was father's day and the family gave my father a DVD player.
Or at least we would have if he had been there. My father went to his 30th
reunion at his hometown in southern Texas, plus he went and saw his father and
mother which he hadn't seen a few years. So while he was gone I took over
the house and played games, drew, and practiced. Nothing too
spectacular really. Finally, at midnight I started studying for my next
biology test, a test which was easier than the previous one because it consisted
of subjects I already knew. Or so I thought...
Monday- I woke up early to cram for my bio test, and when
the time came I was ready for it. Within 5 minutes of starting the test I
lost all the information I had studied. Crap. But at least during those 5
minutes I filled out most of the fill-in the-blank portion of the test.
The test took me about 45 minutes, and I was the second one to finish. I'm
telling you, these tests are harder than they should be, at least for an intro
level class. One benefit is that at least I know something about Biology,
I am learning stuff in the class whether I want to or not. The test was so
hard that people were still taking it 2 hours into the class. When the final
person turned in their paper the professor decided to go over the test with us
just so we would stop complaining. After class was over I went to work and
slapped my computer around. Even after all the time I spent trying to fix
it the previous Thursday and Friday it still rejected the Win2000 CD and refused
to fix itself. Finally I got so fed up with it that I upgraded the sucker
to WinXP, and now the computer works. But then I had reinstall most of my
programs and find the drivers to my digital camera. At least computer
doesn't restart whenever I drag an icon now... Monday night
was uneventful, I played games, watched TV, and watched Vampire Hunter D
Bloodlust. Yippee.
Tuesday- Back to class I go... I made an 84 on my biology test, which is the exact same score I got on the last one. I think I already know what my average in the class is going to be. Once again we learned quite a bit of information, and we flew through the notes he gave us. I could already tell the next test was going to be killer, and boy was I ever right. I also had a lab practical that day which I studied very little for. Then again, how are you suppose to study for it? Memorizing Microscope parts? Find random cells and memorize them? Compared to the lecture tests the lab test was spectacularly easy. And yet compared to other tests I've had in other classes the lab test was extremely hard. I think my biology class is making me raise my standards on what I call easy and hard, which isn't exactly a bad thing. The best thing about the lab was we didn't do anything after the test. We were SUPPOSE to mess with frogs for one experiment except due to the budget freeze we didn't have any frogs so I left class early. One thing I forgot to mention was today was the first day of junior high band camp. I had to watch my step and make sure I didn't run anyone over on my way across campus. I did get a free shirt out of the deal though since I was the one who design the band camp logo. But there is no way I am going to wear the shirt this week, I don't want to get swarmed by 7th graders asking me where they should be and what time supper starts. Next came work, nothing new to talk about there... After I got off work I went home, ate a quick meal, and prepared for my Kenpo class. I drove to Curtis prepared to learn some new techniques, except when I reached the dojo I was told class was canceled. Turns out they called my house and left a message with my sister, except she forgot to tell me about it. Needless to say I was rather unhappy with her when finally got home.
Wednesday- Class and work, nothing new here. But the one major event that happened was my cousin came to visit my family for the first time since we moved here. I hadn't seen her since her graduation (actually I stopped by her house the day of her graduation and then went to my hometown graduation instead) and she had changed quite a bit over the years. She is now a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader which is really cool because now I can visit her and "accidentally" meet all DC cheerleaders in the process. Beyond that great aspect my cousin is doing quite well and I had fun talking to her about old times and swimming most of the night away. Plus I can't wait until I get a signed photograph from her to show off to all of the guys in the dorm, hehe...
Thursday- Class and work once again. One small thing to mention about biology is that we convinced our teacher to give us a multiple choice test instead of the usual fill-in-the-blank test. The factor behind this was because we have 169 vocabulary words to learn, not to mention ten pages of text to learn. There was no way I could cram all that into my head one hour before the test so I asked him if we could have a word bank for the test, and then other's supported me and finally he asked the class how we would like our next test. We all requested multiple choice and he said we would accommodate our request. I also got my lab test score back today and I made a 97, which is good considering on 2 people made A's and 14 flunked the test. After work I went home and ate a delicious meal of hamburgers with fried eggs and then started a quick game of Starcraft. Later I became a physical trainer and went cross country running with my mother. She did very well, we improved our best time by 4 minutes! She ran 2 miles in less than 20 minutes, which is amazing for her. Now I have to make sure she keeps up that wonderful time and even improves upon it. When we got home I finished watched the last 8 episodes of Cowboy Bebop and then collapsed in my room. Friday is a very big day, because I have a movie date with an old friend....
June 11, 2002 - Bio-woes
I found out my test score in biology today was a humble B, which I can
live with considering the average score was 54 (someone even made a 12).
Class was mediocre again, the teacher just crammed alot of information in our
heads and let as go as usual. My lunch break was cut short again due to
those despicable freshm... I mean all of those great fresh recruits
who are learning all there is about HSU. This time I knew I was suppose to
give a speech beforehand and had a general idea of what to say. Hopefully
soon freshmen will be flocking to those internet sites I told them about to
breath new life into all of them. Afterwards I went to work and answered
the phones until 5 when I was suddenly set free to roam the city until tomorrow
morning. I went home, picked up my
beaglador (beagle/
labrador mix) and took her to the cross country track at OBU to wear her out.
After the 2.5 mile jog (with a brief interlude in the river) my dog was worn out
and ready to go home to play catch and swim...
June 10, 2002 - Double Trouble
Well today was the first day of Heart Start, that wonderful time
when all the freshmen visit HSU to and prepare themselves for the oncoming year.
I always considered Heart Start (HS) as being a week of teasing and taunting for
the freshmen, but I don't mean that in the "evil bully" teasing way. I
think it's funny that we ship all of the freshmen on campus and then hype them
up for the following year. And just before they burst with excitement at how
much they want to come to HSU and enjoy all the "luxuries" it offers we send
them back home to live with their (boring?) families for another two months.
We show them paradise (face it, college IS paradise compared to anything you had
to deal with in high school) and taunt them with how much fun college is, and
then just to put them in pain we send them back to their not-so-exciting life
living at home under their parent's rules. At home they sit for two months
wishing they could be somewhere else and building up their hopes that college
will be the best thing that will ever happen to them. Such a glorious
tease, I say...
Anyways, back to my all-important day: I took the first
test in my summer Biology course and my head is about to explode. I spent
around 4 hours last night flat-out memorizing numerous vocabulary terms and
phrases. The test itself wasn't that bad, at least to me it wasn't.
If I hadn't studied I probably would have done horribly because the entire test
was fill-in-the-blank vocabulary terms But at least I got it out of
the way; one down, three more to go. After class I went home for a quick
bite to eat and then had to come back to HSU to help give a presentation for
Heart Start. I wasn't expecting to have to give a speech on RC Talk but at
the last minute I was recruited to give an impromptu description of RC Talk and
other student-run RC Connect pages. To make it worse, right when we were
setting up the computer to show the students the network we were disconnected
from the server. Suddenly we had no way of showing the students what we
were describing thus making my speech quite a hard task. I consider all of
this to be apart of the first-day curse that Heart Start has. It seems every
year something always happens on the first day that screws everything else up
for the rest of the day. Like the quote says "If it appears as if nothing
can go wrong, then it will all go wrong in a spectacular way".
After my speech I went back to work and did the usual,
mundane tasks I have grown accustomed to. When 5 PM rolled around I hopped
into my car and was off to the house for another long night of talking to
friends, reading, and watching movies. On the way I stopped a friends
house and chatted to her and the rest of her family about various California
tales Then I departed once again or my house, this time carrying DVDs I
had never seen. I finally saw Momento and even now I am trying to decipher
exactly what happened...
And that, as they say, was my day. Now it is after midnight and I am
ready to find out what I made on my test in biology so I am off to bed for 4
hours of wonderful sleep...